31. Receivers

‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.31: Receivers

Heb 10:36 “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”

This may be one of the most important series I have ever written. I have written about the nature of God’s will, how we may find it, and occasionally, the detail within it, specifically that in the New Testament relating to family relationships. There are other directives in the New Testament in respect of attitudes to work by employees and employers, instructions on qualification for church government, but apart from the occasional reference we have left it up to the reader to note these as you read your way through the New Testament. The Laws of the Old Testament were specifically for Israel in the light of their unique role in their place in history, rejecting the idol worship of their neighbors.

We have no excuses if we stray from these instructions because they are there in easy to read language, but we should remind ourselves that such laws or instructions are the outworking of our salvation, not the means to it, beyond the fact that without Christ and without His Holy Spirit’s presence within us, sometimes we even struggle with these. But the point when we come under pressure is whether we will keep them, the choice is ours and it is down to us to determine to obey God and His word, whatever we feel.

The good news is that the worst we may expect if we struggle and fall, is God’s disciplining, because He is certain you are going to get there (heaven) and is doing everything He can to ensure that happens. We can arrive there bedraggled like drowned somewhat ashamed rats, or we enter gloriously with heads held high. The choice is yours and mine. 

These main studies remain on Word Press and you can go back over them whenever you need a refresher. In the meantime, be blessed as you live in the will of God (because you won’t outside it).

Now yesterday we looked back with the exhortation not to forget God’s will, and thus remain thankful. It is right, therefore, to conclude this series, by looking forward, equally to help us remain thankful.  The key ingredient to receiving God’s blessing in all our tomorrows and into eternity, is perseverance. We’ve covered that in two studies previously so we don’t need to give the reasons for its necessity again, just to remind us of its necessity again and determine, with God’s grace, to live within His will, obedient to His revealed will, seen in His word.

But our starter verse challenges us to persevere but then encourages us with the promise that when we do we will receive “what He has promised.” What are those promises? Well one website suggests there are at least over 700! Here are just a few and we invite you to watch out for them as you work through the New Testament: salvation and forgiveness of sin, sonship, the power of the Spirit, life by the word, protection, daily provision, experiencing the kingdom of God, righteousness, comfort, encouragement, teaching, guidance & direction, answers to prayers, salvation in heaven or being caught up with Christ when he returns, blessings, a victorious church, knowing the divine presence now, eternal life, the fruit of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, a significant place in the body of Christ, wisdom, grace in abundance, freedom from condemnation, fruitfulness, purpose, and meaning in life led by God. Just a few. But here’s the thing: the will of God grows for us as individuals as we grow and mature in awareness. The new believer comes as a babe with little knowledge and understanding, the mature believer knows right and wrong, knows the power of the Spirit, is sensitive to the Spirit, knows their gifting and place in the body of Christ, knows the resources that are available for them, and can participate in spiritual warfare. So here’s the question: do you not only know the will of God for your life, but are you living in it with expectation of growth and more to come as you become more and more available to Christ? Many Christians settle in immaturity and limited vision and miss out on so much. May that NOT be you and me! Amen.  

30. Remembering

‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.30: Remembering

Gal 1:4 “The Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”

There can be different aspects to the will of God, and we have sought to cover a number of them this month, but having a right perspective on who we are today and what God has done for us, helps us focus on maintaining the will of God in our lives.

There are a lot of phrases in our world that speak of total failure: going down the pan, down the drain, bites the dust, coming apart at the seams, going belly up, go down the tubes. I can’t think of any more that are the honest reality of what is happening to the unsaved world at the moment and if Jesus wasn’t there in the midst of it, it hasn’t got long to go.

This is what we are rescued from by God. The apostle Paul laid it out for the Ephesians when he wrote, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh^] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.“ (Eph 2:1-3)

If you aren’t clear in your mind about the phrase, “to rescue us from the present evil age,” in our Starter verse, these verses from Ephesians spell it out. We were i) spiritually dead, ii) following the world’s ideas about pride and materialism and godlessness, iii) led by Satan (see also 1 Jn 5:19), iv) following desires as the motivating force in our lives, and v) deserving God’s anger. We were, although perhaps not aware of it most of the time, battling with guilt over our sins which we sought to cover up and forget.

