Category Archives: Christian life

RESTORED

Christian life, ,

PRAISE, MY SOUL, THE KING OF HEAVEN

  1. Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
    to his feet your tribute bring.
    Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
    evermore his praises sing.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Praise the everlasting King!
  2. Praise him for his grace and favor
    to his people in distress.
    Praise him, still the same as ever,
    slow to chide, and swift to bless.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Glorious in his faithfulness!
  3. Fatherlike he tends and spares us;
    well our feeble frame he knows.
    In his hand he gently bears us,
    rescues us from all our foes.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Widely yet his mercy flows!
  4. Angels, help us to adore him;
    you behold him face to face.
    Sun and moon, bow down before him,
    dwellers all in time and space.
    Alleluia, alleluia!
    Praise with us the God of grace!

Author: Henry Francis Lyte (1834)

Song available on My.Hymnary

This grand old hymn, based on Psalm 103, highlights the mercy and grace of God in the way He treats humans.

“Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven…” these are the work of His salvation plan, to get back on track His purpose for creating the earth and the human race to occupy and manage it for Him.

God is the great restorer of everything the devil destroyed in his determination to derail God’s plan. He promises restoration to His people, both in the Old and New Covenants, from whatever has broken, damaged, or destroyed them.

What does it mean that God is a restorer?

“Restoration simply means returning something to its original condition. Our belief that God is a God of restoration is the basis of our hope, and it is fundamental to our faith as Christians. We are reconciled to God, and our relationship with Him is restored forever, by faith in Jesus Christ.”

The Hebrew word for restore means “to go up” or “ascend”. What a beautiful way to understand restoration! There are many experiences in life that weigh us down, piling burden upon burden upon us… loss, pain, broken relationships, unfulfilled dreams, disappointment and disillusionment…

God intervenes in our lives with restoration… of hope, encouragement, new dreams and aspirations that enable us to “go up”, to ascend above the burdens to a new level of understanding and living.

God wants us to live above our circumstances, not under them. We choose to live under our burdens only when we keep looking at our problems and seeing them as bigger than God.

How does God restore us?

“He restores us to a right relationship with him through the gift of forgiveness and justification. He is able to restore earthly relationships. And he can even restore days and years that have been lost to the effects of sin (Joel 2:25). That has to be greatest evidence of the extravagant nature of God’s mercy.”

What is the spiritual meaning of restoration?

Spiritual restoration is that process by which God is restoring the image of Jesus in us. Through the tests He allows into our lives, we learn faith, submission, and obedience to Him and His Word that are the hallmarks of a true son. He works, in and through our “all things”, for our good.

Restoration of our lives to order and peace can only come when we learn to view our circumstances from God’s perspective, and when we come under the authority of His Word. Life on this earth will never be smooth or uneventful but…

… our hope is in God to restore everything Adam lost at the fall.

1 Peter 5:10-11 NLT
[10] “In his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. [11] All power to him forever! Amen.”

When we choose to put our hope in Him, no matter what He permits in our lives that weighs down, God will restore us through Jesus. We can be sure, through our faith in Jesus, that He will restore us to His determined purpose… sons of God in His eternal kingdom.

To be continued…

Why are children not off the table of political contestation?

Christian life

I have felt compelled to forward this article to my readers because this writer puts this incident in a South African school into its correct perspective.

Daily Friend
Why are children not off the table of political contestation?
Opinions

Martin van Staden
Aug 8, 2024
-Listen To This

Twelve 12th grade pupils at Pretoria High School for Girls (PHSG) recently went through a public ordeal involving government officials, political parties, and the press media. They were accused of engaging in racism. Guilty or not, as a society we need to ask: why do we regard our children as legitimate items of political contestation?

If the twelve girls were found to be racist, they should at least have been disciplined, and more likely have been suspended and ultimately expelled. The school was right to investigate the allegations.

In this context, they were however found to be not guilty. This has not satisfied the bloodhounds, for whom only a guilty verdict would be a legitimate outcome. Therefore, the Gauteng Department of Education, which Panyaza Lesufi turned into a race-obsessed circus, will conduct its own ‘investigation.’

But the discrete allegation of racism is the less important aspect of this debacle. Even if the girls were racist, they should have been protected – first and foremost by their parents, and second by the school – from the political circus that followed.

