Newcomers

Can you remember being a 'newcomer' at something? Perhaps a first day at school, or at a new job, or even joining a church community or a sports team? It feels strange at first, but after a while, one slowly starts to ease into the newness. 

Coming from another angle, I want to ask us this question: 

Do you ever feel that you are not a 'newcomer' to the Christian faith? Do we get to a point in our spiritual lives where we feel that we are mature enough? It seems to me that I keep learning new things along the pathway and although I have been a Christ-follower decades, I still get the feeling that I am an infant. 

Listen to these words from the book of Job. See how he eloquently describes this feeling:

Job 8:8-19 - For we’re newcomers at this, with a lot to learn, and not too long to learn it. So why not let the ancients teach you, tell you what’s what, instruct you in what they knew from experience? Can mighty pine trees grow tall without soil? Can luscious tomatoes flourish without water? Blossoming flowers look great before they’re cut or picked, but without soil or water they wither more quickly than grass. That’s what happens to all who forget God— all their hopes come to nothing. (The Message)

Thought: Don't despise being a student of the Gospel. We are all learning along the way.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Making mistakes

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw

It is easy to point out someone else's mistakes, but what we may never know is the huge lessons they are learning along the way. We are all a 'work in progress' and so perhaps we need to allow for each other's frailties. 

Paul wrote to Timothy to offer him some advice on what could help him live a Godly life:

2 Timothy 3:14-17 - Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Mistakes and seeking advice

Writing is a strange thing. 

Sometimes my mind races ahead of my fingers and I end up typing words that I haven't meant to include. The same applies with silly mistakes - in my haste to finish the post, I often glance at my thoughts and mis-read my own writing. However, when I then re-read the blog post a day later, I am shocked at the mistakes I have made. I apologise for these. 

But, this did get me thinking...

Are there times in our lives where we proceed with actions (or the like) without noticing the potential mistakes? And if the answer is 'Yes', are we then willing to allow others to speak into our lives? The advice of a trusted friend is worth gold in times like these. 

Proverbs 12:15 - The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.

Proverbs 27:9 - Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.

Do you have someone in your life who is a trusted sounding board? 

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Back to school

The importance of learning is clear to all of us. For this reason we send our kids to an academic institution to further their studies and to gain valuable knowledge (and hopefully some wisdom). All of this involves numerous sacrifices on the behalf of the parents, as well as the students. Completing an academic milestone takes times, resources, effort and perseverance. 

As we send our kids 'back to school' this week, I am reminded of our call to keep studying the word of God and to keep growing in our faith. Learning to be a follower of Jesus will take our entire lifetime, but we need to be committed to the process.

So what are we doing to further our 'spiritual education?'

What tools help you to discover more about God and our journey of discipleship?

Psalm 111 - "Hallelujah! I give thanks to God with everything I’ve got— Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation. God’s works are so great, worth a lifetime of study—endless enjoyment! Splendour and beauty mark his craft; His generosity never gives out. His miracles are his memorial— This God of Grace, this God of Love."

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Learning from the ant

There is so much to learn in this life and if we reckon we can't learn from the smallest, weakest and youngest then we are standing on dangerous ground. It is not just those who have degrees, large bank balances and big followings that can teach us true wisdom. Listen to these wise words of instruction:

"You lazy fool, look at an ant.
    Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two.
Nobody has to tell it what to do.
    All summer it stores up food;
    at harvest it stockpiles provisions.
So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing?
    How long before you get out of bed?
A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there,
    sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?
Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life,    poverty your permanent houseguest!" - Proverbs 6:6-11

What are we able to learn from the 'smallest' in our communities at the moment?

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” –Zig Ziglar
 
Living in Grace
D3LM3

Wisdom's advice

In Proverbs 4 the writer urges the next generation to treat wisdom with the utmost respect. As a caring parent shares advice with their children, because they desire the best for them, so the author wants the readers to live a blessed life by listening to God-fearing wisdom. 

