Never mind Ducky, let’s have a nice cup of tea

There is a picture that comes to mind, taken during the London blitz during the war. The picture is of a lady on her rooftop with a pot of tea in her hand, looking at the bombs falling. There is something so typically British about tea! When a policeman was sent to a home in Britain with bad news, the first thing they would do after having delivered the bad news, would be to put the kettle on for a cup of tea. And part of this, is that there is something comforting about coming back to something normal in the midst of chaos. But the amount and level of comfort that is available to the believer is far, far greater than a cup of tea.

In particular, our God is the God of all comfort 2 Corinthians 1:3, and the need for comfort often draws us to Him. In fact one of the names of the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete, the one called alongside to comfort and strengthen us. But it’s not just the comfort of God that is available to the Christian. Paul, in Philippians 2:1, taking it for granted that there is encouragement in Christ, and comfort in the love of the saints, uses these facts to spur us on to be Christ like. And I am appreciating this morning, the comfort I am receiving from both sources in these days.

But I would be less than honest if I did not admit that the communion of the saints is not always all that it is cracked up to be. In particular, part of why I was needing comfort in the first place, is that I am feeling the pain of a brother in Christ who has been treated quite shabbily by the church. And part of why that is so difficult for me, it is because of the echoes of how I myself I’ve been treated by those who should know better. However, when I think about this, I am reminded that one of the purposes of the church is to be a hospital for the sin sick. And it is to the church’s credit that it accepts people who are less than, shall we say, perfect. Getting healed is a process, and of course the Pharisee is alive and well and living on planet Earth!

Father, I want to thank You this morning for Your comfort, and for the comfort I receive in partnership with Your saints. But I want to pray this morning Lord, for those who are finding it difficult, for whatever reason, to find comfort in any of these places. We need your grace Lord, I need Your grace. And I need to more clearly to find the path between being unconcerned, and being bogged down by the problems and pain of others. Thank You Lord that in You all things are possible. Thank You Lord Jesus that You came to heal the brokenhearted in Your precious Name I pray Amen

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us and to us

If you are like me, there are times when the pain of others, my own pain and the dysfunction of the world including those I love, threatened to overwhelm me. This is part of the weight we were talking about recently (see archives). The Lord put this verse from Romans 8:18 on my heart this morning, and I felt Him asking me if I believed what I had been blogging recently. And the answer is yes, but that does not mean that I don’t wrestle with things, nor that it’s easy! But His question prompted me once again, to turn my eyes on Jesus, and to seek to see things from His perspective and from the perspective of eternity.

In the context of this morning’s verse, Paul had been reminding us that a mind set on the things of the Spirit, is life and health and peace (verse 6). The words of an ancient hymn come to mine “Though the wrong seems oft so strong, He is the ruler yet!” And it came to me again, that it’s not over yet, and that in the end we win. This is what the book of Revelation is all about! Our job is to keep hope in the midst of the chaos and the devastation, and with Paul to put our suffering in the here and now in the correct perspective.

And the correct perspective concerns the glory that is to be revealed in us, and to us. His glory is in fact revealed in us, as we stand, refuse to lose hope and trust and believe in the face of what to the world are impossible circumstances. And His incomparable glory will be revealed to us on that day. Everyone who has this hope based on Christ and His work keeps himself pure (1 John 3:3). And part of keeping ourselves pure, is to refuse to be offended, and to trust that in the end He will right every wrong, and that He, the God of all comfort, will wipe away every tear from our eyes!

Father, thank You for Your Word, thank You for Your promises, thank You that as I turn my eyes and my thoughts to You and Your kingdom, the peace returns. Thank You that You are the God of all comfort, and I ask You this morning Lord to comfort all who are struggling and wrestling with the weight that so easily besets us. Help us Lord to run with patience and endurance the race that You have set before us, so that Your glory may revealed in us and to us in Jesus Name Amen

Lay aside weight and sin… (Part 4) looking unto Jesus who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2)

Joy and suffering are inextricably linked within the pages of the New Testament. And part of what the verse here means, is that Jesus in order to push through, was not looking at the pain and difficulty of what He needed to face. Rather, He was looking ahead towards what His endurance would accomplish, namely the salvation of the world! With this perspective, He could in comparison totally dismiss the shame He was called to endure, as something to be despised, something to be totally dismissed!

