Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.
Ecclesiastes 5:1.
Consider this verse and what it means - ‘Guard your steps…’ to me it seems to be asking; What is your posture as you go to meet with fellow believers?
Not just your physical posture, but the state of your heart and mind. If we guard our steps, we consider them, we protect their journey and think about the purpose of them. Guarding our steps is different to being on autopilot where you have just got into a routine. We can treat meeting with other believers like that can’t we?! Just a routine thing that we do, just like brushing our teeth almost. It can be that attending church, home group or prayer meetings becomes routine.
I am not sure that when I meet with other believers I do it with a recognition of the reverence and holiness of God that this ‘guarding our steps’ implies. This phrase shows me that we should; plan, protect and prepare ourselves before we gather together, we should be mindful of where we are and what we are doing.
Why do you go to these meetings? Is it with an awe and reverence for God? Is it to catch up with friends? feel good about yourself? Is it merely routine? Or did you go with a recognition that you are getting together with others who believe and trust in the almighty God, just as you are?
I doubt many, if we are really honest with ourselves truly consider the last option each time we meet. I know that I have sometimes gone to church distracted thinking; I must talk to this person, tick this job off the list, make sure I am there to work on whatever team I’m on this week. These things are part of life, and saving and looking out for one another are good. But we should also recall our purpose for meeting together in the first place, When we meet, God is with us. We shouldn’t take this for granted.
Having an awareness of whose presence we are coming towards should inspire us. It is a privilege to meet together and honour God and to be in His presence. We should be purposeful as we enter the place where we give him glory and approach Him.
I am sure if we had an invitation to meet a king or queen, we would be rather excited, nervous and we would most certainly prepare ourselves! Well, as we enter the presence of God we are entering the presence of the King of Kings! One far more fearful and powerful than the latest reigning monarch. As we come together, worship, pray, learn, teach and inspire each other we also enter the presence of the Highest King.
So, this week, or the next time you meet with others who believe try to consider these things, guard your steps and make sure the posture of your heart is ready to receive it’s King!
Saturday 20 April 2019
Saturday 13 April 2019
Be ready to be inspired to be generous.
I have noticed over the past few weeks how the theme of generosity has been cropping up for us as a family. We have been taking part in a 40 Acts of generosity challenge so maybe that’s part of it, but we have also been hearing stories of extraordinary, generous living.
So, the theme of generosity has been mulling about in my mind. I have noticed that everyday opportunities to be generous are all around us, are we making the most of them? (Even if it can seem a bit weird!)
Whether it’s being generous with your speech, your time or your money, what you invest has ongoing effects.
I was even considering the other day - what would the journey of a £1 coin look like from it’s manufacture? How many pairs of hands has it passed through? How many banks? tills? How many pavements has it rested on? How many purses?
A single £1 coin has a story to tell. That coin has been an important sum to some, an investment for others, a gift for a few and a commodity to many. That £1 has meant much to many. Yet, the value of the coin isn’t so much it’s monetary value, but the worth of it is measured by it’s usage; you can save it, spend it, lose it, invest it, donate it. A single coin has a multiple of options open to it. So, my question to you is - what are you doing with the coins in your hands? Maybe you don’t have any coins, but you do have some form of treasure whatever it may be; money, skills, time, resources. These things are your treasure that you can choose to put to use how you want to. There are a multitude of choices. What are you going to do with what you have in your hands? What is the next stage of the journey of your treasure? You have responsibility for what you have got whilst you have got it, so how are you going tout these things to work?
I have a simple story to tell you along these lines this week, as our treasure was rhubarb!
The other day we discovered that there’s rhubarb growing in our newly-acquired-overgrown allotment, it was a hidden treasure as it’s take us 5 moths to find it! So my daughter and I picked some - 9 sticks in total, some for us and some for the neighbours.
As we were walking home with our 9 stalks of rhubarb, we saw a dog-walker who commented on our bundle, we asked if he wanted any- and he walked away with 3 stalks.
