Ecclesiastes 3:1

There is an occasion for everything,

and a time for every activity

under heaven

 

Thought for the day

The blogger Jill Printzenhoff writes about a time how she went fishing and caught nothing and yet the fisherman next to her managed to pull out seven. They were using different bait and she describes it as not her day. She finishes her blog post with these words: ‘You keep striving, you keep working, and you keep on keeping on. Because some day when you cast your line . . . you will be at the right spot at the right time . . . and that day will be your day . . . the day you catch that all elusive fish!’

I believe that there is a time for everything under heaven and earth and sometimes, well actually, all the time we need to be patient and wait because the reality of the situation is we are working to God’s time. The writer of Ecclesiastes also says this about God’s timing: ‘He has made everything appropriate[b] in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts,[c] but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end.’

There is a mystery to God’s timing that we cannot fathom because we do not have the full picture and so to paraphrase Jill: ‘we keep striving, we keep working, and we keep on keeping on. Because some day we’ll cast our line . . .we will be at the right spot at the right time . . . and that day will be our day.’

Trust God. His timing is perfect.

Jill’s blogpost can be found here:

https://jillprintzenhoff.com/2017/06/13/not-my-day/

 

Consumers?

Ever heard of the phrase ‘too much of a good thing?’ How much is too much for you? And how much of a good thing is too much? At what point do we say enough is enough?

I’ve been thinking about this recently. A lot. I believe God has been challenging me to think about how much I consume. I feel like this one of those moments when I stand up in a support group and say ‘my name is Ray and I am a consumer.’

I’m not being flippant here either. I think we need to confess that we are consumers. God has given us an amazingly wild, diverse beautiful place to live. Our consumption is destroying it. And it’s because we have believed in the lie that more is better. The latest phone, the newest car, the most up to date fashion. The must have toy. More is better is what the world tells us.

The Gospel is that we find our value, our purpose, and our satisfaction in Christ alone. Paul writes in Philippians 4:19 ‘And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.’ It seem hard when everything is telling us that more is better. But if we take God seriously, we will look at the things we do and say and spend our money on and ask the question ‘Is God enough?’ If the answer to that question is no, then we need to come to God and repent and ask to be shown a better way.

Revenge?

We’ve talked about not seeking revenge because revenge is only God’s to give here on Walking the Way, but I’ve never thought about how I would feel if the revenge I so desperately wanted was to be inflicted on someone. How would I react if the person who has done me harm came to what I think of as their just reward? Would I be happy and gloat? Well the Bible makes it clear that rejoicing over the downfall of your enemies is a no-no.

And actually that’s quite hard because  think our natural inclination is to maybe not rejoice but certainly take a certain amount of satisfaction when those who have hurt us get their just rewards. And then I think about the grace and forgiveness of God and how God has extended that grace and forgiveness to me. And how God expects me to do the same to those I class as enemies. We were God’s enemies, but he chased us down and saved us. Think of the witness if we do that to those who hurt us and are now being hurt. ‘No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.”’

 

Poverty

Proverbs 10:15

Wealth protects the rich; 

poverty destroys the poor.

 

Thought for the day

The author Terry Pratchett once wrote that the difference between rich and poor people was their boots. Rich people can afford to buy boots that last a lifetime, poor people end up spending what little they have, on constantly replacing the cheap boots they have to buy because they can’t afford better boots. And it’s an interesting take on today’s verse about wealth and poverty. But the question of wealth and poverty is a difficult one for Christians. Growing up in Southern Africa I was very aware of vast differences in wealth distribution. Even here in the UK, the differences between the wealthy and the poor are everywhere if you know where to look.

In the Scriptures wealth is a blessing but it is a blessing that can and will for many people become an idol. Go read the account of the rich young man (Matthew 19:16-30). But like many of God’s gifts they are given out as he chooses. There will be believers that have to struggle for every penny, relying on God for everything. Jesus reminds us that poor are blessed because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them. What we need richer believers to do is support those poorer believers. This is a biblical model that we see in the book of Acts where the early church sold their possessions and gave the proceeds to the Church. Because they recognised that poverty can and does rob, steal and destroy the poor. James writes in James 2: ‘If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?

God gives us talents, gifts and blessings so we can share them with others. But we are called to support those who have little but maybe dealing with poverty begins with buying someone a better pair of boots.

 Holiness

What does holiness look like to you? Or when you hear the word holy what comes to mind. The reason I’m asking is because for a while now I have been thinking about holiness. What does it mean to be holy and whether or not we can truly be holy? We are commanded to be holy both in the Old Testament and by Jesus who said be holy as your Father in heaven is holy (Matthew 5:48). 

John Wesley taught that genuine faith produces inward and outward holiness. He consistently argued that salvation must produce holiness of heart and life, but he never viewed the process as something that would be completed. He taught that despite the inner assurance and regeneration of character that results from knowing that you have been saved, it is never too long before we discover that there is still a root of sin within.

However, there is never an occasion or state of true Christian discipleship that does not lead to a deepening of our love for God and for our neighbour and we become more like Christ walking the paths of good and justice every day. That is true holiness.

Mad Wisdom              

When I first arrived in the UK I was sat at a bus stop with 2 other people, A young lady and an older gentleman. The older gentleman was impeccably dressed and was very charming, that is right up to the point when he got up, walked out into the street ad started howling at the moon. He then sat down as if nothing happened and explained he was of lycanthropic descent. He was descended from werewolves apparently. Needless to say, he was less charming after this and, if not already, most likely should have been under the care of mental health professionals.

Solomon describes wisdom as someone who cries out in the streets, who raises their voices in the square. I wonder if we as a society haven’t begin to see wisdom, particularly Godly wisdom, in the same way we might see someone, like my gentleman with mental health problems. It’s all a bit odd and possibly dangerous, best not spoken about or considered and probably best locked away for everyone’s safety.

The trouble is that is that people with mental health problems very often are capable of teaching us profound things. I have a friend who is bipolar. He has a Christian faith and spirituality that amazes me every time. He drew a book called Kanook the bipolar bear about his experiences and the conversations we have had about God have been thought provoking and challenging. Most people wouldn’t give him the time of day I wager. God’s wisdom is radical and challenging and if it seems  challenging, that’s because it is. It

 is the path to  knowledge and righteousness that

 comes from  God who is the most rational mind in

 the universe.  Maybe we need to be listening to

 the shouting in  the square a bit more.

 Attitude of praise 

Psalms is after all the Bible’s hymnbook and prayer book and as we look back over the psalms even those that are cries of lament or anger ultimately bring their thoughts back to praising God. ‘Bring me out of prison, so that I may give thanks to your name’, cries David in 142. ‘How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land’ lament the exiles in 137.

And it got me wondering about the way we live our lives, Are we as the people of God, living lives that give glory to God? Are we a thankful people for all that God has done for us? Is worshipping God consuming us? I wager that the answer is no. And we can make all sorts of excuses for it. It’s unrealistic, we’re too busy, I have kids etc. etc. etc. And yet the imperative in today’s Psalm is ‘Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!’

And it’s more than an imperative, it’s the reason for our being. We were created, the universe was created to praise God and bring him glory. So for today at least let’s make sure we do what we created to do and praise God and give him all the glory due his name.