Jesus, our great pursuit

The book that has influenced my faith more than any other (the Bible being the exception) is The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer, i have read it about 13 times over the years and it never fails to move me, focus me, and pull me back on track. Its time to read it again, but that will not be happening until we move as the books are packed away in boxes. But its got me to thinking about pursuit and in this instance pursuing Jesus, we often talk of being like Jesus, or following Jesus, thinking like Jesus and I'm not sure that we do. You see many of us are so self absorbed with our own opinions, our own attitudes that the pursuit of Jesus gets lost in the pursuit of being correct for a short time. We pursue popularity like it's the air we breath, we pursue wealth like its going to sort all our problems out, we pursue love and we hit and hope that we are loved back. But how do we pursue Jesus, well I'm going to outline a few things, some you may agree with and i can already tell you who will disagree with whats written, but hey ho here we go. To pursue Jesus in this context is to be more like him in the everyday activity of our lives, to be more like him in what we say and do. So with that in mind here are a few pointers to try and get us pursing the greatness of Jesus and his righteousness.

1. We need to submit our will to his will and leading, we need to stop thinking we are more important than him, we need to actually say yes " Jesus you are my Lord" and actually submit to his leading and will. It will mean we have to knuckle down, we will need to let him have his way and it will mean even if we don't get our own way still declare "Jesus is Lord".

2. We will need to apply our minds and bodies to prayer, we will need to become a people of prayer, a people who believe in the power of those words we utter making a difference to the situation and to the God who answers those prayers. We need in some respects to rediscover that great communication of the spoken word to God and what it can do, to offer comfort in times of trouble, to offer hope in times of hopelessness, to offer ourselves to him in a fresh and dynamic way.

3. Seeking his holiness, this one is the crippler, this is the one most of us will struggle with. Just how do we become holy like Jesus was holy, well it requires numbers 1 &2 above to be put into action, it also requires us to change in certain ways. We will need to tame our tongues, we will need to be humble, we will need to know when its the correct time to speak and the correct time to shut up, we will need to start thinking like Jesus would have thought, and that is actually fairly easy to do, stop take a breath before you speak and ask yourself would Jesus say this in that way, would he react like I'm about to react?

Pursuing Jesus or God is never going to be a breeze, its not going to fall into your lap from above and its all going to be sorted out. It requires work, it requires commitment, it requires an effort, and unfortunately with todays instant society many of us will not attempt to pursue him, we will be happy doing the same old same old and wondering why it is that when we refuse to do things differently, God just stays the same and nothing different happens. To pursue something requires effort, it requires work. I'm going to pursue Jesus this year, I'm going to make an effort, I'm going to try and become more like him, and see how that change in me affect the people i interact with. There is to much hurt and pain in our world and its time for the followers of Jesus to stand up, be counted and lead by the example of Grace, love, humility and righteousness, if we don't do it nobody else is likely to do it. Its a new year a new start lets pursue Jesus, he is the great pursuit of our lives, he is the great pursuit of my life and I'm glad he is. Set your sail into the wind of the Holy Spirit and pursue for all you are worth, because it will be worth it and the rewards are immense.


Peace people

Andy

It Mattters

It's been an interesting few weeks, death of a good friend, death of a great friends brother so there was lots of heart ache and soul searching going on. Then this week we had the slaughter of children and adults in Pakistan by those subhuman members of the Taliban, an act so barbaric, most people i know are still speechless about it. It never ceases to amaze me how we can claim to be civilised and carry out acts of barbarism on this sort of scale.

So here we go, i have done a lot of soul searching over the last few weeks, and there are things i need to take care of with people and rectify, to sort the issues out, to actually bring some grace and humanity back into life. What the last few weeks has taught me is that life is but a vapour, we make plans for tomorrow, plans for the future and actually the future is never promised, we can be snuffed out in a heartbeat. It sounds depressing and some will view it like that, but come at it from a different angle, come at it from the idea that, you can make a difference in a positive manner, in someones life, you can show humanity, you can show grace, you can be the change. Life is far to short to hold a grudge, its far to short to hold hatred in our hearts when actually our hearts are made for love, and our souls are made to shine light.

