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About eps992014

a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, a mother, wife, sometime runner, singer, gardener, and proud Scot

Whose work is it anyway?

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Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

(1Cor 15.58)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

(Rom 8.28&29)

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

(Phil 1.3-6; 2.12&13)

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart… God disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

(Heb 12.2&3,10&11)

There is something of a mystery going on here; did you notice that quotation from Philippians, where Paul exhorts his readers to ‘work out’ their salvation, and then says it is actually God who is working in them! Who is doing the work?! 

This is one of those areas of faith where we must walk carefully – never falling into the trap that it is by our works that we are assured of salvation, and also avoiding the assumption that I only have to ‘let go, and let God have his way,’ in some passive surrender. I am saved by the all-sufficient work of Jesus, and nothing I can do will add to that supreme act of redemption, nor in any way enhance God’s love for me. I am also called – as a new-made child of God – to give myself wholly to living for and with my heavenly Father, growing closer and closer to my Lord Jesus (and therefore more like him), and depending more and more fully on the Holy Spirit within me to enable all these things. I must work… and yet, it is God who is working in me to fulfill his good purposes!

In sovereign omnipotence, the Almighty God is indeed working to bring all of history to the long-intended climax, the return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings, and the full revelation and establishment of his kingdom. In ways which I cannot begin to understand, this work includes the tiny details of my short and insignificant life – the Eternal One has made this human being his business, and has magnificent plans to include her in what he is doing. And I am invited to fully embrace, accept and eagerly align myself with that working – by the power of the Holy Spirit to submit, to commit, to keep on turning to Jesus. When I recognise the scale of the story into which I am now come as a beloved daughter, I am enthralled and amazed, and long to do all I can to engage with God’s work. 

It isn’t so easy when what I am called to is discipline, suffering, endurance and disappointment. But, if God is truly at work in me, and calling me to embrace that work, then this too is a means of grace. This is part of the work, and I am assured that God will complete what he has begun – so my griefs and labours are never wasted but are taken up and made part of his transformation of me into Christ-likeness.

Heavenly Father, thank you that I can trust you to work your perfect will in my life. Thank you that your Spirit enables me to align with that work, to bring my own fitful and limited powers for your transforming use. Thank you for stirring up in me the desire to embrace your work in my life, to accept your will and find your provision for each step. 

Let me work more and more in harmony with you; trusting that my labours are not in vain because you are directing and enabling them for your glory and the blessing of others. All that I do, is by your power, all the praise is to you, through my Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

So simple.. so profound!

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This mystery has been kept in the dark for along time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less…

I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery!

You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught… and let your living spill over into thanksgiving..

Everything of God gets expressed in [Christ], so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you too. His power extends over everything. Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in – insiders – not through some secret initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin.

(Col 1.26-29;2.2&3,6&7,9-11: The Message)

I have been told that I am something of an ‘over-thinker’, one who tends to look for complications and difficulties where they do not exist, creating unnecessary burdens and stress for myself and distress for those around me. This may well be true – I prefer to say that I am realistic about the complexities of life!

However, I have always cherished the deep simplicity at the heart of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all who trust in him, and the Son of God. As the Message paraphrase so beautifully puts it.. ‘Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realise the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him.’ In the sheer volume of noise which is our world today – the noise of strident humanism; the wail of human suffering; the outrage of oppression; the wailing of a poisoned and sickening planet – amidst all this din, I still hear that clarion call which turns my eyes to the cross.

