God's Masterpiece: Day 3....

Isaiah 45:9-12 "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker,

to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.

Does the clay say to the potter,

'What are you making?'

Does your work say, '

He has no hands'?

[10] Woe to him who says to his father,

'What have you begotten?'

or to his mother, '

What have you brought to birth?'

[11] "This is what the Lord says—

the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:

Concerning things to come,

do you question me about my children,

or give me orders about the work of my hands?

[12] It is I who made the earth

and created mankind upon it.

My own hands stretched out the heavens;

I marshalled their starry hosts.

Once again we come to the fact that in us God has poured out his creativity in making us, and fashioned each of us by hand, the way a potter makes jars. But we come at it from a slightly different angle here....

God made each of us for a purpose, and that purpose is unique. We are fashioned to serve him and others for the task HE chose for us. In my life too often I clash with my maker because I forget this fact. I try to live for myself (selfishness) or seek to choose how I will serve him (arrogance). Yet he requires submission and humility from me. As I grow in him, I need to acknowledge his soveriegnty and find the true contentment that comes from finding myself serving him by being at the centre of God's will for my life.

Day 11: Learn Contentment....

This is the last post on Deeper Reflections, at least for the time being. If you want to continue with online devotions then please look at www.deployed.blogspot.com

Exodus 20:17 "You shall not covet your neighbour's house. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour."

I very often get restless. I love my technology and my gadgets (as do lots of men around my age) and every time something new comes out I want one. I read Stuff, I read T3, I read PC Pro. I know what’s going on in the world of technology, and I want to be one of those poor fools that consumer electronic companies call ‘early adopters’, people who are stuck with big, clunky, bugged versions of consumer electronics that one day everyone else will be using having bought it much cheaper….

And it’s worse when I take my eyes off the real goals of my life, of worshipping the Lord with all my heart, soul, strength and mind, because when I do that my soul, which is always striving after something, fills the vacuums with the ‘nothings’ those goals which are meaningless. I consume, because my soul is hungry. I consume because I seek after comfort. I consume because I want to be content.

Yet I will only be content, only cease to covet after stuff, when my soul is being satisfied. And that only happens when I am worshipping God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, all my strength. It only happens when I find myself at the centre of God’s will for my life.

Martin Luther King found this contentedness of the soul, even though his life was in danger, and he was sometimes far from comfort. Yet in the middle of the storms of his life he found the only place where any of us will find complete contentment – being in the place, the time, and the situation God wants you to be in. The last words he spoke publicly he expressed this sentiment:

“Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. And I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

Day 10: Truth Telling....

Exodus 20:16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.

It’s with a bit of sadness that I observe the slow exiting of Tony Blair from office because I remember the optimism with which he swept into government in 1997. Labour spokespeople talked about being whiter than white, of not just being free of the sleaze that killed the outgoing government, but of the importance of being seen to be without that sleaze. But that ambition has faltered. Corrupt ministers, the war in Iraq, and his seeming pursuit of wealthy friends (not to mention his spats with his next door neighbour) have destroyed his reputation for integrity. Like most politicians that have been around for a while, it seems that we don’t trust any words that come out of his mouth.

Jesus said 'know the truth', [in other words have a complete, personal, intimate, life transforming relationship with me, then I will show you how to live in this world, to treat other people, to properly put things into perspective so your relationship with God will be restored, and you will bring healing, not conflict to the world] 'and the truth will set you free.' Imagine what it would be like living in a world where truth telling was the norm. Imagine living in a world where behind every deal, transaction, or agreement, no secrets were waiting to sneak up and surprise you. Imagine being seen as a person of such integrity. People would want to do business with you.

Tony seems to be a man of faith, who reads theology in his spare time according to several newspaper profiles, and I remember him giving a speech to the Labour party conference in 1995 where he seemed to hold to the truth above. Talking about justice and exclusion within our society, and our responsibilities to each other, he said "We are our brother’s keeper, we will not walk by on the other side." We have to acknowledge that it is harder to be in charge than to critique from the outside, but I wonder if after a decade of Labour we can say that Tony has led us in keeping our brothers and crossing over to the other side.

Because then we will be on the road to knowing the truth, and having the truth set us free....

Day 9: Act Generously....

Exodus 20:15 "You shall not steal.

A few years ago what I really wanted at Christmas was a Palm Pilot. Now I know these things don’t come cheap, so I dropped hints to all my family members that perhaps they could all make a small contribution. “I don’t want your tat,” I told them, “just give me your money.”

