Christian Comment with Christine Colby, Methodist Local Preacher

THERE can be many times in our lives when we need to withdraw from the business of our lives and have ‘time out,’ away from things.

Even Jesus needed to spend time away from the business of life to rest, reflect and pray.

Leading up to Easter, many Christians spend time reflecting on what God has done through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ points to the loving relationship God wants to have with all people, regardless of who they are or what they have done.

The gracious act of His Son, Jesus, who allowed himself to die on a cross as a sacrifice offering each one of us the hope that we can be forgiven; we can begin again.

One Lent reading reflected on how we judge one another.

Sometimes it is a good judgement but sometimes not.

The reading reflects on the fact it is not up to us to judge another but to love one another and focus more on what we, ourselves, do and say.

After all, we do not know all there is to know about another person – only God does. Jesus calls us to love God and to love our neighbour but many tend to ask ‘who is our neighbour?’ surely not him/her…..?

Unfortunately when people judge and condemn another they can end up not allowing the person to receive the forgiveness and love that God offers.

Jesus died to set people free; free from the guilt of past mistakes and free from the fear of death.

People may not forgive but a personal faith in Christ’s life, death and resurrection enables a person to forgive themselves, move on and really live as God intended.

None of us are perfect.

We can either allow our failures to destroy us or we can come to Jesus, believing in who He is, know that we are forgiven when we say sorry and be free to live.

This Good News is a good thing to reflect on at this time of year.