I turn my eyes upon Jesus, and I look long and full into that face of suffering love, of selfless giving, of God-confident sacrifice – and I cannot look away. I am compelled to trust, to follow, to offer up all that God has made in and given to me in response to dying-and-rising love incarnate. Without Jesus, this life is hopeless, aimless, and desolate. With Jesus, comes life, hope, love, joy and satisfaction – no matter what my circumstances may be. This good news is for everyone who will receive it, and we don’t need a PhD in theology or Greek in order to grasp and begin to live as those redeemed, cleansed and adopted by the Almighty God! We look to Jesus, and we ask His Spirit in us to make us like him, day by day in and through all that we experience. It is so simple…

And yet, it is also profound – as the innumerable quantities of words written down the centuries about our faith will testify! There is material here to occupy the greatest minds that God ever created; material to absorb and challenge the highest powers of every creative artist; truth to bear fruit upon every fresh meditation. We can never plumb the depths of God’s love, of his justice, of his providence; we can never adequately express our praise, and certainly never begin to comprehend or understand him! And how marvellous it is to know that the God who calls us into fellowship with him is – as the creator of our marvellous and mysterious universe should be – utterly beyond our comprehension!

We journey through this world by faith, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the unchanging author and pioneer of our faith. We journey simply trusting his word; we journey continually deeper into the profound mystery of his love, of his divinity, of the greatness of our God and the marvels of his grace. 

 

Look to Jesus,
With the look of faith, because our salvation is in him alone;
With the look of love, because He alone can satisfy our heart;
with the look of strong desire, longing to know him better;
with the look of soul devotion, waiting only to know His will;
with the look of gladness, because we know He loves us;
with the look of wonder and admiration, because He is the brightness of the Father's glory, our Lord and our God.

(from Andrew Murray, ‘The Holiest of All’, 1894, p. 484)

Full to overflowing!

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And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God.

(Eph 3.17&18)

Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.

I say to the Lord, “you are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”… Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

(Ps 16.1,2,5-11)

You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

(Ps 23.5&6)

What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

(Ps 116.12-14)

Sometimes we ask if a person is a “glass half-full or half-empty” type, meaning to learn if they look on the positive or negative side of life.. but in one sense surely all those who believe in Jesus as Saviour must be neither of those things! We are those for whom our glass is continually full to overflowing, because we have been delivered from darkness into light, forgiven and cleansed, and set on the path to eternal glory – and all by the abundant goodness of God in Jesus. And absolutely nothing can ever separate us from Jesus again, no matter how grievous or inexplicable.

Our ‘salvation cup’ is completely full, because Jesus has done everything on our behalf and holds it out to us so that we might accept his priceless gift and come home to God our Father. There is no room in that cup for our good works, our piety, our bible knowledge and habits of devotion – Jesus’ perfection has filled it. All we are able to do is to lift the cup in grateful worship, and praise to the one who gives it to us, exalting his name and doing all in our power to honour and make him known!

Our ‘love cup’ is completely full, because God has chosen us to be his beloved children – chosen and saved, adopted and assured eternally of our place in his kingdom. While we live in a sin-sick and darkened world, we may meet with rejection by others, our relationships will be flawed, and death will come to wound our hearts. But, the love of God is greater than all other loves combined, and has no interruption, no corruption, nothing to diminish its power in our lives to nourish, sustain and transform.

How marvellous, how wonderful, to be the object of divine love; to be the recipient of grace and to know as my Father, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. How astonishing, to have personal communion with the immortal, invisible and only wise God, and to find as I approach the great I AM, that I am met not with the deserved devouring fire of judgement, but with the voice of love, the outstretched arms, and the eternally-patient, forgiving heart. And this is all through Jesus, my pioneer, my elder brother, my shepherd, my champion, my master and my friend.

Heavenly Father, author of the plan of salvation and creator of all that is, I praise and worship you today today; make me glad to overflowing so that guilt and shame are washed out, since there is no room for anything but the joy of being thus beloved, saved, secured and cherished. All through Jesus my Lord, your Son, Amen.

Words, words, words

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.. we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from God…

Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvellous life God has given us.. Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!

(2Cor 5 & 6, extracts: The Message)

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see….. 

