The MOST IMPORTANT Resolution for 2014

There are lots of things I want to resolve to do this year:

I want to go swimming more often.

I want to spend more time with my kids each week.
I want to read a book every 2 weeks.
I want to see my friends more regularly.
I want to read my Bible more often and pray more each day.

I think these are good goals.

I guess overall I want to be a better person – kinder and more generous. I want to be better at my job. I want to be fitter. And I want to learn more about God and my faith.

The Apostle Paul reflects on resolutions in the book of Philippians chapter 3. He is concerned for those who ‘put confidence in the flesh’. In other words, those who feel good about themselves by setting goals, and feeling that if they attain them that they are better people and more acceptable to God. He says that if anyone has reason for confidence it is him –

“…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless…” (5-6)

 

He had it all. In modern day’s terms he would be most pleasing to any god – he looked the best, he was the happiest, he knew the most and he had the most success. In other words, he had what many of us want, and what many of our resolutions subtly point to.

Many of our resolutions can be selfish and driven by pride.

Perhaps we want to know more so we can blog more intelligently, or speak more fluently.

Perhaps we feel we need to change because our spouse is putting pressure on us.

Perhaps we want to be like someone else at church who seems to be such a great teacher and leader.

But Paul goes on to say:

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ… …I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (7-8, 13-14)

He counts all these other resolutions as worthless compared to one thing, one resolution – to know Christ.

Know Christ.

What a challenge this is to me. Will I press on towards that goal this year?

Will I do anything and everything to win that prize?

Will this be my one resolution? Will it be yours?

Paul says he strains and presses on for this. It doesn’t just happen. So in the next of this mini-series I’ll take a look at a few ways we might use this thing called the ‘Quiet Time’ to achieve our one resolution, to know Jesus better.

Image: http://allfacebook.com/files/2011/11/Do1Thing.jpg

New Year's Resolutions: The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards

http://www.t411.com/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards

Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the most significant theologian of all time, made the following 70 commitment statements when he was just 19 years old!  He went on to read these 70 Resolutions once each week, for 35 years, more than 1,800 times before his death in 1758! 

I thought that as we approach a new year it is a good time to consider these resolutions to see what may still relate to us over 250 years later.

 

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake.

Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

Overall Life Mission1

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.

2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new invention and contrivance to promote the aforementioned things.

3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

22. Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power; might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.

62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty; and then according to Eph. 6:6-8, do it willingly and cheerfully as unto the Lord, and not to man; “knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord.” June 25 and July 13, 1723.

Good Works

11. Resolved, when I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances don’t hinder.

13. Resolved, to be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality.

69. Resolved, always to do that, which I shall wish I had done when I see others do it. Aug. 11, 1723.

Time Management

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

17. Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

18. Resolved, to live so at all times, as I think is best in my devout frames, and when I have clearest notions of things of the gospel, and another world.

19. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.

37. Resolved, to inquire every night, as I am going to bed, wherein I have been negligent, what sin I have committed, and wherein I have denied myself: also at the end of every week, month and year. Dec. 22 and 26, 1722.

40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking. Jan. 7, 1723.

41. Resolved, to ask myself at the end of every day, week, month and year, wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better. Jan. 11, 1723.

50.Resolved, I will act so as I think I shall judge would have been best, and most prudent, when I come into the future world. July 5, 1723.

51.Resolved, that I will act so, in every respect, as I think I shall wish I had done, if I should at last be damned. July 8, 1723.

52. I frequently hear persons in old age say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age. July 8, 1723.

55. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to act as I can think I should do, if I had already seen the happiness of heaven, and hell torments. July 8, 1723.

61. Resolved, that I will not give way to that listlessness which I find unbends and relaxes my mind from being fully and fixedly set on religion, whatever excuse I may have for it-that what my listlessness inclines me to do, is best to be done, etc. May 21, and July 13, 1723.

Relationships

14. Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.

15. Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger to irrational beings.

16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.

31. Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.

33. Resolved, always to do what I can towards making, maintaining, establishing and preserving peace, when it can be without over-balancing detriment in other respects. Dec. 26, 1722.