By dying for us on the cross, Jesus opened up a new life of possibilities – of forgiveness, cleansing, justification, of sonship, and power. All we had to do was reach to God to receive it on bended knees of repentance. He would never force us but his arms were there, reaching out to us by his Holy Spirit to rescue us from that old guilt-ridden life to a new one of freedom.

If you’ve known the Lord for a number of years it is easy to become blasé about these things, and the trouble with that is that we forget all this and fail to be thankful on a daily basis for who we have become and how different we are from the rest of the world, and so we lose the wonder of it. What that can do is weaken our resolve to remain different and so we can drift back into thinking and doing like they do. If you’ve never done it before ask the Lord to reveal to you the real state of today’s world and compare it to the kingdom of heaven – and then pray like mad if you are to cope with what He shows you, life contrary to the will of God that is out there in the rest of this hurting and anguishing and stressful and violent world. So may we never be complacent about these things. I believe that holding on to the wonder is part of God’s will for our everyday lives. Jesus chided the church in Sardis in Asia minor, “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast,” (Rev 3:3) Remembering and reciting, I suggest, are things that not only please God, but will also make you stronger to face the day ahead. Hallelujah! 

29. Restoration, His will

‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.29: Restoration, His will

Rom 8:27 “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

We move on from examining that verse in Eph 1 that we’ve been considering for the past week, to something in the next two studies of the working of God behind all that we’ve been saying. We said yesterday something of who God is and the goals of His work in us.  

The apostle Paul wrote, “we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” (Rom 8:23) The Message version paints an interesting picture through this verse: “All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”

So clearly through this, we see Paul is saying that the natural world around us is groaning for something better yet to come, which is how God has made it, and it seems as if the world knows there is coming an end where God will make a new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1). Thus, there are all of its groanings (Earthquakes? Volcanoes? Hurricanes?) which will one day come to an end. We too sense we are incomplete, there is yet something more for us (in heaven) and the Spirit knows this and so sometimes this comes to the surface and we literally groan (inside at least) with what we are having to cope. But the more we sense this, the more mature we become and more open to the Holy Spirit flowing through us to pray out in tongues.

So looking at our starter verse, this is God on our side, God who is working all the time by His Spirit on our behalf. This is God who uses His indwelling Holy Spirit, who from that inner place recognizes the needs of your heart and mind and calls to heaven for help to keep us on track, to keep us on the path of God’s will, keep us in the place of safety and provision, and resist the forces around us that would seek to pull us off track. Isn’t that wonderful, isn’t that marvelous, just another way that God expresses His love to us, which is what His will is all about. That surely is cause for praise, thanks and worship.

That is the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit who picks up when things are going wrong for us, and communicates it to heaven where Jesus is seated at his Father’s right hand, ruling in the midst of what is going on, on the earth, and what is his response? “if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1 Jn 2:1). I imagine him turning to the Father and he says something like, “Father, they’re in trouble. It’s exactly this sort of thing I died for. Forgive them, restore them so they can yet fulfil their potential, not falling under the weight of guilt and shame.” And as we pray confessing our failure, the Spirit brings a sense of peace and restoration. Isn’t that wonderful! He, expressing the heart of Jesus and the Father, is a Restorer! That is the will of God.

28. Who is ‘he’?

‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.28: Who is ‘he’?

Eph 1:4 “he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy.”

For the last six studies we have been taking different parts of our starter verse, mostly on considering what holy means. Just in case we haven’t made that clear enough, it simply means to be utterly different, full of goodness and purity because the presence of God the Father is on us, the Spirit is within us, and we should also remember that over a hundred times in the New Testament we are said to be ‘in Christ’. It needs emphasizing that it is God’s very presence that causes us to be holy and the outworkings are simply ways we live it out. 

