Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 10th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to 2 Corinthians 9:7:

”So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” 

I want to say to you today that I read a beautiful article written by an elderly pastor from America, a man who I respect greatly, and I’m just going to read it to you. This is what it says:

”Are you aware of what waiters and waitresses say about the Christians they serve? Do you have any idea how much they dread waiting on our tables in restaurants after church on Sundays or any other day, when we go in groups with big Bibles under our arms? We gobble up the food asking for this favour and that favour, seldom pausing long enough to smile or say, “Thank you”. That’s bad enough, but when we leave a tip, that is more of an insult than a generous expression of gratitude! Just last week a waiter informed me that the place where he works has the toughest time getting a full crew of waiters who wait on tables on Sundays. “We’d all rather work late on Friday and Saturday nights, week after week, than work Sunday afternoons,” He said. When I asked, ”Why?” He told me, ”Because Christians are usually loud. They often lack good table manners, and they are stingy with the tips.” The waiter who spoke to me is a Christian. He’s on our side and he’s embarrassed! He says that he has a rough time talking to the crew about Christ after the place closes at night. They give him the cynical, ”You’ve got to be kidding!” response, that comes after six or eight Christ followers walk away, leaving a Christian tract or a one-dollar bill or maybe just the tract. Sometimes neither at all!

If you’re among the thoughtful, the gracious, the kind who leave a full 15% or more, keep it up, may your tribe increase, but if you’re the type who falls into the tightfisted and less than thoughtful category, how about thinking of your witness as something more than a Bible in your pocket and words out of your mouth. Sometimes it’s what comes out of your pocket after something has gone into your mouth, and I’m not referring to a tract. Listen, it’s possible to give away and become richer. It is possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. Yes, the liberal man shall be rich by watering others he waters himself. (Proverbs 11:24-25). Come on Christian, loosen up! If you can afford to eat out, you can also handle a healthy tip. Maybe all you needed was a shot in the arm.”

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day and don’t forget to tip generously,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 9th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in 2 Timothy 1:5:

“…when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.“

Today in South Africa, we remember National Women’s Day. I want to pay tribute today to the women. Lois and Eunice are not names that are used a lot in this day and age, but Lois was Timothy’s grandmother, and Eunice was Timothy’s mother, and these two ladies had a profound influence on the apostle Timothy’s life. Installed by the power of the Holy Spirit, Timothy had faith, so much so that the great apostle Paul mentioned it. He said, “That faith is also in you.”

I want to say today to the men, we need to love our women. In fact, that’s what the word says. It says, “Women submit to your husbands, but husbands, love your wives.” We need to treat them in a very special way because we need to respect them as handmaidens of the Lord. You know that Mary Magdalene was a huge influence on Jesus’ life. She was so faithful. She remained faithful to Jesus when all the disciples ran away and forsook Him. She never left His side.

I want to tell you a little story. My mother told me that when I was a newly born baby, I don’t think I was two or three months old, I had a digestive problem where the food could not go into my stomach. She took me to the doctors. They put me in hospital. Eventually, I lost so much weight that I was skin and bone. The doctor said to my mother, ”Take him home because there’s nothing more we can do for him. Take him home to die.” But my mother persisted, she never gave up, she prayed. She kept on putting those bottles of milk into my stomach and I kept bringing them up until one day, and she’ll never forget it, she gave me a bottle of milk and it never came up and that was the beginning of the rest of my life. My mother, what a wonderful woman of God. I had the privilege of leading her to Jesus Christ. Women have incredible resilience, strength, and determination.

You know the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth said, ”My best soldiers are women.” Today ladies, we want to respect you, honour you, and tell you that we love you and that we could not live without you.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 8th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the first book in the Bible, Genesis 37:8:

“And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.”

Then we go to the Gospel of Luke 2:19:

“But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Be very careful how you speak. Joseph, with the coat of many colours - he had those dreams. He shared them with his brothers. The dreams were not wrong, they were quite correct, but the timing was so bad that his brothers actually hated him, the Bible says. Even his mother and father were also very upset when he shared these dreams with them. 

