Closer!

Yes, after some time thinking over many things that have happened recently, I find myself closer than before. The thoughts that had previously passed through my mind before now were not the only reason, and are but a small part of my journey. I don’t know if I will hurt anyone, I hope not, as this was never my intention. And anyway, this might not get past the thought process, or be a permanent or final situation.

What could be so important to me that would cause such heart and thought wrenching? Let me ask you, what kind of situation generally speaking, would cause you most grief? For me, that would be family whether direct or indirect, including my chosen church family. In each case, we are close, and in each case I would never want to hurt anyone at any level. But that may not be possible.

Having been an active part of my church for over 55 years, it does not come easy to switch allegiance. But what would make me do this, let alone consider it? If I am being open and honest, there are a few and enough to list. Some small and incidental, and sadly some which are bigger, and ones I have tried to ignore. Some at my General church level, and others at a local church level. Funnily enough it’s not usually the big issues that cause most trouble, it’s the annoying niggles that won’t go away, and that itch which needs to be scratched.

Just for the record, I am fully aware that no church is perfect. That said, there are some less imperfect than others, also those that would possibly differ in theology, doctrine, or more likely the (non) practice of their stated beliefs. Since God looks on the heart, He will look beyond the outer appearance of any church or person, but more importantly see the motivation of each heart.

The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1Samuel16:7NLT

However it is equally important to balance that truth with the verse which tells us that it’s also what is in the heart, that comes out in our actions. (There may be little in the heart to come out in our actions!)

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs23:7NKJV

Friendship

A man of many companions may come to ruin,but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs18:24ESV

Social media has brought us to think that a friend is someone that is a shallow person we might just like, and if we don’t like them, we can unfriend, unfollow, or even block them from our lives. How low we have dropped in our perception of one of the greatest relationships God has made for us, second only to God Himself, and family.

I have been reminded recently of how God is at work in all aspects of our lives, from our youth right through to our more senior years. This became clearer to me as I recognised one of the important friendships I am blessed to enjoy now, which was rekindled after not being in touch for many years. It is as though that long gap didn’t happen. Circumstances of life change many things, and a loss of a friendship can be significant, but when God is in control, He has already gone before us and laid out the path which is best. That is true for all things, people, and time! We serve an amazing all knowing God who establishes our steps! Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, puts it best in these verses.

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. Proverbs16:9NIV

Extra Years?

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew6:27NIV

Short, sharp, and to the point. You don’t usually get medical advice like that, because it takes a lot longer for our ‘learned academia’ to go round the houses before they come to the point. But here it is in the Bible, and has been there for centuries. When you continually worry your life suffers! Take a deep breath and let that sink in.

It is important to understand the difference between worry and concern, or being anxious and it is this. Worry is usually a long term thing, and ‘worrier’ is the word used to describe someone who almost naturally worries before they know all the facts. Worry is in the core of their being. Most, if not all, of us have been concerned or anxious about a certain situation or person, but it doesn’t take over our life. The concern passes.

Jesus is making a statement we need to hear, especially if we are a ‘worrier’ by nature. It doesn’t have to be like this when we can leave it with Jesus to deal with. In fact the bigger problem needing God’s attention isn’t the thing or person making us worry, it’s our own heart which can’t seem to let go and let God do His work. The concerned and anxious person’s feelings will pass when the issue or situation passes, and we let Jesus take the strain (literally), so don’t feel guilty about that, however I would encourage you to get heavenly help for your worry!

Time and Age

Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away. Psalm90:10NLT

O Lord, what are human beings that you should notice them, mere mortals that you should think about them? For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow. Psalm144:3,4NLT

Do you ever spend time thinking about your age? There are a few birthdays in my family during the year, ranging from age 15 to ‘senior’, and this month sees three! I am becoming more and more conscious that birthdays are passing faster, the older I get. I am reliably told this is normal! That’s age, but what about time?

The good news is that the Christian does not live by his or her age count. Even better is the fact that we are not bound by time either. It has been said that we live in an eternal ‘now’. I like that thought. I came across the following insight to the Christian’s eternal hope in Jesus Christ. It is not a morbid thought, but an eternal promise and comfort for us to cling to, no matter our earthly age. Senior Pastor Colin Smith was asked if we would recognise each other in heaven, and this is his response:

The reunion of believing loved ones - by Colin Smith

When Paul writes to believers who grieve the loss of a loved one, he offers them this comfort: “We who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” 1Thessalonians4:17.

“Them” refers to believing loved ones who are now in the presence of the Lord. A wife who grieves the loss of her believing husband has the comfort of knowing that when the Lord comes, she will meet her husband again. Sons and daughters who grieve the loss of a believing father or mother can find comfort in the prospect of this happy reunion when we will be reunited with those who have gone before us into the presence of the Lord.