34. Resolved, in narration’s never to speak anything but the pure and simple verity.

36. Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it. Dec. 19, 1722.

46. Resolved, never to allow the least measure of any fretting uneasiness at my father or mother. Resolved to suffer no effects of it, so much as in the least alteration of speech, or motion of my eve: and to be especially careful of it, with respect to any of our family.

58. Resolved, not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness and benignity. May 27, and July 13, 1723.

59. Resolved, when I am most conscious of provocations to ill nature and anger, that I will strive most to feel and act good-naturedly; yea, at such times, to manifest good nature, though I think that in other respects it would be disadvantageous, and so as would be imprudent at other times. May 12, July 2, and July 13.

66. Resolved, that I will endeavor always to keep a benign aspect, and air of acting and speaking in all places, and in all companies, except it should so happen that duty requires otherwise.

70. Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak.

Suffering

9. Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.

10. Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.

67. Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them.

57. Resolved, when I fear misfortunes and adversities, to examine whether ~ have done my duty, and resolve to do it; and let it be just as providence orders it, I will as far as I can, be concerned about nothing but my duty and my sin. June 9, and July 13, 1723.

Character

8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.

12. Resolved, if I take delight in it as a gratification of pride, or vanity, or on any such account, immediately to throw it by.

21. Resolved, never to do anything, which if I should see in another, I should count a just occasion to despise him for, or to think any way the more meanly of him.

32. Resolved, to be strictly and firmly faithful to my trust, that that in Prov. 20:6, “A faithful man who can find?” may not be partly fulfilled in me.

47. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to deny whatever is not most agreeable to a good, and universally sweet and benevolent, quiet, peaceable, contented, easy, compassionate, generous, humble, meek, modest, submissive, obliging, diligent and industrious, charitable, even, patient, moderate, forgiving, sincere temper; and to do at all times what such a temper would lead me to. Examine strictly every week, whether I have done so. Sabbath morning. May 5, 1723.

54. Whenever I hear anything spoken in conversation of any person, if I think it would be praiseworthy in me, Resolved to endeavor to imitate it. July 8, 1723.

63. On the supposition, that there never was to be but one individual in the world, at any one time, who was properly a complete Christian, in all respects of a right stamp, having Christianity always shining in its true luster, and appearing excellent and lovely, from whatever part and under whatever character viewed: Resolved, to act just as I would do, if I strove with all my might to be that one, who should live in my time. Jan. 14 and July 3, 1723.

27. Resolved, never willfully to omit anything, except the omission be for the glory of God; and frequently to examine my omissions.

39. Resolved, never to do anything that I so much question the lawfulness of, as that I intend, at the same time, to consider and examine afterwards, whether it be lawful or no; except I as much question the lawfulness of the omission.

20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking.

Spiritual Life

Assurance

25. Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.

26. Resolved, to cast away such things, as I find do abate my assurance.

48. Resolved, constantly, with the utmost niceness and diligence, and the strictest scrutiny, to be looking into the state of my soul, that I may know whether I have truly an interest in Christ or no; that when I come to die, I may not have any negligence respecting this to repent of. May 26, 1723.

49. Resolved, that this never shall be, if I can help it.

The Scriptures

28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

Prayer

29. Resolved, never to count that a prayer, nor to let that pass as a prayer, nor that as a petition of a prayer, which is so made, that I cannot hope that God will answer it; nor that as a confession, which I cannot hope God will accept.

64. Resolved, when I find those “groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26), of which the Apostle speaks, and those “breakings of soul for the longing it hath,” of which the Psalmist speaks, Psalm 119:20, that I will promote them to the utmost of my power, and that I will not be wear’, of earnestly endeavoring to vent my desires, nor of the repetitions of such earnestness. July 23, and August 10, 1723.

The Lord’s Day

38. Resolved, never to speak anything that is ridiculous, sportive, or matter of laughter on the Lord’s day. Sabbath evening, Dec. 23, 1722.

Vivification of Righteousness

30. Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.

42. Resolved, frequently to renew the dedication of myself to God, which was made at my baptism; which I solemnly renewed, when I was received into the communion of the church; and which I have solemnly re-made this twelfth day of January, 1722-23.

