I have a wife, and…I protect her.

My wife is a strong woman, probably stronger than me.  She gives me strength, and she is more than capable of looking after herself.  However, if anyone talks ill about her in my presence…

there will be a reckoning!

(Just saying.)

I love her, and I am very jealous of her.  And people know that.  They know that I will defend her if they attack her, or try to break her down.  It might be their democratic right in an open and free society with freedom of speech to verbally abuse my wife, and take her name in vain.  But they don’t.  Because they respect my decision, and they respect the fact that I will fight for her.

So why do we sit back and let people say things about God in our presence without responding?  Why do we let people take his name in vain in our presence?  We say it is because we don’t want to push our faith on them, and they have rights as well.

Agreed, but do we take His name and reputation as seriously as our wife’s?  Of course He can defend himself better than we can, and He does not need us to stand up for him.

But what does it say when we do not?

What would it say about our wife if we sat in a group of people who made fun of her and did nothing?  What would it say about our relationship with her?

I have a wife, and… I spend time with her family.

I am very lucky.  I actually like my wife’s family, and enjoy spending time getting to know them.  In some cases they might not be people that you would choose to spend time with, but you try to love them for your wife’s sake.

Who is God’s family?

The Church of course. 

So it is important to spend time with other Christians.  Building a personal relationship is important, but so is corporate worship and regular meeting with others in the faith.

You can learn a lot about a person by talking to their family, and seeing how other people relate to that person.

You might not like the Church, you might not like other Christians.  But God does, so we need to learn to love them and spend time with them, for His sake and our own.

I have a wife, and… I am honest with her.

Well, perhaps honest is not the right word.  I am honest with everyone.

I am … open?

I am honest and open about my faults and my feelings.  I do not try to hide anything from her, because by now she knows me so well she knows all these things before I say them.  I can not pretend I am happy when I am upset, and I need to be honest about why if I we are going to build a relationship.  If I am holding something back, them I am asking her to have a relationship with only part of me, or with someone who is not me.

God also wants us to be open and honest. 

In Genesis, Abraham argues with God about the destruction of Sodom.  (Genesis 18:20-33)  King David and Jeremiah often complain to God when they are hurting and feel far away from Him.  Moses even tells God “Enough is enough!  If you are really with us you need to show it.” (Genesis 33:1-17)  And God listens!

He knows what is on our hearts. He knows us better than we know ourselves.  He wants us to be honest and open with Him, so we can grow closer to Him.

I have a wife, and… we share secrets.

We spoke last time about reading the Bible. 
(You did get that that was what I talking about, right?)

Well, you can not read scriptures all the time. 
But you can think about them all the time.

We can not be God’s friends if we do not listen to what he wants to share with us.  If we meditate on his words, he will share secrets from the Word.  I used to be very envious of people who seemed to know their Bibles so well, and always got deep insights from it.  Then I started reading mine more, and it was amazing to me how much God opened up His Word to me, and helped me make it part of my life.

It was about getting the Word through me, not getting through the Word.

Oh, how I love your law!
   I meditate on it all day long.
Psalm 119:97 (NIV)

I read somewhere that meditating on Scriptures is easy… if you know how to worry then you already know how to meditate.  You just have to learn to shift focus. 

I have a wife, and…I read her letters to me.

Not just her letters.  I save every e-mail, text message, online chat record.  Everything she ever wrote to me I keep, and go back and read and re-read it because she wrote it for me.

At the beginning, I would read it over and over looking for deeper meaning.  “What did she mean by that word?”  “Why did she call me that?” or “What is she trying to say?”  (Of course that might just be me.)

I love her words, because I love her.  And each word she wrote was written with me in mind, and written because she loves me.

Do I treat my study of the Bible as seriously?  Do I treasure each word that God wrote to me, and go over it again and again looking for deeper meaning?

I have a wife, and… we spend time together.

Sometimes I talk to her. 
Sometimes she talks, and I listen.
Sometimes we both talk.
Sometimes we do not talk, we just sit in silence together.

It is AWESOME.

I love my wife, and I love spending time with her.  Not just once a week for an hour, or ten minutes of talking before I go to sleep at night. 