So now today we focus on the simple but all-important word, ‘he’ in this verse. You may think it doesn’t need emphasizing but it is critical in fact. This all about GOD’S will, not ours, the will of the Almighty Creator of all things, the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise One who reached into the world by His Son and now reaches out to you and me by His Spirit. These aren’t our ideas, they are God’s!  We dare not be casual about these things for He is also the Holy One of Israel who, not only has a glorious destiny for us, but is there to develop our holiness, if I may put it like that. Are you up for that or do you want to miss the possibilities? 

I conclude that descriptive paragraph with that question because not only is our God a creator, He is also an innovator who looked at us from the beginning and saw, now only that we would respond to His call through both word and Spirit, but He also saw not only what we have been in the past and before we knew Him, but also the possibilities of what we could become in the days ahead if we respond in faith when He speaks and nudges us on, sometimes envisioning us and sometimes simply moving us on in the vision He has for us.

I have a feeling sometimes that if He told us everything that is coming, we would run a mile – just like Jonah did, and then He would have to give us a ‘big fish’ moment whereby He saves us from the mess we got ourselves in. Our reaction almost certainly would be like Moses at the burning bush, and we would say, “I can’t do that!” and the truth is that a) on our own we couldn’t – but He will always be with us to resource us, and b) we probably couldn’t as we are at the moment but after He has worked on us, our faith level may be higher than it is now. Perhaps we should add a c) sometimes He seems to stir faith in the moment so, like Peter in the boat at night, we find ourselves saying, “Lord, if that is you, bid me to step out in faith,” and He does and we do!  But that’s all in the future.

But the truth is, to pick up on some of these things, our God is a) with us always, b) a developer of faith and c) a releaser of faith at the moment, so that in all these instances, He is there to help us, inspire us, guide us, and spur us on. But I can’t emphasize enough, something that Corrie Ten Boom learnt, that God will be there in the future when we need Him. When the apostle Paul wrote, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength,” (Phil 4:13), having just listed a variety of trying situations, and when he said in the verse before, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation,” perhaps we should place the emphasis on the word ‘learned’ implying it is not natural but ‘in Christ’ we learn the resources that are actually ours. The thing about this though, is that we don’t learn what those resources are until we go through those trying circumstances of life, and suddenly find these are there for us.  Concerning our futures, Paul emphasized this when he wrote, “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in ALL things at ALL times, having ALL that you need, you will abound in EVERY good work.” (2 Cor 9:8) Wow! If you wondered what God’s goal is for each of us, it is to learn the truth of this verse as we grow and mature and enter into it by experience. So I wonder, is it true for your daily life so that you can say, “Today God is able to bless me abundantly, so that in all things at this time, having all that I need, I will abound in every good work that He lays before me?” May it be true.  

27. Signs of holiness

‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.27: Signs of holiness

Eph 1:4 “he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy.”

This verse remains the foundation for our considerations how the will of God is worked out in and through us. Now add to it, “transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.” (2 Cor 3:18). Note the words, “ever increasing”. The Message version puts it, “our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.” Wow! Is your life becoming brighter and more beautiful as the years progress? That’s our calling before it is about what we do, although of course, those acts may be some of the things that reveal that splendour. Dare we believe this?  Are there things we can work on to make it more real?  

More than once in our previous studies, we touched on the struggle we have to believe these things about ourselves, and our conclusion has been that they are true and yet we are still very much ‘works in progress’ and will continue to be so until we depart this earth for heaven and then we will be totally transformed.

So let’s put aside both pride and false humility and continue to consider this “ever-increasing glory” or “becoming brighter and more beautiful”. I suggest one of the reasons we struggle with that and say, “Oh that can’t be me,” is that we focus on the times when we get it wrong, forgetting the many times when we get it right and reveal acts of kindness, goodness, love, compassion, and care. Because we are incomplete, unfinished works in progress, there WILL be times when you get it wrong. That doesn’t stop you being holy – utterly different. Let me explain.

