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

The Righteous Remnant (not as catchy as other titles but bare with), Zephaniah 3:17.

Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

The prophet Zephaniah lived in the decades just before the Babylonians captured Jerusalem. Chronologically the Israelites were taking the mickey, Zephaniah is the thirty sixth book of the Bible (dated to the seventh century bc). You’d think by now they’d know the repercussions of worshipping other idols and living outside of God’s love. But yet another prophet comes with harsh words for the disobedient Jews (zeph 1:1-3:8). This morning I come with the wholly positive message that if in your heart you have repented and turned to God, accepting His Son Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you’re saved from the final judgement just as the righteous few were saved in the days of destruction that fell upon the Jews.

Zephaniah 3:9-20 is both comforting to the “lowly and humble” (3:12) who would have lived in those days but also to us: “On that day I will purify the lips of all people, so that everyone will be able to worship the Lord together…And then you will no longer need to be ashamed of yourselves…And The Lord himself, the King of Israel, will live among you!” (Zeph 3:9,11,15).

In the times of Zephaniah people felt that because they were materially prosperous worshipping others couldn’t be that bad and God would just turn a blind eye. Unlike people we may know today who aren’t Christians, the Jews knew better and were repeatedly told to fix up and possibly bring about God’s mercy in time to stop their approaching destruction and yet they STILL disobeyed!

But the reason I wrote on this this morning is because God loves us. Look how many opportunities He gave the Jews to right their wrongs. And even in the face of rightfully punishing the Jews God never forgets those trying to do right by Him, flaws remaining for He never expects perfection from us. Instead He delivers us from hard times on earth and then when He welcomes us into eternity – we’ll never face them again. Our Lord the deliverer is “a mighty one who will save”, He “rejoices” over us, He calms us, fills our very being, our every cell, our every thought, our every move with peace! We exult in Him and He “will exult over you”!!! (3:17)

When I asked God to soften my heart He definitely made me quite soppy but this verse makes my heart feel like it’s going to burst. Listen to what Zephaniah is saying, inspired by God. After sin…can we just take the time to imagine a time WITHOUT sin, no matter how righteous we try to be the flesh is weak, we only know life with sin down to our physical body…and yet God says after those days of judgement, when the world as we know it is changed following those days of judgement, He will rejoice in us! Our creator, our very reason for being is the greatest superlative of a proud parent. Think of a time where your parent just beamed at you and then put God in their place. God wants to rejoice in YOU. His very nature, for He IS love (we only know how to love because of Him), will quiet us as we stand in wonder and peace in the presence of what must be the most overwhelming love we could ever receive. And then when you couldn’t get anymore overwhelmed He’ll sing in praise. Pick any psalm that David Solomon, or Asaph (yeah he was an actual person) dedicated to God and imagine Him redirecting that same passion to YOU! This is the God we serve.

We’re always told that God loves us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Giving your Son’s life in sacrifice to your brattish, disobedient creation is quite a significant way of demonstrating your love. Yet somehow we often let God’s love for us go straight over our heads. God LOVES us. He loves us and He rejoices in us and we make HIS heart want to burst. Is that not amazing?

“God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son.” ~ Jerry Bridges

God bless and keep you always x

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