Ever feel like you're busy?

I often feel busy, and feel like there is probably more I should be getting done, I have a 'to do' list and quite regularly have to bump things on the list to another day. I'm very good at finding things to do, and there always seems to be something that I feel like I should do. It's not even that others put pressure on me to do stuff, I put it on myself. This can cause me to feel busy, and a bit stressed.

The other day, just as I was feeling busy and getting ready for the day, I read this little verse: 

O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, 

for you have indeed done for us all our works. - Isaiah 26:12  

 

Do you know what? That gave me such relief! It's not me that does all this stuff, but I have help! Phew! I remembered then that I have someone who walks with me, and works with me. God is not just by my side or watching over me, but He is working alongside me.

This made me question the importance of all that stuff that I get busy with. What should I really be doing? Yes, the housework will not do itself sadly, but do I need to get so bothered by it? Do I need to feel stressed that the bathroom hasn't been cleaned in x amount of days, or that I still haven't responded to that email/letter/phone call?

Knowing that God is doing it with me helps. God has, 'done for us all our works'. This is the stuff that concerns us, things we are busy doing and have a duty to do. We don't have to bear the burden alone.

The other brilliant thing about this verse is it says that God, 'will ordain peace for us'. He will give us an internal rest. The definition of peace is - freedom from disturbance, tranquility. 

So, next time I feel I have much to do, I am going to try to remember this. I am going to aim to remind myself that God is doing the work with me, and that He can give me peace.

 I might not seem any less busy but I can certainly feel it.

What is the point of your life?

We all come to an end. 

Each of us will experience our Earthly life finishing, however that may come about. 

Isaiah 10:3

'What will you do on the day of punishment, 

in the ruin that will come from afar? 

  To whom will you flee for help, 

and where will you leave your wealth? '

Have you thought about, 'what will you do' on that day? 'To whom will you flee for help?' Who can you rely on? Who will be there? What will it be like? 

That seems like a lot of things to consider, but surely it's worth considering. At the end, what will be the legacy of your life's work? What will you be leaving behind? 

Is what we do now, in this life, of any consequence to what happens after we expire?

We may come to our own conclusions about what is next after this life, is it just a void of emptiness, is there nothing? Or is there something? 

There are many theories, ideas and conclusions that have been reached about what happens after we leave this earthly life. We all need to make up our own mind about what we believe.I'm not going to tell you what to believe, I'd just like to ask you some questions.

If there as life after this one on Earth, then surely, what happens at the end of our lives should influence our current life. If this life has purpose, then we should live like it does and make the most of it. 

So, what are you living for? To leave a legacy? to store up wealth? To become renowned? To build up something of worth on Earth? To build a fortune or a family?

Really, in a few short years this life will be over, the average life expectancy is 71years, that's not so long. All the hard work and striving of this life, what will it of led to? 

What is the point to your life? 

It's an important question to consider, we all have one -  it's what motivates us, what we spend time doing and thinking of. Where are your thoughts, money and energies focussed? 

I cannot give you the answers, these you have to figure out for yourself. Just consider, the time we're alive on Earth is of small importance (an average of 71years) when compare that to the amount of time we're not on the Earth. So, surely we should make this time count for something. 

At the end of your days, when you reach your expriation date, what would your life really of been about? What impression will you be leaving to those around you? Will the purpose of your life do you good in the end?

It's worth considering your views on the 'hereafter' because it lasts longer than the here and now, we're not around on Earth for much longer than we are on it. 

At some point, we all consider, If there really is a God. At the end of your days, If there is, how will you measure up? 

Liberating Love

Most of us probably feel sad when we hear of family breakdown, and rightly so. We probably feel the same when we hear of children who rebel against their parents. We can think it's unjust, unfair and perhaps unfaithful.

Can you imagine if that parent was you? 

We all make mistakes, but how heart-wrenching would it be if one day any children you may have turned your back on you? You do the best you can to demonstrate your love, to protect and support your children, yet still, they reject you. 

