Life in all its to-do-lists?

I wonder whether one of the foundational beliefs that many of us carry in our lives is that God somehow wants us so that he can simply put us to work & give us a long 'to do' list'?

That lingering belief that God loves me "but he's most interested in how I'm doing with my job-list of "do's and don'ts" now that he has me....." One of the major "do's" being how well we're doing at sharing him with others........

The problem is, that if our day to day experience of God is just a dry list of jobs - then that is what we'll share with others - perpetuating the myth that a life with God is little more than a divine to-do list..........
Is it any wonder then that so many people find their faith is nothing more than a dry, unexciting, task orientated half-life rather than the amazing richness of the life promised here?

Of course God has, and indeed is, the purpose for life and he has amazing things for all of us to do - but just as importantly, God wants ME and YOU. He delights in us, he wants us whole, he wants us to spend time with him exploring who we are, and what this thing called 'life in all it's fullness' is really all about.

He has made a life for each of us to explore - full of pleasure and delight, richness and reality, relationships and growth, challenge and struggle. That is the life that he wants us to experience and live to the full - that is the life he wants us to share with others, sharing from our desire that they find this rich kind of life too not simply inherit a list of rules.

How often we get so stuck in a list of jobs, restrictions and rules that we forget the fact that real life is about 'God and me' and 'God and you'?

When did we lose sight of the fact that real life - life in all its fullness indeed- is the love story between God and us?

Ordinary People..................

Zechariah was an ordinary priest who was faithful to God, living a fairly ordinary life. (find him here ). He was on the ‘priests rota’, so when he was on duty he would go off to the church and do whatever jobs he had been given – decided by ‘lot’ so it could be anything and everything. Until one day when it all changed.

Zechariah was in the inner sanctuary doing his thing, when an angel appeared and told him that he would have a son who would be ‘a great man in God’s sight’.

As he was very old, Zechariah was quite surprised by this (both the angel and the news, one would assume) - “are you sure?” he replies “We’re both past it”.

Then - just to be sure – he asks the angel for a sign. The angel strikes him mute – which probably left Zechariah wishing he had been a little more specific in the sign he asked for.........

“God regularly works through ordinary people, doing what they normally do, with a mixture of half-faith and devotion, holding themselves ready for whatever God has in mind” Tom Wright

Zechariah would have known the stories of others like Abraham & Sarah, and Rachel & Jacob who had been in the position of being too old to conceive children, and yet being given sons by God - but he doesn't seem to be able to believe it could happen to him.

How many times do we think we are too ordinary? That the riches of God are for the more gifted, more talented, more obvious people..........

But throughout the bible, God lavishes his love on, and uses ordinary people for amazing things – so why on earth not?

Been away...............

Took a break from this blog for lots of reasons - but haven't been completely idle! Catch me here and I'll be back on this blog soon!

Shaken and Stirred......

Too often the people who we expect to be inspired and challenged by are the 'obvious' - the great speakers, amazing worship leaders, and 'celebrity Christians' - but there is so much to learn from those who are alongside us, but don't fit the 'Christian' mould. Those who experience the hardest of circumstances and toughest of lives - those who struggle to hold on to their faith in the most challenging situations - for whom to simply says 'yes' to Jesus is a huge deal.......

When Jesus choose his disciples he didn't go after the most obvious choices - the rising stars of the area or the 'brightest & best'. He chose the ordinary, the outcast and the sinners - the strugglers and those who most people passed by without a second glance.......

May God shake us out of our stereotypes, and stir us into seeing with his eyes...........


"I'll tell you who'll laugh last: the people who don't think too much of themselves; who know their spirituality scores are poor - their ticket to heaven is already in the post (special delivery). " Matthew 5:1 from 'The Liberator' by Rob Lacey

Food for thought................

I read this today........

