I love to watch a good movie. The difficult thing I find is finding one amongst all the rubbish that is out there. Now, one of my all time favourite movies for a whole host of reasons is Schindler’s List. It’s not an easy movies to watch and can be heart wrenching one minute and soul destroying the next, but I can help but love it. It’s a film that tells of and shows man’s inhumanity to man and yet at it’s heart is one man’s fight against the evil powers that be. I find parts of the film really difficult to watch but there is one part that gets me every time. The film is near it’s end and they have all been told that the war is now over. The Jews are starting to return to their homes and Oscar Schindler is about to leave one of his factories. Now that it is all over he is suddenly struck by what has been going on and it hits him that he could have done more, he could have saved more lives. He looks at his watch and says that this would have bought a few more lives. He falls to his knees overwhelmed by the fact that he could have done more. He doesn’t well up with pride that he saved so many he is overwhelmed with grief that, perhaps, he could have done more. The pain he is feeling at that point is almost overbearing.
You can almost guess what I’m going to go on to say!! We need to live our lives so that we don’t look back with regret. It is almost an impossible task I believe, because like Oscar Schindler there is always more that can be done. However, let that not be an excuse for us. There is always more to be done, but there is usually more that we could do. I’m not saying that we should run ourselves raged and die at 31 of a stress induced heart attack, but I am saying that there is a world dying out there. Both physically and spiritually the work is there to be done. Will we like Schindler put ourselves out to help save many and then still regret that we could have done more? Or will we sit back and wait for others to do it? Will we see the task as too big and therefore give up before we’ve even started or will we be faithful to the work God has called us to do in our little area of life and slowly make a difference?
I love the story of the boy and the starfish…
One day, an old man was walking along the beach in the early morning and noticed that the storm of last night had washed thousands of starfish up on the shore. Up ahead in the distance he spotted a boy who appeared to be gathering up the starfish, and one by one tossing them back into the ocean.
He approached the boy and asked him why he spent so much energy doing what seemed to be a waste of time.
The boy replied, "If these starfish are left out here like this they will bake in the sun, and by this afternoon they will all be dead."
The old man gazed out as far as he could see and responded, "But, there must be hundreds of miles of beach and thousands of starfish. You can't possibly rescue all of them. What difference is throwing a few back going to make anyway?"
The boy then held up the starfish he had in his hand and replied, "It's sure going to make a huge difference to this one!"
There is so much good that each of us can do if we focus on individuals and the small things we can do rather than get swamped by the bigger picture. I am the worst of culprits. I’m with St Paul as I see the good I should do but I don’t do it. Let’s encourage each other to do our bit, however small, to change this world for the better.
Showing posts with label growth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label growth. Show all posts
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Being Prepared
Isaiah 55:6
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Some people called it a miracle an act of God. I didn't see it that way. I believe in miracles, I believe that God can move in extraordinary ways beyond our comprehension. However, in this instance I think this wasn't the case. One man had the lives of hundreds in his hands. It looked like a certain disaster with the loss of many lives. All power was gone. All hope seemed to disappear as well. A plane with no engines, in a built up city, with no runway within reach. The odds weren't good and the outlook looked worse. Yet one Chesley Sullenberger was at the controls. He coolly and calmly landed his plane, it's crew and 148 passengers safely, not on a nearby runway or open road but on the Hudson River. People called it the "Miracle on the Hudson", but as I said before I don't think it was. Did the passengers on that plane pray for a miracle. my guess is many of them did. Could God have performed a miracle, I know he could. So, why didn't he? Because Captain Chesley Sullenberger was in control. I guess he had about 2 minutes from realising they were going down until they hit the river. Mr Sullenberger didn't have time to refer to the manual, I guess even if he had have done there wouldn't have been much info on how to land with no engines in a river. However, Captain Chesley Sullenberger had been a fighter pilot and he had been a commercial pilot for 29years. All his training, all his experience pointed to this one event. He knew how to fly this plane, he had flown in every weather condition and had flown for thousands of miles. He had trained, he had prepared, he had practise and because of that, he was ready! He got that plane down safely and saved the lives of those 148 passengers and his crew. It wasn't because of some miracle it was one man was trained, experienced, ready and willing.
