Dealing with Discouragement - Part 1

DAILY BYTE

(This week’s BDC was written by Rev Gareth Killeen)

He had forgotten.

Not forgotten in the sense of a gradual fading away, but rather with the suddenness of a sledge-hammer blow. For you see, something so devastating and painful had occurred to him that it managed to push everything else way into the background.

Discouragement and disillusionment now so crowded his thoughts and dominated his emotions that there was absolutely no room for anything else. Not even for things he had long held dear.

For he had always been renowned for being a faithful God-follower – in fact he was famous for it – but now even God seemed so very far away from him. God’s constant loving presence was nothing but a faded memory.

He was discouraged because of that sledge-hammer moment of pain and in the hurly-burly days that followed he couldn’t remember just exactly when God had faded into an abstraction, seemingly powerless to make sense of where his life was presently at. But he could pinpoint the exact time and moment when he remembered again … when he remembered that in fact God was good and was always with him, despite how he presently felt.

And he was so touched by this moment of remembering that he wrote a song about it, and even though he wrote this song thousands of years ago, we still sing it today. It was that good, it was that real.

This song has served to encourage the discouraged for 3000 years which is unsurprising when we remember where it has come from. Except today we don’t really call it a song but rather a Psalm and it is probably the most famous Psalm of them all. It is beloved by both Jews and Christians and has traditionally been used to comfort and encourage the disheartened and grieving. It is commonly used at sickbeds and at funerals.

You may well have guessed by now that we are talking about Psalm 23. According to legend, David wrote this Psalm after his beloved son Absalom rebelled against him and tried to usurp his throne. Which makes sense really because clearly this Psalm is about living out our faith in a world where fear and loss have to be faced up to on a daily basis. Ps 23 is not this glib answer to some of life’s more discouraging moments but is instead a deep statement of profound faith - faith that has been furnished in life’s furnace of uncertainty and turmoil.

In many ways the world hasn’t changed much since Psalm 23 was first penned. We still face up to moments of fear and loss. We always have and probably always will, which accounts for the Psalms popularity over the last 3000 years.

The Psalm is a reminder to us to hold onto our faith in God no matter how discouraged we may be feeling. This week we will be discussing exactly how the Psalm can bring encouragement to all those who are struggling with disillusionment and despair.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, sometimes we allow discouragement to so dominate our minds and hearts that everything else is crowded out – even our memories of your goodness and love. Help us to hold onto faith in you through these difficult moments – help us to never forget your love and grace. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Read through Psalm 23.

The Promised Land

FOCUS READINGS

Deuteronomy 34:8-12 (NRSV)

The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended. Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the LORD had commanded Moses. Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Matthew 22:34-39 (NRSV)

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

DAILY BYTE

We’ve been talking for the past few days about the world from Moses’ perspective at the end of his life. But maybe you don’t see yourself in Moses. Maybe you’re feeling like the people of Israel right now. Maybe someone who’s led you on your life journey – someone who’s struggled with you and cared for you - is on the brink of death. Maybe they’re just moving on to a new stage in life. Maybe you are feeling the loss of their wisdom and guidance. When we lose people, for whatever reason, we need times of mourning. It’s curious that when Moses dies right at the edge of the Promised Land, the people waited thirty whole days before they crossed over. Can you imagine? You’ve just spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness, waiting for the moment when you would step foot into your new home – what on earth could possibly keep you from leaping in as quickly as possible? The answer: mourning.

Because in mourning, we grieve what is lost – whether it’s a person or a place or a pattern, but we also prepare ourselves for the new, changed life that is coming. We need that time to accept change.

The Israelites had to accept that the challenges and leadership of the past were important, but they were now gone. They had taught them survival and a deep faith, but the new land that awaited them had new challenges. Joshua had been anointed to take over leading the people, but the passage also makes clear that no leader – no prophet would be like Moses. No one would fill his shoes entirely. Joshua would need the help of all the people in the Promised Land. Everyone would be called on to bring God’s vision of new life to be. Everyone would need to remember the central teachings God had taught them in the past and apply them to their lives through action in the future.

And the central teaching that Moses brought from God to the people was: Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone 5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart’ (Deuteronomy 6:4-6).

This is what Moses commanded the people of Israel to remember when they went into the Promised Land – and it is the core of what God keeps wanting us to remember. Through all circumstances, we must love God because when we love God, our love for him flows out in our love for others. And only then – when we love others as much as we love God – will we really find ourselves in the promised land of peace that God has for us. This is what Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew are the greatest commandments.

So if you are feeling a loss – if you are struggling to envision a new way of life. Remember what God taught us through Moses – that we are actively a part of creating the Promised Land through our love of God and our love for each other. We are called to be people who cast a vision not of an empty room full of lies and disappointments but a vision of an empty tomb – where there is space enough for the whole world to be wrapped up in the promised gift of Christ’s love. Have you learned from your past journey? From your leaders? From your experiences in the wilderness? Are you ready to go and lead others into the Promised Land that is coming? That is here?

Keeping the vision

FOCUS READING

Deuteronomy 34:5-6 (NRSV)

Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord's command. He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day.

DAILY BYTE

The most famous and poignant parallel to Moses’ story in our modern culture might be Martin Luther King, Jr. He didn’t know when he was going to die. But history remembers him as a person of vision, who, every day of his life, carried God’s vision of the Promised Land with him, giving others courage and hope. With that vision, he was able to preach some of the most famous, visionary and true words in history – and they should sound very familiar to you because they come from the story of Moses we’ve been reading this week! Martin Luther King, Jr. said on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated:

’Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people will get to the promised land.’

Whatever stage of life we are in – whatever disappointments we have experienced – whatever endings we are approaching – we are called to be a people of vision. To stand like Moses and King did and keep the faith that the promised land God has for his people will come – that it is coming right now.

Did you notice in the passage from Deuteronomy that there is no tomb – no burial site for Moses? It seems an odd detail to include. But remember, just as there is no tomb for Jesus – maybe this means that we are to be a people who carry on a vision of life. Maybe we are called not to pilgrimage back time and again to places of death and disappointment, but instead to move forward into new life, trusting in the continued promises of God, as Moses did.

What is your vision? Is it of a time and place of death and disappointment, or is it of a possibility of new life?

Unimpaired eyesight

GUIDING SCRIPTURES

Deuteronomy 34:7 (NRSV)

Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated.