43. Resolved, never henceforward, till I die, to act as if I were any way my own, but entirely and altogether God’s, agreeable to what is to be found in Saturday, January 12, 1723.

44- Resolved, that no other end but religion, shall have any influence at all on any of my actions; and that no action shall be, in the least circumstance, any otherwise than the religious end will carry it. Jan.12, 1723.

45. Resolved, never to allow any pleasure or grief, joy or sorrow, nor any affection at all, nor any degree of affection, nor any circumstance relating to it, but what helps religion. Jan. 12-13, 1723.

Mortification of Sin and Self Examination

23. Resolved, frequently to take some deliberate action, which seems most unlikely to be done, for the glory of God, and trace it back to the original intention, designs and ends of it; and if I find it not to be for God’s glory, to repute it as a breach of the 4th Resolution.

24. Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.

35. Resolved, whenever I so much question whether I have done my duty, as that my quiet and calm is thereby disturbed, to set it down, and also how the question was resolved. Dec. 18, 1722.

60. Resolved, whenever my feelings begin to appear in the least out of order, when I am conscious of the least uneasiness within, or the least irregularity without, I will then subject myself to the strictest examination. July 4 and 13, 1723.

68. Resolved, to confess frankly to myself all that which I find in myself, either infirmity or sin; and, if it be what concerns religion, also to confess the whole case to God, and implore needed help. July 23 and August 10, 1723.

56. Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.

Communion with God

53. Resolved, to improve every opportunity, when I am in the best and happiest frame of mind, to cast and venture my soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust and confide in him, and consecrate myself wholly to him; that from this I may have assurance of my safety, knowing that I confide in my Redeemer. July 8, 1723.

65. Resolved, very much to exercise myself in this all my life long, viz. with the greatest openness I am capable of, to declare my ways to God, and lay open my soul to him: all my sins, temptations, difficulties, sorrows, fears, hopes, desires, and every thing, and every circumstance; according to Dr. Manton’s 27th Sermon on Psalm 119. July 26 and Aug. 10, 1723.

Aug. 17, 1723

 

¹ The subheadings and categorization are suggested by Matt Perman to increase the readability.

 

3 reasons why I go to church on Christmas day

1.       To be reminded that Christmas is about death as well as new life

Recently I saw the film ‘Children of Men’. Set in 2027 humankind has become infertile and there have been no babies born for 18 years. Hope is at a low ebb. And then, a young woman stands in a stable (ironically enough) and shows the lead character, Clive Owen, her ‘baby bump’. All of a sudden, hope is born. By living, this child can bring hope to a world which is in despair, order instead of anarchy, joy instead of misery. What a picture of the Christmas story.

I love the fact that at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Christ. It is a message of hope – a King has come. Change is afoot. Healing is here. God has humbled himself as a dependent, crying baby.

And yet amidst all the Christmas cards and carols depicting the Christ-child, it is good to be reminded that Jesus did not come just to live, like the baby in the film, but to die on a cross for the sin of mankind. As Tim Keller says: “Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserved to die because of sin, so that God could accept us.”  

 

2.       To be reminded that my family is bigger than I ever imagined

What does Christmas mean to you? Is a question asked to celebrity after celebrity on TV at Christmas time. The usual answer is something like ‘it’s all about family’ or ‘it’s about home’, whether we’re driving home for Christmas or we’ve seen mummy kissing Santa Claus. The author Marjorie Holmes sums it up: “At Christmas, all roads lead home”

This year we are visiting our family. And we will have a great time, as I know many others will. Other families are not looking forward to it so much. Family rifts that are played down during the year are intensified. The whole day is a reminder of relationship break ups, falling outs and perhaps the death of a loved one.

As someone from a stable family background, I am reminded of those who are not so blessed and I am able to share in enjoying and celebrating Christmas with them. For those who do not have family they are reminded that they are part of a family that loves and cares for them.

Being with my church family on Christmas day reminds me we are all the same. We are all by nature failures. We have all fallen short of deserving to know God. But amazingly we all have a new name, a new identity, and a new family. It is on this level playing field we can meet and celebrate together the gift that God has given us so that we might be accepted by God.