Now most of us won't be called on in our lives to land a plane on water or to do anything so dramatic. However, as Christians, we are called day in and day out to make decisions for Christ. If we are trained, willing, practised, experienced and ready we will make wise, discerning decisions. If we are not, the chances are our decisions will be far more touch and go. We need to put in the hours to train ourselves in godliness and righteousness in order, not only to be ready when Christ comes or we are called home, but in order to live the lives God has in store for us. I believe that the Holy Spirit will rarely bring to mind a verse that we have not put into our minds beforehand. If we don’t study God’s word, if we don’t put in the effort it can inhibit the work of God in our lives. If we put in the work, if we study, if we pray , if we seek God we begin to know the heart of God. We can live our lives in the knowledge that He will direct our paths and decisions we make when on auto-pilot will be good and wise ones. When the plane of our life faces a sea of uncertainty it will be the hours of training that we have put in that will make the difference to whether we sink or swim.
1 Corinthians 13: 11
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Hebrew 5: 11-14
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Some people called it a miracle an act of God. I didn't see it that way. I believe in miracles, I believe that God can move in extraordinary ways beyond our comprehension. However, in this instance I think this wasn't the case. One man had the lives of hundreds in his hands. It looked like a certain disaster with the loss of many lives. All power was gone. All hope seemed to disappear as well. A plane with no engines, in a built up city, with no runway within reach. The odds weren't good and the outlook looked worse. Yet one Chesley Sullenberger was at the controls. He coolly and calmly landed his plane, it's crew and 148 passengers safely, not on a nearby runway or open road but on the Hudson River. People called it the "Miracle on the Hudson", but as I said before I don't think it was. Did the passengers on that plane pray for a miracle. my guess is many of them did. Could God have performed a miracle, I know he could. So, why didn't he? Because Captain Chesley Sullenberger was in control. I guess he had about 2 minutes from realising they were going down until they hit the river. Mr Sullenberger didn't have time to refer to the manual, I guess even if he had have done there wouldn't have been much info on how to land with no engines in a river. However, Captain Chesley Sullenberger had been a fighter pilot and he had been a commercial pilot for 29years. All his training, all his experience pointed to this one event. He knew how to fly this plane, he had flown in every weather condition and had flown for thousands of miles. He had trained, he had prepared, he had practise and because of that, he was ready! He got that plane down safely and saved the lives of those 148 passengers and his crew. It wasn't because of some miracle it was one man was trained, experienced, ready and willing.
Now most of us won't be called on in our lives to land a plane on water or to do anything so dramatic. However, as Christians, we are called day in and day out to make decisions for Christ. If we are trained, willing, practised, experienced and ready we will make wise, discerning decisions. If we are not, the chances are our decisions will be far more touch and go. We need to put in the hours to train ourselves in godliness and righteousness in order, not only to be ready when Christ comes or we are called home, but in order to live the lives God has in store for us. I believe that the Holy Spirit will rarely bring to mind a verse that we have not put into our minds beforehand. If we don’t study God’s word, if we don’t put in the effort it can inhibit the work of God in our lives. If we put in the work, if we study, if we pray , if we seek God we begin to know the heart of God. We can live our lives in the knowledge that He will direct our paths and decisions we make when on auto-pilot will be good and wise ones. When the plane of our life faces a sea of uncertainty it will be the hours of training that we have put in that will make the difference to whether we sink or swim.
1 Corinthians 13: 11
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Hebrew 5: 11-14
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Finding God in the Mundane
If there’s one thing we as Christians do well it is criticise our church services. Not always negatively but we like to think about them, what was good, what was bad, and what was just downright bizarre!! If we’re being good with think in terms of what brought us nearer to God and what we didn’t find helpful in our walk. We greet the pastor at the door and thank him for a good sermon, which normally means that, for once, we agreed with what he said! We discuss the service over Sunday lunch and decide what we would have said or which hymns we would have chosen.
This is a little bit tongue in cheek but you get what I mean.
The more I have thought about church services and sermons and worship etc. I’ve discovered that it’s all about me! I used to believe that a good, well thought out, service would bring me closer to God. A poor sermon was the fault of the pastor and would, in no way, help me in my journey of faith. Now I believe it is all to do with my attitude, my openness, my level of concentration, my expectation, my focus, my willingness to listen and hear. I believe that God can speak to me through anything. I know he can speak to me through his creation. I know he can speak to me in the silence. He can speak to me in the mundane and in the normal. So, why can’t he speak to me through a dull sermon or a slow and plodding hymn?
