A Little Bit Of Resolve

"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."~ Romans 6:11


Jesus set his face like flint towards Jerusalem, and we know too well what awaited him there.

Paul said to the Corinthians that whilst he was with them, he "resolved to nothing, save Christ, and Christ crucified ".

In grace we find strength. but it is almost as though resolve is itself a means of grace. I am drawn again to the greatest command. That we love the Lord our God with all our hearts minds, souls and with all our might.
That takes some bloody minded resolve, does it not?

We are reminded, by Jesus, that anyone who puts his or her hand to the Plough, and looks back, is not worthy.
We're told that the martyrs in Revelation overcame the Devil, partly because they did not love their lives so much as to shrink back from death.
You cannot have this kind of steel in your soul apart from the grace of God. But you cannot have it without your own will either.

Joshua does not say to the people. "Be drawn this day into whichever path you were predestined to be drawn to". That would be ridiculous. He says "Choose this day who you will serve". Our resolve, combined with Gods grace and power is a truly awe inspiring thing, and it brings God glory.

• What is our Jerusalem, to which we must set our faces, steely eyed and flint-faced?
• What do we love so much that we shrink back from suffering?

Tough questions. But good questions. Beyond which lies life.
Anyone who seeks to save their lives, lose them. But those that lay down their lives, for Jesus sake, find them. In abundance.

Audacious Tenacity

"Give me this mountain" ~ Joshua 14:8 (Caleb)


This blog is slightly different from the others that you will find in this Resolve series, because it was written independently of the devotionals I wrote last week. At least this draft is. You see I wrote a full devotional, on my phone, using the wifi at a fast food establishment at about 6am. I should have spent 20 mins on it, with the time allowed by my work schedule, but I spent something closer to an hour, in the end, so taken was I with my subject. I thought my fat fingers had hit the share button. I have no idea what I actually hit but in an instant, 90% of the post just disappeared , and my heart sank.

I think the feeling I had must have been a (very) little like Caleb felt, when he and Joshua came back from scouting out the promised land, and the faithless spies gave a bad report. All he had envisioned, vanishing before his eyes. It is not really comparable to my little technical error, but what I want you to see, is how utterly gutted he must have been. Absolutely floored. The rug was pulled right out from beneath him, and the Milk and Honey right before his eyes....vaporising into a fading memory.

And then, once more, to be standing on the edge of the promised land after Forty more years in the desert. And hearing the words;

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."~ Joshua 1:9


This great man of faith was stirred again, I imagine. The dream he had held onto, this boy born in the wilderness, was once more his for the taking. His belief in God had not wavered in the testing time. He had seen his God proved again and again and now his desire, if anything, had only been refined, and grown more concentrated.

 A friend of mine once made the observation that greater intimacy with The Father, breeds a greater audacity in his children. I have paraphrased slightly, but it is the principle that I want to draw our attention to, rather than the wording. (I think he said it better). Listen, the more we know him, the more we know he is for us, the more audaciously we can ask. It is not arrogance. It is an understanding of Gods love and power that will give us confidence of this nature. We are not slaves to fear, but rather we have a spirit of Sonship. We shouldn't shrink back from asking an imagined tyrant, but instead boldly approach the throne of grace, and receive the loving gifts of our kind king and faithful father.
Yes, the almighty creator of the universe, and we have the audacity to call to him, Abba, Father.

Remarkably, even after this hard fought campaign to take the promised land, Caleb, at 85 years old, is still up for the fight. All the land is taken apart from this notoriously difficult mountainous land of Hebron, where the insurgent fighters are entrenched. This is land that was promised to Caleb. He could have settled, but no. He was after his inheritance. 80 years in the desert had not quenched his thirst for God's destiny for his life. He knew the promise and he knew his God, and so he proclaims with confidence "Give me this Mountain". This is the last we hear of Caleb. In my mind (and I tend to see everything as a movie) We watch Caleb's heels disappear into the horizon, as he walks off towards his mountain. We are spared the details of his exploits but we know he was victorious.

Caleb is an adventurer. That in itself is inspiring, but what is far more inspiring is his longevity. We are instructed to 'Keep your spiritual fervour serving the Lord' (Rom 12:11). The start of that verse says "Never be lacking in zeal". Wow.

