One sentence sums up God's plan for your life

We can spend a lot of time and mental energy wondering if we're on the right path, wondering what God's 'will for our life' is, and whether we're in it. But I feel like God's will for us is less an exact series of precise decisions that we can potentially stuff up at any minute, and more a way of living our lives aligned with His heart. The specifics are less important than we often think. So if you're wondering what exactly is God's will for my life? One sentence sums it up...

God's will for you is to reach spiritual maturity.

Maybe that sounds too simple. But think about it. If you are spiritually mature, you:

know God's heart more
have the fruit of the spirit abundantly in any circumstance
love like He does
understand His words
see His kingdom more clearly
become more like Christ

All of this makes it much easier to be led by the Spirit, wherever you are, whatever you are doing.

It's like knowing a friend or your husband really, really well. My husband doesn't have to be there for me to know what he will like or dislike or find funny or annoying about a situation. It's a bit like this with God. The more we know Him, the more we are aligned with His heart and will.

Whatever decisions or circumstances we encounter, this is something to keep in mind. If we see everything as an opportunity to grow in maturity, to grow closer to God, how would that change our mindset? How would that change how we respond?

Eph 4:14-15 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

We sometimes believe that God's will is unknowable, that we can't comprehend it, that we just have to blindly step out and cross our fingers and hope. But while God may not reveal to us the precise details and step by step layout of our lives, minute by minute, or even year by year, I don't think it is right that we can't know His will.

It's like saying of a friend, "We are good friends, but I'll never really 'get' him, I'll never really know what he likes or wants or will do." That's not how it happens. The more we know someone, the more we understand them.

It's the glorious grace of God that He is so beyond us, and yet, we can know Him. We are not servants, in the sense of acting out of obligation. Jesus calls us friends.

<sup>I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

Jesus has made known to us everything that the Father told him. By growing in spiritual maturity, we discover more of that revelation, and we understand more of it. We are changed and renewed by the Spirit to understand who God is and what His perfect will is.</sup>

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

And we get beyond the simple mindset of wanting to know God's will, as in every little specific decision just for ourselves, in a little anxious bubble, and instead we more easily move in the flow and peace of the Spirit, in harmony with God's big picture for His church as a whole.

If God's will for us is that we grow in spiritual maturity, we can be sure that in every circumstance, bad and good, we have the opportunity for this to happen, and God will provide you with everything you need to grow and not be crushed. Let this change your thinking when faced with challenges.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

God does not want to keep you broken

I've heard people say, and seen the effects of people believing, that it's God plan to leave them broken, sick or struggling so He can use it for good.

God will use your brokeness, it's true. He will use what you have been through to help others. He will work all things together for good for those who love Him. 

But it is a huge fallacy to think that means you have stay where you are, in your pain, so that God can use it to help others.

How can you give a testimony to how God can heal our hurt, our sickness, our brokeness, if you are still in it? How can you lead people through their pain to the other side, if you don't even know where that is because you've haven't got there yourself?

Don't get me wrong - God can and will use you where you are. He can use anything and anyone, no matter how imperfect or broken. He can bring unfathomable good in even the most difficult circumstances. But just because God is using you while you are still sick or broken, does NOT mean he wants you to stay there.

"Many people followed Him, and He healed them all" Matt 12:15

There is no addendum to that verse, no fine print that says *"except for the few he let stay sick so that they could empathise with other sick people".

Sure, you may find comfort in talking to others who are experiencing the same thing as you. It may help the burden not feel so heavy. But who can help you more - someone who is also struggling the same as you, or someone who once struggled, but has found freedom?

If you are blind, another blind person can only teach you how to cope as a blind person. Jesus can teach you how to see!!

It is not God's will for you to stay sick, hurt or broken. Jesus didn't die and rise again so that you could stay as you are. He didn't conquer sin and death so that you could just battle on, and try and prop up others also struggling.

He died and rose so you could be free! So you could be healed! So you could have life!

Don't believe the lies and doubts that maybe God wants you to stay where you are. If we are to pray for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and there is no sickness and brokeness in heaven - then that's what we should be believing for on earth!!

And don't hold on to this belief as a security blanket. Sometimes we believe that maybe this sickness or struggle is God's will because if we let go of that idea, then we risk being disappointed. What if I don't get healed? What if God doesn't get me out of here? What if I believe that I'm meant to be set free, but find myself still a prisoner?

It's a scary place to be - to have stepped out from behind our protective lies, and into the wide open. And we don't know the exact timing of when and what God will do. Sometimes what is done in the spirit doesn't appear in the natural right away. Maybe it seems risky.

