The Battle of Self

A very good morning to you! It is Monday morning, 31st of January, the year 2022 and this is your friend Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

“After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.”

Job 3:1

Remember, Job had lost everything. Our biggest enemy is ourselves, it is not the devil - The devil is a non-starter. All he can do is tell lies, he is the father of all lies and the deceiver of the brethren.

You are sitting there, I am sitting here and we say: "We can't take it anymore Lord.” - And that is exactly what Job was thinking when he lost everything- his family, his farm and his house. He was sick and he was humiliated. He was sitting in ashes, full of painful boils from the top of his head to the very soles of his feet. But you and I need to do what Job did. We need to stand up, dust ourselves off and today, we need to get back into the fight. Yes, the very fight of our lives! It is not a skirmish, it is not a dummy-run! No, this is the real thing. From here it is home time to Heaven.

We need to keep on keeping on but the good news is that we are not alone because Jesus is going with us every step of the way. You say, “But we have messed up.” Well, welcome to the club - Haven’t we all? If you look in the Bible, Moses who took the Israelites out of Egypt was a murderer. He messed up, didn’t he? David, the hero of Israel, was an adulterer. Peter, the leader of the pack, the big fisherman - he was a liar... He denied Christ three times. Paul who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament persecuted the Christians. But what did they all have in common? They repented. They said sorry and they got up again and they carried on, just like you and I are going to do today.

One of my favourite scriptures in the Bible is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Now let's carry on with the race today. Let's not look behind us, let's look ahead and I am telling you, Jesus will see us through. That finish line is a lot closer than we realize.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.