For the sake of the gospel

A friend of mine from Young Life is having 1700 Bibles delivered to her church tomorrow to be given out to every person in her college over the coming weeks (King George V College, Southport, England) and needs to get a team of willing volunteers together to 'personalise' them, i.e. wrap them individually and address them to each pupil. Please pray for her! She's been collecting the money to do this for quite a while now and has seen such gracious answers to prayer regarding finance. I am astonished at her bravery and thrilled that she has such a heart for the students and teachers in her college so as to give up all of what we might call 'good reputation' for the sake of the gospel.

You can find here facebook page here.

Not in vain.

' 'Therefore (in light of our eventual resurrection), my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.' (1 Corinthians 15:58)

How do we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain? Because of our bodily resurrection. Just as we will be carried over from the old world to the new, so will our labor. In a sense, not only our bodies but our service for Christ will be resurrected.(...)

Bruce Milne writes, "Every kingdom work, whether publicly performed or privately endeavoured, partakes of the kingdom's imperishable character. Every honest intention, every stumbling word of witness, every resistance of tempatation, every motion of repentance, every gesture of concern, every routine engagment, every motion of worship, every struggle towards obedience, every mumbled prayer, everything, literally, which flows out of our faith-relationship with the Ever-Living One, will find its place in the ever-living heavenly order which will dawn at his coming." '

Randy Alcorn, Heaven, pp.133-134


- Waiting for that imperishable body and that ever-replenishing earth.

Just a thought.

' "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." '
Amos 5:22-24

-- God takes injustice seriously therefore so should we. How can we dare to praise His name, to enter into His holy presence while we are oppressing our neighbour? If the Lord had this against His chosen people, Israel, through whom the Messiah would come, how much more could He accuse us, christians, the gloriously redeemed people of God who are blessed to have not seen and yet to have believed, of injustice?
Ignorance is not an excuse.

Quiet time snippet

'I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of
righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a
priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause
righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.'

Isaiah 61:10-11


'Go through, go through the gates;
prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway;
clear it of stones;
lift up a signal over the peoples.
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
"Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him."

And they shall be called The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord;
and you shall be called Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.'

Isaiah 62:10-12

Sitting outside a cafe this morning and reading these passages was like water for my soul. Certainly, it was an encouragement that I am neither forsaken nor cast off because of my sin. Rather, I am clothed and covered with a garment of perfect, pure righteousness and salvation that is not of my own making. I am no longer uncovered, shamefully naked in my sin and attempting to cover myself with clothes which are nothing more than rags. I am clothed with a robe not woven by my own hands, but threaded, beaded, embroidered and carefully tied around my shoulders by the hands of the Son of God. This is no ordinary robe. It is fit for a priest and for a bride. Yet it is worn by a poor beggar.

He is not even willing that I remain with a plain faith, but that I be beautiful and adorned. And this not only for my own good, but for His righeousness and goodness to bloom like wild flowers before the nations, untamed in their beauty. For the beautifying of the nations and the supreme glorification of the Son.

I read this gem of a verse recently, which I then forgot to post:

'Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.' 1 Peter 2:11

I was doubting a lot of things at this point. I was uncertain of much concerning God and felt very distant from Him. It then struck me reading this that there were certain things that I was, or perhaps had been involved in, which were waging war against my soul and thus contributing to my doubting and general contempt.

How blind I am in spiritual things. I find myself very unwise when it comes to discerning between what is allowed and also good for my soul, and what is also allowed but not necessarily wholesome. The passions of the flesh, in whatever form they come, are juicy and tempting. They bring temporary pleasure but equally a knawing, spiritual ache. It shouldn't be 'how far can I go before I sin,' but rather, 'how far can I stay away'! The trouble is, I often don't think like that, or am unaware of the dangers because I don't pray for guidance. Reading through Joshua has highlighted the importance of complete and utter consecration to God and how prayer is so vital before everything that I do. I think perhaps the first question I ask should be, 'what does God say?', rather than, 'what does corrupt, blind Vicky say?' All too often I have the final word on what I say and do.

I think I often also abuse the freedom I have in Christ. Yet the following verse exhorts me to do otherwise.

'Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.' 1 Peter 2:16

And why should I do this?

...because I am now no longer living in ignorance of God or of His plan of salvation, and therefore should not be conformed to the passions of my former ignorance, but rather live as I am called, which is to be holy as God is holy.

...because I am a 'living stone' 'being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.' I have been grafted into a body, a people, a nation over which God says 'Mine!' I am no longer my own person, but am rather constrained by the love of Christ to 'proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.'

...because I have received mercy.

...because those who are not saved will look on and, even though they may condemn you, 'may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.'

...because I am called to 'be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution'. I am called to bless my nation, my rulers, my government, my neighbours, even when they hate me for it, for God's sake.

In short, I am called to use this freedom wisely so that God is glorified the most. I am not constrained by a law that beats me to a pulp until I call to His throne room whimpering just hoping to be able to plead for some of His grace and mercy. I am constrained rather by a law of love, that makes me humbly bow before a God who righteously condemns sin and who would be in the right if He should choose to destroy me for my own sin, which so offends Him, and yet who declares me free, forgiven and living because I am in Christ Jesus. What a gracious, patient, wise and loving God we have. I'm continually amazed by His wisdom.

Books Galore

I've recently been inspired to read more after checking out the latest three TGC interviews with some prominent church leaders, christian thinkers and writers on what their reading habits are.

