Following God (Part Two)

Clearly, following God is not something we naturally do. We teach children to be good, not bad. Left to ourselves we go astray like sheep. Left to our own devices we look only to our own interests. Not all our intentions are only evil all the time, but that bent towards doing the wrong thing so easily dominates, whether we want to be good or not. God did the hard work. While we were His enemies, Christ died for us. While we scoffed at Him on the cross, Christ prayed, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” We pursued Him to death and He allowed Himself to be led to the slaughter. We didn’t love God. But He loved us. It’s no wonder we find it hard to obey God sometimes. Our very being naturally rebels at the thought. But He has placed His Holy Spirit in the believer to give us a desire to do it. With Him we have a fighting chance.

“When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.

Or we'll walk by His side in the way.

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;

Never fear, only trust and obey.”

Psalm 33 places the spotlight on God and shows us why He is worth following.

The words of the Lord are true,

   and all his works are dependable.

The Lord loves what is righteous and just;

   his constant love fills the earth.

The Lord created the heavens by his command,

   the sun, moon, and stars by his spoken word.

Psalms 33:4‭-‬6

His word is upright. His works are faithful. He is a God who can be trusted. He won’t change His mind every five minutes or tell us one thing but do another. His character and His commands are consistent. He is reliable. He never changes. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. God loves righteousness and justice. His goodness is there for all to see in the world He has created. God is on the side of right. He wants fairness in its fullest sense to prevail. He wants humanity to do what is good and to love one another. The fault lies with us that we don’t always do it. He is Creator of all. How can the creature be so obnoxious and ungrateful to God? Humanity, in effect, sticks its middle finger in the air and shouts “up yours! I’m the master of my fate! I can do anything I want. It’s my body! It’s my life! Butt out!” When we look at the character of God and the character of man, the contrast should be clear. Is it any wonder that following God can be hard, when everything in us propels us to do a Jonah and run away in the other direction? And yet, with God’s Holy Spirit in us, it is possible. We have been rescued from this body of death.

For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death. Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants. To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. And so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God's law, and in fact they cannot obey it. Those who obey their human nature cannot please God. But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to—if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you.

Romans 8:2‭, ‬5‭-‬11

I think a good principle for following the Lord is to do it because it is the right thing to do - because God is worth following for His own sake. If we want to follow Him because of what we can get out of Him, I think we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. Not because we can’t trust Him to keep His promises, but because if He doesn’t do what we want Him to do when we want Him to do it, then we’ll get down and angry and bitter. To love Him for His own sake is the way to go. Seek first His kingdom, then all other things will be given us. He isn’t going to hold anything back. “If God is for us, who can be against us?  Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son—will he not also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32)

I want to close with some more words from Psalm 33, which ends with a prayer.

The Lord watches over those who obey him,

   those who trust in his constant love.

He saves them from death;

   he keeps them alive in times of famine.

We put our hope in the Lord;

   he is our protector and our help.

We are glad because of him;

   we trust in his holy name.

May your constant love be with us, Lord,

   as we put our hope in you.

Psalms 33:18‭-‬22

Following God (Part One)

We know from the Old Testament that the Israelites had a bit of a patchy history when it came to following the Lord. But they are by no means unique in that. What we may think of as the established church hasn’t always done what is right in the eyes of God. Child abuse by priests, covered up by bishops. The torture and murder of those they saw as heretics. Conversions at the point of a sword. Splitting over seemingly minor issues sometimes. And what about that early church to whom the apostles preached and Paul and others wrote their letters? A pristine, pure body of believers? Sadly not. It’s clear that there were real problems from what we read in Paul's letters, not to mention the letters to the churches in Revelation. Quarrels over the best leader to follow. Taking each other to court. Turning to false gospels. Gossiping and backbiting. I bet that doesn’t even sound like a big deal to us. It may not have been widespread but it was bad enough to mention. So, how about us? Are we any good at following God? Or is our devotion patchy, too?

In Numbers 9:15-23, we see one of those occasions on which the Israelites were very obedient. God directed them using a cloud which appeared over the tabernacle. When the cloud lifted, that was the sign to move. When it settled down, that was the place to camp. Now, I don’t know about you, but on the face of it that looks a bit easy. To have such a clear sign from God should be a doddle to obey. I wonder if this counts as “baby steps”?

Sometimes people will strangely say it's hard to know God's will. “You know what would make it really easy to obey? If God just told us straight out in plain words what He wanted us to do.” Yeah, He did that and we have it recorded in the Bible. Most of the time it's not really that difficult to know what He wants from us. But why accept the plain Word of God when you can complicate things to the point that everything can be objected to or interpreted in many contradictory ways? We sometimes seem to want to make things hard on ourselves. “The Bible is a big book and hard to understand! How about if God just came down and stood in front of us and spoke to us?” Yep, He did that as well! And we have His words recorded in the gospels. That didn't always go down well either. Even though God has spoken directly and often clearly, that doesn’t make following Him easier. Here's the problem: people don't always like what He’s telling us and we may decide we ain’t gonna do it. We find ways of saying “He didn’t really mean that”. It might well be clear what following Him entails, but it needs a heart and will to actually do it.

