I'm a Christian, But......

Before I start this post I want to put out this disclaimer. I do not claim now and have never claimed to be a shining light of Christian purity. I would willingly admit that I often get things wrong and that I have made many mistakes past, present and likely in the future too. I also know that I myself am far from sinless despite my best efforts to be what I should be as a Christian.

Ok now I have said that I feel an awful lot happier about the rant I am about to go on. The thing I want to talk about is Christians who push themselves into positions of influence and set themselves up as supposed good examples who knowingly live in unchristian ways.

I doubt it is only me who has trouble with people who seek out positions of influence and power in the Church for their own means and then go on to act in thoroughly unchristian ways. I can't help but think that a at least part of the problems we have in the Church are in some way connected to the bad examples of leaders who are not there for God. In this I mean the people who need to be in these positions of power and influence for their own gratification and own purposes. These people who then go on to continue to act in worldly ways with inappropriate behaviour, gossiping and spreading rumours. This poison then permeates its way through Churches, in fact The Church infecting people further setting poor examples to those young or weak in the faith who perhaps then see this as acceptable behaviour.

As I said in the disclaimer, I do not believe myself to be an example of what a Christian should be, far from it. To be honest I would be willing to admit I fall far short of where I should be as a Christian many times. But without then trying to make myself sound any better, I do not claim to be a perfect example, I do not pretend to be anything but a sinful man daily asking the Lord for forgiveness. I pray that Christians would see the sin in their own lives, the gossiping, rumour spreading and general sinful behaviour and acknowledge it. By acknowledging it they can not only confront it and attempt to drive it from their lives but also show others that while sin is not ok or acceptable it is going to happen. Show that by having a relationship with Jesus and asking for forgiveness we can grow as Christians and in faith.

These people know that what they are doing is wrong, unchristian and hurtful, they know they are causing pain to those they wrong and who they gossip about. Rumours based on idle speculation, conjuncture and wild fantasy that they spread cause a level of hurt that is known only to the individual and the Father. When friends turn on friends and say things that are hurtful or cause situations where the truth is either veiled or hidden purposely for their own gain. When friends manipulate circumstances to gain an advantage over friends all of these things are a source of the pain that Christ felt upon the cross.

Paul's letters to the early Church talk about situations we still see today, brothers and sisters in Christ are still acting in ways that are far from Christlike and in ways we have be warned and instructed not to act. We are all going to sin, we are all going to make mistakes but I can't help but think that these people are claiming to be followers of Christ but have not accepted the Spirit, have not accepted Christ's forgiveness and are not following the two greatest commandments.

Matthew 22:36-40
When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?"
Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

Cutting back

Pruning - To trim (a tree, shrub, or bush) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems, esp. to increase fruitfulness and growth.

After a conversation with my flat mate and having being forced to watch a TV program about attempting to revive a dying village in Wales I have been thinking about dying Churches. These thoughts have been running round in my head for a number of days in a different form. This has brought me round to thinking about how we deal with small, shrinking and dying Churches.

In the UK we have a problem with shrinking congregations, reduced Church attendance and Churches withering and dying. In towns and villages up and down the country groups of Christians are fighting a losing battle to keep their Churches alive. My question is, are they wasting their time and is there a different way to tackle this problem.

John 15:1-2

 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

Now for me it seems obvious that when something dies and has no life left in it something needs to be done. As in plants or indeed bodies if a portion of it dies then it should be cut off. If this is not done the dead or dying portion sucks up valuable resources and deprives the healthy areas of the things they need to survive. It can also be the case that these dead and dying portions become rotten or infected and because they have not been cut off they infect other areas.

As in gardening and medicine the Church should also be aware of areas of itself that have died or are dying. It is not that Churches can not be saved, unfortunately some can not, but once they are past a point is it wise to pour resources down a black hole when they could be spent expanding work elsewhere. As Jesus said, if a branch is not bearing fruit then it will but cut off, Jesus even tells us that these branches will be left to wither a dry up and then be cast on to the fire, they are no good for God if they are not doing his will. Even those Churches who are strong will be pruned back from time to time in order to bring them renewed strength.

