Be thou my vision

Seeing the treasure in the field

2009-12-14T22:49:00.001Z

"Our loneliness cannot always be fixed, but it can always be accepted as the very will of God for now, and that turns it into something beautiful. Perhaps it is like the field wherein lies the valuable treasure. We must buy the field. It is no sun-drenched meadow embroidered with wildflowers. It is a bleak and empty place, but once we know it contains a jewel the whole picture changes. The empty scrap of forgotten land suddenly teems with possibilities. Here is something we can not only accept, but something worth selling everything to buy.

In my [Elisabeth Elliot] case, "selling everything" meant giving up the self-pity and the bitter questions. I do not mean we are to go out looking for chances to be as lonely as possible. I am talking about acceptance of the inevitable. And when, through a willed act we receive this thing we did not want, then Loneliness, the name of the field nobody wants, is transformed into a place of hidden treasure."

(Re-blogged from 'Unconfusing')

A life half lived

2009-11-29T13:54:00.013Z

A life lived...

in pursuit of what this world has to offer.
In pursuit of comfort, entertainment, ease.
For acclaim, respect and achievement.
With eyes on the next thrill.
With hands clasped tight around my time, my money, my life.
A life lived for the desires of a sinful heart.

A life lived for me is a life half lived.

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - Jesus (1)

[Jesus] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
(2 Corinthians 5:15)

A life fully lived, is a life lived for Jesus.

(1) John 10:10

Being the body

2009-11-01T18:14:00.001Z

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in trying to fade into the faces
The girl's teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

But if we are the body
Why aren't His arms reaching?
Why aren't His hands healing?
Why aren't His words teaching?
And if we are the body
Why aren't His feet going?
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgemental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

Jesus payed much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the body of Christ

Jesus is the way

(Casting Crowns)

Preach it, and preach nothing else (Part 1)

2009-10-27T20:07:00.020Z

The Lord replied...
"I am sending you to them to -
- Open their eyes
- Turn them from darkness to light
- and from the power of Satan to God

So that they may receive -
- Forgiveness of sins
- and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me."

(Acts 26:17-18)

God calls us to open eyes! I've found the quote below really challenging over the last few days -

"In many ministries, there is not enough of probing the heart and arousing the conscience by the revelation of man's alienation from God, and by the declaration of the selfishness and the wickedness of such a state. Men need to be told that, except Divine grace shall bring them out of their enmity to God, they must eternally perish; and they must be reminded of the sovereignty of God, that He is not obligated to bring them out of this state, that He would be right and just if He left them in such a condition, that they have no merit to plead before Him, and no claims upon Him, but that if they are to be saved, it must be by grace, and grace alone, The preacher's work is to throw sinners down in utter helplessness, that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them.

To try and win a soul for Christ by keeping that soul in ignorance of any truth, is contrary to the mind of the Spirit; and to endeavour to save men by mere claptrap, or excitement, or oratorical display, is as foolish as to hope to hold an angel with bird-lime, or lure a star with music. The best attraction is the gospel in its purity. The weapon which the Lord conquers men is the truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency, an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it, and preach nothing else."

(C.H. Spurgeon, The Soul Winner)

Preach it, and preach nothing else (Part 2)

2009-10-27T20:38:00.002Z

I have been reminded a lot recently that the only way that we can turn someone "from the power of Satan to God" is by the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit. I think my version of evangelism tends to become somewhat an intellectual thing.

In a talk I heard today, the speaker said something really interesting:

In Acts 17 Paul speaks to the intellectual elite at Athens, and he barely even mentions Jesus. We often use this sermon as a model for reaching out to those who have no knowledge of our God, and to quote the speaker it is a "masterful sermon." And yet there is so little about Jesus!

And the results? "A few men became followers of Paul and believed." (v34)

The next place he visited in Corinth, two days walk away. The speaker asked the question, did use that time to reflect on his experience in Athens. Was it then that he chose his strategy for speaking there?

"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."
(1 Cor 2:1-4)

And the results? "Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptised." Acts 18:8

I have a feeling there may be some flaws in the argument, and I'm not fully convinced by it. And clearly success is not always a numerical thing. But did really get me thinking!

In what am I trusting when I speak to people with the hope of them being saved? My "eloquence and superior wisdom" or "the Spirit's power"?

