Monthly Archives: December 2024

ALERT AND THANKFUL

Christian Life, ,

Colossians 4:2-4 NLT
[2] “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.”

Paul was a great one for praying and urging others to pray. After all, isn’t prayer the hallmark of the believer? Apparently, the Holy Spirit said it is.

When Saul, later called Paul, was brought to his knees before Jesus, the one he was trying to destroy, Ananias was skeptical about Saul’s so-called conversion. How could this vicious persecitor of the church suddenly become one of them? Jesus assured him that Saul was changed.

Acts 9:11 NIV
[11] “The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for HE IS PRAYING”.

He is praying! Now that was something Saul had never done before!

What was Saul doing in his pre-conversion days? Obviously, despite his religious fervor, he wasn’t praying. He was mouthing words of Scripture, psalms, and “mantras” relating to his religion. None of that was prayer!

So, what is prayer, this new activity that identified Saul/Paul as a new man?

Real prayer must have the correct foundation, which is only for those who are “in Christ”.

1 Corinthians 3:11 NIV
[11] “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

The foundation of all true prayer is the Father-child relationship, a two-way connection between God and His new-born son or daughter which Jesus restored through His death. We speak…God listens. He speaks…we listen.

This means that “prayer” outside of the Father-child relationship is not prayer. It’s an empty, meaningless exercise that achieves nothing. Unless prayer is the expression of the love-relationship between the Father and His beloved child, whatever it is, it isn’t prayer.

Matthew 6:9 NLT
[9] “Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.”

The next important part of prayer is constant communication between heaven and earth, like soldiers staying in touch with headquarters for detailed directions for life. You see, when we bowed the knee before Jesus as Lord, we gave up our independence for a union with Christ so intimate that He took up residence in us, called “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. In this new status, sons of God, we are going somewhere. “Glory” is the word that encapsulates our destination.

Hebrews 2:10 NIV
[10] “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory…”

“Glory” is everything that God…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…is in His nature and attributes. After Israel’s dismal failure, Moses requested to see God’s glory to which God responded with a revelation of His nature.

Exodus 33:18-20 NIV
[18] “Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” [19] And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. [20] But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Exodus 34:6-7 NIV
[6] “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, [7] maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

In our fallen human state, it is impossible for us to live up to God’s nature (glory)…

Romans 3:23 NIV
[23]…”for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

…but, through Jesus, the Father has made a new life possible. He has given us His nature, the potential to become like Him. So, on our journey through life, God is working in us, gradually transforming us into the likeness of His Son. Our part is to stay in touch, to receive and obey instructions as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:14 NIV
[14] “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

Another amazing facet of real prayer is partnership with God in His work of establishing His kingdom on earth. Just as the Father is going somewhere with each of us, so is He also going somewhere with all of creation, but not without us. He includes us in His way of spreading His message to the world.

Creation, the universe in all it’s magnificent detail, is intimately connected with God’s children. Our transformation and the restoration of creation to its original perfection will happen together.

Romans 8:19-22 NLT
[19] “For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. [20] Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, [21] the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. [22] For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

How about that!

Although true prayer has many facets, there are reasons for us to be DEVOTED to prayer Through His marvellous grace, God has brought us into partnership with Him to change us into the likeness of His Son and to fulfill His will on earth and for earth, as we play our part in it. Prayer is the way we participate with Him in this enterprise.

Now, Paul says, we must carry out this mandate with alert minds and thankful hearts.

Why alert minds?

First, we must be alert to the enemy’s schemes.

We have an implacable enemy who prowls around looking for opportunity to deceive and derail us in this specific partnership role. One of his favourite tricks is to distract us with irrelevancies. How easily we allow insignificant things to keep us from prayer! We must be alert at all times to keep us from falling into this trap.

Apart from distractions, many other unimportant things keep us from prayer…busyness, for example, people and situations, even sin, and…and… Our role is to identify and deal appropriately with anything that might interfere with our keeping in touch with heaven.

Second, the other equally important consideration is our state of mind, our attitude to human circumstances, specifically concerning worry and anxiety. We can easily derail prayer if we don’t guard our attitudes. These attitudes of fear, worry, and anxiety are weapons of the enemy and evidences of unbelief. Since faith keeps the line open between us and the Father, fear, doubt, and unbelief will effectively cut us off from contact with Him. Thanksgiving is the language of faith, therefore, thanksgiving will maintain our open line to the Father.

One more point to consider. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul says we must never stop praying. This can mean either that we must not give up on prayer or that we must pray all the time. How can this be possible?