The point I want to make is not that shrinking Churches are a bad thing, sometimes good can come from this and a Church that is pruned back to healthy stock can flourish again. However a dead a rotten Church is doing no one any good and could in fact be doing harm. I can't be the only one who thinks that the hard decision should be made to shut down dying Churches and use the money in different ways to extend God's kingdom. It is not even necessary to remove the money from the community it is in but perhaps use it in a more constructive way in a community than shoring up a failing Church.

When I think of Jesus and his ministry I see someone radical who pushed the boundaries of the status quo. I see some of the situations in the modern Church causing him to display the righteous anger from the temple. The way we are running the Church is not in my eyes in the spirit in which it started. The reason I think we see the problems we do is because we have turned away from God and are ignoring the Spirit. As I have already said they best way I see to remedy this is to return to the early Church, return to the Churches true calling. This is not going to happen if we continue to pump money into failing projects, dying Churches and continue to push our own agendas rather than follow God's.

Let me know what you think about this subject, do you have a better idea for a solution, or do you have any other thoughts on this subject. Please leave a comment below.

Judge lest not ye be judged

Luke 6:37-38

     "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don't condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you'll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back-given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity."

Luke 6:37-38 (NIV)
     “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

It can be so tough to live up to the ideal that we have been left with as Christians. Do not judge, do not condemn, forgive and give. These four traits are at times extremely difficult to stick to, it is so easy to criticize people when they fail especially when they fail you.

Everyone knows the phrase do unto others as you would want done unto you. But thinking about it this was is possibly one of the best ways to view these verses, the end of the passage even says so itself.

"Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back-given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity."

When you place yourself in the situations of others it becomes easier to forgive, to not condemn to not judge and to give. When you place yourself in their position you realise how easy it is to make the mistakes they have made and how easily you could be in the same position.

When we follow the directions and begin not to judge, not to condemn, to forgive and to give in my experience you do indeed receive with the same measure, but that measure is given back many times over.

Do you love your brother?

1 John 4:20-21

     If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.

This is a concept that I will willingly admit to struggling with, there are certain people who at times cause me to come very close to breaking this commandment. I would not say that I go so far as hating anyone but at times certain people in certain situations have caused me to think some distinctly unchristlike thoughts.

I know that in being a Christian we should aim to be Christlike, to act as He acted and to love as He loved and I know this includes loving the unlovable. I know that this is axiomatic but it is something that we should not just brush over, something we should explore and consider carefully. I know that loving the unlovable is a paradox but through Him all things impossible become possible. If we have accepted God and the Spirit has come on us and dwells within us then these things that are humanly impossible become possible.

I was asked a little while ago by my minister about my feelings regarding my ex, what feelings remained, did I hate her or was there a part of me that still loved her. The answer I gave surprised me more than I think it surprised her. The reason being the one person in the world who has done more to hurt me than anyone else, the one person who in the eyes of the world I would have a justified cause to hate I don't. No matter how I think about it, no matter how much the memories hurt I can not bring myself to hate the person I once loved so much. I would also say that there is likely to always be a part of me that remembers and longs for the good times between us, she will always be a part of my heart even if it is a very small part.

On the flip side of this there is a particular client I have cause to deal with at work who would certainly be the cause of many a tarnished halo. He is a particularly difficult person to work with, he is one of those people who goes out of his way to provoke a response from people, someone so in need of attention he will do anything to get it even if it is negative attention. He works out exactly which buttons to press and works out which subjects are most likely to get a rise out of each individual. All of the staff at work to our shame have at times avoided this person and passed him off to a colleague and is the subject of much venting in the staff rooms. I felt particularly shamed the other day when one of my colleagues passed comment that as I intend to give my life to full time ministry and this person was getting to me it was particularly bad. Now all of my colleagues and most of the residents I work with know I am a Christian and most also know I intend to give my life to God's work and I felt I had let God down by my actions in this subject.

How can I someone who is a practising Christian and who is determined to do everything I need to to grown in the faith, someone who has grown to the point of being able to forgive the one person in the world who truly hurt me not feel the fraternal love towards this one person. I know that we are not Christ and that we will never be close to being Him, but we have to try. I know that I should be asking the Lord for help in this matter and hopefully God can use me as the person who can make a difference in this person's life. I pray that God will grant me the patience and the grace to work with this resident and that He will keep my feathers unruffled. If I am to boast that "I love God" then I must also be able to boast "I love all my brothers" too, I know this won't happen over night and will be something I am likely to need to work on for my whole life, but I do love God and so through Him I must learn to love my brother too.