We are in a time of Advent, we are in a time of Christmas and goodwill to all people, so lets try and live like it everyday not just a few days of the year, not just when we gain something from it, but live it as though it was our lives breath, live it like it matters. Because you and i can be the difference for somebody, you and i can and do matter to people, friends, family and to God.

Have a great Christmas people, be blessed, be happy, be loving, be awesome


Andy

Its become apparent that we have a great ideal to bitch and moan about anything and nothing. Over the last few weeks, people have been posting on social media things that make them happy. The things that are a blessing. It maybe pictures, or things that are important to them, but it is important to people and thats good. So we need to look at how blessings come to us, it maybe because of individuals, it maybe circumstance, but blessings come. So what do we do with it, I'm going to do my usual stuff and nail my colours to the mast and say, if you do not possess these things you cannot give them, and heres what i mean. Over the last few weeks i have heard Christians make various statements about what is and what is not, and I'm actually easier dealing with those people outside of the Kingdom. So lets look at what we can profess to. If we deny certain things about the kingdom we cannot actually profess them, because denial requires denial its really that simple. So lets look at some things, if we are to give HOPE we need to be a people of HOPE, we cannot be anything other than a people of hope. If we are to be a people of the resurrection, we cannot deny the resurrection, because to deny that we deny our faith. If we are to be a people of the incarnation, the birth of Christ we need to live in that understanding, we need to live in that process, you see we spend so much time deciding what is and is not reality, that we miss the point. We have the book in front of us, many will disagree with it, but funnily enough most of those who disagree are the Christians who think they know better. You see most (unbelievers) are not worried about the ins and outs, they celebrate because they do, they celebrate because actually they get it..
Christians are called to be a people of hope, they are called to be people of faith, they do not need to publicly question every jot and tittle about faith. You see we are what we are a people of faith, and this Christmas we stand by what we believe, we believe in that incarnation, we believe because thats what we are, people of the incarnation, people of faith. Im sick and tired of Christians denying the reality of our faith because, it does not fit with societies ideas, you see, I'm more than happy to say I'm a person of hope, I'm happy to give hope because i live in hope, I'm happy to live in the incarnation, because i live in that proces daily. I'm happy to live in the resurrection (though) it's the wrong time of year, because without it everything is pointless. You see without hope, without faith, without the resurrection, without that blessed incarnation, i have no faith, i actually have nothing, I'm empty, I'm just a dead cell. We need as Christians, especially at this time of year to grab the incarnation, we grab that birth, the birth of Christ and scream " IT'S REAL, WE GET IT, WE UNDERSTAND IT (even if we don't) because without that incarnation we are dead, dead in sin, dead in life and dead to renewal. Im a drunk, I'm a junkie, I'm a pain in the ass, I'm not a great idea of what a Believer should be, but guess what, it does not matter what you think, its down to that Manger, that stable, and that incarnation. We all fail, we all screw up and it does not matter to God because, that baby, his son in a stable sorted it all out, he did the work so that we could just go "YEP" i don't care, because he cared. This Christmas spend some time remembering what happened, because you know what, it changed the world, it changed my world. Im not perfect, but i know what i believe, and i know why i celebrate what i do.


Love you all people, you mean the world to me

Andy

Little minds breed big problems!!!

One day a man was walking down the road, he saw a guy in trouble whom he knew and did not like, the guys shopping bags had ripped and his shopping was all over the road. The man though about laughing and shouting out "hey stupid, what ya done" but decided against it, as the other guy was considerably larger than him. Anyways when the smaller guy got home, he went online and laid into this person, whom he actually knew little about or cared for in reality, unless it was getting his own opinion across, and he knew his opinion was correct and right. He spent 3 hours berating the guy for his stupidity, he went all out, name calling (but I'm only joking) he was just darn right mean, even questioning the guys morals and beliefs (even though he did not know them at all). As it happens in life the small guy needed help one day when his car had broken down( lack of fuel) it was raining heavily, he was in pain due to trying to push the car with a heart condition and nobody was stopping to help. He spied the big guy coming across the road towards him, feeling for his life he jumped in the car and locked it down. The guy knocked on the window, and asked what was up? he explained" the car aint running" "pop the bonnet bud and i will have a look" he knew there was little point in popping the bonnet "look i ran out of petrol and i feel like an idiot for doing so" the big guy shrugged his shoulders and said " we have all done it at some stage" and started pushing him to the garage down the road, when they got there he just left and never waited for thanks or reward. The small guy (in both mind and stature) had no idea what to do, "maybe just maybe i need to stop being so judgemental, maybe i need to stop having the last word, just maybe i need to become more human".

