Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Good Friday, the 3rd of April, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
I’m going to read from the Gospel of John 15:13-14 (Amplified Version):
No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends. You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you.”
This is a very, very solemn day. It’s a good day to come aside, wait and think and meditate on what Jesus has done for you and for me today. If He had not died on that cross, we would never, ever be able to receive eternal life. Have you thought about that? God became flesh. He died for you and me so that we have an opportunity to live forever.
I went to Israel, the one time I went, I can’t remember exactly the year, I went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. I know there are two places where they say that Jesus was buried. The one is in the Garden Tomb which is very special and very intimate and the other is a huge church in the middle of the Old City. As I walked through those doors, I sat on a little bench just inside the door and I looked up, and on the other side of that passage there are steps that go up to where they say, the Lord Jesus was crucified, and I’ve never done it before but I have felt so overwhelmed by the presence of God and what Jesus did for me, I started to weep and I didn’t just weep gently. I wept and my dear wife, Jill, had to put her arm around me and comfort me and she said, ”Are you alright?” and I just nodded. The massive price that Christ paid for all of my sins! I want to say to you today, sit down somewhere, please. Have a cup of tea or coffee and think and give glory to God for what He has done for you and for me.
We had a Mighty Men Conference on the farm here, many years ago. We called it, Dying to Live. If you want to live, you have to die, die to self and start to live for Christ because that’s what Jesus did for you and for me on Easter Friday when He was crucified, an innocent Man, for our sins. I want to pray for you today. Maybe you’ve never done it before.
Jesus, please forgive me for I am a sinner and I have messed up so badly. Please give me another chance. Thank you, that through your death I have an opportunity to have eternal life. I ask this in Your precious name, amen.
God bless you and have a peaceful Easter Friday.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 2nd of April, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the Gospel of John 13:14:
“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet”.
Spoken by the Prince of Glory humbled Himself and washed the dirty, dusty feet of His servants, His disciples. What an example!
Then we go to Acts 6:5:
“And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit,…”
What happened? The apostles were so busy trying to feed the widows and the orphans and take care of the needy that they were not spending enough time in prayer and preparation and preaching. They said, “We will have to bring some men in that can do the menial jobs so that we can spend time in the presence of God. And who did they choose? They chose Stephen and a number of other men. Stephen was a man who became the first martyr in the New Testament. Folks, we need to understand something - If we want to really be used by God, we must humble ourselves. We must serve one another.
We have a men's prayer meeting early in the morning, and the boys come together. This morning we were at that meeting and what a beautiful meeting it was! A lot of these men are ordinary working men. And women, I want to say to you as well, I just love that housewife. Oh yes, yes - what a job you have got! Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a housewife. She was chosen to serve, to wait upon the greatest Man who has ever walked on the face of the earth and He is coming back soon. As we contemplate Easter, Easter Friday will be tomorrow, as we think about that, l want to say to you, let us start to serve one another.
Men always banter. Do you know what banter means? It doesn’t mean that they are sarcastic, but they joke with each other, that is what men do, and this morning I had to laugh because the electrician in the group did a bit of plumbing and the plumber wasn’t very happy with it. He said, “You are coming into my territory”, and they had a good banter and we all had a great laugh, but do you know what they do, both of those men? They serve their fellowmen. They fix the electrics when they break, they fix the dirty plumbing when it needs to be done, and they do it unto the Lord.
Today, let us be waiters and serve one another as we think about Easter.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 1st of April, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Acts 5:42:
“And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”
That is just after they had been given a severe beating and told by the High Priest not to mention the name of Jesus Christ again. And what happened? They went straight out and they were rejoicing and they started to tell the people about their beloved Saviour.
When was the last time that you and I stood up in public and said, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of salvation to those who believe, first the Jew, then the Gentile”? Romans 1:16, and then that beautiful scripture that you find in Romans 5:3:
“…but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
Oh folks, we need to speak it out! I will never forget preaching in the Eastern Cape, many years ago. I love those farmers down there, and at half time I decided to shoot into the bathroom and an old farmer came in. He said to me, “Young boy, when you preach, you don’t have to sweat so much.” (In other words, “you don’t have to try so hard.”) I said, “Oh sir” I said, “Wait for the second half. You haven’t heard anything yet!”