Psalm 90:1-2 (NRSV)

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

DAILY BYTE

If you feel in any way that you are like Moses - on the edge of the Promised Land but denied entry – feeling let down at the end of a long journey or feeling as though the vision cast for your life was a lie, remember one thing about this story.

Moses did not die before the “LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain - that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees - as far as Zoar. The LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants'; I have let you see it with your eyes.”

Moses knew before he died that his struggle, mission, and vision for the future hope of the people he loved had not been a lie. There it was – right before him – he could see it with his own eyes. The promise that God had given was not empty. It was real. The scripture says when he died, Moses had “unimpaired eyesight” – but I believe this is talking about more than his physical sight. I believe the scripture is saying that Moses died with vision that faith in God was not in vain.

The scriptures say he was 120 years old. We don’t know how that was humanly possible, but you get the idea – he had reached the end of his physical life, just like we all will someday – he’d been on a long journey, and it was time for someone else to take over, but he died with trust and hope that God would continue the work that he had begun through him.

As we stand at the edge of both physical death and many other endings in our lives, we find hope in this vision that God gave Moses. Throughout all our disappointments, we know that God is still leading us all to the Promised Land.

Does Moses’ vision offer you any hope today? What is the “Promised Land” in your life?

Unlucky Moses?

FOCUS READING

Deuteronomy 34:1-5 (NRSV)

Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain - that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees - as far as Zoar.

The LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants'; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there." Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord's command.

DAILY BYTE

We looked yesterday at the theme of unfulfilled promises, and today, we look at a huge promise in the life of one of our ancient leaders – Moses. We love to talk about little baby Moses when he was put in the basket of reeds. We love the story of brazen, young Moses who killed an Egyptian and then protested God’s call in his life. We especially love the stories of Moses as a vehicle for God’s power through miracles like the parting of the Red Sea.

But we don’t love to tell the story about when this great prophet dies. Especially because the way he dies seems so unfair. It seems a hugely disappointing end to a great story. It’s a promise unfulfilled after a deep struggle and a long journey. But we’ll look at the story this week from both the perspective of Moses and the perspective of the Hebrew people. Perhaps you will find a bit of your own story in theirs.
First, Moses – incomparable leader in the history of the Hebrew people. Led the people out of Egypt, through the wilderness – through 40 years of uncertainty and struggle – through times of doubt, always keeping faith.
How unfair – that he worked so hard – he believed so deeply – he trusted so much, and he is not allowed to go into the Promised Land? Well, if he wasn’t allowed, I’d like to know what the criteria were for other people! We aren’t sure of the reason why. A few are given in the texts leading up to this one, but at this point, it is not clear. It simply says, Moses shall not enter the Promised Land.

Perhaps you are at a point in your life where you feel like you’ve worked hard, you’ve waited, you’ve hoped, you’ve believed, you’ve come to the precipice of something new, and yet, you are disappointed that something you feel you’ve been promised by God just does not seem within your reach. Perhaps you’re even literally coming nearer the end of your life, and there simply are many dreams and promises that you feel are unfulfilled.

But if you feel that this is you, there may be another way of looking at Moses’ situation and your own. Look carefully at the scripture and what happens when Moses reaches the edge of the Promised Land. We’ll explore the possibilities further tomorrow!

A Promise Unfulfilled

FOCUS READING

Genesis 28:15 (NIV)

I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

DAILY BYTE

One year when I was about eight years old, on the night before Christmas, my brother came into my room quietly and locked the door. We had been looking for our Christmas presents for weeks. Every other year we had always found at least some of them. We had a very stealthy procedure. We would patiently and systematically search the house for gifts. Once they were found, we would slit open the tape to find out what was inside, identify the right recipient, and then sneakily replace the tape and return the gifts to their original hiding place.

But that particular year, we had found nothing, and we were beginning to panic.

Until on that night, my brother announced to me – he had found the Christmas presents. It was as though after a season in the wilderness, he had seen the promised land!

This was so exciting. I could hardly contain myself. I asked him to tell me everything about what had he seen. And he described the glories of the treasures that awaited us. It was too much – it was as though God had seen my whole Christmas list and decided in his infinite grace to cater to my every wish!

I asked – where did you find them? I had to see for myself! They’re in the attic crawl space, he said. Oh – I said – the crawl space? It was the darkest, most claustrophobic, most dangerous part of the house – rafters really. I had never ventured up there more than to crack the ceiling panel open and peep inside, quickly slamming it shut. I thought to myself – I can’t do it – I can’t bring myself to go look. I’ll just have to believe my brother and wait to see that glorious vision on Christmas morning.

And so Christmas morning came, with great anticipation on my part for the promises that I had been told about my beautiful presents. One by one I opened them – and present by present discovered that my brother had made the whole story up.
The vision he had described to me was a fake. None of the gifts he had described were there! I should have known not to believe him. This was just the sort of thing that big brothers do to gullible little sisters.
Now, you might be thinking – we’re nowhere near Christmas yet – is this a recycled BDC? No, it’s not.

The emphasis this week is not on Christmas, specifically, but on the promises of God, how we feel when the fulfillment of those promises seems not to be forthcoming, and where to go from there. The story I told has stayed alive in my memory for many years because it was a vivid, early experience in my life of promises made that never came to be. A vision that turned out to be a lie. A hope that turned to disappointment.
I realize now that I would not have had such great disappointment if I had faced my fear and gone to see the truth for myself – and also if I had been focusing on the real promise of Christmas in Christ instead of on a mound of gift-wrapped presents.

But, we all have dips in our lives where our expectations of life and of God turn quickly into disappointment. What promises do you feel have been made to you by others or by God? Have those promises and expectations been fulfilled, or not? Why do you think that is? This week, we’ll be exploring a story of a great prophet who stood on the brink of a promise and found disappointment. Stay tuned.

Big & Beautiful

DAILY BYTE

There is one final image of growth in this parable that I would like to call you attention to. It is an image that is both big and beautiful ... it is the sheer size of the harvest.

God blesses the farmer who sows with such crazy abandon beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Normally, the farmer who reaps a two-fold harvest would be considered fortunate. A 5-fold harvest would be cause for celebration throughout the surrounding village, a bounty attributable only to God’s particular and rich blessing.