Are you a first step Christian?

The thing about being a Christian is that people think that it is enough to just accept Jesus as their Lord and saviour and that that means they are saved. They think that by calling themselves Christians attending Church that they are doing enough. Some even pray and read the Bible, they can be very good at this but that is as far as they go. They fill their prayers with self serving requests, their own wants and desires, sometimes they will pray about others, their loved ones, people they know and their church members. The Bible study they do only ever scratches the surface, they read and know the stories in the Bible, but they never stop to think about what they mean or what God is saying through these stories.

So many people are willing to make the first step in to Christianity, to dip their toe into the ocean but never commit to full immersion. They take the first steps into the faith with fire and zeal but never discover what it is to truely follow Christ. These people on the surface may look like good Chrsitians, they may be active in the Church and seem to do everything they should be. But are you truely a Christian if you are still holding back, if you have not given every last part of yourself over to God? Are you truly a Christian if you are not living your life for Jesus every day, if you are not acting in a Christlike way in all things that you do.

But what does it take to be a Christian, what do we have to do to progress from the first step and move towards fully giving over our lives becoming fully immersed in God. How do we move from these first baby steps into the faith and become the modern day disciples and saints that Jesus commanded us to be? What does it take to not just stand on the path that God has given us but to actually walk on it?

Galatians 5
     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.
     Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
     You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

     Life by the Spirit you, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
     So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
     The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
     But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

In the passage above we are told what it is to be a Christian, we are told what the freeedom that comes from Christ actually means. It is not about living by the Law, it is not about following the teachings of some renowned teacher. It is, and has always been about following Jesus and letting Him into your life and walk daily with Him. There is no time off, no sick days, no leave of absence, only constant daily obedience and bearing of our crosses. If you are following the Law you are not placing Christ as your master, you have taken the Law and substituted it for Christ's Grace.

In many modern airports there are now moving walkways, paths that once you step onto them you are whisked away down the route without any effort from yourself. The path to follow Christ however is not like this, one step is not all it takes, your commitment requires more than just an initial effort to place yourself on the route. The path to follow Christ requires that you are always looking for the next step to take, always looking for the signs that Christ has placed on the path directing you to where you need to be. Each day you must try to make progress in the journey to the destination Christ has set us. Remember it is not enough to take just one step, if we do that we will soon find ourselves along way from where Christ wants us to be, one step is not a journey. The path is long and hard, but Christ is our guide and protector, trust in Him to lead you on the path, have courage to follow Him where ever it leads, be prepared to take evry step required to follow Christ to the final destination.

How much do I give?

Luke 21:1-4

     Just then he looked up and saw the rich people dropping offerings in the collection plate. Then he saw a poor widow put in two pennies. He said, "The plain truth is that this widow has given by far the largest offering today. All these others made offerings that they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford—she gave her all!"

How much should we give each week to our Church? What percentage of our earnings should we give over to the Church for its use? Do we follow the Old Testament and give up a tithe of what we posses or earn? Or do we use some complex formula to calculate how much of the 10% we should give after we have done various volunteer work and monies to other causes?

Regular readers will possibly by now have worked out that legalism (here and here) is something I believe to be in conflict with what Jesus taught us. I find time and again that when people are resorting to legalism they are in reality trying to push their own point and agenda and trying to use God and His word to justify it.

Weighing in on a discussion on tithing, I believe that God is much happier with a gift willingly given and willingly sacrificed up to Him rather than a perfect 10% grudgingly given. What we really should be talking about is not how much we are giving materially but how much we have submitted to God over the whole spectrum of our being. We are giving of our time and talents too and we are surely all aiming towards giving our lives completely to God and His works.

This is not a calculation as we would do for our tax, God is not asking that we give a total of 10%, neither is he asking that we give only 10%. God wants, I believe, us to want to give Him all we can, but I also believe that He knows the very detail of our lives and the circumstances we have. God knows what we give in all things He knows what we surrender to Him that can not be measured too. Being legalistic on this subject is as I have already said, in my opinion against what Jesus taught us. Are we going to be like the rich people, giving what the Law required, giving ostentatiously and very publicly, or should we be as Christ taught and give what we can. Did Christ not say that the greatest gift in this story was that of the widow?