If I go to church in the right way God will speak to me through anything. If I go to church in the wrong way the best sermon in the world could easily pass me by. It’s not about what the worship team or pastor puts into the service it’s about what I’m prepared to take out of it. I used to work for a church in Paris, France. It was an Anglican Church and during one of our AGMs someone became a Christian. There was no alter call and nobody preached the gospel but God spoke to that lady in the boring business of a church meeting. She was prepared to listen and had the right attitude. That day her life was changed. Can we find the right way to attend church? Are we prepared for God to speak to us in the normal and the mundane? Can we spend less time pulling the service apart and more time seeking God in the service? It’s not easy - some services are, for us, more conducive to drawing near to God. However, are we prepared to put the effort in during the times when it’s not so easy?
This is a little bit tongue in cheek but you get what I mean.
The more I have thought about church services and sermons and worship etc. I’ve discovered that it’s all about me! I used to believe that a good, well thought out, service would bring me closer to God. A poor sermon was the fault of the pastor and would, in no way, help me in my journey of faith. Now I believe it is all to do with my attitude, my openness, my level of concentration, my expectation, my focus, my willingness to listen and hear. I believe that God can speak to me through anything. I know he can speak to me through his creation. I know he can speak to me in the silence. He can speak to me in the mundane and in the normal. So, why can’t he speak to me through a dull sermon or a slow and plodding hymn?
If I go to church in the right way God will speak to me through anything. If I go to church in the wrong way the best sermon in the world could easily pass me by. It’s not about what the worship team or pastor puts into the service it’s about what I’m prepared to take out of it. I used to work for a church in Paris, France. It was an Anglican Church and during one of our AGMs someone became a Christian. There was no alter call and nobody preached the gospel but God spoke to that lady in the boring business of a church meeting. She was prepared to listen and had the right attitude. That day her life was changed. Can we find the right way to attend church? Are we prepared for God to speak to us in the normal and the mundane? Can we spend less time pulling the service apart and more time seeking God in the service? It’s not easy - some services are, for us, more conducive to drawing near to God. However, are we prepared to put the effort in during the times when it’s not so easy?
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Truth and Relevance
Christianity must be relevant. I hear this so often nowadays. Our church won’t grow until it becomes relevant. People in our community won’t join us until we show them that Christianity is relevant to their lives. Do you hear this? Do you agree with it?
I agree with it. I believe that we need show that the church is relevant. We need to provide people with ways into the church ways to discover it‘s relevance. These things might be parenting courses or toddler groups or things of this sort. However, we need to be careful. Are we, in trying to make the church relevant, providing people with their pudding without providing them with their main course? In today’s society people believe that truth is found in the fact that something works for them, makes them feel good. If something makes you feel good it must be right. You go to yoga and you feel more relaxed and therefore you agree that the systems behind it holds some truth for you. You go to your doctor with a headache and he gives you some medicine and it works you therefore have trust in that medicine and in the doctor (even if all he gave you was a tic-tac). What if the church is doing this? We are providing things for people that make everything feel ok. We’ve looked after their children, we’ve taught them to be better parents and how to drug-proof their kids. We’ve made them feel relaxed and comfortable. They feel good about themselves, they feel there is truth for them in what they’ve been experiencing. The question is though, what have they been experiencing? It isn’t Christianity. It might be the love of Christians, it might be some life skills initiative, but where is the challenge of the gospel? Where is the connection between what Christians can offer and what they really believe.
The church has something that is relevant. Our job is to show people just how relevant it is to them. At present aren’t we acting like a company who finds a cure for HIV, Cancer and all other known diseases and markets it as a cure for a headache? People buy it thinking that it is relevant to them as they get headaches. It’s only years later that, in a bored moment, they read the little leaflet and find in the small print that it also cures everything else. Yet they’ve only been taking it twice a year to cure a headache. These people may have died because they were only shown a superficial aspect of the drug and therefore not put it’s saving powers to work.
If, as we believe, Christianity is true and the claims of the Bible and Jesus are true then Christianity is relevant. We need to celebrate it’s truth and relevance. Are we not moving towards putting the trimmings of Christianity on display and not showcasing it’s truth, relevance and main draw. We are trying to sell Christianity through offering parenting skills, children’s groups, youth entertainment and so on when Christianity has to offer the complete forgiveness of sins, eternal life, a relationship with our creator, help on earth and a hope for the future, being a part of the body of Christ and so much more. If that is not relevant to people’s lives I don’t know what is.
