Out With The Old

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Isaiah43:18NIV

Putting the past behind us is easier said than done. We have a tendency to beat ourselves up over some of the daft things we did during the past year and so we become our own worst enemy. I have found that our true friends have already excused and forgiven us, but in the meantime we sulk in our own self pity. Do you recognise this characteristic? I think we all share it to some degree.

I like the thought that God is already doing a new thing in our lives. That’s a good reason to let go of the past. When God is at work on our behalf, He doesn’t do anything in half measures. He is complete, and thorough. I fully know and understand that we can’t always forget, but we don’t have to rake it up and sift through the rubble, do we? Being a God of Love, He will replace all the negative things in our heart with good, positive improvements.

You have heard the old phrase, “Let go and let God”, well here it is, all clean, shiney and sparkling for the new year. Why not take God at His Word, accept and apply this promise, and I include myself in this resolution too. Paul says it in Romans in a slightly different way. All those difficulties and hard times of the past year(s) will work together to complete His purpose and plan for your life (and mine too). You see, that is a promise for the faithful believers, and that’s us. Let’s go into 2019 with these verses in our hearts and minds!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans8:28NIV

Too Late?

I think a confession is needed, and I must come clean. If I don’t do it now, I might never be able to muster the courage again. As an explanation, this ‘thing’ didn’t happen to me overnight. It took ages for me to be aware of my failing, and even then only slowly. I called it a failing, but is it? Really??

The human body grows quite slowly compared to other species on our planet. As each phase comes and is replaced by the next one, we accept the changes as necessary. We dare not go into our teen years looking and thinking like a toddler. And similarly, our ageing bodies are not as strong and cannot react the way we did in mid life. By the time we are in the ‘end of life’ phase, we do not even remotely resemble our baby self. This is progress. It’s life, and we embrace it.

Why do I not embrace the changing faith years in the same way? The baby and toddler years when proper teaching was made in simple forms, followed by the teen years when the meat of the word was essential, and outreach performed with ease. The mid life years brought a crisis of the questioning heart, not to doubt but to learn because we never want to stop growing. By the time we reach the ‘end of faith’ years, we try to grasp at the younger times when everything was simpler and easier. Salvation was contagious and churches were full with people being reborn into the Kingdom almost without effort. Simply put, I want to go back.

Here’s the problem with my analogy. Everyone born starts at the same place in growth and progress, right through to our end of life phase. Then the cycle always restarts without change and growth is guaranteed. However, the faith years are not treated in the same way. Our ‘progressive’ church leaders seem to want our successive years of growth to be constant and without repeat. Or to put it another way, each generation at their faith birth, should start where the previous generation’s end of faith years left off. Using this as a model of church growth is it any wonder that we fall short? That kind of growth cannot be sustained in either the human being, or the faith model.

My confession about being too late is this: Do I keep running on the treadmill of artificial church growth, or should I let my faith journey be what it is supposed to be at each stage? If I stay on the treadmill, the progressives will applaud, but will it grow my faith or that of my church? On the other hand if I get off the spinning wheel I will be branded as a dinosaur and no one wants that. What do you think? Is it too late to stop the treadmill and get off? At least that would be good for my blood pressure. Perhaps it might not be a bad thing to be a dinosaur after all! Another, and better question is: Can, or should we even try, to reinvent the gospel or is it fine the way it was originally given for all ages and for all time in the Bible?

One of the dictionary definitions of ‘dinosaur’ is “a person or thing that is outdated or has become obsolete because of failure to adapt to changing circumstances.”

Ever New

But if a man who is not a Christian comes to your church meeting while you are all speaking God’s Word, he will understand that he is a sinner by what he hears. He will know he is guilty. The secrets of his heart will be brought into the open. He will get on his knees and worship God. He will say, “For sure, God is here with you!”    1 Corinthians 14:24-25 NLV

We have this new idea. This is something we should try. I think this will work. All of these statements have tripped off my tongue at some time in my church life, and I have heard them, or words like them, from sincere folks who want their church to grow. We desperately want and need to be relevant we say, and that is true.

