Finding Self-worth

It’s hard being a mum some days and particularly today.  How do you deal with it when your 13 year old daughter tells you that someone is making her feel worthless, by the way she’s being treated by them.  It’s not a day you look forward to as a parent.  What do you say?  It’s something that comes up time and time again; in the work we do as a family working with young people.  Whether it be family members treating them badly or unrealistic images of women (and men) in magazines or the way people react to  them; at school for the way they look or how clever they perceive them to be or not to be… or any other reason they can think of.  It can pretty much be anything that drives someone to put another person down or to be so unkind or selfish that they make someone feel un-worthwhile.

My first reply to her was nobody can make you feel that way unless you allow them to.  Which is true…… but what is also true is my daughters reply ‘but it hurts It’s difficult not to let it get to you’ and she’s quite right it is. Not even a mother’s love or words of wisdom can always fight against things that hurt us deep inside.

Things don’t change much as you get older, there will always be someone who wants to bring you down or make you feel unwanted or left out or even to feel ashamed in some way about who you are or what you believe.  There is nothing I can do to change that for myself, my daughter or for anyone reading this.  But I got to thinking ……Well how have I survived this far, how come although people hurt me I still manage to keep myself worth intact?  Does it come with age or experience?

It reminded me of a time when I was 11. I had just been diagnosed with scoliosis and my parents had been informed I needed a major operation to correct it.  This meant 8 hours of surgery (in what was then quite an experimental procedure).  On hearing the news my father fainted, he had to be put on a hospital bed to come round.   He always kept apologising for it.  Until one day I told him not to and why, because at that moment I knew that no matter what happened or what I did that he loved me and I never needed to question that .  The same can be said for my mother’s reaction which was to stay strong and make sure I was okay, putting my needs before hers.  Sacrificing her  own needs for mine is an incredibly  loving act.

I was extremely lucky that my parents where Christians and without intension their actions showed me much more than their own love for me.

As you grow up there are still many opportunities to do stupid things and get into many bad situations that could have easily undone my parent’s good work…..and indeed they did ……and I did, but one thing above all remains.

In hindsight my mum and dad didn’t just show me their love, they showed me Gods love.  They inadvertently showed me how much God loves me by the reaction of my father, to his child going to have to go through pain.  My mother showed me sacrificial love, reflecting how much Jesus loved me to sacrifice himself for me.  That’s where I get my self-worth from.  It can never be taken away.  God loves me so much that he gave his son to die for me.  My father showed me God and my mother showed me Jesus.

So daughter of mine know this…… that your worth is not found in other people. Know that your true worth is so precious that Jesus was willing to give his life for it ….. and nobody , no matter what they do or say to you….. not even anything you can do can ever change that.

Your worth has been set and fixed at the highest level, paid for in full and never needs to be questioned ……………. not even by you!

Love always

Mum x

Trying to explain Sin

Trying to explain sin to kids or non-Christians and quite often people in the church can be quite tricky.  It doesn’t sit well with our concept of self-esteem, our wanting to be a good person, we really don’t like to think of ourselves as sinful.   For most people I find when you say ‘sin’ they think of the extreme end of sin; sin meaning evil, murderers, scoundrels, thieves and anything above and beyond that.  Well of course nobody wants to think of oneself as being in that category, especially when thinking about us being born with sin.  How can a little baby so innocent be classed in such a category? They have done no wrong.

So for any explanation or understanding we need to go back to Adam and Eve.  What was it like in the garden with God? Well from what I can gather pretty good, they wanted for nothing, water sprang up from the ground for them to drink, all the fruit and veg they could eat was provided ( they definitely got their five a day) all they had to do was go and pick it, tend it and guard it.  We can assume the weather was pretty good as there was no need for clothes, it sounds idyllic and man was good. Until it all went horribly wrong.  So what did go wrong?

God had only one rule ‘do not eat from the tree of knowledge the knowledge of good and bad if you do you will die the same day’.

The snake:

Some people like to blame what we commonly think of as the snake. He came and tempted Eve. He lied to her and tricked her in to eating the fruit from the tree.  Saying ‘did God really tell you not to eat the fruit from any tree in the garden? We may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden’ Eve answered ‘except the fruit in the middle of it. God told us not to eat the fruit  or even touch it if we do we will die’  The snake replied (and here’s the lie) That’s not true, you will not die. God said that because he knows that when you eat it you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad.’