Settle back and read an encouraging story of students of yore

2009-10-16T19:24:00.005+01:00

With the October term 1895, there opened a year of remarkable blessing and promise. So far as could be judged, a rather large number of freshmen who were already convinced Christians came up to Oxford than in any other October in the previous twenty-five years. This was accountable mainly to the work of Scripture Unions at school, the Children's Special Service Missions, and the Universities' Camps for boys. They had all helped, under God, to bring boys while still at school into a faith in Christ as their Lord and Saviour. There was certainly no doubt as to their sense of relationship to God, and that sense of responsibility that goes with it. These young men soon made their mark in the University, for their consciousness of conversion endowed them with the capacity for leadership.

Many of them would seem shockingly narrow minded to their contemporaries. To many of their friends they were just 'impossible people' difficult if not impossible to live with by reason of their excessive exuberance in evangelistic pursuits, their puritan rigidity, and the strictness of their self-discipline. But they were giants. They were daring. They were somehow inspired. It was said of them at the time that they were 'ready to die for God'. "We were prigs and smugs, we really were," says W. E. S. Holland who was one of them, "but Archbishop Lang always said that we were much the livest group in Oxford when he was a don."

As Miss Constance Padwick tells us in her biography of Temple Gairdner, "These narrow, young desperadoes had some claim to the term 'pauperes Christi', for in the evangelistic fury in which they lived every possible penny had to be saved from personal expenditure to buy a Bible or pay for a fraction of a missionary. When Willie Holland bought a luncheon-basket at a railway station at the end of term it was felt that he had all but given away his cause. A sandwich and a glass of milk was lunch enough for one who might save the rest of the luncheon-basket price for evangelistic funds." The time seemed ripe for one of the turbulent winds of God: for one of those movements that reveal afresh the desperate foolhardiness of the Christian life.

These undergraduates found their centre of gravity in the O.I.C.C.U., the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union. The spiritual power-house to which they migrated annually to be re-inspired was the Keswick Convention which was held every summer. Here they caught afresh the vision of an Oxford won for Christ, and a world won for Christ as a necessary corollary. They were full of enthusiasm. When, a few years ago, there was dragged up from the bottom of the Thames along the Chelsea Embankment the barnacled old Chelsea bell, which from time immemorial had guided the river traffic in time of fog, a typical eighteenth century inscription was revealed. It read: 'God save the King, and down with enthusiasm.' This might well have referred to those crude and tasteless evangelicals who, on returning from Keswick, would walk down Oxford High Street, twenty of them arm-in-arm, singing at the tops of their voices to a totally undistinguished tune,

"It is better to shout than to doubt,
It is better to rise than to fall,
It is better to let glory out,
Than to have no glory at all."

The crude words struggled up to heaven past the twisted columns of St Mary's, past the carved front of All Souls, past Queen Anne, in whose days approved religion was more decent and composed, with less resemblance to intoxication. These men were bold. They had the strength of their convictions. And if news reached them of a new conversion, or of some striking success on the part of a missionary, they would not hesitate, shout in chorus one long, full-throated 'Hallelujah' - even in the middle of the Broad! Strange to think that this was the early environment of men who today are leaders of the Church of this country.

...These undergraduates were not content to study together and make their own devotions. They had a lively and aggressive concern for other people's souls. They could not keep the Gospel to themselves: it was meant for everyone, and everyone must therefore be given at least the opportunity for acceptance or rejection. An instance typical of their own missionary zeal occurred in this way. It was proposed to hold a mission to the University. The wheels of preparation were set in motion, and began to revolve - slowly. The crucial question was, as always, who should be invited to lead it. By a spontaneous and unanimous decision these men agreed that no outsider was required for he present. They would be their own missioners in their own colleges.

(G Ian F Thomson, "The Oxford Pastorate")

The primary call of God's people

2009-10-14T19:06:00.010+01:00

We are to glorify God! No other book tells us this as strongly as Daniel. (1)

No matter who we are. We are to worship Him. Even if we are King Nebuchadnezzar ruling over most of the known world, we are to glorify Him alone!

In staff worship yesterday we looked at the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And I was really struck by the fact that the reason they chose apparently certain death was an issue of worship.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

(Daniel 3:16-18)

They would give glory only to Yahweh.
Why?
Because they knew that he alone was worthy!

(1) Actually Jeremiah's pretty epic on worshipping God alone.

Practicing the presence of God

2009-10-01T20:32:00.018+01:00

Today, instead of an ops meeting, we all headed to Starbucks to spend an hour reading 'The Practice of the Presence of God: The Best Rule Of a Holy Life.' It is a collection of conversations with and letters by a 17th Century lay brother, who served the monks by working in the kitchen.