Christians who know and love each other on earth will know and love each other in heaven.

**Colin Smith is senior pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church and a Council member with The Gospel Coalition.

Worrying Time

You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. Matthew 6:27 ERV

It started off as a slight concern, and has now gone through all the following stages until it has become a full blown anxiety. I know this verse and have quoted it often as a way to defuse other people’s fears and worries, but…. Well that’s the problem, it’s the word BUT!! What about now? What about my fears? My suspicions? What if I do nothing, and something bad happens to a loved one this time? How could I possibly live with myself?

Harm comes in many forms and from many sources, but one that doesn’t get much airtime is the harm that affects the eternal destiny of the harmed one(s). Can I afford to play along and pretend all is well, when I am growing more and more uncertain that all really is well? For me, it has changed from a game of hide and seek, to one of hide and hide and hide again.

Meanwhile we all play our part in the theatre of life. The ones who harm, the ones harmed, and those watching from the gallery. In truth there are almost certainly more than a few who see the signs, question the life and lifestyle of the harmer, and still don’t know what to do that would solve the problem, or even reduce the harm done. It is difficult not to worry about the ones you love, and that makes it hurt!

Quiet Time

There are many times we need to have a ‘quiet time’ in the Word of God and prayer. When I became a Christian at an early age, I was encouraged to make a regular ‘quiet time’ at some point during the day. It works because it makes us focus on God more clearly, and not on the other things that are happening around you, and especially those things that demand your personal attention.

Can I suggest there is another kind of quiet time, which is not so positive? I find myself going ‘quiet’ when something troubles me, or needs a lot of thought, or perhaps some kind of action or intervention which I am not happy about. Have you seen that trait in others? Have you maybe even seen it in yourself sometimes? Thankfully, this ‘quiet time’ does not happen often, but that fact alone can make it all the more significant in our life.

When that usually bubbly, chatty, bright friend or family member goes quiet, don’t judge harshly. They are not necessarily being rude or deliberately cutting you out. They may be struggling with a tough situation or circumstance, and are not too sure how to handle it for the best. If you consider yourself to be a trusted friend, let them know gently that you are there for them, and to listen. That’s all that may be needed, a listening and sympathetic ear.

I would suggest that the best listening ear is the one we use in the first kind of ‘quiet time’ above. God is our supreme trusted friend and He is a good listener. Not only that but His words of advice or caution will always be trustworthy. So, when your friend has gone quiet and you don’t feel able to step in and help, then pray for them. And one last, but important thing. Tell them you are praying. That tells the one who is troubled that you have noticed their plight, and are taking it to the highest authority in your own ‘quiet time’.

The Unknown Jesus

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am?” John 14:9

Philip had been around Jesus for some time by now. He had seen the miracles, watched the crowds recognise Him as the long awaited Messiah, and yet for all that Jesus was still a mystery to Philip. An enigma. A puzzle. An unknown. Why did Jesus have to tell Philip he still didn’t really know who He was?

Let’s not be too hasty to blame or criticise the man, after all we are no better in our modern church from those early followers who like Philip were still not sure what to do with Jesus. Like many who will be reading this, I have been in and around church most of my life, and yet can still miss the message of the gospel so easily. More than that, we can miss the whole reason for Jesus coming to this earth as the ‘God-Man’, fully God but fully Man at the same time.

Who else could forgive our sins and wrongdoings, except a perfect Man? Jesus is that perfect Man, as Philip would find out! I trust we can also find out who this Jesus really is, just like the early disciple.

Times and Seasons

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven….He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart. Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 11 ESV

The idea of a balanced life is nothing new. We have balanced diets of sweet and savoury, meat and veg, and the balance we need to do life in all its complexity. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, tells us that everything has a season, and sandwiched between verses 1 and 11 are the well known words which unfortunately we mostly hear at funerals, referring to “a time to live and die” and other opposing sides of the same life.

God has made everything beautiful in its time, and how true this is. From the flower in the bud which is undoubtedly beautiful, to the withering leaf when that same plant is anything but beautiful. If you are a more mature person, as you look back to teenage years, do you not think of yourself as a once handsome man, or beautiful girl, and now looking in the mirror those days are gone? There is a season and everything is beautiful in its time, and we see it and accept it as truth. The old saying goes: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” so is it too much to think that there is beauty in life at all stages? Even for the older, more mature, with signs of life etched on their face, and the older flower or plant which will eventually give new life as it falls to the ground? Yes, everything is beautiful in its time! Everything and everyone!!