The seed of doubt was sown, the doubt that God was telling the truth.

God:

Some people like to blame God,  If he hadn’t put the tree in the garden in temptations way no one could have eaten it.  As I see it God trusted us, but did we trust Him?

Woman:

Eve, the poor woman who has shouldered the blame throughout history. … and yep she ate it all right.  ‘So when woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of it’s fruit and ate and also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate.’   Her husband who was with her and he ate it too.  So  Adam was with her he heard the same thing from the snake, Eve didn’t tell him about the fruit he was there, don’t miss that bit…. and they both ate.  So man and woman equally responsible.

So what was the first sin?  Where did it all go horribly wrong.  Before all this the tree had been in the garden untouched by human hand, we trusted what God said to be true and God trusted us.  Before all this we wanted what God wanted, and I would imagine there was only “thank you God for all the wonderful things you provide for us because you love us so very much, we want for nothing”.

So where did sin begin? I think it started with the word ‘I’…. and then was quickly followed by ‘I want’….  ‘I want to be like God’ was what was going through those first humans minds, I want that fruit. I want that knowledge. We went in an instant from what God wants to what we want.

So what is sin?  Contrary to the belief of many sin is not just the extreme end of what we would describe as evil.  It starts with ‘I’.  A small word of one letter a tiny seed planted, that grows with our ‘wants’ and selfishness is born.  When we think of sin in this way it is much easier to see why God cannot bear to look at it, even the tiniest amount.  We can also see how even a little tiny baby has sin instinctively in them.  In fact now we have been thrown out of the garden on our own we cannot survive without ‘I want’. Selfishness dictates survival, if we insist on surviving alone. It’s much easier to see how our small seed of selfishness has created the times we live in; where half the world is starving and homeless and the other is sat hoarding its ‘wants’ in a huge pile.  Sin is much easier to see when we look around and see the consequences our selfishness.

But all is not lost.  God has given us a way back through Jesus his Son.  His two commands to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength and all your mind’, make God’s ‘wants’, your ‘wants’ and  ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself’,  make your ‘wants’, what your neighbour needs; I myself would not want to be hungry, so feed them,  I myself would not want to be lonely, so give them friendship etc.  See how Jesus is teaching us to turn things around?

When asked what do I have to do to follow you, the reply was, give up everything and follow me, (all your ‘wants’).  Make your ‘wants’…… Gods ‘wants’.  It is an offer to get back to the Garden to be with God, back to where we wanted for nothing because he can provide everything we need anytime, anyplace, anywhere, if we trust Him; and so we go full circle back to where we belong, back to God.

God gave us free will to get back to him, we have to want to.  We have to see the treasure in the field and go and sell everything to get it…… because we want to.  God Loves us so much he sent his Son to die for us to make a way back if…….. we want it.     That, my friends,  is the  GOOD NEWS!

Quotes from: The Good News Bible and the English Standard Version

Rev Jeffrey Hubert South, June 11th 1940 to June 2nd 2016

For Dad

We had an eventful and  some might say crazy life with dad.  When he was young he brought people he had befriended from the local borstal back to his poor mums for Tea (I can imagine my grandma rolling her eyes now).  He didn’t change a bit when he got married. Bringing the homeless, the lonely, the desperate, the addicted and the lost back home with him.  People from all over the world came for Sunday Lunch  and people I had never met came for Christmas.  We had the homeless sleeping in the garage, the local tramp round for a flask of tea and some sandwiches.   A food bank started from our front door.  There was always a stream of people coming in for counselling and leaving feeling much better.  He had several death threats that never seemed to bother him and going out in to the most dangerous parts of cities at night and risking his safety or even his life to help someone just happened without batting an eye lid.    As a child it was just… well normal, (dads off again) as you get older and hit those teenage years, you wonder what on earth is going on.