But if you can be sure that if you stay where you are, you definitely will not see change. 

Step out in faith. Give Jesus a chance to prove that he wasn't lying when he said that now is the time!

"He sent Me to tell those who are held captive that they can now be set free, and to tell the blind that they can now see. He sent Me to liberate those held down by oppression. In short, the Spirit is upon Me to proclaim that now is the time; this is the jubilee season of the Eternal One’s grace." Luke 4:18-19

It is our testimony of our personal and collective experiences of God's grace, love and freedom that will draw people. Anyone can say to a sick person "I know how you feel". 

But don't you want to be able to say, "I know how you feel - but I also know the one who can make you well!!"

If you want to be put back together, if you want to be healed, get to know the healer.

Flick the switch

Have you ever plugged something in then tried to turn it on, like trying to switch on a lamp, charge your phone, make toast, turn on the blender...but nothing happens. You wiggle things, turn them on and off, shake them and declare something is wrong. Has the power gone out? Something must be broken, because it's not working...

Then you realise it's not switched on at the power point. (D'oh)

We sometimes live like this as Christians. We think there is no power, something is broken, we aren't doing something right, the connection with God isn't there. So we try harder, we shake things around, we inspect our lives and pick out all the things we think might be wrong... and then, often, ultimately declare that it's useless. We can't do it.

When really we just haven't flicked the switch. (D'oh)

The power supply is there. If we are a Christian, we are plugged straight in to God. He has made us whole and sound. We are no longer broken.

We just need to turn on the power point - we need to say Yes to the Holy Spirit.

What good is a lamp - even a perfect lamp with an undamaged cord, plugged in to the wall, with a brand new light bulb - if the electricity isn't ever allowed to flow through it. No matter how hard that lamp tries, if it the switch isn't on, it will never be able light up by itself.

What good is being a Christian - made new in Christ - if we never let the power to live that life flow through us? We are a lamp that never gets switched on. We might look pretty sitting there, but we aren't fulfilling our purpose.

Jesus didn't just show us what a good life looks like, he sent the Holy Spirit after him to give us the power to actually live it.

What are you waiting for? Don't you want some real electricity in your life?



***

Not sure about this Holy Spirit stuff?  I recommend Forgotten God by Francis Chan. I'm not affiliated in any way, I just loved the book...

I wrote a bit about it here

Don't skip the small or you might not survive the big

I dream of a big life, of changing the world, of doing big things that really matter.

But then sometimes, I'm too afraid to do the little things.

I just want to skip over them. As if they are too little to matter. Too little to spend energy on. Too little to take a risk on. I just want to get to the big stuff.


"God, I'll not deny you even in the face of torture and death!...just please don't make me talk to a stranger...."


I know deep down that if I can't do these little, day to day things, if I can't trust God to be faithful in the small and seemingly insignificant, then I'm not going to survive the big stuff.

Sure, God might still use me. He might even do big and powerful things with me, even if I struggle with the little. But I might not survive it.

I might not even get there in the first place - I won't be ready for the opportunities when they come. But even if I did get to those big, life changing things I want to be a part of, even if in the power of God I could handle it at the time, I think ultimately I wouldn't survive it in the long run.

All those lessons you learn in the small stuff - the patience, the faith, the prayer, the commitment, the perseverance, the resilience, the eye for the big picture even in the face of set backs - if you skip over them, you might still fly high and bright for a few moments, but you will burn out fast.

God can still use you to impact people, because He is God, and it is always Him working, and not you. But if you want Him to use you for the long haul, if you want your life to be dedicated to changing hearts and lives forever and not just a brief moment, don't skip the small. You never know how those little lessons will serve you later on.

Sometimes I sense God prompting me to do something that scares me a little. Not something particularly momentous, just something that takes a step of faith outside of my comfort zone. (This normally means speaking, or putting myself on the spot, where there is potential for embarrassment.)

My first instinct is to dodge it. How can I get out of this? How can I justify it away so that I convince myself it isn't really important whether I do it or not?

Then when I realise I can't get out of it, I try to renegotiate the deal. Can I write it, instead of speaking? Can I just talk to a couple of people, instead of all of them? How can I do this so I feel like I'm doing what I'm told, but it's still within my comfort zone?

I do this because I'm afraid God won't really show up. Or that people won't understand and I'll look foolish. Or that I'll put myself on the line of hoping for something big, but it turns out to be something small.

Because I think often our definition of big and significant is different to God's. We think if we speak and the whole room doesn't fall to their knees praising God, then it wasn't big, then it didn't really matter.

