I have to say, I have felt a bit sorry for Gordon Brown recently. It seems that no matter what he does, someone is on hand to take the gloss off his latest announcement or to interpret a current bit of news in a negative way.
Today it was Ruth Kelly’s announcement that she wants ‘to spend more time with her family’. This has become such a cliché in political circles that it appears that no-one is able to accept her words at face value. Whether by the tone in the commentator’s voice or by explicit speculation, reporters and newscasters are unanimous in their view that there must be a much more juicy explanation.
Now I have no idea whether or not Ms Kelly’s reasons for resigning are as simple as she has indicated, but isn’t it a pity that we have got to a stage in the public life of our country where almost nothing that anyone says is taken at face value.
Fortunately there is someone who’s word we can take as absolute. The Bible says, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23v19). When God makes a promise He keeps it, if He says something, it is true. God has said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life” (John 3v36). The question now is, do you believe Him?