And then you read the bible one day for yourself and it hits you.  Wow he really believes this stuff.  Dad didn’t just believe it he lived it,  He was fearless and bold, never holding back if something needed to be said, from the pulpit or in life.  Never holding back if someone needed help or to be shown love or compassion .  He had the bible pretty much memorised ( handy if you wanted to find something you could just ring him up, this was way before Google) It is hardly surprising as when we had a count up in the last house move we found out he had 36 copies of it, in every version you could imagine.  He was fearless because he knew God.  Live or die it was a win win,  Live and he got to preach the gospel ( and be with us), die and he got to be with the God he loved so much.  To be so sure of his salvation made it easy to take risks others would talk themselves out of.  Like the apostle Paul he was in it to win it,  He ran the race to the end to win his prize.  To feast at the banquet prepared for us all and be with his Lord forever. (continues after song)

The Hymn I the lord of sea and Sky was one of his favourites.  I believe because of the words,

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard My people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
My hand will save.
I who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear My light to them?
Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord, Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart

Those words describe the way my father lived his life,  how he taught his family,  how he loved people.

Wherever he was called he would go and as his family we would follow.

Preaching the gospel was what he did, living the gospel was who he was.

( So this is for you dad)

If you have never known God, look for Him .  If you have turned away, turn back to Him. If you know the gospel be fearless and preach it. if you Love Jesus Christ be bold and live like it.

Have faith, sing it stronger, sing it louder, find your voice, Let’s hear your voices shouting Love and Life and Hope.  To whomever’s ears will hear it.  Stand firm in the faith. There is hope for the lost, Love for the unloved and the lonely, shelter for the weak and comfort for the sick.  My earthly Father taught me the truth…. Jesus Christ is Lord!

Love you always x

Not to act, is to act.

What in the world?

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008256017567

What in the world are we doing? What are we doing? As I sit watching a report on a Church being demolished in the so called ‘jungle’ in Calais, France, I watch in anguish as the church is knocked down piece by piece whilst its pastor tries to stop it happening and rescue the homemade blue cross they hold so dear. What would we do in that situation? What would we do if we were there? would we walk on by? Would we ignore it and pretend it’s not happening?
My anguish and heart felt pain was not just for the pastor and his people as he watched his symbol of hope torn down, his church will go on and become much stronger; my pain was for the ones committing this act. Not just the ones pulling down the church but the ones sat in comfy offices making this decision. What hopeless, loveless lives they must lead, if and when they realise what they are doing will they be able to live with it.

http://news.sky.com/story/1650745/children-tear-gassed-in-jungle-demolition
The refugees are men, women and children – and the children suffer worst of all. Again this week the Jungle was forcibly removed in the south quarter. These people have nothing, they can barely keep warm, they have makeshift shelters they have made themselves from what they can find to protect their families from the elements. What would you do in that situation? Wouldn’t you build whatever you can to protect your family? They have come from a war zone that we could not even begin to comprehend is like or what atrocities they have witnessed. They have come to our perceived safe continent to find hope. They risk their lives and their children’s lives and leave everything they have to get here. I would probably do the same. Of course we would we would do anything for our children and families to keep them safe.
Is this any way to treat any human being? Can we really live with ourselves if we don’t do something? How as Christians can we sit back and do nothing whilst children are suffering from the effects of tear gas ,whilst the only bed they will have for the night is in the open or in a wood (if they are lucky enough to find one) in the middle of winter. People are going to die and they are going to be children and it is going to be our fault. If we insist on having the mind set that all refugees are potential terrorists or second class citizens that don’t have the same value as us; then the same applies to us’ We don’t care!’. We don’t care enough to do anything about it. Imagine what the refugees that have been raided by troops of police this week thinks of us.

We are supposed to be Christian nations or at least have a history of Christianity. As churches we take the gospel to the unreached and go out on mission spreading love and peace and yet when it comes to our doorstep we put a no entrance sign on it. These people built a church over here and what did we do? We demolished it!  How can we call ourselves Christians and not do something. Unity is our weapon, there are enough Christians left in this so called Christian country of ours to rise up together and at the very least make a loud noise against what’s going on.

