aftershock.org.uk
devotional mp3 podcasts for young people

Have you notice how everyone is looking for someone to blame? It’s the council’s fault that I tripped and hurt myself on the pavement. It’s the restaurants fault that my coffee was hot and I spilt it on myself. It’s my schools faults that I stayed out and didn’t study for my exam. It’s my parent’s fault that my life is difficult. It’s Gods fault that I am ill and life is hard. And that’s not new. Even in the times that Jesus walked on this earth it happened. So is it all Gods fault or is it our fault. If you ask the question why does God allow people to be hurt you will get all types of well meaning answers. I could rattle off some standard answer about why this guy was blind, about why someone you know has died, about why God seems to allow suffering to continue, but would that help you? The truth is I don’t know that we can really understand all that God does and all that God allows. But I am also not sure we need to know. When you were little did you know how to make ice cream? Did that stop you enjoying ice cream? Of course not you didn’t need to know how it was made to enjoy it. You may not know how electricity works. But that doesn’t stop you enjoying the benefit of electricity running your TV, games console or computer. That’s how I see God during the times that I have questions. I simply say God I don’t know why you allowed this to happen to me, I know you have the power to stop it but for some reason you didn’t. Then I look around at all the good stuff God has allowed in my life and ask him for the strength to move on. Hey when we get to Heaven we can ask him all the questions we want. I suspect the answers may seem a little irrelevant by then.

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »

What’s going on here one moment were told that God is our Father and then a bit later Jesus is saying that the Devil is the father? Why would the Devil be our father? Well I guess it comes down to the choice doesn’t it. We know that the Devil runs around the world like a mad lion looking for a way to tempt us. It’s not something to be afraid of because we also know that Jesus has beaten the Devil by dieing on the cross for us. But that said we still have a choice don’t we? We can fall for the Devils schemes and lie and cheat our way through this world. In which case we are making the Devil our Father because he is the one we are listening to. Or we can truly accept God as our Father and follow him, accepting Jesus and doing what we know is right, and this makes God our Father. Hey it’s fairly simple really and the choice is yours. Of course for every choice we make there is a consequence.

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Trapped in slavery that’s what Jesus was warning about, and the answer? Jesus says that the answer is freedom, freedom that he gives. You may hear people you know laugh at the idea that they are enslaved in the same way as the Pharisees did in this chapter. “Were not slaves” they shouted and still people shout the same thing today. “I’m no slave I have a great time drinking, sleeping with whoever I want, doing the occasional drug, I’m no slave.” But all too often these selfish acts are just hidden slave drivers. How often have you heard about someone who becomes addicted to drugs, at which point their lives crash about them? All too often people become addicted to drink and the chains that bind them keep them away from family and God. Some people even become slaves to success as they seek to climb the ladder in their chosen career, only to find that the reward is a set of chains, a broken life and friends and family that hardly know them. Does it seem a million miles away from where you are now? Sitting in school or college do you think that these things couldn’t possibly be a problem for you? But all these slaveries come about from a need to seek approval from other people and not the one true God. Looking to please other people and worry about what they think is a road to chains and slavery. Don’t seek to please others, seek to please God, and Jesus will really break the chains and set you free.

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »

These guys are off on one again completely misunderstanding who Jesus was and is. As it says in another part of the Bible they just need the eyes of their heart opened up to see the truth. But to be honest you can understand how they might get confused on this whole Father thing can’t you? When you hear people pray they go off on one, Father this, Father that, I mean what’s that all about? I don’t know about you but I’ve got a Dad and yes he’s a good bloke, but he’s not a saint and he would be the first to say that. So If I am supposed to think that this God is someone who is always right and will never fail me then I find calling him Father a bit odd. I mean my Dad has let me down, my Dad has been wrong, my Dad has disappointed me and I him. I’ve been afraid to tell my Dad something and I’ve know that my Dad still remembers stuff I’ve done wrong even when I say sorry. And yet people tell me that I have a Father God in Heaven who will do none of those things, what’s going on? Do you know people who’s father was not the loving father but the type who actually hurt them, how can they relate to a God who is described as a Father? Stop Stop Stop! We just have to take onboard the meaning behind the word that’s Jesus uses as Father. When Jesus uses this word he is talking of an all loving, all knowing creator God is the Father to the whole universe. Our Fathers may not live up to this impossible image but that does not take away from the love your Father God feels for you. So if you are one of those guys who doesn’t understand this whole Father thing, don’t base the ultimate love that God gives you on the best a flawed human can give.

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Don’t judge other peoples actions before your sort out your own actions, leave that up to God. Now we have wrapped that up, lets have a cola. Or is there more to pull out of Jesus actions? Jesus is faced with a problem, in this passage the law stated that the woman should be put to death. She should be taken outside and have rocks thrown at her until she died a painful death. This was in obvious conflict with what Jesus had taught and was to teach, so what was the answer. We know that Jesus had wisdom beyond any ordinary man so he could have simply thrown back an answer that would have blown these Pharisee geeks away. So why did he bend down and write on the ground? What was he writing? Was he taking a deep breath before giving an answer because the Pharisees had wound him up so much? Was he thinking of an answer? Was he praying to his Father? In truth we do not know, but I believe that the approach Jesus took to this problem in his life can teach us so much. When we come across problems, do we pause and pray to our Father in heaven before we make a decision? Do we count to ten before rushing of and giving an answer that’s comes from our own mind rather then an answer we ask God about? Next time you are asked a question or come across a problem, maybe you should bend down and scratch something out on the earth whilst you chat to you Father God.

Author - Max Cross, Uncategorized | No Comments »