Letting things go

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

It was Oswald Chambers, an early-twentieth-century Scottish Baptist evangelist and teacher, who said. “Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen.” In a similar vane, William Barclay, another Scottish theologian wrote,  “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

Today’s verse is one that encourages us to keep going with endurance. However, it doesn’t tell us to keep going all by ourselves. It makes it clear, that as Christians we are in this together. We are to pray for each other, love each other, and encourage each other. This is one way that we endure the things of this life to grow in our relationship with God. The other things we can do are read scripture, pray, and assist other believers. Lastly, we must examine our lives for sin, and confess those sins. Jesus is awesome and will forgive us for anything we have ever done.

We are never alone and have each member of the body of Christ. We have Jesus who is with us every step of the way and promised to be with us until the end of the age. He never goes back on his promises. He loves you and died for you. You are never alone. Keep running with endurance and remain faithful until the end.

Jesus, there are times that I feel alone in this fight, but I know that is not the case.  I thank you for my brothers and sisters in Christ who are there for me fighting beside me.  Thank you for always being there and for loving me.  Be with me today. Amen

Letting things go

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed on you, because they trust in you. - Isaiah 26:3

We can think of Advent as a journey, a journey of letting go and discovering God.

An African boy listened carefully as his teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas Day. “The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other,” she said.

When Christmas day came, the boy brought the teacher a seashell of lustrous beauty. “Where did you ever find such a beautiful shell?” the teacher asked.

The youth told her that there was only one spot where such extraordinary shells could be found. When he named the place, a certain bay several miles away, the teacher was left speechless.

“It’s gorgeous . . . wonderful, but you shouldn’t have gone all that way to get the gift for me.” His eyes brightening, the boy answered, “Long walk part of gift.”

God came from heaven to a manger, from a manger to a cross, from a cross to the grave and from a grave back to heaven. And we ask, “Why all this trouble, God?” And God would say to us, “Long walk part of gift.”

And the whole world appreciates the gift, right? Well, not really. Now, just like that night long ago, Jesus is, for many, an inconvenience. There’s little room for God’s gift.

Will making room for Jesus be inconvenient? Yes, it will be at times. But before we complain too loudly, let us consider how Jesus inconvenienced Himself to make room for us and in that beautiful gift let us allow ourselves to be at perfect peace because our minds are stayed upon the Holy One.

Loving Father, I pray that the thoughts of my heart and the meditation of my mind would be entered on You, moment by moment, so that the righteousness and peace of Christ will kiss my life as I walk in spirit and truth, in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Letting things go

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

A story is told of the famous inventor Samuel Morse who was once asked if he ever encountered situations where he didn't know what to do. Morse responded, "More than once, and whenever I could not see my way clearly, I knelt down and prayed to God for light and understanding.”

Morse received many honours from his invention of the telegraph but felt undeserving: "I have made a valuable application of electricity not because I was superior to other men but solely because God, who meant it for mankind, must reveal it to someone and He was pleased to reveal it to me.”

It is interesting in this first letter  of Peter that we should get these words of humility. We recall that Peter knew what it meant to be brought low, to trip along the way as well as what it meant to be recalled by the gentle chiding of Jesus.

John Gowans, a favourite christian poet of mine puts such circumstances in this way, a way that we too may well adopt as we journey through Advent:-

Knowing my failings, knowing my fears, 

Seeing my sorrow, drying my tears, 

Jesus recall me, me re-ordain,

You know I love you, use me again;

You know I love you, use me again.

I have no secrets unknown to you,

No special graces, talents are few;

Yet your intention I would fulfil,

You know I love you, ask what you will; 

You know I love you, ask what you will.

For the far future I cannot see, 

Promise your presence, travel with me, 

Sunshine or shadows? I cannot tell; 

You know I love you, all will be well; 

You know I love you, all will be well.

Letting things go

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. 

How much do you like to control things, either situations, events or others? A colloquial way of speaking about someone with such a trait is to call them a control freak! Controlling behaviours can also be a symptom of several personality disorders, such as histrionic personality, borderline personality, and narcissistic personality.

In the context of our christian discipleship, the way most of us serve keeps us in control. We choose whom, when, where and how we will serve. We stay in charge. Jesus is calling for something else. He is calling us to be servants. When we make this choice, we give up the right to be in charge. The amazing thing is that when we make this choice, we experience great freedom. We become available and vulnerable, and we lose our fear of being stepped on, or manipulated, or taken advantage of. Are not these our basic fears? We do not want to be in a position of weakness.

In this verse from proverbs we have a clear call to let go and let God. It  means that we are to trust God with all our hearts and not depend on what we know. We are to rely upon God at all times, to include God in everything you do, and this way, allow God to keep us on the right track; even though may not always know what lies ahead.

In our daily devotions, I often quote Fred Buchner and today here is another line worthy of note when he says, “Even your own life is not your business. It also is God's business. Leave it to God. It is an astonishing thought. It can become a life-transforming thought.”

Heavenly Father, I come before You today to ask for Your help in letting go of the things that are holding me back. I know that I cannot do this on my own and I need Your strength and guidance to move forward.  

Help me to release any hurt, pain, and bitterness that I am holding onto and to forgive those who have wronged me. Give me the courage and wisdom to make the necessary changes in my life and to trust in Your plan for me. I pray that You would fill me with Your peace, love, and joy, and that I would experience the freedom that comes from surrendering all to You. 

