Rich Man, Poor Man

I Timothy 6 makes for an interesting discussion on the danger of desiring riches. I think the passage probably lines up pretty well with Paul's warnings regarding marriage, namely that the money or the marriage are not always an evil in themselves, but they can rob you of your devotion to God. Both have their own lure and do indeed provide some level of legitimate satisfaction. But at what price? The real issue here is the ability to draw boundary lines, to know how much to enjoy and where to limit the insatiable attitude of our flesh. Let's face the fact right up front: to live a healthy and pure Christian life, something must die. It took me a long time to accept that, but there is unquestionably a time in all of our lives where we want something really badly and we just know we shouldn't pursue it. There's a time where pursuit of that enjoyment is good and healthy and where the thing we chase not only consumes us but also proves unattainable, leaving our chase fruitless. And indeed as this argument comes back full circle, we find that things like marriage and money serve only to enhance our lives - they actually don't fulfill like we imagined they might.

A Cloudy Heart

You have some days where things just don't make sense and click together like the pieces of a puzzle that neatly interlock and form a picture. It's like looking at clouds in the sky. You try and look for patterns, shapes, representations that mean something, but clouds are scattered, unpredictable and constantly moving and changing shape. Even when they form a neat shape for a moment, the moment is soon gone. Sure, clouds can be beautiful and when they are wrapped around the sun, especially at sunsets, the colours become beautiful, but sometimes it's just overcast and the emotions are either overwhelming or just confusing. I have days like this and I guess there's not always much to do about it. Sometimes negative emotions are there for a reason and with a bit of thought or analysis you can see their source and change them. Beyond that, the best thing is to just reach up and hold onto God - reach in faith to the sun that is behind the clouds. You may not feel like you can see Him at the time, but your past experiences of a clear day leave you assured that He's there and in time you will see Him in full view again.

Trench Warfare

Marriage, that is. Well, certainly that was the image I got from reading Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus. It's a great book with great success in helping married couples pull through, but looking in from the outside as an inveterate single, I couldn't help coming away with the impression that marriage is tough work. I don't doubt it either. Immediately I have to ask what value it has then? Obviously a book like this is not written to address the beauty of marriage - that should be self-evident to those in a successful marriage. The underlying message in writing a book like this is that marriage is such a wonderful and important institution that it is worth finding a way to preserve a marriage, rather than surrender to divorce and its ugly scars. I'll go one step further and say that to me the most beautiful type of love is not so much the blossoms that come out in the spring as much as the wonderful commitment that pulls a couple through the winter. In fact, the spring becomes more beautiful because of the winter, and the very thought of spring is what pulls us through.

Christian in Training

1 Timothy 4 delivers an incredible exhortation, that serves only to confirm something that at times you begin to doubt: that walking the talk can be tough business. When you try to live out the Christian life, there are so many times when you begin to say: this is unreal, how can it be so tough? Maybe I must be doing something wrong. You find yourself not running away from temptation as fast. You slip and take a few steps back, and it takes a while before you finally see the folly of your ways and you start to crave the purity you once had. And the cycle continues again as you once again realise just how tough the discipline is. In this light, it's heartening to read Paul's encouragement to Timothy: train yourself to be Godly. I guess we don't always appreciate the beauty of godliness until we've seen the miry clay of sin. Yes, the Holy Spirit enables us and we cannot manage without grace, but that grace only enables us to reach further, not to reach without even trying.

The Compatible Gospel

There's a big attempt in contemporary evangelism to make it more palatable to the general population - to make it look like something you can add onto your present lifestyle, something a little less uncomfortable. It was pointed out to me that we need to make a point of remembering that we as Christians are nothing special (the inference being to point to God). I appreciate the attitude of humility but Jesus said we are the salt of the earth and asks who lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl. Truth is: we are different and we as Christians are not different then of what value are we to the world really? Likewise, for many people who need to hear the Gospel, they don't need a Gospel that's compatible to where they are, because where they are is a mess. They need something to pull them up and out of where they are. They need to be saved, saved from something. The Gospel is unique in its accessibility, but its power is not that it's compatible but that it transforms.

Hope is Letting Go

The UK church has become disillusioned to the point of hopelessness. In the context of a wider society, the church is looking for hope. The extremes of Christianity, obedience and exclusivity, have been deemed too uncomfortable and inappropriate for the outside world, and issues such as fornication, homosexuality and the drinking culture have been glossed over in the search for hope. The reality is that hope and obedience go hand in hand. I use the analogy of lifesaving at sea. It is a known principle that when those who are being rescued try to help the rescuer by kicking or fighting the sea actually make it more difficult for both and endanger both lives. The rescue is easier when one just cooperates and the rescuer does the work. Here is the ugly truth: we don't always know what's best for us. Funny that Hollywood has tried very hard to preach the opposite, that kids shouldn't always obey their parents because their parents actually don't always know (Billy Elliot, etc). In surrender to God we submit to One who actually does know the best, and when we realise and accept that, then we have the peace and the hope everyone hungers after.