Footnote: Please don’t get me wrong I believe that such initiatives that reach out into the community such as parenting courses and toddler groups (I run one myself) are brilliant and I’d love to see more of them. However, I do believe that we need to look at the whole picture and see how these initiatives are used to move people from the fringes of faith to a full belief in the saving power of Jesus Christ. We have a huge responsibility to the people on the fringes of our church not to let them stay there.
I agree with it. I believe that we need show that the church is relevant. We need to provide people with ways into the church ways to discover it‘s relevance. These things might be parenting courses or toddler groups or things of this sort. However, we need to be careful. Are we, in trying to make the church relevant, providing people with their pudding without providing them with their main course? In today’s society people believe that truth is found in the fact that something works for them, makes them feel good. If something makes you feel good it must be right. You go to yoga and you feel more relaxed and therefore you agree that the systems behind it holds some truth for you. You go to your doctor with a headache and he gives you some medicine and it works you therefore have trust in that medicine and in the doctor (even if all he gave you was a tic-tac). What if the church is doing this? We are providing things for people that make everything feel ok. We’ve looked after their children, we’ve taught them to be better parents and how to drug-proof their kids. We’ve made them feel relaxed and comfortable. They feel good about themselves, they feel there is truth for them in what they’ve been experiencing. The question is though, what have they been experiencing? It isn’t Christianity. It might be the love of Christians, it might be some life skills initiative, but where is the challenge of the gospel? Where is the connection between what Christians can offer and what they really believe.
The church has something that is relevant. Our job is to show people just how relevant it is to them. At present aren’t we acting like a company who finds a cure for HIV, Cancer and all other known diseases and markets it as a cure for a headache? People buy it thinking that it is relevant to them as they get headaches. It’s only years later that, in a bored moment, they read the little leaflet and find in the small print that it also cures everything else. Yet they’ve only been taking it twice a year to cure a headache. These people may have died because they were only shown a superficial aspect of the drug and therefore not put it’s saving powers to work.
If, as we believe, Christianity is true and the claims of the Bible and Jesus are true then Christianity is relevant. We need to celebrate it’s truth and relevance. Are we not moving towards putting the trimmings of Christianity on display and not showcasing it’s truth, relevance and main draw. We are trying to sell Christianity through offering parenting skills, children’s groups, youth entertainment and so on when Christianity has to offer the complete forgiveness of sins, eternal life, a relationship with our creator, help on earth and a hope for the future, being a part of the body of Christ and so much more. If that is not relevant to people’s lives I don’t know what is.
Footnote: Please don’t get me wrong I believe that such initiatives that reach out into the community such as parenting courses and toddler groups (I run one myself) are brilliant and I’d love to see more of them. However, I do believe that we need to look at the whole picture and see how these initiatives are used to move people from the fringes of faith to a full belief in the saving power of Jesus Christ. We have a huge responsibility to the people on the fringes of our church not to let them stay there.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
The Race
I love the analogies we find in the Bible of life being a race.
2Timothy 4: 7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
The idea that we need to train in order to do well and that we are passing on the baton to the next generation and to others around us. As the analogy of the baton is used I often picture athletes running around a nice oval running track with the crowd cheering and the finish line in sight.
The race that I seem to be on, and hearing others talk I don’t appear to be alone, is more like an obstacle course. I seem to get myself in a complete mess, can’t always see where I’m going, sometimes lose the baton completely in the mud and generally end up exhausted having gotten no-where.
There is a nice straight and clean path running alongside the obstacle course and I look longingly at those that walk that path. They seem to be getting along much better. They are clean, focussed and their baton is gleaming. However, I don’t feel God is asking me to join that path, not for the moment anyway. For this obstacle course is part of God’s training in my life. He calls me to attempt great things for him, and some of these obstacles are great to me.
I love the story of the man who was asked by God to try and move this enormous boulder. Each day the man went out and put all his strength into pushing the boulder. However hard he tried he could not move it, not even an inch. Day by day he went out to try and move this boulder with no success. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Eventually he had to admit defeat and went to God, his head hanging low. He told God that he had failed and had not even managed to move the boulder at all. God replied, “You have not failed, I did not ask you to move the boulder, only to try and move the boulder. Look at your arms and your legs, how strong they are. I have been training you for what I have in store for you.
