When you're caught in two minds

Each person should be fully convinced in their own mind. Romans 14:5

I have a friend, a rock-solid Christian, who works in the world of finance. He comes from a predominantly Hindu part of the world and just recently was approached by a Hindu group which wanted to take over a redundant church building. They asked him if he would act on their behalf in organising the necessary finance.

What was my advice - should he or should he not accept this work?

The more I pondered it the more I felt you could see it in two distinct ways.

On the one hand... how could it possibly be right for a Christian to engage in any activity which in effect promoted the cause of a “rival” faith, and one which, from a Christian point of view, was false?

On the other hand... my friend is a businessman, the request was made from a purely business perspective, the work would be completely legal and above board - so why not? (Added to which, if he didn’t do it, it would only get done by somebody else - so wasn’t it in fact an opportunity to witness for Christ by the honesty and reliability he brought to the task?)

What do you think? Should he? Or shouldn’t he?

There is no place in the Bible which gives a clear answer to that precise question. But the verse I have quoted does give a clear statement of principle regarding “disputable matters” (Romans 14:1) - “grey areas”, as we sometimes call them: be “fully convinced in your own mind”. Or as it could be put: keep your conscience clear.

Paul is discussing various issues where the early Christians were tempted to fall out with one another - sabbath-keeping; meat-eating; drinking alcohol; accepting hospitality from a non-Christian friend who might have bought the lamb steaks from a shop which got them from the local pagan temple.

Not all of those are relevant to us today. But plenty of others are...

I have another friend who likes to bet - yes, really! He is very disciplined about it - he sets aside a certain amount of money, and when he has used it up, that’s it. I questioned him about it once, and he responded quite warmly. His background is very much working-class (he cheerfully refers to himself as “an old scumbag”) and he wanted to know if I would question the better off people who speculate on the stock market: and if not why not? “They’re gambling too, aren’t they?” He then - a bit of a clincher, this - told me that he always tithes his winnings for God’s work.

Mmm.

I dislike tattoos - I suppose I’m fairly conventional middle-class. A girl in the church came to me some time ago: “Hey, Colin, want to see my new tattoo?” “All right,” I said, smiling sweetly as I groaned inwardly, “show me.” Whereupon she pulled up her sleeve to reveal the words (wait for it) “Matthew 5:14-16” (look it up), these being the verses she was given when she was baptised. I have to ask myself, Is my dislike of tattoos a “spiritual” thing at all? - or just the result of my upbringing? Again, mmm.

I could go on. I have known Christians who think it wrong to enter a cinema or go to a football match. It’s good to raise money for some good cause by running a half-marathon - but what if that half-marathon takes place on a Sunday?

There’s a story about the great Victorian preacher Charles Spurgeon. He got on a bus one day and found some young men from his church contentedly smoking their pipes. “Young men!” he said frowningly, “aren’t you ashamed to be seen smoking in this way?” Sheepishly, they put their pipes away. Whereupon Spurgeon took his pipe out of his pocket, lit up, and said, “I am not ashamed.” I think we get the point...

At least two things emerge from all this: an observation to keep in mind, and a command to impose on ourselves.

First, the observation: not all the things we puzzle over have clear-cut, black-white, right-wrong answers. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is! 

I am sometimes approached by people who seem to think that because I am a minister I will be able to tell them the rights and wrongs in every situation. In effect, they want me to do their thinking for them. 

But no: God has left various things for us to think through for ourselves. These people need to go back to Romans 14:5 and really digest it.

Second, the command: don’t criticise, condemn or look down on someone else because they see things differently from you! Provided they have reached their opinion thoughtfully and prayerfully, it is, if I may put it bluntly, none of your business. 

So... what did my businessman friend do? Sorry, I’m not telling you! (Actually, I don’t know.) It’s between him and the Lord, after all, and therefore none of my business.

Lord God, help me to tell the difference between the things that are of the essence of the Christian faith and those that are matters of individual conscience. And help me to respect, and to accept, those who see things differently from me. Amen.

From despair to hope

Then Saul said, "I have sinned!... Surely I been a fool and gone badly wrong."  1 Samuel 26:21
 
Regrets... Do you have any? I think you would be either a very special person or a very foolish one if you were to say No.

We all have regrets, surely. Who doesn’t look back sometimes and wish they could turn the clock back? Some of our regrets may be relatively trivial - a silly word which damaged a relationship, an opportunity which we missed to do some good, a petty weakness which we have never quite mastered. Trivial perhaps, yet they have left a cloud hanging over us.