I've been meaning to read it for a while. It used to be on our bookshelf at home, and my Dad recommended it to me a couple of times, but I've never got round to reading it. Until today.

Wow is it challenging! And exciting! This section really struck me...

"I have quitted all forms of devotion and set prayers but those to which my state obliges me. And I make it my business only to persevere in His holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention, and a general fond regard to GOD, which I may call an actual presence of GOD; or, to speak better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with GOD, which often causes in me joys and raptures inwardly, and sometimes also outwardly, so great that I am forced to use means to moderate them,and prevent their appearance to others.

In short, I am assured beyond all doubt, that my soul has been with GOD above these thirty years. I pass over many things, that I may not be tedious to you, yet I think it proper to inform you after what manner I consider myself before GOD, whom I behold as my King.

I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King; touched with a sensible regret I confess to Him all my wickedness, I ask His forgiveness, I abandon myself in His hands, that He may do what He pleases with me. This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence."

Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)

...I recommend giving the whole book a read. I managed to speed read it in the hour. The first few pages are pretty heavy, but keep going!

For the full text of "Practicing the Presence of God" - http://www.ccel.org/ccel/lawrence/practice/formats/practice1.1.pdf

Why are you afraid?

2009-09-29T19:34:00.003+01:00

"I, yes I, am the one who comforts you.

So why are you afraid of mere humans,
who wither like the grass and disappear?
Yet you have forgotten the LORD, your Creator,
the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy
and laid the foundations of the earth.

Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors?
Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies?
Where is their fury and anger now?
It is gone!
Soon all you captives will be released!
Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!

For I am the LORD your God,
who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar.
My name is the LORD of Heaven's Armies.
And I have put my words in your mouth
and hidden you safely in my hand.
I stretched out the sky like a canopy
and laid the foundations of the earth.
I am the one who says to Israel,
'You are my people!'"

Isaiah 51v12-16 (NLT)

It's a clear night tonight, so I suggest spending some time reflecting on these words whilst looking at the stars.

The eternal glory of Jesus

2009-09-25T19:05:00.007+01:00

Take a moment to gaze upon the glory of Jesus.

"We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only." (John 1:14)

He has existed for all eternity, forever in the presence of God Almighty. He is the one who created the farthest reaches of our universe; every molecule, every star. He is the very source of life.

He is how we know righteousness and holiness. The character of his glory is undeserved compassion, overflowing love and delight for unworthy sinners. His essence is truth, revealing in every way the glory of the Father, and the realities which make up the gospel. In him there is no distortion, no deception and no ulterior motives. He is the plain proclamation of the reality of God.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning."

(John 1:1-14)

My soul restored

2009-09-18T20:04:00.006+01:00

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul."
(Psalm 23:1-3a)

On Sunday morning at Church we studied Psalm 23. On Sunday afternoon I asked God to restore my soul. On Monday and Tuesday I listened to two amazing sermons, which God used to do just that!
The Singing God
Remembering Who and Whose We Are
Praise God for his word!

Prepare to have your heart gladdened

2009-09-14T21:56:00.002+01:00

I seriously recommend this talk, mind-blowing stuff!

Joys Eternal Increase - Edwards on the Beauty of Heaven

To what are we called?

2009-09-13T17:56:00.002+01:00

We are called -

To belong to Jesus Christ
To be saints
To be sons of the living God
Into the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord
To peace
To freedom
To hope
To obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ
To eternal life
To a holy calling

We have been called out of darkness into God's marvelous light.

Rom 1:6, 1:7, 9:26, 1 Cor 1:9, 7:15, Gal 5:13, Eph 1:18, 2 Thess 2:14, Tim 6:12, 2 Tim 1:9, 1 Peter 2:9

Thirst for Heaven

2009-09-12T10:24:00.002+01:00

This is such a good sermon -

http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/resource_files/audio/200908231500HWC21ASAAA_JoshPatterson_ThirstForHeaven.mp3

"Christ's love compels us"

2009-09-10T19:56:00.002+01:00

There are approximately 6,600 unreached people groups of the world. That's nearly 3 billion people without any realistic hope of making a decision about Jesus Christ.

For every 1 Unreached people group, there are 700 evangelical churches.

700 churches.

What are we doing?

(This post is a re-post of a friend's post - to visit her blog see - http://fromemptytofull.blogspot.com/)

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
1 Corinthians 5:14-15

Do we really believe the Bible?

2009-09-06T15:04:00.006+01:00

I've been incredibly convicted by a conversation I had with an Iraqi friend of mine the other day. He said that one of his major objections to the Christian faith was that Christians don't really believe the Bible.

