Follow the way of love, the example of Christ who loves you

Some parts of the bible seem to speak to me because of their brevity and truth. It seems God's first messengers discovered a penchant for text message length 'sayings' long before we did. I think some of this is due to God's clarity in communication. He doesn't like to beat around the bush. But quite often these short sayings are really a summary of a longer teaching and meditation on them opens the mind to a whole profound and rich area of thinking.

At an evening meeting this week we used a reading  from Ephesians 5, out of it I plucked the sentence   ^"Follow the way of love, the example of Christ who loved you" - and have been thinking about it since.

It is a phrase that needs unpacking. What for example is the "Way of Love" that is referred to? Love after all is a many faceted thing.  But  Gods way of loving is to show his abundant love to all of humankind, and even creation. This love manifests itself as a sort of unfathomable good will shown to all without exception. This is because God wants the whole of creation to succeed and flourish, including you and me, and also the extreme poor as well as the rich. This demonstrates that the economy of God's world operates differently to the economy of the commercial world.  Life in all it's entirety is given without charge and the conditions to sustain it come readily from the world's resources. And what God requires of us in recompense for all this is that we too should be just as loving in our turn. A radical thought. That we should love in the same unconditional way that God has already loved us.

"Follow the way of love" -then can mean then that we should live our lives with the same kind of radical good will that God manifests. To have an automatic care and concern for other people that is contrary to the way that the world looks at things.  This is the sort of love that Jesus showed after all.  How challenging that is!

The world says charge for everything! Sell your labour and your produce for a good price. Sell your second hand goods. But what God wants for us is subsistence in material terms and super abundance in mercy, love and kindness.

We love a God who challenges us not only to love the loveable but also to turn our efforts to love even our enemies! The way of love challenges us to have a complete heart conversion. “If you happen to see your enemy's cow or donkey running loose, take it back to him. If his donkey has fallen under its load, help him get the donkey to its feet again; don't just walk off. Exodus 23:4-5 GNB

Whereas the prophets challenge those who are rich even further, telling us to not be stingy. Amos particularly warns against over harvesting the world's resources if that means leaving nothing for the poor to pick up. In God's law the gleanings were to be left for the poor.

The way of love requires us to hear the cry of the poor. To no longer live in the hardness of heart that makes us deaf to their appeals.

Dear Jesus, you called me out my darkness. I have been tempted to continue walking in the dark. I have fooled myself into thinking it was easy for you because you are the Son of God. But now I see how completely you surrendered to the will of the father. Call me out of the darkness of my selfishness into your wonderful light. Give me an experience of your love so that I may share it to the ends of the earth. My brother, my saviour Amen 

"Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD." Isaiah 50:10-11

Watching for the invitation

There have been times in my life when I haven't believed in God. But somehow God has always brought me back to himself. How this happens is I think through the invitation of God. He continually invites us into relationship with him. In my unbelief I always stumble upon one of these "invitations" and can't help but respond.

Jesus is one of these invitations. If we study his life and sayings, his behaviour. What he says and does is so extraordinary that it stands out that he is quite unlike any other prophet that ever lived. This is because he ministers to us as God among us. His ministry goes beyond that of prophet. He is messiah, king, Son of God, teacher, revolutionary all rolled nto one.

Other invitations can from friends or family or circumstances of our life. One musician was converted when he was gazing at a painting in a church. Somehow God chose that moment to break through. 

We are told in the psalms "the fool has said in his heart there is no God." This seems harsh in some ways. But I think that depends on how we think about it. My feeling is that it means that we are a fool to deprive ourselves of the good that true faith in God can bring into our lives. What good do we do ourselves to deny God a chance to speak into our life. Especially if when he does come near he brings good gifts which enrich our love.

The words of one of Jesus followers always stick in my memory as a kind of prayer of belief and praise.

Simon Peter, says to Jesus "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.  And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God." John 6:68-69 GNT

Dear Lord, I pray that I may see your invitations to me and respond. Your presence can rescue me  from despair and bring me into fullness of life.

Be still and know that I am God

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth." The Lord  Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46:10-11 NIV

It has been a bit of a weird week. There has been a lot of training activity and a lot of things to absorb. At the end of my running around I realise that mostly accidently my quiet time has been missed.

What is interesting to me is that I can already feel that I am off kilter, slightly away from my proper path. I am a morning person so my normal habit is to pray in the morning. For me it allows a sense of peace to enter my life. And a chance to "centre down" as some people say and listen to God and let him speak into my life. Now that I realise this I have resolved to get back on track.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a Saint or anything. Just an every day sinner who has discovered that life is better when you pray. Sin separates us from God, so prayer restores us and narrows the gap between us.

As it says in the reading above "be still and know that I am God" - it might take us years to learn that fact, but learn it we should.

If today you feel ragged inside your mind, or distracted, or unhappy. I beg you turn today to your Lord and your God. Experiment at first if you like, especially if you don't believe me.