Expelling them, quietly, for actual misbehaviour, is an appropriate remedy. Traumatising them in full view of the world is not.

Kids, often, are stupid – and perhaps even evil. But childhood is the time in our lives when we get to be stupid and evil, and discover the true meaning and implication of ‘consequences’. Children and teenagers should be allowed to be stupid and evil in relative safety, provided they do not cause real, quantifiable harm to the interests of others.

This safety should be guaranteed, under all circumstances, by their parents and daytime guardians at school.

This applies just as much to the dreadful girl who recorded herself saying her white peers should ‘bow’ before her, as it does to the other twelve girls.

Devastate those who seek to politicise children

If there is even the slightest hint that a political issue will be made of pupils, whose whole life awaiting them might be ruined, the parents must stop whatever else it is they are doing – their careers, hobbies, or further education – and bring absolute and uncompromising devastation to whoever initiated or enabled the politicisation.

They must start, of course, with the school.

Parents are forced, by law, to enrol their children in schools. There is no legal choice. In other words, parents are forced to part with their supervision of their kids for at least six hours of five days out of every week. Again – and this cannot be over-emphasised – there is no choice in this.

And because there is no choice, the school enters into a sacred pact with the parents: We will safeguard the interests of your children, who we take from you by force, with every fibre of our being. In all circumstances, the interests of your children will weigh more heavily than our own interests.

If the school fails to live up to this sacred pact, parents must exact a very costly vengeance. Even if the school did not instigate the trouble, it was the school’s sacred responsibility to shield its wards from the political abuse that followed. The school does not get to shift responsibility to the education department or even to the law. The school is where the rubber meets the road.

Agency and choice

While the girls in question are somewhere between 17 and 19, age is not entirely relevant in this context. Choice is relevant.

School is not a choice. Placing a bunch of kids and adults together in a situation that is necessarily characterised by coerced association means that different rules from what we expect in ordinary society do and must apply.

The kids, who are forced to be present, are not full agents, even if they are over 18. Their volition is limited by law.

The reason Hamas cannot legitimately say ‘they were soldiers’ is a valid justification for kidnapping, raping, and murdering unarmed 19-year-old women in civilian clothing – they were conscripts who had no choice but to serve occasionally in the Israeli Defence Force – is the same reason we cannot expect pupils to be completely volitional agents.

One expects that were compulsory schooling laws – a relatively novel innovation – to be absent, many parents and kids would choose not to place themselves in situations where they feel discriminated against; as the girls at PHSG alleged that they were. And kids who want to wear afro-styled hair or doeks would not go to places where afro-styled hair or doeks are prohibited (because they have a choice).

But because they have no choice, we cannot – at least not fully – hold kids accountable for the things they do to adapt to the involuntary situation they find themselves in. We certainly cannot ruin their lives for a ‘choice’ they made within the context of being forced into association with others.

The answer is known: We are abdicating responsibility

Of course, we already know the answer to the question I am posing with the title of this column.

The reason children are not off the table of political contestation is because we decided, long ago – and continue affirming this decision, every day – that our children are in fact the state’s responsibility rather than our own. We are, in fact, quite happy to abandon our responsibility for our children.

Only when this begins to sit uneasily with us can we start truly building the framework necessary to protect children from the increasingly abusive and all-encompassing realm of politics. And what begins as an unease must necessarily end with the abolition of compulsory schooling laws, the privatisation of public education, and restoring respect for the principle of freedom of association.

We all have a role to play in this endeavour, but for once it is not the job of think tanks, politicians, or officials to lead the charge. It is the sacred responsibility of parents qua parents.

[Photo: FaceBook]

BLESSED WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING – 1

Christian life, ,

Ephesians 1:3 NLT‬
[3] “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.”

Three little words, “has blessed us…” should change our perspective from what God wants us to do (according to the Old Covenant) into what God has already done (in the New Covenant).

In Paul’s magnificent letter to the Ephesian church, he explains, in detail, what God has done, through Jesus, to reverse the consequences of Adam’s rebellion.

Engaging His attributes as God – love, mercy, sovereignty, and power – He set in motion a process to undo what Adam did and to restore what He set out to do from the beginning.