I speculate that Caleb was the inspiration for C S Lewis's character Reepicheep, the valiant mouse. I love Reepicheep. He is my favourite of all the Narnia characters. Reepicheep is last seen, getting into his coracle and sailing bravely into the unknown seas to the End Of the World, in search of Aslan's country. Reepicheep has the tenacity to go where none of the others will follow, and the Audacity to ask for Aslan's Country, when others will settle for the furthest reaches of their vessels abilities.

This is my challenge, and it is one that will go on far beyond your remembrance of this blog, will you live with audacious tenacity and believe beyond sight, and trust beyond touch and, like Caleb, never say die. What is the promise that still stirs you? Will you ask your loving heavenly father "Give me this mountain"?




 

Stirred Up (Not Shaken)

Ziklag 

When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. ~1 Sam 30:3-6

This situation calls... for a determination that is far from airy-fairy. This took real guts. In the smoking ruins of Ziklag, in the face of the loss of his family and facing the lynch mob of those who blamed him for their own loss, and yes, surely feeling the responsibility for it all himself, what David does next is staggering.

"David strengthened himself in the LORD his God." (v6, ESV)

Some versions say that he 'found strength in God'. I find this wording a little unhelpful, as it has the feel of someone saying to you 'your faith must be a real comfort to you'. No. That is not what was going on here. The KJV puts it, "David encouraged himself in the Lord"

There is no passivity here, and nor should there be for us. I've been low and I have experienced despair and lack of hope, as I am sure most of us have, and the last thing I want to do, in those situations, is to encourage myself. I want some-one else to come and comfort ME. I want God to come and shake the earth to show his love for me, to wave his hand over me and make it all go away.

But we all know, it doesn't really work like that. God, in his wisdom, has given us a choice; Mope in the ashes, or rise on eagle wings. Stay in Ziklag and get stoned, or mount your horse and go and get what belongs to you.

Listen, his divine power has given us everything we need for life and Godliness. But we have to take hold of those resources. The strength is not in us, it is in God, but we have to find it. WE have to stir OUR souls. WE have to lay hold, in faith, of Gods unshakable character. WE have to trust beyond our circumstances and believe beyond sight. King David says elsewhere "Why so downcast, oh my soul" and I will YET praise you". "I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living"
So once, like David, you have cried yourself dry, stir your soul. Take strength in God. He has not bought you out of Egypt to die in the desert. There is a land, flowing with milk and honey, and he has given it to us already, for the taking.

Press On Regardless

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."~ Philippians 3:12-14

If yesterday was about casting... off, today is about pressing on. A bit of Percy;   Good old Percy Verance . A bit of past shunning, eyes-on-the-prize grit and determination.

Now, no bit of our character development in Christ is independent from God's grace. But you don't have to think very hard about this before you realise, that without that bit of spit, without your own sheer determination and bloody-mindedness this is not going to happen.

And the past, both glory and failure, pleasure and pain, are just that. The past. Before us is Christ, our prize. So forget the past. Strain with all your might, yes your might (With which you are to love the Lord your God with all of) and make the upward call of God in Christ, your absolute obsession and passion. The promised land lies before us, and in it, all the ground he has given us for the taking.

Incidentally, the 'All of this' that Paul has not yet attained, is that he may gain Christ, and be found in him, having his righteousness and "to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."

By the grace of God, by the power of the spirit that works in us, let us press on and push on through, sold out, heaven-bent on the saviour, For the glory of Christ Jesus. Amen.

A Casting Off Of Everything That Hinders

Last week I wrote a series of devotionals for a private on-line prayer group I am part of.  The theme was on resolve and determination. I thought that some people would benefit from a wider sharing, so I am republishing them on my blog page too. I hope you are encouraged to 'take hold of that for which Christ took hold of you'. Be blessed, in Jesus name, by the power of the Spirit,  to the praise of his glorious grace...

"let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."~ Hebrews 12:1


This weeks verses are all about determination and resolve. We often focus on the grace of God, and that is right. But speaking for myself, I need a boot up my bum to get me moving. For some reason, for me, the Lord has seen fit for that spur to be something self initiated. It seems to me to be like the butterfly emerging from it's cocoon. It needs to break out by itself, otherwise it will never have the strength in it's wings to fly.

