faithfulness is not velcro

When I first moved into my flat, I thought that those stick-on-velcro hooks would be a good idea for hanging up my saucepans.

Several weeks later, at around 2am one dark and dreary morning, I was (and presumably all my neighbours were too) woken up by an almighty cacophony, as all the pans fell off the wall at once, and crashed into the draining board.

Say what you like about it, proper nails drilled into the wall will always be better. Those cheap plastic hooks just had no ‘stickability’ after a while.

“Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,

    your faithfulness to the skies.” - Psalm 36:5

Faithfulness is the ability to stick unwaveringly to a person, a promise, or a principle.

When it’s tough, when it’s easy, when it’s fun, when it’s not, faithful people remain true to what they’ve said, to whom they’ve promised, and to what they believe. And the reason is because that’s exactly what God does - He latches on, holds fast, never lets go, never loses stickability to His people, His promises, His principles.

Do you need extra stickability today? Do you feel like you live in a world of Velcro promises? Ask God to show you just how faithful He is, remind yourself of His love and His incredible stickability to you through the seasons. He won’t let you down; and He can show you how to be more faithful than Velcro will ever be.

gentleness and sunshine

You might know the old tale of the wind and the sun. One day, the wind decided to prove that he was more powerful than the sun, so he devised a contest: whoever could force a man’s coat from him would be the stronger. The wind blew hard and cold. But the more he blew, the more the man wrapped himself in his coat. Then the sun tried. She simply beamed, smiling happily in the early summer sky. Before long, the man took the coat off, all by himself.

Gentleness is really simple. It’s all about strength that’s under control, power that’s used to build people up, and not destroy. It’s kind words and thoughtful actions. It’s choosing the lightest touch when you’re tempted to pick the sledgehammer. In his letter to the Philippians and us, Paul says...

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” - Philippians 4:4-5

Today, let’s practice the art of gentleness. It’s a great mistake to think that it means weakness when it’s actually the opposite: wise people know that real gentlemen and gentle women are strong enough not to be harsh, violent, rude or smug. Today, take a few moments to let your own power be restrained in favour of kindness and love, expressed with a gentle touch. And if in doubt, just beam like the sunshine, and be your best you.

self control boundaries

Mmmm. Chocolate cake. Crunchy brown icing, glimmering with dusted sugar; light, fluffy sponge, and a thick, gooey filling of lovely caramel between the soft textures  and that crisp chocolate finish. A fork rests temptingly by the plate. One smooth slice, just one crumbly, delicious bite, and it could all be mine...

I’m my own worst advisor sometimes. In situations like these, I need to be much better at self control!

But self control is about much more than just cake isn’t it? Here’s why it matters...

“Like a city whose walls are broken through

    is a person who lacks self-control.” - Proverbs 25:28

Self control, or self discipline, is really important. It keeps you from losing what you have inside, and it prevents you from allowing things in from outside that will damage you. It’s the art of building city-wall defences, and establishing good boundaries for your life.

Now here’s the good news: you can do this with the Holy Spirit! Self control is a fruit of living with Him in your heart, and even if you, like me, struggle with discipline, the Spirit has promised to be our helper. He’s the architect of our city walls.

Today, ask Him to help you build those boundaries. Ask Him to whisper to you in those chocolate-cake moments, and trust His voice. Then set your alarm early, put the cake away, freeze that credit card, leave the party, know your limits - whatever it takes to strengthen the walls.

the fire triangle

Sometimes people are said to be ‘on fire for Jesus’. Ever wondered what that means? I think it’s that they’re passionate rather than incendiary, but you get the picture. Everybody knows what ‘on-fire’ people like to talk about...

They used to say you need three things to keep a fire going: ignition, fuel, and oxygen. Paul, encouraging his friend Timothy to stay bright and burning, puts it like this...

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” - 2 Timothy 1:6-7

In Paul’s fire triangle, the ‘fuel’ is you, the ‘ignition’ is the spark of God’s gift in you, and the ‘oxygen’ is the Spirit. It takes all three to get a blaze going.

