You don't 'arrive' as a Christian, there's always more

No matter how many years you've been a Christian, no matter how spiritually mature you get, you never 'arrive'. You're never done. You never achieve the 'highest rank' and then stay there.

This is not because there's more 'work' to do. It's not because you are so imperfect and must keep working on yourself.

You are imperfect of course, but that's not actually what God focuses on.

Because being a Christian is not a job description.

It's a relationship.

In a friendship or marriage, you never get to a good place in the relationship and then say "Ok, that's it. We've done it. I can stop making any effort now."

If you stopped talking and laughing and spending time together, that good marriage or friendship would quickly dissolve.

God wants a relationship with you, first and foremost. Maybe after that you'll do things, He'll change you, work on your heart, make you a 'better' person and all that.

But it all flows naturally out of a relationship with God. You can't 'arrive' in a relationship. It is ongoing. Especially with God - there is always more to know, more to discover, more to understand, more love, grace and peace to be found...

If God focuses on the relationship, why do we continue to focus on the work?

For the big and the small

My daughter just had her 4 month old vaccinations. Never mind that she is already 5 months, and we were a month late. This post is not really about me being a slack parent...

On the morning of the day we had to take her in to get the needles, I said to my husband, "I wish I could have them for her."

You see, watching my happy little daughter's face register shock and hurt and break into tears as two nurses jab her in the legs is heart breaking. Because of her pain, and because she doesn't understand what is happening. So I wish I could take it for her, and she still receive the health protecting benefits.

And that made me think about what Jesus took for us. He took a whole lot more than a little physical pain for us, so that we didn't have to feel it, experience the pain and consequences or be separated from God. And we received the benefit.

But even though in our heads we know that is true, most often when we talk about Jesus taking all of our sins, but we focus on the obvious. (And we have a hard enough time accepting that)

Sometimes when feel like we've got what Jesus did we accept that counts for the big stuff - the 'big, ugly sins'... the ones that practically stand up and shout "I'm a SIN!" You know, murder. And maybe he was talking about lying, and cheating, and swearing at people...those obvious things.

But something stops us really accepting that Jesus actually took everything. Everything. The big, the little, the obvious, the subtle. He cares about the big and the little of our lives.

He died for every mean thought. Every careless word. Every selfish action. Every rebellious moment. Every impatient foot tap. Every tear-filled argument.

He cares about every moment that you don't feel peace. Every moment you lack joy. Every moment someone is unkind. Every moment you feel a twinge of anxiety.

It's not just the big.

We sometimes think that God cares about the big stuff that He knows we can't do on our own. But we feel like the little stuff, well shouldn't we be able to manage that ourselves? Why would God spend time on our little things - we just have to get on with it.

And so we struggle on with things that we think are too little for anyone to care about, and feel bad when we still struggle...when things end up being harder than we think they should be... we things hurt and we just try to get over it...we feel like we shouldn't struggle with it, so we pretend we don't.

My daughter's vaccination is a small thing. It is over in 10 seconds, and with a bit of comforting she is soon fine. If I - a slack, imperfect human parent - can feel so much compassion over a relatively tiny thing, if my heart breaks at her few moments of confusion and pain, then how much more will the perfect God who IS love, feel love and compassion over our 'tiny' things. Our 'little' struggles. Our confusion and hurt. Our moments of disappointment. Our minute of sadness.

I can't take my daughter's vaccination for her, because then I would be getting the immunity and she would still be unprotected.

But the thing is,  God can take it for us, and we still receive the benefit. Jesus bore every burden and all our suffering, and we received the peace.

So don't just wait to cry out to Him once the weight of your life has become unbearable. Every moment of your life, reach out for the love He has lavished on us. Take hold of His peace and joy.

Think of the love of a mother for her baby. Then multiply that by infinity and I don't think you've even come close to how much God loves you.

God cares about every. single. moment of your life. He bore every. single. burden for you - and you get the supernatural, life preserving benefit.