Blue Monday

Now depending on who you ask either today or next Monday is classed as blue Monday, or the most depressing day of the year. The reasoning behind this is that due to the reduced amount of sunlight, the cold weather, the huge amount of time until the summer and next Christmas and the debt incurred and the weight gained over the past Christmas all compound. With all these negatives compounding it is somewhat understandable that people can feel down and depressed, add into it being the first day of the work week and it is hard to picture a more generally depressive day.

However there are two ways of thinking about it, yes there are a lot of things to be depressed about and there are a lot of things that you would struggle to get excited about. But the way I see it is that there is so much more to be cheerful and excited about. If this is the lowest point in the year then surely things can only get better from here on out. If this is the most generally blue day then every other day in the year in general is likely to be better.

James 1:2-4
     Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

The Bible tells us that although we are going to get tough times we are going to have periods that we feel as though everything is being thrown at us at once. James tells us that it is in these times that our faith shows through and through these struggles that we learn, develop and mature.

Isaiah 48:10
     Do you see what I've done?
          I've refined you, but not without fire.
          I've tested you like silver in the furnace of affliction.

God has not promised us that we will always have an easy ride, He has not told us that He will prevent the world from throwing us around on the rough waves of life. He has however promised that He will use this suffering and the affliction we suffer for our good, He has promised to bring us through it all and that we will be stronger on the other side. We have to trust that God is always by our side through all things, protecting and teaching us as we traverse the stormy seas of life. 

Called to tell the world

As Christians we believe that Jesus has called us to be His people, that He shone as a great light into the darkness of the world and has shown us the way. Jesus told us this;

John 14:6 (KJV)
     Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

But being a Christian is not just about following in the footsteps of Jesus in our conduct or actions. We must also follow in His footsteps in regards to telling the world about the Father. We must follow the instructions that Jesus gave us about spreading the word.

Matthew 28:16-20

     Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshipped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
     Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

Now we don't have to travel far to find those who we need to be spreading the word too. Jesus said far and near, He said train everyone. There is no one who we should not be trying to reach with the word of God, there is no one Jesus considers an undesirable. All people can be made whole through Jesus, all people are beautiful in His sight. This is something I have to be aware of day after day when working with those who have been cast out by society, each day I am reminded that these people are people, that they have hopes, dreams and desires. But most of all I am reminded that Jesus not only loves them and wants them to come back to His family, but that Jesus wants me to feel the same way too. It is not always easy to love the unlovable, but Jesus showed us it can be done, and with His help we can come to love them too, and through loving them we can help them to see the light which will show them the way. 

1 Peter 5:8-11

1 Peter 5:8-11
     Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You're not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won't last forever. It won't be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ-eternal and glorious plans they are!-will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.

Acts 2:45 - Too much stuff

Last night I was preparing for a cluster meeting and was looking at Acts 2:42 which is a verse I think we should all heed. As I was looking at this verse I read around it to see what else was said co that I could put it into some sort of context and gain a little more understanding. While doing this I noticed what it said about the early Church in verse 45;

Acts 2:45
     And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met.


Now we have just had Christmas, and I am sure that like me many of you will have received a lot of gifts. I don't want to sound ungrateful here but for me personally many of the things I received I didn't really need or particularly want. It is not that I don't appreciate the time effort thought and money that my family have spent on me, but I pretty much have everything I need or want already. And as a result I have far too much stuff, most of which I never use or need.

Now this has been a thought in my mind for a little while but I feel that with the direction my life is heading and the signals I feel I am receiving that something needs to be done about this in my life. I need to think about what is important in my life and trim down the excesses, streamline and become less wasteful. Get rid of all of the useless paraphernalia in my life and do something useful with the proceeds.

I know that holding things in common is not going to be easy or necessarily practical, but it is possible to collect together everything I can do without, sell it and use the proceeds for expanding God's work somehow. There is the old adage that one man's rubbish is another man's treasure, and amongst the things I own there is considerably more gold than rubbish. I guess that what I am saying is that I am planning on selling a lot of things, getting rid of the years of accumulated material wealth. And yes initially I will be hopefully turning this in to financial wealth, but with that I can follow God's plans and hopefully build up a small store of spiritual wealth that will be worth so much more.

Love thy neighbour

A phrase I often use at work is "it would be easy to love thy neighbour if only they didn't make it so hard". This is usually in reference to one of the residents at work being a particular pain in the neck, being awkward or even violent. I find myself thinking, and unfortunately sometimes saying some unchristian things.

