Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 26th of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go first of all to the Book of Joshua 14:7. This is Caleb speaking:
”I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me…”
I’ll stop right there and then we go down to verse 10. He continues and he says:
”…these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old.”
Oh folks, what a man, hey? We’re talking about Caleb. He was sent by Moses, by the Lord, to go and spy out the land. He was only forty years old. He came back with a good report, and then we see that only he and Joshua were the two who survived from the whole nation of Israel that was set free from Egypt as slaves.
Now Joshua said to him, ”You can choose any part of the promised land for your home because of your good service.” What did he say? ”Give me the big mountain where the big giants live.” It says he was as strong when he was eighty-five years old as he was when he was forty. What a miracle but we haven’t finished there.
Then we go to Luke 3:23.
“Now Jesus began His ministry at about He was thirty years of age…”
and we know that He died on the cross for our sins, three years later. His whole ministry spanned a mere three years.
I want to speak to you about age. Age is just a number. There’s that old song, I can’t remember exactly who sang it. He said, ”How old would you feel if you did not know the year you were born.” That’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? You’ll feel as old as you feel because you’re walking with the Lord.
You see, the faithfulness of God to Caleb was because Caleb lived a holy life. Numbers 14:24:
”But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land…” (which was of course the promised land.)
An amazing man! Through holiness and spending time with the Lord and dedicating his life to the Lord, and what about Jesus? His ministry only lasted three years and He changed the whole world.
Today, use this day as if it were the last day you were going to live and live it to the full, and God will do the rest.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 25th of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the New Testament, Romans 13:1:
”Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.”
Then we go back to Matthew 22:20-21:
”And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?'” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
We have to obey the authorities. I can hear somebody right now getting very hassled, ”How can I obey a corrupt situation?” Well, when the Pharisees confronted Jesus about this very thing, the Romans were oppressing the Jews at that very time and yet Jesus said we must obey the law.
I remember many years ago, I was down in the Eastern Cape. I had been invited to speak on a panel to farmers. There were a number of us. I don’t like panels, by the way, because you get put on the spot in front of everybody, and often you don’t even have time to think about it. There were five or six of us on this panel, and there was a group of farmers, and one farmer got up, he was quite upset. He said, ”How can I pay taxes to a corrupt governing authority?” And he aimed the question straight at me. For a moment, I didn’t know what to say because it is a very difficult question, and God is speaking to somebody right now. You are trying to justify why you are not paying your income tax. My friend, don’t do that because Jesus said, ”You must give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” Anyway, I said to that upset farmer who stood up in front of everybody, I said, ”Do you have a ten rand note in your pocket?” He said, ”Yes.” I said, ”Can you bring it to me, please?” And I took the ten rand note and I said, ”Whose name is on that note?” He said, ”It’s the name of the government.” I said, ”Well, give to the government what is due to the government and give to God what is due to God.” And that was the end of the story.
I want to say to you, there are a lot of things in this world that are not fair, but I want to tell you that if you start doing your own thing, there will be chaos when everybody does their own thing. We have to obey the authorities, and we have to pray that God will convict them if there is dishonesty and unfair governance.
Let us concentrate today on what God has told us to do, and He will see to it that we, in the end, are justified.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 24th of August 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Joshua 14:2:
“Their inheritance was by lot, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses,…”
Then we go straight to the Book of Romans 2:11:
“For there is no partiality with God.”
Isn’t that wonderful? God has got no favourites. No, no teacher’s pets! And I am so happy about that because I didn’t feature too well at school. I can tell you right now, He has no favourites. That is why I love Jesus Christ so much. He chose me with all my imperfections, and He loves you just as much.
They used to draw straws, that is what drawing a lot is. So there would be 4 or 5 straws. The one who chooses the shortest straw is the one who gets the position. There can be no favourites. It has nothing to do with size, it has nothing to do with intellect, it has nothing to do with roots, where your family came from, what part of the railway line you grew up on, the good side or the poor side. It is purely because the Lord loves you and He loves me.