I used to entertain the false notion that my daily “quiet time”, as I was taught as a young believer, took care of my “praying” for the day. As long as I had “spent time with the Lord”, I was safe and could go my merry way for that day! Woe betide if I missed my “quiet time”. Everything would go wrong on that day!

That’s certainly not what Paul meant. I think we have, in Jesus, the perfect example of “praying without ceasing.” Jesus lived a life of prayer, not on His knees but in His heart. He was never out of touch with the Father. “His Father’s business” was the centre of His life, and His perspective of everything that happened around and to Him.

What if we learned to see God in everything that unfolds around us? We don’t need to send WhatsApp messages to the Father. All we need to do is to cultivate such an awareness of “Christ in us” that we instinctively consult Him in our everyday activities. Then we won’t need to “pray” as we understand prayer. Our lives will become, like Jesus, prayer. In this way, we will remain in Him as the branch remains in the vine.

MASTERS CARRY THE GREATER LOAD

Christian Life, ,

Colossians 4:1 NLT
[1] “Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that YOU ALSO HAVE A MASTER —in heaven.”

This short verse is a summary of what Paul has already fleshed out in his counsel to masters/employers in his letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 6:9 NLT
[9]”Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.”

“In the same way”? To what “way” is Paul referring?

Ephesians 6:5-8 NLT
[5] “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely AS YOU WOULD SERVE CHRIST. [6] Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. AS SLAVES OF CHRIST, do the will of God with all your heart. [7] Work with enthusiasm, as though you were WORKING FOR THE LORD rather than for people. [8] Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.”

Perhaps he is talking about the foundation of the relationships between masters and slaves, employers and employees. Both are, first, SERVANTS OF JESUS and obligated to live under His authority and to follow His example.

This fact influences both perspective and attitudes to one another. If the spiritual eyes of both masters and servants are on Jesus first, a new perspective and attitude regulate their behaviour. Slaves will see their obedience AS TO JESUS, not to volitile human behaviour. No matter what demands a master/employer may make, “Just do it!” without resistance.

There is something even more significant about the role of masters /employers in this work environment. Power! Masters have power to enforce their instructions if the slave/employee resists. It’s this aspect that Paul specifically addresses to masters because it’s power that creates bitterness and resentment in the hearts of the abused.

God gives power to those in authority, but it’s power to benefit, not harm those under them. Authority and power go together. Just as Jesus used His power to bless and lift up the downtrodden, so masters must use their power to respect and honour the dignity and humanity of slaves.

The trouble is that, so often in the modern workplace, because resistance is condoned, even encouraged, workplaces become war zones. As in the family, so in society, when those under authority resist authority, chaos erupts.

Once again, peace is the goal, and peace is only possible when God’s order is obeyed. So, unruly hearts must come willingly under Jesus’ authority for the sake of the harmony God requires on all levels of human life, and those who wield power must do so under restraint and for the good of underlings.

This takes us back full circle to the power and possibility of harmony in place of clashes in every area of human interaction. God’s inner peace, monitoring our attitudes and behaviour, is the only way to keep us on track in the home, the workplace, and in the church, the home of God’s family. CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY! This is the guarantee that the end result will be just what God planned…

Romans 8:29 NLT
[29]”For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

Since Christ-likeness is God’s purpose and goal for all His chosen ones, whoever we are and whatever we do, submission to Jesus as Lord is our priority.

SLAVE OR NOT!

Christian Life,

Colossians 3:22-25 NLT
[22]”Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. [23] Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. [24] Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. [25] But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites.”

Well, thankfully, most of us live in societies that no longer permit slavery as it was in Paul’s day. God never, ever created people to own other people but, sadly, some people think they have the right to treat others like possessions.

Paul addressed this issue in the context of his society. In the first place, how were slaves to treat their owners?

Why did Paul start with slaves? Was the reason that slaves’ attitudes could greatly influence the way their masters treated them? A rebellious, disobedient slave would need harsher treatment and stricter discipline to bring him into line than a compliant slave.

Although this can be so, Paul elevates slaves (servant, employee) to a much higher level than mere pawns. A slave is as much a person as anyone else, with the same right to choose as God gave to all people. Therefore, a slave is responsible to decide how he treats his master regardless of the way his master treats him. Why? He is accountable to a higher Authority just as his owner is also accountable.

In all interpersonal relationships within the body of Christ, the pecking order starts with one fact…we all stand on level ground at the cross. No matter on what level human society puts us, in God’s kingdom we are one.

Galatians 3:28 NLT
[28] “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

This means that no one, no matter their position in society, has the right to lord it over another. It also means that slaves, on a lower rung than masters, have no right to resist authority because both are accountable to God.