Don't get me wrong, I hope and pray we all see thousands coming to Jesus.

But before we get to the big, we've got to be satisfied with the seemingly small. Because God sees the big picture, the foundation He is laying now, and all the little pieces that go in to the whole story He is writing.

Speak to one person, no matter the potential for failure and embarrassment. Say or do those things God is prompting you to do, no matter what you fear the consequences will be.

Maybe God will surprise you by showing up in bigger ways than you expected. And I'm sure He's planting seeds that we aren't always aware of.

If there's one thing we can count on, it's that God is faithful.

But maybe He doing more than just puffing up your self confidence. Maybe, even when you act with obedience and not much seems to happen, God is preparing you. He's training you to recognise His voice. He's teaching you to act quickly without hesitation. He's teaching you to have faith and see with your spiritual eyes, not just the natural where it appears nothing is happening.

He's teaching you to trust Him, no matter what.

These little steps and little moves matter - one day you will live in the fruit of those small steps of obedience. So when the big moves for God come, and the inevitable big obstacles and attacks follow, you will have no doubt of God's faithfulness, and no doubt of the sound of His voice.

They devoted themselves to constant prayer

This whole group devoted themselves to constant prayer with one accord - Acts 1:14

Have you ever asked or wondered why the Holy Spirit doesn't seem to show up much in your life? Have you ever wonder why you're not seeing miracles happen, and lives changed? Why you're a bit to afraid to even strike up a spiritual conversation with someone even when you think you should? Why nothing much seems to happen?

Have you then also asked yourself, how often do I devote myself to constant prayer? How often do I devote time to meet with others and constantly pray together?

You may notice a bit of an oxymoron in those sentences...how can we say 'devote' and 'constant' in the same breath as 'how often', like we can set aside half an hour a week to be 'constantly devoted' and then go about our lives.

No wonder we don't see much happen.

No matter how much we like to avoid thinking about it, this Christian life is an all or nothing deal.

It's a big scary question, and we like to water it down and rationalise and justify - there are plenty of reasons why it is difficult, why there isn't enough time, why it's not practical... But...

If we aren't all in, what are we even doing this for?

My heart breaks

I'm not even sure how I went down this path... I think I happened to see in my blog stats that I had an inordinate number of hits from Romania one day. I don't know why.

And then that reminded me of when I was a child, I wanted to grow up and go and work in Romanian orphanages. I'd forgotten about that. I couldn't even remember why my child-self even specified Romania?

So I googled it. And discovered that the plight of orphans in Romania was big news at the beginning of the 90s, when I was a child, so that must have been why I heard about it. I never knew that until now.

And then I read more. And maybe I shouldn't have, but I read more. And I looked a pictures.

And after reading about an orphan who is now in his twenties, but never recovered developmentally after being mostly alone in a cot for the first year of his life.... I wept.

I'm still crying now. At some points I can barely see the screen through my tears.

I just thought of my own daughter, how joyfully she smiles back at me, her little hands reaching and touching, her little face in concentration as she learns and develops every day, as she looks into my face as I talk to her and sing to her.

And I think of how I get sad if she has to cry for one minute, and how I worry about if she's getting everything she needs, if I'm giving her everything I possibly can.

The thought of children not having this, not even having one person to hold them and smile at them and touch them. I can hardly bear the thought of it.

There are still children in institutions around the world today. This is still happening. Tiny babies with no-one to love them and hold them.

And at the same time as it makes me cry out inside, "We have to do something!", it paralyses me.

What do we do about it? How can we do something?

I just want to go to them and love them and hold them.

And if I, a flawed human, can feel this much grief and love for them, I can only imagine how God feels towards them.

All this makes it painfully obvious to me that I am lacking any sort of practical knowledge of how to make a difference in the world. A difference that really counts.

Before this I thought of myself as compassionate and charitably-minded. But what am I really doing? This goes deeper than just giving a bit of money, or going on a volunteer-holiday. I don't even know how to help people in my own city, let alone the world. I call myself a follower of Jesus, and yet I walk past the charities outside supermarkets looking the other way, hoping they won't stop me.

If we really got the reality of what the world is like beyond our comfortable doorsteps, of how so many people actually live, how could we continue to spend everything on ourselves and live just for ourselves without feeling sick to our stomachs at the injustice?!

We don't get it, obviously. Our senses have been dulled by the overdose of comfortable living. We think hunger is when we skipped breakfast and had to wait for our lunch. We think poor is not being able to have a Playstation AND an Xbox. We think lonely is when only 1 person likes our Facebook status.

