WITH STRINGS ATTACHED (A Parable)

There was once a rich widower who fell desperately in love with a beautiful young woman from a poor family. He watched her from a distance, as she went about her daily life, rejoicing with her when she was happy and weeping for her when she was sad. He would leave anonymous gifts for her and her family and enjoy from afar as they marvelled at his bounty. He decided to build a beautiful house for her, high up on the mountain, with spectacular views and every comfort she could wish for. When it was ready, he sent his own son to tell her of his love for her and to invite her to visit him, but she didn't believe him and sent him away.

The widower didn't give up, though, he kept sending his servants to her with tokens of his love and invitations, but the young woman had come to the attention of a group of wealthy students, who were captivated by her beauty and would invite her to their lavish parties, so she ignored the messengers.

Eventually, however, the parties began to lose their appeal, she was bored with all the insincerity and shallowness and she began to look for something more, something real. The next time one of the widower’s messengers came, therefore, she invited them in and listened. The messenger told her all about the widower and how much he loved her and wanted her to be his wife and live in the beautiful house with him. The messenger described it for her and how amazing it was to live there. The woman listened enraptured and began to visualise what it would be like to live there, but then a shadow crossed her face,

“It's so far away”, she said, “What if my friends invite me to a party? I won't be able to go. Can't he build me a house here? That seems much more reasonable. Then, if my friends want me to party with them, I can go and then come back to him after?”

“You would be his wife,” the messenger said, “you must be faithful to him, if you want to live in his house.”

Sadly, the woman led the messenger to the door. “I'm sorry,” she said, “but that doesn't seem fair to me. It's my life - I want to be able to live it as I choose. If he really loved me, he'd let me live in the beautiful house he built for me without any strings attached. I don't see why I should have to be faithful to him!”

The messenger took the woman's words back to the widower, who bowed his head, heartbroken.

**God has made a way for us to live with Him in His House (Heaven), and he desperately wants us there, but He's not just offering us lodgings, He wants a relationship with us - and relationship, by its very nature, comes with “strings attached”.

Isn't that what we're all really seeking - CONNECTION?**

Standing in the Breach

Have you noticed how easy it is to get angry about things that affect us or those close to us? As Christians we often see anger as a sin - something to suppress - and spend our time smiling through gritted teeth, pretending that we are not at all annoyed by that person’s rudeness - of course we're not, after all we’re redeemed! And, of course, we are redeemed, but we’re not perfected yet.

Suppressing our anger can be just as destructive as letting it have its head. Suppressed anger builds inside us like hot lava in a volcano and we all know what that can lead to!

KingdomHigh.com

There’s no point in pretending that we don't get angry and annoyed, but, when we do, we need to stop for a moment and reflect: does our anger stem from our own selfish desires? Do we need to lay these down and consider the other person or people in the situation? Perhaps our anger is directed at bad behaviour on the part of others and is justified, but, in this case, can we not extend the same grace to that person as we have received from God? When we allow the Holy Spirit to change our perspective, we’ll find that we begin to have very different reactions to things.



This said, however, I believe that there are times when should be angry and situations that we need to get angry about - I'm speaking of righteous anger. Jesus (who was without sin, remember) got angry at certain situations. In fact, on at least one occasion that we know about, He actually lost it! (Matthew 21:12-17) When He saw the way the money changers were exploiting the poor and keeping them from coming to the temple to worship, He was furious and moved to do something about it - and He didn't do it quietly! He was angry at what they were doing and He let them know it! Afterwards the blind and the lame came to Him there to be healed (verse 14) and the children were shouting praise to God in those very temple courts (verse 15). Jesus saw an injustice and He stood in the breach for those people. Later, on the cross, He would stand in the breach for all of us.

I believe, fervently, that what Jesus did in the temple courts that day is what we, His followers, are called to do - to STAND IN THE BREACH for those who are suffering injustice. Let our voices be heard loudly and stridently, not in condemnation of the personal behaviour of those who don't yet know God’s love and grace, but in defence of those who are not able to defend themselves. And let our voices be followed by ACTIONS. There are so many people in our world today suffering barbarity, humiliation, displacement and hatred - it is we, the Church of Jesus Christ, His followers, those redeemed by His saving grace, who should be crying out in defence of these people and providing, where we are able, for their needs.


Let's stop trying to argue right and wrong with a fallen world and let's start putting our efforts into showing God’s love and compassion to needy people - it's what our Lord and Saviour did - “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37)


Churches Together - How Churches are Responding to the Refugee Crisis

Christian Aid - Refugee Crisis Appeal

Syrian Refugees coming to USA - A Christian Response - Chrisaomministries

Sign the Petition: Refugees Welcome - initiated by students from a Spanish School

Be More Dog

It's a few years now since Orange launched its inspired ad campaign telling us all to “be more dog”, so perfectly pitched at Britain, a nation of confirmed dog-lovers. As well as being a very successful promotional tool for them, they also inadvertently, or perhaps 'advertently', hit on a real spiritual truth. As a passionate dog-lover and owner myself, I am very aware that my own pampered pooch has a great deal to teach me about how I can relate to Father God and my attitude to life in general.