In our days we don’t have a cloud directing us or a physical Jesus on the ground to wander around with. And as we see in the Bible, neither of these guaranteed obedience either. Our task is potentially harder and potentially easier. We have to walk by faith and not by sight. But we have a written word to consult and the Holy Spirit of God living within us. Blessed are those who haven’t seen but believe anyway.

I don’t want to be down on the Israelites, the early church or the established church. There is likely often more good than bad. The problem is that the bad taints and spoils the good. I am very conscious that I also sin and fall short of the glory of God, along with everyone else. “Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed.” (Jeremiah 17:9) So sick, we need a new heart. Chipping away at the heart of stone won’t work. “Everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence. But by the free gift of God's grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.” (Romans 3:23-24) I know my shortcomings and how desperately I need the blood of Jesus to cleanse me. I wish it wasn’t so. When we come to take communion I often thank Him for dying for our sins and wishing that I hadn’t made it necessary.

As a hymnwriter put it:

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood,

Sealed my pardon with His blood: Halellujah! What a Saviour!

Guilty, vile and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full atonement! Can it be? Halellujah! What a Saviour!”

And another:

“And can it be that I should gain An int’rest in the Saviour’s blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain— For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”

For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! (Romans 5:6‭, ‬8)

And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven. (1 John 4:9‭-‬10)

The Vilest Offender Who Truly Believes?

Not so long ago a serial rapist in England was granted parole after serving eight years of his sentence. This rightly caused a public outcry and the decision was overturned. The one  aspect of this terrible case I want to focus on was that he claimed to have become a Christian in prison. This led to various responses. “He’s deceived if he thinks God has forgiven him” being one of them. I am obviously not in a position to know whether he has truly repented and turned to Christ. When it comes to prisoners it is easy for me to be sceptical because it could easily be a ploy to get early release (“I’m a reformed character, Guv”). But my scepticism is neither here nor there to the grace of God.

Let’s put this man to one side now and consider “sinners” in general. What is the grace of God for? Surely it shows favour to those who don’t deserve it. (Which, by the way, is all of us.) Do we have something in the back of our minds that the grace of God is only for people whose sins are no worse than mine? Or do we really believe that “the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives”? Why would we put a limit on who we are happy to accept as a brother or sister in Christ based on their past behaviour? “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” “Forgive one another in Christ as God has forgiven you.” “Freely you have received, freely give.” OK, the sin may not have been against us but the concept of accepting one another in Christ stands, even if it is unpalatable to us.

When the Apostle Paul was converted there was scepticism and fear among the Christians because he had been persecuting Christians and dragging them into prison. If he could, however, be accepted by the church, then anyone can. I think a cautious welcome is fine if need be and some degree of monitoring of the behaviour of the person to see if they demonstrate fruit in keeping with repentance. Depending on the sins involved some safeguarding measures may need to be put in place. But an outright rejection of the person from the outset is not Christian.

Here’s a link to a poem I wrote about this, which expresses things in a different way…

Happy Feet

The Day I Met God

I had quite a lonely childhood. Partly this may have been due to me isolating myself at times and partly due to being one of those kids that always got left out of things or was the last to be picked for teams. I was quite introspective and unhappy. Teenage years magnified this and unhappiness turned into its evil cousin, misery.

I had always been interested in the supernatural and had a firm belief that some vague kind of God existed out there. I thought that the way to get into heaven was to be good, and, in my eyes, I was good. And I think I really was comparatively good. I didn’t get into trouble or seek to be disruptive. I went to church Sunday School as a child and I believe I liked it. But that ceased when one of the other kids who stopped going turned up after church just to bully me, so I stopped going too.

Losing this contact with God didn’t stop me being interested in the supernatural. I read all manner of books on the occult, ghosts, aliens, divination - and totally scared myself. I became very superstitious and fearful, carrying out rituals to stop vague, bad things from happening to me, afraid of the dark in case a ghost appeared or an alien came to abduct me.

Life went on, and I became more miserable, more lonely, more scared. I hated myself, I hated the world, and became obsessed with wanting it to end. And good riddance! Actually, wanting it to end wasn’t enough, I wanted to know when that would happen. So, aged 18, I set about on a quest to find out when the world would end.

I read parts of books from a few different religions, but they didn’t tell me when it would happen. Then it occurred to me to read the Bible. If the Bible was God’s book, God was sure to know when the world would end and it would be in the Bible. I started reading at the beginning - a task that would take 6 months. But no - no date in the Bible for the end of the world! Then I came across a book by Billy Graham called Approaching Hoofbeats, which was about the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Yes - Revelation! The end of the world! Maybe Billy Graham could tell me!

