No regrets

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee …went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. Luke 23: 55 – 56

The Bible narratives give us absolutely no indication about what went on between Jesus’ body being placed in the tomb on Friday and the ladies visiting the tomb early on Sunday morning other than everyone resting on the Sabbath as required by the law.

However whilst everyone may have been resting, I am sure everyone’s minds were whirling going over and over and over what had happened. I cannot believe the disciples and the women were not overwhelmed with sorrow (Mark 16:10), disappointment, dashed hopes and dreams and also regrets. I am sure Peter was going over and over his denial of Jesus. I expect other disciples were wondering why they had argued over who was the greatest and why they had not gone and confronted the Sanhedrin or spoken up for Jesus before Pilate. Regret would have weighed heavily upon them.

I think that the reason we know nothing about that Sabbath is that there is nothing to be gained from knowing. What mattered were not the disciples’ regrets about Jesus’ crucifixion and their part in it but rather what followed.  What mattered most is that Jesus was raised from the dead. What is of far greater importance is that he appeared to the disciples on many occasions before ascending into heaven with the promise that one day he would return. The day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out on the disciples who had betrayed, let down and run away from Jesus is what matters and how they were then empowered to preach to the crowd so 3000 people got saved.  Those self same disciples then became mighty men of God doing even greater miracles than Jesus did (Acts 5: 15 – 16) and most of them suffered and died for the Gospel.

The lesson for us is that it is not our past and our regrets that we should focus on but our future with God. When we waste time regretting our pasts and what could have been, we miss out on our present and even more importantly our future. I have some friends in South Africa who were brought up in the most awful, abusive and difficult circumstances who could have spent their lives regretting their past, wasted lives.  Instead they have let God transform them and they are now making such a difference for God. I am convinced now that there is no life that God cannot transform and make useful, if we are willing.

 

One of my friends was a prostitute, drug dealer, always fighting and in trouble, a lady bouncer who spent time in jail. Today she is used to share the love of God with the most broken people. God has changed her completely. The woman, who used love in all the wrong ways with all the wrong people, now shows God’s love in the most amazing fashion. She could have wasted her life regretting her past, instead she has let God change her and use her.  God did the same for the disciples and he will do the same for each one of us.

God of all hope

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15: 13

Hope is as essential to our lives as the air we breathe. Without hope, life begins to shut down and close in. For the Christian, hope is not an optimistic wish for future things but hope is a trust in the goodness of God; that despite the circumstances, God is good and will bring forth good things.  

Most Christians, I am sure, would agree with this but for some there can be areas of our life where hope has died and when that happens it is as if we close the door to any further hope in that area to save ourselves from future disappointment. There are many areas where this could happen but some examples are being single, childlessness, bereavement and grief, separation and divorce, church life and ministry, unemployment and failure. So often it feels like hope has been dashed and in order to function, we put our lost hope and disappointment into a room and close the door.

However God does not want us to have closed doors in our lives as they can lead to further difficulties and a bitterness of spirit. The only way to keep the door open on our deep hurts and disappointments is to establish in our own lives that God is good and has good things for his children. As Steve Backlund says, ‘hope expects and knows that things will ultimately work out in a good way.’

Whatever has happened is not because God is punishing us. God has not stopped loving us and God does not want to teach us a lesson in a negative sense. Some of these past hurts may have come about because we have made poor choices or even sinned. God wants to bring healing and hope again into these areas.

Today if fear is gripping your heart and you dare not trust God in an area where you have lost hope, start with this declaration and prayer:

God I trust you because you are a good God and want only good things for my life. I am so sorry if I have in any way caused these difficulties but I will not blame anyone for what has happened. I forgive any who have been instrumental in what has happened including myself. Today I choose to believe that you will bring good out of this. I open the door of my hurt to your healing love and restoration and I receive your hope. In Jesus Name Amen.

 

 

 

God's ways are perfect

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.  ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  ¹⁴I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” Jeremiah 29: 10 – 14

We are all very familiar with verse 11 of this famous passage from Jeremiah but let’s take a look at the verse that precedes it. Jeremiah had sent a letter to the exiles in Babylon from Jerusalem where he was still living with those who had not been taken into exile. He gives them the devastating news that they are going to be in Babylon for 70 years. They had hoped they would return very soon and now for most of them, they knew they would never see Jerusalem again.

This is why verse 11 is so important both to the Jewish people then and to us because even in the midst of great disappointments when all our hopes and plans have evaporated God still has plans to prosper us and give us a hope and a future. God assured the Jews that he would bring them back from exile but many would know it would be their children and not them who would return.

They were in an unenviable position as they had no choice but to stay in Babylon – they could not go back to Jerusalem. God told them through Jeremiah’s letter to settle down, build houses and build a new life for themselves. They could choose though how they lived in Babylon; bitter and disappointed or believing that God did indeed have good plans for them.

Sometimes when things do not work out the way we had hoped especially in churches, the temptation is to get up and leave. Sometimes this is the right thing to do but often it is not. Leaving a church is never easy and should not be done lightly. We leave because God says it is time to move on not because someone has hurt and disappointed us. God brought his people back to Jerusalem in his timing and God will move us when it is right for us.

