this is a short post... i am busy reading Philip Yancey's book called Soul Survivor and loving it... it is one of those books that you really have to read slowly and absorb because on every page there are concepts that seem worth a full days thought... kinda like this one:
"Mahatma Gandhi knew that his only moral power for others came from what he had already mastered himself. Once, a woman in his village brought her son and asked [Mahatma] to tell the child to stop eating sugar because it was bad for him. She said the child would not listen to her but he would listen to Gandhi. 'Bring the boy back in a week and I will tell him,' said Gandhi. A week later the woman returned with her son. Gandhi took the boy in his arms and told him not to eat any sugar, then bid them both goodbye. The mother lingered behind and asked, 'Bapu, why did you have to wait a week? Could you not have told him last week?' 'No,' he replied. 'Last week I myself was eating sugar.'
the whole chapter is really amazing and i hope to get around to blogging a bit more about Gandhi and his attitudes towards life that seem so remarkably close to the value system the Bible teaches.
Thursday, 26 April 2007
hope and return
a common term for me at varsity is 'risk and return'... the higher the risk, the higher the associated return. it has to be this way to compensate the investor for the degree of added risk involved. I haven't thought too much about this but i would reckon the christian equivalent for risk would be hope. Here's why... when investors put their money into stocks they have a certain HOPE for profit.
To say that Christ is my only hope is to make a very absurd statement by the worlds standards. How can Christ be the only hope for the Christian while the non-Christian has shared hope in many different things? It's almost like a share portfolio. It is very unwise to only invest in one share. Even investing in only one industry is very questionable... so surely it seems far more preferable to hope in an array of things here on earth? surely you have more chance of hope paying dividends if you hope in many things??
aah, but that is the deception of this little argument- it is no good to look at risk without looking at associated returns. That is the full picture! Hope in Christ doesn't fail. It leaves the human fully satisfied. And for everyone who has once tasted this hope and had hope satisfied then he will battle to hope in anything other than Christ and the glory of one day spent with him.
To say that Christ is my only hope is to make a very absurd statement by the worlds standards. How can Christ be the only hope for the Christian while the non-Christian has shared hope in many different things? It's almost like a share portfolio. It is very unwise to only invest in one share. Even investing in only one industry is very questionable... so surely it seems far more preferable to hope in an array of things here on earth? surely you have more chance of hope paying dividends if you hope in many things??
aah, but that is the deception of this little argument- it is no good to look at risk without looking at associated returns. That is the full picture! Hope in Christ doesn't fail. It leaves the human fully satisfied. And for everyone who has once tasted this hope and had hope satisfied then he will battle to hope in anything other than Christ and the glory of one day spent with him.
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
or sow you think...
So I was reading my Bible this morning- (I'm behind on my one year commitment but determined to catch up!) and I came across a section in Deuteronomy where Moses is warning the Israelites about keeping covenant with God. I have made the following tiny observations about what I was reading which collectively may be quite interesting:
1. The Law that was given to the Israelites was unlike any other social code known at the time. It was precise, strict, difficult, complicated, intricate and a whole other number of adjectives that will turn out to just be synonyms for the ones already mentioned! The code was impossible and yet it was set. It was non-negotiable.
2. God seems to have a split personality or maybe better put: God seems to fluctuate between two very intense extremes. God promises to greatly BLESS his people if they follow Him and are faithful to the law and if they honour and love him wholeheartedly. Then on the other hand he seems so ready to CURSE them at the first signs of rebellion. In fact, it seemed to me that God was more ready to tell his people about possible curses. Deuteronomy 28 vs 1-14 is God explaining blessings of fruitfulness and prosperity followed by vs 15-68 detailing curses of plagues, ruin, oppression, captivity, disease and dispersion. I don't feel that I have the necessary understanding to comprehend why there appears to be a greater emphasis on curses other than maybe God was trying the 'scare tactic' and reminding them of where they came from and of what what now required of them. This, however is not the point. The point of this chapter was not to reveal that God appears more ready to curse for this is surely nonsense! This passage reminded me of something in God's nature that we all too often forget: God has no middle ground. You are either for or against Him. He is either for or against you. It is impossible to live somewhere in between these two very severe extremes. God was urging his people to pick a side and to deal with the consequences of that decision.
3. Covenenant. A word that has lost all meaning in today's society where changes in mood and feelings are considered to be important things. (even while posting this blog there is a drop menu where i can choose my mood- what for, i don't know!) I don't want to get too distracted from the main thought here but I am noticing more and more how our convenience culture that seeks to be understood without wanting to understand is placing emphasis on mood and feeling as being more and more valid in explaining behavior. It seems that God was almost speaking directly against this when emphasising COVENANT as the groundwork for His relationship with man. Covenant means irrevocable decision of the will. It's a promise. It's a commitment that cannot be altered, edited, argued against or neglected. It is so strong that neither mood nor feeling has any power to undermine it. The Jewish culture is rich in records of covenant. They understood that a sound decision made once was relevant for every day as if it had been made afresh every morning.
4. God's integrity never fails. If there is something that I love most about God it is the fact that He has what I long for. He has integrity. Absolute. He is God and still he doesn't ask us to do what he is not already doing. "Love me with all your heart" ... because I love you that way. "Be pure and set apart" ... because that is what I am. His Word is full of his own integrity. The first few verses of chapter 29 (following the blessing/curse narrative) simply remind the Israelites that God has integrity. That He has kept the covenant. That He will keep the covenant. That God is not swayed by emotion or mood even though His heart is full of more emotion than we can ever know.
