Literally as I sit down to write, my computer is playing up – for the fourth time over the last few days – and its getting worse! Not being a computer wizard, I dont know what to do, and the instructions on the screen dont seem to make sense, at least not to me, and when I try to do what I think they say – I get nowhere! The frustration level rises! Oh for clearly set out instructions that I could understand. (And a voice says, some learning needed here, Jim!)
Computers are amazing things – but nowhere near as wonderful as people, as you and me. It says in the book of Psalms that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. Yes, made: and that means my maker knows how I best operate, and He has given me instruction, which I need to recognise, understand, and then seek to live by.
Instructions are not given to spoil the workings of what is made, just to ensure what is made works well. (Would I drive my car over ploughed fields and ditches, through hedge-rows, …?)
Many of us will have at some stage of life have at least read the 10 commandments. At first sight they seem so negative, restrictive …”Thou shalt not …” Yet being more positive, they are boundaries given … to keep us safe.
I remember the true story of the perpetual thief, who came into a real personal experience of God, who coming into church one day and seeing the commandment written at the wall “Thou shalt not steal”, now discovering Gods love, read it as a promise “You wont steal anymore, because I am with you, and in you”!
On ten consecutive Sunday evenings, beginning on April 20th, at the invitation of the local Church of England churches, J. John, an internationally renowned speaker will take the 10 commandments one by one, in order to help us understand and so be better able to live not just protected by the pattern of life our “manufacturer” designed us for, but in real relationship with God himself – which is what we were given life for!!
He begins with “Find contentment” – something that touches all of us deeply.
Sundays April 20th – June 22nd
April 20th Find contentment
April 27th Hold to the truth
May 4th Prosper with a clear conscience
May 11th ‘Affair-proof your relationships
May 18th Manage your anger
May 25th Keep the peace with your parents
June 1st Catch your breath
June 8th Take God seriously
June 15th Know God
June 22nd Live by priorities

All welcome: 7.00 pm in Christchurch, Chorleywood. Come – and bring your husband, your wife, a friend …
With my greetings and prayers, Jim