Find somewhere quiet if you can. Turn your phone off or at least put it on silent. Sit there and say to God, "here I am" that's the hardest part just getting to that point. After that read a psalm or just listen. You need to experiment with what works best for you. But remember it's about slowing down and letting God speak into your life. The more you do it the better you will feel. But it's not just about feelings. Somehow in the quietness God comes in and instructs us and loves us.

For reflection:
The Lord  said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord , for the Lord  is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord , but the Lord  was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord  was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord  was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 1 Kings 19:11-13 NIV

High Fidelity

"love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil hold onto what is good" Romans 12 GNB

There are two ongoing media stories at the moment about integrity in public life. Mit Romney in the USA has been exposed this week at a briefing to rich donors to his party. His video comments reveal what he really thinks about the voters and how he is likely to serve the rich in preference to the poor. No surprises there I can almost hear you say.

The other story is about "thrasher" Mitchell who seems have treated the Police on duty at Downing St with utter contempt. It appears of course that he is suffering a superiority complex.

Both were speaking away from the public forum and didn't expect media attention.

These have set me thinking about the problem we all have between what we profess and what we do. To those who follow Christ there are instructions! These should guide us and challenge us to gradually change.

I called this blog "High Fidelity" because we are called to fidelity or faithfulness to God's plan. God doesn't have favourites. The poor are just as important to him as the rich. The Lord hears the "cry of the poor" and of the 'broken hearted" and that is how we should be too.

God wants us to be deeply anchored in what is good. We need to keep that thought in our head. To try and let his goodness invade and change our heart. It isn't easy and we must be realistic about it and acknowledge that we will fail. But Christianity allows us to live beyond failure - by holding onto good we see beyond our failures and acknowledge that the human heart is born to be noble. The good in people generally outweighs the evil that they do. As it says in John's gospel "the light is stronger than the darkness."

Of course we can never condone or excuse sin in ourselves or others. In ourselves we need to bring it to the light and change.

We are however still called to love the person who sins. We can love them without condoning or agreeing to their sin.

Our sincere love needs to avoid self congratulation. We need purity of intention. Sometimes we are the only people aware of our hidden sin which needs to be brought before the Lord, asking his mercy and forgiveness.

For Reflection

• "As water reflects a face, so one's life reflects the heart" Proverbs 19 NIV
• "God is near us whenever we pray to him" Deuteronomy 4 NIV
• "When you reap the harvest of  your land do not reap to the extreme limits of your field or gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 Do not strip your vineyard bare and do not gather the grapes that have fallen; leave them for the needy and the stranger. I am Yahweh, your God" Leviticus 19 Christian Community Bible

Dear Lord, you search me and you know me, your love is greater than anything I can imagine. I ask you again into in my life. Help me to commit to you. Help me to allow your love to change my heart and renew my spirit this day. Amen

"What I want is love not sacrifice" Hosea 6.6

“What I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.” Hosea 6.6 Jerusalem Bible

I feel that God this week has brought my attention back to this message from the Prophet Hosea. His insight into the heart of God has spoken to me many times over the years. It goes to the heart of our attitude to our faith and explodes our mistaken attitudes.

Our God is a patient father and likes to teach us again the lessons that we thought we already knew.This is because there is always more to learn. Or perhaps in my case because he needs to keep me on track.

I met my friend Chris for breakfast the other morning and afterwards we went for a walk by the river. It was deliberately a prayer walk so our chat turned to what God had been saying to him. We started looking at Matthew 9.9. Where God calls Levi (Matthew) the tax collector out of his booth and tells him to follow him. Almost immediately it seems Jesus falls to be criticised by the Pharisees for hanging around with tax collectors . This is his reply to the criticism  “People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick.  Go and find out what is meant by the scripture that says: ‘It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.’ I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts.”

 Most bibles show this as a quote from Hosea 6.6. Jesus quotes it to the Pharisees because it is the bible that they have supposedly studied deeply all their lives in order to qualify - and hence they should have known it thoroughly. But sometimes we can know something and not fully put it into practice.

So I am relearning Hosea this week. Jesus is saying to us that when we sin we can atone for it, make things right, by making our love evident in reality. Making our love real and not just a concept. He is saying that the old religious way of atonement, burning an animal as an offering to God is not enough.  God does not want burnt charred animals from me! He wants me to practise Love.  The kind of Love that is mercy and kindness.

A heart conversion is what is needed. Not just a physical action like burning an animal. A change of heart. To consciously be loving in our behaviour. To behave differently to those who we come across in our daily life.  This doesn't only entail being kind and merciful to those we already love but it goes wider to mean virtually anyone that we meet in our daily lives.

By doing this we can participate in redemption. We can make our day better and the day of those we meet.  It is better to build up rather than destroy.