We all judge on a whim, we say things which hurt and don't actually mean to hurt anyone, but we do. We think we are right each and every time, and the simple truth is we are not always right, we do not hold all truth and knowledge in our brains. Sometimes we need to do one thing and one thing only and that my friends is SHUT THE HELL UP, and give someone else a chance to have their say, who knows we/you/i may actually learn something, and it might actually help us move on in life!!!

Justice comes with a price tag

There is lots of talk about God being by his very nature love, and i have no disagreement with that, but there is another side of the coin, which is sometimes God does something we may not like, and we mistakingly believe he is not acting in love towards us. There has to be another side to the nature of love, there are times tough love for a better word comes into play, if it does not i think love is unbalanced and heres why. If my son is doing something which can harm him, i need to step in and stop what is going on, now he maybe enjoying what he is doing, but if due to the situation its going to harm him, i have to do something, to not do it would be a massive dereliction of my parenting skills and a massive let down of my sons trust in me. You see when we only talk about God being a God of love we miss other aspects of his character, we miss those parenting parts which are there for our benefit, even if we don't like them. Obviously we focus on love as thats what we are as human beings, we crave love, we crave intimacy its in our nature its that simple. But we do have to look at that other side of the coin, for justice to work at times its going to cost something, pride may need to take a back seat, it may require us to be disciplined in some way, and that by its nature is not going to be great while its happening or even when its finished. If we take the view that God is father then discipline and judgement needs to happen at times, we can't escape it, it is i would posit an inevitability that it will happen. Does that mean God no longer loves us, no it means he is doing his job of caring for us. That act took its full conclusion in the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross, it cost something for justice to be given out, it cost God and it cost Jesus. You see for us to stand clean before him, we had to have a sacrifice, we had to do something and we need to act upon it. Justice has a price, it just depends on what that price is for us as individuals, Yes God is righteous, he is just, he is all forgiving, he loves and he cares, but to have a full restoration back to him, something happened justice was given out and it cost. Yes God is love, but he is also judge, he is also fair, we may not see it at times and we can cart a word of hurt around with us due to how something went on in our lives and we feel that we have not been justly dealt with. God is always going to be fair in his distribution of justice, whether we see it that way depends on the answer or result we get. If we get our own way God has done right, if for some reason God decides we don't get the answer we want, God has failed, God has let us down and he is no longer to be trusted and far too many of us think that way. Its a great cliche but a truism as well " If Jesus is Lord he is Lord of all" that means he is Lord of the good times and more importantly Lord of the bad times, we just need to relearn trust in him, thats not as easy as it sounds but it can be done. Sometimes we over analyse the little things, and miss the big picture, and its the big picture which is important, the big picture is the kingdom and its long term aim. Our corner of the picture as important as it is to us is not the be all and end all, even if we think it is.

Alienation or Conformity

There is a great deal of talk in society and the Church about INCLUSIVENESS, you know this idea that no matter who you are, what you believe, what foibles you have you are included in things, unfortunately we are a long way from that as a society and especially as a Church we don't actually mean it and heres why. If you follow the idea of inclusiveness its great on paper, a bit like communism in theory its great, practise is a different matter entirely you see we can't actually as individuals be inclusive because our ideas get in the way, our own thoughts stop us being inclusive because we have our own ideas. In the last few weeks i have been struggling like a struggling thing in a struggling sack and actually not getting anywhere. You see I'm the real square peg in a round hole, I'm so divided at present on leaving my denomination (Methodism) and finding a new way to follow my God. You see Methodists by and large talk a good show on inclusiveness, but actually if you disagree with the held view, you get ridiculed, bullied into submission, or branded in someway or another and that happens with more regularity than is needed. You see i can claim to be inclusive but that test comes when the rubber hits the road, when something makes me exclusive i stop being inclusive. In the real world face to face you would get a punch in the head for somethings that get said online. But in our safety zone of being keyboard warriors, we think we can get away with harsh words or put down. One of the great terms used by a certain Christian group is "robust debate" what that actually means is "I'm hiding behind my keyboard, I'm never likely to meet you so i can get away with name calling, bullying you, making you look stupid" and in certain respects thats true at the keyboard you can, but lets change tact a little. If i was to turn up on your doorstep would you say the same things to my face you do away from it? 9 times out of 10 the answer is no, because you would be more concerned about the big bloke stood in front of you who you do not know that well. So it comes down to this you can conform to what is expected of you, you can do all the things you are told, all the things that make you acceptable to the masses, or you can risk Alienation from the mass, risk ridicule and bullying, but actually be an individual, you can be a square peg in a round hole.