I don't blame you. I don't blame you even if you read this blog post and it stirs nothing, if you feel nothing. Apathy is the devil's favourite game, and he's perfected it. We've all been shrouded in the fog of indifference, and believed that it is normal life; that the sum of the gospel is that Jesus died to make us comfortable. I don't blame you - but be challenged.

Think about how much you care for your own family, your own children. We should be loving everyone that much, and more.

We need new hearts. Bigger hearts. We need God's heart in place of ours.

I don't know what to do with this heart break right now, other than to pray. To pray that God wakes us up and sends us out with His love and His heart and His Spirit. And to pray and trust that God comforts his hurting children until we get there.



***

Jesus: You’d better be on your guard against any type of greed, for a person’s life is not about having a lot of possessions.

A wealthy man owned some land that produced a huge harvest. He often thought to himself, “I have a problem here. I don’t have anywhere to store all my crops. What should I do? I know! I’ll tear down my small barns and build even bigger ones, and then I’ll have plenty of storage space for my grain and all my other goods. Then I’ll be able to say to myself, ‘I have it made! I can relax and take it easy for years! So I’ll just sit back, eat, drink, and have a good time!’”

Then God interrupted the man’s conversation with himself. “Excuse Me, Mr. Brilliant, but your time has come. Tonight you will die. Now who will enjoy everything you’ve earned and saved?”

This is how it will be for people who accumulate huge assets for themselves but have no assets in relation to God.

Think about those crows flying over there: do they plant and harvest crops? Do they own silos or barns?.....Remember that you are more precious to God than birds!

....If God takes such good care of such transient things, how much more you can depend on God to care for you, weak in faith as you are. Don’t reduce your life to the pursuit of food and drink; don’t let your mind be filled with anxiety....

Since you don’t need to worry—about security and safety, about food and clothing—then pursue God’s kingdom first and foremost, and these other things will come to you as well.

My little flock, don’t be afraid. God is your Father, and your Father’s great joy is to give you His kingdom.

That means you can sell your possessions and give generously to the poor. You can have a different kind of savings plan: one that never depreciates, one that never defaults, one that can’t be plundered by crooks or destroyed by natural calamities. Your treasure will be stored in the heavens, and since your treasure is there, your heart will be lodged there as well.

I’m not just talking theory. There is urgency in all this.

Luke 12
(The Voice)

Jesus take the wheel...but I'll be a backseat driver

When I was younger, whenever I was sick with a fever I would have the same nightmare. Two cars would be driving towards each other, then they would suddenly go up on their back wheels and keep driving towards each other. I would just be watching this scene replay over and over in my head, going "No, you can't do that!"

In the light of day once the fever was gone, I could laugh about it. But while I was sick, it was a truly terrifying nightmare! It haunted my childhood.

The reason I think this dream was scary is that it represented a complete lack of control. The cars were doing things that were impossible, and yet I could not stop them, no matter how hard I tried. And it just repeated over and over; I was a helpless spectator.

Even as an adult, whenever things feel like they are getting out of control in my waking life, I will have car dreams. Not the same one anymore, thankfully. These days I'll be driving and the brakes won't quite work, or I can't quite control the steering wheel, or I'm going just a little too fast but can't stop.

Its a common dream motif. And it's all about control.

No wonder as Christians we sometimes use the image of Jesus taking the drivers seat in the car that is our life. It represents giving over control of the direction and speed of our lives.

And yet, while we might say this is what we are doing, how many of us actually do give him the wheel and sit back?

Instead, it's more like an episode of Keeping Up Appearances. We sit in the passenger seat and make sure Jesus sees the potential problems and hazards.
"Watch out for that tree."
"It's on the other side of the road...."

We like to make sure God is aware of all the potential problems that could arise from his plan for us.
"You do know that it's pretty much impossible, right?"
"So was walking on water."

Now, signing up to follow God's plan for our lives is a good thing. The problem with the 'Jesus in the drivers seat' image is that we view Jesus driving as if it relegates us to a passive role. As if we are meant to just sit in the passenger seat and watch the scenery pass by. Or take a nap. Or, when we feel like things are going wrong, we consider ourselves carjacking victims.

So that's where this metaphor really falls down.

In fact, get rid of it all together. I've never liked cars anyway.

Pick your metaphor - but make it one where Jesus is walking beside you. Holding your hand even. Or running beside you in a race. I don't know, be riding on his shoulders if you want.

Just don't make it about 'control' because we most often associate that with who has the power. And it becomes a struggle, with us always trying to take it back.

But you know what, when we lay down ourselves for Jesus, he doesn't take it as an opportunity to wrestle our power from us. He already is all powerful - he doesn't need ours. Instead, he gives us back our new selves, and we walk with him.

