Letters From Alistair Begg

Dear Friend,

Warmest New Year’s greetings from all of us. Your generous partnership throughout 2020 has made it possible for Truth For Life to finish the year strong and begin 2021 with a real sense of responsibility and expectation. Like me, you will have grown accustomed to hearing people say of last year, “I’ll be glad when this is over.” In light of the peculiar challenges and in the face of uncertainty and loss, that refrain is not surprising. However, we believe that every day is a gift from the Lord and that our times are in His hands, and this corrects our temptation to wish our lives away. It is all too easy to forget that all we have and all we are is a gift of God’s grace.

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from Alistair, Susan, and their grandchildren, Annabelle, Romy, Matilda, Leona, Ellerie, Maggie, and Niall

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Warmest Christmas greetings!

We have almost made it to the end of what will prove to be one of the strangest years in our lifetimes. How reassuring to know that Emmanuel means “God with us.”

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Dear Friend,

You will probably be reading this letter within days of the election. If, as we are led to believe, the result will not be known for some time, here is an exercise for us—it is biblical, and practical, and extremely beneficial:

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Dear Friend,

“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them.” Most of us find it hard to imagine what imprisonment would be like, and even harder to empathize with its reality.

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Dear Friend,

It is more than a little disconcerting to face the fact that every day I find myself responding to questions by saying, “I don’t know.” Now, I should explain that these questions are not about the Gospel but concern the issues surrounding the pandemic. No doubt you can identify with this.

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Dear Friend,

When I am asked to name my favorite movie, my answer hasn’t changed in nearly forty years. It is Chariots of Fire. Nominated in seven categories at the 54th Academy Awards, it was an unexpected winner of four Oscars, including Best Picture. In 1982, the applause rang out in Hollywood, just as it did in 1945 at the cemetery in the Weihsien Internment Camp in China when Eric Henry Liddell made an abundant entry into heaven.

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Dear Friend,

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” This lyric put to music written by Burt Bacharach dates from 1965, but the message is up to date. The Beatles gave us “All You Need Is Love,” and Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver! posed the question “Where is love?”

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Dear Friend,

“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone?” Joni Mitchell was referring to parks being replaced with pavements. Many of us have found the sentiment to be true in terms of our being unable to enjoy friendly gatherings, church services, mealtimes in local restaurants, and more. Even some who live alone have testified to feeling alone in their aloneness. On a recent morning, as I had begun to bemoan another lockdown day, I read Hebrews 13:6: “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” Although we may be in lockdown, Jesus is never locked out!

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Dear Friend,

I am pretty sure that a number of us have found ourselves turning to the concluding verses of Habakkuk during these somewhat daunting days. The prophet, much like Job and sometimes the psalmist, is having a hard time reconciling the difficulties God’s people face with His promise to protect and provide. Resolution comes when he turns to God in prayer and reminds himself that “God, the Lord, is my strength,” and so although he may be faced with a series of material disasters, yet he “will rejoice in the Lord” and “take joy in the God of my salvation.” I encourage you to read the short prophecy. Remember Paul’s words to the church at Rome: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

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