Life as we know it

Hebrews 11:8 - By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.   By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.   And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.   By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offs...

Hebrews 11: 6 - By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. In Genesis 5 the Bible tells us about Noah. Verse 29 - And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. Genesis 6 verse 8 -  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord . Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.   God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.   So make yourself an ark of cypre...

In verse 5 of chapter 11 of the letter to the Hebrews we get reminded of someone who lived very close to God: By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.     When we have a look at the detail in the Bible regarding Enoch, there isn’t much, Genesis Chapter 5 from verse 18: When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away .   ...

As we saw in Hebrews chapter 11, the author refers to Abel as a father of the faith, verse 4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.   In Genesis chapter 4, verse 2, we see the story of Abel: Later she gave birth to his (Cain’s) brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord . And Abel also brought an offering - fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.   Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at ...

I have recently read the letter to the Hebrews a few times. It is quite an interesting letter, for a few reasons. One of them, which I enjoy a lot, is that the author knows the scripture, but does not quote the extract ones. He only refers to the fact that he knows it is written somewhere. It indicates to me that we are all human, all normal. Another interesting part of the Hebrews is the well-known chapter 11. It tells us what faith is, and also lists the fathers of faith:  - Abel,  - Enoch,  - Noah,  - Abraham,  - Isaac,  - Jacob,  - Joseph,  - Moses,  - Rahab, and then a whole list of others, including Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets. We will look at them over the next while or so. True legends of faith. For now, let us have a look at faith. It starts in verse one and catches my eye immediately: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about wha...

These days almost all animation movies are in 3D. We even went to watch a Soccer World Cup 2010 game in 3D. It seemed like we were at the game itself! With 3D it is as if you form part of the movies. Objects fly past you and people stand out from the background. For 3D to be effective, you need to wear one of these: How does it all work, though? For video to work, it requires 3 primary colours: red, blue and green. If all three are not present you won't find colour television. In a 3D movie the developers place two layers of video on to of each other. The one layer does not have red in it, while the other does not contain blue.  Our are eyes are used to see, but it is actually our brains that forms the picture. By virtue of the fact that we put these ridiculous glasses on our eyes, we are able to see the image in 3D. So, how is this relevant to us, apart from the fact that it is interesting? The same thing happens in our everyday life. Everyday there are thin...

Many a time have I wondered what I would do if I had to win the lottery. Not that I play or take part... Would I spend it all, would I invest it, would I start a charity? I do not know yet, but then again, guess I won't have that problem until I play! The bigger question is if the money you have make you truely rich? Most people do not have enough money, even though in SA there is a great devide between rich and poor. How does it happen that we consider ourselves as 'not rich' when we form part of the top 10% income earners? Makes no sense... Money can't buy happiness is the old saying, but if money does not make me rich, what does? I've heard someone saying that the things that makes us rich are those that we cannot buy with money: friends, family, love, respect, a smile, etc. There is a song sung by Lukas Maree, an afrikaans artist that passed away not long ago. He sings about the widdow that had to fill the clay pots with oil. As she kept pouring, mo...