Are we jealous or intolerant?

Mark 9:38-43.45.47-48

38 John spoke up, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn't in our group." 39 Jesus wasn't pleased. "Don't stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. 40 If he's not an enemy, he's an ally. 41 Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice. 42 "On the other hand, if you give one of these simple, childlike believers a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you'll soon wish you hadn't. You'd be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck. 43 - 45 "If your hand or your foot gets in God's way, chop it off and throw it away. You're better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owner of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. 47 And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. 48 You're better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell. 49 "Everyone's going through a refining fire sooner or later, 50 but you'll be well-preserved, protected from the eternal flames. Be preservatives yourselves. Preserve the peace."

Numbers 11:25-29

GOD came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied. But they didn't continue; it was a onetime event. 26 Meanwhile two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were listed as leaders but they didn't leave camp to go to the Tent. Still, the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!" 28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' right-hand man since his youth, said, "Moses, master! Stop them!" 29 But Moses said, "Are you jealous for me? Would that all GOD's people were prophets. Would that GOD would put his Spirit on all of them."

Food for thought!

What do you think of these two Readings? They both deal with something called jealousy and tolerance. Jealousy does not always come from bad people alone; sometimes it comes from good people like you and me. Did you notice that in the first Reading who is jealous is Joshua, who had been Moses' right-hand man since his youth; and in the Gospel Reading is John, the Beloved disciple?

Even good people can be jealous. I can be jealous; you can be jealous. So the question is, why do people who are blessed jealous of other blessed people? Good people like Joshua and John intolerant of other people trying to do good? Why do we stop people who are doing, not evil, but good? John says that it is because they do not belong to our group!

Many Christian people lament that God no longer has a place in our world today. Maybe we are looking in the wrong places. If we looked beyond the Tent of Meeting and beyond those who belong to our group, it might surprise us to see that God is as active in our world today as He has always been. He may be working with those we regard as the wrong people, and in places we deem to be the wrong places.

It is wrong for any of us to think that our church has a monopoly of salvation. Why? Because there are many ways to God. He has his own secret stairway into every heart. He fulfills himself in many ways; and no man or church has a monopoly of his truth.

But--and this is intensely important--our tolerance must be based not on indifference but on love. We ought to be tolerant not because we could not care less; but because we look at the other person with eyes of love. When Abraham Lincoln was criticized for being too lenient to his enemies and reminded that it was his duty to destroy them, he gave the great answer, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" Even if a man be utterly mistaken, we must never regard him as an enemy to be destroyed but as a strayed friend to be recovered by love.

Mk. 9:41-42

Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink on the ground that you belong to Christ, I tell you truly he will not lose his reward. And whoever puts a stumbling-block in the path of one of these little ones who believe in me, it is better for him that a great millstone hang about his neck and he be cast into the sea.

The teaching of this passage declares that any kindness shown, any help given, will not go unnoticed. Jesus says, WHOEVER, that is, anybody of any race, sex, religion or colour. He does not say any Catholic or any Christian, but whoever! This means that there many disciples of Jesus out there that we do not know; that do not belong to our group.

And it is to be noted how simple the help is. The gift is a CUP OF WATER. We are not asked to do great things for others, things beyond our power. We are asked to give the simple things that anybody can afford.

The opposite is also true. To help is to win the eternal reward. To cause a weaker brother to stumble is to win the eternal punishment. To sin is terrible but to teach another to sin is infinitely worse. God is not hard on the sinner, but he will be stern to the person who makes it easier for another to sin, and whose conduct, either thoughtless or deliberate, puts a stumbling-block in the path of a weaker brother.

Jesus mention the “hand” the “foot” and the “eye”. These are our three problem areas when it comes to dealing with sin. The “hand” refers to “the things we do.” The “foot” refers to “the places we go.” The “eye” refers to “the things we see or desire to have.” These three words describe the problem areas where we humans are tempted most. They are the areas that need our attention, other wise they can lead us to sin, as often they do.

He knows all in all of us!

John 1:47-51

47 When Jesus saw him coming he said, "There's a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body." 48 Nathanael said, "Where did you get that idea? You don't know me." Jesus answered, "One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree." 49 Nathanael exclaimed, "Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus said, "You've become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven't seen anything yet! 51 Before this is over you're going to see heaven open and God's angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again."