As a good parent you would bring up children in the way you hope will lead them into a happy and healthy life, yet they throw out your sound advice. 

They do their own thing. 

They reject what they have been taught and shown about what is right. Then choose to live a life which becomes more and more debauched, degraded and distant. 

By their actions they seem to be intentionally rebelling against the instruction of their parents. As a result they seem to push you further and further away. They may not call. Your very own children become distant and seem lost to you. They may ignore you. They may speak falsley about you. It may appear that they hate you, their parents.

As the parent, how would that feel? 

What would or could you do?  

I cannot imagine how distraught I would be. 

It would feel to me like my life's work has been to no avail, the people that are a part of me, of my family, had rejected me, misunderstood me and didn't love me. The pain would be indescribable, the way the heart would ache. I am sure I would be mourning for them. 

Now, let me tell you...... 

                                                        we are those children.

Each one of us has done things we know are wrong and have turned our backs on what we know is right.

It pains our parent, our Father God, who has been actively involved in our lives since before we were born.

We have rejected Him, we have misunderstood Him and we have ignored Him.

We have thought we know better, we haven't understood all the purposes of the rules and regulations so we have broken them. 

As the parent, how would that feel for God? 

God has mourned over you, his heart breaks for you, He yearns for the time to come when you choose Him above the other stuff. He does not want you to follow the rules, but to follow His heart. He will wait like the ever patient, ever loving Father that He is. He will not deny you, He will let you in, He will forgive you and He will live life with you. 

God has been distraught when each of us has chosen to walk away from Him and fulfill our own agenda. His heart has ached for you. 

He will show you, not a load of rules, but His heart when you truly set your mind to find Him. 

You just have to choose Him. 

Admit you are wrong, accept that you don't have all the answers and that maybe there is more to life than what is going on right now. 

God knew that we couldn't understand His heart until He revealed Himself to us, so He did that by sending His own son. His own son, who walked the Earth and faced the trials and temptations just as we do. Jesus showed us what all the rules and regulations meant, the true meaning of the Law by demonstrating the love and grace that was behind it. 

God loves us SO much that He chose to send His own son, to us. To us, who were; debauched, degraded, distant, dismissive and denying. 

Who would go after people like that? 

That is some heart of love!

God sees that you are worth it, you're worth the agony, worth the suffering, worth the cost of restoration. 

I am so grateful that God has chosen and chased me. I have not understood where He was coming from for many years, yet He has chosen to gently and faithfully reveal His heart to me.

Some people think that being a christian is about being a good person, and following the rules, but being a christian is about relationship. 

Would God of suffered all that if it was about rules? 

No!

It is about a heart-broken Father who sent someone who could understand our plight, someone who could walk in the circles we walk and demonstrate His Father's great love. It's about a rescue mission, for us. 

Not to confine us to rules but to liberate us through love. 

Isaiah 1:

 2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; 

for the Lord has spoken: 

  “Children have I reared and brought up, 

but they have rebelled against me. 

 3  The ox knows its owner, 

and the donkey its master’s crib, 

  but Israel does not know, 

my people do not understand.” 

 4  Ah, sinful nation, 

a people laden with iniquity, 

  offspring of evildoers, 

children who deal corruptly! 

  They have forsaken the Lord, 

they have despised the Holy One of Israel, 

they are utterly estranged. 

 5  Why will you still be struck down? 

Why will you continue to rebel? 

  The whole head is sick, 

and the whole heart faint. 

 6  From the sole of the foot even to the head, 

there is no soundness in it, 

  but bruises and sores 

and raw wounds; 

  they are not pressed out or bound up 

or softened with oil. 

living sacrifice

The following passage is one of my favourite pieces of scripture, it's challenges me every time I read it.

Romans 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,  to present your bodies as a holy and living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 

We are appealed to, asked, implored, to offer ourselves as a Living sacrifice. To me, that sounds pretty grim. 