God wanted a family of sons and daughters like Himself with whom He could fellowship. He also designed humans to rule in His kingdom, equipped with His authority to carry out His will on a redeemed earth as it is done in heaven.

We know that His plan went awry when Adam chose to side with the devil. However, God had already built in a way to overcome Satan and neutralise his power over humans before He set about preparing the earth for human habitation.

Paul assures his readers that, from God’s perspective, what He planned was already complete before He began the process.

‭Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT‬
[4] “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. [5] God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”

Nothing took God by surprise. Nothing fazed Him when Adam went astray. Since God is omniscient, He knew the end from the beginning. His rescue plan was foolproof because He entrusted the outworking of His plan to His Son.

How desperately we need that assurance as we navigate a world dedicated, under Satan’s rule, to derail us and take us down with God’s enemy. Unfortunately for us, we still have a part of us that sides with the devil. He has a foothold through the evil desires, directed towards doing our own selfish stuff, that lurk within us.

God has designed it this way because life on this earth is our training ground for life with Him in eternity. We are on probation. We are apprentices, learning to rule over our wayward hearts before we can rule over His earth when we live with Him in glory.

However, we also have a powerful ally living in us, God’s own Spirit. He is dedicated to putting all the provisions of God’s rescue plan into effect so that most important of all His attributes, His “chesed” – His covenant love, (an untranslatable word in English), would be clearly seen, especially by the principalities and powers that oppose Him.

God wants us to know His power in us before He can use His power through us to do His will on earth around us.

For us, it means that the operative word in the New Covenant, “done!”, applies to us. This assures us that nothing can derail God’s mission. He has done what He set out to do and nothing can change that! We are already safely entrenched in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, and living in His kingdom.

‭Colossians 1:13 NLT‬
[13] “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.”

There are several blessings that flow from our union with Jesus.

‭Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT‬
[4] Even before he made the world, God loved us and CHOSE us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. [5] God decided in advance to ADOPT us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
[7] He is so rich in kindness and grace that he PURCHASED OUR FREEDOM with the blood of his Son and FORGAVE our sins.

Chosen, adopted, freed, and forgiven! Can there be any greater blessings in a world controlled by fear, evil behaviour, and chaos than these? Can we be that secure in the midst of insecurity that nothing moves us? The answer is, “Definitely! For sure!” if we believe God’s Word.

Now let me come to the crux of my thought. If God has reassured us that everything He needed to do for us is done, why do we still pray for God to do what He has already done?

Much of our prayer is still coming from our confusion between Old and New Covenants. The value of the Old Covenant lies in the revelation of God’s holiness and the total inability of Israel (and all people) to measure up to His perfection.

‭Romans 3:23 NLT‬
[23″For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.“

This conclusion leaves us without a leg to stand on. Without God’s intervention, we are done! However, God DID step in. He Himself took care of the problem by taking our place in Jesus, the man, facing the Father’s wrath against sin, fully paying sin’s debt, and then transferring all the benefits of what He did for us, to us as a gift.

‭Romans 6:23 NLT‬
[23] “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, what is left for us to do?

We keep complicating what God made simple. God requires only two responses to everything He accomplished for us in Jesus… believe in Jesus and love one another.

‭1 John 3:21-24 NLT‬
[21] “Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. [22] And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. [23] And this is his commandment: We must BELIEVE in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and LOVE one another, just as he commanded us. [24] Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.“

Something amazing flows from this faith that does what God REQUIRES, praise, gratitude, thanksgiving, WORSHIP. Isn’t that what God wants from us above all else?

‭John 4:23-24 NLT‬
[23] But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. [24] For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

God isn’t looking for people who will invent new ways to worship Him, in music, dance, rituals, whatever foolish people think up. Again, He has only two criteria… spirit (heart, attitude, focus) and truth (based securely on what is written in His Word).

So, where does prayer fit in to God’s requirements? Again, God has made it simple.

‭2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT‬
[20] “For all of God’s promises HAVE BEEN fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”

This assurance also puts prayer squarely in the middle of God’s Word; do what God says!

For our daily physical, material, and financial needs, God has given us a promise…

‭Matthew 6:33 NLT‬
[33]”Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously (generously), and he will give you everything you need.”

When we live under God’s authority, always being generous in our attitude towards others, meeting needs when and where we can, God takes care of our needs without our having to ask.

