Bible Society of South Africa

Do you want a new life … or for someone else? – 1 August 2022

By Fanie Richter

Se(di)ngolwa (t)sa Bibele

TSHENOLO 21

5Ya dutseng teroneng a re: “Bona, ke ntjhafatsa tsohle.” A ba a re: “Ngola: Dipolelo tsena di a tshepahala, ke tsa nnete.”

TSHENOLO 21:5SSO89SOBula ka mmadi wa Bibele

ESAYA 1

18“Tloong re lokise ditaba,”

ho rialo Morena.

“Leha dibe tsa lona

di ka ba kgubedu,

di tla sweufala jwaloka lehlwa;

leha di ka ba kgubedu tlere!

di tla sweufala jwaloka boya.

ESAYA 1:18SSO89SOBula ka mmadi wa Bibele

2 BAKORINTHE 5

17Ka tsela ena, ha motho a le ho Kreste, ke mmopuwa e motjha; tsa kgale di fetile, tse ntjha di hlahile. 18Tsena tsohle di tswa ho Modimo, ya ileng a re boelanya le yena ka Kreste, a ba a re nea mosebetsi wa ho boelanya batho ba bang le yena.

2 BAKORINTHE 5:17-18SSO89SOBula ka mmadi wa Bibele

Have you tried everything to get a kick out of life, and then felt, “So what!?” Here I sit again, the four walls around me and the silence are the same as usual. I feel as lonely and empty as before the party. And I am missing out on LIFE …

Or do you think of someone for whom you have “no hope”? In my youth, I knew André (pseudonym) – about 20 years old and “self-made” on the face of it, proud of his reckless life. I was just a friend to him and sometimes remembered him in my prayers.

About two years after changing jobs and moving, I ran into him at Johannesburg station one day – neatly dressed and friendly when he greeted me. And when he heard that I was going to study theology the following year, he grabbed my hand with a “Praise the LORD!” He then told me how the Lord had begun to renew his life after running into a group of Christians on his way somewhere. Amazing! The last thing I heard about him was that he lives for the Lord heart and soul.

God can and wants to do the same for you or the person you are thinking of, as he did for André – and also for me. Be still and pour out your heart before him.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please come and meet me (or the other person) and renew us, according to your will, so that we can experience your counsel, peace and love – according to your will and purpose with us. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

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