It is Monday morning, 10th January, the year 2022, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
If we go to Malachi the last Book in the Old Testament:
“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.”
Malachi 3:8
Remember, the tithe belongs to the Lord, the full 10%, offerings and gifts come after that. We will never be able to 'out-bless' the Lord. He is a giver by nature - He gave His very life for us.
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13
Now I can hear you saying, “But where do we tithe?” Well, you tithe to the place where you receive your spiritual food and remember, God loves a cheerful giver. We must never give anything to God reluctantly. You will find that in 2 Corinthians 9:7. We are not just speaking here about finances only, not at all but also time given to God each day.
How much time are we giving to the Lord each morning? How much time are we giving to our family? Yesterday, I went with my son and my grandson to look at some horses we were thinking of purchasing. We spent a full day together and enjoyed it immensely. We didn’t even buy the horses in the end but we spent time together.
What about time given to helping widows and the orphans, they need us to help them. And what about time given to yourself, do you spend a bit of time on your own? What am I talking about - I am talking about sport, about exercise, I am talking about maybe gardening.
William Carey, the founder of the Baptist Outreach Union to India, loved gardening - He had a rose garden. He said that is where he found a lot of peace and tranquillity every day - The man who translated the Bible into all the Indian languages. I love to ride my horse, Snowy. I discipline myself and I ride that horse, I have to. If I don’t ride him regularly, he gets out of hand. We need to spend time. Give God the first fruits of everything that you have, let us not give it to Jesus as our leftovers. Put Jesus first and then everything else will fall into line.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these (other) things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33.
Have a wonderful day as you continue to give to the Lord and to your fellow man.
Jesus bless you,
Goodbye.
10/01/2022
A Cheerful Giver
January 10, 2022 • Angus Buchan • Malachi 3:8, John 15:13, 2 Corinthians 9:7, Matthew 6:33
10/05/2024
May 10, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Genesis 46:34, Matthew 7:6
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 10th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Genesis 46:34 - This is Joseph speaking to his brothers: “…that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; (Now, listen to this) for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.” “Every shepherd is repulsive to the Egyptians.” The Amplified Version says. Then we go to Matthew 7:6, this is Jesus speaking: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” Very, very strong words. They are spoken by the Lord, Himself, and the Old Testament reading spoken by Joseph to his brothers, when they came to Egypt. This really shocked me when I read this scripture initially from Genesis. You and I need to be very careful. Joseph was a very wise man and he told his brothers, “Don’t say you are shepherds”, because actually that is what they were. In fact, God said to Peter, on the shores of Lake Galilee, “Do you love Me?” He said, “I love You, Lord.” He said, ”Feed My sheep.” So Peter was a shepherd, a shepherd of the flock. We need to be very sensitive when we share our faith with people in the world. Some don’t understand, some don’t want to understand and some will actually get quite aggressive towards you. We need to pick the time. Often I say, “Tell the first three people you meet, after you give your life to Christ, what you have done, and I still maintain that, but we need to be clever. The Bible says we must be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. So when we share our testimony with somebody, we must pick the right time and the right place, otherwise we will be rejected severely. That’s why it wasn’t a lie that Joseph was telling his brothers not to tell the Egyptians. He said, “Tell them that we are keepers of livestock and not shepherds.” I want to say to you today, we never apologise for our faith, we are never ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, but we need to be very, very wise if we want to lead people to Christ. So today, when you go out, just be very careful who you share with and when you share it, but never hold back on the truth. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.
09/05/2024
May 9, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Isaiah 66:2, Job 38, Job 40:2
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 9th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Isaiah 66:2. The Lord says: “For all those things My hand has made, And all those things exist,” Says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word.” There is absolutely nothing that you and I can do for God. Earlier on, He says, “Heaven is my throne”. He says, “The earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you can build for Me?” We can do nothing for Him, He has done everything for us. What He requires of you and me is a contrite (which is a repentant), a broken spirit that trembles at His word. The Lord wants us to be simple, plain and reverently responsive to what He says. You will find that out of the Message in Isaiah 66:2. We need to be so careful, and maybe I am speaking more to myself today, my dear friend, than I am to you. We need to be so careful that the work of the Lord does not become more important to us than the Lord of the work, if you know what that means. You see, Jesus actually doesn’t need anything from you and I. He has made it all, He has done it all, there is nothing that we can do for Him. Now, there was another farmer and he was having a conversation with the Lord. He was quite upset with the Lord, and maybe you are today, but if you look at Job 38 - yes, I am talking about the farmer Job, and you can read that whole chapter from verse 1, the Lord takes him and brings him to attention and says, “Listen, sit down a minute. I want to ask you a few questions. Where were you when I made the earth? Where were you when I did this? Where were you when I did that?” How dare we question our creator! He says in Job 40:2: “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?” I mean, it’s ridiculous isn’t it? It’s absolutely ridiculous. What we have got to start doing now is to be plain and simple in front of God and go to the Lord like a little boy goes to his dad and sits on his lap and asks him, “Please help me, dad, to fix my bicycle, please help me dad, to do this.” And dad loves doing it! Don’t argue with God, love God and appreciate what He has done for you and me. Have a wonderful day. Jesus bless you and goodbye.
08/05/2024
May 8, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Psalm 32:5, Daniel 9:23
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 8th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Psalms 32:5: “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden.(in other words, I have confessed my sins) I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Then we go to the Book of Daniel 9:23: ‘At the beginning of your supplications (your prayers) the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; …” That was the angel, Gabriel, who brought a message to Daniel from the Lord. I want to say to you today that the Lord hears and knows your prayers, even before you speak them. Isn’t that wonderful news? You might say, “What is the point in us praying?” Well, mother, that little boy of yours, he comes into the kitchen. You know that he is ravenous, you know that he is so hungry but you want to hear him say, “Mom, could I please have something to eat?” And then you give him that lovely sandwich or whatever it is that he needs. I remember going down to Cape Town like yesterday. They had no rain for two years, and the people were literally about to start dying of thirst. We had a prayer meeting on the sand dunes of Mitchell’s Plain, one of the most dangerous places on the Continent of Africa. Something like a quarter of a million people cried out to the Lord, asking God to send life-giving rain. I want to tell you, it makes me want to weep when I think of it. In the middle of the service, we hadn’t even finished the service, it started raining and it hasn’t stopped since. That huge dam that supplies water to the city of Cape Town was dry. It was like a desert. They said it would take seven years to fill if it started raining. Well, it was overflowing in 4 months. God knows what we are asking before we even ask and yet He still wants to hear us praying and saying, “Lord, please help.” Today, let us ask the Lord with faith, believing, and then we start to thank Him for what is coming. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.