When we got home, I chopped off the leaves, cut up 3 sticks and stewed it (rhubarb crumble here we come!). It wasn’t until later when my daughter came into the kitchen that she asked about how much rhubarb we had. So, I reminded her; we picked 9, gave 3 to the dog-walker, we stewed 3…. She then told me that wasn’t right. So, I explained again. Again she told me that wasn’t right - it didn’t add up. So I asked her why. She told me that 9-3-3 is (not surprisingly) 3. Yet we had 5 stalks left!
This made me smile, so I said that clearly God has been at it again! He multiplied the fish and loaves to feed the 5,000 and now he’s multiplied the rhubarb to feed the neighbours!
I have no idea why God would do this, but it was a beautiful little miracle that shows the reality of God to us and our kids. It shows the lavish generosity of God. Why would He do that? I don’t know - maybe it was just because He wanted to!
How can we not be generous when we have a God that does things like this?! He makes 9-3-3 equal to 5!
It also struck me how when we put our mind to give away what we have got, God has a habit of multiplying your capability to continue to give. As a family we have cut back many times, wages have reduced, time has been precious, things have gone wrong, but God has always, always taken care of us. We have had times when it doesn’t make sense for us to have money in the account, yet we have.
It seems God may be challenging us again to step up into a new level of generosity. However He does it, whatever He asks us to do, i pray that we will have the confidence to do it because He can increase whatever we give. However scary His ask, I want to say yes because I know He will never let us down. He will press down and increase the little treasure we have. Just like rhubarb and the £1 coin - who knows the journey our treasure is going on? How many lives will be effected? How many hands will what we once had pass into?
Be ready to be inspired to be generous.
So, the theme of generosity has been mulling about in my mind. I have noticed that everyday opportunities to be generous are all around us, are we making the most of them? (Even if it can seem a bit weird!)
Whether it’s being generous with your speech, your time or your money, what you invest has ongoing effects.
I was even considering the other day - what would the journey of a £1 coin look like from it’s manufacture? How many pairs of hands has it passed through? How many banks? tills? How many pavements has it rested on? How many purses?
A single £1 coin has a story to tell. That coin has been an important sum to some, an investment for others, a gift for a few and a commodity to many. That £1 has meant much to many. Yet, the value of the coin isn’t so much it’s monetary value, but the worth of it is measured by it’s usage; you can save it, spend it, lose it, invest it, donate it. A single coin has a multiple of options open to it. So, my question to you is - what are you doing with the coins in your hands? Maybe you don’t have any coins, but you do have some form of treasure whatever it may be; money, skills, time, resources. These things are your treasure that you can choose to put to use how you want to. There are a multitude of choices. What are you going to do with what you have in your hands? What is the next stage of the journey of your treasure? You have responsibility for what you have got whilst you have got it, so how are you going tout these things to work?
I have a simple story to tell you along these lines this week, as our treasure was rhubarb!
The other day we discovered that there’s rhubarb growing in our newly-acquired-overgrown allotment, it was a hidden treasure as it’s take us 5 moths to find it! So my daughter and I picked some - 9 sticks in total, some for us and some for the neighbours.
As we were walking home with our 9 stalks of rhubarb, we saw a dog-walker who commented on our bundle, we asked if he wanted any- and he walked away with 3 stalks.
When we got home, I chopped off the leaves, cut up 3 sticks and stewed it (rhubarb crumble here we come!). It wasn’t until later when my daughter came into the kitchen that she asked about how much rhubarb we had. So, I reminded her; we picked 9, gave 3 to the dog-walker, we stewed 3…. She then told me that wasn’t right. So, I explained again. Again she told me that wasn’t right - it didn’t add up. So I asked her why. She told me that 9-3-3 is (not surprisingly) 3. Yet we had 5 stalks left!
This made me smile, so I said that clearly God has been at it again! He multiplied the fish and loaves to feed the 5,000 and now he’s multiplied the rhubarb to feed the neighbours!
I have no idea why God would do this, but it was a beautiful little miracle that shows the reality of God to us and our kids. It shows the lavish generosity of God. Why would He do that? I don’t know - maybe it was just because He wanted to!
