Dr Margaret's Treasure Chest

Most people love receiving gifts and are grateful for the giver's generosity. Gifts arrive on birthdays and other special occasions, and some come out of the blue, just because we are loved. Sometimes we can choose our gifts, and sometimes we hope for things without knowing whether we will ever get what we hoped for.   Recently, I came across the results of a survey showing that many people hope they will get to heaven by being a good person. Or they are doing enough good works to balance imaginary judgment scales in their favour. Others believe it is important to have some kind of faith, no matter which one that may be. The interesting thing here is that people focus on hope or faith, which prompts the question: How do we know that our faith is valid and absolutely reliable? How do we know it will achieve what we are hoping for?    I am sure that most of you have sat on many different chairs during your lifetime. Think about it for a moment… You sat on each one of t...

What picture does the word desert evoke in your mind? I see a wide expanse of barrenness, and if I were lost in it without food and water, I would surely perish. But if I lived among green pastures, there would be plenty of food and water to sustain me. Have you ever wondered how God sees this world? When I asked this question in Scripture classes, the children usually answered, ‘He sees good people and bad people.’ While the words good and bad might need some defining, God indeed sees what people do. But more importantly, He sees what they are and to whom they belong. God also sees two types of people, but what He sees may surprise you: God sees those who are born physically but are dead spiritually and reside in Satan’s domain, and those who are born again spiritually by the Spirit of God and are alive and in God’s kingdom forevermore. Let’s imagine we are watching a world divided into two kingdoms: Satan’s kingdom to the left – a huge expanse of desert – and God’s k...