God has also put eternity into man’s heart according to the wisest man, Solomon. So what does he mean? We share the planet with atheists and agnostics and they claim that there is no afterlife, and no God. I have a recurring thought that those who shout loudest about there being no God, are the ones most likely to be struggling with the very concept. Empty vessels perhaps? God’s Word is true, and when it says that God has put eternity into man’s heart, then we can go to the bank with it, no matter what some ‘learned’ academics and the ignorant may say. It is impossible to show or prove, but I believe there are more deathbed conversions, and examples of the ‘dying thief on the cross’ encounters with the living Christ than we can ever know.

Time to Keep Silent

To every thing there is a season...a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. Ecclesiastes 3:1,7

We all face the question in our own minds, whether to put up or shut up. Speak or be silent. Let rip or stay schtum. Our base instinct is to shout the odds at the thing that hurts and annoys us, or perhaps the person that has crossed the line we have drawn in the sand. We all wrestle with that one many times, and I think we fail wise Solomon’s measured advice.

There certainly is a time to speak out, and confront evil because Jesus tells us to beware of false teachers and prophets in the Gospels, but that is not to be used as a licence to shoot from the hip every time something or someone crosses our own personal line, opinion, or feeling.

This very dilemma troubled me recently. My initial reaction was to confront the source of my disagreement both in person and content. Fortunately, I allowed some time to pass while the issue percolated in my mind and I am glad it worked out that way. Not because I had changed my mind, far from it, because I still feel the same about the person and the problem it gives me, and most likely some other folks looking on.

In war we talk about collateral damage. Not the direct hits, or the intended targets, but the property and people who were on the edges of the line of fire. Bringing this issue up in a public arena would have affected a group of people who a) might have disagreed anyway, or b) had not seen the original problem, and now knowing it, might take their own action and walk away. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for that outcome, and c) my own reputation and standing could be tainted and tarnished for all time.

The final, and most important consideration for staying silent is that it allows the person who caused my own worry and concern, to move on, and perhaps allow them to change. In His infinite wisdom, God has granted me grace when I have failed Him, so I must give grace to others. Of course, they may not believe they did any wrong, and a public outing makes any change (if it was seen as necessary) unlikely. On a personal and more human front, if the same thing happened again, I would come to another conclusion. Once bitten, twice shy as the old saying goes!

Time Slots

I have found myself asking this question recently: Is a series of 20 minute get togethers enough to be able to know someone? It may even be the same 20 minute setting every week, but if it’s online, and because of the way we ‘feel’ about the video or podcast, are we really that much closer to what that person is like during the other 23+ hours of the day?

When you were young, and maybe you still are, you deliberately took as much time as possible, over a long period, to get to know the love of your life. If you relied on the same 20 minutes, once a week, at the same time, do you think that would give you enough information to decide if you wanted to marry, and spend the rest of your life together? Not to mention commit yourself to all the financial and emotional needs?

The internet is a minefield, and I’m sure you already know that. But how seriously do we take some things that are said there, especially when they are said with some authority and conviction? I have learned recently, that a short 20 minute sermon is not enough to form a correct and accurate opinion of someone, and even more so if that time is pulled down from an untrusted website.

Like it or not, we can all crave a Godly figurehead that we can respect and look up to. We want to believe them when they preach, but does that short window give us enough time to throw our lot in with them, perhaps calling them our ‘example’, ‘mentor’, ‘teacher’, or even ‘Pastor’? There are many self proclaimed Bible preachers on TV and the internet who command a large following, and for many it’s all down to the 20 minute sermons they preach.

Some followers don’t even live in the same country as their leaders. So, when your life is falling apart and you need a counsellor, can you ask them to drop in and pray? If a loved one is at death’s door, who will be there with you to comfort? If you want your baby to be dedicated, will your distant ‘Pastor’ perform that sacrament for you? Marry you? Bury you? Who do you fellowship with, and who do you give your tithe and offering to? And the list goes on.  

It concerns me greatly that some very well educated, clever Christians are sucked into the ‘online church’ because it tickles their ears with what they want to hear, at least for 20 minutes a time. Is that really what is intended in Hebrews 10:24-25 by “ And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”?

Not Yet

I hadn’t seen my brother and sister for some time. It has been years since we had fallen out, and even now the reasons are hazy. They were real at the time I am sure because there was a real bust up. In fact more than a few of them which left indelible marks on our hearts, but I wish I could remember what it was all about. It all seems so long ago, and for a long time I had reached a point where it didn’t bother me any more. Especially after trying to make amends and hitting that brick wall. Truth is, I was part of the cause, and now I was isolated and paying the price for my actions. I always taught my own children that actions have consequences, so to be sure that our words and deeds always had good motives, because ‘family is everything’.

I was a Christian and felt that I had lived a good life. That is until the family split some years ago. I did try to apologise, but maybe not with enough feeling or conviction. In fact my family members who felt wronged, were Christians too. What a mess.