But I don’t see it in our Churches? Why? Yes it’s true there are people and churches out there that are doing what they can. But what about the rest of us? This was a church that was torn down, but the truth is, half the time we don’t even bat an eyelid when a church closes down in our home towns. I pray that the dispersal of the church in the ‘Jungle’ spreads because of this and makes more churches from the scattering of it’s people.
Some of the people in these camps are our brothers and sisters in Christ this alone should move us to help. Yet apathy seems to have firmly set in for anybody but ourselves. We spend thousands on our buildings and a small proportion on the lives of people in desperate need, we will put on entertainment for church members to keep them happy but won’t get our hands dirty in holding out that hand to help people in desperation. Is this what being a Christian is all about? Is this what Jesus commanded us to do? Come on people rise up, take a stand for justice. What is happening to these people is being done by us if we don’t take a stand against it.

Take a leaf out of Neve’s book.

 

Is it really Church?

A very close friend of mine posted the piece by Susan Beecher on facebook this week. It epitomizes many of the things that trouble my heart constantly about the churches we attend in the UK.  Sometimes I ask myself if I have misunderstood what I have read in the bible as so many seem to follow the example set out below. Is this really ‘Church’? How would your ‘church’ fare against the one written about below?

 

Susan Beecher

‘A pastor transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service. Only 3 people said hello to him, most looked the other way. He asked people for change to buy food because he was hungry. Not one gave him anything.

He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was told by the ushers that he would need to get up and go sit at the back of the church. He said hello to people as they walked in but was greeted with cold stares and dirty looks from people looking down on him and judging him.

He sat in the back of the church and listened to the church announcements for the week. He listened as new visitors were welcomed into the church that morning but no one acknowledged that he was new. He watched people around him continue to look his way with stares that said you are not welcome here.

Then the elders of the church went to the podium to make the announcement. They said they were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation. “We would like to introduce you to our new Pastor.” The congregation stood up and looked around clapping with joy and anticipation. The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle.

That’s when all the clapping stopped and the church was silent. With all eyes on him….he walked up the altar and reached for the microphone. He stood there for a moment and then recited so elegantly, a verse from the bible…..

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me.’

After he recited this, he introduced himself as their new pastor and told the congregation what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry and bow their heads in shame. “Today I see a gathering of people here but I do not see a church of Jesus. The world has enough people that look the other way. What the world needs is disciples of Jesus that can follow this teachings and live as he did. When will YOU decide to become disciples?

He then dismissed service until the following Sunday as his sermon had been given.’  (Dec 2015)

What has happened to our churches? What has happened to our belief? What has happened to our teaching? What on earth has happened to us? If your church is like this it is full of goats and not sheep. Sheep follow the shepherd and do as he wants them to do. Are the people in your church following the master? and more importantly are you? Is your church unified as a body so that even the gates of hell cannot prevail against it? The best way I have heard unity in the church described is ‘ think of being on a mission, most people have done something as a group that just has to get done. Where the group is a bunch of misfits that wouldn’t normally have anything to do with each other but because of the mission or the job that needs to get done, the common purpose brings everybody together working equally as hard with the skills they have to achieve a common goal’. It reminds me of a shoal of fish all moving in the same formation so that as a single unit they can defend themselves from predators.   Is your Church like this or are the predators inside the shoal?

What has happened to our faith? As you know from my last post I am awaiting the arrival of the Syrian refugees; as part of that I ask our church if they would help out and be ready to act. At the meeting most said yes, but the rumour mill started and comments were going around like’ We can’t afford to help them, where would we put them.’ To go on would bring me to tears. Where is their faith? Where is their faith that God will provide. He has provided for me many times. When we were down to our last penny (literally) when my husband had been made redundant we had nothing to eat nothing to feed our child. I took the last £1 coin I had in my pocket to buy something to feed us and everything I needed in the shop was reduced to 5p. We ate well that week and we had much joy. The number of times that has happened and many other things like it I cannot begin to recount, it would take pages and pages. As long as you are seeking God’s Kingdom; as long as you are doing God’s Will he will provide. Have Faith!

What has happened to our teaching of the bible ? How can churches be full of people who think looking out for themselves and themselves alone is ok? How can we have churches full of people who turn up expecting to be served. Served their needs, served their milk every Sunday morning so they can feel good, then go about the rest of the week serving themselves. I am sure we all know of churches where the few do everything and the rest wait to be served. Is that what it says a Christian is supposed to look like in the bible, does anybody even know?