His evidence for this - the fact that the Christians he has encountered in Britain do not have the faith to even pray for the miracles we see happening in the early church. In fact, he said that many Christians have told him that the miracles in Acts and the New Testament do not happen anymore.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12)

Jesus has not changed. He is still at the right hand of the Father and his promises still stand unchanged.

So why do I not expect God to work through me?

Jesus is Lord

2009-09-06T14:46:00.003+01:00

"If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 10:9

Jesus, I am called to place my life at your feet, to pick up my cross each and every morning and walk in the way of joyful obedience.

Jesus, I am called to set you alone above all things as Lord of my life, for you are the only one who's rule means life. You are the one to whom I must release the right to organise my life, my time, my money as I please, for there I will find true freedom.

Jesus, I am to proclaim your lordship to the world and to live out obedience in every area of my life, for you are God.

God at work

2009-08-27T22:41:00.005+01:00

So yet another awesome international Bible study tonight. I love how unstructured they tend to be. Today none of us had set questions, and the whole thing was interrupted by our homemade pizzas being declared ready. And yet we ended up having incredible insights (and not generally from the team), thoughtful questions, interesting discussions and the gospel proclaimed in an incredibly natural way.

I am blown away by how God has been using these Bible studies over the Summer. Thank you, Lord.

...and to round it all off, we got to all pray for our brother (who became our brother this year) as we sent him back to China, a real student of God's Word!

A hymn of praise

2009-08-23T14:48:00.009+01:00

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.

Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.

(Psalm 40:2-4)

Over the past two days I've been reading and reflecting on Romans 3:21-26, and seeing the richness of God's grace once again has filled me with praise for my God and Saviour!

God has truly lifted me from the slimy pit. A man in a slimy pit can do nothing to ensure his escape, and in the same way my salvation was entirely God's initiative. I have a 'redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood.' I am 'justified by his grace as a gift.'

Not only am I forgiven. I am justified!

'Pardon and Justification are essentially distinct. The one is the remission of punishment, the other is a declaration that no ground for the infliction of punishment exists.' (C H Hodge)

Before all heaven I stand in Christ, declared by the Holy One to be utterly without cause for punishment. I am redeemed and accepted into the arms of a Father who loves me.

He has put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

The gospel is the only answer

2009-08-16T08:09:00.011+01:00

Paul tells us there are two ends for man (Rom 2v6-11). Wrath, fury, tribulation and distress for the man who is self-seeking, disobedient and evil. And eternal life - glory, honour and peace - for the man who does good, seeking after the glory, honour and immortality that God offers.

Paul also tells us that man has no excuse (Rom 1v20, 2v1). He knows truth about God. And yet, instead of worshipping, he rejects the truth he knows in order to purse sin. He also knows of his own sin and that it deserves God's judgement. He even recognises it in others, placing himself above them as judge, but he turns a blind eye towards his own sinfulness.

He may even twist the purpose of God's patience towards human beings, reading it as permission to sin, rather than a call for repentance (Rom 2v4, 2 Peter 3v9).

"No one is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one." (Rom 3v10-12)

"John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'" (John 1:29)

Jesus died as a ransom and a propitiation for our sin (Heb 9v15; 1 John 4v10). We no longer have to face the wrath that our sin deserves. Instead we look forward to eternal life, now found in Christ. Glory, honour and peace are already being stored up for us in heaven ready to be revealed when Jesus returns at the end of the age!

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Rom 10v15)

Treasure worth everything

2009-08-14T19:02:00.005+01:00

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Matthew 13:44-46

Every Thursday night I'm involved in running a Bible study for internationals interested in finding out more about Jesus. We are currently looking at Jesus' parables, which has been really awesome. It's been brilliant to take a fresh look at stories we often take for granted. And it's been really fun to act them out each week! (Seriously this Bible study is the best evening of the week, we have a lot of fun.)

Last night we studied the parables of the treasure and the pearl. One of the questions asked was - what does it mean that the men in the parables sold everything to gain the treasure/pearl. One of the guys told us of a girl he knows. He's from a Middle Eastern country, and this once-Muslim girl recently became a follower of Christ. Her family have disowned her. She has been given a sentence of three months in prison, to be followed by lashings. And she is pregnant.

It is a heart-breaking story, and yet she chose Christ despite the consequences she knew she'd face.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:8-11

Let's pray for our sister in Christ, who is suffering more than we will ever face in this country for our faith. And praise God that she has seen the supreme value of Christ, in a culture which denies this at every opportunity and punishes all who believe in him.