The image of a race that the author uses in these verses is extremely helpful. Listen, its not about winning. It's about completing. Although we run in such a way as to get the prize, the prize is what awaits us all at the other end, and all who complete the race qualify. All.
I am not in competition with my brothers and sisters who run with me, but I am in competition against my own body, and against the world.

In the days of the Olympics, races were ran naked. I wonder if that is what the writer has in mind when he says 'strip off every weight that slows us down'.
If the garments of the world are still being worn.....the high heels of vanity, and the low slung, pant-exposing trousers of pride, the long billowing skirts of false modesty, the sensible shoes of religion....the race is that much harder. I like the NIV's use of the words 'ANYTHING that hinders'. Whatever holds you back or weighs you down.....ditch it! It is not worthy of comparison with the reward that awaits you.

Oh, and the sin. Oh the sin that SO EASILY entangles! Brothers and sisters let us slip from every snare. The race is beset with bear traps of sin. Give these things as much berth as possible. And if the trap is like one of those vice like traps, get someone's help prizing it off so that you may re-join the race. It is time. Oh Lord is it time, to be done with sin and devoted to God. And in the spirit of Matt 18:9. It'd be better to gnaw your leg off than be stuck in that trap. It is time, indeed.
At the start of this week, as we look to new terms, let us forget what is behind, and straining towards what is ahead, fix our eyes on Jesus, press on, and "Run, Forest, Run!!"

Gay Pride and Prejudice

It came to an end with Facebook. For years I have been fence sitting on the issue of homosexuality, and its growing acceptance in some quarters of the church. I had wondered deeply about how best to approach this incredibly thorny subject. About a year or so ago, I was contemplating visiting 'Gay friendly' churches (Not that all churches shouldn't be friendly to gay people), in order to understand for myself what that would look like and how I would feel about it. For changing the way I thought about this issue would lead to some huge changes for me, generally in regards to my faith and, crucially, my understanding of scripture, and how we arrive at our interpretations of it. If we had got this wrong....then we had got it VERY wrong.

I say it ended with Facebook for a reason. I have always generally held to a traditional evangelical viewpoint on the issue of homosexuality, in that all sexual acts between two people of the same gender, are sinful.  On the issue of orientation, I was a little more ambiguous. I have met enough people who have struggled, and not struggled, with their same sex attraction to know that this is pastorally and socially a hugely complex issue. One that calls for compassion and sensitivity at every turn.

I found myself, and indeed still find myself despairingly frustrated at Evangelicals who's homophobia (lets call a spade a spade) is entirely backed up and justified by their rather convenient (for them) theological understanding. In the same way some pro gay folk will jump on an Atheist argument, because it rids them of the need for the accountability to a higher personality and justifies a disregard for the rules of religion. Sometimes your beliefs back up your prejudice and you may think the two inseparable.

I want to see genuine attempts at welcoming and encouraging people who have SSA to engage with the life of the church and the gospel. Not just lip service. And those who feel all the more strongly about this issue...well then, perhaps they are the most in need of serving the gay community and expressing Gods love to them.

I do not consider myself at all homophobic. Phobic means fearful. The bible says that perfect love casts out fear. I love homosexuals. As does God.

Let me bring you back to Facebook. Sorry. I have to. You see it was Facebook that bought an end to all my pontificating on this subject. I was so uncomfortable taking the moral high ground but unable to turn my back on the plain meaning of Scripture. Facebook did it because they introduced a rainbow filter to celebrate Gay pride, at the ruling of the US Supreme court to make it compulsory for all states to endorse same sex marriage...or marriage equality, as it is referred to by its proponents. I was forced into it.

Now, in my own country, the 'Marriage Equality' issue had been put to bed, legally speaking, a while back. And although I was a little uncomfortable with it, I had decided that this was just a civil issue and that I didn't want the right to be able to discriminate. It may not be marriage as I see it...as I believe God sees it, but let them call it what they will. You see, as a British Christian who has grown up in a rather secular era, I have never been under any illusion about this being a 'Christian country'. It may have been heavily influenced by Christianity, but that is not the country I grew up in. I have been ridiculed for my faith since day one. I have felt like an outsider ever since I first opened my mouth in Mrs McGowan's class and talked about God as though he really existed. But in America, where many Christians often still see their nation as being founded on Christianity, this seemed to be an even bigger deal. And it felt like it. The White House turned rainbow, the internet turned rainbow, a lot of peoples Facebook profile pictures turned rainbow. And some of my Christian friends, even some with, what I thought to be, strongly held evangelical beliefs, turned their profile pictures Rainbow.