But this foolish farmer, who in a world of scarcity, casts his seed on soil everyone else knows is worthless and is blessed by God in shocking abundance: a harvest of 30, 60 and even 100 times beyond what he sowed.

‘Listen!’ Jesus is saying. If you aim to rule the world and to gain all its wealth and acclaim, then the problem is not that you are aiming too high but TOO LOW! This is because the whole universe and the real essence of that universe – God’s Kingdom – could be yours if you looked to grow God’s way.

This wondrous growth, up to a 100 times, happens not just inside the church or among Christians, but rather here and there and countless places throughout the wide world which God loves. It happens where anyone acts from a sense of mercy, justice, compassion and love. It happens whenever relationships are mended, wounds are healed and hope restored.

For the Kingdom of God HAS come among us!

God has blessed us richly, and God’s people have been entrusted with that which is most precious in this world. Ironically these priceless commodities only gain value – they only bear fruit and bring growth – when God’s people scatter them absolutely heedless of who is worthy to receive them.

Perhaps this is why Jesus sandwiches this parable with the command to listen. Because we are called to treat God’s love, justice and blessing - precious as they are - as if they are absolutely limitless in supply for one simple reason:

They are. They really, really are.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O God of gracious and loving generosity, help me now to go out into the world as a sower of the seed that you have so graciously lavished upon me. Let me sow grace and forgiveness and hope wherever I go not worrying about who deserves it but sharing with crazy abandon. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

READING

Mark 4:1-9 NRSV

Jesus began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

“Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

Growth & Giving

DAILY BYTE

There is another lesson regarding Kingdom growth that I want to bring out of this story and is as follows:

Growth is about abundance, not hoarding; and about receiving, NOT taking!

We learn from this story that in the Kingdom of God, growth does not come as a result of hoarding or saving – by holding desperately onto every good thing we have until we have more than the rest. Yet, of course, that is how the rest of the world defines growth because acquisition lays the foundations of all of our world’s empires.

However, that understanding of growth makes no sense to God!

The parable of the sower was first told in an age when most people were really poor and lived hand to mouth. Seed was precious and carefully saved and yet this farmer flung them about with crazy abandon. This would have shocked many of Jesus’ listeners because of its senseless waste. Economically speaking it made no sense to farm that way.

Is Jesus trying to tell us that the way God’s Kingdom works is similar to a crazy, wasteful farmer?

Indeed, this is one image of God’s Kingdom that you will do well to take away with you! Divine generosity is imprudent, uncalculating and concerned with something more than just outcome. Always and everywhere the sower goes out to sow, casting the seeds of new opportunities and new possibilities in every direction.

God flings Kingdom encounters and opportunities for growth around haphazardly, generously and even a little crazily. It’s as if God is willing to let this Kingdom seed fall wherever it may in the hope that wherever we are, we might still be able to encounter possibilities of new life.

Funnily enough, when it comes to the things that God gives us in such crazy abundance – love and grace and more – if we try to hoard them and save them for ourselves, then very much like manna in the Old Testament, they begin to rot and stink.

But the more we share of these things, the more we will find we have!

PRAY AS YOU GO

Loving God, thank you for the way you so generously share the seeds of your Kingdom – your love and grace. Help me to realise that hoarding and taking is not the way these Kingdom seeds will grow in my life, but only when I learn to share them as generously as you do. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Mark 4:8 NRSV

Other grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.

Growth & Goodness

DAILY BYTE

The next important lesson about growth this parable teaches us is:

Growth can be painful, but is ultimately always good.

First of all, there is no doubt that growth can be painful. We all know this to be true from observing the world around us. From a baby crying as it teethes to a massive body builder straining in the gym – growth can be hard and painful and sacrificial.

This was made clear to me again at the beginning of the year when my little daughter encountered a new growth stage – her first day at school. Taking her to school that first day was painful, she looked so small, vulnerable and overwhelmed.

Let me tell you that on that first day of school there was pain. There were tears, there was clinging on and refusing to let go, there was a temper tantrum, there was even being marched into the principal’s office to be severely reprimanded – and that was just me!

Growth is almost always hard, but also almost always good. Just like a seed entering the dark earth, all wrapped and hidden, but then eventually bursting through the soil - so the imagery of growth that Christ taught us is of us needing to die to live: dying first to self and selfishness, dying to greed and ‘me first’ attitudes, only so that we may burst into the new life of the grand things of God.

Have you ever noticed the strange abruptness of the original ending Mark’s Gospel, ‘they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid’? It is almost like the sentence ends half way through.

But perhaps that is the whole point, that the author meant there to be no full-stop but just a comma, to act as an invitation for us to enter into the resurrection story ourselves and complete something more of it. That really is how life’s bad times can be – they should be seen not as full stops but commas! They don’t have the final say because God does!

C.S. Lewis once wrote that ‘Pain is God’s megaphone.’ This does not mean that God only speaks to us during painful moments, but that we tend to turn up God’s volume button during tough times. We actively start listening more carefully to God during difficult moments, whereas when times are good we can drift along and ignore God.

The imagery in this parable reminds us that everything is God’s and is therefore God’s to grow. The field, the seeds and the types of soil all grow not because of human endeavour but because of the divine grace which falls on our lives like refreshing rain. This imagery reminds us how dependant we are on God for our growth. This keeps us real and humble, needing to trust in God to bring us through our dark moments and into the new life that waits beyond.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O Great God, giver of all good things, bringer of life and hope and growth. I ask that you would give me all the strength I need to face the more painful aspects of growth. May your goodness mark and shape me even in tough times. Amen

FOCUS READING

Mark 16:8 NRSV

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Growth & Death

DAILY BYTE

The Parable of the Sower contains some images which teach us something of how growth occurs in the Kingdom. The first lesson is this:

Simply put, if we don’t grow, we will die!

In this parable, in every instance where significant growth does not take root, the resulting imagery is deathly – both stark and desolate. There are birds that gobble up, shallow and arid soils, rocky paths, scorching sun and choking thorns.

Did you know that there is a medical designation for babies who are not growing and developing as they should be? Doctors will write on the medical charts FTT – which means ‘failure to thrive.’

This is because thriving is the natural condition of human beings. It is what a life is created by God to do. When something is stagnant and not growing, then it is dying. This is as true for our spirituality, as it is in anything else.

God wants us to grow! God wants us to love someone tomorrow that we could not love yesterday. God wants sin and selfishness to grip us less and less as the years go by. God wants us to grapple with and nurture forgiveness and generosity and hospitality.