What on earth has happened to us? You are responsible for your own actions.  You are responsible for your own faith. You are responsible for knowing the word of God, you do not need somebody to feed it to you, feed it to yourself. God is the greatest teacher ask and he will teach you, put in the effort and you will learn. When you stand before the Judge, you stand alone . What will you say?

I Myself

“If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

(1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

Love thy Neighbour (Matthew 22: 36-40). It’s hard to believe that many a Christian in the UK struggles to get this. How? you may well ask.

The culture of our time bombards us with self – how do you feel? what do you want? we must all have ‘Me’ time (hahaha I never have time for ‘ME’ time and to be honest, why would I want to?).   It’s a myth we all buy into, that this is vital for our well-being. Even those who regularly attend church buy into the concept of putting themselves first. Little wonder then that when it comes to ‘Love thy neighbour’ the concept gets a little twisted in translation from bible speak to world speak.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbours as ourselves. So quite often the first thing anybody does when thinking of pursuing such love is to stop what they are doing and think about themselves. We buy into the concept of, ‘if I love myself more I can love others better’ or ‘if I don’t love myself how can I love anybody else?’ Do we really think that is what God is saying? Do we really think He is saying ‘make sure you’re ok then help others’? ‘Put yourself first and then do something?’

Well He kind of is, in a roundabout sort of a way, but not the way people generally interpret the concept today.  Remember The first Command from Jesus was Love the lord your God with all your heart and your soul and all your mind,…. then Love thy neighbour as yourself.   So the first part is loving God with everything in your being and allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us and guide us, thus removing selfishness from our hearts and minds (that’s ‘self’ sorted). Then love our neighbours as ourselves. Our neighbours being everybody else.

I listened to a fantastic interview, with a young girl who had gone out to Uganda instead of going to college and had ended up being an adoptive mother to many young orphaned girls, in her late teens, early twenties. She put it so simply even I could understand it. She started off with ‘I myself’ and then listed a few things along the lines of ‘I myself would not want to be hungry, so I feed the hungry, I myself would not want to be in pain, so I take care of the sick.   I myself would not want to be alone……etc. ‘I myself’, ‘do unto others as you would want them to do for you’, (it’s an oldy but a goody) we forget the things our parents used to say to us, in favour of the current trend, put yourself first.

(here is her facebook page if you want to know more )

At the moment our family is eagerly awaiting the arrival of Syrian refugees coming to our area, we have our names down to help and have done for months.  It’s very strange, I have that feeling you get when you’re a child waiting for Christmas, the eager anticipation of something good to happen after a long wait. It’s almost an excitement, a ‘please hurry up and get here soon’. I have come to believe that, that is what Jesus is saying when He says ‘Love thy neighbour as you love yourself’. Try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and really feel what they might be feeling. If I myself were lonely, I would want company, If I myself were hurting I would want comfort, If I myself was hungry, I would want feeding. If I myself where a Syrian refugee I would be desperate, lonely, terrified, cold, hungry, confused, heartbroken being made to feel like I have no worth, broken physically and mentally. I myself would want it to stop, I myself would want to be rescued, I myself would want to be loved.

 

My whole heart wants that to happen for the refugees, soon, with a sense of urgency because for me that is what I would want. It’s the love that motivates you (Mark 12:31). God loves us, we love God, God loves others, we love others, Others love God and so it goes on(1 John 4:11).

This Love is what’s vital for our well-being – both giving and receiving.

 

 

 

The difference of opinion on the Holy Spirit

A while ago  I had a slight disagreement with a friend of mine. ( I have great respect for him and did some research to see if it was me who had it wrong but I simply couldn’t find any evidence to support his point of view). We had a difference of opinion on how the Holy Spirit works in our lives.  He seemed to be implying that the Holy Spirit came in and out of us at will depending on how we behaved and would actually leave you. (this was my reply)

 I’m not sure I see leave anywhere ( the definition I can find for leave is = depart from, withdraw from, go from, escape from, desert, quit, flee , exit, move out of, disappear from, forsake, give up, get out of).

For instance in John 14 :16 it says:

‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you.’

And in Ephesians 1: 13 it says:

‘In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee[d] of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,[e] to the praise of his glory.’

