The Word, 2Timothy 2:9

“And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained.” (2Tim 2:9)

The second epistle to Timothy is thought to be the last one ever written by Paul as he faced execution. Written to a dear follower with whom he held a close father-son relationship, it is full of tenderness and the wisdom of someone who had lived a long and purposeful life.

Paul was not being melodramatic, he had experienced multiple arrests, persecution and criticism for his teaching of the Good News. Having gone from a position of power, preaching had signed the certificate of execution that was to see Paul beheaded under Emperor Nero. Think about the prison system today, not a pleasant place but they have access to running water, toilets and food, do you think this is how a thorn in the side of the Jewish leaders and Roman Emperor was going to be treated? But look at that second sentence!

No matter what they were going to do to Paul, or Philemon, to John, James, Stephen “the word of God CANNOT be chained”! God is the Truth, the Almighty, the Creator. The history of Christianity is littered with men persecuted for their faith, but it is a continued history; men experiencing revelations of God’s grace, mercy, love were, and are, compelled to spread His teachings regardless of what they may face. “He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News” (1:10). In Turkey, in China, in Vietnam, the Middle East, you have people lovingly distributing bibles, putting on bible study classes for anyone who wants to know who Jesus is. They could suffer like Paul, who knew he was suffering like Jesus, because death no longer contained any power. If you know that persecution or threats on your life for truthfully preaching the Gospel will only take you to live in the Father and Son’s glory, it’s hardly something that would put you off of evangelising.

The Word compels us to go that extra mile for others because that is exactly what Jesus did for us. Our futures contained only death but in His perfect sacrifice we are given a completely new, joyful, holy life after physical death! The Word of God cannot and should not be chained because of all that it contains. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (3:16-17).

Three closing points:

Firstly, your actions can lead people to know the Word of God. People are sceptical, but when you reflect God’s mercy, peace and joy, it opens up channels for people to get to know how the Good News has changed your life. No one’s expecting you to recite the Word of God in its entirety.

Second, scripture is about and inspired by God! It’s not homework, it’s an opportunity for us to know God better and help others to do the same, our home is with Him, our spirits feel at rest in His presence, and getting to grips with the Bible is a great way to come into that. As Christians we recognise God as this awesome being, but can then be picky with following particular teachings. Cut it out. Look at everything in its proper context, that you may understand it better, not because of the warning that Paul gives two chapters later. “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear” (4:3). Sound familiar?

Thirdly, God does not need you to do an ad campaign for the Word or for His Son. Now I don’t mean this literally, things like Alpha are changing people’s lives because they catch their attention on trains and buses. What I mean is that you don’t have to tell people the nice bits of the Bible, or butter them up so people will like what they’re hearing. It’s the Truth not the Pep Talk. “God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone” (2:19). The Word of God is that, it is God’s guidance to His chosen, not there to be adapted or watered down but to be understood and instructive.

God bless and keep you always x

Elijah didn’t sugarcoat his words, so today neither shall I, 1Kings 18: 21

“Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.” (1 Kings 18:21)

There are so many ways to word the same thing, “don’t be a slave to two masters”, “am I too shallow?”, “I’m just a lukewarm Christian”. This verse follows years of dedicated idolatry, horrificly exacerbated by sinful leaders. After King Solomon died, having displeased God in his idolatrous ways, his kingdom fell to pieces. The twelve tribes he had inherited from his father King David, were stripped to one! His son Rehoboam got the one and God promised, Solomon’s former defected employee, Jeroboam the remaining so long as he remained faithful (1Kings 11:19-39). Jeroboam wary of the Israelites going back to the family of David and their temple, built pagan idols (1Kings 12:26-33) and for the following few centuries the people of Israel drew further and further from God.

Seven Kings later, a good bit further entrenched in immorality, enter the prophet Elijah. King Ahab is on the throne, “Ahab, son of Omri, did what was evil in the Lord’s sight more than any of his predecessors”, so not the nicest guy to be dealing with (1Kings 16:30). Elijah is the only prophet of the true Living God left alive and God allows him no time or opportunity to be bashful, he has work to do. Ahab has been seeking him out and Elijah meets him and commands that all twelve tribes of Israel congregate on Mount Sinai for him to address. Bringing us up to the question as revelant then, as it is today: “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions?”

Now when I say this, I don’t say it in the tone of “you just heard about jesus for the first time, why aren’t you baptised and ready to start evangelising?” Actually the Christian of eighteen months, ten years, or even more so, may feel what I’m getting at resonate far more deeply with them. The Jews of the Old Testament were wavering between the Living God and the pagan god Baal. They knew, at least through ancestry and tales of persecution of the prophets, of the Living God but they didn’t worship Him absolutely, they didn’t commit their lives to Him. Elijah goes on to commit a miraculous work and the Israelites bow down before The Lord and recommit themselves to Him.