He was wounded to heal yours

Many of us have been wounded by various things in life, as a result of our own sins or those of others. These wounds range from cuts and scrapes to deep, weeping sores that threaten to be fatal. And so many of us walk around just trying to live with these wounds, to manage as best we can, to just grit our teeth and live through the pain.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties I tried to self-medicate to deal with the pain of my wounds. Through alcohol and sexual relationships, I tried to fix my suffering. The problem was, everything I tried only numbed the pain superficially, enough for me to function in public. Deep down I was still incapacitated by emotional pain. And worse still, untreated, my wounds festered. My sins festered, and caused me more harm.

When I fumbled my way back to God, I finally cleaned up my wounds and washed them out. Some of the infection was cleared up, and then I bandaged those wounds tightly. That's what I thought I had to do. Just keep them clean and protected and our of the way.

I experienced some healing, but not fully. While I didn't suffer from constant pain, the wounds were still there. I still couldn't live fully. Those bandages stopped me getting hurt more, but they also did what they do best - I was bound and restricted. I couldn't move freely, I couldn't love freely.

I began to realise that I needed more than bandages. That I needed to uncover my wounds and let them be healed.

This is not about exposing our wounds and poking and prodding around in there on our own. We don't know what we are doing, we'll probably just cause more bleeding and damage and be prone to falling back to self medicating to numb the pain we have reawakened.

There is a doctor who knows exactly how to heal our wounds. Someone who has been wounded Himself to heal us.

When we put down the things we use to ignore or numb the pain, when we stop relying on the bandages that protect but restrict us, when we stop trying to figure out how to heal ourselves - then we can take our wounds to God.

Jesus was wounded for us, so that we could be healed. He bears the scars so that we don't have to.

God can heal your wounded life, no matter how deep, no matter how painful the sin, hurt and rejection, and leave you with a whole, full life, free from restriction, free from scars.

Jesus took it all on the cross for us; he was rejected and punished and he suffered for us. Not just for our physical suffering, but for our emotional and spiritual lives, so that nothing could any longer separate us from the healing love in Gods presence.

...he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
Isaiah 53:5

It's already done, so why are you still trying to do it?

Imagine if a parent told a child "You can go to the party, but first your room must be perfectly clean. BUT, guess what? I've already cleaned it for you. You're free to go!"

Would any child respond, "Thanks for doing that for me, but I didn't deserve that so I might just go a try to clean it myself too."

No! They would go with joy, secure in knowing that their parent loved them, and freely receiving the gift they had just been given.

Why do when then do this very thing to God. "Come freely into my presence. I've already made you righteous!"

"Thanks God, but I didn't deserve that, so I might just go and try to work at it myself first."

We don't wash our clothes when they are already clean. We don't scrub the dishes when they are already spotless.

And yet we try to clean our own lives - something we could never do perfectly anyway - when Gods already done it.

Or worse, we sit there, giving up, thinking our lives will always be hopelessly dirty - and don't notice that Gods already saved and redeemed us.

Would they child, the room cleaned for them, then stay home and not even bother going to the party?

You can say all you like that real life is more complicated than the simple analogy I'm making, that's its not that easy.

But I believe, at the core of it, it is. It's that simple. God has paid the price. It's already done.

Accept it, like a child. Accept the gift, the joy, the peace. Let God deal with the complicated parts of your life. Just take the Grace.

Revival begins in the heart

If you are praying for revival for your town, your city, your nation chances are you are looking around for signs of it in your churches.

Can I suggest stop looking around, and look inside yourself. Stop looking at revival as coming from the outside, and look at your heart.

Revival begins in the heart. Look there for revival.

Not only yours of course, but yours is the one you have a stake in. Your heart is the one God wants to work on with you.

We tend to look around at what God is outwardly doing with everyone else to see signs of Him moving, of a revival stirring. But long before we see that, I believe God has started a revival in our hearts first.

That's how God works. From the inside out. He often heals our hearts before our bodies. He changes our attitudes before our circumstances. He renews our thoughts before giving us action.

And don't you want a heart revival first anyway? If we are looking for a revival that is more than just a power show, that's more than just a way to make church life more exciting, that's more than just a fun time for Christians - if we want a revival that sets fire to our lives, that changes us and then change e world...


It's got to start in your heart.

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

Seems like a no brainer...

If someone offered me this choice...