I want to spend all my spare time with her.  In order to build a relationship with her, I need to share all my experiences, all the time.  So I can really say I am spending quality time with her.

Sometimes when I am very busy, I will just send her a quick text message on her mobile ‘phone, or SKYPE, to say “I’m thinking about you.”

Am I treating my prayer life with GOD the same way?  Do I take spending time with Him as seriously?

 

Lessons from an alien

Have you ever watched E.T. : The Extra-Terrestrial?  Of course you have, who hasn’t?

Now I know Steven Spielberg has stated that there are no Christian messages in the movie, but something did stick out for me.

At the end, ET is saying goodbye to the family.  He looks at Gertie (the young girl) and says “Be Good.”  Then he turns to Elliot, and they have a tear-jerking moment where he promises that he will always be in Elliot’s heart. 

WOW!

And all Gertie got was a “Be Good”  That kinda sucks doesn’t it?
But what else can you say to a five year old? 
She’s only a child, and probably already has strong feelings of loss welling up in her, and she is probably going to miss him as much, but all she can cope with at the moment is “Be Good.”

Elliot on the other hand, ET has formed a special bond with, and he needs to explain how that bond will go on, and they will always be together, even though he won’t see him again.

So here’s my thinking.  When we’re young, GOD tells us to be good.  Because that’s how we can show that we love him.  We can sing all the songs about having “Jesus in my heart” and “I love Jesus” and they are probably true.  In our child-like state we show that love by being good.

But we can’t be good forever.  Or at least, we can’t think that being good is going to carry us forever.

I know you’re probably all fine, but I know a young fish who has problems with this sometimes. 

He wakes up in the morning, and prays that God will help him to be a good fish all day.  Then he struggles through the day, fighting temptation all the way, until the end of the day.  They he says his prayers, and apologises for being naughty sometimes, but promises to be better tomorrow.

And GOD says to him “What about me?  Did you spend any time with me today?”

“Uh, not Lord.  I was too busy trying to be good.”

“Do you think that’s what I want from you?  To be good?  No, my fishy friend, I want so much more.  I want YOU.”

“Huh.”

“Do you really think you can ever be good?  Without me, you will just burn yourself out everyday trying to be good.  I want you to be good, so that you can be closer to me.  And if you come closer to me,  I will help to make you good.”

Of course I’m sure he’s the only fish in the world with that problem.  Poor guy.
Sometimes he tries so hard to be good, he forgets why he’s doing it.

RDM #6 - Higher Ground

After posting guest posts from friends of mine for the last few weeks, it is time to do another Rainy Day Monday post from my own archives. Here's a little something I put together in February called Higher Ground. It is something that has been on my mind again lately, so I thought I would share it with you.

HIGHER GROUND

And every hour of every day I'm learning more
The more I learn, the less I know about before
The less I know, the more I want to look around
Digging deep for clues on higher ground...
(Higher Ground - UB40)

I used to love this song when I was at school. I don't know whether it was the cool melody line in the chorus, or the fact that the lyrics made no sense. I could nod my head and pretend I understood, and that this was just too deep.

Now, many years later, I think that these words kind of describe my relationship with God. Over the last few years I have been trying to learn more about him, but I find that the more I learn, the less I understand. Or, the more I learn, the harder it becomes for me to understand. As a child I was content with what I had, now as I learn more, I start to realise that God wants more from me, and less. All he really wants is a relationship, and then for everything to flow out of that. So simple, but also so difficult. Following rules I can do. Reading and learning I can do. Being kind to others, well.... I can try. Loving God and wanting him only for him? Can I really? I don't know. It's a hard one.

Over at my other blog I did a post titled "It's not just about the chocolate" in which I talk about the fact that as Christians we need to be focused not just on eternity, and what God has done for us, but also on the now, and who he is to us. At least that's what I was going for, it might just be a post about chocolate. I never can tell.

In theory, the idea that God is seeking a relationship with us first and foremost, and that this is more important than our actions, is so liberating. But it scare me too, because I don't know whether I am up to the challenge. I have never been good at relationships. I am getting better, but there is still a long way to go. So I guess the more I learn, the less I know about before.

