Christian Comment with Brendan Conboy, Brimscombe

Three Rs

IT HAS been said that if you give someone a fish, you will feed them for a day.

Yet if you teach them to fish, you will feed them for life.

Education is essential for our independence and the best future possible, but our education system it would seem is far from perfect.

One small thing that often niggles me is the expression of the basic “Three Rs” – reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmatic.

We all know that these three are essentially important, but the incorrect spelling is slightly ironic.

It has also been said that: “The attention is in the detail.”

Does this mean that if we change the detail, the truth is distorted?

Let’s look at three examples:

1) If I live in a kennel, does that make me a dog?

No, of course not.

2) If I sleep in a hen house, does that make me a chicken?

No, to think that is just silly.

3) If I go to church, does that make me a Christian?

Sorry, no it doesn’t.

Jesus told Nicodemus: “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3).

I read this for the first time thirty years ago and then I did three things:

1) I asked for forgiveness.

2) I invited Jesus into my life.

3) I repented (turned around and went the other way).

Now, after 30 years, I recognise God’s Three Rs:

1) God is REAL.

2) The Bible is RELEVANT.

3) Jesus wants a RELATIONSHIP with each one of us.

That’s what I have and I pray the same for you.

Going to a church may feed you for a day, but a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus will feed you for life.