Option 1- You can be sick for 20 years, but then possibly healthy for the rest of your life

OR

Option 2 - be healthy and vital for 20 years starting now, and then even more healthy for the rest of your life.

No brainer, right?

Why would you choose to stay sick and have only the possibility of health, when you could choose health now and forever?

And if you were able to pass this choice on, to give others the chance to choose one of those two options for themselves, how would you present it?

"There's these two options, pretty much 50/50 which way you might want to go. I'm not going to sway you either way."

No, I'd be saying - "look at what you can get! Look at option 2! I picked it, it's fantastic! You should definitely do it!"

Yet, substitute that choice of physical health with Jesus and spiritual life, and I feel like we are acting like the choice is not so obvious. In fact, sometimes I feel like Christians are selling the idea that being a Christian is more like option 1 - "Be a Christian. Life doesn't look much different to before - except you can't do the "fun" stuff and have to sit through church every Sunday - but you might get to heaven one day..."

Why are we doing this? Why aren't we shouting from the roof tops about this choice we made that gave us abundant life, now and forever!?

Maybe because we haven't actually received it. Consequently we deep down feel like really 'selling' Christianity as option 2 would be false advertising.

We haven't realised ourselves that being a Christian is option 2, not option 1. We haven't realised that the Kingdom of God is now, not only a dim, distant future. We haven't realised what the Kingdom of God being here now really means!!

That's not God's fault. It's not because we made the choice but then found it wasn't real. God is ready and willing to come through, and give us the life we chose.

A lot of us just haven't taken it yet. Maybe we think it looks too good to be true - to receive abundant life, with no catch. That's what grace is.

Receive Jesus. Life changed. No catch.

But until we realise the truth of Jesus, we're never going to sell anyone else on the idea.

And even more, when you do realise it - when you do choose Jesus and accept the life-heart-spirit changing gift of grace - you don't have to "sell" anyone. You won't have to convince anyone, make the best argument, throw in a few sweeteners to get them to 'buy'...

Your changed life will be the only thing they need to see. There won't even be a choice. They'll want that life and love that flows out of you straight from the throne room...

It will be a no brainer.

Is Jesus enough?

The book Pagan Christianity is an interesting, and for some, a challenging look at the origins of the modern Protestant church traditions and structure. While some find it controversial or dismiss it, I feel no one can deny the main point is true - our modern church looks very little like the early church as it began at Pentecost.

This can be - and should be - challenging when we compare how we 'do church' now and ask ourselves why this is.

Even though I loved the book, I wouldn't advocate (and I don't think the book is advocating this either) just chucking everything we have now out.... Not yet, anyway..... and I wouldn't say the traditions or structure we have now are inherently wrong even if they did have roots in pagan or other customs. But I definitely think as Christians we should all be aware of where our traditions and current church structure comes from, and recognise them as just that - man made traditions and world-imitating structure.

I think this is hard to grapple with for some people. It feels foundation shaking to suggest removing the system they are comfortable with. It is tempting to say we 'need' these rules and structures we have in place within churches otherwise people would do whatever they want, or things may fall apart.

And maybe that is true as things currently stand. Take the hierarchy and policies out of the church organizations and many people would struggle.

But I would suggest, if chaos insued, that is only because we have set it up to be that way - to rely on the hierarchy and system to keep us going.

And what does that say about our faith, if taking away the 'system' and the rules would cause us to fall apart? Do we rely on the pastor to make us a Christian? Do we rely on the system to show us to live? Do we rely on the rules to know how to treat people? Do we rely on the building to know God? Are our foundations on anything other than Jesus?

If we say "we need the structure" then we are essentially saying yes - we are saying we don't know how to be a Christian without the organisation we call church....

We are saying Jesus isn't enough!!

We aren't alone in this. The Israelites did the same thing to God all those years ago. They said He wasn't good enough as their King. They wanted a human king, just like everyone else. They didnt want to be different.

Have we done the same? Have we brought the worlds customs, structures and heirarchical systems into the church because we are more comfortable that way? Because we don't want to be different?

I suspect it is because being different requires much more active effort. It's not always comfortable. And it doesn't allow for passivity.

Are we allowing the pastor to run our faith for us? Are we relying on the structure to help us live as Christians?