So, if you’d like to be ‘on fire’ for the Lord, ask yourself today what kind of fuel your life is producing. Is it ready to be burned up?

Then, are you ready to be sparked into life by contact between God Himself and your potential? It might only take a moment of connection with the gift He’s given you.

Are you living in an atmosphere of power, love and self-discipline, where the Holy Spirit can breathe you into life? What might that look like for you today?

giantkillers or grasshoppers?

Imagine you’re in the crowd, waiting for the big reveal. The six weeks have passed and the twelve adventurers are finally back!

Moses is there. Aaron looks nervous as the crowd murmurs. Then, one by one from the folds of the tent, the explorers emerge... to rapturous applause! There’s Palti, Ammiel, Shammua, and Caleb. Nahbi, Gaddiel, Joshua, Sethur, Geuel, Igal; and Shaphat and Gaddi are carrying an enormous bunch of grapes.

Shammua begins to speak. The land is good and the fruit is abundant! He gestures to the grapes, suspended between Shaphat and Gaddi.

But... he says, that  eyes flicking to his fellow explorers, there are... giants in the land. The cities are fortified and packed with our enemies. We’ll be crushed.

You can hear hope evaporating. But then, with a roar, Caleb leaps to the front.

“Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.’” - Numbers 13:30

His eyes are fierce and bright. Joshua stands alongside him. But the others aren’t convinced.

“We can’t do it!” protests Gaddi. “The land devours everything in it! We’re like grasshoppers compared to them!”

Joshua cries, “If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land ... and will give it to us!”

“Do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them,” says Caleb, “Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them!’

The crowd around you is stunned into silence. It’s 10 against 2.

Moses looks out across the thousands of people and just for a second, seems to catch your eye.

What do you do? Which report will you believe?

thought capture

Paul had a problem. In a city called Corinth, where he’d started a church, ideas were taking root that were manipulative and deceitful. That kind of thing never does anyone any good, as I’m sure you know.

In Corinth, a small minority were using those ideas to try to undermine Paul from the inside out. He had to tackle it, and in doing so in a letter called 2 Corinthians, he unlocks something awesome for us too...

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 10:5

This idea of ‘taking every thought captive’ is a key discipline. Sometimes, even in our own minds, our thoughts can run riot, undermining what God Himself has said to us. Paul is showing us here, that we can actually capture them, take them at swordpoint, and march them into submission before those thoughts can capture us.

Isn’t that amazing? God’s word (the sword of the Spirit) can help you take control of rogue thoughts, and bring them into line. Feel suddenly anxious because of a tiny thing? Suddenly thinking things that you wouldn’t normally entertain?

Today, if your daily life is interrupted by one of those thoughts, make sure you interrupt it and tell it exactly what God says.

the hall of incredibles

Hebrews 11 is a brilliant chapter. It lists Old Testament characters who showed astounding faith: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Moses’ parents, the Israelites, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, David, Samuel, all the prophets, and others, who stepped out and trusted God when it mattered. It’s a proper who’s-who of groundbreaking, strong-in-the-Lord, world-changing, incredible heroes.

It’s with that group of incredibles in mind that chapter 12 begins.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, 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.” - Hebrews 12:1

The really awesome truth is that you and I are in that list too, running that same race, being cheered on by those very same incredibles, and the many thousands more who’ve followed them and now witness us, living where they had gone before.

It’s not just a crowd of Bible-blockbusters. Perhaps you, like me, can remember heroes of your own - great champions of faith we knew, who’ve now finished their race, and cheer us on from Heaven with God, in the hall of incredibles.

Today, let’s make sure we don’t get tangled up in sin, or take our eyes off Jesus. Let’s run. Let’s really live.

jars of clay

There are lots of times in the Bible when something brilliant got hidden inside something quite ordinary: a baby in a basket, a gold cup in a sack, a warrior in a wine press, a dreamer in a prison, a Saviour in a stable, treasure in jars of clay...