Both of these seem to suggest to me that The Holy Spirit stays with you and doesn’t leave. In Ephesians 29 – 32 which says ( NIV):

’29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.’

I still can’t see where it says the Holy Spirit will leave. There is a warning not to grieve ( definition of grieve = cause to feel hurt, sorrow or distress). But It still says ‘With whom we are sealed’ In 1 Thessalonians 5: 19 it says ‘do not quench the spirit’ (definition of quench = 1. to extinguish a fire, 2. to stifle or suppress, 3. to reduce to silence, 4. to rapidly cool or 5. to quench a thirst. ) so definition 2 to 5 doesn’t imply leave. Which leaves us with a debate about ‘extinguish’ but any fireman will tell you an extinguished fire can sometimes relight. Anyone who has blown out candles on their birthday cake know you think you have them all and then one relights.

Which implies to me, taking into account firstly John 14: 16 and the fact that I can only find quench or grieve as warnings, I can only conclude that the Holy spirit once sealed with you is with us forever. However while the Holy Spirit will not leave a believer, it is possible for our sin to “quench the Holy Spirit” as in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 or “grieve the Holy Spirit” as in Ephesians 4:30. I can see that sin always has consequences in our relationship with God. While our relationship with God is secure in Christ, un-confessed sin in our lives can hinder our relationship with God and effectively quench the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives. That is why it is so important to confess our sins because God is “faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9) So, while I don’t think the Holy Spirit will ever leave us, the benefits and joy of His presence can leave us but He never will.

And that my friends is GOOD NEWS

research tool/ quotes: The Bible, Got a question.com and bible gateway. com

I have gotta get out of this box!

Have you ever heard the saying ’ think outside the box’?  And have you ever noticed the people who say this are usually the people trapped inside the box?  I was thinking about this recently.  How people get trapped in the ways of the world, the demands for qualifications, the demand for compliance with what the world sees as the norm. The demand from parental expectations, peer pressure and the demands we put on ourselves, all put us safely in to our allotted boxes to be stacked neatly on our assigned shelf.   Do we really think God cares about these things, does God put people in a box?. It seems to me that the church has much the same demands on us.  Even there we are assigned our position and limited by others’ expectations.  Throughout history the call for organised religion has boxed us safely in to keep the masses under control in the guise of safety.  Maybe even by dumbing down the scriptures in the process, keeping us on a need-to-know basis.

It occurs to me that keeping people inside the box is the work of those who work for the other team.  In order to keep someone boxed, they have to have fear of what is outside; to doubt themselves and their abilities and their own beliefs and are pressured to stay in the box where it’s safe.  Which sounds right doesn’t it !?! To Keep Us Safe!?! We are used to hearing such language in churches yet the bible states quite clearly be bold.  The book of Acts is full of boldness and praying for boldness and speaking with boldness.  Acts 4 is dedicated to boldness.   This is the part where Peter and John come before the council (after healing the lame man) to be questioned. Acts 4 vs 8 – 13 reads:

⁸ Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, answered them, “Leaders of the people and elders: ⁹ if we are being questioned today about the good deed done to the lame man and how he was healed, ¹⁰ then you should all know, and all the people of Israel should know, that this man stands here before you completely well through the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—whom you crucified and whom God raised from death. ¹¹ Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says,

‘The stone that you the builders despised     turned out to be the most important of all.’

¹² Salvation is to be found through him alone; in all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us.”

¹³ The members of the Council were amazed to see how bold Peter and John were and to learn that they were ordinary men of no education. They realized then that they had been companions of Jesus.

(Reiterate) Peter and John were ordinary men of no education.  I’m not pointing this out saying don’t go to college or University. Working hard on your education is a wonderful thing, but don’t use it as an excuse or let others stop you because of it. If you aren’t lucky enough to go to University don’t worry Jesus can use anyone who has faith and follows him just like Peter and John.

Lets just take a minute to add to that and see what the 4 main definitions of Bold are; these are taken from dictionary.com but you can look it up at home:

bold

[bohld]  Show IPA

adjective, bold·er, bold·est.

1.

not hesitating or fearful in the face of actual or possible danger or rebuff; courageous and daring: a bold hero.

