Maturity through obedience

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death
even death on a cross! Philippians 2: 5 – 8

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. John 15: 10

I have been very challenged recently by the obedience of Jesus even to death on a cross. Jesus knew that the only way that sinful men, whom he loved so much, could be saved from sin and death was by his death at the hands of those very same sinful men.  It was sheer obedience to the Father that took him to and through the death on the cross.  Jesus had in mind the bigger picture, the salvation of the world, rather than his own personal comfort or desires.

This thought though can be rather overwhelming for those of us struggling with obedience on a much smaller scale. Jesus has set such a high standard that we feel we cannot get anywhere near so there can be a tendency to not even try especially when God seems to be asking us to do something that we find quite hard.
The first thing to remember though is that God knows how hard we find it and is only asking for our obedience because he knows we can do it, with his help. The second thing to remember is that there is always a greater good either for us or someone else or for both. God is not asking us to do something so we can fail but so we can succeed, even if it takes more than one attempt or even several attempts.

God is calling us up to higher things, to a Christ like nature, to maturity and that means obediently walking through some things we may find difficult. Most of us want a life where the flesh does not have to be constantly crucified but that is not the Christian walk. That walk is the one of denying ourselves daily.  Some go too far and are harsh on the body but Paul makes clear in Colossians 2: 23 that this has little value and some just like to indulge themselves. Neither is right.

Our path is one of obedience and some days and times that may be easy and at others very challenging; getting up early to go to the prayer meeting, fasting rather than eating that rather nice food in the fridge, going and talking to a stranger rather than our friends, making a stand against unrighteousness at work and so on. However God is spurring us on to something that will do us good, that will help us know him better and live the life he has planned for us. A self indulged child only thinks about themselves; a child brought up to consider others even when it is inconvenient is a joy to be around.

I am learning a hard truth that I do not need to look after me, to make sure I get what I need and even want. God will look after me and he will do a better job than I will even if it doesn’t always feel like it. Let us be encouraged to persevere in our training in righteousness and to press on to maturity through obedience.

You are not your own

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. I Corinthians 6: 20

It is very unfortunate that this week there have been pictures of a naked Prince Harry on the internet and now in one of the national newspapers. Everyone is saying he should be given privacy and he is just a young man on holiday enjoying himself with his friends.  However Prince Harry is not just a young man on holiday; he is a prince of the realm. No doubt he is very embarrassed and angry at the friend that took and then sold the photographs. Trust has been broken but for Prince Harry it is more than personal embarrassment, he has embarrassed the Royal Family. I am sure there will have been an apologetic phone call to the Queen.

In the same way, we too as Christians, do not have the liberty to behave in any way we choose.  Not only can it bring personal embarrassment but it also brings Christians and even more importantly the Lord Jesus into disrepute. Jesus death on the cross which has saved us and means we will spend eternity with him, is much more than that; it changes our lives. The power of sin is broken and we no longer want to live the old way. However, sin still has its grip on us and it takes time to break the power of old habits and old ways of thinking but Jesus is in the business of transformation.

God wants to transform our lives but it takes our co-operation. Too many Christians are happy to live with old sinful habits, ungodly beliefs bound by fear and rejection and the devil would like us that way too.  It keeps us bound and ineffective and a poor witness. The Holy Spirit is there to help us and work powerfully in and through us. We need to be active participants in our transformation seeking God’s help to be turned into the likeness of Jesus which is God’s desire.

Prince Harry will almost certainly grow out of some of this foolish behaviour but it will dog his life as he will always be in the public eye. We too need to go on to maturity, leaving behind our sinful ways and thoughts. We may not be in the public eye as Prince Harry is but our witness to our circle of friends and family is just as important. Let’s honour the Lord Jesus with our lives in all we do.

Growing to maturity

..until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:13

Have you ever been with a baby who is yelling their head off trying to make you understand what they want?  You know exactly what they want and it may be what they need but at that particular moment you cannot, for very good reasons, give them what they are demanding. Today we were driving home with our granddaughter and she was hungry but we couldn’t stop; she would just have to wait till we got home. She couldn’t understand that and you could see in her eyes that she did not know why we were not responding to her very obvious demands. 

