Living and speaking for Jesus

Author: Matthew (Page 5 of 11)

It is sobering to consider that many of our churches – and let’s be honest, we ourselves are far more often the problem than the solution – foster a more domesticated brand of community than a gang. Real fellowship is elusive. Even among our brothers and sisters in Christ, we wear masks and hide sins and parade virtues and judge others. Many find the church to be the place where it is hardest, not easiest, to speak openly about personal struggles.

This is deeply ironic and tragic because in the Christian gospel we have the one resource that can unlock the heart and enable us to take off the masks. As long as we view the Christian church as a club for those who make the grade socially, we will be unwilling to speak freely of our shortcomings as believers. Only when the single prerequisite to inclusion in the church is joint agreement that there is no prerequisite will we let down our guard.

— Dane Ortlund, Defiant Grace, p85

Keeping up appearances

Keep calm and mindlessly follow trendsWe live in a world obsessed with image and appearance. We spend hours cultivating how we’re seen by others: by choosing the right outfit, editing our profiles, dieting to lose weight or hitting the gym to gain muscle.

We work hard to fit into a certain subculture, or we’re proud of always rocking the trend. Whether we’re hipsters or hicks, mavericks or “Mature & Sensible”, we almost certainly think about how we’re perceived. (My personal predilections include comedy t-shirts and mock-Converse plimsolls.)

Within the church, we can do a similar thing, only it’s more insidious. We think Christians are supposed to be growing in godliness, so when we keep struggling in the same areas, we stop mentioning them for fear of embarrassment. We push our sins under the carpet in order to fit in. We want the approval of our brothers and sisters, and so we stay silent.

However, whilst fooling those around us might be possible, God cannot be deceived. He tells Samuel:

The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

Those around us might think us the height of godliness, but God’s assessment looks far deeper, into the ugly depths of our hearts. Jesus tells us that it’s from our hearts that evil comes (Mark 7:21-22), and Jeremiah tells us that our hearts are “deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Imagine your darkest secrets being shown to the world. Lustful thoughts akin to visual rape. Bitterness and unforgiveness festering, intensifying. Hatred masked by hugs and kisses. Betrayal. Greed. Pride. All exposed, impossible to hide. It’s a horrifying thought – and yet the reality is that God sees all these things. Those around us look at our polished personas, but God sees the real deal.

We can clean up our act, try harder, present a positive face to the world, but our sinful hearts will always betray us. Isaiah 64:6 says that our “righteous acts are like filthy rags” – not just insubstantial, but dirty themselves. In the eyes of God, we’ve nothing to hide behind.

Except… the Lord himself provides a hiding place, a covering for our sin and shame. Earlier, Isaiah wrote the following:

I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

The Lord himself clothes us with a robe of his righteousness. Our own righteousness is but rags, but he gives us his own to wear. Our sin is covered, our shame removed. Our Father looks at us, clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and accepts us without question. Those lustful thoughts? Covered. That long-held bitterness? Dealt with. Our greed? Gone. Our pride? Paid for.

Knowing this frees us from the pressure to keep up appearances. We’re all accepted on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, not our own – so we can be real about our struggles.  We can start to build relationships of real openness and intimacy, striving for holiness together without fear of condemnation. Knowing our identity in Christ means we don’t have to worry about how others perceive us. Our loving Father, the one whose opinion really counts, has already given his verdict:

“You are my beloved child. With you I am well pleased.”

Glory!

Heard it all before?

I’m taking a break from blogging over August; things will start up again in September. In the meantime, here is an entry I’ve been brewing for a while. Coincidentally, Cat Caird has blogged recently on the same theme, so do have a read of her entry too.

“I’d heard it all before.”

We were discussing a talk at a conference I’d missed, and I asked how it had been. “Good”, I was informed, “but nothing groundbreaking.”

“I’ve heard it all before.”

I was reading through one of the gospels again, and was struggling to get anything out of it. It was all so familiar – stuff I’d learnt as a kid. I wanted something new, something fresh. I didn’t seem to be finding it.

Do you feel like you’ve “heard it all before”?

When I’m tempted to think so, I need to ask myself: “do I really think the gospel is boring? Do I really think I no longer need to hear it?”