 

3.       To be reminded of reality

Christmas means being bombarded with adverts, the good life, Christmas trees, log fires. As the song goes ‘There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow. It’s the most wonderful time of the year’.

And yes, it is fun. I love Christmas day. But it isn’t reality for many. Indeed for most, Christmas day is a reminder of what could have been. It is painful.

Much of our world is a painful place. 2.56 billion people live in poverty. 1 billion have no access to clean water. The richest 20% on this planet have 83% of the wealth. And so on.

Christmas in particular buffers us against real life, real pain, real suffering. It can become escapism, sentimentality, even for Christians. Because my comfort, wealth and status mean I do not see the world as it really is.

I need reminding every day that I do not live in reality. And all the more so on Christmas day when my afternoon activities will involve caroling, marshmallowing and (hopefully) some mistletoeing.

Who comes first - your kids or your spouse?

In my work I see a lot of parents and their children. A common refrain runs something like this:

 “Of course, the kids come first. I’ll do anything for them”

 Or

 “I love her (the child) more than anyone, she is my priority”

 

Now these comments express noble sentiments. Children are ultimately dependent on their parents. They need us. Surely they should take priority?

Parents are told all the time, mums in particular, that being a good parent means sacrificing everything for the good of the children – every last penny to fund Michael’s school trips, every last minute to ferry Olivia to her 4 weekly clubs, every last ounce of energy, all so that they can be happy.

But what if this is a load of baloney? What if this attitude actually damages marriages and even our children?

This week I’ve been reading a book by Timothy Keller called ‘The Meaning of Marriage’. In it he says this:

“If your spouse does not feel that you are putting him or her first…your marriage is dying…Your marriage must be more important than anything else. No other human being should get more of your love, energy, industry, and commitment than your spouse”.

He goes on to say that marriages split up because of all sorts of things. But at the heart of it, they split up because good things become more engrossing and important than your spouse. When your spouse comes second to career, or parents, or friends, or even children, then your marriage is in trouble. You will become roommates, ships passing in the night.

I don’t know about you, but time and again I see relationships struggle because children are prioritised above the husband-wife relationship. 

The husband who resents the fact that his wife always seems to be running around after the children, who get all the attention and physical affection. All the money goes on them. All the talk on Facebook is about them.

The wife may resent how the husband gives all his spare attention to the kids and doesn’t ask her how she is. He doesn’t look at her like he used to. He doesn’t have energy for sex.

 

So why prioritise your spouse above your kids?

 

When we prioritise our spouse…

·        We are modelling a healthy marriage relationship as God intended: a foundation on which children can build their lives. They will learn about love, confession, forgiveness, accountability, responsibility, and honesty. My kids love it when I am affectionate with my wife; something almost explodes inside them. It is good for them to know that she is first.

When we prioritise our children:

·        We raise children who think they are the centre of the universe, who will turn into adults who think they are the centre of the universe.

·        We risk seeking to fulfil our primary need for love and affection through our relationship with them. We then have high expectations of them loving us reciprocally. If the kids don’t love us back e.g. by behaving properly, then the parent can explode. But a child can’t be expected to give you the friendship and love that a spouse can.

·        Then when the kids leave, you risk having nothing left in your marriage. When my kids leave home I won’t want to sit in a quiet house with a wife who is now a stranger because we have quietly drifted apart over the years.

 

What does prioritising your spouse look like?

 

It’s usually little things that are really easy to do:

 

·        The children do not sleep in your bed at night

·        You have at least one evening a week ‘mummy and daddy time’ where you don’t talk about the children

·        You prioritise even a few minutes after dinner ‘sofa time’  when the two of you can sit down and just catch up – the kids will soon learn that mummy and daddy time is important.

·        You seek to spend some time away together e.g. a weekend a year to recharge, evaluate your marriage and family life and have some fun

·        Always greet your spouse first when you come home. Make a point of going to him/her first before the children

·        Endeavour to show affection in front of your kids. Ok, not too much or that would be weird. Perhaps start with telling your spouse ‘I love you’ in front of the kids.

