Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This Reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, October 2019]

Being a disciple of Christ can seem like a technical term. A disciple is a follower, or a pupil. Christ says that people will know we are His disciples if we have love for each other. Faced with the same troubles and uncertainties as everyone else, we should react with grace. That’s not easy. We’ve learnt to respond to those who hurt us by hitting back as hard, or perhaps, harder; to life’s events with cynicism, to think the worst of people.

Romans 12 tells us not to conform to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It is easy to conform. We have been doing this for so long, it now comes naturally. To expect that we would be able to change this habit of a lifetime ourselves is to set ourselves up for failure. We need God’s help. He is willing to give it. Christ said “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15 v 7-8)

We are currently going through a preaching series on the theme of ‘living sacrifices’ and Ken Cowell from Lee Street Church spoke last week and said that “worship is to put God first”. That has stayed with me and made me realise that I usually try to fit God into my daily schedule – often with difficulty – rather than giving my day to Him and asking Him to direct my steps. On occasions when I have asked for His help, I have found that things worked out much better and even if they didn’t turn out as I had planned, I was still blessed with His peace at the outcomes.

I attended a meeting this last weekend with a few members from Horley Baptist and people from other churches, where the focus was looking at how to live out our lives as disciples of Christ not just in the time we spend at Church, but also with the rest of our time spent away from Church. The point was made that of the 168 hours in the week, we spend on average, 48 hours sleeping, 10 hours in Church and 110 hours awake and away from Church, interacting with family, friends, people at work, etc. These have been described as our ‘frontlines’.

I personally find it difficult often to recognise God in the ‘day to day’ events away from Church. Not that He isn’t there, it’s just that my focus is on other things and it is unusual that I pause long enough to see His hand in encounters I have. In the busyness of life, Jesus took time to rest. I need to learn how to do this, to appreciate God’s presence, to pause and tell Him ‘thank you’.

So, as we go into the week ahead, my prayer is that we try to put God first in all we do; try to involve God in all aspects of our lives and try to recognise Him outside Church – that’s where we spend most of our lives, it would be odd to leave Him out of that. It might seem impossible to do this, but only if we look to do it in our own strength. By His grace however, we can.

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[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 30/Jun/2019]

Do you remember Mephibosheth? He had one of those polysyllabic Old Testament names that would confine him to a walk-on bit-part in history, except that Mephibosheth could not walk; a childhood accident had left him lame in both legs. How many of us have been the victims of apparently minor accidents or made seemingly-simple mistakes only to find that the consequences have affected the rest of our lives?

King David remembered Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan, David’s best friend when they were young men together. After Jonathan died David sought to honour his friend’s memory by providing for any of his children who might be in need. This was very counter-cultural for that time; the usual expectation would be the banishment of any of the previous king’s family, to discourage any challenge to the throne. As a result of David’s love for Jonathan, Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem and ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons. (2Samuel ch 9 v13)

Do you think that Mephibosheth ever woke up one morning and said to himself – “I don’t want to go to the palace today. I feel so embarrassed and insignificant amongst all those valiant men talking about what they have achieved in the king’s service. I have nothing of value to contribute. Maybe I’ll ask the palace to send up a take-away.”
Do you ever wake up on a Sunday morning and say to yourself – “I don’t want to go to church today. I feel so embarrassed and insignificant amongst all those spiritual people talking about what they have achieved in the King’s service. I have nothing of value to contribute. Maybe I’ll go online and listen to the sermon later.”

Mephibosheph’s absence would have been noted; he had a place reserved for him. You too have a place reserved for you. Maybe not a specific chair in a certain row with your name on it but rather a place in the heart of God and amongst the people of God. His love for you has removed the threat of banishment and, as for those accidents and mistakes, it may well be that your experiences will allow you to make a valuable contribution to the lives of those around you.
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