The preacher is telling me of God’s grace. Stop. Think. God sets his love on you, unlovely as you are. He’s working in you to make you like Jesus, the perfect man, the servant king. You deserve death, yet God gives you an eternal inheritance, welcoming you into his own family. Grace upon grace. Boring? No, there are depths here that will take an eternity to uncover.

I’m reading a familiar passage. Stop. Think. Here’s a chance to see my Lord and Saviour more clearly. To dwell on his character, to see more of his goodness. He is the chief of ten thousand; he is altogether lovely. Yes, I know this already – but like the wife who never tires to hear her husband say “I love you”, this shouldn’t matter to us. It is good to hear it again, to be reminded of truths that so often slip from our grasp.

Sometimes we think we need to hear something fresh every day. But God gives us the gospel, again and again, to re-fresh our hearts. It’s news we should never tire of – and if we are tiring of it, the solution is more gospel. We can’t have heard it right.

Let’s take every opportunity to set our hearts on our wonderful God once more. “Father, I’ve been reminded of your fatherly care and protection. Show me where I’m seeking to be self-sufficient so that I can turn back to you.” “Lord, you’ve shown me again that your Son is glorious. Thank you for a fresh sight of him.”

Jared Wilson writes:

Why do angels long to look into the good news? Because it is fascinating! It is eternally interesting. It is thrilling. It is simple, yet complex. It is a diamond: one brilliant treasure with a million gleaming facets, each offering a million vantage points alight and gleaming with the majesty of its architect. (Gospel Wakefulness, p203)

Heard it all before? Maybe. But don’t you long to hear it again?

Singleness is better

“What are you doing with your singleness?”

This is a question I’ve been mulling over recently. Two weeks ago I was best man for my friend Dan, and various people at the wedding were jokingly matching me up with the single bridesmaids. (If you’re reading this, bridesmaids, now you know what the ushers were talking about…)

My friends were both well-meaning and (thankfully) not serious. But it made the sermon I heard a week later all the more striking, where the preacher pointed out that both Jesus (in Matthew 19) and Paul (in 1 Corinthians 7) say that – for some people – singleness is better.

There’s a certain cultural narrative that would agree – at least for men. Marriage is limiting; singleness means freedom. Wives are the “old ball and chain”, tying you down. “Bachelors” are lively, fun and sociable. (Contrast this with the associations of “spinster”… but that’s a whole other article.)

Singleness offers freedom to indulge yourself. You don’t have to think about your spouse, so you’re free to do what you want.

Except that’s not what Jesus or Paul have in mind. Singleness is better because your freedom enables whole-hearted service, not cold-hearted selfishness.

There are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it. (Matthew 19:12b)

Some choose to live like eunuchs (i.e. remain single) “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven”—and those who can… should.

Now, clearly both Jesus and Paul have lots of positive things to say about marriage, but my guess is that readers of this blog will have heard much of this already. What they say about singleness, however, is a different story. However positive we are about singleness before marriage, our assumption is still that eventually people will get married. Might we have lost something of the Bible’s radical call here? When was the last time you heard young people encouraged to “grow up… and remain single”?

So I return to the question, “what are you doing with your singleness?” I’ve often frittered it away. I’ve not considered things like overseas mission because it might stop me from finding a wife. I’ve used my time selfishly, rather than using it to serve. I’ve been jealous of friends who are married, rather than seeking to be family to those around me.

If you’re single, what about you?

I have a friend who uses his evenings, weekends and holidays to run a summer camp for teenagers. I have another friend who serves meals to homeless people every Tuesday night. Another is pioneering student ministry in a predominantly Muslim country. Another travels round Europe as an itinerant evangelist. None of them could do half as much if they were married. They’ve stayed single “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven”.

So then, he who marries does right, but he who does not marry does better. (1 Cor 7:38)

Better? Really? For the sake of the kingdom, for some people… yes, really.

If you’re single… what about you?

O God of Grace,

You have imputed my sin to my substitute, and have imputed his righteousness to my soul, clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe, decking me with jewels of holiness. But in my Christian walk I am still in rags; my best prayers are stained with sin; my penitential tears are so much impurity; my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin; my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed; I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness; I am always standing clothed in filthy garments, and by grace am always receiving change of raiment, for you always justify the ungodly; I am always going into the far country, and always returning home as a prodigal, always saying, “Father, forgive me,” and you are always bringing forth the best robe.

