Keep it Simple

There is a lot in the media that is good but most of it is rubbish. If you are caught up in the daily grind of a hand to mouth existence, it might be a release; a hope, or an irrelevance. The media can educate and inform and has the potential to do great good. But most of it is trivial twaddle.

Outwardly our attitude to the media is prayerful and critical. We campaign to protect the vulnerable and the abused and sound warnings when boundaries are breached: a prophetic voice understood within each culture. The shared values of our nation drives us to engage prophetically with our culture so that we can pray into it and bring healing in the name of Jesus.

As individuals our stand is important. Our priority is a deep relationship with God with no space for escapism from the moment by moment engagement of this relationship. Jesus is our Lord and our maker and no time is not his time. He knows and he searches us, purifying us as we turn to him through his grace. He loves us unconditionally.

Things aren't easy. We will have to make tough decisions. We might actually find ourselves outside where we would hope to be. The problem is we are super affluent and we live in a hugely rich culture saturated by the media. We barely have time to stop and think. Am I happy? We're often so tired and don't consider our own well-being. Our work places demands on us and makes us machines for the system. This is the curse we are under and wealth doesn't make it any easier. In fact Jesus warns us that being rich makes it harder.

Somehow in the midst of all this affluence we need to keep ourselves centred on God. Blessings are promised to the poor in spirit so it will help if we can simplify our lives. God has made the sacrifice so that in Jesus this is possible. Being in Jesus we are enabled to be part of the system but detached from it. In Jesus we can face the media with wisdom.

Fresh, Real Coffee

I breakfasted this morning thinking about the grace of God and living this life in a world he loves but is under his judgement. Thoughts of refining fire were in my head and perfecting through suffering.

However my attention was quickly drawn to the coffee I was about to make. There were enough grounds left for one brew. In the past this would have been a bad moment and making the coffee an act of frugality, because the grounds would have lost their savour. But we have been drinking more coffee recently and the grounds still had a pleasing aroma. I enjoyed my cup of coffee, made with the care of experience, familiarity with the process and understanding of the importance of warming the pot and the grounds and not pouring on boiling water.

The grace of God enables us to come to God and experience his refreshing touch in simple ways. Overindulgence often can bring dryness but in Christ there is always the anticipation of freshness as we are careful to seek and know a deeper revelation of our need and God's provision. The coffee reminded me of the importance of spending time with God regularly and the reassurance that this would not become a stale experience, in fact it will teach me to be who God wants me to be and give me the time to reflect on what he wants me to do.

With God there is the fire of judgement and refining but also the coolness of the garden where God expresses his special care and where, a friend reminded me this morning, God can tend to the planting which is his word in our hearts, so that we can be fitted for the very real hostilities of the world. Then we can carry the fresh winsome aroma of the garden that is the work of God in us to those in need of the refreshing forgiveness of God.

Darwin

I listened recently to Tim Keller's sermon on good, evil and suffering and was very taken by his clarity. His take on the violence of nature set me thinking.
Darwin is being remembered this year. He is the father of modern Biology and his synthesis of what he understood he was observing and the philosophy of those around him has come to be a truth of our time.
Natural Selection is a soulless mechanism, driving nature to persevere in, exploit and adapt to environments. Nature is violent, and the strong and fittest are able to exploit and master their environments often to the detriment of other organisms.
In effect, Darwinism provides an ugly truth, driving the natural and social order we see. God is taken out of the picture and so provision is replaced by competition and what should be opposed tolerated. The surface truth becomes the truth.
It is true that each of us and every organism is a miracle of survival and according to Darwinism our existence marks us out as being in the lineage of the strong; we owe our existence to the robustness of our genes and our posterity depends on us being able to pass on the information we have received. We are the successful.
Yet deep down we sense a purpose beyond this scenario. Intuition points us to this being a surface truth. Our awareness of ourselves and this inbuilt knowledge indicates a significance to our lives that is deeper than Darwinism describes. Indeed we behave and act as if every moment matters and is significant; we care.
It is a rare person who dispenses with our sense of humanity; justice, beauty and mercy, for the sake of the doctrine of the survival of the fittest. But this humanity is of little purpose if nature is all there is and is actually dangerous if it impedes the progress of the strongest. It spells our doom. If our purpose is to adapt to survive and Darwinism is our root belief, it is folly to resist this and the individual must be sacrificed for the greater good, which is served best through the preservation of the freedoms of the strong. That is natural justice. But actually we hate those who appease evil and disdain those who acquiesce to wrong doing for the greater good. Nixon famously believed that as president he was above the law and we think him sick, deluded by paranoia.
Darwinism does not give us the answers to our intuition that we have significance. Without God, Darwinism has been used to legitimise the worst atrocities and philosophies the past 200 years have had to offer; Marxism, Nazi ism, racism and eugenics.
If my friend suffers I will not succumb to fatalism, I will fight for his life, and I will not abandon him or God because I reason I am more than flesh. To think otherwise I think is delusional.

Ripples

Hebrews 11:24-26 (ESV) ²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

This New Testament quote sees the ripples of Christ's life and sacrifice moving through time, so that the choices Moses made were for Christ.

John, speaking of the beast says;

Revelation 13:8 (ESV) and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.

And we see again that the sacrifice of Jesus ripples back even before time. This revelation we have of Christ now, is an eternal reality revealed to us in the present. To take this in, we touch the limits of our ability to comprehend God.

In each of us is the Image of God and we live purposeful lives, glorifying God's glorious choice to give us life. God created Adam, and the consequences of his sin ripple into our lives and back into the very fabric of the creation. In Christ is our salvation; before time began a book of life contained our names! Christ's sacrifice ripples through all time and before time began.

Confronted with this mystery, words feel hollow and fall so far short of the Truth that is God.
Nothing can make this knowledge real other than experiencing God himself, knowing our need of a saviour and experiencing the forgiveness and healing in the Cross; Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

After Job's comforters spoke, God spoke and Job cried;

Job 42:1-6 (ESV) ¹ Then Job answered the Lord and said: ² "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ³ 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ⁴ 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.' ⁵ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; ⁶ therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Truly sorry for our sins, we believe in Christ and are saved by his blood, are made holy by his sacrifice and finally we receive the gift of eternal life in him.