As I took the time to lift my head from my hands, I saw it again. The coffin. A dark wood to match the dark mood in the room. I was sitting on one side of the room on my own, and I could make out through the tears, the faces of my siblings just over the top of the closed casket. They were weeping too. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We should have had more time. Time to eventually put things right, but it never quite worked out. Mum and Dad were always there for us all, and they hurt for our differences over the years. They prayed for us all, and now my dad wasn’t ever going to see any end to his children’s childish squabbling. It hurt and pained him deeply, and now there was no way to make things right for him.

Mum sat over to the side of the room, partway between her children, all grown up adults, still behaving like the children they are. We were all wrapped up in our own griefs, and regrets. Regrets which were so avoidable. We claimed to be a Christian family but we couldn’t do the basic act of forgiveness. It was too hard we convinced ourselves, and anyway, God would understand we believed. That was easier than taking the step to be vulnerable and to ask for, and receive forgiveness. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray near the start of His ministry, and it is no accident that He included the selfless act of forgiveness. In fact He said if we don’t forgive, He would not forgive us. What a sobering thought. He said It is that important!

The organ started to play dad’s favourite hymn, and we all rose to our feet in respect, reverence, and awe. Dad was gone, mum was in a flood of tears, and as I looked around I realised that we were all out of time. As I found the haunting words ‘not yet’ on my lips and heart, I suddenly awoke with a throbbing heartache and in a real body sweat. It was a horrible dream, but oh so true. How much time do I really have I wondered? Was God giving me a message? Was the much needed and overdue heart change and spirit of forgiveness supposed to start in me? Why does it have to be me I muttered, and then I stopped dead. Dead. The thought was true, the dream was real. My plea, my tearful prayer to God was, and remains ‘not yet’. Please God give me the time I need, take the heart of stone from me and replace it with a heart of flesh. My parents were ageing, but please Lord, they were ready to meet You, but NOT YET for mum!!! There are some important things I need to do first before night falls and we are cut off!

We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. John 9:4 NLT  

The Journey - Time to Think

Perhaps the greatest benefit in walking or climbing a hill, is that it gives you time to think. Time to forget the daily grind for a while, clear your mind, breathe in the good fresh air, and let your mind become free. It is amazing how relaxed and happy it makes you feel.

In our journey heavenward, we need to get away too. Work will drag us down, and even a good home life takes effort to keep you positive. Church, and its programs will drain you if you get involved in too much, and more so if you start to believe that everything will fall down round your ears if it wasn’t for your efforts. What would they do without me, you may find yourself asking?

The Scripture is not silent on this. There are times we need a holiday from work, and in the same way there are times we need a break from the same old, same old, church routine. Oh no, did I really just say that? Which then is better, being fresh in God’s work, or running yourself ragged and being no good to anyone? We are told clearly that there IS a way to be Godly, and also to be content. Timothy was a young pastor and his mentor Paul helped him by advising that not only is Godliness and contentment possible, there is a massive benefit to the child of God.

So, climb that hill. Take that walk. Breathe the freshness of new air once in a while and when you do, refresh and renew your thoughts towards your heavenly goal. This journey needs you to be as fresh as possible!

Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment. 1 Timothy 6:6

BST

It’s that time of the year again, where the clocks go back an hour, and you get that extra time in bed, to give you the long lie in you deserve. No excuses for being late for church then, or even missing it! It feels good to go round the house putting the clocks back that hour on Saturday night, after all who is going to stay up to 2am to do it? It’s one of the few good signs of winter approaching. (For our UK readers you should turn your clocks back at 2am on Sunday 28 Oct, and our US and Canadian readers a week later.)

Wouldn’t it be good to be able to turn time back for longer than an hour though? How about turning the clock back so that we can reclaim our youth, or maybe lost health and strength? How about going back to a time when we found our life’s love and reliving the moment you tied the knot and got married? We could go back to the birth of our children, and their first steps, their first birthday or Christmas! If only, if only... there are so many good times we could return to, if only we could turn the clocks back.

However many good times we could go back to, there are those times we would want to change. Those decisions we need to put right. The angry word to our best friend. A great personal wrong we need to rectify. To go back to be in a place we have regretted we missed, at a time we were needed. Unfortunately, we cannot go back to put great sins right, and the consequences of our past sins will always be with us, but I have great news! We might be able to remember them with regret, but if we have asked God to forgive our past sins, He has forgotten them already. As quick as that!

I was reminded of the following by a dear friend recently: The past is the past, and we can’t change it. The future is unknown, but we have the gift of ‘now’. That is why it is called ‘the present’, so let us all make good use of the time we have right now, and make it count for our tomorrows, and let our gracious God deal with forgetting about our past. After we have repented and asked for forgiveness, that’s His job, and He does it well. So let’s take our responsibility seriously for our ‘present’ as a gift from God, and not abuse His love, grace or forgiveness.

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Cor 6:2 NKJV