Every morning let me wear it, every evening return in it, go out to the day’s work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it, stand before the great white throne in it, enter heaven in it shining as the sun.

Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace.

— "Continual Repentance", from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, p136-7.

It is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking unto Jesus.” Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.

— Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Surviving exams (part three)

We’ve been seeing that with our loving Father in control, we can have confidence in the midst of the stress of exams. So what does this mean practically? Here’s a few top tips from friends of mine who’ve recently graduated.

1. Keep going in your relationship with God

Often during exams spending time with God is the first thing we drop. If we stop and think, we’ll see how crazy this is. We’re so prone to forget the grace God has lavished upon us; we need to turn to the Bible to remind us of all we have in Jesus, and give us perspective when exams are looming large. And with all the pressures of exams, the first place we should be turning is to the God who is in control of it all. This isn’t something to feel guilty about, but rather we should see how much we’re missing out on!

2. Keep going in your relationship with his people

Next on the list of things we drop is meeting with our church family. Again, if we stop and think we’ll realise this is madness. We need people around us to keep pointing us back to Jesus – people who have been there and know what it’s like, who can help keep us calm when we’re panicking. We need our broken brothers and sisters around us to take us out of ourselves as we seek to love them back. We need the care of our pastors and our small groups to keep us going.

3. Rest well

It may seem counter-intuitive, but taking a day off a week really helps you work better the other six days. Taking regular breaks can refresh you and make it easier to concentrate; why not use them to pray, or to send an encouraging text to a friend who you know is struggling too?

4. Find out where you work best

For some, they need the peace and quiet of their own room; for others, they need the social buzz of a coffee shop. Some find it impossible to motivate themselves if they’re on their own, and need to work in the library with a group of friends. Figure out what works for you.

5. Plan your revision

Whether you love colour-coded timetables or hate the very thought, having some kind of plan is essential. Plan in breaks, so that you don’t feel guilty about them. If you can, treat revising like a job, which you can leave in the library and so rest properly in the evening.

6. Be healthy!

Eat some fruit. Go for a walk. Don’t stay up late. So often we’re stressed because we’re not looking after ourselves. Tea and hobnobs are great for revision sessions, but don’t live off them. Energy drinks may seem great at the time, but the restless night’s sleep afterwards means it’s often not worth it. Our physical, mental and spiritual health are more linked than we think!

There’s probably more that could be said, but that’s enough for now. More advice can be found over on Facebook. (Catch up on part one and part two.)

Surviving exams (part two)

Last time we looked at three amazing truths to encourage us in the midst of exams. We saw that we are children of God, and so have a new identity that doesn’t rely on exam success. We saw that our Father is in control, so we can have confidence that he is using all of the pressure and stress for our good. Finally we were reminded that we don’t have to earn his love – that any achievement (or lack of it) doesn’t affect God’s love for us, so we don’t have to prove ourselves to him.

That’s all very well, you might say, but how is this going to help me, really? What does it look like to live this out? Let’s take them one by one:

You are a child of God. What do children do with their parents? They talk about every little thing: their worries, their interests, their feelings. Does a little kid think his problems aren’t worth bothering his parents with? No – he asks them for help, because they’re his mum and dad. Jesus encourages us to talk to our Father in the same way: “how much more [than earthly parents] will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). So don’t let the pressure of exams stop you spending time with him. Instead, talk to him about everything. He’s your Father. He loves to listen.

Your Father is in control. God knew your exam timetable and the questions in the paper before the creation of the world. There may not be enough time to do the revision you feel you need; the questions might be terribly unfair. God is not surprised. Knowing this, it’s possible to relax (yes, really!). There’s nothing you can do about it, but that’s okay. Do what you can, then rest easy – whatever the result, your loving Father is still in control.

You don’t have to earn his love. Maybe you’ve been lazy throughout the year, and now it’s come back to bite you. You feel your difficulties are payback for your lack of studying, and so you kill yourself with work to make up for it. But God’s love is not earned. Yes, sin has its consequences (not studying sooner generally makes exams harder!), but your status before God is just as secure as before. Rest in his love – and then get to work, confident that God will keep loving you whatever the results.