You see our society does not cope well with the individual who stands out, if its trendy you are in, if its not you are pushed to one side and told "get with the programme" if you do you are welcomed with open arms, told you are wonderful, if you don't you sit on the sidelines and watch what happens. Jesus never excluded anyone from his presence or love, it was there and no matter what you do its there. You can disagree with him, it's still there, you can try and run away, its still there, you see its all encompassing. The worst thing that can happen for God is that the church tries to emulate society, that the church actually denies the basics of our historical faith in order to be "all things to all men" in that trying to be all things to all men we fail, because actually we have no idea half the time what we believe or why, we stall and fumble while trying to be all things, that actually we tend to end up being nothing of any use to the Kingdom of God. Not because we are failures but because we are rudderless people tossed on the sea of good intentions, tossed on the sea of happy happy. Last night i made a decision I'm no longer going to conform to what is expected of me from those who know me or don't know me, I'm no longer going to worry to much about what people think of my opinions, I'm going to shout them out loud and if you don't like them I'm afraid thats just tough. If you are actually inclusive you have no real option but to allow me to do this, you see even if you don't like what i say, even if it grates against you, you have to include me because you believe in inclusiveness, over the next few months i will see which of those who speak of inclusiveness actually are and which of those pay lip service to it. Im 50 years old this month and i think this is where I'm heading, I'm heading into uncharted territory age wise, emotionally, physically and more importantly spiritually. Its going to be one hell of a ride but i have to stay true to my God and his calling, we will see what happens.

If i actually believed God!

What would happen if i actually believed God, not believed in God but actually believed him, you know all that great stuff about love, forgiveness, restoration, not struggling to achieve because its all laid out for you and all you really do have to do is accept it, how would that actually affect my life? What would happen if i actually started putting those principles into practise not just in my life but in the lives of other people, those people i find it hard to deal with, systems i find it difficult to deal with, actually just you know letting God be God in my life. Lately i have been trying to make things simple with regards to my faith, you see sometimes we get so wrapped up in the why for's and what for's that we actually miss the picture thats in front of us. Its very easy (especially as a Methodist) to get so sidetracked by dotting the i's and crossing the t's that we miss a lot of whats going on right in front of us. Over the years i have found much to our shame Christians are the biggest barrier to God, we stop people coming to faith by our actions, we stop them falling in love with God because of us. Lets be honest and we have all done it, would you come to faith if it was down to looking at yourself in the mirror? i would struggle with it. But you see we don't have to struggle each and everyday to achieve what God wants from us, but we spend a lot of time bitching and moaning about the state of the Church that we fail to let people see God, we fail to say "hey this is Jesus, what do you reckon"? Sometimes we need to shut up and just live it out, i have never had the image of God having a big stick to hit me with, i have a relationship with him which is based on love and respect, yes you bet your bottom dollar i struggle with certain things and certain Christians, but I'm not looking to them to fulfil my faith I'm looking to God and all that good stuff he has for us/me. Maybe its time to re evaluate why? we don't believe God, and try and put him into a box of our own making. This is not about belief in God, a lot of people have some form of belief system, this is about believing God can and will do. Is it time for the Church and Christians to re evaluate, get simple, get reconnected with our first love? maybe it is, maybe its not, but I'm beginning to see simple is the way forward, people don't need all the answers sometimes simple faith is enough.