While it is understood among the staff that the things we sometimes say when pushed to extremes are only a way of blowing off steam. Even at the times when the things we say are funny and cause some good cheer amongst the staff is it right to say these things?

The simple answer is no.

Matthew 5:21-22
     "You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder.  Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

No matter what the situation is, no matter how far we have been pushed or how bad the situation is we should always think about the example Jesus set for us. Even in the most extreme case, while being whipped and mocked by the Roman soldiers, Jesus never griped moaned or had a bad word to say about those tormenting Him. In fact the very opposite is true as we all know that Jesus asked God to forgive those who were crucifying Him.

So if we know who our neighbour is and we know how we should be treating them, if we know that we should not mouth off about people who are making life difficult for us we should try to put these things in to action. It's not going to be easy for us, but being a Christian isn't an easy thing to do. Each day is a new day and God is always going to be with us to help us, as long as we always keep trying. Because in wanting to be better and in attempting to be better we have already won half the battle.

Back to work blues

I know that I have essentially just had two weeks holiday and that in the present climate I should be happy to have a job and be earning money. But this morning I just can not motivate myself to get up and go to work. My bed feels too comfortable and warm, outside is too cold and dreary and today is my longest and most unsociable shift of the week.

I know that once I get to work I will enjoy it and that I will have a laugh with my colleges and the residents who I have not seen for a number of days. I also know that after having some time off I will have the interesting task of meeting and working with the new residents who have moved in while I have been off, which is always interesting. But like I say, this morning I am comfortable in my bed and have no drive to get up and go to work.

The truth is that we all have days like this, where we have no motivation and no drive, we feel lazy and only want to think of ourselves. But it is at these times we need to remember what it is we are living for, what it is we are working for. When you go to work yes you are working for your boos and to earn money, but you are also out there in the world working for God.

Colossians 3:23-24
    Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ.

In everything we do we need to remember that God is our true master and that everything we do should be done through and for Him. In going to work we are going out into the world on to the front line, we are going into the places where God wants us to take His word. By our actions and behaviour our colleges and clients should see that we are different.

Keeping in mind that we are ultimately serving Christ should be a powerful motivator, it should bring us strength and hope when we struggle or find work difficult. It should also remind you that when you lose your motivation and drive that if you pray you will be helped. Not only that but that through the Holy Spirit, God can be there working through you if only you allow Him in.

Who are you working for right now? Are you living your Christian life out at work? I know these two questions are challenging for me and are something I need to work on setting right, but putting God at the centre of my life requires me to put Him at the centre of everything.

Jesus is the same still

Hebrews 13:8
     Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Yesterday I posted on this verse and asked that you stop and think about this Bible verse and what it really means. I wanted everyone to take some time to prayerfully consider this verse before I wrote about my thoughts on the subject.

For me this verse is something I have only recently come to appreciate. Jesus never changes. Times come and go, kingdoms rise and fall, eventually the whole of creation will have existed and be no more yet Jesus will still be exactly the same as He always was. I have mentioned before my training in science and my love for the same. 

While learning about the universe in my time at university I learned a huge amount about numbers. Learning about numbers, specifically at very large and very small scales I came to some sort of appreciation about just how long the universe has existed for. Jesus was the word at the beginning of the universe, the hands though which the universe was created. This time is so long as to be nothing but an abstract thought for mere humans, but Jesus has lived this, been there, seen it all.

It is hard for humans who by their very nature are constantly changing to understand a perfect unchangeable being. Everything we experience in life changes us in some way, every day we wake up and go to bed slightly different to the last time we did so and different to what we will be next time we do them. 

Yet the God we worship never changes, when we pray we are talking to the same God who walked with Adam in Eden, the God who changed Abram into Abraham. He is the God who talked with Moses at the burning bush and gave him the 10 commandments, the God of the Prophets and of Israel. Do we really appreciate the fact that the God we worship, our Saviour is the same as He was in the Bible, the same as when He died on the cross.

It is very easy at times to justify the ways we act and the things we do as being somehow different to things in the past. We become lax and fall into habits we know Jesus taught against and that would upset God. And the way we justify them is that we are living in a different world to then and that things really are different now.

