Our lot in life

What does it mean "to enjoy your lot in life?"

I am sure you have an idea of what that means. In our passage today, Solomon muses over the fact that if we can be at peace about our 'lot in life' then we are on the road to understanding contentment.

"Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past." - Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

Perhaps it is worth thinking about this today? 

What does this imply for us if we feel as if we have been badly treated? Is this how God wants us to remain? Must we then just accept our lot in life?

This is a challenging thing to ponder?

Living in Grace

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The Hill of Ice

Have you ever felt like you are getting somewhere in your life/faith/relationships and then suddenly you slide all the way back to square One? It is almost as if we are climbing a Hill of ice, only to see all our efforts count for zero. If you can relate to this, then you will enjoy this quote from Charles Spurgeon:

"The Christian life is very much like climbing a hill of ice. You cannot slide up. You have to cut every step with an ice axe. Only with incessant labor in cutting and chipping can you make any progress. If you want to know how to backslide, leave off going forward. Cease going upward and you will go downward of necessity. You can never stand still."

Did you notice the part about cutting into the ice and chipping away? That is what our Spiritual journey often entails. In order to consistently move forward we need to make sure that our footholds are strong and dependable. It may not seem like you are gaining much ground, but if you made sure that you are on solid ground, then your direction will always be forward.

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." - Galatians 5:25

Living in Grace
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The power in words

We should always choose our words carefully. They have the power to bring life and death. When Jesus was being flogged and beaten, he chose to remain silent. When he was dying on the cross, he chose to remain silent. There must have been a thousand words he wanted to speak out, but chose his words carefully. In the end, there were three words he spoke, just before he breathed his last:

"It is Finished."

These are the words that can bring us all Life.
They were Jesus last words, before he died, but the irony is that they offer us the chance to LIVE again.

Living in Grace
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Two of me ...

I was helping Josh brush his teeth this morning when he suddenly said, "Look, I see two Daddies?" I wasn't sure what he was getting at, but then noticed he was pointing at the mirror and then at me - two daddies - one in real life and one in the mirror!

How true his little statement is! There are two of me. The person the world sees and the 'real' me. How different the two 'daddies' can sometimes be. We all wear masks - we all try to portray ourselves to be better than we truly are. The real struggle in our Christian walk is to allow Jesus to take the 'real' me and to transform him into the person I was created to be. God knows our potential and he is willing to chip away at all our rough edges, making us into his masterpiece.

Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

Who are you?

Living in Grace
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No Discounts in Faith

There are no short cuts along the road of Faith. We may look for discounts at the local store, but we can't find those same discounts in the Christian faith. Everything worth living for comes as a great cost. As Eisenhower once said:

“There are no victories at discount prices.” 

When Christ died on the cross, he achieved something remarkable for all humanity, but that forgiveness clearly came at a huge personal cost. Our victory came at His cost.

Colossians 2:13-15 - You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

If you are finding that your faith is a struggle at the moment, remember that your Faith is worth fighting for. There may be no discounts, but your Faith is worth every bit of sweat it may take.

Living in Grace
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Knocking off the rough edges

“You knock off our rough edges.” – Psalm 7:10 (Message)

None of us is perfect, no matter how hard we pretend to be.

God knows all this about us, even before we turn to him and God is still willing to accept us as we are. However, there are many ‘rough edges’ that God wants to help remove from our hearts, if we allow him to do this. 

I am not sure if you know what these rough edges are, but I am sure that others would be happy to tell you. As you spend a few minutes in prayer today, why don’t you ask God to reveal to you these rough parts of your faith and then allow the Holy Spirit to do some ‘smoothing’ of your heart.

Prayer for the day:

"Lord, help me to remember that I am not perfect and that you are still busy shaping and molding my life. Teach me not to resist the work of your Spirit as you knock off the rough edges of my life. Amen."

Living in Grace

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No Shortcuts

"Don't look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formula's for a successful life that can be practised in your spare time. Don't fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way of life - to God - is vigorous and requires total attention." - Matthew 7: 13-14 (MSG)

Friends, we are so caught up in trying to do things quickly and often looking for a shortcut to success, but FAITH doesn't work like that. As Eugene Peterson puts it "there are no shortcuts to God" and if we want to follow Christ, then we need to recognise that this will take up our full attention, not just a part of our lives. After all, we use the phrase, "I give my LIFE to the Lord" - we don't say, "I will give one hour to Jesus!"