We walk with him, like Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall. He is a father, a friend, a constant companion. We can completely put our faith and trust in him.

Have Jesus drive and you take a nap if that's what you need right now. But I'd rather get out of the back seat and walk with him in my life, and have his guidance and his hand to take.

I want to live my life with him, so I am not just waiting to reach a destination, but I actually live a changed life along the way.



***
How about you? How's your life right now? Do you feel like a passive passenger in your life? Or is it more like a runaway car?

Have you thought about this 'Jesus at the wheel' metaphor before? What metaphor would you use to better describe it?

We are the church

I think we'd all agree that a hand is pretty useful, important body part. But that's only when it is attached to something. Alone and unconnected, your hand is pretty useless to you. It cannot fulfill it's purpose, and the rest of the body receives no benefit from it.

I'm sure you've probably heard this kind of analogy before and know where I'm going with it. The physical body as a metaphor for the body of Christ - it's a good one. Paul even used it. But it's pretty basic, Christianity 101. 

Well, it should be. But why does it seem like the basics are the things that we forget. Is it because they get crowded out by all the religious stuff we add to Christianity?

Just think, if I said to anyone, Christian or not, the word 'church', what are they going to think. Probably a building, a place people go on Sunday morning. (Or Saturday). Or just at Easter and Christmas.

What's wrong with this picture?

When Jesus said he would raise the temple again in three days,* he didn't mean a new physical building to replace to an old one. He was talking about the new dwelling place of God, with us. In us.

This leads me to two conclusions:

1. The church building is NOT 'God's house'.

God doesn't live in a building. We aren't going to 'pay him a visit' when we go there Sundays. 

He is with us always. Wherever we go, we are the church - just two or three together, there is God.*

Does that change the way you view your life and want to live your life if you think of yourself as the church? Whenever you are together with other believers, that is the church.

Could people tell that by our lives? Can they see God living in us when they look at us together?

And that brings me to the second conclusion...

2. You cannot be the church alone.

A hand detached from the physical body ceases to be of any use to itself or the body. A Christian detached from the body of Christ is doing no favours to themselves, and is being no benefit to the rest of the body.

We've go too many individual body parts floating around, disconnected from anyone else. No wonder people on the outside don't see a united Church when they look at us - just a bunch of dismembered people gathering in a building, pretending we aren't as handicapped as we actually are, while hoping we'll somehow get put back together just by being there.

Or not getting together at all, because we feel like there's no need or no point.

I don't actually blame you. I've known times where 'going to church' has been far more painful than beneficial. And sometimes it's even damaging. The church as a building is failing to live up to what the church is meant to be.

But the question of whether or not a Christian should attend church is missing the point. How often you go to a building and on what days is not the important thing.

The point is, if WE are the body, the needs to be a WE in some way. What that looks like shouldn't be defined by a building, but by the fruit.

For yourself - your life will be much more purposeful and fulfilled if you are connected and being part of what God designed you for.

For other Christians - we have all been giving different gifts for the edification of the body. When we are using those gifts, the whole body benefits. When we are disparate and disconnected, the whole body suffers.

For the glory of God - the early church grew rapidly and daily not because they saw a bunch of people going faithfully to a building once a week, but because they saw Jesus in his living body, the church, played out before them in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And that is my final point - God will build his church. It is not up to us to come up with the perfect model and mission statement. We've been trying that unsuccessfully for the entire history of the church.

God will build his church,* we just have to be there, joining with the body, willing and ready.

Even in a state of complete imperfection, even while we feel like we are not even close to functioning like we should be, I think it would make a huge difference if we just at least acted like we remembered this one simple truth -  It's not about the building. Wherever we are, we are the church. God goes with us.

How will that change how you live?

*Verse references

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." John 2:19

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. Matthew 18:20

...on this rock I will build my church... Matthew 16:18

A Spiritual Heart Transplant

If you've never experienced heart problems before, you may not realise how vital it is for living life. Of course you know you need it to pump your blood, and if it stops you're in big trouble. But what about for living day to day life. Even when it's still going, if your heart is failing you can only live a shadow of a life. Forget playing sport; getting out of bed can be an impossible proposition.

So imagine a person waiting for a new heart. They are dreaming of being able to get up in the morning without difficulty, to climb stairs, walk the dog, play sport, play with their kids - live their life!

One day they get the call - there is a heart. They receive the transplant and a new, healthy heart beats in their chest. Life is no longer off limits to them.

Now imagine that person goes back home and just lays in bed again. They could live now, but they don't. They are just happy to know their heart works, but they don't bother using it.