Thank You for Your faithfulness and grace and for always being with me through every trial and struggle.  I trust in Your goodness and I give You all the praise and glory. In Jesus Name, amen.

Letting things go

Matthew 18:21-22 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

In the next 4 weeks of Advent, I have taken the four themes offered by the Methodist church and produced my own spin on what they say to me. Here is a link to the Methodist Church ‘Out of the Ordninary” campaign. We start with the theme, Letting things go!

 What are you like at letting go!

Corrie ten Boom told of not being able to forget a wrong that had been done to her. She had forgiven the person, but she kept rehashing the incident and so couldn’t sleep. Finally Corrie cried out to God for help in putting the problem to rest. "His help came in the form of a kindly Lutheran pastor," Corrie wrote, "to whom I confessed my failure after two sleepless weeks." 

"Up in the church tower," he said, nodding out the window, "is a bell which is rung by pulling on a rope. But you know what. After the sexton lets go of the rope, the bell keeps on swinging. First ding, then dong. Slower and slower until there’s a final dong and it stops. I believe the same thing is true of forgiveness. When we forgive, we take our hand off the rope. But if we’ve been tugging at our grievances for a long time, we mustn’t be surprised if the old angry thoughts keep coming for a while. They’re just the ding-dongs of the old bell slowing down.

“And so it proved to be” said Corrie. “There were a few more midnight reverberations, a couple of dings when the subject came up again in my conversations, but the force—which was my willingness to accommodate the matter—had gone out of them, and at the last they stopped.”

Advent season is an ideal time to let go and indeed let God. Steve Maraboli, an influential speaker says, ”The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realise that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” 

Lord, I kneel before You in humble submission and pray that in Your mercy and kindness You would help me to simply let go of all the fears and worries, problems and doubts, guilt and disappointments that seem to be filling my heart and mind so often, during the course of a day.

Advent Eve

In the past, God spoke…through the prophets at many times and in various ways. Hebrews 1:1

Tomorrow we start our Advent Journey. 

In a "Peanuts" cartoon strip, good old Charlie Brown says to Linus, "Life is just too much for me. I’ve been confused from the day I was born. I think the whole trouble is that we’re thrown into life too fast. We’re not really prepared." Linus asks, "What did you want . . . a chance to warm up first?"

Advent is a time in which we share in the longing of all those who lived in the distant past. We must feel how, in their suffering and struggle, they too longed for redemption and liberation, for unity, for peace, for a golden age. They waited for a manifestation of God’s love and unity, for a breaking in of his justice among the nations.

We must learn to put ourselves in the place of all those  who were waiting for him who was to come. This One was to free them from their need and disruption, from sin, from their lack of fellowship, from their lost condition, so that they might come to God.

Advent is a time when we await God’s intervention in the need of the present day, as he intervened then in Jesus’ birth. We long for the highest power to rescue this unhappy, torn humanity that knows so little community. Now is the time to ask God for a radical change in all things, even if this means we must go through judgment.

The mystery begins

Where the winter finds its feet

the rush of frost and chill

competes with the old hope of incarnation

Darker nights unfold

and with the fading of the light

the sun weakens

held by this frozen earth

wrapped in winters frost 

the mystery of the ancient hope is alight once more

for from the stump of Jesse

the dry old tree of David’s line

comes a new branch

a new shoot

cracking through the season

with a promise yet unfulfilled

this is the hoping

the waiting

the advent

Let us gather round the words

the prophets spoke long ago

and believe:

Emmanuel is on the way

Come Lord Jesus, come. Amen

A Royal Priesthood

1 Peter 2:25 For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

I love the two definitions sheep farming definitions of church. The English sheep farming method describes church as a walled fold with distinct parameters and a single entrance by which sheep must pass. The Australian method is to build a well and allow the sheep to go where they will but know where to come back for refreshment.

What was the popular Religion of the first Christians? It was, in one word, the Religion of the Good Shepherd. The kindness, the courage, the grace, the love, the beauty of the Good Shepherd to them, They looked on that figure, and it conveyed to them all that they wanted. 

As ages passed on, the Good Shepherd faded away from the mind of the Christian world, and other emblems of the Christian faith have taken his place. Instead of the gracious and gentle Pastor there came the Omnipotent Judge or the Crucified Sufferer, or the Infant in His Mother’s arms, or the Master in His Parting Supper, or the figures of innumerable saints and angels, or the elaborate expositions of the various forms of theological controversy.

Peter talks about returning to the care of the Good Shepherd. 

While visiting Greece in the late 1990s, a preacher was privileged to have an informative chat with a Greek taxi driver who had worked as a shepherd in his youth. He told the preacher of how on one occasion he fell asleep in the field with his sheep during the afternoon siesta and awoke some time later only to discover that the flock was gone.

Terrified, he rushed back to the village and to his delight discovered that the flock had, on their own, wandered home. The homeward path from the “still waters” was familiar to them, and when the time came they followed it, much to the relief of the shepherd.

In all our wandering may we too be mindful of the pathway that leads to the Guardian of our souls.

Christ the good shepherd,

Who laid down his life for the sheep,

Draw you and all who hear this voice,

To be one flock within one your guardian care. Amen