A sacrifice usually involves; blood, suffering and pain. But, we don't have to die. 

We are to be a living sacrifice, Living is to be; dynamic, positive, full of life. Not dormant, distant or dead. 

The reason for this sacrifice, is to give up our own life so a better one can be lived. 

Making the definite decision that God has better ideas for our life than we do, and choosing, not just once, but each day to do what He wants of us. Giving up ourselves. 

We become an offering, which does mean that we probably have to give up certain things as we become wholly committed to a purpose not our own. That's what this sacrifice is about, committing to a purpose not our own. 

That involves a big sacrifice. 

This means we've got to give up the thoughts that we know best. We have to do as we are told!

 I don't think that sits very well with most of us. Every since we were young children we have strived for more and more independence. Yet here we are, reading the Bible and discovering that actually, that hard fought for independence needs to be given up! 

Not to just any cause though, but to the One, the One who created you, the One who Himself gave his life up for you. He did it out of perfect love. Surely He deserves our all?

The point of this sacrifice is to offer up - voluntarily, without coercion, the life we would choose to lead in order to live the life God wants us to lead. This sacrifice is not about laying life down, but having life in its fullness. To choose to put God first, not ourselves. 

It's not about living less but living more, it's not about giving up but living up. 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

It's tempting to think, when we're having a tough time - 'where IS God?', or 'if He was real He'd be doing something about....' 

It seems natural for us to question things when we do not understand what is happening. 

Paul, a guy we read about in the Bible, has a different stance. Yet, he probably has more reason than most of us to question God's motives. He gets; shut up in prison, is persecuted, suffers pain, loneliness and hunger. However, he asks a different question. Not, where is God? or what is He up to? but, 'who shall separate us from the love of God?'

The first word in that question interests me, 'who', not, 'what'. 

Could it be that when we question what is occurring in our lives, when things seem depressing, distressing and disagreeable that we are the 'who' getting in the way of the love of Christ?

If it is us questioning God, then surely it must be us, our minds that are causing the separation between us and God. It's not God's fault, inability or inaction that causes it, neither is it the situation itself.

Paul tells us that tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword cannot separate us from the love of Christ! So, what does? or who can? 

I think we need to take responsibility. Now, I know that the devil works pretty hard to damage our opinion of God, and he whispers lies and deceit in our ears at any opportunity, but don't we have the right to decide what we listen to? don't we have the capacity and the authority to decide who is influencing us?

God is not distant, He loves you, His son even died to restore you and your relationship with God. That's an incredible love!

There is nothing on God's part that is wrong when things seem to go wrong, so who is it that can separate us? 

In the depressing, distressing and disagreeable times, are you diligent in your relationship with God? Do you still put Him first? Do you run to Him? do you spend time with Him? or does that go by the wayside?

Whose responsibility is it to ensure that you remain connected and not separated to the love of Christ?

It doesn't matter what is going on,  'Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture' can separate us from the love of Christ. None of these things. (Message version) 

So, next time you face a difficult situation, consider; who shall separate us from the love of God?' and let the enemy do his worst, stand firm in your relationship with God. Take responsibility and make the decision that you are not going to let the circumstances around you affect the certainty of the love of God - it's much bigger, much stronger and more enduring than anthing you are going through.

Romans 8:35-39English Standard Version (ESV)

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Reconciliation

Romans 5:10 

 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life

Enemies - this implies not just that we were not God's friends, but that we were against Him and actively fighting against him. The dictionary defines an enemy as someone who is actively opposed and hostile towards another.

So, whilst we were actively opposed to God, whilst we were hostile towards Him, He reconciled us - He restored a relationship with us. We didn't even want it or deserve it, but God did it anyway, eventhough we have been actively against Him. 

(I don't know you, but I don't know many people that would fight that hard for a relationship with me!)

Why would any of us do that? Do we work to restore our relationships? 