Some of these did so in an act of bravery that has to be acknowledged. It is not easy to change your mind, or to nail your rainbow colours to the steeple of your  evangelical church.

This is such a huge issue. One that would (and maybe will) require many blogs. I don't want this post to be an exploration of the scriptural basis for refuting or embracing homosexuality. I don't want it to even be condemnatory in anyway of those who sit on the opposite side of the fence I was previously sitting on. I just want to say this. When I saw my friends abandoning their convictions, my heart felt sick. I felt grieved. It is not a feeling I get very often. Hardly ever, in fact. But there it is. Grieved to my core for the abandonment of the holiness of God.

I know how I know what is right. It is not because my prejudices are backed up by my theological beliefs, or because I have to twist scripture to make it say what I want it to say. It is the opposite. Scripture doesn't say what I want it to say. I am a man of compassion over holiness. But I can tell you this, without flinching or looking to the side. I know that to make it say what I want it to say, I would have to twist it and bend it.....and I can't do that. I know now, in the same way I knew when I saw that first Christians pride filtered flag on their profile pic. This is wrong.

I believe, when we come to Jesus, we lay down our rights to decide what is right and wrong, and we submit ourselves to a holy God and his holy word.

And we so often think that to love someone, that we embrace them and all that they are. We talk ourselves into understanding grace in terms of forgiveness and acceptance. We see love as tolerance. And yet, we fail to see, that Gods love does not leave us in our sin.

I love that picture of Jesus, in John chapter 8, where the woman caught in adultery is bought to him. The religious leaders are looking for a way to kill two birds with one stone, To trap Jesus, and kill the sexually immoral woman. And Jesus famously stoops down and writes (what we will never know) in the sand, and then says 'he who is without sin cast the first stone'. The religious drop their stones one by one until he, the holy one is left. The only one who could stone her. But its laughable, right? Jesus is never going to stone her. Lets imagine, he says 'where are your accusers?', 'Gone, my Lord'
'Then neither do I condemn you.' he says. Smiles and embraces her. Then they walk off laughing and joking about the bigoted Pharisees.

But we know that is not what he says. He says 'Neither do I condemn you. Now. Go, and leave your life of sin.'
I have immense love and empathy for my more liberal Christian brothers and sisters. Moreover I do not doubt for a second that they have good and decent motives. And I would call on you to never give up on that radical expression of Gods grace and love.
But love confronts as well as accepts. And if something isn't good for you, we shouldn't condone it.
You say this is an issue of justice. I say it is an issue of holiness. And, as the story form John illustrates, it is his kindness that leads us to repentance. But it is repentance that it leads us to, not mere acceptance. Love wins, by freeing us from our sin.

The Parable of the Pearl and the Pawn-shop

The Kingdom of heaven is like a man who has little interest in pearls, generally, until one fortuitous day, he spies, in the window of a shop that he passes by, the loveliest, most iridescent pearl he as ever seen, with a silky smooth sheen. And it's a whopper. He is utterly gobsmacked.
On a  complete and almost uncharacteristic impulse, forgetting that the mortgage was due at the end of the week, and that his wife had just booked their holiday, he burst into the shop demanding to know if this pearl was for sale.

On his demand the shop owner explains that this is a pawn shop and the loan for which this Pearl was collateral had been defaulted on, so it was, indeed for sale.

But when the man heard the cost of the pearl, he was in near apoplexy. It was more money than he had in the entire world. As he left, the shop he had a heavy heart. He knew it was utter madness, but this pearl was too good to be true. He battled and battled on his long walk home until finally, having twice resolved to forget about this crazy pearl idea, he snapped. He knew, that no matter what it cost he couldn't live the rest of his life knowing he had turned down this opportunity. He would regret it forever.

