The view from up there

The first time I went to the roof of a tall building in a city, I was blown away by being able to see everything – all buildings and streets laid out neatly to view, all the people moving along the sidewalk like ants, and toy cars pushing their way through the arteries of the city. Of course you can’t tell much about the people – if they’re happy or angry or suffering. And it’s not easy, looking down from a great height, to judge which buildings are tall, and which are not. So you don’t see closely, but it’s a great view!

Sometimes we think God sees like that. We think of Him high in His heaven, so far above us that he sees everything, distracted by the big picture so that our daily experiences and realities must be remote to him. And of course it’s right to exalt him – He’s God, and we’re not – but we do Him a disservice when we imagine He only looks at us from that distance.

Because God doesn’t see like we do. He doesn’t love like we do. He might be looking at a few billion people, but more than looking at all of us, he’s looking at each of us. He’s high above, and here below – both at the same time. He’s here, right with you, walking with you through this very personal storm you’re facing today. And from that intimate perspective, he sees everything, and loves you.

We’re not alone down here. Our Father is with us, guiding us up, always.

Jeremiah 23:23-24          “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord,     “and not a God far away? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.

Isaiah 55:8                        “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

Ephesians 3: 17-18          And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ

Psalm 73:28                      As for me, it is good to be near God.

The real wonder of Mars

My social media is full of this picture – a sunset on Mars captured this week by Mars Insight. It’s beautiful, yes? And it moves us, to be able to see such a thing. Someone posted “We are the first people ever to see a sunset on Mars. It’s quite a thought.”
It really is.

And here’s another thought. Our God has seen this many times, every Martian day since the world was formed. He has seen our little planet from the Mars view, looking like a star in the sky. He has seen the beauty of the turquoise Martian sand dunes. He made all this, all the universe, and in all of this it’s you and me that he has chosen as his children.

That’s who we are – children of the One who created sunset on Mars. It’s quite a thought.

Ephesians 1:4-5                 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will

Jeremiah 1:5                      “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 8:3-5                         When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.

Psalm 148:3                        Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars

Mirror, mirror

There used to be a thing in carnivals and funfairs when I was a kid, called the Hall of Mirrors. It was usually a narrow maze, lined with curved and bent mirrors on the walls and ceilings. As we made our way through, everywhere we turned, we saw ourselves as distorted and ugly. It was disorienting to see different, twisted images of ourselves on all sides, but we laughed, because we knew it wasn’t real.

The world we live in gives us feedback all the time on how we’re doing, who we are, and who we seem to be. It’s how we interpret someone’s reaction to what we’ve done, or the way we might dwell on things we did, or didn’t do, or things we think we can’t do. The thing is, that’s a just a mocking mirror, reflecting a distorted image of us back to ourselves with all our flaws exaggerated.

What ordinary life shows us is not who we really are. It’s not me and it’s not you. What you really are is perfect in Christ, loved beyond belief by God, blessed beyond measure regardless of your own messing up, or how you look to yourself or to others. He knows who you really are, and He can see you perfectly. We can look in the world all we like, but we’re never going to see that perfect image.

But still, this is where we live, in the world that is a narrow hall of mirrors. Everywhere we turn we will see the reflections. We can’t avoid it. You can’t avoid it. But know this, that it’s just a distortion. Know that the real you is perfected and loved and hidden in Christ, and choose to live out of that.

 

Ephesians 1:4                     For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.

John 17:16                           They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Colossians 3:3                    For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Ephesians 2:10                  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Knowing more than is written

I grew up inland, but am spending time on an island where rain sweeps across the ocean, a thick white line on the horizon, smudging the distant islands, bearing down on the coast. These are sudden, summer storms that catch out tourists in their pleasure boats so that they need rescuing, despite their tide tables and navigation charts.

Local fishermen shake their heads. They also have tide tables and navigation charts, but they don’t rely only on them. They have a relationship with the sea;  they know its nature. They know where each current will take them, how the tide will work with them or against them, when they should sail out and when they need to head for home. It’s an understanding that has nothing to do with what they have read. It comes from experience, maybe while being taught by someone older, certainly from spending time out there on the water. If I’m leaving safe harbour, I know who I want on board.

Knowing God is like that. It’s not the same as knowing about Him. It means knowing his nature, knowing what you can trust Him to do, where He might take you, how He will support you, when you can step out in faith and when I should not. It’s a knowledge that will enable you to move confidently, trusting Him, not what you have learned.