(Heb 11.1-3)

Do you ever find yourself dizzy with words? Driven to distraction by the sense of what seems to be meaningless noise echoing around your head? I love words, I need to articulate my thoughts, but even I can get to the point where I long for some kind of communication which does not include text or speech! The whole of our scripture is about the revelation of the Almighty God to his creation, to his beloved humankind, and much of that revelation is actually by deeds – by the ways in which God deals with people in all their messiness and rebellion. We are encouraged to learn from that recorded history not by memorising the actual words, but by discerning their meaning, the patterns and lessons which they reveal. The glorious exposition of faith-in-action which we find in Hebrews ch 11 is a call to remember, to meditate, to learn from the lives of others – and we can apply that same learning to the lives of those nearer to us in time. I have found so much encouragement from the stories of faith which are shared by more contemporary figures, people like CS Lewis, Elisabeth Elliott, Joni Eareckson Tada, Pete Greig to name but a few.

And yet, over and over I find that until I have wrestled those life lessons into my own words, I have not actually understood them – and as for learning and putting them into practice….well, why do you think this blog is named ‘a forgetful soul’?! On one level, words are meaningless because of themselves, they cannot do anything. And yet on another level, they are powerful because they are the means by which our thinking and understanding is shaped and changed. And so, although I get weary of reading, weary of wrestling with my thoughts to articulate them, weary of chasing first one writer and then another in hopes that their words might somehow communicate to me just what I need to hear – yet still I read, I wrestle, and I investigate. And all the time I am praying that God will take these words and make the truth which they represent real for me – that I will learn to know by experience what the words are trying to portray for me. My constant cry is “What does this look like in real life, in my life today?”

I write today to encourage myself to persevere with words; and to encourage others also as they seek to grow in faith and maturity, in wisdom and love as God leads and directs our lives. The 66 books which we call our bible (which simply means a mini-library of books) are where we start; our lived experience informs much of what we read and must be where we work it out; the lives of others will teach and shape us as we observe God at work in their situations too. And ultimately, it is by the Holy Spirit working within that the truth read becomes the truth lived – we no longer seek to explain faith; we live it. We no longer simply describe the freedom of Christ as it should transform our lives; we exercise and experience it. The bud breaks, and the flower of Christ’s life in us is unfolded day by day, as his power unfurls each glorious petal of our transforming personality.

Merciful and loving Father, hear us today as we thank you for your power in us to transform our lives. We read and learn and ask that you will take the words on our lips and in our minds and make them real in us. May we live by faith in you, trusting in you at every step. May we live expansively, generously, unafraid and great-hearted because you have set us free in Christ. Let our words mean something for eternity; let us embody Christ, the living word of God himself – for your glory and our blessing. Amen.

The power…..

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It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else!

(Rom 1.16, the Message)

God can do anything you know – far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!.. glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millenia! Oh Yes!

(Eph 3.20-21, the Message)

So, friends, we can now – without hesitation – walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “Curtain” into God’s presence is his body. 

So let’s do it – full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshipping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

(Heb 10.19-25, the Message)

“Can I be honest with you? I’m actually not that into prayer, it’s Jesus I’m into, so we talk.

I don’t believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the power of God. So I ask for his help. A lot”

(Pete Greig, May 2019)

One of the drawbacks of growing up in a christian family and culture is that one develops particular habits of vocabulary, which are not always very helpful when thinking about faith in the context of our unbelieving neighbours and the need to witness to and serve them. I grew up thinking that a prayer meeting was a totally normal thing, and that setting aside several hours every Saturday evening was a perfectly reasonable thing to do – that it was action, not inaction; a privilege as well as a responsibility. But here’s the thing that Pete Greig’s words brought home to me… I don’t think that prayer meetings matter because somehow if we screw ourselves up to a pitch of faith then we can make God do stuff. I think they matter because we come to admit to the Sovereign Maker and Sustainer of all created things that we are utterly powerless! And I would hope that I might remember to talk and think about prayer in that way when I talk about it with unbelieving friends – it’s not about me and my faith, or my prayers, it’s all about Jesus and what God has promised to do through him and for him.