When you go to church your very being tells you that what you’re hearing is the Truth, it resonates with your spirit and then you walk out of church, and then that online sermon ends…and….and then what? For some of us we begin to really grow in God’s love, we struggle with and slowly/quickly learn of God’s overwhelming love for us. For others we give theologically sound advice but parrot it out and it doesn’t really go any deeper. And for some of us we listen, and we go outside those church doors and abuse that love right in God’s face. God loves you even though you’ve sinned against Him, and so you go to church on Sunday and worship Him but that evening you’re seeking out lustful/sinful/judgemental/worldly things? If you saw someone behaving in the ways you do, would you commend them for living out the gospel or condemn them for their distance from it or abuses in the name of grace? The weak argument of “God loves me infinitely, promised me no condemnation so it’s alright if I mess up”. Read Romans 7-9 if you genuinely think this is acceptable.

In a relationship, you may see people in the street, on a night out, and think they’re attractive, but (ideally) you wouldn’t pursue anything and willingly cheat time and time again on your partner; and yet we do that to God. The giver of life, who put you on this planet in love and with purpose, is subject to such treatment. The day I gave over my life to Christ I simultaneously made the conscious decision that I wouldn’t pursue things like sex outside of its intended purposes, because doing so when God had given me so much, seemed like it would be a smack in the face, because I didn’t want to commit halfheartedly to someone who’d given me so much. When pastors say things like commit yourselves wholly to God, THIS is what they’re getting at. “Oh you’re not promiscuous, but you go out in provocative clothes so people will find you attractive and lust after you?”, “you’ve accepted God but you’re flirting, with the intention, of getting with a non-Christian?”, “of course you’re not into worldly things you’re just really really occupied with your weight, your physical appearance, how your clothes best advertise your assets?”

I think you get my point. I never write with the intention of coming across self righteous, I am far from the finished article. FAR from it. But wrong is wrong and right is right guys. Commit to the God you serve, stop wavering and hobbling, because He is more than worthy of receiving your all, but also for yourselves. Those things you are consciously or subconsciously chasing are so devoid of meaning that they’re nothing more than a distraction from the awesome Father who never stops loving you, protecting you and seeking you out – and what are your actions saying back to all of that?

God bless and keep you always x

Unfair, Habakkuk 1:2-4

“How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralysed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and justice is perverted with bribes and trickery.”
(Habakkuk 1:2-4)

Sometimes we can pray for particular things and not see those change in the way that we expect or in the timeframe we want to see them. “You do not come to save”, “You do not listen”. Habakkuk wasn’t frustrated because he’d prayed about getting a new job or working on a friendship, His people were struggling and their future looked pretty bleak. He was praying for His nation in the face of looming disaster and he wanted an explanation.

Habakkuk is one of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament. He saw that his people were far away from God and going to fall to the Babylonians. So he went to God….and He complained.

He knew that the punishment of the Jews was righteous for many had turned from God after numerous chances. That is pretty much the Old Testament after all: God creates man, God gives them bountiful gifts, they throw it back in His face, they realise life without Him is not that great and go back to Him, He is merciful, they throw it back in his face again and through wise men and prophets He reveals the gift of the Messiah because they keep messing up. So Habakkuk saw that God was “perfectly just” (1:13) in punishing and correcting the Jews for their sin, but the Babylonians were a “cruel”and “violent” nation, “notorious for their cruelty” (1:6,7). He felt it unfair that the “wicked [should] destroy people who are more righteous than they” (1:13).

Whilst it’s unlikely you’ve echoed this point in the same language, you’ve probably said something similar. “That person’s so lovely, it isn’t fair that they are suffering like this”, or “How can HE be doing better than SHE is, he’s a horrible person?” We recognise injustice in the everyday, the woman who gives everything she can to others but barely has for herself. And then we see their foil, the consultant whose bonus could secure ownership of her home or help support a GOSHCC initiative but instead splashes it on drinks, greed and hedonism.

Your prayers don’t have to sound pretty or be worded perfectly, Habakkuk implored of God to reveal to Him HOW such injustice could go on? And God responded. Twice.

God doesn’t work on our time scale. Why would He? If you could choose between seeing things one step at a time or the past, present and future simultaneously, which would you choose? God encourages Habakkuk to wait on Him, to trust in Him because a change gon’ come (sorry).

“Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. but the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They open their mouths as wide as the grave, and like death, they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and swallowed many peoples. “But soon their captives will taunt them. They will mock them, saying, ‘What sorrow awaits you thieves! Now you will get what you deserve!”

The greedy oppressors will secure their death through the very same actions that made you aware of the seeming injustice in the world. Remember that your God is just.

Living by faith, is living in confidence that your God is always in control, that you will never be helpless because He orchestrates everything, and always for the good of His children. In trusting God, a person can look beyond the unpleasant exterior of things into God’s deeper purpose and find the strength to live no matter what they may see or experience. We don’t know the future but we belong to a God who exists outside of space and time, who sees all tenses as they occur, in Him we can trust fully.

A few months ago a friend told me to write down something to the tone of “by the grace of God I am happy, filled with the joy of the Lord” and wait on Him and see it come to fruition. You know how that went 😎. Wait patiently on the God who delivers His children, who sacrificed His only son to account for all of the wrongdoing which was leading us straight to death. We don’t know and understand everything but the Omniscient One does.

God bless and keep you always x