Someone died for them to gain life, and yet they make no use of it. Wouldn't you imagine they would want to make the most of the new lease on life they have been gifted with?

Doing nothing seems crazy in that situation. And yet we do it every day.

The symbolic heart in us has been transplanted with Gods heart. Jesus died and rose again to give it to us so that we could have new life, and life abundant!

And yet we go back to laying in bed. We go on as if we have received nothing out of the ordinary. Just happy to get to heaven. The heart of God lies dormant in our chests. We are missing out on the joy and fullness.

Perhaps it is because we have lived so long with the old heart that we don't quite believe that it is possible that we can actually live differently.

Perhaps that person with the heart transplant is afraid of disappointment, of failure, of life not living up to their dreams and expectations.

Perhaps that is what we are afraid of. If we step out in faith that this new heart really has transformed us, that the power of God is in us... Will we be disappointed? The weight of disappointment seems far worse than the unrealised, shadow of a life we are now living, so we stick with what we know.

It's time we stopped wasting the gift of life we have been given. Jesus died to give us a transplant, to transform us. But the difference is that he also rose again and lives with us, to give us the power to live the full lives we have dreamed of. Being a Christian is about more than just making sure we get to heaven in the end.

Far from being disappointed with reality, we will discover that a life lived for Jesus is far richer and more satisfying than we ever imagined!

The old life is gone—and see—a new life has begun! (2 cor 5:17)

I will plant a new heart and new spirit inside of you. I will take out your stubborn, stony heart and give you a willing, tender heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit inside of you and inspire you to live by My statutes and follow My laws. (Ezekiel 35:26-27)

Love with action

I remember watching a man on TV speak about the organisation he founded, a non-profit organisation, caring for thousands of orphaned children around the world. I don't remember the name of the man or the name of the organisation, but what he said stuck with me.

He spoke about a child who died in one of the homes they supported. The organisation provided extra money to the orphanage to cover the funeral expenses and more. And yet four days later the child lay, dead, on a table. No one buried him.

It wasn't their responsibility, they said.

Sometimes it's not a lack of money that's the problem. It's the attitudes. No one buried the child because a dead child wasn't important to them.

The way to change the world doesn't lie simply in the redistribution of wealth. It starts with us; it starts with our hearts.

That's why it's so heart breaking when people have the attitude that one person can't make a difference, so why bother trying. Because it's not the money they don't donate that's the problem, it's that pervasive apathy.

Change the attitudes, and the money follows. Change our viewpoint, and the redistribution of wealth and resources will naturally follow.

What's your viewpoint? What's your attitude? It starts at home - how you treat the people around you, how you view the sick, the weak, the struggling, the lost. If you live all year thinking only of your own happiness and comfort and then send off a cheque to some far away place and think you've done your 'bit' - think again.

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18


Make Lent about more than giving up chocolate. Make Easter about more than eating chocolate. Make your life about more than your own happiness.


Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:1-4


If the love of God means anything to you, what are you going to do about it?

'Your best life'

"Your best life". I hate that phrase. I've seen it as the tag line for churches, and I hate it. Because everyone is looking at that tag line, and I just know the life they are thinking of. They are thinking of this earthly, temporary one. They are thinking 'how do I get my best life, right now?'

Is that really your best life? Is this best part of your existence?

As Christians, why aren't we looking past the physical to see what our 'best life' should really look like?

I've been wrestling with decisions lately that have made me really contemplate what living my 'best life' looks like - and I'm finding that sometimes the best life according to Jesus is going to look like craziness to other people. How do you explain to a world fixated on having and earning and gaining, that I'm taking time - unpaid, financially unprofitable time - to study the Word of God, to sit at the feet of Jesus, to live in faith that what I'm sowing into right now, though it's not putting money in the bank, it's going to pay off so much more richly? How do you explain that?

Well, you can't really. People are going to think you are wasting your time. They are going to wonder why you seem to be just sitting there when there are things to be done.

I guess it depends on where you are sitting. If you are just sitting down in front of the TV, well, they're probably right. Why are you just sitting there?

But if you are sitting at the feet of Jesus - if you are truly waiting on him and letting him lead you no matter where it takes you - then you have 'chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from [you].' Luke 10:42

Other things to look at:


http://sammyadebiyi.com/blogs/sammy-adebiyi/butt-chins-forehead-feet-and-jesus

Inner beauty vs Outer beauty. Is it one or the other?

I like clothes. I like make up. I like doing my nails.


