Words from a Branch

  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17 ESV             These words come from the high priestly prayer of our Lord the Christ, and express His desire and aspiration for the whole Church. Here He wishes the Church to be brought into perfection, by perfect alignment with the word of God that is the Bible. God’s word is absolute truth, unchanging (Psalm 119:89), and effective (Isaiah 55:11). It is therefore a firm foundation, steady and unmoving, consistent throughout the ages. At the same time, it is able without any adjustment to answer the challenges of humanity in all seasons. It is thus the perfect standard to which we must adhere.             The difficulty is that men like to form their own foundations, and to adjust the dimensions of the buildings to suit there own ideas, for as it is said throughout the book of Proverbs, “There is a way that...

            There are many places which we might think worthless. Generic buildings repeated over and over again in every town signifying nothing important or special to society at large; or small preserves of nature lacking anything extraordinary to the perception of the community as a whole, these might be done away with and nothing would be lost. So we think as we gaze on another box of concrete, steel, and glass set in a sea of pavement, or a little vacant lot tucked away between the more noteworthy spaces. These offer us no great historical significance, no architectural or natural wonders, no unique opportunities of any kind: so we think. Thus, we destroy these places and spaces without a second thought, anticipating that the next occupying structure will be more worthy than the last. We see only gain, but in truth each time we remove and rebuild we lose something irreplaceable.        ...