There is a time to speak and there is a time to be quiet. Mary, the mother of Jesus, did not tell everybody what the Archangel Gabriel had told her. She kept all these things in her heart and she pondered them. We really need to be wise. Some of us, and I am probably one of the worst, we speak too quickly. We need to wait and allow others to speak on our behalf, or wait for the action to take place and it speaks by itself. Don’t keep telling everybody.

I looked up the word, “discretion”.  Now, I really want you to listen to this, especially the young people. It means to be careful and prudent in one’s speech or actions, especially so as to avoid giving offence or attracting attention. We don’t have to attract attention to ourselves. If God has done something great in our lives, let the action speak for itself. Don’t go around blabbing about what the Lord is going to do in your life, or a word, because all it will do is cause contention, especially in the home. 

There is a time and a place for everything. Joseph messed up big time because he spoke too quickly and told too many people. Today, go to the closet, speak to the Lord, share your heart with Him, and He will tell you at the right time and the right place to share your vision with others.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 7th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Isaiah 42:1:

”Behold! My Servant whom I uphold…” 

Then we go to the Gospel of Matthew 12:18. Again, our Heavenly Father says:

“Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!”

Our Heavenly Father is talking about His only Son, Jesus Christ, and He refers to Him as His Servant.

You and I are called to be servants. Our Saviour is a foot washer. He’s a washer of people’s dirty feet. The greatest thing He ever did was to die for us and that very night that He was betrayed, you can imagine what was waiting for Him, and He knew it, what did He do? He washed His disciples' feet first, before He went out to be crucified. Paul, in my humble opinion, probably the greatest of all the apostles, says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”

I want to tell you a little story. Early this morning, like I do every morning, I got up and made my wife, Jill, a cup of tea. As I was going through to my prayer room to start to prepare and seek the Lord for this very message that I am delivering to you today, I happened to walk past the kitchen, and last night we went to bed early and some dishes were in the sink that hadn’t been washed. And I thought, “Well, Jill will get up just now and then she will wash them,” and I felt the Holy Spirit say to me, “What would Jesus do?” And I had to stand still. I said, “I am sure He would wash the dishes first.” So I turned around, washed the dishes, dried them, and put them in their rightful place. Then I came through to my prayer room, and I am now delivering to you the message which the Lord gave to me today.

Today, wash the dishes, make that favourite meal for your husband. Ja, but you know I am also holding down a job, and it is much easier just to go in and get something ready-made from the shops. No, make something for him. It doesn’t matter if you are not the best cook. It will mean so much to him. 

Mow the lawn for your mom and dad. No, but we have a contractor that does that. You do that. It will make such a difference. Let’s be like Jesus today! Remember, charity, which is another word for love, charity begins at home. 

God bless you as you wash the dishes,
Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 6th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in the Gospel of Luke 14:34-35. Jesus says:

“Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” 

When salt has lost it’s flavour it’s not even any good for fertiliser but to be thrown out on the road and disregarded completely. 

Then we go to Revelation 3:16:

“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” 

Words of the Lord! Very, very hard words but serious words. We need to be salty. We cannot be indifferent. We cannot sit on the fence. It’s a very uncomfortable place to sit, especially if it is a barbed-wire fence. We need to let our “yes” be yes, and we need to make sure and let our “no” be no. 

You know folks, I want to say something to you. People don’t have to like you but they must respect you, and that is so important. We cannot hunt with the hounds one day and run with the hares another day. We have got to be definite. With my Scottish roots, our national food is porridge. Have you ever tried to eat a plate of porridge with no salt? It is tasteless. It is so bland, I won’t even eat it. It needs to be salty. The Lord wants you and I today to become salty. We need to know the Bible and when people ask us an opinion, we need to be able to give it to them straight. 

Do many roads lead to Heaven? You must be able to say, “No, John 14:6 says Jesus is the way. There is no other way.” People might not like it but it is the truth and they will respect you for it. Today, let us become salty so that we can help those who are undecided, those who cannot make up their minds. Let us be those that are black and white, no grey area in our conversation.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 5th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in the Book of Genesis 37:2:

”…and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.”

Then we go straight to Acts 10:34:

”Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.”