On Christmas day I got a card from my brother in law. Having been taught well by my mother I gave it a good shake so that the money would drop out and I could be suitably grateful. But none did. Instead inside was a picture of a goat, which I had apparently ‘bought’ and sent to Africa….

Now it’s not that I think my brother in law is cheap. But I think that he was playing a part in a lesson that God wants me to learn. In our lives we have much, sometimes too much. It might not be enough for us not to steal, but for us to act generously.

The richest 20% of the world’s population:
• consume 45% of all meat and fish; the poorest consume 5%
• consume 58% of all energy; the poorest less than 4%
• have 74% of all telephone lines; the poorest 1.1%
• consume 84% of all paper; the poorest 1.1%
• own 87% of motor vehicles; the poorest less than 1%

It may not just be about keeping our noses clean. Saying we’re not stealing may not be enough. While we satisfy the negative command, do not, what about the positive that it alludes to? We need to be generous with what we own. We need to be compassionate with it. We need to be realists about what we can achieve with our time and resources. And we have to wonder if by just sitting on what we have we are in fact stealing from Him who gave us everything in the first place.

Day 8: Jesus speaks….

Exodus 20:14 "You shall not commit adultery.

Nobody comments better on these words than Jesus himself….

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered round him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no-one condemned you?"
"No-one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."
John 8:2-11

Day 7: The world’s gone mad….

Exodus 20:13 "You shall not murder.

Where were you on September 11th 2001?

I was on a train travelling back from Sheffield with a colleague when Jenny sent me a text message. "The World's gone mad.... get to a TV quick." Of course I couldn't, but we did have a mini-radio and we managed to listen to Radio 5 all afternoon as we wound our way up the East Coast mainline. We didn't see the pictures till we got to Glasgow, and sitting on a train with only one little radio, and rumour spreading throughout the carriage was a numbing experience. And my friend was American....

Since then our world has changed - there was conflict before the twin towers, and there is conflict now. It's not confined to the 'war on terror', it's everywhere, Darfur, Afghanistan, Iraq, Indonesia, Lebanon, Gaza, West Africa, Madrid, London....

I wonder how it has changed me. Have I hardened my heart, or has it been softened? Do I look at the world from a western viewpoint (we need to burn all the poppy fields because they make drugs) or can I take a global stance (we need to find poppy farmers an alternative source of income)? Am I a more cautious person now, or more reckless? Do I want to protect what I have, or ask who others want to destroy it? Do I turn to God more, or do I rail against him for abandoning us? Am I to be an agent for change, or peace, or justice?

Jesus told us that we would hear of wars and rumours of wars. He was warning us that we would have no peace, that there would be forever conflict, that somehow we are trapped on a downward spiral until he came back. But he also gave us hope. The Bible tells us that, despite all the uncertainty in the world and the fact that we do not know which way we are going, ultimately God stands behind history, and He will bring it to a close when He is ready.

Until He comes - a phrase which was written on the Communion Table of the Church I grew up in. Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble. Until He comes....

Day 6: Share….

Exodus 20:12 "Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Sorry it;'s a few hours late.....

Have you heard of the IPOD generation? I heard about it on the radio yesterday. The IPOD generation (do you think they made up the name and then thought up the definitions?) are twenty-to-thirty-somethings who are Insecure, Pressured, Overtaxed, Debt ridden, and a Think Tank are claiming that they are contributing to the Welfare State without getting any of it's benefits and being hit with student debt, soaring housing costs and job insecurity. Apparently it's stifling the lifeblood of a generation that is responsible for building the nation's future as they are paying more than their fair share....

It got me thinking about the Fifth Commandment: "Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." A lot of the time we look on this as just a personal injunction, that we have to obey, then respect and finally care for our parents. But it has a corporate dimension as well. If we as a nation do not honour the older people in our communities, working for and looking after them, incidentally part of the bargain of the welfare state, then we will create a society which is stuffed full of insecurity and fear. The old and unproductive will be neglected and left to wither and die. Those of working age will look out only for their own and as they see the older folk struggling, they too will fear for their future. Living long will not be a blessing, but a curse.

Maybe it is hard work being a young person today, but maybe it always has been. Maybe in the past people accepted this because they better understood the corporate nature of the responsibilities between generations. When I was a kid both my parents worked, and my grandparents looked after us frequently. Now that we have children my parents often watch mine... We look on this as a blessing for our family and we benefit from the interaction of the generations. Maybe my generation just has to overcome their worship of personal fulfilment and stop asking about what they get out of society now, and think about what they may need when they get older.... Maybe then we'll get to live long in the land that God has given us.