Food for thought!

Do you have someone in life who seem to understand you, someone who really knows you? Someone who can guess your thoughts and even sometimes your words? Someone that can read your mind? Well, this is what Jesus did to Nathaniel; he told and showed him that he knows him through and through. He told Nathaniel that long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree. Long before any human saw Nathaniel, Jesus had seen him.

Jesus is telling Nathaniel that he is no ordinary man; that he is God, and because he is God, he knows everybody, he sees everyone everywhere everyday. And Nathaniel was quick to learn this truth about Jesus. This is why he immediately confessed, "Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!" Now he knows that God knows him.

Nathaniel didn't let Jesus say loud what he once did beneath that fig tree when Jesus saw him. All he knows now is that God knows him well. This is what God revealed to Jeremiah (1:5) "Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations, that's what I had in mind for you."

This is what king David is saying in Psalm 139:1-18

1 GOD, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.

2 I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.

3 You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight.

4 You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence.

5 I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too, your reassuring presence, coming and going.

6 This is too much, too wonderful, I can't take it all in!

7 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight?

8 If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there!

9 If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon,

10 You'd find me in a minute, you're already there waiting!

11 Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I'm immersed in the light!"

12 It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.

13 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb.

14 I thank you, High God-- you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration, what a creation!

15 You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

16 Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you. The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.

17 Your thoughts, how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them!

18 I couldn't even begin to count them, any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!

We too, someday, shall know God as he knows us, as Paul says (1Co 13:12-13):

12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.

Praying by oneself!

Luke 9: 18-22

18 Once when Jesus was praying by himself, and his disciples were nearby, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 They answered, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others that one of the prophets of long ago has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” 21 But he forcefully commanded them not to tell this to anyone, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Food for thought!

Do you ever do it? I mean PRIVATE prayer? Do you ever pray alone? Do you know how to pray alone, without the help of anyone or anything? And when you do pray alone, what do you pray? What are your prayers about? In today's gospel, Jesus replies to all these questions.

Today's gospel says that Jesus was praying by himself. It means that Jesus prayed by himself, that is, in private ! And as I always say, whatever Jesus did whatever Jesus said, and whatever Jesus was, was intended to teach us. All was done and said because of us. Jesus prayed by himself to teach us to pray by ourselves.

 And he prayed when his disciples were closely! This time Jesus did not go to the hills to pray. It  means that we can pray both in the public and in the private; both in solitude and in the public. Both in the church and in the home. Yes, you too can pray even when you are on the Main Street, when you are in the Boardroom or classroom, or in the shop or in the office, or in the public transport or in the sitting room. That Jesus prayed is unquestionable. Look at these instances: Luke 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:28 - 29; 11:1; 22:41; 23:34 , 46.

Even when done in public, prayer is a personal affair. Why? Because there are things that need to be said in prayer that do not need to be said within earshot of others, including of the devil. When we pray in private, we can have liberty to declare our hearts to the Lord. We can pray about personal, private matters that would embarrass us if others heard. We can call out the names of people that burden us in our private time of prayer. We can be honest with the Lord. We can humble ourselves before Him. We can be who we really are, for in private prayer there is no one to impress. It is our time with God! Do you keep a regular time of private prayer with the Lord?

This said, we must note that there is nothing wrong with praying as a group. Notice that in Matthew 6:9 Jesus tells us to say “Our Father.” This implies corporate prayer. Jesus himself often went to the Synagogue to pray. In private prayer, we have time to say "My Father."

This literally means that God is everywhere, including within us. It means that in prayer we have direct access to this God who is so near us that He is within us. WE have within us a power that is greater than anything that we shall ever contact in the outer world, a power that can overcome every obstacle in our life and set us safe, satisfied and at peace, even in the midst of noise.

It means that in prayer we tap into this Power called God; in prayer we enter the place of the divine; we enter the “Holy of Holies” in Heaven, being still on earth. We do not have to have some human priest to stand in for us, but through Jesus Christ, the only priest, we have direct access to the very throne of our Father in heaven. We have the privilege, during our seasons of private prayer, to step out of this world for a time and to enter His presence to commune with Him. That is why private prayer is so precious and so powerful. It literally takes us into the presence of God and it brings God into our presence. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. (James 4:8)

All is vanity?!