God requires certain attitudes from both levels because, in the end, both slaves and masters serve Him first. Obedience and willing service please the Lord, not influenced by the way the slave is treated but because it’s the right way to serve the Lord.

Let’s translate this into today’s scenario. Although employees are not slaves, the principles remain the same. Attitudes are everything. Cheerful, willing attitudes go a long way towards pleasant and harmonious relations in the workplace.

However, in modern society, sin has turned the principle of authority and submission on its head. Employees now call the shots and employers are required to capitulate. Governments pass laws to protect employees at the expense of authority and submission. The rights of wrongdoers are even protected by law, so that resistance, strikes, marches, protests, and blatant lawlessness action are condoned for the sake of ” rights”, and perpetrators are protected.

From an early age, children’s rights give them leverage over parents and teachers. In cases of lawlessness, government regulate it’s right to protect children and even override discipline at home and at school at the expense of parental responsibities.

Once again, when God’s order is ignored or deliberately defied, chaos rules.

What’s the solution?

As at home, so in the workplace, the only way life works is to honour the Lord and submit to His ways. The most difficult thing in all of our lives as God’s children is to bring our own unruly spirits under His control and do what He tells us. This means making deliberate choices to follow His way, no matter how much it conflicts with our way or clashes with our desires.

Once again, it’s all about “Christ in us”. His presence in us tempers our attitudes towards others on every level. Humility allows us to accept and function faithfully on whatever level God has put us because He is in charge and decides our lot in life.

A life of true humility and obedience to God’s commands is impossible outside of willing submission to His authority first and above all. Jesus asked an unanswered question,

Luke 6:46 NLT
[46] “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?”

Rebellion only makes our lot more difficult. Submission and gratitude in all circumstances paves the way for harmony in the workplace as God requires. As I said, attitudes are everything.

CHRIST IN THE NUCLEAR FAMILY

Christian Life, ,

Colossians 3:18-21 NLT
[18]”Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. [19] Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. [20] Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. [21] Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.”

Wives, husbands, children…a nuclear family, each a cell in the community and in Christ’s body. Paul’s instructions to family members are much more than good ideas to keep family life in peace and harmony. His instructions form the foundation of life in His body, the church, as he hss fleshed out in his letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 5:22-33 NLT
[22] “For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. [23] For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. [24] As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. [25] For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her [26] to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. [27] He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. [28] In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. [29] No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. [30] And we are members of his body. [31] As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” [32] This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. [33] So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

Ephesians 6:1-4 NLT
[1]”Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. [2] “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: [3] If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.” [4] Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.”

All the components of human cells must function in the orderly way God created for a human body to be healthy, so each nuclear family must be a functional cell in the body of Christ. Therefore, the church family’s health and function depends on the condition of each human family in the church.

How does this work?

The more we observe the natural world, the more we recognise the importance of order and function in each individual habitat. Humans are learning that, when we interfere with God’s order, each habitat becomes increasingly dysfunctional. Each part, however minute and insignificant it may seem, is vital to the whole. Left alone to be and do as they were created, every individual creature and habitat will be healthy and flourishing.

Let’s consider God’s order in the family. Every human institution, from family life to great businesses, organisations, and corporations only function smoothly when under authority and submission. Without an effective leader and willing followers, each level in society will become chaotic.

You see, since God created everything, He alone knows how everything should function. Genesis 1 in the Hebrew gives us a picture of God’s creative work and purpose. Let’s look at creation from His perspective.

The Bible does not tell us when God made the universe but it does tell us how and why. When it speaks of “the beginning”, it simply says, “the heavens and the earth”. So, it seems that Bible’s only focus was what was happening on the earth after He spoke it into existence. Everything else in the universe falls under the general category, “the heavens”.

God’s focus was the earth which, “in the beginning”, was in a state of darkness and chaos. What went wrong with the creation of the earth? Did some dark and sinister force mess with God’s work? Can we tie this period of earth’s history to events in heaven when a powerful angelic being, called Lucifer in Isaiah 14, challenged God’s throne and was thrown out of heaven down onto the earth?

The Hebrew words used to describe the state of the earth at this stage suggest this theory. The earth was “tohu”, a desolate wasteland, and “bohu”, empty, an undistinguishable ruin. Doesn’t this suggest the interference of an evil being?

God got to work to bring order into this chaos. The Hebrew word, “bara”, translated “create”, can mean more than to “make something out of nothing”. It has the connotation of “to shape” or “to make fat”, i.e., to fill out.