If you take shortcuts, you get cut short. - Gary Busey

What do you think?

Living in Grace
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Be the One, not the Nine!

Luke tells a story of how 10 lepers approached Jesus begging to be healed. Jesus had mercy on them and they were all healed. We would assume that all of them were over the moon to be 'clean' again and able to return to their families, yet only one of them bother to say 'Thank You' to Jesus. The 9 men were happy to ask for help, but as soon as they were healed, they forgot all about Jesus.

As I reflect on our society I note that we are very quick to ask for things, and even quicker to complain about people, but we are very slow to say Thank You. Can I urge us to take the initiative and to say thanks to people who have blessed us. I also invite us to offer our thanks to God for all that he has done for us.

Be the One - not the Nine!

Living in Grace
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Luke 17:11-19 - Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.  As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

A message from Benedict

Benedict of Nursia shaped the Western church in so many ways. His deep commitment to Jesus and his vision of creating monasteries changed many lives. At a time when people were turning to their own devices he challenged people to become dedicated followers of Jesus. He wrote some guidelines, known as the 'Rule of Benedict', which have proved to be tremendous help in assisting others to search for God.

Here is a portion of that 'Rule', taken from the Prologue:

"Listen carefully, my son (child), to the Master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice. The labour of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience. This message of mine is for all, and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the true king, Christ the Lord."
(the Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue, verses 1-3)

Psalm 119:5 -  Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!

May we remain true to Jesus and faithfully put his words into practise.

Living in Grace
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Post-it-notes

Where would we be without 'Post-it-notes?' I keep many of them in my drawer at work, because I use them every time I lead a service - they are such helpful little pieces of paper! Not only do I use them to mark my place, but I usually write peoples names or various points onto them - just in case my brain decides to go into slow motion.

If you are interested in reading the story behind the Post-it-notes, then read it below - it's brilliant! But, before you do, let me ask us this question: If a 'Post-it' helps us to keep our place in a book, what would a Spiritual equivalent of this be? How do we 'mark' our place in our story with Jesus? How do we remember where we are in the bigger story, if we don't have a means of finding our place again?

One of the best ways of 'remembering' where we are in Gospel narrative is by worshipping with other believers. We remind ourselves of who we are and why God loves us. We connect with our Saviour. We pause and reflect on our role in becoming disciples of Jesus. We gather insight and strength for the journey ahead. We are challenged in our responsibility towards our neighbours.

For some more great thoughts on worship, read my friend John's blog today. It's challenging and insightful.

So as we go into the day, may we take seriously the spiritual 'post-it-notes' on our journey.

Living in Grace
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In 1968, Dr. Spencer Silver, a scientist at 3M in the United States, developed a "low-tack", reusable, pressure-sensitive adhesive. For five years, Silver promoted his invention within 3M, both informally and through seminars, but without much success. In 1974, a colleague of his, Art Fry, in a church choir in North St. Paul, Minnesota, was frustrated that his bookmarks kept falling out of his hymnal. He had attended one of Silver's seminars, and, (I love this part) while listening to a sermon in church, he came up with the idea of using the adhesive to anchor his bookmarks to his hymnal, and the first "Post-It Notes" were born.

3 vital things for life

If we ran a poll to decide which are the most important things in life, many people would end up going for things like: love, family, friends, etc - and I wouldn't disagree with them at all. The Apostle Paul would go with his 3 favourite ones: Faith, Hope, Love (1 Corinthians 13:13) - and I can't argue with him either.

However, Solomon suggests 3 different characteristics that are vital for a godly life and they are all linked to Truth. See what he says in Proverbs 23:23
"Get the truth and don't ever sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and discernment."

No there are 3 things that could help us in a big way:
Wisdom
Discipline
Discernment

Which of these 3 are you needing today? Why not ask God to guide you into a deeper understanding of these key things?

Living in Grace
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Solving the Rubiks Cube

Erno Rubik invented his 'Rubik's Cube' in 1974 and it has been the source of hours of fun and frustration ever since. Sadly, I am yet to solve the silly cube, but apparently there is a 'way' of getting it sorted out (without taking the stickers off and replacing them....) - perhaps I may just have to follow this instructions and see if I can solve the Rubik's.