Sometimes God calls us to perform what look like fruitless tasks. Is he training us up for the future? Is he helping us to be faithful in the small things so that we can be found faithful in the big things?
In my life on the obstacle course there are things that I seem called to do that I don’t understand. Yet in doing them God has been training me. However, just as in parenting, we need to be wise to pick our battles. Some obstacles in our path will test us and make us fitter and more useful to God. Others though will distract us, use up our time and energies and in the end keep us from doing what God desires of us. We need the wisdom to know which obstacles to tackle and when to quietly step off the course onto that long straight path alongside it.
2Timothy 4: 7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
The idea that we need to train in order to do well and that we are passing on the baton to the next generation and to others around us. As the analogy of the baton is used I often picture athletes running around a nice oval running track with the crowd cheering and the finish line in sight.
The race that I seem to be on, and hearing others talk I don’t appear to be alone, is more like an obstacle course. I seem to get myself in a complete mess, can’t always see where I’m going, sometimes lose the baton completely in the mud and generally end up exhausted having gotten no-where.
There is a nice straight and clean path running alongside the obstacle course and I look longingly at those that walk that path. They seem to be getting along much better. They are clean, focussed and their baton is gleaming. However, I don’t feel God is asking me to join that path, not for the moment anyway. For this obstacle course is part of God’s training in my life. He calls me to attempt great things for him, and some of these obstacles are great to me.
I love the story of the man who was asked by God to try and move this enormous boulder. Each day the man went out and put all his strength into pushing the boulder. However hard he tried he could not move it, not even an inch. Day by day he went out to try and move this boulder with no success. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Eventually he had to admit defeat and went to God, his head hanging low. He told God that he had failed and had not even managed to move the boulder at all. God replied, “You have not failed, I did not ask you to move the boulder, only to try and move the boulder. Look at your arms and your legs, how strong they are. I have been training you for what I have in store for you.
Sometimes God calls us to perform what look like fruitless tasks. Is he training us up for the future? Is he helping us to be faithful in the small things so that we can be found faithful in the big things?
In my life on the obstacle course there are things that I seem called to do that I don’t understand. Yet in doing them God has been training me. However, just as in parenting, we need to be wise to pick our battles. Some obstacles in our path will test us and make us fitter and more useful to God. Others though will distract us, use up our time and energies and in the end keep us from doing what God desires of us. We need the wisdom to know which obstacles to tackle and when to quietly step off the course onto that long straight path alongside it.
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Gaining a Sense of Urgency
A few months ago I attended a seminar at Spring Harvest run by a friend of mine Rachel Gardener. It was an excellent seminar (I’d better put that in case she reads this!!) and as part of it I took part in a very thought provoking role-play. We were asked to imagine that a group of newly converted refugees had started attending our church. They were, however, going to be deported back to a country with no Christian presence in six months time. We were asked to devise a programme that would equip them with the Christian skills and knowledge they would need on their return.
There was quite a buzz as everyone in our group had something to contribute to this discussion. We talked about discipleship, links to be forged to mission agencies, trades to be learnt, prayer support to be set up, practical support for their six-month stay, gifts to be prayed for, the list went on. There was a sense of urgency and an eagerness to help. People really felt that it was something they could back and get their teeth into.
Then came the damming question…
Why don’t we do that for every single member of our congregations? It certainly is a challenge and one to which I shall return.
Many years ago I was challenged by a friend about the kind of films I watched. He said would I sit and watch 18 certificated violent films if Jesus was sat next to me? I replied that is Jesus was sat next to me I would not only not watch 18 certificated films I wouldn’t go to church, pray or go to work. I would be so interested in talking to him, getting him to pray for me, picking his brain and getting to know him more I wouldn’t have the time or the desire for anything else.
It was not until years later that I realised the absurdity of my words. Jesus IS sat next to me! Jesus IS praying for me! Jesus has given us His Word and His Spirit in order for us to get to know him better! I can pick His brain any time I want! So why don’t I?