There are four things, I would suggest, that make you holy. First there is the fact that when you turned to Christ you were touched by God; not only were you forgiven you were cleansed from your past, so you were also made new and adopted as a child of God and everything changed.  Second the same Holy Spirit that did that initial remaking of you, now indwells you to act as a daily resource, there to teach you, guide you, direct you and if need be, to convict you. He’s there as that small inner voice who supplements your conscience but does oh, so much more.   

Now third, and I think in many ways this apparently simple thing is the most significant thing that acts as a compass needle for your life, you have a new heart. God said to Samuel, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7) ‘The heart’ is Bible-shorthand for everything to do with your will, your intent. When you came to the crisis moment of surrender and were born again, your commitment to God, although you were probably not aware of it at the time, made something in you that time and again, points you back towards God. Of all the major prophets, Jeremiah speaks about the heart most, over forty time but at one point he prophesied, ‘I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve,.” (Jer 17:10) but later added, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart,” (Jer 24:7) and, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13) and later, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jer 31:33) You are what you are because your heart changed, partly by your commitment, partly by the working of God in you by His Spirit.

Now remember we are looking at things that make you holy, utterly different, so add to those more of a comparison – ask God to show you yourself in comparison to the unbelieving, unsaved, godless and self-centred world around you so that, fourth, you may marvel at your difference and anguish for them. Holiness means we have an unselfish compassion for the needs of the unsaved world. Are you beginning to let these things really sink in so that you start to see the wonder of who God has made you. Holiness is also one of the qualifications that will let you through the doorway to heaven one of these days. Amen.  

26. Holy by listening

‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.26: Holy by listening

Eph 1:4 “he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy.”

We’re still with that verse and the word ‘holy’. Something in the Old Testament, if it was touched by the presence of God, became holy and, of course we are holy because His Holy Spirit now indwells us. Now He, the Spirit, is a resource for us and He probably guides and directs us more than we realize. But the whole experience is enhanced when we learn to be alert to His nudging or His speaking, and that only happens if we will make time to be still before Him for His gentle whisper can learned to be discerned. Have we learned this or is this something we need to set as a task before us. Join the ranks of those who listen AND hear and be blessed. Remember, a developmental learning experience.

But let’s unpack this because I am sure there will be some who are saying, “I want to learn to listen to God, but I don’t seem to hear anything.” Before I answer that, let’s just remind ourselves what holy means. Most simply it means utterly distinct by our goodness and purity, which is about quality of life and outlook, and I would suggest that will be formed in us the more we spend time with God and learn to listen to Him.

Now let’s go back to utter basics here. We find the will of God uniquely revealed in His word, the Bible and so our first task is to determine each day to absorb some of that. Now some people say to me, “But I find it so difficult to read, there’s too much writing and things are said I don’t understand.” That’s why I spent a little over two years recently, restructuring the NIV (with copyright approval) to create a much more spaced out and annotated text explanation for easier reading and I hope much easier coming to understanding. If you haven’t used it, you’ll find it at www.easyreadbible.co.uk 

So reading the Bible regularly is your starting place and something I realized is that when you do this you become ‘God-aware’ daily in a new way. I especially found this when for that two years, it required me to go through the entire Bible at least three times writing notes, and it was one of the most rewarding exercises of my entire Christian life. I don’t expect you to do that but seeking to read large chunks of the Bible at a time, with understanding, will change the way you think and make you much more ‘God aware’.