We pray because God alone has the power to work ALL THINGS together for his good purposes in this fallen world of ours; we pray because God alone can bring salvation in Jesus’ name to the desperately needy hearts around us; we pray because only the eternal and holy God knows what is the right and proper thing to happen in any and every situation. I am so grateful that God does not ask us to work out what is right before we pray for it to happen – what hope do fallen humans have of every making such decisions?!

We can pray anywhere at anytime; which is an astonishing privilege and a never-ending source of comfort when we are faced by troubling situations (our own, those of dear ones, or the devastatingly widespread suffering of people around the world). But perhaps – like me- you find it helpful to prioritise prayer at times by meeting with others to talk to God about what is going on in his world, with his children; obeying his command to pray that his will might be done, and his kingdom come here on earth as it is always and perfectly done in the heavenly realms. I can bear witness to the fact that when I gather with others to pray, I always benefit; my own faith is strengthened and I am encouraged to persevere in obedience and love; I know that I have obeyed God’s command, and once again lifted the burden for others which He lays on my heart up to his throne for the demonstration of his power and love in deliverance and transformation. I would also bear witness that even when I cannot see the answers which I long for, yet still to pray is to be in the right place – before the Almighty, and worshipping him in Jesus as the only Sovereign God.

Dear friends, let us pray – and wherever possible, let us do it together for our mutual benefit, and for the glory of God and the proclamation of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord!

Be it unto me as my Lord decrees..

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O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end; Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend: I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side, nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my Guide.

O let me feel Thee near me: the world is ever near; I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear; my foes are ever near me, around me and within; but, Jesus, draw Thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.

O let me hear Thee speaking in accents clear and still, above the storms of passion, the murmurs of self-will; O speak to reassure me, to hasten or control; O speak, and make me listen, Thou Guardian of my soul.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised, to all who follow Thee, that where Thou art in glory there shall Thy servant be; and, Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end: O give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend.

(JE Bode 1816-1874)

These words are engraved on my memory; are part of the soundtrack of my life just as much as the popular music of my teenage years, or the choral music of my adult life. I sang them at the annual Founder’s day event at school, I sang them at church, and the great striding melody which accompanies the words always made me want to march as I sang! They have been true for me for as long as I remember singing them.

And today, I simply want to give thanks and bear witness to the faithfulness of the God who called me into being, who caused me to be raised in a christian home; who imperceptibly birthed faith within me; who led me into adult life and to quiet paths of service and (I trust) fruitfulness. It is all his doing, all His love and compassion and keeping. I want to join with all God’s people in affirming that He is goodness itself, and utterly trustworthy! He has declared me to be his child, delivering me from the ruling power of sin, so that I might be ruled instead by love – the divine passion to which I can fully submit, confident that all that he ordains will be for my good and for his glory.

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness…. so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.. now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 

(Rom 6.17-22)

Today I give thanks, along with all God’s people, that I am now a slave to righteousness and am being shaped day-by-day, through all the travails of life, into the likeness of Jesus my Lord. The commands and duties which shape my life are now all for good, and bear fruit for good, and I am empowered to know and to keep these commands because Jesus has given me his own spirit, his heart, his mind. I am on the road to eternal fullness, to never-ending fruitfulness and joy, to the bliss of being at home and without shame in the presence of holiness. And all this is because of Jesus, my master and friend, my guide and guardian. His ambition for me is outrageous, so far beyond my poor imagination, and it fills me with such a deep ache for my true home that I am increasingly eager to be away and to be with the Lord.

My slave-master is Righteousness himself, and I can surrender myself fully and confidently to his providence, because he died for me. My slave-master is Love incarnate, I need not fear his rod, nor hesitate to obey his word because he died for me. He is shaping me, in love, to become like himself – love and righteousness.. how can I resist?!