Sometimes we can be like this with God and we go on and on at him and he knows exactly what we want or even need but for very good reasons we cannot have it. I remember the story of a church in USA which was desperate to put an illuminated big red cross on the top of their church. They felt this was a great witness to the Lord in their area and they prayed and raised money and eventually after great difficulty they were able to put up their illuminated red cross. They felt they had overcome all difficulties and been victorious. The next day the local airport contacted them and demanded the cross be removed immediately as it was a serious hazard to aircraft taking off and landing at the airport. Sometimes there are very good reasons why we do not get what we want.

There are times for overcoming but there are also times when we need to stop and ask God if there is a reason why we are not getting what we want or even need. It takes maturity to wait or even to realise that not getting something can be better for us in the long term.  God is not playing games with us. He will tell us if we will not be getting what we are asking for or have to wait for it. His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:9). It all comes back to trusting God that he wants to give us good things but like all good parents his idea of good and ours may not be the same and his timing and ours may very often be different.

Today if you are waiting for something, stop going on and on at God. He knows. Instead start thanking him that he will provide everything you need and a lot of what you want but in his timing. You can trust him. His way really is perfect

Consider it pure joy

‘Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’ James 1: 3 – 4

There are several times in the Bible when the believer is encouraged to rejoice in the face of trials or testings and persecution. For some this may be the very real possibility of losing their job, being ostracised from the family, being beaten, imprisoned or killed for their faith. When Peter and John were imprisoned and threatened by the Sanhedrin they came away rejoicing that they had been considered worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name (Acts 5: 41).

Most of us will not face these kinds of threats or persecution but we can nevertheless learn how to deal with our own difficulties.  The one thing we tend not to consider when we face trials is pure joy. The first thing tends to be anger, disappointment and frustration or irritation. We rail against the instrument of the trial whether that be a person or situation and probably have a rant and rave and if the person is close, we may then do the stony silence routine. There is definitely no rejoicing!

I have learned over the years that after the initial anger or frustration that I feel, I then ask God what is going on and what can I learn from this?  This takes things away from me and how I feel. Sometimes the devil is behind it and what looks like a person being mean, unkind or inconsiderate is actually the devil using a situation which we may have played a part in to bring division, discord and disharmony – his stock in trade.

Other times it is the weakness of the flesh, mine or another’s but nevertheless there are lessons to learn and fruit to grow. Our friend forgiveness opens the door to turning a horrible experience into a situation that develops faith, perseverance and brings us to maturity. Having forgiven and been forgiven by God, we can then attack the enemy, tell him to get off the situation and ask for healing and restoration.

I have seen many domestic tiffs miraculously turned around by this. Having dealt with your own frustrations and anger and asked God’s forgiveness, we can then go and apologise (often regardless of the rights and wrongs).  The transformation can be rapid and we will have grown in maturity. Instead of a stony silence and ‘I am hurt and you’re not helping’ attitude, normal service is resumed and we will have learned valuable lessons in love and grace. We will have stepped up from ‘poor me’ or worse still self righteous indignation to becoming mature men and women of God.

Sometimes of course the situation is more serious but the same principle of not feeling sorry for ourselves but looking to God to bring healing, restoration and spiritual growth in our lives is the same. There have been a couple of times when our pastors (of many years ago) treated us quite badly and were quite inconsiderate and hurtful. I felt so let down and disappointed but managed to find forgiveness and let God heal my heart. At the time a friend told me that in years to come, I would be glad about what had happened which seemed unbelievable at the time. Now looking at the situation, I can rejoice over what was so painful and over which I shed many tears. I learned so much about trusting God not man to bring good out of situations. I have grown and so has my perseverance and faith.

Several times Jesus and the apostles talk of rejoicing in difficulties and trials because of the maturity they bring to our faith. When we face trials, let us use them as a step up to greater levels of grace and maturity and let us see them not as an obstacle but as an opportunity to grow into Christ like character.