So that takes care of much about which we focus on in prayer!

…and for our spiritual growth and development…

‭2 Peter 1:4 NLT‬
[4] “And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

‭‭Hebrews 6:12 NIV‬
[12] “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

Can you see, then, that prayer in the New Covenant is a confident “amen!” to all God’s promises because Jesus has already approved and fulfilled them all. This “amen” must always be accompanied by heartfelt expressions of gratitude and praise because whatever we need has already been granted.

‭1 John 5:14-15 NIV‬
[14] “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

The Holy Spirit taught me years, ago, not to ask for a miracle but to ask for a word. Miracles are open-ended, according to God’s will which we don’t know for sure. When God gives us a word, we know He will honour His promise. So…

We can encapsulate our entire Christian experience in four words, DONE! THANK YOU! and AMEN! .

WHY DO CHRISTIAN MARRIAGES FAIL?

Christian life, ,

Nowadays, Christian marriages, it seems, are just as vulnerable to failure as marriage contracts between people who have no allegiance to Jesus. Why is this so?

There are many factors that influence the way people view marriage today. Much of the time, marriage is an unpopular state because divorce is anticipated, inevitable breakup is costly, time consuming, and often messy, involving conflicts and heartache, especially when it comes to the wellbeing of children.

So, why get married? If we “shack up”, it’s much easier to go our separate ways if we don’t get on. It won’t involve the legal battles and the cost associated with divorce. And the kids? We’ll try to do our best for them….under the circumstances!

But what does does God say about marriage? After all, marriage is His idea. He set it up in the beginning and told us why we should enter into a permanent and legally binding contract with one person for life.

God’s blueprint for marriage is simple and clear.

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2:23‭-‬24‬ ‭NLT‬
[23] “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” [24] This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”

So much symbolism is in this statement!

Hebrew “etsem” means bone, substance, or the same.

The woman, taken from the man, was of the the same substance as the man.

Hebrew “basar” means, flesh, body, person,

The woman has the same body as a man. She is also equally a person.

Hebrew “ishsha” means woman or wife. Hebrew “ish” means man or husband, from the same root.

The wife is of the same essence or substance as her husband.

Hebrew “azab” means leave, forsake, loose.

The man shall loose himself from parental bonds and create a new bond with his wife.

Hebrew “dabak” means cling to, cleave, keep close.

The man shall cling to his wife and hold her close.

Hebrew “echad” meaning one (the same word used to describe the unity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

Their purpose is to work at creating a unity that resembles the unity in the Godhead.

These Hebrew words describe the pattern God set for marriage from the beginning. The sexual union is God’s way of expressing and cementing the union that most clearly reflects the nature of God. The seeds sown in a sexual union produce the fruit that must pass on the purpose and pattern of marriage to the next generation.

Above all other reasons for marriage is God’s desire that the bond forged between a man and a woman should resemble and reflect the bond (unity – echad) between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the godhead. You see, God is a family, an interactive, integrated, harmonious unit of three persons who always love, respect and submit to one another. God’s design for human families is to be on earth what the three-in-one God is in heaven.

Part of Jesus’ mission to earth was to show human beings how to live in union with the Father. The writer to the Hebrews said of Him,

‭Hebrews‬ ‭5:7, 8 NIV‬
[7] “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
[8]”Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered…”

Jesus Himself testified to His love, trust, submission, and obedience to the Father throughout His earthly life. He also spoke of His intimate connection with the Holy Spirit.

The big issue is, once again for humans, the sin nature with which both husband and wife are born. As new creatures in Christ, it is the obligation of believing husband and wife to put the old nature to death through the power of the Holy Spirit in them. Every failed Christian marriage is a failure to allow the Holy Spirit to direct their lives.

Paul said bluntly,

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:12‭-‬13‬ ‭NIV‬
[12] Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. [13] For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

Paul also gave us a simple pattern for every marriage that will grow in unity if both husband and wife understand and fulfil their role in dependence in the Holy Spirit.

‭Ephesians‬ ‭5:22‭-‬27, 31-‬32 ‭NIV‬
[22] Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.
[23] For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, and his body, of which he is the Savior. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. [25] Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her [26] to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, [27] and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless…..
[31] “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” [32] This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

So, dear readers, marriage is not about legalised sex, making each other happy, meeting one another’s needs, creating a family, a covenant of companionship, or any other human reason.