Or are we relying on Jesus as Lord of our lives? Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to empower our faith? Are we trusting that God knows how to build his church better than we do?

If we took away everything else holding us up - is Jesus enough?

God Doesn't Play Limbo

He'd dominate celebrity heads, and may or may not play monopoly, but God doesn't play limbo.

Seeing how low we can set the bar and still get away with it purely the domain of us humans.

How little housework can I do and get away with it.

What's the least amount of time I have to spend on others, and still be seen as a good person.

What's the least amount of work I can do, and still get paid / pass this course / be liked...

When I was in Uni I remember going over the English assignments and exams I had for the year, and calculating exactly how few books I would have to read off the syllabus and the minimum marks on each I would need to still pass the course.

I'm not saying everyone does this with everything, but I think most people do it at some point, with something. And even if we conquer this habit, we frequently transfer this human mindset on to our perception of God.

Sure God wants to heal us, but he's going to get away with as little healing as possible... so I won't ask for or expect too much. Just make me a feel a little bit better for today, ok?

Sure God loves us, but He's going to see how little He can get away with showing it, and still have us appreciate Him. So I'll try and be good, and hope I get a bit of that love.

Sure God cares about us, but probably can't be bothered doing too much for me, so I'll only bother him with the big stuff that I can't handle myself.

Sure God can do miracles, but he'll just see how little he can get away with and still impress us, so maybe if you just... help me find my lost keys? That'll do. 

It kind of seems ridiculous when you lay it out, that we expect so little from God, the One who spoke the expansiveness and diversity of the universe into being, who created us with His own hands, who breathed life into us, who sent His son to die for us and save us, sinners,  from death.

Why would he love us so lavishly, to then just sit back and leave us to our own devices, only helping us out if we ask really nicely?

That's the sort of thing we do, in our weakness - give a good effort and then hope that will tide us over with people for a while. 

But God doesnt get tired or jaded like us. He's not selfish or bitter. Hes not about half hearted or the bare minimum.

No. God has lavished His love on us

The greek word is Perisseuo - "exceeding the requirements, of overflowing or overdoing. It means to exceed a fixed number of measure, to be left over and above a certain number or measure. It means to have or to be more than enough, to be extremely rich or abundant. To exceed or remain over (as used in loaves left over after feeding the 5000 [Mt 14:20]! When Jesus supplies there is more than enough so that some is even left over! How quick we are to forget this basic principle!) The idea is to overflow like a river out of its banks!"

He's not trying to see how little He can do for us and get us to still love Him. No, he wants to give lavishly, more than we can imagine, far more than we deserve. He's challenging us every day, not to see how much we will do without, but how much more we will have the faith to ask for.

We mostly have no idea of the love, blessings, power and grace God wants to give you, so we don't really know how to ask for it.

If this is you, if you have been putting human limits on our all powerful God, setting the bar low on your spiritual life, its time to expect more.

Seek more of God, ask God to raise the bar.

I think if we all learn to let go of our self imposed limits on who God is and what He wants to do, we will be overwhelmed by how lavish He will be!!

Did God really say...?

Those four little words, introduced in Eden, have been plaguing our thoughts ever since.

Any time we feel God asking something challenging of us, we hear "Did God really say..." - and I'll bet I'm not the only one tempted to listen.

Or I'll say Yes, but only a 95% yes. The other 5% I've kept back, just incase I think of a way to get out of it in time.

But when confront with the temptation to justify, argue and reason our way out of obedience - sometimes we just have to say YES

And mean it.

Not, "Sure, God, I'll do that" *

*...but you don't really mean it, right?

Really completely surrendering to God's will, whatever it is, can be hard. It is hard to silence the voices and arguments and justifications as to why that can't really be God's will, why there must be a way around it, why we're not sure if we really heard Him, so we won't really commit.

The danger of "Did God really say..."

Think of Abraham. When God asked him to sacrifice his long-awaited son, Abraham must have had reservations. The understatement of the Bible makes it seem like Abraham just got up and did it without much delay. But I can't imagine the man who negotiated with God about Sodom and Gomorrah not having any second thoughts or hesitations, about his own son!

