Day 22: Blessed are those who mourn

Verse: Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 

Thought

To me, the mourning spoken of in this verse is not about mourning a physical death.  This is a calling for me to be repentant and see not only the consequences of my wrongdoing but into the real offences done to others.   I need to become aware of my personal offence to God and the pain that I have brought to others by my sinful behaviour.

When Joe has done something mean or naughty, or had a fight with one of his friends, I can see from his pale face and trembling lip that he is truly sad.  When he knows that he has been the one in the wrong, he hides himself in his room and weeps copiously.  And when he admits his “wrongdoing” to me and apologises to the offended party, I will cuddle him and love him and try to make him smile again.  When he is defiant and refuses to acknowledge it, we end up with general unhappiness in the house!

So it is with us and God.  We need to recognise our offending behaviour and if we come before God in apology and repentance, He forgives us and comforts us.  When we are defiant and wrongly justify our behaviour, it leads to unhappiness in the house.  It doesn’t lessen God’s love for us, but it is a barrier to a gentle and loving relationship with our father.

Prayer

Father God, I come before you as a humble sinner.  I am truly sorry for the things that I do that cause you unhappiness and pain.  give me the strength of character to recognise my wrongs and to try and be the person you long for me to be.

 

Day 21: Blessed are the poor in spirit

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Verse: Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 
Thought
I often hear this as “Blessed are the poor”, but it is “poor in spirit”.    This isn't about financial economics but about spiritual economics. Being poor in spirit is not being lazy or indifferent. "Poor in spirit" describes the result of being overwhelmed by personal problems or going through a personal moral crisis in which I realise I have really messed up.  I have been there and this was an awful place to find my self.  It was when I felt furthest from God and most afraid. And all aspects of my life seemed to be breaking apart.  It was that tummy dropping moment of realising that I was spiritually empty.  There was nothing to run my faith on.  I know that only by depending upon God can I fill that emptiness.
A person who is poor in spirit has no sense of self-sufficiency and recognizes they are empty. God wants us to come to Him in the knowledge that we are spiritually bankrupt.  We need to be emptied of our self importance so that we can carry the importance of God.
It may help to think about the opposite of "poor in spirit." The contrast would be "proud in spirit;" self-sufficient, arrogantly independent. There are lots of my friends and people I know who aren’t Christians, but who are good people.  They feel they don’t need God to give their lives direction, they are happy with their own moral standards.  This is the modern spirit of humanism or a view of life that is centred on man and his capacity to build a worthwhile life for himself and his fellows here and now. The emphasis is placed on man's own intellectual and moral resources, and the notion of supernatural religion is rejected. This is all very worrying if you live by the standards set by modern society.
I find this a frightening, but increasingly real attitude.  There is no respect for our creator.  I recently wrote to the BBC to complain about the constant use of “OMG” and the actual phrase “Oh my God” that is used on Children’s TV.  And the response was essentially “get over yourself and back into reality.  That is how children speak”.  (All a little politer than that though.) As Christians we need to keep ourselves filled with Gods’ spirit and wisdom and not that of the world.
Prayer
Oh my Father God, I pray that you would help me maintain balance in my life.  I pray that I would recognise when I am losing sight of You and focusing on the standards of the world.  Please prod me when I am justifying my actions and excusing my behaviours.  Let me try to live as You would have me live.  Keep my spirit poor and Yours rich in me.

Day 20: Salt and Light

 Verse: Matthew 5:13-16

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is not longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Thought
A Peanuts cartoon showed Peppermint Patty talking to Charlie Brown. She said, "Guess what, Chuck. The first day of school, and I got sent to the principal's office. It was your fault, Chuck." He said, "My fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?" She said, "You're my friend, aren't you, Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me."

When we say we are Christians, people tend to watch us. What do they see? What we say and do can have an influence on them. And it should. Jesus told us that we would have an influence in this world. He tells us this in the verses above. When we look at the Beatitudes at the beginning of Matthew 5 we are given the characteristics God wants us to live out.  

He calls us to be spiritually bankrupt before a Holy God, that we mourn over our sin.  We must be meek but not weak.  We should hunger and thirst after righteousness, and be merciful,  pure in heart and a peacemaker.  We may be persecuted for righteousness sake.  These things will help us be salt and light.

In the last census in the UK (2001), about 70% of the population claimed to be Christian. Yet statistics within the church show that only 2.4% attend church regularly.
Not only are those numbers frightening, but sadly the average Christian in the average church is almost indistinguishable from the rest of society. Not necessarily in some artificial and outward way, but rather in the basic moral and ethical difference that Christ can make in how we live. Within our Church we have people having affairs, hurting their families, cheating, lying etc.  Perhaps that is the reason why our influence has not been felt in a way that points people to Jesus.

Does your life make a difference? What kind of difference do you make? Jesus makes no bones about the fact that we should make a difference. When Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth" and "You are the light of the world", He made those verses a statement of fact. He did not say you should be the salt or you should be the light of the world. He said you are salt and light.

