Run, run, run!

Therefore... let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus... Hebrews 12:1-2

Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

I wonder if the name Roger Bannister means anything to you? If you are remotely interested in sport I’m sure it will. Bannister was the man who broke a record many thought could never be broken: he was the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes.

I recently picked up a book he originally wrote in 1955, the year after he broke that record. I was just a small boy at the time (picture me with short grey trousers and Brylcreemed hair), but I still remember the fuss and excitement. It was a bit like when Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay became the first men to reach the top of Everest.

In his book Bannister talks about his compulsion to run, and the thrill he got from it. 

Well, I can’t pretend to have any kind of similar compulsion. Running has never much interested me, though I do appreciate its beauty. I remember a boy at school - I even remember his name: Farthing - who ran like the wind, all smoothness, focus and fluency. I can see him right now, flowing down the track. But I’m afraid that I was one of those who, when it came to the annual cross-country run, reckoned to hide away for a few laps and hope no-one would notice.

In the world of the New Testament they didn’t have the kind of complicated and sophisticated games we have today - no football or tennis or cricket. But what they did have was athletics, and especially that most basic and primitive of all sports, running.

So it’s no surprise that the writer to the Hebrews (and Paul too in 1 Corinthians) compares the Christian life to the running of a race. It’s clear that he has in mind long distance, not a sprint (think Mo Farah or Paula Radcliffe), because he talks about “running with perseverance”. Even an unfit person can put on a bit of speed for a hundred yards or so, though perhaps at risk of a heart attack. But running a marathon, say, is a rather different matter. You need to be supremely fit and totally dedicated. And exactly the same thing applies to the spiritual race.

You have to get rid of any excess baggage. The writer picks out two sorts.

First, “everything that hinders”. There’s not much point running a race in your wellies or eating a bacon sandwich, is there? All of us have things in our lives which are not at all wrong in themselves but which trip us up - hinder us - through having an over-important place in our priorities. Do I, say, watch too much television, or read too many novels, or eat too many donuts, or (this is me) play too much chess?

Perhaps, looking at your life, you can think of a bit of pruning that needs to be done, a few tough decisions that need to be made. How about it?

Second “the sin that so easily entangles” - things or attitudes, motives or ambitions, which are quite clearly wrong, no ifs no buts, but which we have got comfortably used to. Things which have become part of the furniture of our lives. But things which are offensive to a pure and holy God. 

A sinking ship may need to jettison its cargo, and that must be very hard to do. But if the cargo consists of outright sins on the one hand and distracting habits or hobbies on the other, sorry, it’s got to go.

The kind of fitness and dedication the writer is talking about calls for one very simple thing: “let us fix our eyes on Jesus”.

Doesn’t that little expression sum up perfectly the heart and soul of Christianity? Every minute of every day we are to be Christ-centred men and women. Fix your eyes. An occasional glance is no good. Nor even a weekly stare, most likely on a Sunday morning. No, our eyes must be focussed on him twenty-four seven, as they say.

The next stretch of the race lies before us. Are you a true athlete for Christ?

Father, help me to be the kind of runner the Bible speaks of, remembering that one day I will receive a prize that can never be taken away. Amen.

Stop fretting!

Don’t fret because of the wicked, don’t be envious of those who do wrong, for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good… Psalm 37:1-3

I knew someone once who was such a worrier that it was said of her: “if she doesn’t have something to worry about she worries about not having something to worry about”. (Said affectionately, I should add.)

I think of her when I read the first few verses of Psalm 37, because three times the writer tells us not to “fret”.

The fretful person is the person who constantly worries, often about trivial things, or about things he or she can’t change. The person who always seems to have an anxious frown on their forehead. The person who is always “in a bother” over something or other. “Het up” might be a good translation.

Do you perhaps recognise yourself there? If so, listen up! – as they say. The psalmist has a message for you.

His main target is the person who frets about “the state of the world”, about wicked people and wrong-doers. “Why should they get away with it?” says the fretful person, “it just isn’t right”. Which, no doubt, is perfectly true; but if you honestly can’t change the situation there really isn’t much point in letting it destroy your peace of mind, is there?