We are not told if the ‘parent’ in these verses has learnt these lessons the hardway, but there is every likelihood that this is true. Sometimes wise advice is most profound when it comes from our own school of broken dreams and real failures.

“Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you.

Love her, and she will guard you.

Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do!

And whatever else you do, get good judgement.

If you prize wisdom, she will exalt you.

Embrace her and she will honour you.

She will place a lovely wreath around your head;

She will present you with a beautiful crown.” – Proverbs 4:6-9

Charles Spurgeon - "Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom."

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Remembering the Titanic

The 15th April 1912 was a day that many people of that generation (and those since) would never forget. It was the day the unsinkable Titanic hit an iceberg and sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, taking around 1300 lives with her. Many survivors shared their insight on how that day changed their lives, one of them being Jack Thayer, the son of a railroad millionaire:

“There was peace and the world had an even tenor to its ways. From time to time there were events — earthquakes, floods — which stirred the sleeping world, but not enough to keep it from resuming its slumber. It seems to me that this disaster not only made the world rub its eyes and awake, but woke it with a start, keeping it moving at a rapidly accelerating pace ever since, with less and less peace and happiness. To my mind, the world of today awoke on April 15, 1912.”

I find his words haunting.

If you had to read his observations from the viewpoint of our time - being stuck in lockdown and the global impact of Covid-19, then they sound even more scary. I pray that this would not be true for our generation. We can't simply go back to living life as normal - let alone, allowing life to accelearte away from us. And what we desperately seek is 'peace' and 'happiness' not turmoil and more heartache.

The writer of Proverbs was right when he called out to us...

²⁰ Listen! Wisdom is calling out in the streets and marketplaces, ²¹ calling loudly at the city gates and wherever people come together:
²² “Foolish people! How long do you want to be foolish? How long will you enjoy making fun of knowledge? Will you never learn? ²³ Listen when I reprimand you; I will give you good advice and share my knowledge with you. ²⁴ I have been calling you, inviting you to come, but you would not listen. You paid no attention to me. ²⁵ You have ignored all my advice and have not been willing to let me correct you." - Proverbs 1:20-25 (Good News Translation)

What do you think?
 
Living in Grace
D3LM3

Starting over .... just with a little experience

 

The start of a new year always seem to draw out the best (or worst) from each one of us. We usually dread going back to work, study, school and normal routine, because the Christmas break has been a time of relaxation, rest and holidays.

However, perhaps we could change our thinking a little this year and see our starting over as a wonderful way of making small changes to our lives. Learning from the experiences of previous years and applying the lessons learnt to our new beginnings of 2019. If you like, it is like "Starting over, just with a lot more experience!"

Proverbs 1:5 -  "...let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance."

If we adopt this attitude, then we need to note some of the lessons learnt, and be intentional about changing direction.
What were some of those lessons from last year?
What small changes do you need to make?
When will you start?

It is the same process in our Faith experience. Every day is a chance to begin again, except with the little experience gained from the previous days. What has the Lord revealed to you and how will you put this into practise?

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Learning the hard way

·        

Psalm 90:10-12

Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
¹¹ If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
¹² Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Sometimes we just don't learn to 'number our days' aright. It takes the sudden death of a close friend or family member to jolt us back to our senses. May we all comprehend how fragile our lives are and what they are from Jesus.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Back to school

My kids are heading back to school tomorrow and so the house has become very quiet all of a sudden. It doesn't matter how long the holiday has been, but most people dread going back to work/school after some kind of a break.

However, we all know that learning needs to be an ongoing exercise - we can never know it all and so we need to steel ourselves to be perpetual students. For me, the Christian Faith is exactly like this - we need to wake up each morning willing to learn something new. The Spirit of God desires to reveal more and more of himself to us and we should be ready for this.

 Colossians 3:10 -You are living a brand new kind of life that is continually learning more and more of what is right, and trying constantly to be more and more like Christ who created this new life within you.

So, even for those of us who finished school a long time ago, it is still a 'back to school' day for us. We can learn something.