1. “Trust in the Lord with all your Heart” (Proverbs 3:5)

The first and most obvious lesson comes from her absolute devotion to and trust in me. It is complete and unwavering and, fortunately for her, it is not misplaced – I love her dearly and do my best to take care of her. However, I know that her devotion does not depend on my actions and that she would be just as devoted and trusting if I treated her badly. Unfortunately, dogs rarely get the chance to choose their owners, but we, on the other had, are able to choose who, or what, we put our trust in. If you take the time to consider the plight of neglected and mistreated dogs, it will perhaps bring home to you how important a choice this is and to think about where exactly you have placed this trust – for, without a doubt, you have placed it somewhere, even if you have never consciously made the decision!

I am happy to say, after 30+ years of placing my trust in the God who created the world and everything in it and who sent His Son, Jesus to die on a cross for me, I know that trust is not misplaced. He has given us many promises through His Living Word, the Bible – promises that reveal His true nature, His unwavering devotion to us His children – and, if you make the choice to walk His path, you will find, as I have done, that they make for a firm foundation. If you're interested in finding out more about the promises God makes in the Bible, here's a link.

2. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)

There is nothing my little doggy likes more than snuggling up alongside me on the sofa – she wants to be with me and she'll stay there for hours while I'm working on the laptop or watching TV. If I go into another room, she follows me and if she can't sit beside me wherever I am, then she'll curl up somewhere close. I don't need to be giving her attention or playing with her, she is content as long as she is near me. For me, the verse above is saying exactly that – God says to us: “Stop doing for a moment and just be with me.” He wants nothing more than to bless us with His presence – for us to rest in His perfect peace. He created us to be in relationship with Him – in Genesis 3:8 God was taking a walk in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the evening and, obviously, was expecting Adam and Eve to join him, most likely because this was a regular thing they did together. We have a yearning within us to comune with our Creator in this way – to be accepted by the One who knows us intimately – and He yearns for the same thing.

3. “Wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14)

If there's one thing a domestic dog has to learn, it is to wait for its owner. There are always times when we have to go out and leave our dogs “home-alone” and they must wait for us to return. My dog has learned to use those times to catch up on some zzz's – since she can't do anything else, she sleeps the time away until we return. If we have learnt to trust absolutely, as in point one, then we accept that God knows what He is doing and that His timing is perfect, so the logical next step is to learn to wait in perfect peace.

4. “Ask and you will receive” (John 16:24)

Having said my dog knows when she has to just settle down and wait for me, she certainly is not afraid to ask for the things she wants. She makes it abundantly clear when she is ready for her food, when she wants to play with her ball and that she thinks that pizza really should be doggy food. When it comes to things that she is confident she can expect, such as her food, she has no problem being persistent – for instance, she will sometimes sit in the kitchen and bark non-stop until she gets our attention and someone comes to feed her. In the verse above, as in the parable of the Persistent Widow, God gives us permission to be persistent in our petitions – when we get to know His heart through His Word, we can confidently and persistently ask our loving Heavenly Father to step in, knowing that He always hears us.

5. “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)

And finally, we come to the lesson dogs can teach us that Orange based its advertising on, ie the way they throw themselves whole-heartedly into everything they do. Watching my dog chase a stick, you would think it was the best thing to do in the whole world and the way she throws herself into protecting her garden demonstrates real commitment, especially considering she is only 15 inches high – a fact which doesn't seem to deter her in the slightest! Never forget: in ALL things God is able to bless us ABUNDANTLY – in ALL things “we are more than conquerers” - and in ALL things “God works for the good of those who love Him.” (Romans 8:37 and 8:28) In ALL THINGS! If we really get hold of that truth, we too will whole-heartedly throw ourselves into ALL that we do!

Losing Yourself

I passed a poster advert the other day which read: “Perderse sin perder el norte” - this roughly translates as “Lose yourself without losing your way” - and I began to ponder how pertinent this is to our walk with the Lord. Our journey with God is an exercise in releasing control to Him. The first step is always our acknowledgement of our need of Him and that our self-sufficiency – our attempt to live our own lives without reference to our Creator – is essentially the root of all sin. Thankfully, Jesus died on the cross to deal with this and all we need to say is “Yes, please Lord!” for Grace to become the foundation of our journey.

However, loosely quoting Churchill, this is not the end, nor is it the beginning of the end, it is merely the end of the beginning. Our need for control is extremely deep-rooted and, if we don't daily lay it down, we will very easily find ourselves “taking back the reigns” of our lives - and our Western world will applaud us for it! Our society worships self-sufficiency - “control your own destiny”, “life is what you make it”, “do what makes you happy” are all popular tag-lines today, but we are called to a very different way of life – we are called to “lay down our lives” as our Saviour did before us.

Sadly, we don't become immune from our controlling natures when we give our lives to God and, over the ages, the Church has succumbed many times, becoming, at best, a tool of social control and, at worst, a medium for unscrupulous people to gain power and wealth at the expense of others. It is so sad to see organisations which were started by people whose sole desire was to serve God, in a position where they have done and are doing more to defame the Lord's Name than to proclaim it.

Nevertheless, there, but by the Grace of God, go all of us! It is so easy to fall into the trap of doing things WE think will be good for God, instead of waiting for Him to lead. So many Christians, who started out on fire for the Lord, end up burnt out from getting caught up in DOING the things they they think they should FOR God, instead of concentrating on BEING the person He wants them to become. This is always to our benefit – the person He wants us to be is the BEST version of ourselves, the one we were CREATED to be. If we lose ourselves in Him, we won't lose our way or our identity – it is, in fact, the ONLY way to truly FIND ourselves.