And so this man went straight to the bank from there. On arrival he emptied all his accounts. If this didn't raise enough eyebrows, and after a stringent security check, he was able to get a remortgage on his house. Still not enough. He proceeded to raid his children's trust funds. He walked from the bank to the car park, drove his Mercedes to a second hand car dealership and took a significant cut on its value. It took him only a matter of a few hours to utterly dismantle his life. But he had done it. He had raised the funds.

It was with great jubilation that he left the pawn brokers, without his i phone, without his kindle, without his wedding ring, barefoot and clutching the precious pearl. He bore on his face what can only be described as a slightly unsettling grin, that stretched almost from ear to ear.
Many months later, one particularly cold night, huddled under newspaper for warmth, remembering the family who had turned their backs on him, and the central heating they all continued to enjoy, in the home of another man, who had taken them in, he came to question his decision.

He fumbled , Gollum like at the pearl, which he had sewn into the lining of his trousers, which, now putrid, was as safe a place from human touch as Fort Knox. He looked at it lovingly, but now it's silky smooth complexion seemed an unremarkable thing, almost plain, in fact. It's iridescence; less so out of the strip light that cast its radiance on the pawn shop floor.

And although he knew it to still be a thing of great beauty, he could not see any value in holding onto the thing that had cost him everything, if the only thing he saw when he looked at it was such great loss.

The next day the man returned to the pawn shop and secured a loan against the pearl which, although was not quite the price he had paid for it, one of a size that would secure him a place in the world that was almost at the heights from which he had fallen. And from there he started to rebuild his old life. He slowly built back the trust that his family had lost in him, during his temporary insanity. Although his wife never returned to him, his relationship with his children was restored and things seemed to be as back on track as they could be, under the circumstances.

However, some months later, he found himself dreaming of the pearl he had returned. By day a pining had started. There were only a few days left on its contractually allotted time for repayment. And though he knew he did not want to return to the squalor that ownership of the pearl had meant for him, he decided that he would look at it just one more time.

On seeing the pearl once more, however, his heart felt like it would burst open and he knew, with absolute clarity, that THIS was what had been missing. He was absolutely sure this time.

And so the man went through the process of liquidating his life for a second time. And later, camped out in a doorway he wept as he held the pearl, and made promises to it again, declaring that he would never again be without it. Apologising for having lost faith in its beauty, to sustain him.

A few months later, one rainy night, whilst taking shelter, he began to repeat the process...


Oh, sorry. No it isn't. Because this pearl deal is a one time thing. Its cost is complete surrender of all our lives. Its value is immeasurable.

Top 5 reasons to be insanely Joyful in Jesus.

In my last post I focused on the need for embracing hardship. I would like this to be the icing on the top of that rather dense cake. Or, perhaps, just a slither of the cake, loaded with the icing and sprinkles.

It's all very well talking about gritting your teeth and praising through the pain, but just what are these reasons for such praise? What can possibly merit such a choice?

Here they are. My top five reasons to be Joyful in Jesus. Just to get you started. For me these are reasons to rejoice, no matter what we are going through.




1. He always knows you


Psalm 139 tells us. He, The Alpha and Omega, knew us before we existed. His eyes saw our unformed bodys. He put us together in the womb. He created our inmost being. He knows our thoughts before we think them and our words before we say them. All of our days were written in his book before one of them came to be. This is, however, only a comfort if you understand how much he loves you. When you start to understand his love then his knowledge of us is a comfort. I cannot surprise God and I cannot disappoint him. Knowing exactly what I was he sent his son to die for me. Knowing exactly what I could become, he redeemed me, to the praise of his glorious grace.


2. He always has a plan


Consistently, in the New Testament, we are told to know what Gods will is (Rom 12:2, Eph 1:9). The joy is that in all things he has a bigger plan, to redeem and unite the world in Jesus. Prosperity nonsense will have you focus on the same old Jer 29:11 (Plans to prosper and not to harm you) and Rom 8;28. (God works all things together for good). A cursory look at these verses seems to serve the idea that God has a path of only blessing for us, but we see, if we read a little further, that not only is the prerequisite that we 'love God' but that he has predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. In other words there is a purpose in our suffering. To make us like Jesus. There is hope. And then there is heaven, where that work will be fully realised, and God will wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death, or sickness, or sorrow or pain and we will enjoy him forever.