I used to love reading at school. I remember the time at primary school when I had gone through the twenty or so book-reading list that my teacher had given me and through all the books in our small year 5 library in less than half a term. I never read because I was forced to read. I loved it. I loved the way the stories gripped me, sucking me into their world and the inventiveness of the author in creating all sorts of strange plot twists and turns.
And then I got a life... well I actually just grew up, became interested in other things; started to learn to play the piano, took more dancing lessons, made more friends and also discovered that I just loved to be outside and doing things rather sitting down to read; and school got harder, I received more homework, had more revision to do, tough exams to sit and plenty of core reading material to chew on, so unfortunately I read a lot less.

I found it often so at university that after a long day (especially after the trek onto campus and back from Leamington Spa!) and after reading for pretty much the whole day, that I couldn't bear to turn my eyes and hands to open another book, even if it was just for pleasure. I also experienced the dangers of getting caught up in reading by feeling so utterly consumed by the volume of it. It became a chore, probably because I was forced to read; it was a requirement.

So here's the funny thing. Now that I am not obliged to read anything (well, ok so the Bible is a must really) I find myself very, very content to sit for hours and read a book. I don't get bored, tired or even resentful because I am not forced to sit there. I am doing it because I want to do it. Oh how that rebellious streak comes out in such weird ways. It's the same with quiet times. I will do them, but not when someone tells me I have to do them. I'll wash-up, clean, cook...but not when someone is forcing me to do it there and then, or at least I will do it but I will become resentful. How ridiculous that attitide is not to mention how far from being Christ exalting!

Anyway, these three interviews are quite interesting in the way that these three different men approach reading. Fred Sanders, I think, is very wise in being strategic in what he reads and in deciding beforehand which texts he will deal with. I feel this is especially useful:

'It’s especially important to keep your wits about you like this in reading theology. Oswald Chambers asked himself, “In my study, am I a woolgatherer, or like a man looking for his Lord?” Attention is a precious commodity: we pay it. We should pay it well, with the right currency for the right books.

By the way, this need for pre-deciding about your level of reading commitment is one of the reasons that our new and emerging habits of reading online are dangerous. When we’re browsing and scrolling and following links, we tend to make all those decisions about attention with less reflection. We tend to make them with our eyeballs, fingers, and central nervous system. These technologies make it easier and easier to fall into bestowing our limited reading time on things that don’t deserve it.'

...hm, I guess I'm guilty of that! It is definitely one of the reasons why even now I am probably not reading as much as I could. I spend too much time on the internet reading things that I have stumbled across, which yes could be interesting and even quite edifying, but which often simply diminish the time I have to sit down and actually do some self-prescribed reading! Technology has made it easier to impart knowledge but it has likewise made it easier to ignore wisdom. Only the most disciplined can really stay afloat and not fritter away precious time -which is very short (1 Cor 7:29)

I think the above quote could also be applied to university studies. It is very easy when preparing for seminars to simply read the prescribed material without guarding your mind and heart first. Only last year did I realise the folly of firstly not praying before I engage with a text (christian or secular), and secondly how quickly the tally of time I spent on reading secular, philosophical texts soon outweighed daily Bible reading, and believe me, that began to take it's toll on my mind and soul!

Our eyes, ears, mouths, hearts and minds all need to be guarded well and this only comes by feasting daily on God's revealed truth: 'Your Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.' Psalm 119:11. By having the Word in our hearts constantly, not only is our conscience pricked thus deterring us from sinning, but we have in our minds the things of God, those 'higher things' that we are told to keep our minds on. I believe then we begin to see other texts in the light of God's glorious wisdom and so are thus more able to weigh up the text's worth, how much (or little) of the truth and of Christ is displayed, and whether or not it is edifying to the reader and so worth our time.

So the books I'm currently/have just finished reading/on my reading list are:

Franz Kafka, Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis). --Very interesting read. Reading up a bit on Kafka was pretty interesting too! Thank you Warwick University for Research Pro.

John Piper, Think -The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

Eberhard Bethge, Bonhoeffer -- so I reckoned it was about time I read up on this guy seeing as I am in Germany and everyone at church seems to be talking about him!

James G. McCarthy, The Gospel According to Rome.

Rainer Moritz, Madame Cottard und eine Ahnung von Liebe -- this is quite an easy read novel that was a christmas pressie from a colleague. There's a publisher called Piper here (in massive white letters), which really confused me at first; no points for guessing why.

Randy Alcorn, Heaven --yes. I am still reading this book! It's quite dense to be fair and so it's not exactly a pocket-guide heaven travel book that I can skip around town with. Still, it is making me think :)

Yet to read...
Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra -- both names I find incredibly difficult to spell! This was a hard-back gem that I picked up in Leipzig for less than 5 Euros, woop!

Balzac, Le pere Goriot - started and got bored so must return to it at some point. I got bored probably because the french was a bit of a chore...

Helen Roseveare, Digging Ditches.

Faith Cook, Lady Jane Grey

Werner Gitt, Zeit und Ewigkeit and FRAGEN.

* My aim is to finish at least all of these books before returning to the UK in June (where I have yet more books on my impending waiting-to-be-read-getting-dusty-on-the-shelves reading list)... hehe it means I can post them and not go over the 40 kilos at the airport and still keep my books!!

Whatever sin has touched and polluted, God will redeem and cleanse. If redemption does not go as far as the curse of sin, then God has failed. Whatever the extent of the consequences of sin, so must the extent of redemption be.

-Steven J. Lawson