Genesis 1, then, is description of the way God brought order to the earth by filling it out (making it fat) with vegetation, creatures, and the heavenly bodies that influence the earth’s seemless function…moon and stars.

When everything on earth was “good”, functional, and ready, God created the first human pair with all the equipment and the instructions to populate the earth with beings like themselves. When God set His plan in motion, it worked perfectly. Creatures reproduced, and humans were to reproduce, each in their own species and within the order God set in motion.

Human and animal species functioned in two different ways, humans by choice and animals by instinct.

God’s plan worked perfectly until outside interference messed it up, introducing the way of self-determination and self-will that dragged the entire creation into disorder and chaos.

Jesus came to set things back in order. In His kingdom, under His authority, His system of human authority and submission was restored. However, this system only works when those who are in His kingdom, willingly submit to His way.

So, God ordained His order in the family first. He created a man, then a woman to complete the man, and then children from the union of man and woman. This was His order from the beginning. The human family is only fully functional when this order is restored, respected, and followed in every family and happens by choice.

Since life is cyclical…i.e., people come and go, families, generations continue in cycles, God’s pattern will only continue as we fall in line with His order.

Consider, for a moment, what human rebellion has done to this pattern. Since sinful people refuse to obey God’s order, divorce on the one hand, and sexual promiscuity on the other, has so blurred these cycles that human society has become hotch-potch of disconnected people. Together with this disconnect has come every form of emotional and behavioural dysfunctionality.

Medical science has accurately identified these outcomes as “disorders”, but have ignored the cause…rebellion against God’s instructions, i.e., sin. Doctors treat disorders as mental and emotional disease, making people victims rather that willing players in their own dysfunctionality.

Unfortunately, medication used to treat disease can do nothing to cure sin. Sin is a “heart” problem and can only be cured with a heart transplant.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 NLT
[26] “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. [27] And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”

So, God’s remedy made it possible to restore order in the nuclear family through Jesus. Only the presence of His Spirit in each individual in the family (Christ in you, the hope of glory), can reproduce the harmony and peace in the family that is carried over into the church family.

We learn, then, that God did something far bigger and better than any man-made religion can do. He restored the order in families that can affect life in His body, the church and even has a ripple effect in society as His kingdom spreads on earth.

However, He left the choice to us to comply or rebel, and we reap the consequences.

THREE LET’S FOR LIFE – 3

Christian Life, ,

Colossians 3:16-17 NLT
[16] “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. [17] And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”

Paul doesn’t state the third” let” in so many words but it’s there in essence. Let what comes out of our mouths be a true reflection of what’s inside.

Jesus made this principle clear to His disciples. It’s not what goes in but what comes out that reveals the condition of the heart.

Luke 6:45 NLT
[45] “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”

A heart made new by God’s grace will overflow with words of praise and gratitude. We must learn to regulate what comes out of our mouths by what we put in. It’s up to us to practise and make a habit of overflowing with words and attitudes that reflect our new nature. Our hearts are like computers. What we put in will come out.

There’s a joy inside of us, there’s new life in our hearts. Let it flow out in expressions of praise and gratitude. Let the message of Jesus first fill our hearts and then flow out of our mouths wherever we are, from the core of our being.

James questions the habit of some who overflow with good and evil words from one fountain. Is this possible? How can this be?

James 3:7-11 NLT
[7] “People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, [8] but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. [9] Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. [10] And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! [11] Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?”

Does this mean that some who claim to be Christians are lying because of what flows from their lips?

God’s salvation does such a radical work on the inside, circumsising our hearts, cutting out the old desires and replacing them with God’s nature, that what is inside us must come out in new words. If there is little or no change, we must question the reality of such a claim. Did salvation really happen? Where is the evidence?

If God’s grace has really changed us on the inside, there will be clear evidence of that change in our lives. Christ’s peace, His message enshrined in His person and entwined in our behaviour, and our response of joyful praise and gratitude from our lips, all tell the story…otherwise, it’s all just plastic fruit we have used to decorate our “tree”. We must let these new habits happen, that is, deliberately and consciously put them into practice to cement the truth of what is in our hearts.

How beautifully Isaiah predicted that one day this great salvation would come to God’s people…and now it’s here!

Isaiah 12:1-6 NLT
[1] “In that day you will sing: “I will praise you, O Lord! You were angry with me, but not anymore. Now you comfort me. [2] See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord God is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.” [3] With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation! [4] In that wonderful day you will sing: “Thank the Lord! Praise his name! Tell the nations what he has done. Let them know how mighty he is! [5] Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things. Make known his praise around the world. [6] Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy! For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.”