3. He is always with you


And there, in any sufferings we face, as much as the pleasures, Jesus is with us, praying for us, interceding, advocating on our behalf, present by his spirit, holding us in his nail scarred hands. he said 'I am always with you, to the end' (Matt 28:20) and he has promised, 'never will I leave you, never will I forsake you'. He has sent his Holy Spirit, the comforter, to lead and guide us into all truth, to empower us, to resource us with all we need in him. We are never abandoned. Even if we are faithless, he remains faithful (2 Tim 2:13).



4. He always has your back


When the troubles come, and they will come (John 16:33) he has set up a divine support network  that is second to none.

• His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness (2 Peter 1:3).
• 1 Cor 12:26 Emphasizes that we, the church of Jesus, are one body. We suffer together, we succeed together. We support each other. We serve each other. We love each other. We have each others backs.
• You are part of the company of all the saints that ever lived, and they cheer you on from the side lines of heaven, to the end of your race. (Heb 11/12)
• For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; (Ps 91:11). Enough said.
• Along with the promise that he would never leave you, he promised that 'you will have power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you' (Acts 1:8). The power of the Spirit and the name of Jesus are an unbeatable combination. The tag team of spiritual warfare!

5. He always loves you.


In Jeremiah 31:3, we are told, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love'.  God 'so loved the world that he sent his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life'. Jesus makes it clear how much he loves us when he says 'As the Father has loved me (And the father loves Jesus more than anything, his full delight is in him) , So I have loved you. Jesus tells us 'Greater love has no man than he lay down his life for his friends, and he proved it by loving us 'while we were still sinners'.  In love  (Eph 1:5) he predestined us, to be adopted as his rightful, fully inheriting children; forgiven, restored, sanctified and redeemed.

Paul tells us that Love never fails (1 Cor13) and that love remains forever. When all the voices are silent, and the world has passed away, Gods love will remain with his people. His love, his fear expelling, death defying love for you, will never pass away.




These are truths that I can be joyful about. But they are not definitive. The joys of the glory of God in Christ are so manifold that they can fill eternity. But I think we should get a head-start on heaven, don't you?

'Pure Joy'

The book of James tells us, to consider it 'pure joy' when we face trials of many kinds. Now that you are reading this, I feel it safer to tell you that the titular 'Pure Joy' that I am talking about is not of the frivolous, sun-kissed, frolicking on the beach variety. It is something altogether weightier than that. A joy that is present in pain. A joy that stands the testing of fires. A joy that rests on greater promises than fleeting earthly pleasures.

For  our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison~ 2 Cor 4:17

 This, I have concluded, is never going to be a popular message. But the path of suffering is actually a rich, rich vein that runs around the body of Christ and directly into its arteries and is, essentially, at it's very heart.

When Paul talks of 'light and momentary troubles' it is clear that in a very immediate sense he is meaning anything but, 'light and momentary'. In the same passage he qualifies what he is going through,

• Hard pressed on every side
• Perplexed
• Persecuted
• Struck down

His list of his own sufferings for the Gospel's sake are well documented, even in my last blog.      Ship-wrecks, Imprisonment and stonings being just some of the things he faced.

And Paul, is not an idiot. Nor, I believe, is he a sado-masochist. I don't think he really meant to convey the idea that human suffering is fun. This is not about enjoying pain. This is about something far, far greater. For Paul, these things were 'Light and momentary' (I love his poetry) in the light of what is Heavy (with glory) and Eternal. Our redemption. Our inheritance. Our reward. Jesus himself.

Jesus went to the cross, scorning its shame, we are told, for the joy set before him. I can't think anything motivated him more than the prospect of sitting down at the right hand of his Dad in heaven, knowing what he would have achieved, knowing what pleasure he bought him and what salvation he bought to us. He knew that this suffering, in the light of that, was not worthy of comparison.

Paul says 'whatever is to my gain, (Absence of suffering included) I consider it a loss, compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. I consider it crap, (The Greek word is actually stronger than that) that I may know him.'

And, in comparison to Paul's sufferings, most peoples troubles are 'Light and Momentary'. Mine certainly are.
  And so 'we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.' (v18)

So where does this joy come in?