Dear God, change my heart again. Remove any harshness from my daily transactions. Make me tender hearted and prone to kindness. Refuse any "burnt offering" from me - teach me to see through your eyes and live according to your priorities. Amen

Birthday Thoughts

Be joyful always,  pray at all times,  be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus. Do not restrain the Holy Spirit;  do not despise inspired messages.  Put all things to the test: keep what is good  and avoid every kind of evil. May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being—spirit, soul, and body—free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-23 GNT

Joyful, thankful, praying and spirit driven with an ample dollop of discerning ability! God please help me in this.  You have brought me this far on an amazing journey. I have experienced your joy and your great peace in the midst of huge variety of circumstances. But there is more! More to come and bigger steps to take.

You honour all the attempts that I make to progress in the spiritual life. No matter how tiny they have been - you have been there. Jesus my brother and friend. Leading me on in this adventure called life.

You haven't finished with me yet and I suspect that the best is yet to come, you are encouraging me to move forward in your grace. To take steps that I have never taken before.

I have come to believe in the strong power of your true love and compassion for mankind. Your unquenchable love for each and everyone of us. No exceptions. No love withheld from anyone. Your abundant love inspires me, heals me and embraces me.

Remove every proud obstacle in me that prevents me from being fully your servant. What would happen if I  simply let go and let you have your way?

Give me a servant heart O Lord, a heart that thirsts for you. With a passion for the Word of God, let me share the Good News about Jesus our saviour.

But above all I want to "Live a lovers life" as it says in scripture, to love my children, my wife, sisters and extended family with the same tender hearted love that you have for me.

Send your Spirit to us all again O Lord, Renew us again with your strong Holy Spirit power that brings with it Love, Joy and Peace. And let me be an enabler of your kingdom. Someone who doesn't restrain your Spirit but who instead brings it and unleashes it! Amen

In the past God spoke to our ancestors many times and in many ways through the prophets,  but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. He is the one through whom God created the universe, the one whom God has chosen to possess all things at the end.  He reflects the brightness of God's glory and is the exact likeness of God's own being, sustaining the universe with his powerful word. After achieving forgiveness for the sins of all human beings, he sat down in heaven at the right side of God, the Supreme Power. Hebrews 1:1-3 GNT

Stand Ready

Jesus said to his disciples:
  'Stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:42-51 JB

Stand ready then!  The invitation from Jesus is that we should not put off until tomorrow what we should be doing today. Our decision and response is invited today. Now - at this very moment we are called out of our darkness into the very presence of God our creator. The God who knows intimately what is best for us and how he can lead us into wholeness. There is no stuffiness in him just Love, pure love, for us to bathe in and receive and pass onto others. 

God is calling to you just as he did to Samuel in the Old Testament. Remember Samuel did not know that it was possible to hear the voice of God. He was Eli's servant, one night he went to bed and heard the Lord's voice when he was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Samuel thought it was his master so he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down. Again the Lord called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." Eli said, ""My son, I did not call; go back and lie down." This continued, the third time that it happened Eli realized that in fact it was the Lord God who was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

Now God had Samuel's attention he says  "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle."  It was through these first words that Samuel heard that God called him into the ministry of a prophet.

God seems to call people in ways that speak to them uniquely. So although he called to Samuel audibly with others he uses different methods adapting to the individual. To some he just gives a quiet certainty. To some he speaks to through his preachers. To some he speaks to through nature and others through art or music. 

Samuel discussed what had happened with Eli and he was guided by him with these words "He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes."  God's voice can only lead us to do good or loving actions.When we hear the Lord like Samuel we need to discern what we hear.

Our difficulty in hearing God and letting him do good in our lives is that there are counter forces at work in us.  These counter forces can let God's words to us fall to the ground. Sometimes we let our self doubt and negativity speak into our lives, telling us pernicious lies, that we are no good and that we should find our fulfilment in the very things that actually kill our spirit and make it harder for us to be happy. The voice that says to us wait until tomorrow and tomorrow before you take any action. And so our time evaporates out of our life before we can respond. 

We can erect barriers against God at the same time as paying lip service to him. I am saying this to myself as much as I am saying this to you. 

There are always areas of our life that God wants us to bring to him in honesty. When we do he will help us to move into a more loving way of being. Seemingly step by step. But if we are to "stand ready" we need to surrender what we can of the barriers to love. God will help you to change some more!

Ask yourself about these barriers

• Money - does my need to tend and protect my money prevent me from loving?
• Power - does my need to control others remove their freedom and hinder their love?
• Sex - as a sexual being am I being loving and also aware of the outcomes of my actions?
• Computer - am I losing aeons of God given time in random internet searches?
• Social Media - am I using words that build up or destroy?

There is something to be said for trying to live each day as if it was the last day on earth. If that was the case today how would you be with the above areas? Remember "stand ready" in love of the Lord.

Remember "with the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption."

Dear Lord, Forgive me for the times when I wander away from your Spirit. Help me to focus my life fruitfully on the Kingdom of God. Amen