The writer’s remedy is simple: “Trust in the Lord and do good.”  If you take a minute to read all those first eight verses – and I very much recommend that you do, even if you aren’t particularly fretful by nature – you will find that the essence of what he is saying is: “Just get on with your life day by day. Concentrate on the things which are to hand, the things you have control over. God is in charge of the big picture, and he’ll sort out the wicked when he sees fit.”

“Trust in the Lord…” That means leaving your life and your circumstances fairly and squarely in God’s hands. It means faith, which may very well be the most that God can ask of us. And, of course, it means praying.

Sometimes we say, “Well, I suppose all we can do is pray”, as if prayer is a kind of despairing, last-ditch back-stop when all else fails. No! Prayer is the first and possibly the best thing we can do, for when we pray we are tapping into supernatural resources.

“And do good…” Trusting and resting in God are vital. But that doesn’t mean being totally passive. There is always good to be done! – either in the little duties of life, or possibly even in some of those big things too. You hear sometimes of very ordinary people who start an on-line petition, say, or who start up a charity, or who write a letter to the paper, or who go on a demonstration, or who give a sum of money to a good cause. People who roll their sleeves up…

Not particularly effective? Perhaps not – but then who knows? God alone. (And much better than sitting around fretting, anyway.)

Live positively. Perhaps that’s a good way to sum up what the writer is saying. Don’t get sucked into pessimistic negativity.

All this doesn’t mean, of course, that we should develop a kind of happy-go-lucky pseudo-faith. No: that’s the other end of the spectrum, and it’s equally wrong.

As well as the woman I mentioned earlier, I also knew a man who was the exact opposite. Oh, never a care in the world! “Everything will be all right!” he would say, and he would breeze his way merrily from day to day. But… he had a job to hold down, a family to provide for, health problems to contend with, a mortgage to pay. “Oh, I don’t believe in worrying about things!” was all very well. But you only had to look at his wife’s haggard face to see who bore the burden of cares in that marriage…

Trust in God is not a cop-out from shouldering proper responsibility.

And, of course, there are times in life when we are hit by something big, something shattering: a bereavement or major sickness, a big disappointment or shock, something that shakes our minds – or breaks our hearts.

In such circumstances – and they come at some point or other to even the most trusting, godly people – Psalm 37 is not intended as a sticking-plaster to make everything right. 
These beautiful words are not there to be trotted out in a shallow, trite kind of way. That’s not how trust in God works.

But nevertheless, we have it on the good authority of many people who have been through the furnaces of life that… these words really are wise and true!

So – can I invite you to soak them up again?

Lord God, in this complicated and troubled world, and in my complicated and troubled life, help me to be realistic and responsible, but also trusting, prayerful and at peace. Amen.

A riot in the synagogue

Jesus taught in their synagogue, and everyone praised him… All spoke well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips… All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up and drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill… in order to throw him down the cliff… Luke 4:15, 22, 28-29

Hey, what’s going on here!

Jesus is just beginning his earthly ministry. He comes to his home town of Nazareth and goes to the synagogue to worship. He is invited to read and explain the scriptures. And what happens?… “Everyone praised him” (verse 15); “All spoke well of him, and were amazed” at his gracious words (verse 22). And then, “All the people were furious” and tried to sling him off the nearby cliff (verses 28-29).

What’s going on? The mood that day in the Nazareth synagogue swung wildly from amazement and admiration to anger and attempted murder in just half an hour or so. Why?

Well, what happened in that short time?

First, Jesus announced himself as God’s chosen Messiah.

He read from Isaiah 61, a passage about a messenger sent by God “to preach good news to the poor… to proclaim freedom for the prisoners… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”. True, the word “Messiah” isn’t actually used, but the words “the Lord has anointed me” are – and “anointed” is the word from which “messiah” comes.

So, is this what upset them? No. Even if the translation “all spoke well of him” is going a bit far (and it probably is: “everyone was struck by him” might be better) their reaction is one of amazement and, perhaps, puzzlement, rather than anger.

Second, Jesus then challenged the wrong priorities of the congregation.

He quoted an old proverb to them: “No doubt you’re going to say to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ (as we might put it, ‘Charity begins at home!’)”. “All right, Jesus, we’ve heard about all those wonderful miracles you did up the road in Capernaum – well, give us a bit of the action too!”