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed~1 Peter 1:6-7

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to 'endure hardship as a discipline'. The discipline, literally; a lesson, is something that the father allows his children to go through, so that by it they/we may be trained. If learned from, we are promised, it will produce a harvest of righteousness. And it is sometimes in the shaking that we know what will remain.  The discipline is to bring us to a better place, perhaps in a temporal sense, but certainly in an eternal sense. The joy we can find in our choice to praise him no matter what, can transcend the circumstances we face. We know that there is a purpose to this, whatever it may be, that we are being fitted for heaven.

Paul commands us in Philippians to 'rejoice'. Let me say it again. To rejoice is your choice. To take joy in God.



We are told, 'The joy of the LORD is your strength'.  So when we are weak, and struggling, we need to rejoice more than ever. Remember Paul and Silas in prison. Their praise party certainly seemed to cause a stir. I believe this is the key to Paul's sustenance. He never lost the eternal picture. What you see in front of you, is never all that is going on. You, above all people, believer, should have hope in affliction. And reason for praise.

And because Paul took this attitude, look what that did to his circumstances;

Hard pressed on every side = but not crushed

Perplexed                            = but not in despair

Persecuted                           = but not abandoned

Struck down                        = but not destroyed

We can always have hope. We can overcome in all things, because Jesus Christ will never abandon us.

Pascals Wager

This is a blog post to mark a momentous subject. this will not make easy reading. I write it as an encouragement to myself and to you, but it is encouragement in the light of the upside down nature of Gods kingdom. When we are weak, we are strong. Sometimes we need to be made aware of our weakness before we can be strengthened. This might be one of those posts.

 I have often taken much security from Pascal's wager. Even before I knew of it, this thought continually gave me sustenance in periods of doubt; That if it (Christianity) all turns out to be false, If there is no God and Jesus was never raised from the dead, that I have lost nothing, and lived the best kind of life I could, a moral life filled with hope, even if it turned out to be a placebo, rather than the real thing.

Pascal's wager is a philosophical argument, in favour of Christianity, that says everyone is gambling their life on whether there is a God or not. The Atheist stands to gain little if he is right, but lose much (eternity in hell) if he is wrong. The believer stands to lose relatively little in this life (Some comforts and pleasures) but gain substantially by entering heaven.

Many believers, being perhaps more emotionally invested than the pragmatic wager would imply, would argue that you, in fact, lose nothing. A spiritually fulfilled life, at peace with and in communion with God, living in a way that your creator intended you to, is no loss at all. And, at it's best, the Christian life can offer all of these.  And yet, it is a flawed view. In 1 Cor 15:17&19 St Paul offers an insight into his own view into this divine gamble.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.....If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.  

Why wouldn't Paul say, And If Christ is not raised we've not really lost anything? Was he not spiritually satisfied, did he not have a sense of  peace with the world that came from having done business with Jesus? You bet he did. But way, way more than that, Paul was invested 100%. If Christ was a lie, he lost everything. He reminds us, in order to inspire us to a similar devotion,


 I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things~ Phil 3:8


He forsook all. He sold the farm and bet it on Jesus. Emotionally, financially, physically, spiritually, he was invested up to the hilt.

It shows me for what I am. Pascal's wager exposes the shallowness of my commitment. I don't worry about losing anything, because I have invested relatively little. But the price is that I DO doubt. I doubt often. I doubt when I don't feel fulfilled or at peace.

Jesus told a story about a man who wanted to build a tower but didn't count the cost. An unfinished tower is called a folly. And faith that has not counted the cost is just that. A folly.


The key to Paul's passion is revealed in the same passage from Philippians.

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

He actually wanted to share in Christ's suffering. This is how he saw the power of the resurrection; he participated with gladness in the suffering for the gospel. He backed it up with ship wrecks and imprisonment, stoning and snake-bite.


In an age when some young disaffected Muslims are offered (and unbelievably some take it up) an ideology to die for, the church often pedals comfort upon comfort. The gospel has to be more. It is an unpopular message, and one I fear myself. Perhaps we have bought in to Pascal's wager just a bit too much. Can we, like the disciples in Acts 5:41, rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.

