Dear Friends,
Hanging over the fireplace in the Manse where I was brought up was a series of pictures of the life and work of the great Scots missionary and explorer David Livingstone. When we moved house, the pictures came with us, and again hung over the fireplace in the dining room. And when I inherited them, they still hung over the fireplace in the dining room of the Manse. Now they hang on the wall over my dining table. They have no particular value other than as a reminder of a faithful life well lived. I know that my father found them an inspiration in his work as I now do.
It is true that we will all know people who have lived or are living good and faithful lives. But do we find them inspirational? Cicero, the great Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer, once said that no man was ever great without some degree of divine inspiration. And we know that David Livingstone was a great man who made it clear that he was divinely inspired in all that he did.
As we pursue life’s journey in the world of today it becomes ever more difficult to find divine inspiration in our secular world, where we are constantly bombarded with the material things to which we are encouraged to aspire. However, as disciples of Jesus Christ we all have a friend whose life and work are, or should be, a constant inspiration in all that we do. He doesn’t hang on the wall over the fireplace in the dining room. Rather Jesus hung on a cross to save us from our sins and rose from the dead to bring us the promise of eternal life. And he says to all of us, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”.
With love and blessings,
Marion
Categories: Minister's Blog