Jesus left the disciples with a real sense of urgency. He hinted that some would still be alive at his return. They were left knowing that they had to get the job done, there was no time to waste. What has happened to this sense of urgency. Why do we constantly put off for tomorrow what we should be doing today? We have gotten so good at putting things off that we not only put things off until tomorrow we put things off permanently. We never get around to doing what we know we should. We put off things in our teens until we are adults and then put them off until we are married and then until we are retired and then we die never having done them. Yet if we knew Jesus was coming again at the end of the year we would accomplish so much for Him. We would draw close to Him in ways we have never attempted before. We would swerve Him with new vigour and determination. We would serve others with renewed love and concern.
I remember working for major supermarket in my teens. They used to display a poster in the staff area that said “Things that need to be done in the event of an Area Inspection… Absolutely nothing!!”
The implication being that good practise should be taking place at all times and when an inspection comes nothing should change. So it should be with our lives. Whether we know Christ is coming tomorrow, not for a million years or whether he is sitting right next to us nothing should change. This is far from the truth in my life and, I’m guessing, in the lives of most other Christians as well so why is this the case and what can we all do about it?
So why is this the case?
1. We live in the present and our mind is mainly focussed on the near past, the present and the near future.
2. Our lives are more easily moulded by the physical than the spiritual. What I mean by this is that we live with an “out of sight - out of mind” mentality. We are distracted by things and those around us rather than things like God and Jesus that are out of sight. The spiritual gets pushed out by the physical.
3. We focus on God’s loving, forgiving, patient, grace filled nature. We know when we fail God will forgive us, pick us up, brush us off and give us a fresh start. We conveniently forget His Wrath and Judgement and that we are created to glorify Him.
What can we do about it?
1. Take small steps. If we don’t break the task before us into small steps we will look at the big picture be overwhelmed and therefore do nothing. There is no point in diving headlong into a spiritual change, overdo it and after a week be back where we started. Think of one thing that we could do this week to improve the situation. Once you’re mastered that move on to something else.
2. Why is our spiritual life any different to the rest of our life? If we want to lose weight, be better organised, further our career or take up a hobby we plan. We set goals, make lists, plan our diary, seek advice and so on. So it should be with our spiritual life. We need achievable goals to head towards and advice on how to achieve them. I remember Graham Cooke saying that we should always ask ourselves how our relationship with God, how our praise and worship of God and how our service to God will be better this year than it was last year. This won’t just happen we need to work on it.
3. We need to surround ourselves with people that will join us, encourage us, share our struggles on this journey. Our Christian friends are the best physical aid to our growth as Christians. We need to be there for each other, we can’t journey successfully on our own. We need to work on devices with our friends that can enable us to be that motivation for each other.
4.We need to develop a sense of urgency. Be this through prayer or conversations with friends we need to have a sense of immediacy in our lives. I used to work with someone who lived with a sense that tomorrow she could be hit by a bus. Somehow we need to find that urgency. Jesus may not return tomorrow, we may not die tomorrow but we need to learn to live as if one of those possibilities were the case.
There was quite a buzz as everyone in our group had something to contribute to this discussion. We talked about discipleship, links to be forged to mission agencies, trades to be learnt, prayer support to be set up, practical support for their six-month stay, gifts to be prayed for, the list went on. There was a sense of urgency and an eagerness to help. People really felt that it was something they could back and get their teeth into.
Then came the damming question…
Why don’t we do that for every single member of our congregations? It certainly is a challenge and one to which I shall return.
Many years ago I was challenged by a friend about the kind of films I watched. He said would I sit and watch 18 certificated violent films if Jesus was sat next to me? I replied that is Jesus was sat next to me I would not only not watch 18 certificated films I wouldn’t go to church, pray or go to work. I would be so interested in talking to him, getting him to pray for me, picking his brain and getting to know him more I wouldn’t have the time or the desire for anything else.
It was not until years later that I realised the absurdity of my words. Jesus IS sat next to me! Jesus IS praying for me! Jesus has given us His Word and His Spirit in order for us to get to know him better! I can pick His brain any time I want! So why don’t I?
Jesus left the disciples with a real sense of urgency. He hinted that some would still be alive at his return. They were left knowing that they had to get the job done, there was no time to waste. What has happened to this sense of urgency. Why do we constantly put off for tomorrow what we should be doing today? We have gotten so good at putting things off that we not only put things off until tomorrow we put things off permanently. We never get around to doing what we know we should. We put off things in our teens until we are adults and then put them off until we are married and then until we are retired and then we die never having done them. Yet if we knew Jesus was coming again at the end of the year we would accomplish so much for Him. We would draw close to Him in ways we have never attempted before. We would swerve Him with new vigour and determination. We would serve others with renewed love and concern.