O Thou the reflection of whose transcendent glory did once appear unbroken in the face of Jesus Christ, give me today a heart like His – a brave heart, a true heart, a tender heart, a heart with great room in it, a heart fixed on Thyself; for His name’s sake. Amen

(J Baillie: A diary of Private Prayer, 1937)

Discipline – the blessings of duty

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“Do the next thing”… Many a questioning, many a fear, many a doubt hath its quieting here. Moment by moment, let down from heaven, time opportunity, guidance are given. Fear not tomorrows, child of the King, trust them with Jesus, “Do the next thing.”

Do it immediately; do it with prayer; do it reliantly, casting all care; do it with reverence, tracing his hand who placed it before thee with earnest command. Stayed on Omnipotence, safe’neath his wing, leave all resultings, “Do the next thing.”

(author unknown)

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life.. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your ids and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse…

(Phil 4.6-8; the Message)

Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen colour and design quite like it?.. If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers – most of which are never even seen – don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving…. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out.

(Matt 5.28-33; the Message)

What do you do when the background noise of your mind becomes overwhelmingly negative? Where do you go with the distressing feelings, and the sense of failing God that accompanies awareness of our sin and weakness? Well, perhaps the apostle Paul would class such things under the heading of ‘worries’, and thus we can look to his advice to shape those worries into prayer, to take the reality of our feelings and bring them into the presence of our loving Father for his comfort and reassurance.

If, like me, you find those ‘worries’ remarkably persistent in spite of prayer, it is good to cultivate the discipline of reminding ourselves that our feelings do not control us. They are strong, sometimes to an overwhelming degree. BUT, God tells us that they are lying if they deny our salvation; if they suggest that somehow Jesus’ sacrifice is not enough for one as hopeless as ourselves. The Cross is truly sufficient for every sinner, even for the feeblest saint who spends rather too much of their time lying face down in the dust, wanting to just die and get it all over with because they are so ashamed and fed up of their own weakness.

Alongside that discipline – which can be extremely hard to practice – comes the blessing of routine chores and the duties which we owe to those around us. I call them blessings because it is as we continue to fulfil our responsibilities – choosing to be faithful, practical, thoughtful for the care of others – that God often brings us relief, not least by distracting us from our own unhappiness! Those duties and responsibilities are what the unknown author of the quoted verses is referring to as ‘the next thing’ – covering every possible task and requirement which we have to face each day. I am so grateful for a home to care for, a garden to tend (there are always a great many ‘next things’ to be done there!); an extended family with whom to communicate and to support; a christian family to join in worship and service; and the never ending task of intercession for a world whose essential beauty and goodness is marred so deeply by the consequences of human sin.

Almighty and Loving Father in heaven, how I thank you for the duties and opportunities of each new day, for the blessing of having many ‘next things’ to keep me from dwelling on my own unhelpful thoughts and feelings. Thank you that the ultimate reality of my place as your beloved child is not threatened by those feelings. Thank you that your Spirit is at work to make me ever more steady and secure in my identity as your precious new-made daughter. Thank you that the well of your grace never runs dry; and even the feeblest, slowest and most easily distracted of your children will one day come home to sweetest rest in glory with you. Help us not to give up, help us to keep on doing ‘the next thing’ until there truly is no more to be done and you call us to yourself. In Jesus’ name and for his glory we pray, Amen.

Letting it go…

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Some.. from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabus to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

(Acts 11.19-23)

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position, Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone…. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

(Rom 12.9-21)

If, like me, you grew happily into faith in a christian home and congregation, it may well be that – again like myself – you are especially fond of certain songs and hymns, and find particular styles of service more comfortable than others. This is natural, and the inevitable result of such an up-bringing. Our hearts return to those things which remind us of those who loved and led us, and of precious days which are gone.

Equally, we may look back on previous generations in our churches when the buildings were full, and when society as a whole seemed much more attuned to the principles of the gospel, and in line with God’s commands. How wonderful, we tell ourselves, if such times could return. Our traditions of church life, and the place which faith used to play in national life are not an illusion, and we do right to remember and honour all who have gone before in the Lord’s service in this land.