There is so much in these verses, but what I want to look at this morning, is the principle that many times we need to endure short-term pain, in order to accomplish long term gain! In a world that screams out “I want what I want, and I want it now,” this is not a popular principal. But it is the road to maturity! Last night, I was at the graduation party of a friend celebrating having gained her PhD. It was a lot of hard work, it took a long time, and she had had to press through. There were times she wanted to give up. Likewise the road to maturity is sometimes difficult, but we will not reach maturity if we are not willing to press through the relatively short term pain in order to accomplish our goals.

This same principle is applicable to recovery. We will not gain the fullness of life that we are promised (John 10:10b), unless we are willing to deal with the issues. There is a recovery saying, that we will not change, until the pain of being stuck becomes greater than the pain and fear of change. So many of us would rather medicate the pain, rather than deal with what needs to be dealt with. So then many who use drugs do so to dull the pain, rather than to get high. But all this does is prolong the pain! And in order to recover, in order to move towards maturity, we have to follow the example of Jesus who pushed through the pain, setting his eyes on the joy of the end of the matter.

Father, thank You that we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the weaknesses of our human nature, but, was tested and tempted in the very same way that we all are, and yet still did not sin (Hebrews 4:15). Thank You Lord for the Holy Spirit who You called alongside us to help and encourage and inspire us. Nobody is saying that its easy Lord, but with His help we can push through, with You all things are possible. Thank You again this morning Lord for Your life giving help in Jesus Name Amen

Lay aside the weight and the sin… Looking unto Jesus (Part 3)

I am reminded this morning, that we are never intended to live the Christian life alone. We need each other, and we need the Lord. In the previous two posts, we have been looking at the part we play in laying aside the weights and the sin that so easily besets us (Hebrews 12:1). The sentence continues (verse 2) “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…”

The first part of this “looking unto Jesus,” is about keeping our eyes on the one who loved us and gave himself for us. Too often, in the midst of trial or temptation, in the midst of burdens, worry etc., I find that I have lost the heavenly perspective. We are intended to live our lives in the awareness of His promise that He is always with us and will never to leave us, nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). The picture that I have of this, is of an artist painting a portrait of the king. He or she, would be constantly aware that he or she was in the presence of a great man. Clearly there is no one greater than our God, and as we learn over and over, to turn our eyes upon Jesus, the things of earth will indeed grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

And as part of the process of doing this, when we realize that He is both the author and the finisher of our faith, even of our faith, then we can learn to rest in His presence. He is the one who drew us to Himself in the first place (John 15:16). He is the one who sustains us, He is the one who is able to keep that which we committed unto Him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12), and He is the one who, having begun a good working us, will indeed bring it to completion on that day (Philippians 1:6)!

Lord Jesus, there is a mystery here! My tongue in cheek translation of Philippians 2:12, 13 is “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, because God does it all for you.” I mean You give us both the desire, and the wherewithal to do Your will. It sounds like nonsense to the world, but our primary part in working out our salvation, is to stay close to You, to turn our eyes upon You, and to fully and completely surrender moment by moment day by day. And we cannot do this without You, and so Lord You truly are the author and finisher of our faith. And I thank and praise You again this morning in Your precious Name Amen

Lay aside the weight and the sin (Part 2) ….

A friend of mine tells of when he first went to AA seeing a man get a 30 day chip indicating that he had been sober for 30 days. It seemed impossible to my friend, because he had tried and tried to quit, but had not been able to do so. But seeing the man get this chip he thought “If he can do it, so can I.” We were talking last day about the many witnesses we see, that are intended to motivate us to persevere in our struggles. This morning I want to look a little closer at the phrase “Lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily trips us up” (Hebrews 12:1).

Laying aside sin involves dying to self, saying no to the desires of the sinful nature and coming progressively to the place where “sin no longer rules in our lives” (Romans 6:14). We need to be among those who have overcome the evil one (1 John 2:14). For me like the Prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), I had to come to moment of clarity. In fact I had to come to a number of theses moments, times when I would cry out the the Lord to show me His way of escape in the particular temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). And then afterwards, being diligent taking one day at a time, knowing that if I think I am standing firm I need to take care lest I fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).