How can we not be generous when we have a God that does things like this?! He makes 9-3-3 equal to 5!
It also struck me how when we put our mind to give away what we have got, God has a habit of multiplying your capability to continue to give. As a family we have cut back many times, wages have reduced, time has been precious, things have gone wrong, but God has always, always taken care of us. We have had times when it doesn’t make sense for us to have money in the account, yet we have.
It seems God may be challenging us again to step up into a new level of generosity. However He does it, whatever He asks us to do, i pray that we will have the confidence to do it because He can increase whatever we give. However scary His ask, I want to say yes because I know He will never let us down. He will press down and increase the little treasure we have. Just like rhubarb and the £1 coin - who knows the journey our treasure is going on? How many lives will be effected? How many hands will what we once had pass into?
Be ready to be inspired to be generous.
Saturday 6 April 2019
Is it all vanity?
The book of Ecclesiastes says a lot about vanity. That many things in life are ‘vanity’. These things include; Working, seeing, hearing, ’New’ concepts, pleasure, wisdom, foolishness, gardening, building, treasure, having wealth, being the boss. All vanity! There’s not a lot left if all these things are counted as ‘vanity’!
So, what is vanity? It’s defined as ’brief and unsubstantial, emptiness’.
The things that we can invest our time and pleasure in can all be summed up as brief and unsubstantial emptiness. Now, I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t make me feel very good - To think that all my efforts conclude in brief and unsubstantial emptiness! The book of Ecclesiastes says about these things that there will be ‘’no enduring remembrance’ (2:16).
So are all our works, our efforts, our toil worth nothing? Are they all but a puff of smoke that vanishes in the wind that dissipates into the atmosphere with no lasting effect? Will they disappear into ‘no enduring remembrance’?
Are all things are vanity?
None of us wish to think so. None of us want to think that our lives are worthless or that they will have no impact on the world around us. Personally, I don’t think it’s true either.
The things listed are all stuff. They are all things we can get busy with, things we can take for granted, but is there deeper purpose behind it all?
A lot depends on our motives for what we are doing. Do you have purpose behind the things you do? Do you have long-term goals? And do your short-term actions fit with those goals? In essence - are you working for purpose?
If you are not working with a purpose then the things in your life can all seem like vanity. They can feel like they are unsubstantial, brief and empty.
So, today, remember and evaluate the purpose to what you have and what you do; The things you have, the job you do, the skills, abilities and qualities within you and the culture you’re in are all for purpose.
You don’t have to live in an empty cycle that is brief and unsubstantial. You can make changes today to build a life of purpose.
So, what is vanity? It’s defined as ’brief and unsubstantial, emptiness’.
The things that we can invest our time and pleasure in can all be summed up as brief and unsubstantial emptiness. Now, I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t make me feel very good - To think that all my efforts conclude in brief and unsubstantial emptiness! The book of Ecclesiastes says about these things that there will be ‘’no enduring remembrance’ (2:16).
So are all our works, our efforts, our toil worth nothing? Are they all but a puff of smoke that vanishes in the wind that dissipates into the atmosphere with no lasting effect? Will they disappear into ‘no enduring remembrance’?
Are all things are vanity?
None of us wish to think so. None of us want to think that our lives are worthless or that they will have no impact on the world around us. Personally, I don’t think it’s true either.
The things listed are all stuff. They are all things we can get busy with, things we can take for granted, but is there deeper purpose behind it all?
A lot depends on our motives for what we are doing. Do you have purpose behind the things you do? Do you have long-term goals? And do your short-term actions fit with those goals? In essence - are you working for purpose?
If you are not working with a purpose then the things in your life can all seem like vanity. They can feel like they are unsubstantial, brief and empty.
So, today, remember and evaluate the purpose to what you have and what you do; The things you have, the job you do, the skills, abilities and qualities within you and the culture you’re in are all for purpose.
You don’t have to live in an empty cycle that is brief and unsubstantial. You can make changes today to build a life of purpose.
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