But God has not changed ans sin is still sin. There is nothing we can do to change the fact that the worlds ways are upsetting to God and that as His children He wants us to act differently to those ways. It is a hard thing to do to live up to the example Jesus was, but it is a worthwhile goal, it must be as the prize is eternal life in Heaven. 

We can trust in God and always rely on Him because we can trust that He will always be the same and He will always be there when you need Him. We can rejoice in the fact that our God will always be the kind loving Father that he is and has been. He will always be the same, yesterday, today and forever.

Jesus is the same

Hebrews 13:8
     Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.


There are many things that change in life and it seems looking back over this almost finished year that this has been a year of much change. So many things that were one way at the beginning of 2010 are now very much different, so many plans and ideas have come and gone. I won't go in to too much detail as I plan on writing a summary for the whole year soon, but there is one thing that I have come to realise, and been told recently.

Jesus is always the same, He was one way when God created the universe, He was the same way when He came to Earth, He was that way when He died on the cross and He will still be the same when the last embers of this universe fade and die.

This is one of those facts that I have had as a head knowledge for a long time, something I have read and heard many times over the years. However only recently have I begun to understand quite what this means. I had one of those moments when I checked the Bible verse on my phone today and it was the verse quoted at the beginning of this post.

Hebrews 13:8 

     Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Tomorrow I will post my thoughts on this verse, but before I do I'd like people to consider what it means to them and in general.So stop and think about this verse, really consider it and what it really means. I'd ask everyone who reads this post to consider this verse prayerfully and ask God to reveal the magnitude of this verse to them.

Always feet first

Psalm 27:14 (NLT)
     Wait patiently for the Lord. 
     Be brave and courageous. 
     Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

I am not one known for making plans, neither am I well known for thinking things through before I do them. Always in my life I jump in with both feet with little or no thought or planning. In the past I always relied on my ability to think around any problem or at least postpone the negative effects untill I could be bothered to deal with them or they became someone else's problem.

Recently though I have been making some big decisions about my life which some friends and family members have been questioning. Not that they doubt any of my plans, but that they know me as some one who is likely to do something very crazy at the least bit of notice.

The thing is thought that without knowing it I have actually been practicing this verse in my life to some degree. The two feet first approach is still there, when it is time then I jump with all I have, but I have been learning to wait for God's commands before I make that jump.

Learning to live in God's time and to Hi plans has been hard for someone who has always done things their own way in their own time. But as I learn to trust in God's plans more and more and trust Him to make things right when I follow them I have had so much fun. I wont say that life has been easy, but neither has it yet been that hard, but following God's plans has brought a joy to my life that I never knew before, a peace within that bubbles up from inside.

Waiting on the Lord is not easy, His time and plans do not always seem to be reasonable to us. But then that is why it takes bravery and courage to be a follower of the Lord. There will never be anything we can not do with Him at our sides but it does sometimes require a leap of faith, it requires us to be like Peter and take that chance with God.

Matthew 14:25-33
     At about four o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared out of their wits. "A ghost!" they said, crying out in terror. 
But Jesus was quick to comfort them. "Courage, it's me. Don't be afraid." 
Peter, suddenly bold, said, "Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water." 
He said, "Come ahead."
Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, "Master, save me!" 
Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?" 
The two of them climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. The disciples in the boat, having watched the whole thing, worshiped Jesus, saying, "This is it! You are God's Son for sure!" 

Like I said, it won't always be easy, and we are likely to fail if our faith falters. But we should know that no matter what, God is always there for us, He will always rescue us from the storms that life may throw our way if we but call on His name.

Be patient and wait,

Be brave and courageous,

But always be ready to act in faith when He calls.

As for God

Psalm 18:30 (NIV)

     As for God, His way is perfect:
     The LORD’s word is flawless;
     He shields all who take refuge in Him.

I would imagine that anyone who said that they had never doubted the Lord or His plans would be lying. As Humans we find it difficult to let go of what we want, of our plans and believing in ourselves. This causes us to ask questions and doubt God's plans because they do not match up with ours or they are not taking us in the direction that we want to go in.

So many times in so many different situations in the Bible we are reminded about God's perfection, the fact that His plans are flawless and in our best interests. In so many stories and parales we see that the Lord only wants the best for us and that in following His will we will recieve so much more than we could gain if we worked on our own.

