Never Get Too Busy

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, 16th January, 2023. This is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start with Proverbs 27:17:

“As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”

And then we go straight to Romans 16:16:
“Greet one another with a holy kiss. The churches of Christ greet you.”

Do you know that the first sixteen verses of Romans 16 is Paul sending greetings to his friends? Now the main objective of this message I am sending you today, and everyday for the last thousand days plus, “The Thought for Today”, is to keep in touch with you. That’s it - to remind you that I love you and, more importantly, that Jesus loves you so much... Also to let you know that I have got your back, oh yes! 

You know, a little text message takes how long on your phone? “I prayed for you this morning, John.” Not a generalised one that goes out to everybody but a specific one - It touches a person’s heart so much. There are so many lonely people in the world at the moment, they are not all old by the way, most of them are young people. A phone call: “Are you okay?”, thats all they need to know or an email: “I just want you to know that I prayed for you this morning again..." And of course, best of all, is a handwritten letter.  

Now, you might say that’s snail-mail but I want to tell you that a handwritten letter means so much to me. “Why?” you might ask. Because it takes time and it takes effort. It is something that you can keep and cherish. I have got copies of letters that Dr David Livingstone wrote, right from Central Africa, right in the very heart of our beloved continent. I have got those letters and I love to look at them. 

You know, my little grandchildren often pop in to come and see Khulu (My Zulu name) and Gogo (My wife’s Zulu name) - granny and grandad - they just pop along, walk in and say, “Hello Khulu, hello Gogo!” They don’t stay long, maybe five or ten minutes. Often I make a big mistake: I say: “What have you come for?” They look and they say, “We haven’t come for anything. We’ve just come to say hello”. “Did your mom and dad send you?” “No, we came on our own.”  

You know it brings a tear to my eye. It means more to me than if I had a visit from some international celebrity because I always have to ask myself the question, “What does he want?” Jesus always had time to visit and to greet. He loved staying in Bethany, at Mary and Martha’s house and spending time with His good friend, Lazarus. Never get too busy, today, give someone a call.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.