However, like all good things, these traditions and precious memories can become idols and a means by which we are deceived into making wrong decisions, trapped into time- and energy- sapping distractions from the real work of sharing the good news about Jesus with our neighbours in this day and generation. To build on what has gone before does not necessarily mean repeating the same structures and patterns as our forbears used! To build on their faith should simply mean that we honour their endeavours by seeking what God would have us do with what he has given us now – even as they did in their day.

When Barnabus arrived in Antioch to investigate the first widespread conversion of non-Jewish people to faith in Jesus, he could have insisted on the imposition of all the traditions by which the Jewish converts to Christ were living – the trappings of Judaism. But he did not. He commended them, encouraged them and simply begged them to remain true to the Lord. He imposed no more regulations on them than Paul did when writing earnestly to the church in Rome, where all his exhortations were to do with their conduct and witness as transformed people in their culture. These two men were devout Jews, but they both recognised that it was time for the precious traditions of their past to be set aside, in order for the gospel to spread around the world as God had always intended it should.

I am warned by the example of these two great leaders of the early church that I too must sit as lightly as possible to my own particular tradition. What possible excuse do I have for insisting on any form of worship; the preservation of a building or any other part of the past (no matter how precious to me personally in my faith journey), if it impedes the work of the gospel today, presents a barrier to witness, or drains resources which could be used in other ways? Am I prepared to assert in God’s presence that my own preferences matter more than the eternal destiny of those around me?

Almighty God, whose desire it is that none should perish, but all come to faith in Jesus Christ, deliver me from selfishness in holding onto anything which might be a distraction from the work to which I am called today. Let me sit lightly to the past, and honour all that has gone before by imitating the faith and bold endeavours which your people have undertaken in your name. Amen

Since these things are true…

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The Lord is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

(Ex 15.2)

Truly I am your servant, Lord; I serve you just as my mother did; you have freed me from my chains. I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the Lord.

(Ps 116.16&17)

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever.

(Ps 117)

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God – or rather are known by God – how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?… It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

(Gal 4.8&9; 5.1)

I have recently been led to think a great deal about the great theme of Exodus which runs through our whole biblical story – of being led out (of slavery)… led through (the wilderness)… and led into(the promised inheritance). The folk at the wonderful Bible Project have released a video exploring this theme, and also the conversations which informed that video, and I cannot recommend them highly enough. 

The whole point of the Exodus narrative in its original context is that there was nothing that the people of Israel could do to make it happen – everything was God’s initiative, the Almighty power-at-work, and it was ultimately all so that every nation under the sun might be blessed in knowing and glorifying God, the great deliverer. You may recall that Jesus, during his conversation with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration is talking about his ‘exodus, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem'[Lk 9.31]. The image of divine love responding to the oppression of his children by the enemy of God, coming down in power to meet them in their need, and to do for them what they could not do for themselves, should ring so many bells in our minds as believers! 

Our slavery was not to some human power, but something much worse – sin and death – but our God is greater than these, and the death and resurrection of Jesus marked a once-for-all-time victory. The great oppressor no longer holds sway, and nor do the lesser oppressors which the enemy of our souls loves to use, rendering us inactive in God’s service, keeping us fearful, timid, or hopeless. The gospel is our deliverance from slavery, and we have already received the Spirit as guarantee of our inheritance which is to live hereafter in the near presence of God. We are called to live in the place of rest which is accepting God’s inexplicable (apart from grace) acceptance of us as his children.

Heavenly Father, Almighty and Everlasting God, I praise you today for your great lovingkindness and faithfulness. There is no end to your goodness, and you are utterly trustworthy. I am no longer a slave to sin; the power of death over me has been broken. Thank you that today I live in your love, and that your Spirit is within me to direct all that I do and say and think according to your will. 

Thank you that you have given, and are giving my soul rest – a spacious place of blessing. Let me dwell in that place and cease my anxious questings. You have won the victory for me, over all that would enslave, disable and discourage me – let me live in the reality of that triumphant rest for you, my Lord, have been and always are good to me.