Marriage is about becoming one as a picture on earth of God’s family in heaven. This goal requiress the death of self with all its ugly departments and demands, seeking instead the same goal together in humility and mutual submission, with forgiveness and understanding the foundation of harmony. This harmony can only work if both are committed to same goal.

Any other goal is bound to fail because God only supports and empowers those who choose to do His will.

Imagine what the home and the church would be like if every Christian couple would seriously and purposefully work towards unity. By putting to death their selfishness, and by living under the leadership and control of the Holy Spirit, they would show the world who God really is!

WHAT IS REPENTANCE?

Christian life, ,

I used to think that repentance was about those crisis moments when I came face-to-face with the bad things I had said and done. I was ever so sorry and cried and pleaded with God to forgive me. I felt much better after I had got my sin off my chest, and then carried on with my life until the next episode of “repentance”. Believe me, I had many of those crisis moments. However, that isn’t the Bible’s meaning of repentance.

Repentance may involve those times of tears and regret that but the Bible’s meaning of repentance is much more than periodically acknowledging and feeling sorry for our sin.

Repentance has has two parts to it. The Old Testament meaning comes from the Hebrew word “shuv” which means “return”. You were once walking on the path of God’s Word, i.e., living in obedience to God’s instructions, but you have wandered off the path into the wilderness of sin and unbelief. Return to the way of truth lest you be lost and die in the wilderness where there are no landmarks to show you the way to God, and no food and water to sustain you.

The second meaning of repentance in the New Testament is the Greek word “metanoia” which means “change your mind”. We sin because we are deceived. We believe the lies that the world, the flesh, and the devil sow into our minds, lies like… sin is pleasurable; God won’t notice; God understands; God won’t mind this time; I won’t do it again; it’s only a small thing… and, and, and.

However, sin comes from an attitude – rebellion. “I want to do it! I’m going to do it! I will do it!” and, worst of all, “I’ll do what I want to do, and then ask God for forgiveness!!”

Repentance starts with a different attitude towards sin…changing our mind, first of all about God and His attitude towards sin. God hates sin, everything we say, do, and think, that contradicts who He is – holy, righteous, pure, and utterly committed to be who He is, the I AM.

We can only change our minds about God and His attitude to our sin when we understand that, as His creation, we are accountable to Him for our thoughts, words and actions. We WILL give an account of our sin, unless we repent, which includes the awareness of God’s attitude to sin, and receive the forgiveness Jesus paid for with His blood. We can only overcome our desire to sin by trusting the Holy Spirit to provide the power to fulfil our resolve.

Secondly, because all our words and actions flow from the way we think, we need to understand ourselves. Even as new creatures, born from above by God’s Spirit, we still have a sin-nature that produces ungodly desires.

‭James‬ ‭1:14‭-‬15‬ ‭NLT‬
[14] “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. [15] These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.”

Through God’s Spirit in us, we are instructed to kill those ungodly desires by following the leading of the Spirit instead of giving in to the desires of the flesh.

Then, thirdly, we are to think differently about God’s Word. The Bible is far more than a book about God and people. Empowered by its author, the Holy Spirit, it transforms our minds if we believe what it teaches.

‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭NLT‬
[16] “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”

So, repentance, changing our minds and returning to God’s way, is not only an event but also a lifestyle. You see, we developed some strange beliefs about God, ourselves, and how God and we relate, during our growing up years. We were influenced to think wrong thoughts from the ungodly nature we were born with…

‭Romans‬ ‭5:10‬ ‭NLT‬
[10] “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.”

… as well as from the people in the world around us.

As we journey with Jesus from the moment of our new birth, we need to change the way we think about Him and us, and the way we react in life.

Paul explains it like this…

‭Romans‬ ‭12:2‬ ‭NLT‬
[2] “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

How can we change the way we think so that we avoid sinning against the Lord?

‭Psalms‬ ‭119:11‬ ‭NIV‬
[11] I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

If we continue to change our way of thinking by paying attention to God’s Word, putting Jesus in the centre of our lives and being accountable to Him all the time, the events that call for repentance will slowly decrease in our lives.

Now that’s a deal worth considering!