In doing this experiment of Project 3:11, this shopping fast, this is one aspect I keep thinking about. I like all that stuff - is that wrong? 


Consider 1 Peter 3 -


'Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.'


I think a lot of people look at that verse and feel like its telling us to not think about those things, about 'adornment'. And so either we feel guilty because we took half an hour to do our hair this morning, or we feel high and mighty and decide other people should feel guilty because of the colour of their lipstick or number of shoes in their closet.


But something to notice about that verse is that Peter is not actually saying 'Don't wear nice clothes' or 'you're a sinful, vain person if you like jewellery.' 


He says your beauty should not come from those things. Don't focus on the outward appearance as the source of your beauty, as the thing you value most highly in being a woman. Your beauty 'should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.'


The emphasis here is more on what values you adhere to. In his time, women braided their hair ornately and this is what he was referring to - are you just doing that to your hair because it's fashion, because you are thinking about how others will view it, because you are wanting to fit in with what the world thinks is beautiful?


It is ok to like clothes, to like dressing nicely. It's ok to like physical beauty. I mean, look at the world. Look at a sunset sky - I think it's safe to say God doesn't hate things looking beautiful!


Even when the Bible uses the word modest in relation to dressing, it is a word that means 'becoming' more than it means 'sack cloth from neck to ankles'. 


It means not showy and flashy. It means not dressing to draw attention to yourself about how well off you are or how much money you have. It's about not dressing or living in a certain way just because everyone else does, or it will make you look 'in' if you wear this or buy that brand.


That's the problem - it's a slippery slope. It is very easy to find yourself focusing more and more on the outward as a large portion of your value, even if it started out innocently.


And that's why I started this experiment. Not because I think it's wrong to buy clothes, but because I wanted to check my attitude. If shopping was making me focus more on the outward appearance, if it made me worry what others thought of my fashion sense, if it made me - even for short periods - consumed with my worth based on appearance - then it was something it wouldn't hurt to give up for a while!


And what is any fast but a time to refocus on what really matters - God. To remove those things that are getting in the way - like shopping and buying new things to help me feel better - so we can actually deal with the emptiness we all sometimes feel. To actually take a look at my inner-self without the layer of emotional make up.


And I actually have had much more fun with making my own looks from what I do have. I can't care if they are old or out of fashion because I have no other options, but I kind of like it that way.


So don't feel guilty if you like clothes. Not everyone needs a shopping fast. Inner beauty does not mean throwing out all your mirrors. 


But it can't hurt to take a look inside and check that you are actually working on that inner beauty, and not covering it up with all the things the world says makes us beautiful and valuable. 


You may not be so admired by people if your clothes are out of season or you don't have the right brands. You know those people in the fancy shops who you feel like are looking at you like you don't really belong there...well, they probably are thinking that. But while people will often judge our worth by what they see, God values our hearts.


I'll take what God thinks of me over what a girl in a shop thinks of me, any day.

The difference

I missed my devotions the other morning.

I had started doing them every morning - just a short one, 10 minutes sometimes. But I was starting every day with one. And then one morning people were in our house, I slept in too late and so I went into the day without doing it.

What difference would 10 minutes make?

But it did. The day went differently. I didn't realise it until the day was almost over, and I was thinking back, wondering why I felt different today. Agitated and less at peace.

Nothing in particular went wrong - in fact it was a fairly easy day, and probably less went wrong than other days. But I was different. The way I felt about the day was different.

I didn't realise it until I missed that one day, but since I had started doing devotions every morning, a small inner-peace started going everywhere with me.

It's not like I never read my Bible or prayed before, but I'd never done it consistently. And I didn't start my day with it.

It makes a difference.

Just a thought...

'Finding yourself'

Where am I? Who am I? What is my purpose? 


Whether we label it or not, most young people at some stage go through some period of wondering who they are and where they are going. And a good number of not-so-young people too.


Finding yourself. We want to discover who we really are, and so we pursue experiences and a life that is meant to help us define ourselves, help us discover what makes us, us.


I did that. I thought I needed to know who I was by finding it out, searching everywhere.  Chalk the mistakes up to 'experience'. Nothing is bad. Do what I want. Be 'true to myself'.


The problem is, finding yourself doesn't actually help you know who you are or what your purpose is. Find yourself, and what have you got? A flawed imperfect person, searching for something.


The irony, the paradox of following Christ is that to 'find yourself' you really have to lose yourself. 


The world tells us that to find ourselves and our purpose we have to do the things we want, gain things for ourselves, have experiences for ourselves. 


