Bits and Pieces – 116th Edition – May 29, 2022

     The feeding of five thousand people is the only miracle mentioned by all four Gospel writers, and it had more witnesses than any other.  It benefitted the largest number of people.  Perhaps the greatest lesson from this miracle is that God can take a mere lad and his lunch to do a great work.

     Our Lord delights to use small things and small people.  He used a boy called David to defeat the giant Goliath.  Even then, the giant was slain by a small stone from a little sling.  God shook the world through the apostles who were largely “unlearned and ignorant men”  [Acts 4:13].  This has ever been our Lord’s way.  We have no excuse, for He can use the very least of us to do His great work.  [From Through the Year with Alan Cairns ].

     Whitefield Collegiate Vice-Principal Robin and his wife Carol entered into grandparent-hood on Thursday when their daughter Anne and husband Irving Chang presented them with a baby boy.  He was 6lb. 3oz. at birth and is to be called Liam.  We are happy for Robin and Carol and their family at this joyful time.

     One of the greatest blessings in life is to have a little baby born into the family.  It is very small, it cannot stand, nor can it walk.  The moment it is born it immediately takes the love of its parents into its tiny hands.

     They have just received this priceless gift from God, and immediately they would do anything in their power to protect its safety and help it get established in its new life.  The fact that the babe does not possess the faculties of an adult is not a problem. Its parents are willing to wait patiently, and they rejoice in each sign of growth and advancement.

     One of the greatest blessings of the Christian life is to welcome a “newborn babe” in Christ [1 Peter 2:2] into the family of God.  Peter refers to new believers as just that: newborn babes.  As spiritual babes they are not adults.  They need continual help and encouragement to grow in grace and in the knowledge of their newfound Saviour, Jesus Christ.

     Some, however, who have been saved many years, expect a new convert to be just like them.  If the young child of God does not walk and talk just as they do, they are quick to denounce and reproach him.  They forget the limitations of their own spiritual youth and become a discouragement to the new life in Christ.  Paul tells us, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak” [Romans 15:1].  Let us lookout for the tender babe in Christ today and encourage him or her with tender loving care to grow in the Lord.  Resolve to be an encourager and not a discourager to God’s children.

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”  [1 Peter 2:2].

     If ever there was a demonstration of the depravity of man it was in the wicked murder of nineteen children and two teachers in a school in Texas.  The students were aged between seven and ten. The perpetrator, who himself was eighteen, was shot by security guards, and has gone to his eternal reward.  His solemn fate brings to mind the words of Christ [Luke 16:23] of the rich man who had just died, “and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments.”  Please keep the devastated parents much in prayer that they may know the peace and comfort of the Lord in such horrendous circumstances.

     The Bible teaches us not to take the Lord’s name in vain [Exodus 20:7].  The name of God refers to the totality of the being and attributes of God.  Within the name “God” is the infinite, eternal and unchanging One, in His wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.  There are many ways the Lord’s name can be taken in vain, but mostly in our modern society, it is in the form of a swear word.  It never ceases to amaze how sinful man can use as a curse the name that angels whisper in awe.

     When the U.S. President, Joe Biden, was commenting on the Texas massacre, he made a short speech, rightfully, to comfort the grieving mourners.  But why did he have to spoil it by blaspheming the Lord’s name?  Not once but six times he used the expression, “for God’s sake.”  He has done this on many other occasions.  For a man in his position, a higher standard is expected.