2.

not hesitating to break the rules of propriety; forward; impudent: He apologized for being so bold as to speak to the emperor.

3.

necessitating courage and daring; challenging: a bold adventure.

4.

beyond the usual limits of conventional thought or action; imaginative: Einstein was a bold mathematician. a difficult problem needing a bold answer.

So when the bible is speaking about boldness it’s speaking about fearlessly standing apart from everyone else and being daring in how we speak and how we live our lives.

And again in Acts chapter23 speaking about Boldness.

The Believers Pray for Boldness

²³ As soon as Peter and John were set free, they returned to their group and told them what the chief priests and the elders had said. ²⁴ When the believers heard it, they all joined together in prayer to God: “Master and Creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and all that is in them! ²⁵ By means of the Holy Spirit you spoke through our ancestor David, your servant, when he said,

‘Why were the Gentiles furious;     why did people make their useless plots? ²⁶ The kings of the earth prepared themselves,     and the rulers met together     against the Lord and his Messiah.’

²⁷ For indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together in this city with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Jesus, your holy Servant, whom you made Messiah. ²⁸ They gathered to do everything that you by your power and will had already decided would happen. ²⁹ And now, Lord, take notice of the threats they have made, and allow us, your servants, to speak your message with all boldness. ³⁰ Reach out your hand to heal, and grant that wonders and miracles may be performed through the name of your holy Servant Jesus.”

³¹ When they finished praying, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim God’s message with boldness.

 

(reiterate) ‘They were filled with the holy spirit and began to proclaim God’s message with boldness’.  There was nothing the council wanted more than to put Peter and John back in their box and keep them quiet.  But they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke boldly, they knew the truth and nothing was going to stop them speaking and living boldly.  Why did they speak boldly? How can we speak and live boldly?

Do you remember the passage about the healing of the man’s mute son?

Mark 9 vs21- 23 states in the passage about the healing of the boy and his fathers doubts:

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’ ‘From childhood,’ he answered. ²² ‘It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.’²³ ‘“If you can”?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’ ‘ ( I think The Message Bible puts it the most clearly in verse 23) ‘Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.”

Yet still we question:  Is it safe to come out of the box?  Faith is what is outside of that box we imprison ourselves in.  God has no boxes, no borders that can’t be crossed.  In him all things are possible.  If we truly believe in God, we believe we are a child of God; why would we have doubts?  Why do we stay where it’s safe?  Why do we stay in that box?  If we believe, then Gods spirit lives in us.  God is with us within our own bodies, ’if God is for us then who can be against us’?  We can speak and live boldly because we know the truth.  We know all things are possible, we know God is with us and fear is not from God.  Why would we stay in the box?

Romans 8 vs 12 -17 says:

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, ‘Abba,^[g]Father.’ ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory’.

We have an obligation to leave these boxes, throw them away,  step outside our comfort  zones, outside of your churches and our own limitations and venture out in faith with Boldness to do whatever it is that God calls us to do. Go make disciples, speak to the lonely, care for the sick, go out among our neighbours and love them without fear.  Don’t let anyone one say you can’t do this because ….. We do not need to be slaves to our fears and we can break out of the box.  Break out of the constraints of ‘religious expectation’ and follow what it says we should do in the bible. Follow the word of God so that we will live.  We are called to be like Christ, we should look different to the rest of the world.  We cannot Keep God in a box to be brought out once a week on  a Sunday.  The God of all creation (and now we are getting a better idea of how big and awesome that actually is thanks to the pictures from the space telescopes and it’s pretty amazing don’t you think?);  the God who created everything,  the reason you breath in and out every day,  the Lord of everything , lives in us, his spirit is in you…. How can we say we can’t do whatever it is that God is calling us to do?  Step out of the box and pray for boldness as we move forward in our lives and in our churches.  Pray that we become the parts of the body and of the church that God intended us to be.

Amen

One of those life and death questions

Someone made a statement the other day. Their son asked (who doesn’t believe) Why had some of his friends died young in accidents etc.? and how could he believe in a God who allowed that to happen? ( or something along those lines). As Christians we probably get asked similar question quite a lot particularly when ‘Good’ people have died. Why did it happen to them?