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” - 2 Corinthians 4:7

In this bit of Paul’s letter to you, he says that you have a treasure inside you, the ‘light of the knowledge of God’s glory.” In other words, the brilliance of knowing God. Clay was temporary, sun-baked and quick; good for storage of scrolls, just like the Dead Sea scrolls. It was a very breakable material.

That’s what Paul is trying to tell us: God stores the eternal inside the breakable. Through every fracture-line and broken piece of your life, He wants to shine out to a world that needs His glory. He wants to prove to a waiting world that the light of Heaven can dwell in earth and soil, just as Jesus did.

So, are you a treasure carrier? Is the glory of knowing Jesus shining brightly from your life? Is the brilliant, the resplendent, the eternal, hidden inside you today? If you don’t think so, ask the Holy Spirit into your heart today and ask Him to help you shine. Have a brilliant day.

forgiveness

Let’s be honest. 

Sometimes it’s hard to forgive people. Our insides boil with rage like a volcano for a while, with flashes of fury and injustice whenever we see them or think about them. The hurt is hot, real, and painful. How can they not SEE how much pain they’ve caused? How could they treat me like this?

The Bible asks us to do something really difficult with this volcanic hot mess. Have a look at this from 1 Peter...

“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” - 1 Peter 3:8-9

Repay evil with a blessing? Really? But of course that’s exactly what Jesus did for us - He forgave us, even when we far away from Him. Likewise, He asks us to forgive others around us too, especially when we don’t feel like it. And part of the reason is that unforgiveness is a dangerous thing to hold onto...

Eventually, volcanoes cool down, and those rivers of bubbling lava solidify into solid, cold rock, impossible to move - the landscape is reshaped forever.

If there’s anyone you need to forgive today, do it quickly before the pain solidifies and the relationship cools. Ask Jesus to show you compassion and humility, and make the choice to let unforgiveness go.

boatloads

Once, Jesus, a carpenter, told some fisherman to throw their nets out into the Sea of Galilee. You can read the story in Luke 5. They catch so many fish that their two boats begin to sink! Then Jesus calls them to leave their nets behind, and follow Him.

What did they do with all that fish?

A rough estimate is that it would weigh about 63,000lbs which is something like 28 metric tonnes of fish! It would be worth several years’ wages.

Did they sell it to fund their ministry? Perhaps they gave it away, or just left the huge pile there to rot? They might even have thrown it all back in the sea! 

The point is that the Bible doesn’t tell us, because the miracle isn’t really the focus of the story. In fact, it never is - it’s always Jesus. Something made those men leave their nets behind, something changed their whole worldview that day, and something made them follow.

This is the best response to a miracle - follow Jesus. Never make it about the creation before you make it about the creator. When God gives us boatloads, it could be to bless someone, it could be a launching pad to provide for a new season, or it could just be a crowd-gatherer! Whatever it is, we’re to leave our nets behind every time, and simply follow Jesus.

the company of the broken hearted

Do you ever feel like a failure? Like you’ve massively let God down? Think about this...

Moses killed an Egyptian and ran away. Jacob cheated his way into someone else’s blessing. Paul persecuted Christians, Peter denied knowing Jesus altogether, the disciples hid from the cross, Noah got drunk, James and John wanted God to actually airstrike a village, and David, the greatest king Israel had ever had, stole another man’s wife and had him killed out of jealousy.

How does your failure match up?

The truth is that God is familiar with failure, and yet somehow in ways we can’t understand, He still uses people who failed... to change the world! Here’s what David said after he spectacularly messed up:

“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;

    a broken and contrite heart

    you, God, will not despise.” - Psalm 51:17

David understood the heart of God so well! He knew that what counted after failing was repentance through the tears; a sacrifice of worship without hiding the truth of what he’d done.

If you feel as though you’ve let God down recently, read the whole of Psalm 51 today and see if you can capture David’s attitude from his words. We’re built to learn from our failure, never hide from it. God loves you enough to let his amazing grace work through your weakness. And you’re in good company, the company of the broken hearted.