Jeremiah 29:11  

    I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 

There is nothing He has not already thought of, nothing He has not already planned for. He knows what He wants you to do, He knows what you need to do all that He asks of you. All He asks from us is that we love Him and trust in Him to be there to provide for and support us.

Acts 2:21 (KJV)  

    And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 

Do you trust in the Lord? When you need Help do you call on His name? I know that often I have tried to do things  without Him, I have struggled on without calling on His help. Time and again I have to learn and relearn the lesson of calling on Him to help. We must remember that God is our father, He wants only the best for us and for us to grow in His image. And like a father He is always there for us when we need Him, whatever the situation.

Isaiah 41:13 (NIV)
     For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

All the best things in life require sacrifice

Being a Christian is hard. Very hard. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you. Jesus never said it would be easy for us, in fact there are many quotes where he tells us how hard it will be. And not just Jesus, many of His servants and martyrs throughout history have reminded and shown us just how much being a Christian can cost us. The book I am currently reading, Blood and Fire by Roy Hattersley, mentions a Bible verse that I have been trying to find for weeks. The verse is Matthew 5:10-12;


Matthew 5:10-12 (MsgB)  
    "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom. 
    "Not only that-count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens-give a cheer, even!-for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble. 


Christians have always faced persecution, everywhere it goes, in all times. Be it ancient Rome or modern day China, Christians have never been completely without persecution in some form somewhere. There are places and times when Christianity has flourished and it has been easy to be a Christian with no worries of ever being persecuted.


William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army, lived his life by the verses above. Whenever he came up against opposition or persecution, even out and out violent abuse he held firm to what he believed to be God's plan. To have the conviction to follow God's calling wherever it leads, whenever the call arrives is the way that we should be. To have the faith to step out of the boat when we know we have nothing but Jesus is what we should be aiming for. And it is not that we "just" have Jesus, He is more than enough, He is more than we need, more than we can handle. There is nothing that we can not do if we have Jesus on our side, there is nothing impossible with God.


If we have Jesus in our sights, if we are aiming to have eternal life though Him then we must be prepared to make the sacrifice required. If Jesus, our Lord, Saviour and King sacrificed His life for us then how can we complain when he asks us to sacrifice a portion of our wage or a period of our life? They say that everyone has a price at which they can be bought, is it the case that you have a price at which you are unwilling to pay for eternal live with Christ Jesus? 


The title of this post is "All the best things in life require sacrifice" and if it is not true for all things it is at least true for the best thing in life. For what is better than the prize of eternal life with the Father and the Son in Heaven? If you too believe that this is the best thing life has to offer then ask yourself, "Am I holding anything back from God?". This means everything from money and time right up to and including your entire life. Whatever God asks is fair, whatever God requires you to do is the right price. Not only that, but if you do follow God He will not only repay you with eternal life, but He will also help you bear the burden here on Earth. Yes being a Christian does require sacrifice, yes it is going to be very hard, but I believe it will all be worth it, do you?

On those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

It is that time of the moth again, yes it is time for the linked Bible study. The linked Bible study is a partnership between my friend Caron and myself where we both post about the same Bible passage. This month the passage has been selected by Caron and the selected passage is Isaiah 9:1-7, click the link to read it online.

Although the passage is verse 1 to verse 7, I actually only really want to look at verse 2.

Isaiah 9:2 (KJV)
     The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: 
     they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. 

Isaiah 9:2 (MSG)
        The people who walked in darkness
            have seen a great light.
        For those who lived in a land of deep shadows-
            light! sunbursts of light! 

Isaiah 9:2 (NIV)
     The people walking in darkness
     have seen a great light;
     on those living in the land of deep darkness
     a light has dawned.


All three translations I have looked at for this verse start out the same, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. It may be no coincidence that I wrote about light bulbs just the other day, but it was not planned by me. I find the analogy of light quite striking when I read it, mostly because I have spent so long studying light and its properties in the past. Light is something that we all know and make use of in our day to day lives, but actually understanding it and how it works is actually quite complex. There are a lot of physical laws that govern it and when it comes down to it we can not even be sure of the form light takes, but wave particle duality is another topic completely. I do find however that the Bible can be like this at times, easy to read the words, but often difficult to discern the full meaning without careful study.

