Believing in and sharing the story of Jesus in the first century was a dangerous task. What inspired the early Christians to share their stories? And how did that lead to a worldwide movement that became the Christian religion?
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Christmas is a time when we reflect on the birth of Jesus, the greatest Gift of all. But Jesus Himself received an extravagant gift that reminds us of the true meaning of giving.
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I think this sounds right
Have you ever sat a multiple choice test where you weren’t sure of the correct answer? You re-read all the options and then thought, I think ‘C’ sounds most correct.
When I taught English to Cambodian high schoolers I was trying to explain why their sentences were incorrect. Since English is my first language, I speak it fluently but do not always understand why I say things in a certain way. So the best I explanation I could come up with at the time was: ‘it just sounds wrong when you write it this way. This way sounds better.’
Or perhaps you are going somewhere you have been before but you aren’t entirely sure of the way. And as you walk or drive along you think, ‘hmm this way feels right.’
What is it that gives us this impression of ‘right’? And how do we ensure that our impressions actually are correct? So often we put the wrong answer down on a test or we give incorrect grammatical advice or end up lost because our inner sense of right is misplaced.
In the case of the test, if we didn’t learn the material correctly then incorrect options will sound correct to our minds. If I learned to speak English incorrectly then I will likely teach others to speak incorrectly. And depending on how well I know the route to a destination will determine how easily I get there! In each case it is a matter of knowing the right way. To add complexity to this, there are degrees of knowing and with each degree of knowing comes increasing chances of getting it right.
And so it would seem with our life choices – which way seems right? What path feels right to you?
These are often questions we pose to ourselves and to others who are at a crossroads. Should I make this purchase or that? Should I go abroad to gain more experience or stay in my company to gain a promotion? Should I marry this person or keep looking? Should we have children? How should we raise them? The problem is if we don’t have any concept of ‘right’ then really anything could seem or feel right at any given point in time. And we may be faced with the question: ‘do I trust my feelings?’
God provides us with an avenue to know the right way. He illustrates a purpose for our existence through the Bible and in it are visions, mission statements, directions, examples to follow (and not to follow), descriptions, pictures and in some cases, explicit instructions. Just as the textbook and the test questions are not duplicates of each other, so with life the text and the choices given demand an applicable knowledge of one to answer the other. And so the more familiar we are with God and His way, the more correct our feelings about what is the right way will be.
Some people call it ‘feeding on God’s word’, others may call it ‘quiet time’, ‘devotion’ or ‘Bible study’. It doesn’t matter what name you give it, becoming familiar with the Bible is the best way to know God and His thoughts. As Albert Einstein said, ‘I want to know His [God’s] thoughts. The rest are details.’
I am one of the extremely blessed ones who didn’t have the struggle of becoming pregnant. I don’t have any angsty stories of months or years of trying or going to fertility clinics. For some reason God just made it happen. I know that this child is a gift from heaven.
And I knew when I had received the gift. One day I just felt different. It was an odd awareness that there was something inside me that was new.
We didn’t test until about week 8-9. I had been procrastinating since the pharmacist wasn’t on my way to anywhere and it would mean a special trip to pick up a test – besides.. I already knew I was pregnant! But after my supervisor at work asked me if I was I decided it was time to know definitively and actually do something about it.
So what is it like for me?
I felt nauseous and vomited about 6 times. One time I remember just lying on the floor against the wall to keep my head up because it felt worse when I lay flat. I couldn’t vomit and I couldn’t eat. I just felt this feeling of wanting to throw up but not quite. Then when I finally did throw up I didn’t feel a whole lot better. It was dreadful and I felt a deep sympathy for those who experience this day in and day out for months. I also threw up on the way home in the car. I managed to hold it in with one hand while the other hand steered into a pub’s carpark. I threw the door open and let it all out all over the ground.
There is one thing about vomiting that does ‘release the valve’ on the nausea somewhat but it does leave you feeling exhausted and the awful taste in your throat takes a long time to go away.
Since this was not a big issue for me I think the most noticeable thing early on was the fatigue and low mood. I have been anaemic and that fatigue does not compare to this. You wake up, feel tired. Go to work and want to sleep. Come home and want to sleep. Then sleep all night and want to sleep some more. And then I read on the net that I should sleep at work. I am not sure who actually wrote those articles but they definitely don’t work in most ordinary work places. It was really quite incredible. I went to gym classes and couldn’t keep up. Normally I could be there for 1-2hrs. But half an hour was really killing me.
And then I got sick and couldn’t shake it. My nose was blocked and runny and I had become a first class mucous producing machine. Then my nose kept bleeding and I kept blowing blood out of my nose. (Don’t worry, all of these symptoms were mentioned in the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting – a good read for those in my category)
But if you asked me what was I suffering with the pregnancy now? The main thing is ITCHINESS. I have almost scratched my skin off. And its not always polite to say where! Apparently when the skin stretches it gets itchy and some of it is just down to hormones.