"How do we welcome home our lost brothers and sisters? By running out to them, embracing them, and kissing them. By clothing them with the best clothes we have and making them our honored guests. By offering them the best food and inviting friends and family for a party. And, most important of all, by not asking for excuses or explanations, only showing our immense joy that they are with us again. (See Luke 15:20-24).

That is being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. It is forgiving from the heart without a trace of self-righteousness, recrimination, or even curiosity. The past is wiped out. What counts is the here and now, where all that fills our hearts is gratitude for the homecoming of our brothers and sisters."

Made me think............

All for Jesus......

Jesus - all for Jesus. All I am, and have, and ever hope to be.
Jesus - all for Jesus. All I am, and have, and ever hope to be.

All of my ambitions, hopes and plans - I surrender these into your hands.
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans - I surrender these into your hands.

For it's only in your will that I am free.
For it's only in your will that I am free.

Jesus - all for Jesus.
All I am, and have, and ever hope to be.

One of the many fundamental questions that we must ask ourselves if we claim to follow Jesus is 'do I really trust Jesus or not?' We say we trust Jesus for our salvation and all that brings - but do we really trust him with our life right here, right now - or do we think we know better?

Do I take the risk of trusting him totally - being prepared to abandon my 'ambitions, hopes and plans'? Will I seek his voice, his lead, his his way - even if it doesn't fit my wants, my desires, my 'rights'?

The irony is that when I think I know what is best for me - when I seek to create my life in my way but then creep to him and ask for a blessing on what I have created - it doesn't bring peace at all - quite the opposite........

The beauty is that when I am brave enough to surrender all into his hands, however reluctantly, painfully or costly - then I get a taste of the 'peace beyond all understanding' which I crave..............

" ......in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. " Philippians 4 (New International Version)

Every year at YFC we pray this prayer -
maybe once a year isn't enough though -
maybe it's an every day thing..................

I am no longer my own - but yours.
Put me to what you will - rank me with whom you will.
Put me to doing - put me to suffering,
Let me be employed for you - or laid aside for you.
Exalted to you - or laid low for you.
Let me be full - let me be empty
Let me have all things - let me have nothing
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal
And now - glorious and blessed God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit
You are mine, and I am yours,
So be it.
And the covenant made here on earth,
may it be ratified in heaven
Amen

Dirty Fingernails

"God looked over everything
He had made;
it was so good, so very good"
Genesis 1:31

I have spent today transforming my garden. After weeks of procrastination an impromptu visit to the garden centre was all it took for inspiration to strike, and now what was once a dull square has become a riot of colour. I am tired, grubby and have very dirty nails, but the garden now makes me smile every time I look at it.

If I get this much pleasure from creating a tiny garden - how broad was the smile of God as He created the universe and everything in it?

Sneak Preview............

I read something this week that made me realise that I’d never really thought about how big the place that we call the ‘garden of Eden’ must have been.

“God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.' Then God said, 'Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.'”

God gives Adam and Eve the run of the whole earth – not a small confined space that restricted their lives – an amazing choice of food and surroundings. Even the special garden that God plants and asks Adam to look after must have been huge as it contained many trees to choose from and a river flowed from it, there’s no indication it was small!

“Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit........ The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Genesis 1 The Bible

God gave Adam and Eve loads of trees to choose from – an ‘eat all you like buffet’ of amazing variety and choice. Only one thing was off the menu. You’d have though that with all that choice it wouldn’t have been a problem. The forbidden tree should have been quickly forgotten as Adam & Eve indulged in all the other amazing things on offer. But no – even with all those other options that God had provided for their good – Adam and Eve ended up wanting only the one thing they couldn’t have.

How often are we like that? Even though we know God has provided so much for us, we would rather mess with things that we know He doesn’t want for us. How often do we go after what is ‘off the menu’, rather than enjoy all that God provides for our good?

Why do we always want what we shouldn’t have?

Sometimes it’s obvious - too much drink, sex outside marriage, drugs, pornography or other people’s things. But other things are more subtle – we’re jealous of what other people have, their responsibility, their partner, their respect, their life.........