In life, if someone is against us, we usually either; ignore that they exist, avoid them or fight back.

These people are hard to love. 

Why would anyone act differently? 

Why did God act differently?

He didn't fight back, ignore us or avoid us. Instead, God looked for the root cause of the problem in our relationship. He found sin, and did something about it. He rectified what was in the way of us and Him so that we do not need to be enemies anymore. That cost Him.

I wonder what would happen if we did the same? If there's someone who we feel we are enemies with, instead of fighting/Ignoring/avoiding them, I wonder what difference it would make if we made an effort. If we took time to look at our relationships and see what was causing the problem and then chose to face it instead of letting it fester. It will cost, it will probably hurt and may even be difficult, but God has done this for us. Shouldn't we do the same? 

Rejoice, I say again, rejoice

Romans 5:2-3

we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings'

'we rejoice in our sufferings'

This seems to be a bit of a theme in the New Testament, and it's not just Paul that mentions it. James also says, 'Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds'.

It seems that when Paul and James amongst others were writing to encourage the churches, that their attitutde was different to ours. Nowadays we see pain, suffering and difficulty as unecessary, usually inconvenient or a punishment. 

Paul and James have a different outlook. 

In Romans, Paul lets us know that, 'we rejoice in our sufferings'. So, it is not something that he is commanding or encouraging people to do, it seems like it is their response, 'we rejoice' isn't an instruction but rather written as if it is a fact. It's not singular either, so it must of been a common attitude from those Paul was around. 

Paul alse says they, 'rejoice in hope of the glory of God'. These people, these christians, seem to celebrate the hope they have in God just as they celebrate suffering. 

These people clearly have a different response to suffering compared to us nowadays. Why is that?

Have we become so comfortable in our daily lives where, to be honest, there isn't much suffering or reliance on God required? Most of us around the world expect to eat today, to have fresh water and have a roof over our heads in some form. We are comfortable, we have come to accept and expect a degree of comfort. Suffering and hardship doesn't seem to feature too much.

Yet, these people, rejoiced in sufferings. Their lives weren't easy, they lived with the tension of whether today was the day they would be thrown in prison, mocked or beaten just for being a christian. Yet they rejoice.

In these days as christians, we may mention that they believe in God to our friends and family, even workmates, but most of us try to keep it light. We don't want to get involved in a theological debate, so we emphasise that it is 'our' faith, 'our' belief, a personal decision that we can keep to ourselves. 

I don't see those in the Bible doing the same. 

We can argue that there could be some fall out if they declare Christ and are overt in their faith. We could lose our job, fall out with friends and family. This may be true. 

But, isn't this how it was in the New Testament? 

Paul and others declared who Jesus is regardless of the fall out. The consequences for them are much harsher than the consequences we could face. For most of us, if we do share who we know God to be, it may affect our employment, it may cause some estranged relationships, but will we endure prison? will we be beaten? will we lose our lives? 

In some countries, this is still a horrifying reality, but even there, you see christians motivated by something stronger than the fear of persecution. 

The suffering and difficulties that these people, past and present go through does not affect their attitude, as this seems to be based on something other than circumstance. 

As Paul says, 'we rejoice in hope of the glory of God'. Maybe it's this that we are missing out on. We rejoice, enjoy and are satisfied in the comfort that this world offers; the stability of a good job, the comfort of a warm bed, the satisfaction of a great meal. 

But, do you realise these are all temporary? These things will not last in the age to come. Paul, and the New Testament christians have their hope in, 'the glory of God'. Not in the glory of this world. 

So, let us decide to do the same, rejoice not in the things of this world which are temporary and will fade away but rejoice in the God who has been here for eternity. He is the one that can satisfy our desires, cover our weaknesses and bring the inner peace to the turmoil of the heart. Let us set our minds on God, learn to enjoy the trials and learn from them. 

Become stronger in faith through the struggles of life because they are reasons to rejoice (even if we don't enjoy them).