They don’t actually say that – but Jesus can read it in their faces. And so he puts it to them that they’re interested in the wrong thing.

So, is this what upset them? Again, no. A few worried frowns might have been appearing on a few brows, but as yet they don’t try to stop him.

It’s then that the bomb goes off…

Third, Jesus reminds them that God’s love isn’t just for them.

This is truly explosive. He says, in effect:

“Do you remember those Old Testament stories, the ones about Elijah and Elisha? In Elijah’s day lots of people were in danger of starving to death. But Elijah only helped one – a poor widow, and she was from Sidon, not even an Israelite! And in Elisha’s day there were plenty of lepers around the place. But Elisha healed just one, and his name – remember it? – was Naaman, a Syrian, a captain in the enemy army…”

This is the point at which “all the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.” I wonder if any of them actually shouted: “Blasphemy! Israel first! God is for the Jews! This man is a traitor! Toss him off the cliff!”

A dramatic story. But where does it leave us? A couple of serious lessons strike me.

First, don’t follow the crowd – it can turn in a moment. We are called to focus on Jesus and follow him, even if we have to do so alone. The person who tamely “goes with the flow” is heading for disaster.

Second, don’t be mean-spirited and petty-minded. You may love your country, your town, your neighbourhood – and that’s fine. But remember: God’s love and his saving purposes are for all men and women, not just your tiny corner of the planet. Jesus can’t be domesticated.

Let me throw this in too: In these days of Brexit, and Mr Trump’s presidency, and aggressive nationalist movements around the world, does this story have anything in particular to say to us today?

Perhaps that’s a question best left hanging…

The world is the Lord’s and everything in it. God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son. Praise God for his gift of grace, given through Jesus to all humanity!

Lord Jesus, forgive me when I am blinkered and petty-minded. Please help me to see this great world as belonging to you, and all its people, of whatever colour, language or race, as those for whom you suffered and died. Amen.

How patient are you?

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love... Ephesians 4:2

I remember the day my father received an unexpected letter from the bank - it must have been some time in the 1970s. It made him very angry. Why? Well, the envelope contained his first ever credit card.

We probably find it hard to believe now - but at that time credit cards were new. If you wanted to buy something, you had to choose one of three methods: cash, cheque, or a negotiated loan. But now here were these new-fangled pieces of plastic which enabled you to get things without paying for them.

My father did quite a dramatic thing. He got hold of a pair of scissors, cut the card into pieces, put it in another envelope, and sent it straight back to the bank with a strong letter. He had never asked for credit in his life! And he didn't want it now, thank you very much! He was seriously offended.

Well, I haven't followed my father's example, even though I admired it. Like you, I imagine, I have found credit cards very useful. But I could see his point, given his background - and that loaded word “credit”.

An advertising slogan for credit cards was "taking the waiting out of wanting". Quite clever, that. Short, snappy - and, in its way, accurate. But also very misleading. Because, of course, you do have to pay for what you are buying - it's just that the paying bit, the not-so-pleasant bit, is hidden away. What the credit card adverts didn't tell you was that - don't you worry! - that bill would come back to bite you in due course.

And so we have evolved a society where debt is part and parcel of most people's lives, and where millions of people, even those with high-flying jobs and big pay packets, are enslaved to possibly massive, unrepayable debts - the kind of debts that keep them awake at night,  and that threaten nervous breakdowns, marital disputes and possibly ruined lives.

Paul writes "Be patient ". Elsewhere he tells us that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience..." (Galatians 5). He tells his friends in Colosse to "clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility and patience..." (Colossians 3). He isn't in fact talking mainly about money, but about how we relate to people we find difficult and annoying.

But the need for patience covers many areas of life. Another obvious example is sex. The Bible principle is that sex is God's beautiful gift to those who have committed themselves to one another in marriage. But who these days wants to wait? You must be joking!

There's an old saying that "the best things in life are free". There's truth in that. But it's also true to say that the best things in life are worth waiting for. You can't study for a worthwhile qualification in a fortnight. You can't learn to play a musical instrument in a couple of lessons. You can't master a foreign language by listening to a few CDs. No: quiet, disciplined, patient application is what's needed.

