Who we are, not what we are

Think of beaches and we think of sunny summer days; places of family fun, games and relaxation. Seventy five years ago, neither fun and games nor relaxation was the order of the day on five Normandy beaches. Instead, the order of the day was for thousands of Allied soldiers to fight their way up the beach and establish a foothold along the coastline. Just how traumatic this was for many of the American men on Omaha Beach was graphically portrayed in the opening 27 minutes of Stephen Spielberg’s film ‘Saving Private Ryan’.

I am grateful to all those men and women (civilian and military) involved in the struggle against Hitlerism. It has secured a peace in Western Europe which, although fragile at times, has lasted 74 years so far.

The fact remains, however, that in a non-military sense, Europe remains at war with itself. Indeed, individual nations are at war within themselves socially and politically. Zoom out to view the rest of the world and we have seen, and still see, both ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ wars that have their origins in how the Second World War panned out. The Second World War was in direct consequence to how the First World War finished and so this cause and effect goes on as we look back through history to the beginning of time.

Christians believe that God has enacted a plan to interrupt and ultimately halt this vicious cycle seen in history; something humanity is powerless to do. Let me take you to another beach nearly 2000 years ago.

It is at Miletus on the western coast of Turkey. Here we find the Christian preacher and teacher known as the apostle Paul (the man who had the blinding-light experience on the road to Damascus). He is meeting with his friends to bid them farewell and is convinced that he will not ever see them again. There is much sadness and tears. He is determined to leave them with words of sober advice and instruction - not unlike the pep talks generals would have given to the soldiers before they embarked upon the ships to Normandy.

I’ll pick out just three terms that Paul uses when speaking to his friends, because they are foundational to that plan of God which I mentioned: a ) The Gospel of God’s grace, b) repentance towards God and c) faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The good news of God’s grace means that, just as it was the U.S. Government’s will to save Private Ryan from the peril of death in Normandy, so God wills to save individuals from the peril of experiencing death without Him. Private Ryan was saved because of who he was and not what he had done, be it either good or bad. Likewise with the grace of God, it is given irrespective of what we think we merit. If we turn to him (that’s repentance), and trust Jesus to be the supreme commanding officer of our lives, we can discover that God is working to his plan for victory over all destructive forces and that we are on the winning side.

#Europe #theWesternworld #Christianfaith #grace #trust #repentance

The banquet

It is 25 years ago this month that I started contributing to this column. My aim has been, and remains, to engage readers not with religion per se, but with a person, namely Jesus. The call, invitation and even command that is given by Jesus has been my theme. An obvious example of this call/invitation/command is given in a parable that Jesus tells us about a banquet and the issuing of invitations; a topical subject in the light of the banquet to be held at Buckingham Palace for the U.S. President’s State visit early next month.

Here is the gist of the parable… There was a certain well-to-do man who organised a banquet and told his servant to go and invite those for whom places had been laid. Those invited began to make excuses as to why they couldn’t make it. One said that he had recently purchased a field and needed to go and see it. Another had just got a new yoke of oxen and needed to examine them. Still another simply said, ‘I’ve just got married so I can’t come.’ The well-to-do man was not pleased. He instructed his servant to go into town, into the streets and alleys and bring in the poor, sick, disabled etc., so that they might feast. The servant, obviously showing initiative, announced that he had already done this and there was still room at the banquet table! So the host told him to go further afield, into the countryside where there would be ‘outsiders’ - peasants, travellers and the homeless. He was told to compel these to come and benefit from his master’s fine table.

Through his servants i.e. his followers, Jesus continues to extend an invitation to men and women, calling them home to God where there is (metaphorically speaking) a family banquet prepared and waiting. Most people apparently prefer to turn the invite down lest it interfere with their own daily pursuits. Clearly, we need to secure an income, fulfil responsibilities and have time for relaxation. These things, however, need not hold us back. Jesus tells us how to go about this in God’s way saying, ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God and these things will be added to you also’.

So, here is the call, the invitation and command of the Christian message: will we lay things aside in order to take our place at God’s table? If we do, we can trust that he will show us how to live out our everyday lives in such a way that honours Him, blesses those we love and those with whom we rub shoulders.

I guess that over the past 25 years, I have written in excess of 120,000 words in these articles. Thankfully, to respond to the invitation given by Jesus takes only a few words; words that may be verbal or prayed in the quietness of the heart.

#allsortsofpeople #parable

A matter of the heart

Recently, the BBC headlined a call made by 40 health organisations, which encouraged people to take advantage of NHS health checks in order to prevent cardiovascular disease. As a result many thousands will have accessed the NHS online calculator ‘What’s your heart age?’

Did you know that God is also concerned about the state of our heart? Indeed, he has a lot to say on the subject. Of course, we are not now speaking of the muscle that is pumping in our chest, but ‘heart’ in the sense of being one’s own personhood - who I really am at heart.

We like to believe that people are basically good but then God comes along and starts using words like ‘deceitful’ and ‘wicked’ to describe the human heart. Would a God of love say that sort of thing about everyone or just bad people? That may sound a reasonable question but where are we going to set the dividing line that identifies some people as ‘bad’ whilst others aren’t?

Jesus doesn’t take a soft line either about the condition of the human heart. In fact, he proceeds to illustrate what God means by such words as ‘deceitful’ and ‘wicked’. He explains, ‘out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.’

‘These’ Jesus says, ‘are what make a person unclean' (i.e. soiled, stained and spoiled in God’s sight).

If we will recognise and admit to God’s assessment of the human condition, it will answer most of the questions about why the problems in our world are as they are - politically, economically, socially and relationally. God longs for us to see that both as individuals and en masse we are in a fix; a condition of the heart that is terminal. We need to be healed, we need a divine physician, in short a saviour.

This is the context in which the love of God is to be understood. He has sent Jesus to explain his diagnosis, purchase the cure and then apply it to anyone who will come to him for it.

Jesus specialises in heart renewal! That is what Christians mean when they speak of a message of good news. By admitting our need, trusting in the ability of Jesus to wash away those things which are offensive to God, the cure begins. The healing continues as God’s Holy Spirit skilfully and tenderly changes men and women from the inside so that things that come out of the renewed heart are now pleasing to God.

When Jesus’ first followers preached this message, many hearers were ‘cut to the heart’. The divine surgery had begun! And so it continues around the world this very day.

Google ‘what’s your heart age NHS’ but remember your heart needs two check-ups!

#humannature #trust #Saviour #loveofGod #politics #Goodnews #heart