I remember working for major supermarket in my teens. They used to display a poster in the staff area that said “Things that need to be done in the event of an Area Inspection… Absolutely nothing!!”
The implication being that good practise should be taking place at all times and when an inspection comes nothing should change. So it should be with our lives. Whether we know Christ is coming tomorrow, not for a million years or whether he is sitting right next to us nothing should change. This is far from the truth in my life and, I’m guessing, in the lives of most other Christians as well so why is this the case and what can we all do about it?
So why is this the case?
1. We live in the present and our mind is mainly focussed on the near past, the present and the near future.
2. Our lives are more easily moulded by the physical than the spiritual. What I mean by this is that we live with an “out of sight - out of mind” mentality. We are distracted by things and those around us rather than things like God and Jesus that are out of sight. The spiritual gets pushed out by the physical.
3. We focus on God’s loving, forgiving, patient, grace filled nature. We know when we fail God will forgive us, pick us up, brush us off and give us a fresh start. We conveniently forget His Wrath and Judgement and that we are created to glorify Him.
What can we do about it?
1. Take small steps. If we don’t break the task before us into small steps we will look at the big picture be overwhelmed and therefore do nothing. There is no point in diving headlong into a spiritual change, overdo it and after a week be back where we started. Think of one thing that we could do this week to improve the situation. Once you’re mastered that move on to something else.
2. Why is our spiritual life any different to the rest of our life? If we want to lose weight, be better organised, further our career or take up a hobby we plan. We set goals, make lists, plan our diary, seek advice and so on. So it should be with our spiritual life. We need achievable goals to head towards and advice on how to achieve them. I remember Graham Cooke saying that we should always ask ourselves how our relationship with God, how our praise and worship of God and how our service to God will be better this year than it was last year. This won’t just happen we need to work on it.
3. We need to surround ourselves with people that will join us, encourage us, share our struggles on this journey. Our Christian friends are the best physical aid to our growth as Christians. We need to be there for each other, we can’t journey successfully on our own. We need to work on devices with our friends that can enable us to be that motivation for each other.
4.We need to develop a sense of urgency. Be this through prayer or conversations with friends we need to have a sense of immediacy in our lives. I used to work with someone who lived with a sense that tomorrow she could be hit by a bus. Somehow we need to find that urgency. Jesus may not return tomorrow, we may not die tomorrow but we need to learn to live as if one of those possibilities were the case.
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Don't stop meeting together...
If I’m honest I’ve never really been much of a fan of going to church. Don’t get me wrong, I’m passionate about God and Jesus and worship and other Christians etc. but it’s just church I struggle with. The church is filled with human beings and will therefore never be perfect, I accept that and also know that I am as bad as the worst of them. I’ve recently read an excellent book by David Murrow called Why Men Hate Going to Church. I would recommend it to anyone, both male and female. Having read it I now understand a little better why I don’t love attending church and have been given some good ideas on how churches could change in order to better accommodate men. However, it doesn’t give me all the answers and doesn’t help me cope until those changes are made (and let‘s face it some of the changes will never be made). Yet, I’m commanded to attend church and therefore that is what I do. I’d be interested to hear if others feel the same.
I’ve never been entirely convinced of the analogy of the church being a fire and when a coal is removed it survives for a while but then goes out. I was thinking about the whole church issue and coals dying when removed whilst I was gardening the other day. In one of those moments of clarity I believe God gave me a new analogy that for me made far more sense and also brought with it a challenge.
I was studying a group of sunflowers that are in desperate need of attention. They like us are growing towards the sun (son), reaching heavenwards, growing and flourishing. They’ve been planted and watered and with the heat from the sun have grown to their present height. However, as I previously stated, they now need attention. If they are not staked and tethered the wind will snap their stalks. If they are not watered the will shrivel and die. It the soil around them is not weeded the weeds will over-take them and crowd out their light. If they are not fed they will grow weak and feeble and may not reach maturity. If their seeds are not gathered in there will be no future sunflowers from this line.