Building relationships requires patience. So does the vital matter of prayer. Any fruitful area of Christian ministry is a long-term prospect. "Growing" a church needs patience. In our "I-want-it-and-I-want-it-now" world, we who seek to follow Jesus have an important witness to make about the way to fulfilment, peace and true, lasting achievement. God give us grace to buck the trend and to nurture the virtue of patience!

In calling us to be patient, the Bible is in effect calling us to be like God. Where would we be without his patience?

God showed patience with the killer Cain by giving him the protective “mark” (Genesis 4). He showed patience with a whole world gone bad with the sign of the rainbow (Genesis 9). He showed patience with sinful Nineveh through the preaching of Jonah. He showed patience with his people through repeated pleadings (eg, Jesus’ parable of the tenants in the vineyard, Mark 12). He is still showing patience today by delaying Christ’s return (2 Peter 3). And that list is just a tiny sample.

Non-Christian cultures also reflect the great importance of patience. Says a Chinese proverb: “One moment of patience may ward off great disaster, while one moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.”

I’m afraid I have no idea who Ulrike Ruffert is, or was. But I like his words: “Patience is the ability to put up with people you’d like to put down.”

So... Are you a patient person? Patient with life in general? And patient in the sense of “long-suffering” with people who vex and trouble you?

Dear Lord and Father, you have been infinitely patient with me, my shortcomings and frailties. Thank you! Help me in this life to be patient with those who I feel have acted badly towards me - and to be satisfied to build patiently only those things that will last. Amen.

Snakes, lions - and your soul

So if you think you’re standing firm, watch out that you don’t fall! 1 Corinthians 10:12

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

I knew a man once who was a mature, solid Christian: a church leader in fact. He exercised a fruitful ministry, and was widely respected. He had been happily married for many years.

Then, out of nowhere, he fell victim to a sexual passion that completely overwhelmed him. Having long been a faithful husband, he suddenly found himself infatuated with another woman. His world turned upside down. His marriage came under massive strain. He couldn’t cope in his mind with what was happening to him. It was a dark time in his life.

Well, his crisis-time did in fact end well. Precisely because he had a strong Christian foundation to his life, he and his wife battled through the storm and ended up the stronger for it – albeit with immense pain.

Not all stories like that end well. And that is the point Paul wants his friends in Corinth to get hold of: “You think you’re all right? You think you’re safe from any risk of being overcome by temptation? Well, you’d better look out! You’re in danger!”

This isn’t just about sex, though that perhaps is the area where the danger is at its most obvious and dramatic. Corinth, at that time, was a particularly immoral and licentious place. Perhaps Paul’s strong feelings come from the fact that the Corinth Christians had been converted to Christ out of this background of rampant wickedness, and he fears that once the novelty of being in Christ has worn off a little, they might be tempted to go back to some of their former ways.

But whatever, the point is clear: however strong you may be as a believer, you are never more than a hair’s-breadth from the possibility of disaster. There is never a point in your life where you can rest on your laurels and say “I’m all right, a spiritual collapse could never happen to me.” Oh yes it could! Complacency is out.

In the Bible the devil is often portrayed as a snake. This, of course, suggests cunning and deception, a slithery, slimy, creepy infiltration of our lives before we’re even aware of the danger. And that is indeed often how it happens.

But Peter gives us another angle: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to gobble up.” If a snake suggests subtlety and guile, a lion suggests raw power and strength. A lion prowls quietly (oh yes, very quietly) for a while; but then it pounces. And it’s all over in a flash. This, I suspect, is what happened to the man I mentioned at the start.

Perhaps Peter sees it this way because of his own bitter experience. There was a time when he certainly thought he was “standing firm”, wasn’t there? – even to the point of putting Jesus right on one or two things: “Me betray you, Jesus? Me? Never! Even if all the others do, you can count on me! I’m right with you, if it comes to it, to the very death!” (Mark 14:27-31).

And then, within a matter of hours, deny Jesus is exactly what he does – three times (Mark 14:66-72). The devil pounces, and he just can’t cope. And so Matthew gives us one of the saddest verses in the Bible: “And he went outside and wept bitterly.” (Can you see him?)