Let me truly accept my own condition, neither wallowing despairingly nor deceiving myself into a false conceit. I am, as all believers are, a sinner who has fallen short; and a redeemed, born-again child of God. No more, no less.

I am no less a recipient of your grace than any other believer; I am no less susceptible to your power of transformation; I am the object of your persevering love and the apple of your eye. O Lord, lead me into the rest which is my inheritance as your child. Deliver me from vain striving to prove myself worthy of that adoption, from the pride which detests failure and short-comings, from the foolishness which expects more from myself than you, my Maker and Redeemer, expect. In the name of my mighty and marvellous Saviour, Jesus Christ your Son I pray, Amen.

That faith might not fail

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I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.. the Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you…. I trusted in the Lord when I said “I am greatly afflicted”.. What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of his people.

(Ps 116.1&2,5-7,10,12-14)

.. we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.. the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans..

(Rom 8.23&26)

.. ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms..

(Eph 1.15-20)

“How may I be praying for you?” – is one of the kindest questions we can be asking one another as God’s children and fellow pilgrims on this journey. How would you answer that one today? Although our various individual circumstances will vary enormously, each of us is walking by faith, and I believe that one of the greatest ways we can encourage one another is by praying for that faith to grow stronger, and not fade or fail. If faith grows weak, then our walk is imperilled, and we may stray from God’s path, or fall prey to sore temptations and injure ourselves and others. We can see that happening time and again in the story of God’s people down through history, as they stopped relying on God and took matters into their own hands.

But that story is also the tale of God’s redemption, deliverance and transformation of those same flawed human beings. Because of his loyal love and faithfulness to his own promises, we are offered salvation as a gift, not a reward – we are not earning anything, but are invited to set aside all claims to power, righteousness, strength or endurance, and to lean hard on God. In our weakness, He is strong. In Psalm 116, the word ‘unwary’ refers to a person who has a deep and childlike trust – they walk without being troubled because they are confident in their Father. Faith like this is possible because of who God is, and because in Jesus we are assured of our place in his family.

Faith to face a challenging reality does not mean screwing up one’s nerve, but turning one’s gaze upon Jesus every single day – a discipline, yes, and also the way that we keep going. To come before God in every situation is to trust him with every part of our lives – the psalmist simply cried out a statement of fact about his condition, but behind that lay the conviction that his situation mattered to God, to the Almighty, the Maker of the galaxies. This is trust, faith in action – and as we get to know him better, as Paul prays for the Ephesians, we will deepen our trust, becoming more childlike in simply presenting God with each day and hour and need, fully expecting that he is able to carry us through, to be at work in what is happening, and to keep us close to him through all things. And in Romans, Paul assures his hearers that when words fail us, even then we can be sure that God has heard and understood because the Spirit within us speaks.

Let us then be encouraged to pray for one another, for the God in whom we trust will not fail us, even though we may be more aware of our weakness and failures than anything else. Let us also pray for one another against the spirit of pride, or complacency which is perhaps more dangerous to faith, since it leads us to walk carelessly, presuming on our own wisdom and abilities. May God keep us from that danger, and keep us humble, childlike and trusting in the Father who is always listening, whose arms are always extended, and whose power is always being exercised on our behalf. Let us make this song our prayer for ourselves and one another, to his glory and our blessing!

When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast;
When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast.
I could never keep my hold through life’s fearful path;
For my love is often cold; He must hold me fast.

He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast;
For my Saviour loves me so, He will hold me fast.

Those He saves are His delight, Christ will hold me fast;
Precious in his holy sight, He will hold me fast.
He’ll not let my soul be lost; His promises shall last;
Bought by Him at such a cost, He will hold me fast.

For my life He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast;
Justice has been satisfied; He will hold me fast.
Raised with Him to endless life, He will hold me fast
‘Till our faith is turned to sight, When He comes at last!

(AR Habershorn 1861-1918, and Keith & Kristen Getty)