Because if we do not grow, then we will wither and die.

Jesus’ explanation of this parable mentions hard heartedness being like rocky soil, superficiality being like shallow soil, and the worries of this world being like choking thorns.

If you think about it, all of those – hard heartedness, shallowness, stress and worry - are all actually symptoms of disconnectedness. They are like dashboard warning lights which begin to flash when we lose touch with what is really important to God. They are examples of what happens when we allow things other than God to define and shape us and we become like those trees you find bent into weird shapes in an attempt to find the sun, because we bend ourselves horribly as we grow in all the wrong directions.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord God, I know that you created me to grow and to thrive, but so often I base my life upon things other than you which results in me becoming hard hearted and shallow. Help me to always be rooted in you, so that I may grow and thrive as you created me to. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE

Mark 4:4-7 NRSV

And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

A BIG mistake

(This week’s BDC was written by Rev Gareth Killeen)

DAILY BYTE

Mere weeks after I first got married, I made my first big mistake. My wife and I were living in a small granny cottage, and early one morning I went off to gym. I arrived back, still a little sweaty but after having picked up a newspaper on the way home. I walked in just as my wife was finishing her breakfast, looked around and announced:
“Gosh, this place is in a mess.”

She looked around, shrugged her shoulders in that gracious way she has, and got up to start what she thought would be helping me to clean up. But as she bent down to pick something up, I chose that exact moment to sit down at the breakfast table and flick open my newspaper.

Even as I did so, I realised immediately that I had just made a huge mistake. It was as if time itself slowed down around me, my life literally flashing before my eyes. My wife gradually straightened with a glint in her eyes. It was one of those chilling moments – a moment where a woman looks at a man, and the man thinks, “This is NOT good.”

Believe me when I tell you that I spent the rest of that day doing punishment details as a result of my misdemeanour. I was forced to spring clean all day, carrying a mop and wearing a doek.

I only tell you this story because it is an example of how easily familiarity breeds contempt. I had been married for only a few weeks, and I reckoned I already had everything figured out.

Yet, this is exactly the kind of attitude we have with the Parables. This is especially true with the Parable we will be focusing on all this week – the Parable of the Sower (see below). This parable is probably one of the best known and most well loved of all the parables, but our extreme familiarity can cause us to lose sense of what this parable is actually all about. Our long comfortable association with this story, perhaps from as far back as Sunday School, causes us to think that we have the answers to it all nailed – like playing Trivial Pursuit when you have pre-read all the answer cards.

Except that parables don’t work that way at all. If we think we have them easily figured out, then it is quite possible that we are missing the point entirely. Here’s a general rule of thumb that I use for reading Jesus’ parables: if I interpret them in such a way that there is nothing surprising or even shocking, then it’s time to go back and read it again.

This is because we aren’t meant to interpret parables as much as they are meant to interpret us. We don’t read them, they read us. Perhaps, this is why Jesus begins and ends this particular parable with a very firm ‘LISTEN’!

Jesus wants us to pay careful attention here – that command to LISTEN cuts across our over familiarities and comfortable complacencies. This parable speaks in numerous ways concerning Kingdom growth in this world, and in our hearts and lives. And this is where we need to put aside our over-familiarities and to listen with careful openness, because this parable undoes and challenges almost everything we normally learn about growth.

Read through this parable carefully today, because we will spend the rest of this week attempting to allow its message to seep deeper into our hearts and lives.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Gracious God, we ask that throughout this week you will open our hearts to the message of this parable, and shape and form us around its truths. Grow us, we pray O God, through the truth of this parable – may it read and interpret us. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Mark 4:1-9 NRSV

Jesus began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

“Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

Blowing Your Bugle, Beating Your Drum

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday I shared a personal anecdote with you about an experience I had playing the bugle and then the bass drum in a marching band.

I think that it can serve as some kind of parable for our lives. Think about it. Isn’t it true that we all have ideas and dreams about what our lives should be like? But then, through the circumstances of life, we find ourselves ‘drafted’ into things we never anticipated.

Painful & broken relationships.
Long working hours.
An unwanted pregnancy, or the struggle to fall pregnant.
Single parenthood.
Family living far away.
Illness.

And so we settle in and learn to play the tune given to us, accepting that that’s just the way it is and there’s nothing else for us to play. Like just 2 notes on the bugle. And many people assume that that’s all there is, and try to make peace with their mediocre lives, but they can’t.
Because we’ve all been made with a bigger purpose in mind than this.

Others try to take hold of their lives to make something more of it. Which of course is commendable. They find a drum and start to beat it – and maybe even a flashy leopard skin to put on. And so they start marching through life to the beat of their own drum – building their career, accumulating possessions & prestige & power, moving up in the world.

But in the end this too will only disappoint, because invariably life catches up with us. And sooner or later we’ll discover a strange paralysis creeping over us, a tiredness that makes it harder and harder just to keep up, reducing our creative efforts to nothing more than the frenetic beating of our little drums. And for what? We’ve been made with a bigger purpose in mind than this.

Hear this good news. That bigger purpose for which we’ve all been made lies beyond ourselves. It is our purpose for sure, but it lies beyond us.

It is bigger than our capacity to imagine.
It is greater than our power to comprehend.
It is further than our ability to reach.

Which means that if we are to take hold of our true purpose, we need to be helped. And praise God, help is at hand.

It comes in the person of Jesus. Who enters our world and makes the boldest claim. He says, “I have come so that you might have life in all of its fullness.” And then he says, “Follow me.” It’s like he’s saying, ‘Put down that silly bugle, stop the futile beating of that bass drum. Your true purpose is much, much bigger than that. Rather, come with me and listen for the trumpet-call of God’s Kingdom. Come with me and march to the beat of a different drum.”

And over the ages, as people have responded to that simple invitation to follow Jesus, so they have found purpose for their lives, and a significance greater than they could ever have imagined.

The same can be true for you. I can’t tell each one of you what your specific purpose in this life is, but I can tell you who to follow if you want to find out. If you’re serious about that, then recognise this self-evident truth.

Following Jesus means being willing to move.

That’s a consistent theme throughout the scriptures, starting with Abram. God said to him, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’ And Abram was willing to move, and so discovered his purpose – to be the father of a great nation and a source of blessing to all the peoples of the earth.