Eccl 1:2-9

2 “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!” Futility Illustrated from Nature 3 What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth? 4 A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains the same through the ages. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries away to a place from which it rises again. 6 The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north; round and round the wind goes and on its rounds it returns. 7 All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is not full, and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again. 8 All this monotony is tiresome; no one can bear to describe it: The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content with hearing. 9 What exists now is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth. 10 Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new!”? It was a  lready done long ago, before our time. 11 No one remembers the former events, nor will anyone remember the events that are yet to happen; they will not be remembered by the future generations.

Food for thought!

There are two ways of looking at life: from either below or from above. From either man's vantage point or from God's vantage paint. When seen from below life is lifeless, meaningless, futile and vanity. This is what the author of the First Reading of today did. He looked at life from human perspective, and when he did so, all he saw was vanity, Thus he concluded: Everything is futile!

This is what happens when we look at our life, our problems with human eyes. We can only see misery. The author of the First Reading saw only meaninglessness, that is, he saw life and all in it as having no sense. In all his meditation he never mentions God at all!

Seeing life from above is altogether different. The Bible helps us to see life as Good sees it: Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. (Rom. 9:36). For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,…everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. (Colossians 1:16)

Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless. (Bertrand Russell, atheist). As Rick Warren says, "The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years. That’s because we typically begin at the wrong starting point—ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future? But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose. The Bible says, “It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power. (Job 12,10).

Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won’t discover your life’s meaning by looking within yourself. You’ve probably tried that already. You didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! you cannot arrive at your life’s purpose by starting with a focus on yourself. You must begin with God, your Creator.

You exist only because God wills that you exist. You were made by God and for God—and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end. The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it. The same is true for discovering life’s purpose: Ask God."

Power & Authority!

Luke 9:1-6

1 Jesus now called the Twelve and gave them authority and power to deal with all the demons and cure diseases. 2 He commissioned them to preach the news of God's kingdom and heal the sick. 3 He said, "Don't load yourselves up with equipment. 4 Keep it simple; you are the equipment. And no luxury inns-- get a modest place and be content there until you leave. 5 If you're not welcomed, leave town. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and move on." 6 Commissioned, they left. They traveled from town to town telling the latest news of God, the Message, and curing people everywhere they went.

Food for thought!

In the gospel according to Matthew (28:18-20), Jesus said to his disciples: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days."

What Jesus does in the gospel of today is to pass on to the disciples the authority he himself received from the Father. "Jesus now called the Twelve and gave them authority and power." What's the difference between authority and power? What did Jesus give us? What are we called to do? We have to understand these two concepts in order to reply to the questions.

Power is the ability to influence. Authority (comes from Latin, augere, to augment, increase, to make more) is the ability to make or be more; surpass, overcome. Jesus has the ability to influence our lives AND has the ability to make us be and do more. This is what Jesus gives us, the ability to influence the world AND the ability to surpass, overcome all evil, thus the authority and power to deal with all the demons and cure diseases.

To accomplish this rather difficult task, Jesus equips us, not with many materials nor much money, but with the Gospel, the Goodnews! "He commissioned them to preach the news of God's kingdom and heal the sick." The weapon Jesus gives us to influence others and overcome evil, is the Goodnews!

We not only HAVE the Goodnews, we ARE  also the Goodnews! He said, "Don't load yourselves up with equipment. Keep it simple; you are the equipment. And no luxury inns, get a modest place and be content there until you leave. If you're not welcomed, leave town. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and move on."

So, wherever we are, let's be the cause of goodness. I say WHEREVER because this is what the disciples of old did: "Commissioned, they left. They traveled from town to town telling the latest news of God, the Message, and curing people everywhere they went." A Christian that causes sadness all around him or her is indeed a failed Christian. We are messengers of Goodnews, not Badnews. We are commissioned to be the Goodnews that influences (power) for better (authority).

Doing the right thing!