There are no favourites in God’s kingdom and that’s good news. If we look through the Bible, time and time again, favourites cause trouble. Rebecca, the mother of Esau and Jacob, her twins - if you read the story you’ll see she favoured Jacob more than Esau and that caused a lot of pain, a lot of hurt and a lot of pressure. Don’t put your children under that kind of pressure. I’m talking to parents today. That coat of many colours caused Joseph a lot of pain. It caused him to be sent away by his brothers. They sold him into slavery and he had a terrible life until the Lord redeemed him. Don’t do it!

That teacher’s pet is not a child that gets special treatment, normally it ends up that that child gets ostracised by the rest of the students in the class. We need to treat our children equally. We need to love them equally. It doesn’t matter if you have a particular soft spot for a child because that child is excelling in sport, the sport that you excelled in at school, or that child is very musical and you happen to be a good musician, so you show partiality to that child. Don’t do that! We need to make sure that our children know that they are loved equally by mom and dad and that will give them peace and an opportunity to excel in their particular areas. 

Today, mom and dad, let us really have a good hard look at our children, at our family, and by the way some of those children are already grown up and have children of their own, and yet they still feel that mom and dad had favourites. Today, let us be as Jesus is. He sees no partiality in colour, in culture, in sex. He sees us all as His creation. He loves us all equally and He died for us all equally.

Today, remember you are very special in the eyes of the Lord.

Jesus bless you and have a lovely day, 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 4th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in Psalm 19:14: 

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”

We have got to be so careful what we say, folks. You know, the most powerful member of the human body, the tongue. The tongue can make or break a person very quickly.

We go to the Book of James 3:10:

“Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?” 

Of course not!

There is a young man that I am mentoring. He sent me a beautiful message the other day and I really want to share this with you. He is speaking about the honey bee. Now, you know I am a bee-keeper. I love bees, I really do. They are incredible insects but the bee can be sweet and the bee can sting. Ask me about it! I know. That little bee can get in anywhere and he can sting you. I am talking particularly about the African bee, and the same thing applies with our tongue. What we say can make or break a person. Death and life are found in our very words. I want to encourage you today, even as the Lord is encouraging me, to be very careful how we talk. If you have got nothing good to say about someone, rather don’t say anything but rather encourage one another.

This world at the moment is in a terrible state. People are depressed, they are stressed out, they are fearful. A word in season, an encouraging word can make or break a person. I want to speak to my men. Men, build up your wives, tell them every single morning when you wake up… the first thing I tell Jill, I have been doing it for over 50 years, “Good morning Jill. I love you!” You know, those words are very powerful and she reciprocates. She says, “And I love you too, Angus”. 

Tell your children that you love them. When they come home with their school report. “Is that the best that you did?”,

 “Yes, that’s the best I could do, dad.”

“Well, that is good enough for me and it’s good enough for your mother.”

I want to tell you I don’t know how many times people have written to me and told me, “We enjoyed that little message you brought this morning.” It makes my day! You say, “But Angus, you get that all the time.” No, I don’t. Today, let us be the honey bee that makes the sweet honey, not the bee that stings.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 3rd of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Gospel of Luke 14:18 and 24:

”But they all with one accord began to make excuses.”

Then we go right down to verse 24. Jesus says:

“For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.”

This is a story that Jesus told about a man who prepared a wonderful banquet, invited his guests, then they all made excuses, they couldn’t come. I believe the Lord is challenging us this morning and saying, ”Stop making excuses, no more excuses!” You see the servant went and invited all the people and the first one said, ”Look, I can’t make it. I’ve just bought a new piece of ground and I must go and see it.” The next one said, ”Please excuse me because I’ve just bought five yokes of oxen and I have to test them. Can you please excuse me?” Another one said, ”I’ve just got married so I can’t come.” 

What is your excuse today? What is my excuse today? We cannot come. “Lord we want to serve you but we’ve got too much on our plate.” We want to have a bit of fun first, we want to sow some wild oats and then we will make our decision and come to the banquet. The Lord says that it might be too late.