 "Learning never exhausts the mind." - Leonardo da Vinci

Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_learning.html

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Walk before you can run!

You have heard the saying before, “You need to learn to WALK first, before you can learn to RUN.” 

It applies to whole lot of areas in our lives and it especially speaks into the frustration of our “instant” generation. I found myself using these words to Declan this last week, as he has just begun his rehabilitation after his fractured patella. He is eager to get going again, but he hasn’t been able to run on this leg for nearly 10 weeks, so I keep telling him, “slow down – you need to learn to walk again, before you can run!”

However, as someone who is equally impatient and who has had a fair share of broken bones in my life, I fully understand his frustration. We want to get back on track immediately. We get impatient with re-learning how to do a simple task of ‘walking’, but the saying stands TRUE in this case. If he rushes back into trying to run, he will run with a limp. Although his progress may seem faster this way, in the end it will actually slow him down. He will then have to undo all the work in order to rectify the limp.

I am not sure if this makes sense, but I want to urge us to slow down. Perhaps there are a few of us feeling frustrated at the lack of progress in some area of our lives. Ask yourself this question: “Will this slow start actually help me in the long run, especially if I do it probably?”

Don’t great frustrated at your lack of Spiritual progress at times. We need to learn to do the basics of faith first, before we can actually do the rest.

1 Samuel 14:36 - "Saul said, “Let’s go after the Philistines tonight! We can spend the night looting and plundering. We won’t leave a single live Philistine!” “Sounds good to us,” said the troops. “Let’s do it!” But the priest slowed them down: “Let’s find out what God thinks about this.”

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Imitating what we see

"Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children." - Ephesians 5:1

Kids are very good at imitating what they see from us as parents, and what they see/hear around them. Sometimes this fills you with much pride and you catch yourself thinking, "wow, that's my boy!"

However, there are times when we see/hear things that make us cringe and we wonder where they got that behaviour from. In truth, they probably saw something similar in us or from their peers. When this happens we are left thinking, "Whose child is this!?"

The Apostle Paul reminds us that we are 'imitators' of someone or something. It is just up to us to choose to imitate Jesus. When we make this choose we will start to 'live a life filled with love'.

So who are you imitating today?


Ephesians 5:1-2 (Living Bible)
Follow God’s example in everything you do just as a much loved child imitates his father. ² Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ’s love for you was like sweet perfume to him.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Ants

It seems that many of us are having problems with ants in our homes. I don't know what it is about this last month, but we have noticed ants all over the place. You boil the kettle and realise that you have just killed 100's of the little guys or you go to get some sugar and they have managed to get into the container (so much for the 'sealed' container).

What really got me was when I noticed a half empty box of smarties in the fridge (mmmmh) and as I poured some into my hand there were ants on them! These are hard-core ants - they even survive in the fridge.

Here is what Solomon said we can learn from Ants:

"Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.

Learn from their ways and become wise!

Though they have no prince

or governor or ruler to make them work,

they labour hard all summer,

gathering food for the winter." - Proverbs 6:6-8

Next time you see the little 'critters' running all over your home, just think about what we can learn for them. Perhaps we have much to learn.

Living in Grace,
D3LM3

P.S. If you have an 'ant' story please let us know - should be good fun:)

The pain of spiritual growth

Spiritual growth can be painfully slow sometimes. Just when we feel we have mastered loving God, we stumble at loving our neighbour. Perhaps we have seen an improvement in our levels of compassion, and then we realise we have slipped up in another area. It all seems rather hard - or is that just me?

"Becoming like Christ is a long, slow process of growth.' - Rick Warren

"Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth." - A.W.Tozer

I believe that we should be able to encourage each other on this journey, always being willing to learn and spur one another on towards the goal. If you have found something to be helpful in your Christian journey, why don't you write it as a 'comment' on this post. Perhaps your words may inspire someone else.

What I have found helpful is having a devotional book and a journal - these two keep me accountable to my private devotions. What about you?

Living in Grace
D3LM3