Moodiness is another awful factor to deal with. It is really easy to get mad these days. Doesn’t take much to trip the wire! Poor Darrell.. he has really taken a beating.
But apart from all this ‘sufferance’ that I (and other expecting mothers) endure. I cannot believe that inside me there is a real live person growing. And when we first saw our little one on the screen at the ultrasound appointment I started crying. It was dancing and waving its little arm and leg buds. I have an actual person inside. It is so incredible and makes me feel so blessed and amazed. I don’t feel like I deserve this but nevertheless here we are: parents in the making.
Never so humbled. Never so blessed.
Sometimes prayer can feel a bit one sided and the awkward monologue can feel a bit forced. This Saturday we will talk about the art of listening in prayer.
Download the Discussion Questions here.
Songs in the Night
Understanding, accepting, and adopting a different worldview, especially a Christ-centred one, can be overwhelming. Saul, once an avid persecutor of Christians, is blinded after being confronted with the reality of Jesus. Sometimes, God puts us through the experience of darkness so that we can better hear and share Him in the light.
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Learning to trust God is one of the most rewarding and yet challenging lessons to learn. This week we will be discussing what it means to rely on God.
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What makes you happy? What brings you down? Is there a “truth” that will make us happy, no matter what the circumstances? Jesus preached a famous sermon on “The Beatitudes” – how do the 8 blessings found there build the foundation for happiness?
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Oh, it really wasn’t so bad. But it was one of those days – woke up groggy, made brekky for the family, watched anxiously as my father-in-law frantically re-packed for the airport, choked up as he broke down in tears kissing Micah goodbye, and then felt this pang of emptiness as I cleaned up his room and laundered his sheets.
Dropped Micah off at childcare and then drove to Melton to do some visitations. After a few visits, there was one more person I really wanted to see, and I wanted to take her a framed picture of Micah I had promised her, so I dropped by the Woodgrove shopping center. Having purchased the frame, I assembled it in the boot and then shut the boot – only to realise with a sinking heart that the car keys were inside.
I called the various people I now disappointed (the member I was going to visit, another member I was supposed to drive to a Leadership Meeting in Tullamarine, the senior pastor of Northpoint, Sam, who I had made go to my place only to have to walk back home, and my husband, who had to cancel a bible study and miss a meeting to come and bail me out).
Roy suggested I call the locksmith, but they quoted me $150 and said “we’ll give it our best go, but no guarantees.” Horror stories of locksmiths damaging the wiring of the car, etc. came to haunt me and I could not bring myself to secure their services.
So I refused to call the locksmith and insisted Roy come pick me up. I emphatically stated, “I’m not paying a locksmith. I’m staying here until you come, even if I have to wait all night.” I hung up without waiting for a reply, as if to prove my point.
So Roy picked up Micah from childcare and came an hour out of his way to drop off the spare key. I thought the least I could do was take Micah back, so I took our hungry, tired boy and noticed he was barefoot. “He didn’t have any shoes on when I picked him up,” Roy said.
I had forgotten to put them on this morning when I had dropped him off! Oops.
My poor hungry, tired, and barefoot boy wailed all the way home (all 50 minutes) and by the time I got home, I felt like crying myself.
My day was not really a bad day, compared to so many people out there who struggled with real pain today, but it was not a day I was proud of . . . not only for my forgetfulness, but for my reactions and attitude throughout the evening.
I had been angry at myself, angry at the exorbitant cost of a locksmith, angry at Roy for suggesting a locksmith, angry at the Schnitz employee for giving me chicken in my veggie wrap, angry at the tailgaters on my drive home…
Where did all this anger come from?
I don’t know, but I knew I didn’t want it to linger in my spirit.
The wise king said, “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Anger is counter-productive; it keeps us from making rational choices.
Paul counselled, “In your anger do not sin; do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:26,27). I think I gave the devil a welcome mat today.
James also advised, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires” (James 1:19,20).
As I reflect on my day, I realise that I should have prayed more and fumed less. Instead of spending so much time being upset, I should have been grateful for having been “stuck” at a mall, with bathrooms, restaurants, and cell phone chargers so accessible. I should have been gracious to others and myself, for how can I love my neighbours if I can’t even love myself?
So as the sun sets and the day folds, I pray to the God who is slow to anger and abounding in mercy, Father, forgive me, for I have sinned…
And I can almost hear His soothing voice say, “So you had a bad day…”
Throughout history, religion has been misused for personal agendas. How did King Saul seek to manipulate God? Are we ever in danger of doing the same?
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