So that’s the starting place but alongside that (or after it perhaps each day) I recommend you simply sit quietly in God’s presence, focusing your mind in His direction, if I may put it like that. If you get distracted with the worries of the day, just commit them to Him and then continue to sit silently. After a while simply tell Him what you think about Him, slowly and thoughtfully and then just carry on gently praising and thanking Him. As you start doing that you may find Him adding to your list of things to thank and praise Him, and maybe you’ll find yourself being drawn into a time of deeper worship. I hesitate to make further suggestions about what you might ‘hear’ for we are unique and He deals with us accordingly. I often will have a notebook handy to jot down ideas or thoughts that come. I especially do that with these studies, starting off looking at the next month with a completely blank mind and then suddenly there is this flow of ideas and I scribble notes rapidly. Three things to observe before we finish. First we have said holy means utterly different and so the capacity to hear God when we wait on Him in this way, is one of those things what sets us apart from the rest of the world. Second, it is a learning experience and we advance when we persevere. Third, don’t expect to hear something every time you pray; sometimes you’ll simply be aware of His presence that just seems heavy in the room, sometimes you’ll distinctly hear things, and sometimes you’ll hear nothing. Accept that latter experience and continue the next day; the Lord is teaching you to value being His child, not worshipping the experience. So there we are, enjoy the adventure. Be blessed. 

25. The reality

 ‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.25: The reality

Eph 1:4 “he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy.”

We started to observe yesterday the reason God chose us – to be holy, a word, I suggested, many of us are fearful about, but went on to remember what we learn earlier about God (loving and empathizing) and what His will is described as (good, pleasing, and perfect) to perhaps take away some of the fear we may have. After all, the apostle John wrote, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.” (1 Jn 4:18) and that perfect love is the love of God manifested in Jesus.

Sticking with this verse and particularly the word ‘holy’, I suggested that the meaning of it is to be utterly different, and the reality is that because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we already ARE holy in God’s eyes. Yes, we know the practical everyday reality is that sometimes our thoughts, words, and actions seem far from holy but that is what the word ‘sanctification’ is all about, a lifelong process of change where we are being turned into Jesus’ likeness (2 Cor 3:18), a process that changes us from what we were like when we first turned to Christ, from self-centred godlessness to be this utterly different person that God has in His vision for us, ready for heaven. Remember, it’s not what we say we are, but what God says we are and will be.

Now ‘Imposter syndrome’ seems to be something that is often talked about today in some circles, and Google defines it as, “doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. It disproportionately affects high-achieving people, who find it difficult to accept their accomplishments. Many question whether they’re deserving of accolades.” Now I believe many Christians are not even that sophisticated, they just doubt their abilities and when I suggested in the previous study that we are unique and wonderful, utterly different, I suspect, as I said in that study, that many of us still struggle with that, hence we continue with it.

Back in Study 5 I quoted the psalmist who wrote, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” (Psa 139:14) and said that “the Lord knows before we are born who we can become AND who we will become. There is a difference because the Lord always wants us to grow and become ‘beautiful people’ – good, kind, loving, caring etc. etc.” I guess we didn’t splutter over that because it yet refers to the future, but for most of us I believe if we prayed again for the revelation, we would see that there are NOW aspects of us that are indeed good, kind, loving and caring.

May I also suggest that it also means we’re called to do things, with the glory of God shining in us. The doing involves things about maintaining and deepening our relationship with God, and then being a blessing to those around us who will, at the very least, sense there is something different about us, even if they are not sensitive enough to discern the glory of God shining in us. Not sure about that? Check this out: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate^] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18) WE are being changed into Jesus image with his glory shining in us. In the next chapter, Paul was to say, “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Cor 4:7) To press this home even more before we finish, see these verses in the paraphrase versions: “our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.” (v.18 Msg) and “this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own.” (v.7 Living Bible) Got it now? That’s us – really!!!! Yes, this is the will of God for you and me – what we are now and what we are becoming. Believe it and praise and worship Him for making it happen.  

24. Holy???

‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.24: Holy???

Eph 1:4 “he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy.”