I love the sea, but will never know it like the local fishermen. God, on the other hand – God the almighty creator of the universe – has an open invitation for us, for you, to spend time with Him, so He can help you to get to know Him. Theology is fine and useful. So are tide tables. But it’s knowing the sea that counts on the ocean. And it’s knowing Him is what will enable you to navigate life.

It’s there, an invitation to wisdom, just waiting for you to ask.

1 John 4:8                            The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Ephesians 1:17                  I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Psalm 138:3                        On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.

Proverbs 3:5                       Trust in the Lord with all your heart and  lean not on your own understanding

Don’t worry about fear

There’s a well-known saying that says “you’ve nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Aung San Suu Kyi put it another way, saying “The only real prison is fear. The only real freedom is freedom from fear.”  We do this all the time – speaking of facing our fears and standing up to them, of examining what it is that we fear, and overcoming it. We’re putting fear on a pedestal,  as if our fears themselves had power.

Well good news, people, it’s better than that! Fear is not a terrifying, disorienting fog. It’s just a mist in the morning, with the sun already risen and about to burn it off.

We don’t have to place our fears under a spotlight, and struggle to combat them. We don’t have to worry if we feel afraid in case it will weaken or imprison us in some way. Feeling afraid is just that – it’s a feeling. It has nothing to do with the reality of who we really are in Christ.

The truth is, we don’t have to be afraid of anything, not even of fear, because Jesus has taken care of all of that for us. Over and over in the gospels he reassured us – don’t be afraid, don’t worry, I am with you, your Father will take care of you. He tells us this not as a rule that comes with consequences, but as a loving God who wants to open our eyes to what he has done for us.  Not “Don’t be afraid or your fears will eat you”, but rather “Don’t bother being afraid because God loves you.”

So if you feel afraid, don’t worry about it. Look away from the fear instead of analysing it. Look to Jesus, look to the love you know comes from God. Give Him the problem to hold, and look instead at Him, and watch the fear burn off like morning mist in the light of His presence.

Luke 12:32                          “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom”

John 14:27                          “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Psalm 112:7                        They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

Ephesians 1:19-21            That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Stop what you’re doing, and be

A good friend once said, “I’m a human being, not a human doing,” and I laughed because it seemed so true, and because we were both so busy then, doing so much, and I wondered where our humanity was. Our lives are busy most of the time. We have people to look after, and work or study or survival to take care of, so that still time becomes rare. And yet we are created as beings, to be, to be loved.

Honest to God – taking a moment to be still, to consider who made us and why, to think of Him, and let Him feel the joy of you turning to Him – taking that time won’t hurt you. It may do the opposite of hurting you. It may just fill you with such grace that everything you touch will be smoother and easier when you go back to it.

I know you’re busy. He knows you’re busy. Give Him a minute to help. Take a while to be with Him. Just be.

Being is really all you were made to do.

 

Luke 10:41-42                    “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Ephesians 2:8                     For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

1 Kings 5:4                           But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster.

Matthew 6:33-34             But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

But you see things differently …

 

In a church, the windows aren’t clear. Stained glass is red and blue, yellow and green. It’s beautiful:  a work of art that turns light into a picture. From inside the church, during the day, the sky lights it up. From outside, at night, if there’s a service on, the light inside shows the picture to those outside. You can only see the picture if the light is on the other side.

Christians differ on a whole range of things, some so small as to be imperceptible to those outside the church, and some so significant to non-Christians that it seems impossible that we even share a faith. That used to bother me far more than it does now, how we don’t all see things the same way.

I’ve come to realise it’s part of being in a church.  The windows aren’t clear. You look out and see the world as red or blue; I see it as yellow or green. The thing is, we both think we’re looking at the light, but we’re trying to see it through a piece of art, something beautiful made by man to interpret the beauty outside. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s not the real thing.

The real thing is the light, the perfect sky. That’s the same – He’s the same – for all of us. Sometimes we are distracted by the window we made to look through. After all, it’s a beautiful thing. Your church may show a different picture to mine, but we need to remember, that’s only the window. Stained glass is nothing without light. We only see the picture if the light is on the other side, and it’s the light that unites us.

Romans 14:22                    So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves

1 Corinthians 13:12          For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known

Ephesians 4:2-6                 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;  one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

John 8:12                             When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Casting shadow

 

Outside my window, the shadow of this building falls on the grass, making a hard line between light green and dark green. If you didn’t know better, you’d think there were two types of grass out there, planted in opposition to each other.  The shape I see out there, the shape that seems to divide the bright from the darker is the shape of this building. It’s not the sun, it’s just this building that makes it look otherwise, blocking out the light from half the field. There’s only one kind of green grass growing, though honestly, it doesn’t look like that from here.