Jesus’ invitation to follow him requires a radical and decisive response. It requires the willingness to move, to leave behind the things that hold you back in a purposeless kind of existence. Maybe it’s possessions or prestige or power. Maybe it’s a negative attitude, or a bad habit, or some deep-seated prejudice. Maybe it’s even the job you’re in, or the career you’ve chosen, or the lifestyle you’re leading. Maybe it’s a comfort zone you’ve grown accustomed to. Jesus said, ‘If you put your hand to the plough and then look back,’ hankering back to your old life, then you will miss out on the new life of God’s kingdom.

If you’re serious about following Jesus it means being willing to move, no matter how costly that may seem. But the blessing that it will bring is beyond anything that we could possibly imagine on our own!

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, you call me to follow you. It’s a call to let go of my own agenda, to lay aside my own futile attempts to find meaning in my life, and to trust you in a radical way. Give me wisdom to discern your call, and courage to obey. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Genesis 12:1-4

Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Mark 1:16-20

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake — for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Bass-drumming Blues

DAILY BYTE

The format of today’s BDC will be a little different. I will simply share a humorous personal anecdote, and then tomorrow I’ll offer some theological reflection on it. This story is a reminder to me that every experience of life can grow us in our understanding of ourselves and God, if we choose. So here’s my story:

A few weeks after arriving at Kearsney College as a scholar way back in 1985, I discovered, to my dismay, that I had been drafted into the Kearsney College Cadet Band. This was a calamity of monstrous proportions. I knew straight away that a bunch of awkward, pimply teenagers butchering ‘The Green Berets’ while trying to keep in step and in line lacked a certain ‘something’ when it came to spectator appeal.

Especially for the young women from St Mary’s who would come and watch the jocks play rugby or waterpolo, but were not known to drool over a marching tuba player, no matter how skillful he might be.

To make matters worse at the first band practice I was issued with my instrument … a bugle. For the uninitiated let me assure you that a bugle is not the most exciting instrument. It can play the grand total of 5 different notes – if you’re good. For us, we could manage just 2. A ‘C’ and a ‘G’. And so for the first 6 months every single tune we played was scored for bugle with just 2 notes. The most exciting went something like this: Baa Bah, Baa Bah, Baa Bah ... Bah Baa. (Can you feel my pain?)

But then, mid-way through that year, as I was on the verge of developing some serious bugle-induced personality disorder, a strange twist of fortune changed my destiny. The fat boy who had been playing the big bass drum developed a severe case of shin splints or ingrown toe-nails, or something, and could no longer continue in that distinguished role. Immediately I volunteered my services, and was accepted. This was much better than the bugle. On the bass drum I got to make much more noise. I learnt how to do those fancy twirly things with the drum sticks. I even got to wear this seriously impressive leopard skin. Where were those St Mary’s girls now?

And so it was in the November of that year, when Natal Command received the Freedom of Pietermaritzburg, that the Kearsney College Cadet Band, with me as its bass drummer, was invited to lead the parade through the streets of Pietermaritzburg. It was quite a nerve-racking prospect. As the bass drummer I would be the one responsible for beating out the time for the hundreds of soldiers marching behind us. But I had practiced all the twirls and fancy flourishes and so I was quietly confident that I would make quite an impression as I marched past the mayor and other dignitaries and the admiring masses of Pietermaritzburg.

The parade was at 12 noon on a blistering hot November day. I was in full battle regalia, with my harness pulled as tight as possible to carry the considerable weight of the big bass drum, and wearing this hot leopard skin. As we stood to attention for about 20 minutes before the start of the parade, in the sweltering humidity of a summer’s day in Pietermaritzburg, I started to feel decidedly woozy. I wasn’t the only one.

In fact, one of the trombone players even fainted and missed the whole parade, which wasn’t actually such a bad thing because he was very short, and having a very short trombone player in a men’s marching band is never a good idea!

On the stroke of 12 noon the parade began. The Regimental Sergeant Major barked out a command and we started marching, with yours truly giving the beat. And that’s when it happened. I don’t know if it was because of the heat, or that sweltering leopard skin, or because my blood sugar levels had dropped, or maybe it was because my harness was too tight and had pinched a nerve or cut off the blood supply, but as soon as we started marching I discovered that I had absolutely no control of my left arm whatsoever. It had gone completely lame and just dangled by my side in a paralysed, spastic kind of way.

I’m sure you can appreciate that this was not a good thing. In a state close to panic I managed to hitch the spastic arm onto the bass drum, and for the rest of the parade I had to beat out double time with my good arm. Needless to say there were no flashy frills or fancy twirls from me that day. No dazzling displays of bass drumming brilliance. Just double quick time with one arm. My friends told me afterwards that it was actually quite impressive, in a Duracell Bunny kind of way.

Tomorrow, I’ll share some reflections based on that story.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Loving God, thank you that in all the stories of our lives, whether they be funny or sad or interesting or dull, you are there and your presence can be known. Thank you. Amen

Quicken the Conscience

DAILY BYTE

Archbishop William Temple’s famous definition of worship begins with this line:

‘To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God.’

The word ‘quicken’ is used here in the sense of ‘making alive’, awakening, arousing into a state of attentive vigilance.

William Temple suggests that in worship this is what happens to our conscience. It comes alive, enabling us to be more sharply attuned to what is right and wrong within us and our world.

Maybe that’s why many people prefer not to come to church. Because let’s be honest, an active, awakened conscience can be distinctly uncomfortable.

Henry Mencken once said, “Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.”

While Ogden Nash put it like this: “There is only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball, and that is to have either a clear conscience or none at all.”

But if the only consequence of having our conscience quickened is to feel bad about ourselves, honestly what’s the sense in that? That’s not what authentic worship is about. How tragically sad that that’s how so many people see church, as a ticket for one big guilt trip. How tragically sad that that’s often all that church does. But worship, true worship, is so much more than that.

Listen again to William Temple’s definition – it’s very sharp and very astute. To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God. By the holiness of God. That’s what makes all the difference. That’s what makes the quickening of our conscience good news. Because the holiness of God is such that it always seeks to move our quickened conscience beyond guilt and blame to the broader concerns of this Holy God for us and for our world.

That was precisely Isaiah’s experience in the famous account of his call within the Temple that we read in Isaiah 6.