There is nothing like perseverance, there is nothing like persecution, to get you to stand up for the Lord. Look what is happening in the persecuted church in the eastern part of the world. We think of Iran, the amount of people who are coming to Christ. We think of China. These are the places where people are not ashamed of the Gospel. They are dying for their faith.
I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
I have decided to follow Jesus,
No turning back, praise the Lord, no turning back.
If you can’t say it, whistle it, but do something!
Jesus bless you today as you speak it out.
Bye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 31st of March, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in Philippians 3:12:
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
What a beautiful scripture! Then the next one just to confirm it, is found in the Book of Hebrews 12:1:
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,…”
Oh my dear friend, there is no stopping now, no ways! There is no resting, but rather we are pressing on towards our eternal home in Heaven. You say I cannot take it anymore. The road is too hard, it is too steep, it is too narrow, it is too stony. Keep on keeping on. Do not allow any distractions to hold you back. I am thinking of the mighty Comrades Marathon - 90 odd kilometres. When you're tired, and the heat is bearing down on you and those hills are looking absolutely impossible to run over, you say to yourself, “I can’t anymore”. And then what happens? A courtesy vehicle rides up, and lovely coffee, the door opens and the people inside say, ‘Look, you are looking very tired. Don’t you want to stop?” But you know what happens, when you step into that vehicle, they take the number off your chest and you are disqualified. The race is over for you.
Do not stop. Do not let that vehicle tempt you to throw in the towel. Then you carry on, and you carry on, and then all of a sudden you come up next to a beautiful shady tree on the side of the road, and you feel, “If I just sit down for a minute and have a rest I’ll be fine.” Don’t do it because you will never get up again. Keep on running the race which the Lord is running with you. You are not running on your own. Keep your eye on the finish line and never look back and I want to tell you, you will make it to the end.
There is a cloud of witnesses waiting for you at the finish line, all your loved ones who have gone before you. They are clapping. Keep running, you are nearly there, and the worst thing of course is to look behind you. When you look behind you, you normally don’t finish the race. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and He will see you through.
Have a wonderful day, keep running the race and remember if Christ is for you, there is no man who will stand against you.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 30th of March, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Isaiah 8:10:
“…God is with us.”
Isn’t that a beautiful comfort to know? And then we go to Romans 8:31:
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Isn’t that a beautiful reassurance?
Lastly, we go to Acts 5:39. You see, what had happened was that the High Priest and his people were trying to persecute Peter and the apostles, and there was a tremendous fight going on. Then there was a wise man amongst the elders. His name was Gamaliel. When they were arguing about whether we should put them to death or put them in jail? And of course, the jail couldn’t hold them! Gamaliel said to them, to all the elders and the High Priest in Acts 5:39:
‘…if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.”
We need to give people a chance. We need to give them an opportunity to prove themselves. If it is of God, it will work. If it is not of God, it will fail anyway.
You see, I am a farmer. We’ll have a newborn calf. It may not be the prettiest of all the calves, but give it a chance to grow, and it will surprise you. If you are a fruit farmer, doesn’t the Bible say leave that tree for the fourth year before you start to reap it for commercial use. We have a little school that is part of us here, this school has a headmaster, not so young anymore, but he has been with us for many, many years and sometimes I would go to him and say, “I really believe we need to give this young man an opportunity. He has failed, but we need to give him a chance.” And the headmaster would say to me, “Just leave him for a couple of years and let’s see the kind of fruit that he produces.” Wise man!
I want to say to you today, maybe it is your son, maybe it is your daughter and you don’t know what to do because you are trusting that they are going to change, but they don’t seem to be changing, give them an opportunity. That employee, don’t just write him off. Give him a chance to prove himself and he might end up as your best worker. Let’s be like Gamaliel today. Let us not be so quick to cut the tree down, to sell the calf, to write that child off. Let us give them an opportunity to prove themselves and you know something, nine times out of ten, with lots of prayer and love, they will surprise us.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.