Luke 8:19-21 Then his mother and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you." He said to them in reply, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it." Food for thought! I want you to get this scene in your head. Jesus is teaching. He is surrounded by a vast multitude of people. Meanwhile, His family shows up. Their arrival creates a moment of tension for everyone there. Jesus is teaching and His family is on the outside of the crowd. They can’t get to Him because of the multitude, so they send word through the crowd to tell Jesus to come to where they are. His family wants Him to stop His teaching, leave the multitude, and attend to them. They want Jesus to STOP whatever he is doing and attend to them. And it is not the first time. Mark 3:20-21 "Then Jesus went to a house [probably Peter’s], but a throng came together again, so that He and His disciples could not even take food. 21 And when those who belonged to Him ( His family) heard it, they went out to take Him by force, for they kept saying, He is out of His mind!" In this one, his family wants to even use force, if need be; he must stop. Is Jesus going to stop or what? Is he going to follow his family or what? Instead of stopping what He was doing and going to His mother and family, Jesus simply said, “Who is My mother, or my brethren?” The crowd must have been shocked. His mother must have been devastated. His brothers probably got angry. They had traveled all the way from Nazareth to get Him and He refused to even stop teaching to talk with them. Instead of trying to ease the tension, Jesus intensifies it. Instead of reaching out to his earthly family, He speaks to all the members of His spiritual family. Jesus used this moment as an opportunity to teach some eternal truth. This is a tense scene and the Lord’s reaction to His family seems cold on the surface. But His response to them was designed to teach some very important truths. The lessons. Sometimes it is our dear ones like mother, father, husband, wife and friends that stand in between us and God. Of course they don't do it out of evil intentions; Mary and the others weren't acting out evil intentions; they were trying to help Jesus, so they thought. This was a misguided help of good intentioned people, it was a disservice. Jsus, however used the occasion to teach us all that OBEDIENCE TO GOD, DOING GOD'S WILL, DOING THE RIGHT THING IS ABOVE EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY, including our dear ones.

More more, less less!

Luke 8:16-18

No one lights a lamp and then hides it under a vessel or puts it under a bed. No! he puts it on a lamp-stand so that those who come in may see the light. There is nothing hidden which will not be made manifest; there is nothing secret which win not be known and brought into the open. Take care, then, how you listen; for to him who has it will be given; and from him who has not there shall be taken away even what he thinks he has.

Food for thought!

Here we have three sayings of Jesus, each with its own warning for life.

(i) No one lights a lamp and then hides it under a vessel or puts it under a bed. No! he puts it on a lamp-stand so that those who come in may see the light.

This saying stresses the essential conspicuousness of the Christian life. Christianity is in its very nature something which must be seen. It is easy to find prudential reasons why we should not flaunt our Christianity in the world's face. In all of us, there is an instinctive fear of being different; and the world is always likely to persecute those who do not conform to pattern.

And yet this is exactly what Jesus calls us to be, different! A writer tells how he kept hens. In the hen-run all the hens were precisely the same in marking except one. The one different hen was pecked to death by the other occupants of the hen-run. Even in the animal world, being different is a crime.

(ii) "There is nothing hidden which will not be made manifest; there is nothing secret which will not be known and brought into the open."

This one stresses the impossibility of secrecy. There are three people from whom we try hide things.

(a) Sometimes we try to hide things from ourselves. We shut our eyes to the consequences of certain actions and habits, consequences of which we are well aware. It is like a man deliberately shutting his eyes to symptoms of an illness which he knows he has. We have only to state that to see its incredible folly.

(b) Sometimes we try to hide things from our fellow men. Things have a way of coming out. The man with a secret is an unhappy man. The happy man is the man with nothing to hide. It is told that once an architect offered to build for Plato a house in which every room would be hidden from the public eye. "I will give you twice the money," said Plato, "if you build me a house into every room of which all men's eyes can see." Happy is the man who can speak like that.

(c) Sometimes we try to hide things from God. No man ever attempted a more impossible task. We would do well to have before our eyes forever the text which says, "Thou art a God of seeing." (Gen.16:13.)

(iii) "Take care, then, how you listen; for to him who has it will be given; and from him who has not there shall be taken away even what he thinks he has."

This lays down the universal law that the man who has will get more; and that the man who has not will lose what he has. If a man is physically fit and keeps himself so, his body will be ready for greater efforts; if he lets himself go flabby, he will lose even the abilities he has. The more a student learns, the more he can learn; but if he refuses to go on learning, he will lose the knowledge he has. This is just another way of saying that there is no standing still in life. All the time we are either going forward or going back; we are either getting better or getting worse; we are either getting more or getting less.