His story reminds us that as we come face-to-face with the holiness of God in worship that we come to see ourselves as we are, people of unclean lips utterly in need of God’s mercy. But we also come to see that our sin is not God’s greatest concern. Yes, authentic worship takes us to that place of anguished contrition where we are seared with the burning coal of God’s love, but it doesn’t leave us there.

As one of the seraphim said to Isaiah, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” In other words, “Get over it! God has far greater concerns that your sin. Listen to the aching sighs of a holy and compassionate God.”

And immediately, remarkably, the questions of God’s heart are overheard, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

In the passage, Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me.” And God said, “Go!”

That’s what the quickening of the conscience by the holiness of God ultimately means.

How might this be true of your life today?

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you Lord that when you prick our conscience it is never for the purpose of shaming us or just making us feel guilty, but it is always to move us beyond the poverty of sinful living to live holy, God-honouring lives that can make a difference to your concerns for the world. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Isaiah 6:1-9a

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go…”

Thin Places

DAILY BYTE

A thin place is a term used in Celtic spirituality to refer to those times and places when God’s presence touches our ordinary everyday lives. As John van de Laar puts it, “A thin place is a place in which we become aware of the reality of God within and beyond our physical world.”

Worship can be for us a thin place. Now that might sound like I’m stating the obvious, but in fact I’m not. Sadly, much of what passes for worship these days does little to produce a deep sense of encounter with the divine.

This is how Sally Morgenthaler describes the contemporary church scene:
“We are not producing worshippers... Rather, we are producing a generation of spectators, religious onlookers lacking any memory of a true encounter with God, deprived of both the tangible sense of God’s presence and the supernatural relationship their inmost spirits crave.”

This state of affairs stands in stark contrast to the dreams and desires of God’s heart. Over and over again within the scriptures, God declares that worship requires not just outward observance but inner involvement. The worship that God desires is an intimate, personal encounter between God and us.

In fact, the scriptures are bold in the way in which this encounter is described, often using the sexual imagery of lovers and the personal intimacy of marriage to try to get at the essence of what is meant.

The well-known passage from John 15 uses a different metaphor, but the idea of intimate connection is strongly evident.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Make yourselves at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done – kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.I’m no longer calling you servants. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from my Father.”

What might such intimacy mean for you?

Nearly 20 years ago, a mate and I took a backpacking trip through the UK & Europe. We started off in London. One of the tourist attractions we visited was St Paul’s Cathedral. It’s a hugely impressive structure with its massive dome and spectacular architectural detail. I heard about its history, about the patience and perseverance of its designer Sir Christopher Wren who worked on this project for just on 40 years.

Six weeks later I was in London again, and so I returned to St Paul’s. But this time it was on a Sunday, and I went not as a tourist, but as a worshipper, eager to encounter the Living God in the intimacy of worship. And in that great cathedral I heard the Word of God proclaimed, and under that great dome I knelt to receive bread and wine. The first time I went, as a tourist, I was impressed. The second time I went, as a worshipper, I was touched, and moved, and yes changed.

Let us cast off the tourist-mindset in the manner in which we come to church. Let us move beyond the attitude that sees Sunday worship as a visit to a religious attraction if we feel so inclined. Rather, let us regard worship as a thin place, where we can hear God’s invitation to intimacy. And when we do may we respond as worshippers, pilgrims, disciples as we dare to get ourselves involved.

Then, even if the music isn’t quite to our liking, or the sermon is best slept through, or the words used to point to God are laughably inadequate, it will not matter. Because in this thin place we will awaken to the reality of God in our midst, and we will know the joy and wonder of intimate, personal encounter with God, our lover and our friend.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you Lord God that the opportunity to worship you in the context of the community of faith really is an opportunity to encounter you in a vibrant, vital way. Thank you that there there is no place that is beyond your presence; but there is something special about the thin place of worship. Help me to recognise that more and more and to take hold of that opportunity as a regular, life-giving discipline and joy. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Psalm 139:7-12

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

Awake you sleeper!

DAILY BYTE

A preacher had a friend who had no interest in church or God whatsoever. The preacher was forever trying to convince him to come along to church, to at least give it a try. Finally the man agreed. The preacher was thrilled. That week he pulled out all the stops as he prepared a carefully crafted sermon, masterfully arguing the case for belief in God. Sunday came and sure enough his friend was in church, and so the preacher delivered the sermon with everything he had. There was passion, there was conviction, there were stirring illustrations and dramatic pauses. At one stage what he was saying even brought a tear to his own eye. Afterwards he felt quietly confident that this must have surely been a breakthrough moment for his friend.

The next day the two of them met for coffee. Unable to contain his curiosity the preacher asked, ‘So, what did you think of my sermon?’ The man replied, ‘To be completely honest, I have to admit that your sermon kept me awake for most of the night.’

The preacher was delighted. “I’m so glad the message got through to you,” he said, “and that you’ve started grappling with the whole idea of God.”

“Oh no,” replied his friend, “that’s not it at all. It’s just that I can never sleep at night when I’ve had a good snooze in the day.”

That little story contains a few nuggets of truth. The first is this. Quite frankly, some sermons probably are best experienced asleep. (As a preacher, I should know!)

Secondly, the story reveals the fundamental inadequacy of human words to articulate the mysteries of God. It’s a humbling reminder not just to preacher types like me, but to all of us, that even our best efforts to give expression to who God is fall laughably short of the truth.

Thirdly, the story suggests that there are many who are, in fact, asleep to the things of God. We doze our way through our days, sleepwalking through our lives, never fully awakening to the Holy God who is in our midst.

And yet, there is this yearning within us all for an experience of the infinite. There is a hunger within us for the divine. As St Augustine famously put it – there is a God-shaped void within all of us that only God can fill.

And sometimes, on a still, starry night; or as the first rays of a rising sun dance across the ocean; or when you hear the miracle of a baby’s laugh; or when you sit by the bedside of a loved one who is dying; or in the varied experiences of great love or great suffering; or when you’re overwhelmed by the undeserved generosity of family and friends; or in those ordinary, yet surprising moments when the distracting noises and voices all around are suddenly stilled; then sometimes the longing within us for God takes hold with an urgent intensity that will not let us go. And in those moments we awaken to the great truth that we have been shaped to be instruments of praise, to the
glory of God.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O God, awaken us from our slumbering ways, that we might see you and know you as the God that you are and that we have been shaped to be instruments of praise. Awaken us that we might come to see that we have been made for you, and that apart from you our lives amount to nothing at all. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Luke 9:32

“Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory.”