So as we have started looking at this particular verse as the foundation for our thoughts this week, and we started by focusing on the word ‘chose’ to show that God chose this particular path from a variety of things He could have done – ignored us, left us to our own sinful self-destructive selves – and He made this choice because He is love and always expresses love and, I suggest, wants to express love more and more. From that we suggested in the last study that our identity, unlike that of the confused and drifting helpless world around us, is founded in Him. We are what we are because of Him and we are directly related to Him – He is OUR loving heaven Father and all His resources are now available to us.

Now we’re going to start to look at the end of our quoted verse, “to be holy”.  Well, even before we look at that, we have to acknowledge that it means change, even utter transformation, and that can be scary. Add to that what we think we know of ‘holy’ and it is even more so.

That for many, I believe, is a scary thing, a rather confusing word that seems to appear many times in the Old Testament when God’s judgment comes into play, we think, or someone has a direct encounter with God. When Moses met God at the burning bush, he was told, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Ex 3:5).

Then there is the time when Isaiah had his heavenly revelation and saw seraphim, and we read, “And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ (Isa 6:3-5)

Now let’s be honest, many of us just exist in our comfort zone, ever unchanging, and failing to realise our calling, a calling which makes us unique and wonderful, utterly different, called to know God and be like God in character. That ultimately is what ‘holy’ means and we’ll need to unpack it but look at those descriptions and ask the Holy Spirit to show you the reality of them. Again – unique, wonderful, utterly different, called to know God. Enough homework there for a week isn’t there! But if you are someone who fears that thought of ‘being holy’ because that is what God calls us to, remember the path we trod earlier, that God is love and empathizes with us (Studies 9 & 10) but also that His will is good, pleasing and perfect. Now if we believed that – and it is true – then surely finding a verse that at first sight may sound scary, is in fact going to turn out to be for our good and a blessing to us. But look at a few of the words I used just now about what He wants to make us – unique and wonderful, utterly different, called to know God. Now I guess if you are like me you will balk at ‘unique and wonderful’ but it is true; we just don’t realise it most of the time, so it is another one of those times when we have to pray, “Lord, open my eyes to see the reality of what you have made me and are making me.”   Amen? 

23. Identity Aspects

‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.23: Identity Aspects

Eph 1:4 “he chose us in him before the creation of the world.”

We live in a world verging on crisis because of confusion over identity. Your identity and mine is what it is – a child of God with phenomenal potential – because God chose a way of salvation that at some point was held out to the drowning person (us) and we grabbed hold of it and, dragged out of the sea of Sin and Self, we knelt spluttering in repentance before God and received a new life. So we aren’t who we were – those with uncertain identities – we are children of God, members of the body of Christ – 1 Cor 12:7 (community & purpose), temples of the Holy Spirit – 1 Cor 3:16, 6:19, 2 Cor 6:16 (power & presence) and part of the Bride of Christ – Rev 19:7 (destiny). Ponder on that lot and never be confused about who you are. But identity problems arise from the struggles we have as people.

To understand this, note this about God. A key issue in respect of God is His holiness, His distinctiveness, His uniqueness, His self-sufficiency – all powerful, all wise, all-knowing. Because of all this He has no need of anything from anyone or anything else. He is perfect in His character and perfect in His abilities, He is not limited by what others think of Him for He knows the truth about Himself. Because He communicates within Himself as the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, He has no need of anyone else; He is utterly at peace within Himself, within who He is. Yet, because another attribute of His is love, He looks to express that love towards His Creation. It is not a necessity but a choice.

Now consider us. We aren’t all powerful, we are limited in respect of our physical and mental capacities, we don’t know everything and we frequently feel we lack wisdom, and so when we struggle for identity by measuring ourselves against others, we do it by assessing what we look like, how clever we are, what gifts we have or don’t have, and we struggle therefore with relationships, which is a slippery slope that leads down to a jungle of reinventing ‘my image’ in a variety of ways. It may be by appearance changes, or it may be by improving myself through self-help classes.

One of the crucial things some of us lack is a sense of belonging and scientific surveys show that the happiest people are those who have a sense of belonging, of being part of a community, whether that be with our parents or with a club or other group. The church, it has been shown, can be an ideal group to feel a part of. (Something for church leaders to be aware of and build into the activity curriculum of the church.)