·        Bring him/her coffee in bed in the morning even when the kids are up and about

·        Make your bedroom a ‘no kids’ zone

I still remember my dad greeting my mum before us when he came through the door. He’d give my mum a cuddle and a kiss and tell her every day that he loved her. We’d wait for him to sit and eat dinner. They modelled a marriage that I wanted to emulate. My dad taught me that his wife was the most important thing in my life – yes he loved me, but he loved my mum the most. That is now a foundation in my own marriage.

 

That is what I needed the most.

“The most important thing you can pass on to your children might be not be what you give them, but the marriage you show them” (Timothy Keller)

God is not fair

 

I’ve had a strong sense of justice since I was a young lad. Even for trivial things. If my brother got more sweets than me, or a bigger desert portion, I would get mad. ‘It’s not fair, I deserve just as many as him’!

The definition of fairness in our society is something like ‘giving people what they deserve’.

People who do bad deserve bad things, people who do good (or at least avoid bad) deserve good things. That’s fair, isn’t it?

And yet we know that God seems to have a habit of saving people who, well, they just don’t deserve it. Like a thief who abused you on a cross for example.

Who would you be angry about if God asked you to share the gospel with them? Someone who’s bullied you at work for years? Someone from a broken relationship who has hurt you immeasurably? Someone who has harmed your child?

Deep down we don’t actually want good for those we resent.

They need to pay for what they’ve done.
For the hurt they’ve caused me.

The idea of God, well, just forgiving them? That they can experience the forgiveness of God and maybe even be happier than me? They just don’t deserve it.

It’s not fair.

What the Bible has to say

The Bible has some cracking examples of people who have felt God isn’t fair.

The prophet Jonah is called to preach to a pagan city called Ninevah – this place would have been quite riotous, and for a God-fearing Israelite like Jonah the people there did NOT deserve God’s mercy. He hated them. He ran away when God told him to go to them. And when he did eventually go he did so begrudgingly, preaching an 8 word sermon, and sulking outside the city when he saw that all 120,000 of them repented and turned to God.  Jonah’s view was that the Jews deserved God’s mercy, to be treated well, to get what they deserved. These pagans? They deserved the opposite. But God had other plans. And Jonah hates it. You can hear him say: ‘God, you’re not fair’.

In the parable of the lost son (Luke 15) the younger son takes his inheritance early, squanders it all, brings disgrace on his family, and then has the nerve to go back home and ask to be taken in by his father. The father does more than that; he throws a party and re-instates him to a place of honour. The older brother is outside. ‘My brother doesn’t deserve this. He deserves death. And me? I’ve worked hard all this time, and I don’t get anything’. He is angry that the father has shown mercy. Just like Jonah outside Nineveh, the older brother sulks outside the father's house. You can hear him say: ‘God, you’re not fair’.

In the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20) Jesus pays men a denarius (a day’s wages) to work for 12 hours, but then also pays the same to those who then work 9, 6 and then 1 hour. The men who worked longer were indignant. ‘It’s not fair! We’ve worked longer than these guys. Why are they being paid the same?’ And Jesus replied: (v13-15) ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ You can hear the workers say: ‘God, you’re not fair’.

 

God sets the terms

There is a gap between what the Bible says and what we can think. We see God reaching out to people who we think don’t deserve it! But in our own lives we find it hard to accept that God maybe calling us to do the very same thing.

The culturally prevailing view is that we are intrinsically good people. Like Jonah and the older brother, we become self-righteous.

And we have a skewed view of God. We have domesticated him; we have defined fairness on our terms and expect God to live up to it. We place ourselves in the centre of the world and we begin to believe that we are owed something by God.

But God sets the terms. He is a God of love. Yes. But he’s also a holy God, a God of wrath, who is entirely righteous and equitable in all that he does. Jesus was clear – he didn’t owe the workers who worked a full day anything more than what was agreed. And God has agreed with human beings the terms of the arrangement. It’s a covenant. To love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Man, I get out of bed and I’ve fallen short already!

If fairness means all of us getting what we deserve, then we are all in trouble, because the Bible says we would all spend eternity in hell paying for our sin  (Revelation 20:14-15; Romans 6:23).