He would have been tempted to justify to himself, to reason it away. God gave me this son, promised him to me, surely he wouldn't want to take him away? I'm sure he would have come up with some pretty compelling reasons as to why sacrificing his own son was not really what God wanted.

Abraham would have been sorely tempted by "Did God really say...?"

And yet he went. He said Yes, and he meant it. No matter how much he would have hoped there was another way, he was willing to obey anyway. To the full extent. If God hadn't stayed his hand, Abraham would have carried through with it.

Chances are, what God is asking us to do hasn't come close to the level of sacrificing our only child any time recently. And yet we are still tempted by "Did God really say...?"

We are tempted to withhold our complete submission, our complete trust, our complete Yes.

It is not a sin to want or ask for a different way. Jesus himself asked for it. But don't let that turn into disobedience. We have to really be willing to give it all, even if we think it's going to cost us dearly.

And we can do it with confidence. Because we know God is just, loving and compassionate. He will always do what is right, good and fair. Even if it hurts in the short term, it will have eternal benefits in the long run. We can trust Him with that - we have to trust Him with that, because to our limited sight, we can't see the big picture like He does. We don't often know what the full outcome of our obedience or disobedience will be.

There have been times when I have been terribly afraid to do something that I knew God had been asking me to do. Sometimes I have justified my way out of it. Given in to "Did God really say..." and missed out. But other times - though I certainly argued first - I have said Yes, without keeping anything back. I'm scared, but I'll do whatever you ask.

Sometimes God has gotten me out of it, at the last minute, like Abraham. Sometimes I've had to go through with it, but have found the outcome of that obedience has results that far outweigh the fear and discomfort of actually following through.

So we say Yes, fully. We take that step of faith and let God help us with the doubts and fears.

Because in the end, everything works together for good. You don't know what God will do.

For Abraham, God spared Isaac. Jesus still had to take our sin on the cross - but aren't we glad he meant it when he said "Not my will, but yours" even in the face of "Did God really say..."

"6 Ways to Kick Fear and Anxiety in the Teeth"

"Borrowed" from Sammy A

This is not my list, but I always figure why reinvent the wheel when someone else has written something that already sums up what I would say myself.

" Posted this on twitter yesterday and it seemed to resonate with some folks so I thought I'd share it on Facebook. Not sure who this is for but here goes. 

Every time I speak, I feel inadequate/nervous or prideful so I wrote these 6 things down in my phone so I can read, remember and meditate on them right before I go on stage: 

1) Be humble: Remember that this is SO much bigger than u. It's not your story. You're not the star of the show. Jesus is.

2) Be faithful: Remember that small is always big in God's story. Do the best that you can with what God has given you. Swing for the fences

3) Have Faith: Remember that God is always working whether u see it or not. He can do more than u can imagine. Play & let him keep the score

4) You're called: Remember that the God of the universe is FOR YOU. He's in your corner. He's in you. He gifted & called you to do this.

5) Take Delight: Remember to have fun. Don't take yourself too seriously. Enjoy God by enjoying what he gifted u to do. It's ok to have fun

6) Holy Spirit: Remember that nothing you do or say matters without him. Only the Spirit of God can change hearts. Good news: He wants to.

There u go folks. 6 things I read from my phone before I speak. Steal it, rip it, make it better. Use it when voices of doubt/fear creep up.

Question: which one did you need to hear or have the hardest time remembering? "


For me, it's every single one! I have always struggled with fear when it comes to doing anything that might put me in the spotlight. I would stay home from school to try and avoid having to give a speech. If I even answered a question and everyone turned to look at me, I'd go red. 

And now, I'm much more comfortable with the distance created by a computer screen, that talking face to face. But I feel God calling me to speak up... and it's a little terrifying.

But I've got to remember - it's not about me. I'm not trying to bring glory to myself, but to God. And God doesn't get tongue tied.

I can't be half hearted, just so I've got something to blame failure on. Go big and take the risk.

What looks small to me in the natural, can mean big things for the Kingdom of God.

God is for me. He's not setting me up for humiliation. (So any humiliation I feel is another issue I need to take to God.)

It is fun. It is a joyful thing to be used by God, to rely on Him fully. 

The Holy Spirit does the work, creates the change and draws people. Not me. 

I can relax!