Unchanging God means an unchanging salvation

2009-08-12T19:04:00.006+01:00

[Aslan] rolled over on his side so that Lucy fell, half sitting and half lying between his front paws. He bent forward and just touched her nose with his tounghe. His warm breath came all round her. She gazed up into the large wise face.
"Welcome, child," he said.
"Alsan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one." answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."

(Prince Caspian, C S Lewis)

We share Lucy's experience. When our understanding of God changes, it is not because God has changed. We are the ones who change. God doesn't grow. God doesn't improve with age. God is the Lord everlasting. He is eternally the same.

(Discovering the God Who Is. R C Sproul.)

"Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." James 1:16-18

God is unchanging. He will not change his mind about giving us salvation and new birth. This perfect gift will always be ours, but only by the constant nature of the one who chose us. Our efforts are not that which keep us in the acceptance of our Father. We stand secure because he on whom we stand does not change.

Parable of the Sower

2009-08-07T16:23:00.002+01:00

Mark 4
“The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they only last a shot time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

IF MY HEART IS THE SOIL...
If my heart is the soil, and God is sowing his word upon me, I am in danger of these same perils. That the word would not sink in at all, but would bounce off, and be snatched away by the devil. That I would rejoice in the word, but that it would make no real and lasting impact upon me, and it would be forgotten when any sort of trouble hits. And finally, that wrong desires and anxieties would choke the growth in me caused by the word.

If my heart is the soil, then it can be hard or soft.
Am I allowing sin to harden me to God’s word? Am I holding onto anything that God would have me let go of? Am I allowing unbelief to prevent me accepting what God has to say? Or am I throwing myself on God? Praying for softness of heart and trusting in his power and love alone to answer my every cry and meet my every need?

If my heart is the soil, then it can be shallow or deep.
Do I respond to the word with rejoicing, but fail to stop and pray that I would be changed? Do I respond to the word with sorrow, but forget what God has said as soon as I leave the church building? Do I respond to the word with interest, but fail to allow God to address the sin in my soul? Or am I doing all I can to allow God’s word to permeate my soul, fill my mind and change my heart? And am I opening up my heart to the Holy Spirit to challenge me and change me?

If my heart is the soil, then the thorns are not external, but are from within.
What am I sowing into my heart? Am I sowing things into my heart that will strengthen my faith and cause me to fall more in love with Christ? Or am I sowing things which will feed doubt and fear? Am I engaging with things which enlarge my vision of Christ? Or with things which belittle him or ignore him? Am I sowing things which will encourage praise and worship of my saviour. Or thoughts and ideas that encourage me to desire the gifts rather than the giver? Am I sowing things that lead to holiness? Or that lead to sin?

If my heart is the soil, then God can bring about amazing growth.
When we accept the word of God, then he can bring about a hundred-fold growth. May that be the cry of my heart, and the pursuit of my soul – to the glory of God the Father.

A year of grace

2009-08-01T11:34:00.007+01:00

This time last year I was just heading home from China after hearing that my Dad had passed away unexpectedly in the night.

I read this psalm this week, and it completely summarised what I want to thank God for doing in my life this year, so I thought I'd share it with you all.

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

I miss my Dad a lot, especially when I need a Dad-hug, or Dad-advice. And I still get tearful. But I know that I will be reunited with him...all thanks to what Jesus has done! 1 Thess 4:13-18

I seriously have so many things to praise and thank God for. And my Mum and I often chat about the many blessings God has poured down upon each of us. Our Saviour deserves all the glory!

Asking the right questions

2009-06-28T11:16:00.010+01:00

'Everything is permissible for me'—but not everything is beneficial.
'Everything is permissible for me'—but I will not be mastered by anything.
'Everything is permissible'—but not everything is beneficial.
'Everything is permissible'—but not everything is constructive.

Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,
do it all for the glory of God.
Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews,
Greeks or the church of God

(1 Corinthians 6:12; 10:23-24, 31-32)

We sinful human beings so often approach sin by asking 'what can I get away with?' instead of thinking about what will benefit our souls. We perennially try to get away with the minimum the rules demand.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently in the context of my media consumption. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, do not watch mindless TV - "everything is permissible". But instead this passage suggests we should be asking -

Will this benefit my spiritual growth?
What are my motives in spending my time in this way?
Can I watch this show to the glory of God?
Am I being mastered by the desire to watch a particular programme? Or TV in general?
Is this a constructive use of my time?

'Everything is permissible for me'—but not everything is beneficial.