5. (and this is where my own logic fails me horribly!) Deut 30v11 "Now what I am commanding you is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach." 'YES IT IS!', I scream as I read this and understand the ramifications of every word. It seems that God is being literal when saying "be perfect as your Father is perfect"... there is no poetic license being used. This is no metaphor. And how I wish it was. "The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it" (v14). Today perfection is required of me. The most difficult social code is tied up with the most real and honest expectation of fulfillment.
6. 'You will sow much seed but harvest little'. This comes as a warning to the Israelites for failing to obey the commands and decrees given to them. It seems that God doesn't really care about how much seed we plant or how busy we make ourselves (even in ministry initiatives). All he really cares about is our obedience. Are we pure? Are we set apart? Do we fulfill the covenant we have made with him?
Wow, it seems the Word of God has been quite ruthless with me this morning. It tends to do this time to time. Maybe it's punishment for being behind on my daily readings :-) ... Or maybe, just maybe, it's God loving me enough to extend Himself into my little world and remind me, little me, that He longs for relationship. His heart beats for his people still. His heart is set on covenant with me. Yet in the brutal assault from His Word this morning I hear the quiet whisper of the one who loves me saying: "I want to bless you... choose me again today".
1. The Law that was given to the Israelites was unlike any other social code known at the time. It was precise, strict, difficult, complicated, intricate and a whole other number of adjectives that will turn out to just be synonyms for the ones already mentioned! The code was impossible and yet it was set. It was non-negotiable.
2. God seems to have a split personality or maybe better put: God seems to fluctuate between two very intense extremes. God promises to greatly BLESS his people if they follow Him and are faithful to the law and if they honour and love him wholeheartedly. Then on the other hand he seems so ready to CURSE them at the first signs of rebellion. In fact, it seemed to me that God was more ready to tell his people about possible curses. Deuteronomy 28 vs 1-14 is God explaining blessings of fruitfulness and prosperity followed by vs 15-68 detailing curses of plagues, ruin, oppression, captivity, disease and dispersion. I don't feel that I have the necessary understanding to comprehend why there appears to be a greater emphasis on curses other than maybe God was trying the 'scare tactic' and reminding them of where they came from and of what what now required of them. This, however is not the point. The point of this chapter was not to reveal that God appears more ready to curse for this is surely nonsense! This passage reminded me of something in God's nature that we all too often forget: God has no middle ground. You are either for or against Him. He is either for or against you. It is impossible to live somewhere in between these two very severe extremes. God was urging his people to pick a side and to deal with the consequences of that decision.
3. Covenenant. A word that has lost all meaning in today's society where changes in mood and feelings are considered to be important things. (even while posting this blog there is a drop menu where i can choose my mood- what for, i don't know!) I don't want to get too distracted from the main thought here but I am noticing more and more how our convenience culture that seeks to be understood without wanting to understand is placing emphasis on mood and feeling as being more and more valid in explaining behavior. It seems that God was almost speaking directly against this when emphasising COVENANT as the groundwork for His relationship with man. Covenant means irrevocable decision of the will. It's a promise. It's a commitment that cannot be altered, edited, argued against or neglected. It is so strong that neither mood nor feeling has any power to undermine it. The Jewish culture is rich in records of covenant. They understood that a sound decision made once was relevant for every day as if it had been made afresh every morning.
4. God's integrity never fails. If there is something that I love most about God it is the fact that He has what I long for. He has integrity. Absolute. He is God and still he doesn't ask us to do what he is not already doing. "Love me with all your heart" ... because I love you that way. "Be pure and set apart" ... because that is what I am. His Word is full of his own integrity. The first few verses of chapter 29 (following the blessing/curse narrative) simply remind the Israelites that God has integrity. That He has kept the covenant. That He will keep the covenant. That God is not swayed by emotion or mood even though His heart is full of more emotion than we can ever know.
5. (and this is where my own logic fails me horribly!) Deut 30v11 "Now what I am commanding you is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach." 'YES IT IS!', I scream as I read this and understand the ramifications of every word. It seems that God is being literal when saying "be perfect as your Father is perfect"... there is no poetic license being used. This is no metaphor. And how I wish it was. "The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it" (v14). Today perfection is required of me. The most difficult social code is tied up with the most real and honest expectation of fulfillment.
6. 'You will sow much seed but harvest little'. This comes as a warning to the Israelites for failing to obey the commands and decrees given to them. It seems that God doesn't really care about how much seed we plant or how busy we make ourselves (even in ministry initiatives). All he really cares about is our obedience. Are we pure? Are we set apart? Do we fulfill the covenant we have made with him?
Wow, it seems the Word of God has been quite ruthless with me this morning. It tends to do this time to time. Maybe it's punishment for being behind on my daily readings :-) ... Or maybe, just maybe, it's God loving me enough to extend Himself into my little world and remind me, little me, that He longs for relationship. His heart beats for his people still. His heart is set on covenant with me. Yet in the brutal assault from His Word this morning I hear the quiet whisper of the one who loves me saying: "I want to bless you... choose me again today".
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