Have you ever loved someone, so much you thought you’d die? Matthew 6:24

“Have you ever loved someone, so much you thought you’d die? Given so much of yourself, it seems the only way, tell me what you want and I and I will give it to you…”

I can hold solid conversation on faith, football and new jack swing, if you don’t know, well now you know (I’m finished). So I was listening to this yesterday and actually paid attention to the lyrics. The lead singer was FIFTEEN YEARS OLD at the time – dramatic much? But jokes aside he was expressing things that people genuinely think and feel. It can feel like you’re giving your entirety to someone and are just spent, doing whatever you can to please them to the extent that you’re left feeling drained. This is plain wrong because even when we’re in love and give ourselves over to the only man we should do, we experience continual joy, continual peace and continual security. But men AND women idolise their partners, family, friends, and then when it all goes awry they’re left broken, in crisis.

Often when we think of idolatry we think quite literal stuff: steer clear of other gods, polytheistic/ new wave ideas, materialism etc. But we rarely look at it beyond the skin deep. What’s the idol in your life? If your life and your thoughts and your actions and your joys don’t revolve around God what do they revolve around? What thing comes out of your mouth more than talk of your Father? What thing do you need to address?

Sometimes we need to step back from things and have a look at ourselves. Spending copious amounts of time on our presentation is idolatrous. That does not mean don’t buy new clothes, don’t wear make up or don’t get your hair done. But committing a large amount of time to perfecting yourself is vanity and self-love, let’s be honest. You’ve gone from preening yourself to narcissism and the consequences are not pretty.

God can’t come second to your girlfriend. You give your all to Him not her. Stop talking your friend’s ear off about her/him, chill with acting like they’re the only person on the planet. They’re not; yeah they’re cool but you don’t seem this excited about God and He kinda gave His Son as a perfect sacrifice for your eternal life, but whatever…

Until you know what it is to be loved by Him and trust in Him, and Him alone, chances are your relationship or the fallout from it is going to be pretty unhealthy anyway. When we know what love from God is, it also means we can have a framework for what love ought to look like. I don’t mean the perfect guy and the perfect wedding we see in chick flicks because setting yourself up for that dream is pretty idolatrous in itself, rather it gives you the opportunity to gauge things that are attractive in a christ-like, biblical light. In the way God intended us to love and be loved.

Further, loving God first and truly basking in the fact that He loves you, means that if a person lets you down your world won’t end, because He is the only being that will never hurt, never disappoint, never manipulate… at the end of the day the rest of us are fallible.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matt 6:24).

We are here to serve our God and His creation, to be stewards in this world and light in a place of real darkness. That’s more than just some imagery and anything continually distracting you from this ought to be evaluated.

God bless and keep you always x

Not Home Yet, 1Peter 2:11-12

1 Peter 2:11-12
The Message (MSG)

“11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.”

It is so easy to get stuck in issues of this world so deeply that we forget the fundamental tenet of Christianity: life on earth is brief. We argue over material possessions, hurtful words, things that if we think about we’d realise God would not deem significant.

“This world is not your home” (2:11). Simple. We are here as “foreigners” and “aliens” (NLT, NIV). We are placed here to live “exemplary lives”, to be an example to a world of darkness, governed by sin. How many verses are there on being light in the world? On being attractive to the non-believer so they may want to know what you know, belong to the Father you belong to?

NLT translates 1Peter 2:11 as “I warn you keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls”. God has freed you from sin, do not fall into the trap that the enemy is just waiting to ensnare you with. Things of the world can seem so attractive; we live in a period where our generation are more likely to rent for a good portion of their life because they won’t be able to buy a house. Who wouldn’t want a nice semi with a lovely garden, to be famous or perhaps be a particular dress size/body shape? We live in a culture that emphasises financial security, but in reality you can have money one day and wake up to the startling reality of it all being gone. The only security we have is in God the Father. Let us never compromise that because things of the world seem attractive.

I think it’s interesting that The Message words this as not indulging your ego. Pride and self are issues that some of us really struggle. I’ve prayed numerous times against self-importace, this can be the first cause of so many other sins, causing our lives to become so much messier and chaotic than they need be. Vanity is not too far from idolatry guys, slippery slope. Further, it brings up imagery of the celebrity surrounded by adoring fans and sycophants, this is not God’s purpose for us and is nothing but a distraction. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:33). That’s all we have to do, seek to advance and love His kingdom, in layman’s terms “do what you can for God and he’s got you covered”. That particular verse in Matthew is a response to people worrying over material possessions, over where they’ll procure clothes and even food. Jesus says seek God and God will grant you these things and more, He cares, duh.

The second half of this moves onto how we act in front of non-believers. I’ve got a quick fuse and my mum always reminds me to be conscious of curbing that (and other things…quite a few other things) so that people can’t make the types of comments that begin “but I thought you were a Christian…”, “well that’s not good for a Christian…” Whether we like it or not when we accept Jesus as our Saviour, we simultaneously sign a waiver accepting that we will be continually judged and scrutinised by “your unbelieving neighbours” (NLT).

Peter says if you do live an exemplary life though, you’ll win them over. You can evangelise through your life and actions, you need not stand in the street and shout in the second coming. Be a good example so that you can lead others to Christ, so that they can “join in the celebration when He arrives” too.

As a final point, we will never feel completely satisfied on earth because we were made for something so much better. On a personal note, I feel at such a higher place of peace and fulfilment when I’m in communion with God. Almost like a glimpse into the future. My spirit feels like it’s where it’s meant to be, but whilst I reside here it occurs in temporary bursts.

Realising that life on earth is only temporary, like a work trial, completely changes your values and priorities. Notions of the eternal, not temporal ones, become the deciding factors for your decisions. Suddenly having the last word in an argument just doesn’t seem worth it; I do not say this in a spirit of self righteousness, but I can’t emphasise the amount of times things have been brought to me impassioned that seem so trivial now.

“When life gets tough, when you’re overwhelmed with doubt, or when you wonder if living for Christ is worth the effort, remember that you are not home yet. At death you won’t leave home – you’ll go home.” (Rick Warren)

God bless and keep you always x