How many new ideas or programs do we use or try before we realise that church growth is just not happening? There is a saying in business that if something is not working, and there is no return on your investment efforts, you stop doing it! Then you think again and try something else. We are not good at that in church circles, are we? I think there is a fear that we might look bad by admitting that it was our new program that didn’t work.

A business would not think twice about quitting a process or program if it didn’t produce results. In truth you don’t get a different result by doing the same things over again. These thoughts have been weighty on my mind recently, and then I stumbled across this familiar verse, but in a different translation. Paul is writing to a troubled church. One that needed to grow properly, and in the truth of the gospel. The apostle’s advice went right to the heart of the issue then, and I believe it goes straight to the core of the problem today. Our churches are in trouble, and generally declining, so what do we do? We try new things. New programs. Learn new insights. Anything. But they still don’t work, so we blame society, our bad community, the members who are not trying hard enough, or are just not committed the way they should be.

Read our two verses above, and then read them twice more. Did Paul suggest a new approach to the message of the gospel? Far from it. Paul emphasised the same gospel without any frills or changes. Whether society accepts the gospel message or not, it is still the only show in town. So, let’s not keep on trying to reinvent the wheel, but get behind the only message that works consistently. Preach the gospel, and only the gospel. The same gospel your parents and grandparents heard and reacted to. When we do our part, God will do His. Then our community and visitors will make their own decision about the Word of God. They may accept it, or reject it, but that’s free will as God ordained, and nothing can alter that fact!

What, Nothing?

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV

Words written centuries ago by Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, but surely it’s different these days? We have advanced in so many ways that Solomon wouldn’t recognise. Technology, medicine, science, education, air and space travel, but are these the kinds of things Solomon was talking about? Obviously not. One thing is the same, and that is human nature. We haven’t advanced any in the things that make us ‘tick’ since the days in the garden of Eden.

The heart of men and women need something that our advanced civilisation cannot provide. How do you measure love, hate, sympathy, and all the feelings that come from within? The simple answer is that you cannot figure out these emotions using advanced science. Having said the obvious, it follows that the truth and morality of the Bible still holds today, just as it did in Solomon’s time.

We look for ways to make church more attractive, so that we can bring those ‘outside the fold’ inside. Once they are inside, we must take the next step to provide the only answer to life’s ills and disappointments and it’s the Gospel. We cannot afford to get sidetracked into spending all our time in new programs, which can be a good thing, only to fail at the most important part. The possible outcome could be a busy church, full of half hearted attenders, or a half full church of sincere Christians loving and living the Gospel in open outreach. No prizes for guessing where my vote would lie. Finally, if you say you would rather have a full church of completely committed believers, I would too, but realistically we know that would not be the likely outcome. I refer you back to the verse at the top. There is nothing new under the sun that’s going to happen to change some things, no matter what we think, hope, or trust would be for the good in our human opinion. So, who do you trust more, old Solomon or the modern day Christian psychologist?

Old Dog - New Tricks

You know how the old saying goes: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and it may be true for some, but I would suggest that ‘Old dogs’ (like me) would sometimes do well to go back and relearn some of those ‘old tricks’ we had once known and mastered many years before. Tradesmen use the term: “Measure twice, cut once” and the sense is obvious. You can’t undo the cut.

In general, older, more mature folks find it more difficult to adapt to change or learn new things. That could be why they are the hardest group to convince of new ideas in a church setting. But let’s be kind. Older folks have also been around the block a few times, and they have already seen some well meant changes that didn’t succeed. In fact the more appropriate phrase “crash and burn” comes to mind, and in the effort to avoid it happening again, along with the loss of some good friends and members, they are loathe to go down that road again until they are sure of success. A big part of this reluctance lies behind the definition of ‘success’. It is going to take a good argument, and a gentle push for that to happen a second time.

One of the best lessons I learned in life, was to wait a second or two before giving my first answer in response to a question. Especially one that pushes my buttons and gets my dander up. It happens. Right? And nowhere more so than on social media because each side is safely tucked behind their laptop or phone screen. Blind to the prospect of the return salvo which causes more harm than good. Sure, you got it out of your system, but the one who responds sees it as more than that. They may see it as a personal slight. Of the hundreds of people who would see the offending post, that one person will see it as deliberately aimed at them. Sadly, we were not one step ahead in our thinking when we pressed the ‘send’ button, and a few seconds of serious thought could have avoided the ‘atmosphere’ now descending on your relationship.