Thoughts – Part 5

DAILY BYTE

So what really is the difference between modern positive-thinking techniques and ‘taking captive every thought’ for Christ? Well, quite a lot actually.

Both do affirm the power of our thought lives over the rest of our existence, but otherwise tend to differ in quite important ways. Take one of the latest positive-thinking sensation ‘The Secret’ for example. Now, ‘The Secret’ proclaims that there has been this ancient secret of success, jealously guarded by the most accomplished and high-profiled people of our society throughout history, (which is now kindly made available to us at only the cost of the book or DVD!)

At the risk of oversimplifying its message, the ‘secret’ is the Law of Attraction: that one only needs to mentally and emotionally focus enough on what we want to receive it. So what is the difference between that message and Christ saying, ‘Ask and you shall receive?’ Again, quite a lot actually.

You see, the great blessing of the positive-thinking movement is that it teaches us to positively embrace life and its potential, but the great danger is that it teaches us to focus upon ourselves to find this better life. It is almost like we become gods, if we only focus hard enough then we will solve all our problems and attract only good things to ourselves. Now isn’t the temptation to become ‘like God’ the very oldest temptation (see Genesis 2)?

The Law of Attraction seems to be unbelievably self-concerned with material attractions. Is the sole point of life to become ridiculously wealthy? Is that why we were created – is that the direction we should aim all our thoughts and hopes?

Furthermore, what are we saying about life’s victims such as the victims of the Holocaust? The end result of this positive-thinking teaching is that they suffered so terribly only because they did not have the requisite willpower to ‘think’ themselves out of their terrible situations. Do children die of hunger or disease every day only because they are not positive enough in their outlook?

In stark contrast to this, the Bible teaches us to hope in God rather than ourselves. We are not the end-solution to our problems, rather we are invited into a covenantal relationship with a higher and greater power who is able to transform and change us.

There most certainly is a Law of Attraction in the Bible, but it is not directed to our own selfish agenda and advancement. No, when we capture every thought for Christ we seek to direct our lives towards the areas that God values. So if we think on Christ, then we would attract love and grace and qualities such as the joyful and generous sharing of our emotional and material resources. If we capture our thoughts for Christ we may well become materially poorer rather than wealthier! We may even have to face suffering and hardships, but we will attract to our characters the endless treasures of God’s wealth – life and love and grace.
For it is by directing our thoughts and emotions towards this kind of hope that we are. It is in this way that Christ will not only renovate our minds but also our entire beings.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O Lord, we place all of our hope in you and you alone. We do this by trusting in you and you alone for absolutely everything. We place our loved ones, our careers, our dreams, and our daily lives into your hands. We ask that as you begin your work of renovating our thoughts, so you would also begin to transform our entire beings. Amen.

FOCUS READING

1 Timothy 6: 17-19 MSG

Tell those rich in this world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they'll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.

(This week's BDC was written by Rev Gareth Killeen).

Thoughts – Part 4

DAILY BYTE

Your emotions or feelings are very often a direct product of our thought lives.

How we think about ourselves, others and God; what we allow to live without question in the living room of our minds; will very often set the agenda for how we feel about life and ourselves, others and God.

If you think about it then feelings are what seems to move us most through life. Dallas Willard writes that feelings not only touch us and move us, but also creep over into other areas of our lives; they pervade, they change the overall tone of our life and world.

Willard goes onto say that this is the reason it can be so hard to reason with some people, because their very mind has been taken over by one or more feelings and is made to defend and serve those feelings at all costs.

By way of example, say a thought enters our head that we begin to brood over, sometimes for months or even years, eventually we develop a tremendous sense of injustice and outrage. Bitterness gradually sweeps over our entire being, seeping into the depths of our personality and soul. Eventually we are captivated entirely by this one matter, it affects our conversations and perceptions, and indeed the rest of our thought life.

What began as a single thought that was unhealthily entertained or ‘dwelt’ upon, becomes a veritable prison of emotion which colours our every action thereafter.

If you are struggling to come to terms with the reality of your thought life, then spend time considering your feelings. Feelings can be like a red flag of warning for us – they will point us back to the unhealthy and death-giving thoughts we entertain too long.

If you have gone down this road in any way – if you are struggling in a prison of negative feeling (a ‘stronghold’ Paul called it in 2 Corinthians), then know that one of your ways of healing and wholeness (of renovation) is to trace the problem back to your thought life.

Just don’t do it alone.

Everyone needs help at some point or the other, and the gummy strength of your particular prison or stronghold may be such, that you need the help of friends or a counsellor to see you through.

Also know this: As much as a negative thought, sufficiently entertained can spread like cancer through our entire being, then what is the possibility of a Christ-like thought resonating throughout us and bringing transformation?

Think of the ripple effect of throwing a stone into a pond and then think of your thoughts as being stones that cause ripples through your entire being.

Think of the possibilities of casting in good, pure and admirable thoughts, think how you can gradually be transformed (renovated) as the love of God is allowed to dwell in your mind and seep into your entire being.

Think about that!

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord God, we do pray that you would help us to see that often the feelings that we allow to control and direct our days are a result of our thought lives. We pray you would set us free from any prisons or strongholds we may have ‘thought’ ourselves into. Give us the courage to seek help if we need to. Finally, we give thanks that what is often used for evil, can so effectively and powerfully be used for good – that if we allow Christ-like thoughts to dominate our minds then our emotions, souls and personalities can be utterly transformed. In Christ name we pray. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Ephesians 3. 14-19 MSG

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit — not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength — that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

(This week's BDC was written by Rev Gareth Killeen).

Thoughts – Part 3

DAILY BYTE

We are responsible for every thought we allow our minds to dwell upon.

Of course no one can control every thought that pops into their heads – tempting and tantalizing images of greed, envy, hatred or lust. But we are 100% responsible for what we allow our thoughts to dwell upon, what we linger upon, what thoughts we actively entertain in the living room of our minds.

In fact, try to picture your mind as a living room. You have invited Jesus into that room – as you looked around what would you find?

What posters or pictures would adorn the room, what shows would be playing on the TV. How would the room be furnished and what would be the condition of that furnishing? How messy would the room be and what would be hidden at the bottom of the living room closet?