Suffering and doubt do not make good bed fellows. Suffering and pragmatism seem a little at odds. Suffering and faith however, are somewhat more compatible. I think we have to reconsider how much we have spiritualised the act of taking up our cross, and dying daily. Some suffering is literal. The power of the resurrection only makes sense in the light of the suffering of the cross. God help us to count, and recount the cost.

The truth wont set you free

"The truth will set you free" is one of Jesus' phrases that has resonance in a much wider context than just religion, so much so that I have even seen it as a strap-line for a movie poster. It is one of those sayings that nearly everyone knows, although many are not sure where from. But sadly most people, even Christians, don't pay enough attention to the discourse in which it is set. This is really how I come to be writing this blog, I took it out of context, not intellectually but intuitively. And I found myself wondering, why exactly the truth did NOT set me free, as I had been promised.

You see, the 'truth' seen as simply a hard, cold fact, can actually leave you helpless. To expose my flaws will only leave me with a sense of condemnation. It may not necessarily offer a solution.
I recently watched the movie 'Flight'  (spoiler alert) where Denzel Washington plays an alcoholic commercial jet pilot who's level headed actions save a doomed flight, albeit whilst under the heavy influence of alcohol. Initially hailed as a hero, his life soon comes under heavy scrutiny as an investigation ensues.
We discover that his life, and not the plane crash, is the real disaster area of the movie narrative. In the course of the film he hooks up with a recovering drug addict/alcoholic, who takes him along to an AA meeting that she attends. He cannot take it, and walks out when he hears one of the members start to talk about his denial and self deception. Later, facing jail, and a hairs breadth away from getting away with it, having lied through all the questioning, he is finally asked to tell one more lie, to incriminate (falsely) a member of the crew who died in the crash, saying that it was her who had drunk the vodka miniatures that were found in the bin.

It is at that moment that he comes to his senses, like the prodigal with the pigswill raised to his lips, and, to the dismay of his legal team, he confesses to having drunk the vodka, because, he says, in a final admission and embracing of the truth (from which he has long been running), 'I am an alcoholic'.

You could say, in one sense, that the truth set him free, but as a result of this truth he actually becomes imprisoned.
The truth does not set him free, but is impossible for him to get free without an acknowledgment of that truth.

It seems coincidental that I had watched this film recently, but a personal struggle of mine led me to this question just days later and it was not until commencing this blog that I saw the connection between my issues and the film. You see, acknowledgement of the truth is not enough. Exposure to the truth is not enough. It does not set you free, in and as of itself. Sometimes knowing the truth and being unable to change, seems to compound our sense of being enslaved. The more frequently I recognise a truth and do not change, the harder my heart becomes.

So I look at the context (John 8) in which Jesus said these most famous words of his and I find the subtext is of significant value.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If you hold to my teaching, he says. So we see that this is not a generalisation of the concept of truth, of cold, hard facts, but of a specific truth, moreover a truth that trumps all other truths. I have not really seen this condition of Jesus before, the 'If' factor. If you hold to my teachings. Wow.

But then my being set free would seem to depend on my ability to hold to certain teachings, and that seems a rather flimsy basis for freedom. If it were will-power alone it would surely be possible without Jesus.

Jesus says in the passage that everyone who sins is a slave to sin (So that's all of us) and that slaves have no place in the family, but if the son, the rightful, inheritor of the headship of that family and belongs to it forever, frees you, then you are truly free.

So receiving the pardon frees us from the status of slavery, but there is more. If we are academically free only, then it is no freedom. Jesus stresses, free indeed. There must be more. And there is.

If we are holding to Jesus teachings then we will have to become familiar with ALL his words. And later, in John 14, he tells us what is the truth that really sets us free. he says

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ~John  14:6

The 'Truth', must be Jesus himself. To know him, to be intimately acquainted,  to be familiar, to be his friend rather than his servant, is truly to know 'The Truth'. Rules and adherence to doctrine cannot free you. Acknowledgement alone cannot free you, but you must be freed by the Son, to be free indeed. And as Jesus goes on to say "If you really know me, you will know my Father as well".

There are no shortcuts to intimacy. It takes time to develop, time and experience but way more importantly, trust.  A putting of your weight onto the object you are relying on to help you. And I picture the writer of this gospel, reclining, leaning on Jesus at that last meal. I'm reminded of the words from the hymn.

 

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus name,

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.