I have learned so much through the difficult and disappointing church moments even though I have not enjoyed them. Underlying the difficulties and disappointments is the thread that God has good plans for my life and I can trust him. So whatever the situation we are facing, wait for God and look to him for guidance, affirmation and approval. He will not let us down and his timing really is perfect.

Where there is no vision

Where there is no vision, the people perish Proverbs 29: 18

People with no vision just cannot see things no matter what you say. It is like a mist over their eyes. Today we went to a very beautiful part of the country and were told that the views were magnificent but we couldn’t see it because there was a heavy sea mist!  Fortunately the mist cleared, the sun came out and we discovered for ourselves how lovely the views were.

People with no vision are like that – no matter how much you try and explain what you know to be true they cannot see it. This can be the case for those who do not know the Lord yet. We try and explain how wonderful God is and how much he loves us but they just cannot see it. They need the Holy Spirit to blow away the mists of misunderstanding, deception, doubt and unbelief so they can see for themselves that what you say is true.  

However it can also be a problem for Christians who desperately need the revelation of God’s ways and vision for the future. Too often we are hampered by doubts and disappointments from the past when things may have not worked out the way we had hoped or when people have let us down.  We too need the Holy Spirit to blow away our doubts and disappointments and give us fresh vision so we can see the way ahead that God has planned for us.

As the verse shows, no vision means people perish – they have nothing to live for. Of course this does not necessarily mean literally but people’s hopes and dreams die when there is no vision. People’s faith begins to wither when there is no sense of purpose, calling or destiny. God wants us to have vision so let’s blow the dust off our past hopes and dreams and look afresh at what God has spoken over our lives. Let’s renew our destiny and calling.

I encourage you to go back and look at things that God has spoken directly to you or maybe others have told you and let God re-envision you with his hope and his plans for your future.

God's good plans

For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future  Jeremiah 29:11

I was reminded the other day of some great plan I had for our lives that I thought would bring us happiness. It never happened and would not have brought us the happiness I was looking for. That reminded me of some other ideas that we had unsuccessfully tried; none of which I am glad to say succeeded.

God has great plans for our lives but there are two things they are not. One is a plan that is the same for everyone. We all have the same destination but how we get there has endless variety. Secondly there is not one way that is the ‘right’ one for us and everything else is outside the will of God. The will of God for our lives is not that narrow.

The path to salvation is narrow and is only through Jesus Christ. After that the variety of how we walk this earthly path is hugely diverse. If you imagine taking a journey from your home to a destination several hours away, there can be many different routes to take. There is the fast but often uninteresting motorway route. There is a way that takes in some towns and villages which can be beautiful but full of traffic jams or there is the country byways route which meanders through all sorts of beautiful places but takes forever.  None of these routes is ‘right’ and the others ‘wrong’. They all have merit and God does not approve one over another. God’s time frame is often very different from ours – fastest is not necessarily the best.

There may be times when God says that one particular way is ‘wrong’ for instance in Acts 16: 6 – 11, Paul and his companions wanted to go into Bithynia but the Holy Spirit blocked them from travelling there because he wanted them to go and help out in Macedonia. The Holy Spirit has several times blocked our plans either because they are not good for us or usually because he has a far better plan.

God’s plans for our lives are good but there may be a variety of ways to achieve this. If we choose one way over another God will bless either and if we trust him he will keep us from things that will do us harm or take us on an unnecessary and undesirable diversions. The only time I have seen people following disastrous plans has been when they have not involved God in their choices or tried to work out God’s plans and purposes for their lives by themselves. God can even rectify these if we humbly come to him for forgiveness.

God is building character and fruit into our lives and turning us into the likeness of Jesus. There is an endless variety of ways he does this. We do not have to fear missing out on anything if we trust God and we can trust him that no matter how we achieve them, his plans are the best.  

I am being prepared for greater things in the days ahead.

 I am sure we are all familiar with Jeremiah 29:11, ‘For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ God spoke these encouraging words when the Israelites had been sent into exile and were probably wondering if they would ever go back home or if there was any hope for the future. Even in that situation God had good plans for his people.

In the same way, God really does have good things lined up for each of us.  Any parent wants the best for their children.  They invest all they can in education, training, character formation, helping them develop every skill they will need for the future.  They help their children develop their gifts and talents and teach them the skills of life and how to handle situations that may come their way.  Earthly parents often do not have much idea of what the future holds but they do their best to guide their children to be the best equipped they can be for what might lie ahead. 

If we then who are imperfect, who have limited resources and knowledge, will do that for our children, how much more will our loving heavenly Father who has all the resources and is omniscient (knowing everything) lead and guide his children into the future.  We can trust God to know what is best for us and he does know how to get us to our goal.  We can trust God with our destiny confident that he knows each of us intimately, knows our gifts and abilities and how best to use them.

It is important to have confidence in the future while enjoying and making the most of today.  It is even more important to be confident about the future if today is not going well.  If we sink into thinking that tomorrow may be worse than today and that all our tomorrows are destined for a steady decline into mediocrity and failure, depression will quickly grip us. God uses everything, the good and the bad, our successes and our failures to draw us deeper into his love and his plans. Everything that is happening today may be being used in preparation for what is coming in the future. 

If God really does have wonderful plans for our lives to give us a hope and a future, then whether today is a good or not so good day, we can be optimistic knowing that our loving heavenly Father holds our hands and our future.  Greater things await us.