 

Here’s the good news

But the Gospel tells us this:

God isn’t fair

Instead, He is merciful, good and just.

 

The stunning news of the Gospel is that in Christ God has announced that even the worst sinners can enter His heaven. On the cross God’s love for undeserving sinners and his desire to know them and spend eternity with them was demonstrated. He showed his mercy by giving to Christ what we deserve and letting sinners like me go free. And he showed justice by dealing with sin and punishing Jesus in our place.

And because he rose again he promised that one day soon Jesus will return and will judge in righteousness and equity, and every wrong will be made right. None of us will say that He is unfair, because at the very least everyone will receive what they deserve. But for those who believe in Jesus, they will receive far more than they deserve, an eternity with Him.

God loves to show mercy, and he has a right to do so. We do not deserve it, no one does, and if we think we do then we are as self-righteous as Jonah.

That means that He calls us to share the Gospel with those we dislike, with those who are different to us, who annoy us or perhaps even harm us. We are called to love God's mercy, not only to us, but as it is offered to all mankind.

So is God fair?

No 

The Bible does not use the term in the same way we do today.

He is merciful, just and compassionate and ‘he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4).

 

Image: http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/160660-God-Is-Not-Fair,-And-Why-That%E2%80%99s-Good-News.html

Is there more to advent than this?

It’s December again and I have a confession. I’m 31 and I still get an advent calendar. And yes, I get a stocking as well (don’t pretend that you don’t too!).

December the 1^st signals the beginning of the season we call ‘advent’. Christmas preparations are getting into full swing. I don’t know about you, but I can spend most of my time preparing, not to celebrate the birth of Christ, but to fulfil the demands of the season.

There’s the annual debate – a real tree or a fake one?

And then new decorations because the children broke the baubles (you know, they squeezed them and they look rubbish with dents in)

I am being asked for my present list.

And my wife is reminding me to ask others for their lists.

The songs in the shops are already annoying me.

I can’t decide who to send Christmas cards to this year or whether to even bother at all.

In church we are preparing for carol services.

At work I’m hoping it won’t be too busy so I can book our Tesco Christmas delivery slot

My time is taken up planning, travelling, partying, working… And all the while I  forget what advent is all about.

Underneath all the fun and preparations, there can be a darkness that overshadows Christmas. Because despite all our ‘stuff’, all our songs, our parties, our gifts, our well-cooked turkeys, we know that the world is not right. We are not whole. Something is missing. We long for better days…

A new government

A new manager of my team
A new boss at work
More money
Better health

We may hope for great things, but ultimately they will let us down. And we know it.

Things probably won’t get better.

The government will fail on their promises.

The new boss will soon be gone.

Our health won’t be with us forever.

Our culture has taught us that when we wait for something, it won’t be as good as it promises.

 

The message is loud and clear:

Whatever you do, don’t get your hopes up. Just you wait and see. Don’t bother hoping.

But advent reminds us that we wait for a God who will not let us down. Hope is real. Someone is coming. A new day is about to dawn. The angels are readying themselves. The wise men are on their way. Simeon is waiting for that day when he will hold the baby Jesus in his arms so that he can die happy, because what he’d been waiting for had now arrived.

In this season of advent, we wait for Jesus. We ache, we long, we expect, we hope. Our desire grows for someone who isn’t yet here.

And God does not disappoint. When He comes, we will join the angels, the shepherds, the wise men around a pitiful sight of a baby in a filthy manger in a cold stable.

The King of the World.

Born to die.
To die for me. To die for this world. To bring us back to God.
To bring us all we’ve ever longed for.

To bring us more than this.  

 

A suggestion for advent

 

Focus your devotions on advent themes. Daily think upon what we as Christians are called to celebrate. I have used the free resource that you can find HERE as a helpful way to help me and my family anticipate and prepare for the coming of Christ and to see advent in a whole new way.

I pray that it would be a blessing to you.

 

 

Please do share any other advent-themed thoughts or suggestions

 

 

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. (Psalm 130:5-6)

 

Picture: http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/christmas/christmas_advent_calendar.htm