The other crucial thing some of us lack is a sense of purpose. In our calling to Christ perhaps we have never realized or never prayed for, a sense of new direction – where am I going now. Worrying about being in the right job or career is often fruitless without such a calling (I have had at least three distinct careers in my life). Constantly changing jobs or careers is a sign of absence of direction, whereas when circumstances (which happened in my case) move to impose changes on us, it is fascinating to look back and see what took place. In each of my job/career changes my salary went down a third but our quality of life went up. If I am honest I can never say I was conscious of God leading and directing onto the new path but when I look back after the passing of years, I can clearly see how He was there in it, if not engineering it, certainly providing in it – and changing and freshly equipping me in it.

Your identity will change if we measure it by what we do. At relational level I was a son, a husband, a father and then a grandfather. At work level I was a Chartered Surveyor, a lecturer, and then a pastor. All those identity changes bring many other changes, sometimes in personal identity status and the way people view you, sometimes in just coping with the different demands of those changes. As a child of God (1 Jn 2:1) know that you are infinitely loved by God, despite whatever you think about yourself – or, for that matter, what others think about you. It doesn’t matter what you are doing in life, He just loves you for being His child who heeded His call.  Hallelujah!

22. Not automatic

‘Living in the Will of God’ Meditations No.22: Not automatic

Eph 1:4 “he chose us in him before the creation of the world.”

I want to move away from the specifics of families and go back consider more generally again the will of God. Hopefully this starter verse is very familiar to us and we’re going to use it as a foundation of a number of thoughts over the next week, and so I want to start by focusing on the word, ‘chose’ which I suspect we often take for granted.

This word suggests that God’s will, His design, His purposes, His strategies, were not automatic, they were the specific choice by God from a range of options at some specific moment in time or eternity. He didn’t HAVE to do this or many other things, but He did! Why? What caused Him to make THIS choice? Love! Because He is love it was an expression of love that made Him make this choice. Give thanks to Him that He chose you, He made this choice instead of other options before Him.

I confess I’ve never thought down this path before and so I would guess it isn’t something that I’ve ever heard on the horizon of preaching but, seriously, we just read the verse and rejoice in it but never consider the alternatives. God could have created this world and let us loose in it and left it at that, but He didn’t, the Godhead formulated the means of our salvation. He could have held off at a distance and never made contact so there would Abram with an embryonic faith, and no family for him, and there would be no Israel, no prepared nation into which His Son would come.

We tend to take all that chain of events for granted, but He chose Abram, enabled his wife to conceive, so Isaac whose wife He enabled to conceive and so Jacob. If He wasn’t intervening all the time, even if there had eventually been a Jacob and a spoiled son, Joseph, that son would have ended up and died in prison. The Old Testament is a record of God constantly intervening in the affairs of mankind, but God chose purposefully to do it.

But back to Creation, God could have made us robots with no free will, who had to obey Him, but there would be no love for God, no love for each other, no creativity; it would be very barren existence, but He chose otherwise, despite the outcomes which He had already provided for in the long-term picture.

God chose to give us free will with the awful eventuality of us being separated from Him by Sin, separated from one another with fears, suspicions, hostility, bickering, fighting and wars. This I struggle with, when you start recognising the awful extents of our Sin – slavery, forced prostitution, drug gangs and drug dependency, often resulting on death, spousal violence and the violence of powerful dictators, but free will was necessary if we were to rise up with our limitless possibilities of creativity, of heroism and valour, of lives given over to the caring of others.

He chose to work redemption into the list of possibilities of the human race so that we would be bought back from all the destructive paths into a path of intimacy with the divine and selfless service of mankind. No, none of these things was automatic but purposeful, ongoing, continual working to bring a means of salvation and utter transformation. So never take these things we read for granted, they are the expression of a truly loving God who is worthy of our love and devotion.