Knowing God doesn’t lift you out of the stress. God being in control doesn’t mean he’ll give us an easy ride. But God is the God who sent his Son to join us in the mess and struggles of this world. He’s not a far removed kind of God, but a God who has come close to us in Jesus. Knowing this God in the midst of the stress can transform the whole experience, and speak volumes to those around us about where our confidence ultimately lies.

Catch up on part one here, then have a read of part three.

Surviving exams (part one)

revision (n): the act of watching TV or messing around on Facebook with an open textbook nearby.

Your body feels tense, and your palms start to sweat. Your craving for ice cream reaches a new peak. Your hands start to shake from too many Red Bulls and a lack of sleep. Lecture notes from last term suddenly seem incomprehensible, and you develop an unhealthy fascination for daytime TV. There’s not a seat to be found at the library. The exam season has definitely arrived.

Some people seem to take exams in their stride. For the rest of us, they can be a nerve-wracking and horrible experience. A whole year’s worth of work condensed into three hours of frantic scribbling. How do we cope?

Perhaps you’ve always been a high achiever, and you’re suddenly faced with the prospect of failure. Your identity, your self-image, seems ready to crumble. Or perhaps you’ve barely scraped through, feeling out of place with all these clever people around you. You feel like a fraud about to be exposed.

Exams are about proving you have certain skills or know certain things, but we take things much further. We try to prove ourselves to our parents, to ourselves, to others – and to God. What if we can’t prove ourselves? What if the “expected” 2:1 isn’t going to happen? What if we have to retake an exam, or repeat the year?

With all these pressures and worries swimming around our heads, it can feel impossible to know where to begin. We procrastinate when we should be working, and feel guilty about not working when we should be resting. Things seem out of control, and we struggle just to keep our head above water. Everything else takes a back seat – exercise, healthy eating, spending time with God and his people.

What is the Christian response to all this? Here’s three truths to to encourage ourselves with:

You are a child of God. Christians are much loved children of a heavenly Father. The Father loves you even as he loves Jesus (John 17:23). You don’t have to be a high achiever. Your identity is not in your degree. Your place in the family is secure. You are a child of God.

Your Father is in control. Not only is God loving, but he is also powerful. Not only does he care for you in the midst of exams, but he is using them for your good. Things may seem chaotic, even hopeless – but God is using all of it to shape you to be more like Jesus (Romans 8:28-29). You don’t need to worry – your Father is in control.

You don’t have to earn his love. You don’t have to prove yourself. Pass or fail in these exams, the one verdict on you that ultimately matters has already been given (Romans 8:1). Your achievements never made God love you, and your failures won’t stop him either. His love for you is all of grace. You don’t have to earn his love.

Next time we’ll look at how we can apply these truths in the midst of the stress, as well as some practical tips for the exam period.

Overflowing

“Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3, ESV)

strawberries

Outside my front door is a plastic box full of strawberry plants. The recent sunshine and showers have meant they are thriving – sending out lush green leaves and starting to bud. I can see the first fruit beginning to develop in the middle of the flowers.

The Bible often uses natural imagery to convey something of who God is and what he’s like. Here in Hosea we’re encouraged to “press on to know the Lord”, who will come to us as “the spring rains that water the earth”. Just as the recent rain means that my strawberry plants are flourishing, so it is with knowing the Lord – as we see more of who he is and what he’s like, we find ourselves refreshed, and our hearts are drawn to him once more.

Jesus picks up a similar theme in John 4, where he says that “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

This spring of water “flowing from within [us]” (John 7:38-39) is the Holy Spirit, who brings eternal life. And what is the life that the Spirit brings?

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

The Holy Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts (Romans 5:5) so that we might know the Father and the Son. As we know more of them, our hearts are nourished and transformed. As we drink this living water, just like my plants in the spring rains, we find we grow and flourish, knowing life in its fullness, bearing much fruit.

So drink deep, doubting heart. He will come to us “as the spring rains that water the earth”, graciously bringing life to arid lives and hard hearts, always and forever overflowing with love.

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 Tune My Heart

Theme by Anders NorénUp ↑