God tells us that we have to deny ourselves. Lay down our lives. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23


That seems to hard to us, because it is so contrary to everything we are told. We are told it's all about self. Self-esteem. Self-confidence. Self-worth. The problem with those things is that the focus is on the Self part, rather than the part that comes after the little dash. Esteem, confidence, worth.


Those things are not found in ourselves, but in God.


The question then is, do you trust God with your life. Are you willing to let go of 'finding yourself' and trust that God already knows who you are, wholly and completely and deeply? Do you trust that will provide you with all the worth and purpose that you need?


And are you willing to risk losing your life to save it?


"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." Luke 9:24

Don't Be a Potplant

We used to have two pot plants at our front door. I say used to because they aren't there any more.


This was back before we had moved in to our house, and it was newly built welcoming us only on weekends. We picked out some nice green plants in dark grey pots and set them either side of the door.


We also had a door mat there, but because we live on hill near the sea, it gets windy and the mat is always blowing away. Several times when I was putting the mat back after retrieving it from half way down the hill I thought, "Something looks weird about our front door."


It wasn't until one morning that I woke up and suddenly it came to me - "The pot plants are gone!"


It's not that windy at our place. I can only guess someone took them. Good luck to them - I hope the plants are getting more water in their new homes than they did in ours.


But pot plants are like that - easy to pick up and move. Unsecured and easy to do whatever you want with, really.


I'd like to see someone drive sneakily away with a full size oak tree.


And yet a lot of us are pot plant Christians. We have shallow, pot bound roots, and will never really grow to our full potential. We're easily moved and uprooted; we rely on someone else to remember to feed and water us.


We only get the Bible read to us at church. We only have fellowship on Sundays and then we 'get on with our lives.' We only pray when someone else directs us, when we are wilting, or when something bad happens - like finding ourselves being carried off by an enemy who notices how small and unsecured we are and decides to take us for a ride.


Don't be a pot plant.


Be "strong, like a tree planted by a river. The tree produces fruit in season, and its leaves don't die. Everything they do will succeed." Psalm 1:3

A strong tree has deep and far reaching roots. It doesn't rely on someone with a watering can to come along and give it a drink. It is tapped into the river of living water, it's is nourished by the fertile soil in which it is planted. "Like trees planted in the Temple of the Lord, they will grow strong in the courtyards of our God. When they are old, they will still produce fruit; they will be healthy and fresh." Psalm 92:14


Grow deep roots in God. Get out of the little pot and plant yourself in God's garden, immerse yourself in His kingdom. Then nothing can touch you, nothing can carry you off, and you will bear real fruit.

Reformed Clay

"So I went down to the potter's house and saw him working at the potter's wheel. He was using his hands to make a pot from clay, but something went wrong with it...." (Jeremiah 18:3-4a)


Something went wrong. How many of us can look back on our lives, on the way things have turned out, on the way we have turned out, and think - something went wrong.


We feel marred, like a deformed clay pot. We can think back over the things we have done in our lives, the mistakes we've made, the people we wanted to be but somehow didn't turn into like we once dreamed.


Something went wrong. We are that clay pot.


But you know what the potter did with it? 


Well I can first tell you what he didn't do.


1. He didn't scrap it. He didn't chuck it out. He didn't say "That's ruined. Oh well, I'll just chuck it on the rubbish pile and move on to something else."


2. He didn't leave it as it was. He didn't leave it to limp through life as a substandard pot, to be looked down on and neglected because it's no good for anything.


What he did do:


"So he used that clay to make another pot the way he wanted it to be." 




In case you hadn't got it yet, you are clay. God is a potter. 


Maybe things haven't turned out the way you wanted. Maybe you aren't the person you wanted to be, you haven't reached those dreams you used to hold. Something's gone wrong.


But you are clay in the potter's hand. God can take you and reform you. He is not going to scrap you. No matter how damaged you are, you are never beyond redeeming by God. Never. You are soft clay. Clay is malleable. And you are in the hands of the master potter.


He is not going to leave you as you are. God is not going to leave you to suffer because of your mistakes, because of the way life has misshapen you and damaged you. The mistakes may be of your own doing, or the actions of others. But God is not going to leave you limping through life, not being able to live up to the purpose you were intended for.


He can take your life and reshape it. He will form it into something beautiful, something with purpose. A masterpiece. He will shape it the way he wants it.


God is the potter. You are the clay. He can take everything that feels damaged, ugly and broken, and reform it. Not just patch it up or make it 'good enough'. Reform it.


Once clay is reshaped by the master potter, there is no trace of the old, the damaged. You are a new creation. A new, beautiful masterpiece from the very hands of God, exactly as he wanted you to be.


He can do that with your life.