Let’s ram it home again: however long you have been a Christian, however strong and well-taught your faith, however regular you are in worship, prayer and Bible-reading, however faithfully you have served God over many years, however much people may praise and respect you, however truly, indeed, you love Christ… however much all these things are true, you are never safe until you arrive in heaven.

The Christian life is a one-day-at-a-time thing. Let yesterday’s victories be an encouragement, by all means. But – yesterday was yesterday, and today is today. Be confident, by all means: but never complacent. Let our confidence be purely in Jesus, never in ourselves.

Oh, there is something else… If, like Peter, we do fall, remember that Peter was forgiven and restored. What was true of him can be true too of you and me. Praise God for that!

Loving Father, please help me, by your Spirit, to resist every temptation to self-confidence or complacency. May my trust be in you and you alone, and may I never forget that there is an enemy who wants to bring me down. Amen.

Praying that spans the globe

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness... 1 Timothy 2:1-2

So... it’s happened. Donald Trump is the President of the USA.

I don’t know what your reaction is to that, and in a sense it’s not what I’m concerned about. All I’m thinking about is that as Christians we are called to pray for him, whether we love him or, er, don’t (I hesitate to use the word “loathe” in Christian company). Paul tells his protégé Timothy to ensure that, in the church he led, prayer should be offered “for everyone - for kings and those in authority...”

I remember many years ago offering a prayer for the British prime minister and cabinet in the course of a Sunday morning service. I was taken to task at the end by a member of the congregation: “I was surprised to hear you pray for that man...” Odd! This person seemed to have the idea that we should only pray for people that we like or approve of - that by praying for the prime minister I was in effect expressing support for him.

But no! On the contrary, surely, if we feel that a political leader is not someone we could have voted for, isn’t that all the more reason to pray for him or her?

Let me come clean. When I heard that Mr Trump had been elected I could hardly believe it. I am, thankfully, not prone to depression, but if I were I think I would have gone into a real tail-spin. It baffled me - and still does - that any Christian (not to mention any woman) could vote for someone so (in my judgment) grotesquely out of step with Christian principles. 

But there, as they say, you go. It has happened, and there’s no going back. But if ever prayer was needed, surely it’s right now!

(Forgive me, please, if you see things differently. I know that there are many American Christians, including many evangelicals, who were in favour of Mr Trump. Well, so be it: ultimately, God alone can judge.)

This isn’t really just about the present situation: there is a much bigger and wider principle at stake here. The Christian church is called to intercede for all sorts of people and topics outside and beyond its own little world.

There are churches which, in their main Sunday services, have no prayers that could be called “prayers of intercession”. Or if they do, those prayers are only what you might call “in-house” prayers: people in the church who are sick, perhaps, or some particular aspect of the church’s life. The big wide world outside gets not the slightest mention.

Can this be good? True, there may well be smaller groups during the week where such things are mentioned; fair enough. But given that our main Sunday services are also, so to speak, the church’s “shop window” - the occasion when visitors and outsiders are likely to come - isn’t it important that the outside world should be reflected in them?

At the heart of the Christian faith is the great truth that individual men and women can find forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen to that. But the Christian faith spreads and reaches out far beyond that. Our world is God’s world - created and loved by him. And this means that literally everything - the worlds of politics, finance, science, culture, sport, you name it - is of concern to him. Everything should be bathed in the prayers of God’s holy people.

Two things in particular are worth noticing from Paul’s advice to Timothy. 

First, that word “everyone”. Just as “brexit means brexit” (to latch onto another present-day bone of contention) so too “everyone” means “everyone”. Is it time we expanded the scope of our praying?

Second, what Paul describes as the aim of our praying: “that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” Reflect, please, on that...

God wants peace on this earth. This is why Jesus taught us to pray that God’s kingdom would come and God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven”. In a world torn apart by conflict and war, this is a message we need to be reminded of.

And God is concerned about “godliness and holiness”. In a world so disfigured by the exact opposites - by vulgarity and grossness, by materialism and self-centredness, by immorality and vice - isn’t the need for prayer all the more urgent?

Pray for, and about, Mr Trump! Pray for America! Pray for the world! Who knows what God might do?

Lord Jesus, you call your church to pray for the life of this world. Help me to be obedient to that call, whatever my personal opinions may be. Amen.