Ok so I have decided that I may have returned and although I may not need to blog to keep people informed of my where abouts and what I am doing all the time I can certainly try and use this little web space to encourage and to keep in contact with people.
Anyway here is a brief run down of what has happened since returning to the Emerald Isle. I celebrated Christmas and New year with Family and then searched for a job. I got a job but after disagreeing with the moral practices of the company decided to leave and am currently unemployed but seriously thinking about the possibility of Bible college. I guess that is really all to tell for 3 months back home.
Tomorrow I will be going to England to attend a conference on Christianity in the public sphere. It is run by Christian Concern and is called the Wilberforce Academy, named after William Wilberforce the MP who was fundamental in the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. As I thought about this I decided I wanted to investigate a little bit more about Wilberforce and I really have to admit I truly admire the man. He was a young politician in 1780′s a man with so many opportunities at his feet yet whilst holidaying with a Christian friend he, at 25 years old, felt convicted of his sin and converted to Christ. He was then faced with the dilemma to stay in politics or not and a not so young pastor named John Newton encouraged him to continue on and make a difference where he was. He was being called into an environment of self ambition and preservation where status was the most important thing. Yet He clearly sought God’s face in everything he wrote:
Of all things, guard against neglecting God in the secret place of prayer.
He seems to have really sought after God’s face and was not affraid to be different in a world so clearly desiring status, money and power. When he saw the slave trade for what it really was it fired his conscience and he said this :
So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the Trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for Abolition. Let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.
He then sought to help abolish the slave trade and in 1807 he was able to get a law passed that broke part of the slave trade. Yet it took until 1833 and three days before his death until the slave trade was completely abolished. It is a truly amazing story of a young man who fought and fought to honor God in a difficult place and difficult time. I have greatly been encouraged by his life and it really is a breath of fresh air looking at men like these especially when we look around us today.
Wilberforce sought to be holy despite what his peers and probably his heart at times desired. In 1 Peter we see Peter also call us to do so as he says
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.
I genuinely love how it says that we should set our hope on the grace to be brought. It is amazing how gracious and merciful God is to us. I really hope that Wilberforce encourages you as it did me but also that the desire to be holy because of God’s grace motivates you. Also if you want to know more about Wilberforce the movie amazing grace is actually quite good and enjoyable too. I leave you guys with this little song which is in the movie but is also a old classic redone.
So have a great week and God bless.
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