Well, no. Billy Graham didn’t tell me when the world was going to end. But he told me about Jesus. Why He died and what I could do to know Him and receive eternal life. I knew this was what I wanted and I did it. In my bedroom I prayed to become a Christian, telling God I was sorry for my sins, asking Him to forgive me, and asking Jesus into my life. I felt a tangible whoosh of peace flood my whole body. And that was the day I first met God.

Where's Your Head At? (Part Two)

Although I’ve called this blog “Part Two”, it’s very much a different aspect rather than a continuation. This blog looks at a Christian issue. Where are our heads at, fellow-Christians? Are we walking by faith or are we walking by sight? Are we fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith? Are we thinking about “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely?” Are we living like strangers in the world, or are we indistinguishable from it?

Assuming we want to be living as the Bible tells us, how do we do that? This is a subject which has been unnecessarily complicated by the accumulation of 2000 years’ worth of theology, philosophy and the collection of various isms. With a book the size of the Bible it’s hardly surprising if we get a bit confused sometimes. That’s why I’ve picked just a few verses to start us off in the opening paragraph.

It’s important to get our heads right. The mind needs to be renewed by the word of God and the Spirit of God. This is what will transform us into the likeness of Christ and help us not to conform to the pattern of the world (Romans 12:2). Unfortunately, there is a phenomenon in which the opposite happens. People become Christians or come into the church and bring their philosophies in with them. Rather than subjecting these thoughts to the Bible/Church they reject/adapt the Bible/Church to their ideology. I say “they”. We are all prone. Our minds need to be transformed. The Bible doesn’t. 

We are meant to walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7) This is about pleasing God. We are meant to live in the knowledge of His presence, not as if this world is all there is. We are meant to live with a higher purpose in life than fulfilling earthly dreams. There is a resurrection and a judgement to come, and this should influence the way we act. We are meant to follow God’s heart, not our own evil inclinations. We are to avoid sin, not throw ourselves headlong into it. Where is our head at – pleasing God or pleasing ourselves? “We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2) “But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1 John 2:1) Sin should not be the norm for the Christian, but if we do sometimes give in, Jesus is there as the route to forgiveness.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) Paul felt it necessary to advise a first century audience about this. Living in pagan societies it would have been very relevant. It is still relevant today. There is so much that is the opposite of these things staring us in the face. It’s too easy to get engrossed in the negative, the wicked, the ugly. We don’t want to bury our heads in the sand but we also shouldn’t want to fill our heads with filth. 

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11) We are in the world, but not of it. The way we act should emphasise that distinction. The world here clearly refers to a type of behaviour, not to the planet. Can people tell we are Christians? Can they see we are different? Or do we indulge in the same sins as if being a Christian were nothing special? The preceding verses are: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” The contrast between what we were in the world and what we are in Christ does not need me to expound it further.

In spite of all this, we are so prone to forget. It is as if we slip and slide away so easily. Our main hope is to keep our minds focussed on the Lord Jesus and all that we are in Him. And to encourage each other to do so.

Where's Your Head At? (Part One)

Which came first – thoughts or (in)actions? Where’s your head at? This is an important question because so much will flow from it, consciously or unconsciously. It’s good to cultivate a focussed mind if we can, rather than one that is scattered all over the place, overcrowded by thoughts which fill us which anxiety and dread. This will help us to put things in perspective and get things done in some sense of order, maybe even to get things done at all. I suggest we don’t really want to be “all over the place”, left hoping we’ll somehow manage to do something useful. We want to achieve, preferably by design. We want to have a target because otherwise we can’t hit it. 

If we notice our minds are dashing all over the place, buzzing around and unable to stay with one thing, we need to recognise that it’s happening, be calm with ourselves, decide we want to focus and then do it without moaning at ourselves or calling ourselves stupid or useless or whatever. We don’t want to stop thinking, we just want to order it. Maybe pause your thoughts, count to ten and say “right, I’m back in the room” and determine to decide what is most important to you now. Out of all the competing thoughts, worries, cares, excitements, which one needs your immediate attention? You may even find the answer to this is “none of them”! Get pen and paper (or some technological equivalent) and make yourself a list of the things you were thinking about. Then next to each one rank them by priority. Write down when they need to be done. Write down how difficult you expect them to be. You’ll probably find out, on reflection, that some things don’t even need to be thought about in advance – they are so straightforward they will take care of themselves when you come to do them. I’ve been like this often in the past, thinking through in detail how to do something which is just so obvious and easy to do that my angst was unnecessary. 

It’s helpful to declutter your mind, to realise that you don’t need to overthink most things. You can try to drop some thoughts which are unhelpful – you don’t have to cling on to thoughts just because you’ve had them. 

If you’ve now got your list, here’s an interesting experiment. Put it aside and do something for the next 30 minutes which isn’t even on it! Something you enjoy. See if you can do that thing without even thinking about your list. You may just find out that the world doesn’t collapse! Then go back to your list and reassess it. And relax.