But I'm still digging deep for clues on higher ground.

Don’t forget to leave a comment in the comment section below, and if you are also taking part in Rainy Day Monday then put a link to your RDM post either in the comment section, or in the Mister Linky Widget.

Christ has no body here but ours
No hands, no feet, here on earth but ours
Ours are the eyes though which he looks
On this world, With Kindness.
Ours are the hands through which he works
Ours are the feet on which he moves
Ours are the voices through which he speaks
To this world, With Kindness

I'm sure you've heard these words, or similar words in the past. Words that remind us that "we are Christ's hands and feet in the world." Quite a heavy burden don't you think? I don't know about you, but I think trying to live up to that day by day would be pretty exhausting. So how do we know where to put our hands and feet? There is so much suffering in the world, from the fighting in Israel and Palestine, to the persecution of Christians in Egypt and Sudan. From genocide in Africa, to starvation and poverty in South America. It just goes on and on. I don't know about you, but I can't go a day without seeing people suffering, either from lack of food, or lack of God, or both.

It's everywhere. So where should we be?

When Jesus called us to be his hands and feet, he also called us to have his heart. To feel his heart beat with ours, and feel what he feels. To let our heart break for what breaks his heart. To let our heart long for what his heart longs for.

I think when we choose to join our heart with his, he will break our heart in small ways. As I draw closer to him, I feel my heart breaking for the plight of mentally disabled people, so I have a ministry to Disabled Adults where I go out to a local support centre for a church service once a month. I feel his heart break for the youth to know Christ before they start turning from their childhood teaching, so I am involved with preparing teenagers for confirmation. I feel his heart beat for the community of the small group I am involved with, where I pray constantly for them and their protection, so I am a small group leader.

I know these are areas where God wants me, because when I work here, I feel his heart. Whether I am 'enjoying' myself or not in a particular circumstance, I feel my heart beat with love, and occasionally break with sadness. This I hope is God's heart beating with mine, and letting me know where I am needed.

Sounds simple?

It is; But it's not easy.

It involves seeking God's heart all the time. Which I have shared before is very hard for me. I am good at "working for the kingdom", but find it harder to 'be still, and know that I am GOD". To know, I mean really know, that GOD is all I need, and that everything else is just extra. To know that I am reaching out to these people, not because it is the right thing to do, or because it makes me feel good about myself, but because I am really valuing what GOD values.

When HE calls out, in the words of the song:

I, the Lord of snow and rain,

I have borne my people’s pain.

I have wept for love of them.

They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone,

Give them hearts for love alone.

I will speak my words to them.

Whom shall I send?

Will I be able to answer...

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go, Lord, if you lead me.

I will hold your people in my heart.

Higher Ground

And every hour of every day I'm learning more

The more I learn, the less I know about before

The less I know, the more I want to look around

Digging deep for clues on higher ground...

(Higher Ground - UB40)

I used to love this song when I was at school. I don't know whether it was the cool melody line in the chorus, or the fact that the lyrics made no sense. I could nod my head and pretend I understood, and that this was just too deep.

Now, many years later, I think that these words kind of describe my relationship with God. Over the last few years I have been trying to learn more about him, but I find that the more I learn, the less I understand. Or, the more I learn, the harder it becomes for me to understand. As a child I was content with what I had, now as I learn more, I start to realise that God wants more from me, and less. All he really wants is a relationship, and then for everything to flow out of that. So simple, but also so difficult. Following rules I can do. Reading and learning I can do. Being kind to others, well.... I can try. Loving God and wanting him only for him? Can I really? I don't know. It's a hard one.

Over at my other blog I did a post titled "It's not just about the chocolate" in which I talk about the fact that as Christians we need to be focused not just on eternity, and what God has done for us, but also on the now, and who he is to us. At least that's what I was going for, it might just be a post about chocolate. I never can tell.

In theory, the idea that God is seeking a relationship with us first and foremost, and that this is more important than our actions, is so liberating. But it scare me too, because I don't know whether I am up to the challenge. I have never been good at relationships. I am getting better, but there is still a long way to go. So I guess the more I learn, the less I know about before.

But I'm still digging deep for clues on higher ground.