But what is the weight being talked about here? It is any hindrance, any obstruction to living the Christina life. It is anything that trips us up. It is the overpowering burden, be it a burden of responsibility or liability, it is the debilitating pain of loss. It is the crushing weight of worry over a loved one etc., etc. It is not that we should not care, but too often we worry and fret and allow ourselves to be swamped by burdens we are not intended to carry. For me, for the longest time I was dragged down by the problems and difficulties of those to whom I was seeking to minister. In doing so, I because useless both to them and to myself. Learning to “lay aside every weight” what ever it is, and laying it at the feet of Jesus is a process, but unless we learn to do this, we will not be effective in the work He is calling to us to.

Father, learning the stories of those in prison, stories of murdered relatives, stories of abuse, be it physical or sexual or verbal, these are stories that weigh heavy on my heart this morning. Thank You Lord that I am learning the part You want me to play in bearing their burdens, but not being swamped by them. I cannot do this without You! Without You, my heart will either grow cold, or I will find myself in the same pit they find themselves in. Thank You Lord that You are ready and willing and able to help in these things. With You all things are possible and I give You all the honour and glory and praise in Jesus Name Amen.

Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us …

In a conversation with someone who makes no claim to be a Christian we were discussing miracles. “If they occurred today” he was saying, “we would hear about them.” My response was that well we do hear about them, but we don’t believe. It is certainly true that there are fakes out there, and we should not be naive, but there are certainly authentic miracles out there too. I know that because I have received a number of miraculous healings myself in my own body, and I have seen many others within the circles in which I move.

In addition to this, and no less miraculous in my view, are the heart healings I observe in those who are willing to deal with their issues (and we all have issues) in a Christ centred way. Jesus told us that He came to heal the broken hearted and I personal know several people who were sexually abused as children but who now live lives that are no longer impacted by that abuse.

The above partial quote from Hebrews 12:1 goes on to tell us to “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..” The witnesses referred to in this verse are of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 (the whole chapter), but to a greater or lesser extent, we also have the witness of the faithful in Christ in the present. There is no condemnation here (Romans 8:1), but we are being exhorted to let the reality of the Christ behind these witnesses together with others we know, to let it sink in, and so to motive us to endure and persevere.

Lord I have needed to repent of not allowing the reality of You work in the lives of others to sink in. Thank You Lord that when I do my part, You more than make up what is lacking in me. I need Your help Lord to even do my part. Thank You for Your amazing grace, love and encouragement in it all. In Jesus Name Amen

Good morning son, I love you

When my grandson was younger, I used to regularly ask him “Did I ever tell you that I love you ?” His response would be that I told him all the time, which I did. I got into a conversation with a lady on the plane coming home from Deer Lake this weekend. I’m not quite sure how I got there, but I finished up telling her that God loved her. She wasn’t sure, but I was that He loved her! As is my habit, I journaled this morning asking the Lord what He would say to me today, the response came back in the few short words at the head of this post. I was a bit puzzled.

I usually get more than this, but it does usually includes something along the lines of He loves me, or He is here for me. It seemed just a bit stark, so I waited, but nothing else came. And as I talked to Him about it I felt Him saying that I skip too easily over Him telling me that He loves me! And with the memory of the delight of the lady on the plane this morning, I realize that at some level, I had been taking this for granted, not appreciating the fact that I am loved by Almighty God, the creator of the universe. And I needed to be reminded again that His love demonstrated on the cross, has qualified me to be an inheritor of the saints in light making it possible for me to spend eternity with the Him whose very nature is love (Colossians 1:12; 1 John 4:8).

Knowing that I am loved, and experiencing His love, His forgiveness, His grace, His mercy and His joy, has changed me over the years. This was brought to my attention quite clearly again over the weekend. I had received through Facebook, something that years ago would have put me into a tailspin of hurt and obsessive thinking. But I have learned, to care much more about what He thinks about me, than what anyone else thinks about me. And He thinks I’m the best thing since sliced bread! And He feels the same way about you, and perhaps you, like me this morning, need to stop and consider and feel and receive the fact that you are loved by the nicest person in the universe our Trinitarian God.

Father, Son and Holy Ghost I want to thank You again this morning that You loved me so much that You found a way at incredible cost to Yourself to be holy, just, merciful and loving all at the same time. You loved the world so much, You loved me so much, that You sent the Son of your love in order that I might not perish, but make it possible for me to have life in all its abundance in the here and now, and life with You for ever in the hereafter (John 3:16). And I give You all the honour and glory and praise again this morning in Jesus Name Amen