The cube is a great tool to use as a spiritual reflection. How often do we look at our lives and all we see is a mixed up life? Then we dive into our situation and try to make sense of things, but we don't end up solving things at all - instead, we seem to make it worse! However, if we follow God's instructions then we can begin to piece things back together again. And slowly, but surely we see what God can do with the mess.

We are going to be starting a short preaching series this Sunday evening (8 June), entitled: 'Solving the Rubik's'. It is going to be taking a look at how we can invite Jesus to make sense of our lives and how we can allow God to make us whole again. Join us if you are free.

May God hold you in the palm of his hand and may God gently restore you to the wholeness you long for.

Living in Grace
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Live pure, speak true, right wrong

 There is a wonderful line written in Gareth and Lynette by Alfred Tennyson. It reads:

“Live pure, speak true, right wrong, Follow the King-- Else, wherefore born?"

Gareth says these words to his mother, who is trying to dissuade him from leaving to become a Knight with King Arthur. In his heart he believed he was called to 4 great tasks:

• Live Pure

• Speak True

• Right Wrong

• Follow the King
  

What a powerful sentiment and personal mission statement. If more people sought to live pure lives, to speak the truth of Christ, to right the injustices in our society and to Follow the King (Jesus), then perhaps our world would be a better place?

Any thoughts?

Living in Grace

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Inspired to do remarkable things

My friend, Dion Forster, reminded me today that it is Dietrich Bonhoeffer's birthday. I had forgotten about his birthday to be honest, even though I had shared part of Dietrich's story in my Lectures just yesterday.

His life is a remarkable testament to truth, Christianity and justice. He lived his life as a committed follower of Jesus and was prepared to die for his convictions. He was vilified by many of his peers and colleagues, especially during Hitler's reign, but many people have come to recognise the sacrifice he made for the Kingdom of Jesus.

It makes me stop and wonder: Is my commitment to Jesus nice and comfortable at the moment, or am I still absolutely convinced of the Gospel - to the point that I would stake my life upon it!?

In the words of Bonhoeffer:

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”

“If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.”

“To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.”

Living in Grace
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The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dietrich_bonhoeffer.html#B6Is0HR8dVLWkECz.99

Win some, lose some

Our Christian journey is about walking through all kinds of experiences and situations. We have to walk through dark valleys, as well as spending time on significant mountain tops. It can often feel as if we are taking a few steps forward and then a couple backwards. To use another well known phrase, we may feel that "we win some and then lose some."

In truth, life will always be like this, we just need to keep proper perspective. When we walk with Jesus, he will keep us focused on the Eternal prize and so when we 'lose some' God will encourage us to carry on. Remember that when we surrender our 'lives' to Jesus, that includes the moments of defeat as well as victory. Thankfully God is redemptive and can turning our loses into gains.

Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Living in Grace
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Cross in my pocket

I remember a few years ago there was a poem that did the rounds - it was called 'The Cross in my Pocket'. The words are simple, yet deeply profound and the thing I love most about it, is that it reminds me to include Jesus in my life, daily.

It is so hard to try and go through life on our own strength and to figure things out by ourselves, but we all need God. Carrying the symbol of the cross in my pocket is one way of reminding myself to choose Jesus in all my deliberations and decisions. It is a overflow of inviting God to reign in my heart. Having Christ in my heart (and pocket) is a worthwhile decision to make for any new year.

In case, you have never read the poem, here it is.

I carry a cross in my pocket
A simple reminder to me
Of the fact that I am a Christian
No matter where I may be. 

This little cross is not magic,
Nor is it a good luck charm
It isn't meant to protect me
From every physical harm. 

It's not for identification
For all the world to see
It's simply an understanding
Between my Savior and me. 

When I put my hand in my pocket
To bring out a coin or a key
The cross is there to remind me
Of the price He paid for me. 

It reminds me, too, to be thankful
For my blessings day by day
And to strive to serve Him better
In all that I do and say. 

It's also a daily reminder
Of the peace and comfort I share
With all who know my Master
And give themselves to His care. 

So, I carry a cross in my pocket
Reminding no one but me
That Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life
If only I'll let Him be. (Poem accredited to Mrs Verna Mae Thomas)

Be blessed
Living in Grace
D3LM3