We build these structures that throw half the world into shadow, though the sun is shining down on everyone. We define ourselves as in or out, and in doing so we define others. They begin to look different from where we’re sitting. We think we’re right. We think they’re wrong. We think we’re better than them and all the time it’s not a difference at all. It’s just that the shadow of our own construction is falling on them, blocking the light.

The sun is shining everywhere.

We need to be careful, as Christians, not to build a church to cast a shadow like that.

 

Galatians 3:28                    There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 5:8                     For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light

John 1:4                               In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

The sun doesn’t rise

For the longest time, people believed the earth was the center of the universe. The sun seemed to arrive every day, bursting into life, giving warmth and light, and leave at evening time, plunging us into darkness. The world was ours, and we stood at the center with the sun and the stars revolving around us. It’s not that the sun wasn’t important; it was. So important, in fact, that some people worshiped it as a capricious god. In the winter, as it faded and thinned for half the year they prayed and sacrificed until it was persuaded to return.

But some people doubted that the world was set up in that way. 300 years before Christ, the Greek philosopher Aristarchus proposed a radical new model he called heliocentric, with the sun at the center of the world, and we at the edge, turning our planet around it. 1800 years later, Copernicus did some calculations and then Galileo built a telescope and they found he was right. The sun doesn’t rise; we turn to it, and let it flood or world with light. The sun doesn’t leave us at night; it’s we who turn slowly away from it. The sun doesn’t fade in Winter; it’s we who spend a season leaning away from it. The sun doesn’t hide itself behind clouds; clouds drift in to block our connection, but the sun is always there, constant at the center with the galaxy spinning around it.

When I became a Christian, it was as if God had appeared in my life like the sun, beaming in, lighting everything up. It was wonderful, and confusing, because there would be times when he seemed to disappear, when I couldn’t feel His love. It took me a while to realize He had not appeared in my world; rather I had found myself in His. When it gets dark and cold, it’s not that He has left me; it’s I that have turned away, busy with something else. When I can’t feel his warmth and love as I want to, it’s because something has made me lean away from Him, perhaps for a season, or something has come between us. He is always there, constant at the center, pouring out his light and warmth. I just need to turn to Him. Better still, I only need to ask Him to help me turn to Him. He’s not angry when I wander. He loves me too much for that. He loves you too much. He knows that’s how we work, and have you seen how beautiful earth looks from space? How we look to him? He’s always there, with His love and His light, gentle and ready to help us back to Him.

It’s not my world. It’s not yours.  It’s better than that – it’s His, and you and I find our place in it.

No better place to be.

 

Ephesians 1:4     For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

1 John 1:5            This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Isaiah 60:19-20 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.

Psalm 19:1           The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands

 

 

Salvage

Did you ever think about the close connection between the words salvation and salvage?

Salvation is a really clean word, sanitised and abstract. Sometimes Christians use it in a pious way to describe themselves. It gives a picture of smug sheep, branded with salvation and headed for heaven, looking down on the ones who are not so “chosen”. We hear a lot about “eternal salvation” as though it were something that only kicks in after we die. That makes salvation just a ticket to heaven, a reward for some kind of audition or test that we must have passed, which brings the focus back to us, and our brilliant performance that has earned us this prize. Something to be proud of.

Salvage is a brilliant way of thinking about salvation in these circumstances, because that’s all about rescuing something that is demonstrably broken and lost. You can salvage wreckage from the sea (perhaps with someone clinging to it), or old broken things from a junkyard. You can’t salvage anything that is doing OK on its own. Salvage is messy and individual and takes a lot of work, but only on the part of the one doing the rescuing. The person being saved only has to agree that they are in need of rescue, that they will not reach land on their own, that they need this. There’s nothing to boast about if you’ve been salvaged; you can only be grateful, not smug.

Thank God for His salvage. Thank God He picked me up, paddling hopelessly towards the horizon, and patched me back together with His beautiful grace, making me a new thing. I was rescued, once I finally had enough trust to accept rescue.

And thank God this is not an elite thing to boast about, but an offer for anyone who asks, who wants out of this average mess we live in. Do you want to be salvaged, made safe, beautiful and new? All you have to do is reach out to take hold of the outstretched hand of God, and say yes.

But I can’t see His hand, you might say.

It’s OK. You don’t have to.

He can see yours.

 

Ephesians 2: 8-9                          For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Galatians 3:28                              There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 11:28                            “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”