This law works in both spiritual and material things; it works in businesses and in family affairs. It works everywhere, everyday, on everyone and in everything. If we really strive after more we will get more, if we don't strive enough, we will get less; if we strive for goodness and master this and that temptation, new heights of goodness will open to us; if we give up the battle and take the easy way, much of the resistance power we once possessed will be lost and we will slip from whatever height we had attained.

It is the law Jesus applied to last week's woman that anointed him with perfume: "So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; because she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."

Not wanting to know the truth!

Mark 9:30-37

30 They went on from there and passed along through Galilee. And He did not wish to have anyone know it. 31 For He was [engaged for the time being in] teaching His disciples. He said to them, The Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of men, and they will put Him to death; and when He has been killed, after three days He will rise [ from death]. 32 But they did not comprehend what He was saying, and they were afraid to ask Him [what this statement meant]. 33 And they arrived at Capernaum; and when [they were] in the house, He asked them, What were you discussing and arguing about on the road? 34 But they kept still, for on the road they had discussed and disputed with one another as to who was the greatest. 35 And He sat down and called the Twelve [apostles], and He said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he must be last of all, and servant of all. 36 And He took a little child and put him in the center of their group; and taking him in [His] arms, He said to them  ,

37 Whoever in My name and for My sake accepts and receives and welcomes one such child also accepts and receives and welcomes Me; and whoever so receives Me receives not only Me but Him Who sent Me.

Food for thought!

When they left there, they made their way through Galilee, and Jesus did not wish anyone to know where he was. This passage marks a mile-stone. Jesus had now left the north country where he was safe and was taking the first step towards Jerusalem and to the Cross which awaited him there. FOR ONCE JESUS DID NOT WANT THE CROWDS AROUND HIM. Strange, isn't it? Jesus wanted some time away by himself! Why?

Well, the reason is stated as being, "For He was teaching His disciples." As you know by now, Jesus had different message for different people. He spoke differing messages to different audiences. He had things to tell Pharisees, things to tell everybody, things to tell the Twelve apostles. This time he was teaching just his apostles. What was he teaching them?

"The Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of men, and they will put Him to death; and when He has been killed, after three days He will rise  from death." Jesus knew quite clearly that unless he could write his message on the hearts of his chosen men, he had failed. Any teacher can leave behind him a series of propositions, but Jesus knew that that was not enough. He had to leave behind him a band of persons on whom these propositions were written. He had to make sure, before he left this world in the body, that there were some who understood, however dimly, what he had come to say.

Unfortunately, they did not understand, and could not understand. The gospel says, "But they did not comprehend what He was saying, and they were afraid to ask Him what this statement meant." They could not understand because they were AFRAID TO ASK. Sometimes we are amazed that they did not grasp what was so plainly spoken. The human mind has an amazing faculty for rejecting what it does not wish to know. Are we so very different? Many of us do accept the parts of the Christian message which we like and which suit us, and refuse to understand the rest.

We often refuse to face the truth! We prefer ignorance because we are afraid of the consequences. We deliberately "switch off" our mind and think of what we want. The disciples switched off from what Jesus was teaching them to what they wanted to hear: who's the greatest among them?

Yet in their heart of hearts they knew they were wrong. When he asked them what they had been arguing about they had nothing to say. It was the silence of shame. They had no defence. It is strange how a thing takes its proper place and acquires its true character when it is set in the eyes of Jesus. So long as they thought that Jesus was not listening and that Jesus had not seen, the argument about who should be greatest seemed fair enough, but when that argument had to be stated in the presence of Jesus it was seen in all its unworthiness.

If we took everything and set it in the sight of Jesus it would make all the difference in the world. If of everything we did, we asked, "Could I go on doing this if Jesus was watching me?"; if of everything we said, we asked, "Could I go on talking like this if Jesus was listening to me?" there would be many things which we would be saved from doing and saying. And the fact of Christian belief is that there is no "if" about it. All deeds are done, all words are spoken in his presence. God keep us from the words and deeds which we would be ashamed that he should hear and see.

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Nevil George.