Only you can answer those questions because only you will know that true extent of what your mind ‘dwells’ upon and only you can take responsibility for that.

Many of us allow our minds to be filled with all sort of potentially destructive matters. This is why Paul urges us to take captive every thought for Christ and also encourages us to actively think about things that are noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable.

In other words, when it comes to the renovation of our minds, we don’t sit back on an easy chair watching God work away. No, we play an active part as we take fully responsibility for everything that we allow to live in our minds. Perhaps the very first renovation job Jesus would do is to say to us: ‘Now grow up, accept the responsibility you have in your own thought life.’

This is why Paul’s words are very ‘action’ orientated as he encourages us to quickly show the door to every negative and potentially destructive thought that enters our mind, and then to welcome in everything that is good and Life-giving.

Spend some time today more carefully analysing your thought life. Write down what you think about when you lie awake in bed at night, or when you have a quiet moment. What exactly is the content of your favourite daydreams? Try to consider how these thoughts may affect you and shape your character. Can you notice anything that is potentially destructive or that may be having a negative effect on you in anyway?

Write down your thoughts and then pray the following prayer.

PRAY AS YOU GO

God of Peace, we confess to you the times we allow our thoughts to dwell upon anything that is greedy, hateful, envious, lustful or hopelessly negative. Forgive us for actively entertaining matters within the living room of our minds that harmfully shapes our characters and is potentially destructive to us and our fellow human beings. We take full responsibility for this and ask that you would give us the strength to capture every thought for you, and to fill our minds with everything that is Christ-like and Life-giving. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

(This week's BDC was written by Rev Gareth Killeen).

Thoughts – Part 2

DAILY BYTE

Simply put, you cannot live beyond what you believe.

If our beliefs are small and petty, then our lives in all likelihood will be small and petty. On the other hand, if our beliefs are gracious and imaginative then so will our lives.

Our beliefs, like so much else about us, are shaped by our thoughts. Our thought lives are a very, very, very important aspect of our spiritual growth. In emphasising the importance of this exact point and assessing exactly why a multi-million dollar industry has grown up around the concept of the ‘power’ of our thought lives, Dallas Willard has the following to say:

‘Those who would understand and practice spiritual formation in the way of Jesus Christ should not deny the power of thought just because some people make a religion of it and would use it as a basis for helping and healing with no reference to Christ. Breakfast is a good idea, and I do not plan to give it up because Hindus practice it. For effective spiritual formation in Christ we must have a realistic understanding and utilization of the powers of thought.’

Too often we forget that Jesus commanded us to love God with heart, soul and mind (see focus reading). Jesus knew that a key aspect of loving God was to joyfully and obediently learn to serve him with every thought that goes through our heads.

So perhaps the very first part of renovating our minds, is to ask ourselves the following question – what do I think about the God who would renovate me? For if you believe that God would enter into your thought life only to shout with anger and shudder in disgust with what is there, then you won’t get very far in this issue of transformation at all.

Remember that you won’t live beyond what you believe, so if your picture of God is mean and scary, well then, you will never be able to grow beyond that. You need to think and therefore believe that God is well worth loving. Sure he may challenge your thought life, sure God may even radically redesign it and toss out much of what is unworthy or destructive.

But he will always do so because he loves you.

Believe that … think about that. That God is well worth loving and trusting with both the best and worst of our thought lives.

Begin there then – by filling your mind with the truth of the revealed God in Scriptures – a God who loves extravagantly and if God happens to challenge or rebuke us, it is only because God loves us so much. Rid your mind of any of our many caricatures of God as being a violent, angry or petty God. Scripture reveals God as only ‘beauty, mercy and total embrace’ (Richard Rohr).

The renovation of our thoughts begins by learning to love God with our minds.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Loving God, help us to love you passionately with our minds. We know that we cannot possibly live beyond what we believe about you, so we pray that you would fill our minds with the truth of your loving and grace-filled nature. Because you are a God worth loving, we entrust to you the highest and lowest aspects of our thought lives. We trust that however you may challenge or admonish us, it is only because you love us. In Jesus name. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE

Matthew 22:37

Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

(This week's BDC was written by Rev Gareth Killeen).

Thoughts - Part 1

DAILY BYTE

(This week's BDC was written by Rev Gareth Killeen).

Every year a massive battle costing billions and billions of dollars is waged for control of our thought lives.

Think I’m exaggerating? Well then, consider this. Every year countless self-help and positive-thinking books and DVD’s are released telling us to fill our minds with positive thoughts and then the good times (and the money) will just start rolling in, (presumably the only people really made rich are those selling these books and DVD’s).

However, the self-help industry is not the only proponent in this battle for our minds because every year the advertising industry spends even more money telling us how we should think and feel about their products. We are taught to think that we can only feel good about who we are if we are able to buy their particular brands. Advertisers stoke the fires of our greed by making wild promises concerning our future prospects.

On the seedier side of life this battle for control of our thought lives continues. Sexual fantasies are shaped and filled by countless images readily available through TV, movies or even to be downloaded onto computer screens or cell phones.

It is therefore not hard to consider that there is some sort of ‘devilish’ agenda behind this battle for our minds. Paul the Apostle certainly gives credence to that by asserting in 2 Corinthians 4.4 that the ‘god of this age’ works towards blinding people’s minds. Further along in 2 Corinthians Paul says that that ‘For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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 Cor. 10. 3-5 NIV).

Paul seems to be saying that the battle for our minds is essentially played out on a spiritual plane and so we should never underestimate the incredible importance of this battle.

Perhaps the very first thing Jesus would want to transform or ‘renovate’ within us is that of our thought lives. This is because our thoughts feed, shape, affect and inform so much of who we are. Even more than that – what we allow our thoughts to dwell upon feed, shape and affect so much of who we are becoming.

During the course of the next week, we will be looking more carefully at this topic, and considering the reality of our own thought lives.

What do you allow your thoughts to dwell upon and how does this affect you?

What would Jesus want to transform about your thought life?

PRAY AS YOU GO

Gracious God, we recognise that so much of who we are and who we are becoming is shaped by our thought lives. What we allow our thoughts to linger on affects us in sometimes quite drastic ways. It is our prayer that throughout this week, you will teach and challenge us in this area. We invite you Almighty God, to radically renovate our thought lives in a way that is honouring to you. Amen.

FOCUS READING

2 Cor 10:3-5 NIV

For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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.