Other regrets are more serious. You took a disastrous career decision, or entered a completely wrong relationship, or got drawn into some kind of seriously bad behaviour. You did something that hurt someone badly.

It changed your life for ever - and now it is too late to put it right. You shake your head and echo the words of King Saul: "I have sinned!... I have been a fool and gone badly wrong".

I'll leave you to read for yourself what Saul had done to make him feel that way. For us the question has to be, "Is there anything I can do about my regrets?"

In essence we have two choices.

We can, if we let ourselves, slump into a kind of despair, even a really destructive bitterness. We can brood over our folly and stupidity. We can let it blight our lives.

Some people, tragically, do this - and allow their lives to be totally ruined by vain regrets. At worst it might lead to hatred and malice towards themselves or others. In extreme cases it can even lead to suicide. This can only be described as a victory for the devil, who loves nothing more than to wreak havoc on us.

But there is another way - what the Bible calls repentance. We come to God and hold nothing back. We admit our foolishness. We recognise that there is nothing we can now do. We humble ourselves.

Then, by an act of faith, we receive God's forgiveness. And we discover that along with that forgiveness comes something wonderful - the chance to start all over again.

God loves to forgive, even where we can’t forget. That doesn't mean he doesn't care about the wrong we have done and the hurt we have caused - he does, he cares very much, and he knows that a price has to be paid. But the good news is that that price has been paid - why else did Jesus die on the cross?

I wonder if anyone reading this is living with vain regrets? Can I remind you that our loving God is the master of the second chance, the new beginning? He always has a bright new future for those who are truly sorry.

Just think - Moses was guilty of murder, David committed adultery, Peter denied Jesus. But each went on to play a big part in God's purposes. So why shouldn't there be a bright new future for you too?

I don't think we ever forget the wrongs we have done and the mistakes we have made. And in fact it wouldn’t  be good if we did, especially if they caused pain to others. But repentance is all about that most wonderful gift of God - hope.

Go forward from today as a forgiven sinner, and let the hope of God fill your heart!

Dear Father, as I look back in my life there is indeed much I feel ashamed of. But thank you that still you love me and want only good for me. I pray now for any people I have hurt or damaged - if there is any kind of recompense I can make, then help me to make it. But thank you for a new start. Help me now to go forward, not always looking back, and to live from now on a life of Christlike holiness. Amen!

Pointless praying

When Rhoda recognised Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that she ran back without opening the door and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" "You're out of your mind," they told her...  Acts 12:14-15
 
It's always been a bit of a mystery to me (and, if I'm to be honest, a bit of a disappointment) that the Bible contains so little humour. Of course it's not for me to argue with God - no doubt he has his reasons (though if you have a theory why it should be so, given the great importance of humour to the human race, I would be very interested to hear from you).

 

There are, however, places here and there which do raise a smile, and this story in Acts 12 is one of them.

Remember what has happened. Simon Peter has been thrown in prison by Herod, who wishes to destroy the church. But in the middle of the night an angel comes to him and sets him free. He makes his way to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where the church has gathered and is "earnestly praying to God for him".

Pause for a moment, please, on that... The church is so troubled about Peter that it gathers for no other purpose than to pray for him. They obviously mean business. Good for them!

Yet what happens? When their prayer is miraculously answered they don't believe it. The servant girl Rhoda goes to the door, recognises Peter's voice, and is so flustered that instead of opening the door and letting him in, she runs in and announces "Peter is at the door!"

And what do they do? Do they praise God and say, "Amazing! Fantastic! Our prayer has been answered!" No, they don't. They tell Rhoda - poor soul! - that she must be "out of her mind". When she absolutely insists, they still don't believe her: "It must be his angel".

Two things raise a smile.

First, the behaviour of Rhoda. She gets herself into what is sometimes called a bit of tizz, and fails to do the obvious thing and open the door. I imagine we can all see ourselves in her - those times we have got so excited or confused about something that we just couldn't think straight. Later, we smile at our foolishness.

And second, the behaviour of the church. They pray fervently for something, but when it actually happens they flatly refuse to believe it. Even worse, they go on to dream up a rational explanation - “It must be his angel” - for the miraculous answer to prayer. Anything, just anything, it seems, rather than believe that God really has heard and answered.

Don't we recognise ourselves in that too? It’s only later on that we shake our heads, smile, and say, "Yes, that really was pretty stupid of me".

The serious point behind the story is this. How easily we slip into the mentality: "Well, we know we must pray - and so of course we will. But deep down we don't really expect anything to happen as a result".