Prayer

Please make me make a difference Lord God.  Let me be full of Your salt and light, that others may see your goodness. Help me be part of a living and challenging church that can direct people to you

Day 19: Living in me

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Verse 1 John 1: 5-7

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from all sin.

Thought

I have had family to stay this weekend and it has been lovely.  We have welcomed them into our home and given them the run of the place.  While there is an element of formality having guest in your home, it is easier with family or close friends to say 'My home is yours, please feel free to make yourself comfortable.'

We have chatted, drunk gallons of tea, eaten laughed and shared.  They have packed dishwasher, cleared tables and helped tidy up.  There has been no burden in having them to stay.  And our relationship has grown stronger for it.

Why then, when we invite Jesus into our home, do we say 'My home is your home' and then shut him in the living room and ignore him?  Give him the odd cup of tea and quick chat and then go out again, leaving him on his own?  And definitely don't let him into the bedroom/study/bathroom......

When we invite God to live in us, we should give Him an 'access all areas' pass and love spending as much time with him as we can.  He should be that guest we totally open our lives too, who shares in every aspect of our day to day living.  He doesn't mind the mess and will gladly help us tidy up our lives.  We just need to let Him.

Let Him fling open the curtains in all the little dark rooms of your life, open the windows and let the freshness of the Holy Spirit fill them with living air.

Prayer

Father God, let me not be a bad hostess to you.  Please feel free to have access to all areas of my life.  Open curtains and show up the dust in the rooms I don't want to face.  Let me begin to spring clean my heart for You.

Day 18: Rejoice!

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Verse  Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ.

Thought

When Paul wrote this, he was sitting in a dark and filthy prison with the death sentence hanging over his head.  And yet he was able to shout Rejoice!

We are told that we should take our needs straight to God, not to be anxious, but to pray and give our worries to Him.  When we do put our trust in Him, He will give us the peace beyond all peace, the peace we long for.  

When I am worried or anxious, I become increasingly ratty and short tempered, not gentle at all!!  As for shouting Rejoice….just doesn’t happen! I find it incredibly difficult to hand over my worries.  I always hang on to them while paying lip-service to handing them over.  How liberating it would be if only I could let go!  You always read of stories where people have done exactly as Paul suggests.  They hand everything over and just trust that God will take care of them.  You hear of wonderful things that happen like exactly the right amount of money, the right job, the thing that is their greatest need being presented to them. 

But I’m sure that equally, people hand over things to God and the miracle cheque doesn’t arrive in the nick of time.  I am one of the people who harbour little doubts and find it very difficult to trust and let go. I worry about not worrying!   I need to just take that leap of faith and know that God has my best interest at heart and let Him take control.  Without keeping my foot on the brake pedal…….

Prayer

Father God, let me trust in you, not only in dark times but in good times too.  Let me shout Rejoice in the sure knowledge of Your love.  Please fill me with Your peace that transcends all understanding.  Guard my heart and mind in Jesus Christ.

Day 17: Love your enemy

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Verse:  Proverbs 25:21-22

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;  For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the LORD will reward you.

Thoughts

I have always struggled with these verses.  I get that we should give our enemies bread and water.  I understand the value in showing love and compassion to everyone.  The thought of physically piling coals onto your enemies head is a little gruesome - even for the old testament. 

I read somewhere that, in these times, there was a person who tended a fire all night and kept the hot coals burning.  In the morning he would walk the village, carrying the hot coals in a bucket on his head, an go from home to home giving them enough coals to start the fires they needed to get their own fires burning.

So maybe the kindness of feeding and watering your enemy is the equivalent of giving them those coals.  By treating him with kindness you are giving him the source of starting his own fires of kindness. The 'enemy' may then review the way he treats other people and recognise that he needs to change too. 

It is also telling us that God will reward us for treating our enemies with love and kindness.  He sees all we do and recognises the good that we do.

Imagine all people are God's children and your family - treat them as you would treat those you love.  It is the greatest commandment after all....

Prayer

Lord God, please help me treat everyone with respect and love.  Let me not be the enemy shamed into good behaviour, but let it be an intrinsic part of who I am.  Help me to show kindness and to share what I have.

Day 16: Keep on Running

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Verse Isaiah 40:30-31

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Thought

 

At the end of every week, I feel exhausted, mentally and physically.  Last night I felt physically exhausted having just completed a rather gruelling karate grading.  the above picture shows me at the end of the Bristol Half marathon - my tiredness is totally apparent!

My job can be emotionally draining as I deal with overworked people reaching the end of their tether.  I counsel exhausted people almost daily.  These days, people are expected to work longer hours and achieve a lot more for less and we overwork ourselves continuously.  And our body shouts STOP AND REST and we all too often ignore it.

We are not robotic super-humans.  We need to regain our strength.

The same can happen with our faith.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the ways we serve the Lord that we simply run out of the energy our faith needs to flourish and grow.  We can even start resenting that very service that we took on with  joy and eagerness. But in these verses God promises us that He will renew our strength.  When we feel weak He will feed and refuel us.  Rest in Him and let Him replenish your energy. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.- Matthew 11:28

Prayer

Father we confess that we are only human. We do get tired. But we have a God, that’s always willing to strengthen us.