Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 5th of September, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Jeremiah 9:23-24:
”Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me…”
Then we go to 1 Corinthians 1:31:
“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
We’ve got a little pet saying here at Shalom. It goes something like this,”You must attempt something that is so big, if it’s not of God, it is doomed to fail.” Why, you might ask? Because if it works, God gets all the glory. People say, ”He could never have done that in his own strength. It must be God.” We need to give all the glory to God for everything that we achieve, everything that we do. Whether we pass our exams, whether we don’t, whether the business works or it fails, give the glory to God.
I remember like it was yesterday, standing on the platform at King’s Park Rugby Stadium, when everybody said el Nino is coming, told the poor farmers, ”Don’t plant maize this year because it won’t grow.” I said, ”To hell with el Nino. I’m going home and I’m going to plant potatoes.” Now I’d never planted potatoes before on this farm and I had no irrigation. When my neighbours heard what I was going to do, they came over and said, ”Don’t do that Angus because If you do that, you are going to go bankrupt. You need water for potatoes.”
Well, I planted the potatoes and I sweated, let me tell you something right now because many a day, I said, ”Lord, what have I done, but whatever I’ve done, I’m doing it for You.” Well, needless to say, we reaped a crop of potatoes out of dry ground. Everybody knew that was nothing to do with me and everybody gave the glory to God. Today, whatever you do, make sure that the Lord Jesus Christ gets all the praise, honour and glory.
Goodbye and God bless you and keep on planting potatoes.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 4th of September, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in 1 Corinthians 1:17. Paul says:
“For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.”
Then we go ahead to 1 Corinthians 3:6. Paul again:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”
It is so important to know what your role is in this life. Moses was chosen by God to take the Children of Israel out of slavery and out of Egypt. He did that for forty years, he completed his task, and then Joshua took the Children of Israel across the Jordan River into the Land of Milk and Honey. Each one of us has got a specific work to do. That is why Paul said, “I was not called to baptise but to preach the Gospel.”
It is so nice to see a man or a woman operating in the calling God has given them. Let me use an example. Bruce Fordyce, one of our champions in South Africa, has won the Comrades Marathon 9 times. He has won it 8 times consecutively. There is no-one else in the world who has done that folks. Then you get another man by the name of Usain Bolt. He is the fastest human being who has ever run the hundred metres. He ran it in 9.58 seconds. Now I want to tell you something. There is no way Usain Bolt could have run the Comrades. He is not built for that. And there is no way that Bruce Fordyce could run the hundred metres in under 10 seconds. Each one has a specific talent and gift, and I believe it has been given to them by God.
Now, an evangelist is called by God to open the eyes of the blind and to lead people to Jesus. A teacher is one who is called by God to expose the scriptures, open the Bible and explain the finer points of the Bible. A teacher is not an evangelist. Oh yes, he can lead someone to Christ, but he can’t run a campaign with thousands of people and call them to the front. And the same thing applies with an evangelist. He can’t teach. He is not gifted in that area to open the Bible of understanding for people.
Today, ask the Lord to show you what the gift and the calling in your life is, and then stick to it. God will use you powerfully.
Have a wonderful day, Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 3rd of September, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the Book of Hebrews 12:1-2 and I’m reading two verses:
”Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Oh folks, we really need to run this race to the end. We need to finish strong! There’s nothing more sad for me to see than half-built building, where someone has obviously had a vision, put their money and their effort into building a house and halfway through, run out of money, run out of strength and left it derelict. It is an eyesore to the surrounding land. We need to finish the job.
As a farmer, when I look at crops, especially farmers who are so intense. They start so well, they do the land preparation, they put the seed in, the fertiliser, they spray the herbicide, weedicide and then they give up. The crop grows to a metre high and then the weeds take over and the crop is absolutely drowned in the weeds and eventually dies.
We need to finish the job. It doesn’t matter how old or how young you are. Finish the degree, finish your education, finish the job, and then, most importantly, work on that marriage. Do not throw the towel in. Don’t give up. Work on the marriage. Sit down, talk to each other, love each other. God will strengthen the marriage and your children will rejoice when they see mom and dad falling in love again. Yes, it is possible, but it requires commitment. It requires a definite decision to fulfil the commitment that we made on our wedding day.
Let us run that race for Jesus.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 2nd of September, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to that very well-known scripture, Isaiah 40:31:
”But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
The Lord often uses the eagle as an example of how you and I should live. The eagle is a solitary bird, he is an amazing bird. He doesn’t hang around on the power lines with the crows and gossip and talk about all the unsavoury things. No, no, no! He is a solitary bird. You will never see a flock of eagles flying around. No, they are solitary birds. He is majestic in his habits. Yes, he flies alone, and he flies at a very high altitude. They tell me that the eagle has incredibly powerful vision. He can see something like 3 miles away, that is over 5 kms, from where he is flying, and I am just thinking of Proverbs 29:18 - where there is no vision, the people perish.
Some of us need to lift up our eyes. We are looking too low, folks. We really need a vision from God. If you have no vision, that means you have nothing to look forward to, nothing to get up for in the morning, nothing to study about, nothing to work on. We need to be like the eagle. He has got vision. He is also a bird that has got freedom. He is not confined in a space. If you put an eagle in a cage, he will die. He was not designed to be in a cage, neither were you and I. The Lord has set us free. If the Lord sets you free, you will be free indeed.
He has also got incredible strength for his size. I have seen some of those eagles. They will tackle a fox, pick it up with their talons, and destroy it. They have got power and are very bold. He doesn’t spend time eating dead, rotten prey. We, as Christians, we must have a faith that is alive and healthy.
He loves storms. The other birds have to shelter in the storms. He loves the storms. He locks his wings, he catches those thermals in the air and he screams out when the storms get bigger. He doesn’t fly away. As Christians, we need to know that Jesus is with us. He continually renews himself, pulls out his old feathers and allows new ones to grow. He has a personality, leadership abilities, mental habits, sharp focus, and emotional resilience.
Today, let us be like that eagle and make the Lord Jesus proud that we are His children.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 31st of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, …”
Then we go a little bit further to John 15:13:
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
Oh friends, we need to be givers. Our Heavenly Father gave His only Son so that we might have eternal life. I was thinking about that mighty ship called the Titanic. They said it was unsinkable - big mistake. Never say anything like that to God. “It can’t be done”. It went down like a lead weight when it hit an iceberg while going across to America.
But I want to speak to you about a couple of people who were on that ship that we never think about, the real heroes, the givers, and the first one I am thinking about is Chief Engineer, Joseph Bell and his crew. They were working below the waterline. My mother’s brother was a Chief Engineer in the Merchant Navy in the Second World War. These were the brave men. They knew that if they got hit by a torpedo, they would sink. They couldn’t get out. They had to keep the ship sailing. Joseph Bell and his crew kept power and the pumps going to the end. They drowned giving their lives for their fellowmen.
The wireless operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, kept transmitting, they kept on sending out signals, S.O.S. (Save Our Souls); they also drowned. The band kept playing music right up until the ship went down to keep the folks calm and to keep their spirits up. These are just a few of the people who gave their lives willingly so that others might be saved.
Today, think about somebody you can help and especially somebody who cannot give you anything back, because that is what our Father in heaven did. He gave His Son. We cannot possibly repay Him. All we can say is thank You, Father, for allowing Your Son to die for sinners like us.
Go out today and be Jesus to those who have nothing.
God bless you and goodbye.