But the description of the Messiah, Jesus, as a great light is for me amazing. Light is what we see the world by, without it we would be blind. We would be blind with little idea about the world without light, we would be unable to see and be reduced to scrabbling around in the dark. However with light we can see everything from tiny bacteria up to Galaxies and everything in between.

Jesus is the light of the world, by Him we are able to see. Not in the sense that our eyes see the world but in the sense that through Jesus we can see what is right, what is Godly and holy. Without Jesus we are just blindly following the laws and stumbling around trying our best. With Him we can see our sinful ways and are then able to do something about it. By Jesus we are no longer those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death. Instead we are born again, able to see and able to be everything that we should be.

Yes we should recognise that Jesus is the promised Messiah, we should remember what was said about Him by the prophets of old:

Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)
    For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 

He is all of these things and more, He is our God incarnate and He cam and died so that we may have everlasting life with the Father. In this time of Advent in the run up to Christmas we should celebrate His birth, we should remember the promises God made and fulfilled through Jesus. But we should also remember what we are without Him, we should remember that He is the light that illuminates all and that there is no darkness that He can not shine into, no shadow He can not chase away. Remember this Christmas time that;

Isaiah 9:2 (NIV)
     The people walking in darkness
     have seen a great light;
     on those living in the land of deep darkness
     a light has dawned.


As I mentioned at the beginning this post is linked to a corresponding post on Surrendering, please take the time to visit the site and read the post. Also if you are interested in reading the past linked blog posts either look at the tab above or follow the Linked Bible Studies link. As always feel free to leave any comments and I hope you come back again soon.

Acts 2:42

Acts 2:42
     They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal and the prayers.

Yesterday I mentioned that I have a passion for advocating the return to basics of Christians to constant prayer and frequent Bible study. Another thing I feel that Christians should do is follow the examples and methods of the early church.

Acts 2:47
     As they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

There is no reason why we can not see conversions in the numbers that the early Church saw, we just need to go about things in the right way. We need to live our lives daily for God, we need to shine our lights as bright as we can day after day. We also need to provide support for those who are new converts as they grow in their knowledge of Christ. Nurture these young children of God as they grow bolder and more knowledgeable. When we live together sharing our lives with God and each other we become a strong united body in Christ as He wanted us to be. Through our unity in Christ we can do amazing things, without it we are doomed to fail. Which category of Church do you fall into, are you part of a healthy vibrant outgoing Church that is growing or are you a member of a dying Christian community? We all know how to make it work, we have the Bible, our instruction manual, isn't it time we all followed it's commands?

Doubts and fears

Doubt is an interesting phenomenon. We are taught as Christians that we should not doubt God, that he who believes without seeing is blessed. But is doubt always a bad thing?

When we are living our lives and trying to follow Gods plan it is inevitable that doubt will creep in at some point. Something will give you cause to pause and think is this the right plan of action for me? Is this what I should be doing?

It is not that we are doubting God or His plans, but rather that we are questioning if we have made the right interpretation of the plan in our lives. The doubt comes in because we are only human and more than capable of getting things wrong and misunderstanding things. Self doubt is something that is difficult to battle, especially as the causes of the doubt may not have originated in us either. It can be that some words in passing from a friend or lack of support may cause us to rethink things through and introduce this self doubt. And once started the self doubt begins to grow.

From this doubt comes the fear that we may be doing the wrong thing, that the path we have started heading down is in fact the wrong path. What do we do when this doubt and fear set in? how do we find the answer and decide if we should stick to our path or change it?

The answer every time has to be prayer. Ask for guidance, ask for knowledge and wisdom. Pray constantly until you are given the answers you need, until it becomes clear in your mind the direction to take. Paul once wrote some encouraging words to the Church in Philippii:

Philippians 1:6

    There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. 

If there is any doubt or a fear that you are not doing God's work or that you are not heading along the right path ask. Ask and ask again, because God will give you guidance, He will not be silent. You may be struggling to hear what He is saying but the answer will be there.

Jeremiah 29:11-14
    I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 
   "When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. 
   "When you come looking for me, you'll find me.
  "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else,  I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God's Decree.
  "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"-God's Decree-"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

God has plans for all of us, they may not always be clear, at time you will doubt that you have understood them. But God has told us already that when we are serious about seeking Him you will find Him, when you call on Him He will listen. You may not be in exile in the same way as the Israelites were but God will bring you back from the self doubt and bring you back to the point where you can start off from again.