I used to say to my mother, “Mom, did you give my brother more food than me when we were small?” (Because my brother is 6 ft 3” and I am 5 ft 8.5”). My brother was a professional sportsman all his life. I could barely hit a golf ball, let alone make a score. Folks, I want to say to you - it’s good news today - maybe you are feeling like you have been left out, that God has forgotten you. No, no, no, no! God has not forgotten you. He loves you so much that He even gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for your salvation. I want to pray for you.
Lord, I pray for my dear friends today, that they would understand clearly that You have no favourites, and that from the day we were born, You have loved us unconditionally, whether we have made it or we haven’t made it according to the world’s standard.
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
John 15:13 - and that is exactly what You did for us, and we love You for it, Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
God bless you and remember - you are special in the sight of God. Have a wonderful day!
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 23rd of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day. We start in the Book of Exodus 20:3:
“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Then we go to Matthew 19:22:
”But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
Nothing must come before the sovereignty of God, Jesus first all the time! A man by the name of Guthrie wrote something which I thought was quite challenging. He says, ”If you find yourself beginning to love any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than your Bible, any house better than God’s house, any table better than the Lord’s table, any person better than your Saviour, anyone better than your soul, a present indulgence better than the hope of Heaven, take alarm.” Folks, that really, really rocked me.
Now you see the rich young ruler said to Jesus, "I obey all the commandments, right from when I was a young boy.” But Jesus said to him, "Give away all your riches and come and follow after Me.” The Bible says he couldn’t do it, he walked away because his riches, his possessions, were worth more to him than following Jesus.
I remember a minister telling me many years ago that he believed that Jesus was standing, looking at him, with tears running down His face because that young man was on his way to hell. I also believe, and so did that minister, that if he had said, ”Lord, I will follow You,” the Lord would have given him back all his riches. The Lord doesn’t need your riches, my friend. He doesn’t need my riches. He doesn’t need your reputation, He doesn’t need my reputation. He needs us, and today let us take note of anything in our lives. The Lord says in Matthew 6:33:
”But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
He doesn’t want to spoil your life. No, He wants to give you life abundantly. That’s what He said in John 10:10. Today, let’s put Jesus first and then He will ensure that we get the rest.
God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 22nd of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
Psalm 23:1: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Then we go straight to Romans 12:12:
“…rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer…”
This morning we want to speak about memory verses. As a brand-new Christian, I started to memorise scriptures. The first one I memorised was, of course, John 3:16:
”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
The second one: 1 John 1:9:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
These are scriptures that have kept me going for close on 50 years. I want to encourage that young child, driving to school with mom at the moment, listening to this, to start to memorise Scripture because when you get into a tough spot in life, and you don’t have access to your Bible, you can remember the word of God. It will keep you going.
Now, let’s look at Romans 12:12:
Number one: Rejoicing in hope - so we get excited. We hope that the Lord will bless us with a good crop of maize this coming season. We are hoping, by the grace of God, that we will pass our exam at school and that this business venture will not fail. We are hoping that we will meet the right man who will become our husband, rejoicing in hope!
Then the second one: Patient in tribulation - when the going gets tough, you have to hang in there and trust God and not panic. Whether it is a financial decision, or you have been to the doctor and he says you are very sick, there is not much hope for you. Patient in tribulation: “Lord, I am trusting You. You are my Healer.” Patient when things are going very tough, patient because they are going to come right!
And then, listen to this: Continuing steadfastly in prayer - You pray in the morning, you pray in the evening, you pray at lunchtime, you pray while you are walking, you pray while you are running, you pray while you are cycling, pray while you are riding your horse. Prayer must become a lifestyle. Then you will find things will change.
There is an older lady listening to this programme right now. She says, “My memory is very poor. I can’t remember things, Angus.” Well, I am going to give you one verse to start with. Mark 11:22:
“Have faith in God.”
That’s it. Let’s memorise that one first. Have a wonderful day!
Jesus bless you and goodbye!