But if that is the case, why bother to pray in the first place? It's just a waste of time. (I’m reminded of the vicar whose church was robbed of various valuable items. The following Sunday he asked the congregation to pray, and then added, “Mind you, I don’t suppose it’ll do any good as they’re probably miles away by now.” Now, just how ridiculous can you get?)

The Acts story is, on one level, a story about faith. The church had enough faith to pray - so let’s by all means give them credit for that - but not enough faith to believe it would make any difference. Perhaps we need to remember this next time we pray.

James, Jesus' brother, puts it like this (James 1:6): when we ask, we must “believe and not doubt, because the person who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind”.

Ultimately, there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer - as long as that prayer is offered trustingly and humbly. Oh, and as long as we leave God alone to decide the how, the when and the where.

Lord, forgive us that we often pray out of obedience or duty, but with little real expectation. Sometimes, Lord, this is because we feel our expectations have been disappointed in the past. But inspire us by your Holy Spirit to persevere in prayer until we see the answers. Amen.

No messing!

Pray continually.  1 Thessalonians 5:17

I remember somebody, just converted to Christ, who was so excited about her new-found faith that she described herself as "a one-woman non-stop prayer-meeting". Obviously she took Paul's words in a very literal sense. Pray continually.

Most Christians find that prayer is both a great joy and a real problem. A joy because it opens up the whole world of our relationship with God, our heavenly Father. And a problem because, once the initial novelty has worn off, it becomes a discipline which can be hard to maintain.

We are good at finding reasons not to pray. Here are perhaps the three most common. I wonder if they strike a chord with you?

First: I don't have time.

There is only one answer to that, and I'll put it as gently and kindly as I can: Rubbish! Utter, total rubbish! The fact is that all of us find time for things we feel are important to us. I bet we all make time for our favourite television programme, time to have our meals, time to brush our teeth. Yes? So let's not allow ourselves any nonsense about not having time to pray. Don't find time; make time.

Second: I don't feel like it.

That, perhaps, is more understandable. As human beings we tend to be very much prey to our moods. Somebody might tell a wonderful joke - but we are having a bit of an off day, so we can't summon up a smile. Somebody is really enthusiastic about a job that needs doing - but we feel tired and would rather put our feet up. And that's how it often is with prayer.

Fair enough. But we need to grasp that the Bible doesn't urge us to pray only when we feel like it. Because we are still very "fleshly" in our natures - in other words, not really very "spiritual" at all - the chances are that on that basis we would hardly ever pray at all. So we may very well need to take ourselves in hand and make ourselves. 

Sometimes people tell us to pray "as you feel led" - led, that is, by the Holy Spirit. That is bad advice because it means you will give in to the mood of the moment. Hasn’t the Spirit has already spoken very clearly to us, through verses like this and others in the Bible? What clearer “leading” do we need? Pray continually, mood or no mood.

Third: it just doesn't work.

If we are to be perfectly honest, isn’t this the little voice that slithers into our minds like a snake? "I'm wasting my time... why bother?... I've tried it and nothing happens..." And yes, it's a fact that there are many things we have prayed for perhaps over many years, and nothing yet seems to have happened.

How should we counter this voice?

Well, perhaps we might start simply by saying: "If prayer doesn't work, then why would God have asked me to do it? Has God got it wrong?" Remember, we don't pray mainly in order to get what we want from God, but in order to deepen our relationship with him. Often it's in the barren times that that relationship grows stronger.

And then we might go on to remind ourselves: "But over the course of the years I have known many answers to prayer! It just isn't true to say that it 'doesn’t work' ".

We can't get a real idea of the value of prayer until we try to imagine a life without it. What would that be like? Answer: unthinkable. From the beginning of time God's people have been a praying people - read both the Old Testament and the New. We can never measure or calculate the unknown effects even of all those "unanswered" prayers.

And then - for me the clinching thing - we surely ought to go on to say to ourselves: "Jesus prayed." End of! Jesus is our model and our ideal. If he needed to pray, can we seriously suggest we don't? Are we superior to him? Do we know better than him?

Learning to pray can be like learning to ride a bike. All right, you can take a bit of advice and accept a bit of help. Fine. But ultimately you've just got to get on and do it. The Bible says "Pray continually." And you know what? It actually means it. So... no excuses, no messing. Why not, like that woman, turn yourself into a one-person non-stop prayer meeting?

Father, thank you for the beautiful gift of prayer - actually talking to you. Help me to take it seriously, even if mainly as a duty, in the faith that the duty will become a joy. Amen.