Paul Brand was a brilliant medical doctor who did pioneering work in the treatment of leprosy.  He received the Albert Lasker Award, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen, served as the only Westerner on the Mahatma Ghandi foundation, and had medical procedures named after him.

Brand grew up in India, where his parents were missionaries.  At the age of nine he was sent to boarding school in England.  Five years later, while a 14 year old student there, he received a telegram informing him that his beloved father had died of blackwater fever.  Brand cherished fond memories of his father, a man who had a great love for people and a great love for the natural world around him.

A short time after he received news of his father’s death Paul Brand received a letter from his father.  It had been posted prior to his father’s death but took some time to reach Brand as it came by ship.  Its words impacted deeply upon the young son.  Paul’s father described the hills around their home and then finished with these words: “God means us to delight in His world.  It isn’t necessary to know botany or zoology or biology in order to enjoy the manifold life of nature.  Just observe.  And remember.  And compare.  And be always looking to God with thankfulness and worship for having placed you in such a delightful corner of the universe as the planet Earth.” *

There is another letter from a Father concerning which I want to encourage you to read and reflect deeply.  It’s a letter from the Father who put YOU “in such a delightful corner of the universe, the plant Earth.”  Actually, He created the world and the universe (Genesis 1:1).

This “letter” – the Bible – is actually a volume of 66 books with one central theme: the salvation of man through Christ to the glory of God.  Every book of this “letter” contributes to that theme.  It tells how:

God created man and woman in His own image but how we have marred that image through our sin (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:23).

Even though we have sinned, God still loves us.  He loves us so much that He gave His one and only Son to die for our sins so that we can be saved and become His children (John 3:16; Romans 8:15-17).

Here’s a wonderful statement from the Letter: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

In His letter we learn how to have our sins forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life: place your faith and trust in Christ (Acts 16:30-31), turn from your sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  Then, continue to walk in the light of His “letter” (His Word) and the promise is that He will continue to cleanse us from sin (1 John 1:7-9).

The Father sent you a letter.  It’s worth reading, studying, and doing what it says.  It reveals the Father’s love and how you can abide in His love for an eternity.

-- David A. Sargent

* Source: Reported in Philip Yancey, Soul Survivor (Hodder & Stoughton, 2001) as cited in www.storiesforpreaching.com on “thankfulness.”

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Archived issues of Living Water can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org