Well in order to try to understand this or even give an answer we have to try to understand two things,

The first:

Jesus was asked this exact same question in Luke 13 .  When the tower fell on 18 people in Siloam. His answer may not be quite what they were expecting. (The verses are mainly about judging people but we can get a lot more for them too). When he basically asks do you think because they died they are worse than any of you? His reply is ‘No indeed! And I tell you that if you do not turn from your sins you will all die as they did’.   So what Jesus is basically saying is, take this as a warning, don’t worry about them God has his own reasons for what happened to them, You worry about yourselves if you don’t turn to God the same thing will happen to you. None of you know when your last breath will come, turn now or you will die.  Jesus is talking about eternal life. The eternal life we are promised with him if we turn to follow him and the eternal death if we don’t. He goes on to explain that some more in the parable of the unfruitful fig tree in Luke 13 vs 6 -9

“There was once a man who had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. He went looking for figs on it but found none. ⁷ So he said to his gardener, ‘Look, for three years I have been coming here looking for figs on this fig tree, and I haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it go on using up the soil?’ ⁸ But the gardener answered, ‘Leave it alone, sir, just one more year; I will dig around it and put in some fertilizer. ⁹ Then if the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can have it cut down.’” 

We get many chances to follow Jesus in our lives and to turn and follow him making our live fruitful for him we should take our chance whilst we can.

So what about ‘Good’ people when they die. Well contrary to popular belief not all ‘good’ people get into heaven. there is one way and one way only and that is to believe in Christ. Do bad things happen to ‘good’ people? Yes. To define ‘Good’ you would have to say without sin. So are there any people without sin in the world? NO! the only way we can become without sin is to believe in Jesus and live our lives for him. He is the only one who can wash our sin away. Which he has already done on the cross should we choose to accept it.   Moving further along in Luke to the Parable of the feast in Luke 14 vs 15 – 24. We are all invited to the feast but not all accept the invitation as in the parable many excuses are made as to why ‘not now!’ . which also links to the parable of the unfruitful fig tree. We do not know when our time is up can you afford to refuse the invitation?

Secondly:

We need to understand about the future. What are we striving for?   As Christians having taken up the invitation our home is with God so therefore we are striving to be with him.

In becoming a Christian Jesus warns us of the cost of being a disciple (Luke 14 vs 25- onwards) Jesus basically says consider the cost, he is telling us ahead of time the cost of becoming a Christian and following him is high. It is not going to be an easy ride. You may lose your entire family; they may not want anything to do with you but you have to love Jesus more, enough to follow him anyway. You have to pick up your own cross. Now that doesn’t sound like an easy ride to me and it may end in losing your life here on earth. The book of Job shows us how bad it can get for even the best of us. Job lost everything. But the book of Job shows us we can gain everything by staying faithful.   The Book of Job also show us that there are greater things going on outside our understanding and we should not question Gods actions he has a far great understanding than us. So what is the prize at the end of the battle? The battle we have to fight to the ends of our lives here on earth. Yes to the end, we don’t get to retire at 65 thinking we have done our bit.  Never cease spreading the gospel until our last breath. Paul fought the good fight and ran the race to the very end, setting us a high example. So…..Why would we do this?

Jesus never promised us an easy life, He never said follow me and nothing bad will happen to you in fact quite the opposite. But what he did say is He will be with us always, He will be by our side helping us, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we fear nothing because He is there with us. Whatever happens we will be ok because we will go home. The promise is for eternal life with him. When we see in Jesus the treasure buried in the field that we would sell everything to get we understand what he is offering us. He is offering us eternal life with him, pain and sorrow-free, in a new heaven and a new earth. He is asking us to go home to where we belong like the prodigal son he will welcome us and forget all our sins so we can live with God forever. ( QN: we can’t make that happen it has to be in God’s timing).

So to get back to the point at the beginning: When bad things happen to people and they lose their lives in accidents or in other ways.  If they are not Christians our hearts should be full of sorrow and if you are not a Christian heed the warning and turn to God so that in their death they have saved you. If we are Christians we should respond in a new-found determination to spread the gospel and save more souls. If it is a Christian who is taken, be glad, for although we grieve for our loss in this life as we will miss them dreadfully, praise God that we will all be together for eternity and that by His grace they and we are saved.