The lesson? Whether personally, or in a group, measure twice, and cut once!

In My Day

In my day, the summers were warmer, the snow was whiter in winter, people were kinder and didn’t need to lock their doors, neighbours were friendlier, school produced better citizens who could spell and read, times were tough but we were survivors, friends stuck together, and the list could go on. It often does.

Then there’s Church. Church was better, more active, more members, with better hymns and not these too loud modern songs, lots out midweek, piano and organ, no guitars and certainly no drums, lives changed at an altar of prayer, great saintly examples, a church board of stalwarts, pastors called, who preached and visited on a very low wage, tithes and offerings given freely for growth of the Kingdom, and again the list could go on. It often does.

It is important that I don’t fall into the ‘grumpy old man’ trap, where everything old was good, and everything new is bad. One sure way to turn folks off at any age, is to be a know-it-all, and try to make things look better if seen through my eyes. It doesn’t work. In fact, Jesus was, is, and always will be truth, so what was done in the past will remain if it is of God, and this is also true of today. The good will persist, and the bad will fall away like ‘snow aff a dyke’ as we say in Scotland. You and I need to be sure we are on the right side of truth. That’s all. It’s that simple, so let’s not get hung up on what the youth are doing in church today, and take more care over our own example and up to date testimony. God will be our judge, and theirs, in all things old or new!

Leave them alone. If their plan is something they thought up, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You might even be fighting against God himself! Acts 5:38,39

Out With The Old!

Well that’s part of our journey over for another year. What will you remember most from the past 12 months? For many there have been relationship troubles, illnesses, bereavement, hardship, and money worries. For some, maybe all of these have affected their year, and that is not easy to bear. Even though there may have been some highs, most look forward to starting the next year afresh. We want to make a better job of our life, and a new year is a good place to begin.

There are many things we have no control over, and if you look over the list in the last paragraph, you will see what I mean. So I think if we are going to be serious about making a fresh start, it must be in something we do have control over. We tend to look for the big things that need to be changed, but sometimes it’s the little things which mean a lot as the old song says.

If we are really fortunate we might stumble across a small thing which will make big differences, and those new and better big changes will start to fall like dominoes. We have to look no further than the words of Jesus, and where better to start at the new year. His words have eternal value, and it does us good when we heed them, so how about this little change for starters? While you are at it, take good note of the words “new” and “must”. Obviously Jesus thought this new command was important, and we should treat it as important too.

I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other just as I loved you. John 13:34

Are you up for it? Let’s give it a try. Better still, let’s give Jesus a try in our lives and see the difference a little love in the right attitude makes. Have a Happy New Year 2017!

Out With The Old

So don’t remember (dwell on) what happened in earlier times. Don’t think about what happened a long time ago, because I am doing something new! Isaiah 43:18,19

We all go through periods of change, and we always know it will be for the better. Change is needed because we have built up habits over a period of time, and they are not good for our body, emotions, or spirit. In the quiet times we sometimes get in this busy world, the truth crashes in on us. We have been living in the past, and have not moved on.

Have you ever heard yourself saying, “It wasn’t like that when I was a child”, or “Those were the good old days and I wish they were back”, or maybe even, “I remember when the church was full, and there were great times of blessing.” I have, have you? But it never helps, does it? No never! The verse says it clearly. The prophet knew how we thought, even way back then, and it remains the same today. We long for the safety of the past.

If we are told not to dwell on the past, how do we help to shape the present, and therefore the future for our children and grandchildren?

I like the way the following verse catches the theme. The good times in the past were not related to the money we had, or the house we lived in, or the church we attended. It had everything to do with the heart of the people, and of the condition of our own heart. I suggest when we are tempted to think and dwell on the olden days, ask yourself about the state of your heart, and my heart too. Is our heart unfeeling, like a stone, or soft and responsive, like a living heart of flesh? May we all pray for the loss of our stony heart, to be replaced by a tender, human heart that Ezekiel talks about.

I will also put a new spirit in you to change your way of thinking. I will take out the heart of stone from your body and give you a tender, human heart. Ezekiel 36:26