I want to tell you a story that happened to Jill and I. Many years ago, we went to Israel. Now on our return home after our break there, I got the times mixed up. You see the plane was leaving at midnight. Now I didn’t know whether it was the early hours of the morning or the late hours of the previous evening. Anyway, I got there, I was devastated. The lady said to us, ”Your plane has already left. It’s on it’s way to South Africa.” They had to put us in a hotel in Tel Aviv and we had to stay there for a number of days until we could get another booking.

I want to tell you today, don’t make anymore excuses. There is nothing more important than accepting the invitation to the banquet by the Lord. Maybe you’ve never done it, maybe you’ve always said, ”Ah, that’s for other people, that’s not for me.” I want to tell you as I’m getting older the time is running out. I don’t know how many of my colleagues of my age group have gone home to be with the Lord or have gone somewhere else, but I want to tell you today, accept gladly the invitation because remember what the host said to his servant? ”Go out to the highways and the byways and invite all those who are blind and lame, and those who are sick, and those who are sleeping in the streets. Bring them to the banquet.” Do not be left behind! As an indication that you’ve accepted the invitation. Would you like to pray this prayer with me? 

Dear Lord Jesus,

Please forgive me for making excuses. I do realise there is nothing more important than accepting this invitation which You have freely given to us. 

We don’t deserve it but because you love us, You have invited us to Your table. 

Today, I accept Your invitation. 
In Jesus name, amen.

God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 2nd of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Luke 14:14. Jesus says: “And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

The Lord is telling us that if you give things to people who can repay you, well, you have your reward here on earth, but if you give things to people who cannot repay you, then there is the proof that you are doing it for the Lord, and you will be paid amply when you get to Heaven.

George Müller, the founder of the children’s homes in Bristol, England, I have been there - I have seen those buildings where he took care of literally thousands of children, and something like 60 million pounds went through his hands, and he never asked for a penny. Incredible faith! But when he died and he left very little. They checked on the accounts and when they were going through the finances, they saw that there was a donor that had been putting money into the children’s fund for years and years, and they never knew who it was. But of course, when he died and his estate was wrapped up, they found out that George Müller, himself, was putting in an amount of money every single month towards the children’s home. Now, that is doing something as unto the Lord. 

You and I need to start doing that a bit more. It hasn’t happened to me often but it has happened to me a few times, that when I have gone out for a meal with my wife and we sat at the restaurant and had a good time together, there have been lots of people in the restaurant, we have ordered a lovely meal, and when we have finished, I say to the waitress, “Can you bring us the bill please?” And she says, “Oh no, sir. There is no bill.” And I say, “What do you mean?” She says, “There are people who have just left the restaurant who paid for your meal”. I don’t know who they are, but God knows who they are. I have never seen them before because I did not recognise anybody in that restaurant. 

I want to say to you today, do something that there is no reward for on this earth and the Lord will reward you amply in Heaven. Do something for people who cannot repay you.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 1st of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Psalms 18:32:

”It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.”

Then we go to a very well-known scripture, 2 Corinthians 12:10:

”Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 

I want to say to you today, if you are feeling weak, maybe you are feeling I just can’t go on anymore, lock into God. It’s a good place to be. Sometimes it’s a dangerous place when you think you’ve got it all together, you’ve got it all tied up. That’s when the fall normally comes, but I tell you what, when you are on your knees and you are weak, you can’t fall any further. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to speak at a big open-air meeting, where there are multitudes of people. I go up the steps onto that platform, and I’m being honest with you, I feel absolutely weak and powerless, and that’s when I cry out to God. ”Lord, please, please, help me.” And you know something? Every single time, He helps me and He’ll do it for you too.

It doesn’t matter what you’re going through at the moment. Remember, when you are weak, then He is strong. That’s why Paul can say, ”I rejoice in my tribulation. Tribulation worketh patience, patience character and character hope.” (Romans 5:3-4)

I want to say to you that humble people are normally people who have been through fiery trials. I get fearful sometimes with some young people who are out there, and they can do it all and they name it and they claim it. It’s almost like they’re getting ready for a fall. So folks, I want you to understand one thing. The Lord is our strength, and He is the One Who will see you and me through if we put our total trust in Him.

May God bless you, especially when you’re feeling weak, because that is when you will be strong,
Goodbye.