And so it is with us Christians. We can survive on our own, at least for a little while. As we look heavenwards and lean towards the Son we need to be tended and cared for. We need to be encouraged to grow and enabled to flourish. We need to be pruned and shaped, fed and watered. We may be able to feed and water ourselves through on-line sermons and private devotionals. However, the weeds creep up un-noticed and we’re not brave enough to prune ourselves. It is in meeting with each other that we provide support against the storms of life. We feed off each other and lead each other to water. It is together that our fruit is recognised and harvested and that our gifts are recognised and honed and used.
I love Proverbs 27: 17 which states that As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. As we meet together we sharpen one another, we help to bring each other into focus. We help give each other that edge that we need to grow as Christians.
So the challenge!! I see the challenge as two-fold. Firstly, are we being supported by our church, are we being fed and watered? Are our gifts being identified, practised, honed and used? Are we supported and are we being anchored to the stake which is Jesus? Are people helping us in clearing the weeds out of our lives and are we being pruned and disciplined? If not why not? Are we allowing people that freedom in our lives to help us? So what happens if we find ourselves in churches where this isn’t happening? Well I believe that we need to be proactive. I reckon most Pastors or Vicars would be thrilled if you sat down with them and said that you would like more personal discipling or discipline or want to discover your gifts and start to put them into practise. Pastors are surely longing for their congregations to be taking radical steps to move forward with God. If you take this step and your pastor doesn’t respond it is then that you need to seriously question why you are going to that particular church. The pastor won’t always have the time themselves to explore with you in the depth that you would like, but he should have the time to find someone to get alongside you.
Secondly, are we being all theses things for those around us? Are we encouraging others to grow and giving them all we can to enable that growth? Are we being a weed in anybody’s life that is stunting their growth?
This analogy has certainly helped me in thinking through lots of different issues, I hope you’ll find it useful also.
I’ve never been entirely convinced of the analogy of the church being a fire and when a coal is removed it survives for a while but then goes out. I was thinking about the whole church issue and coals dying when removed whilst I was gardening the other day. In one of those moments of clarity I believe God gave me a new analogy that for me made far more sense and also brought with it a challenge.
I was studying a group of sunflowers that are in desperate need of attention. They like us are growing towards the sun (son), reaching heavenwards, growing and flourishing. They’ve been planted and watered and with the heat from the sun have grown to their present height. However, as I previously stated, they now need attention. If they are not staked and tethered the wind will snap their stalks. If they are not watered the will shrivel and die. It the soil around them is not weeded the weeds will over-take them and crowd out their light. If they are not fed they will grow weak and feeble and may not reach maturity. If their seeds are not gathered in there will be no future sunflowers from this line.
And so it is with us Christians. We can survive on our own, at least for a little while. As we look heavenwards and lean towards the Son we need to be tended and cared for. We need to be encouraged to grow and enabled to flourish. We need to be pruned and shaped, fed and watered. We may be able to feed and water ourselves through on-line sermons and private devotionals. However, the weeds creep up un-noticed and we’re not brave enough to prune ourselves. It is in meeting with each other that we provide support against the storms of life. We feed off each other and lead each other to water. It is together that our fruit is recognised and harvested and that our gifts are recognised and honed and used.
I love Proverbs 27: 17 which states that As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. As we meet together we sharpen one another, we help to bring each other into focus. We help give each other that edge that we need to grow as Christians.
So the challenge!! I see the challenge as two-fold. Firstly, are we being supported by our church, are we being fed and watered? Are our gifts being identified, practised, honed and used? Are we supported and are we being anchored to the stake which is Jesus? Are people helping us in clearing the weeds out of our lives and are we being pruned and disciplined? If not why not? Are we allowing people that freedom in our lives to help us? So what happens if we find ourselves in churches where this isn’t happening? Well I believe that we need to be proactive. I reckon most Pastors or Vicars would be thrilled if you sat down with them and said that you would like more personal discipling or discipline or want to discover your gifts and start to put them into practise. Pastors are surely longing for their congregations to be taking radical steps to move forward with God. If you take this step and your pastor doesn’t respond it is then that you need to seriously question why you are going to that particular church. The pastor won’t always have the time themselves to explore with you in the depth that you would like, but he should have the time to find someone to get alongside you.
Secondly, are we being all theses things for those around us? Are we encouraging others to grow and giving them all we can to enable that growth? Are we being a weed in anybody’s life that is stunting their growth?
This analogy has certainly helped me in thinking through lots of different issues, I hope you’ll find it useful also.
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