Instead of enjoying and exploring the unique life we have been given – our ‘garden of Eden’- we trade it for envying what other people have.

We may not go as far as eating from the forbidden tree – but we’d actually really like to and spend too much time thinking about it, plotting to get it or being angry that we don’t have it...........

God has given you your own unique ‘life-garden’ to explore, enjoy and live out

What is it for you that destroys your delight in what you have, by tempting you to seek after what is not yours to take?

ps - why 'sneak preview'? Because you got to see it before it appears here!

Caught in a trap.............

"We can't go on together
with suspicious minds.
And we can't build our dreams
on suspicious minds"

Suspicious Minds
Written by Mark James sung by Elvis Presley

Sometimes I get quite suspicious of God...............
I hope you're not too shocked by that - because actually I think we all do. Although we hear God speak of his amazing love for each one of us in the bible, we often struggle to accept it for ourselves.

Although I know God has provided for me in the past, I too often worry about the future.
I say God is my joy, but too often I struggle to believe he will make me happy in the future - so I look to myself and others to make me happy.
I believe God is the great healer, but sometimes I feel my present hurt is too big - even for him.
I call to him about specific things, and then get suspicious when he answers and provides........

Me: I can't do this.....
God: I know - let me.
Me: Help me.....
God: Yes.
Me: I can't.... will you do it?
God: It's done.
Me: Oh you've done it - but have you really done it? Am I just imagining it? Is there a catch? I should really have done it....

Which is of course all nonsense!
I'm in good company though - an entire generation of Israelites missed their chance in the promised land because of their grumbling and lack of trust. They became suspicious towards God and the end result was more wandering.
Totally trusting God is often a daily decision rather than something that comes 'naturally'. Each day we need to refuse to listen to the thoughts or emotions that cause us to doubt God’s heart of love towards us and instead commit ourselves to resting in his care.

God loves me - he shows me every day how much he loves me. All I have to do is turn again to the crucified, risen Jesus - heaped with my sin, my shame, my mess to regain my sense of perspective. Transformation is done one day at a time - and one battle of trust at a time.

Knowing God proclaims “Not Guilty!” over me and my messy life is the thing that holds my trust together. It's already done, it can't be undone, changed or withdrawn. God won't get tired of me - he knows and understands where, when, how and why my trust wobbles........

So instead of giving in to our suspicious minds, why don't we decide every day to hang on in there - let's just get on with living out the lives of infinite possibility God has prepared for each one of us!

Bumpity Bump..............

I do a lot of driving in my job - which gives me time and space to listen & think. Driving can inspire, soothe & speak to me in all kinds of ways.

Cars provide a 'safe space' - my own little bubble of being................ usually................

Today I was rudely reminded that the 'bubble' of my car isn't as protective as I would like to think it is, and that it is possible to connect with the world outside in an unexpected and very unwelcome way....... That I'm not so totally safe............. because I had an accident on the way home. A timely reminder that sometimes our 'safe spaces' aren't always as safe as we would like to think they are.............

We create 'safe spaces' in all kinds of ways - some of them good and helpful - where they provide rest, restoration and the opportunity to reconnect with God and others. But we can also create 'bubbles' that are not so good - C.S Lewis puts it well

"Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket-safe, dark, motionless, airless-it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."

Bubbles that we retreat into to protect ourselves feel safe. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes: silence, withdrawal, lack of commitment, inconsistency, 'self-destruct', independence, - we all have our individual ways of putting barriers up. But these bubbles of safety are just illusions - all they really do is disconnect us from God and others. Safe - but dying inside...........

Today I was jolted out of my safe feeling in a car. Too often I need to be pulled away from my desire to hide, protect and run away from the people and things in my life that might hurt me. Every day I need to be reminded to lay down my self-protective habits and learn more from the Master about the sacrificial, unconditional love that leaves me very vulnerable - but truly alive...........