Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], May 2021]

Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.

I wonder what kind of worrier you are. Do you have anxieties about all kinds of little things or are you the kind of person that saves your worries for real calamities? You might even be the kind of person that has to think about a worst possible scenario every day in case it happens, just to make sure you’re ready for it.

Worrying seems to be part of the human condition, we all do it. The habit of worrying can take over our thought patterns, sap us of energy and stop us enjoying our life. We all know worrying isn’t good for our mental or physical health so how can our God relationship help us to live closer to the way our father originally planned?

You’re probably all familiar with these words of Jesus from Matthew’s gospel: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden light.”

My favourite account of these words comes from the Message version of the Bible and they bring home to me even more God’s desire for us to live free from our own deep concerns and worries. “Are you tired, worn out? Come to me, get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me, watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you, keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

What truly amazing words! That whatever paws at us and perturbs us in our day, whoever needs our attention, whatever difficult decisions we need to understand or make, whatever questions we cannot answer, these things can weigh lightly on us in a way that keeps our spirit settled and secure, and with the confidence that comes from knowing that God has everything in hand.

In recent years as I have taken on great responsibility for the lives and well-being of others. In my work life and home life I’ve needed to learn how to give up the things that so easily weigh me down and take up that light burden instead. I’ve found that the key to doing something differently is to always transform or change the way that I think first. Simply put, just get those words into my mind so that they are just as prominent as the way I breathe. Thank you, God, that I can come to you when I’m worn out, I can walk with you and you’ll show me the way to do it. You won’t lay anything ill-fitting on me, you will help me to live freely and lightly.

Once the words are in my mind, I ask for them to move to my heart so that I have a full understanding of what they mean so I can really live them out. I remember vividly God reminding me that he never slumbers or sleeps but he is always able to work on the things that are concerning me when I’m tired or unwell or asleep, and the outcome doesn’t depend solely on my efforts. God invites me to be a co-worker in what he’s doing and I can definitely play a part but he is the centre point, the kingpin, not me.

Once this head realization moved to my inner being I found I was able to still care deeply about situations and people but in a way that didn’t become heavy and burdensome. The habit of worrying was displaced by the habit of giving up the burdens to God and trusting him to keep working on them even when I no longer could.

Do you need to discover how to walk with a light burden? It’s absolutely for us all; just ask if you can keep him company. He’ll never say no to that.

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[1] YouTube link: The Light Burden
Bible references: Matthew 11 v28-30
 

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube^[1], May 2021]

Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been thinking about how God prompts us to pray for people that are on his heart and we have been practising blessing others and doing them good by speaking through the acronym ‘b l e s s‘ bless – asking for God to do people good in their body, in their labour, their emotions, their social and spiritual relationships.

Today we’re going to think about how we can pray for people and have a good attitude towards them if for some reason we don’t naturally get along or if the relationship isn’t at all easy. It could be a work colleague, a family member, a political figure or well-known personality. It might even be someone that we once got on with well but the relationship or friendship has broken down or failed. I’m sure we can all think of people that we struggle with. Is it possible to pray for these people in the way we do for those that are naturally on our hearts?

I suppose we could just ignore these people in situations – at least we’re not purposefully hurting them. It seems to me though that this isn’t an option for a follower of Jesus. Those famous words of Jesus ring in my ears: “Love your enemies and pray for those that do you harm”.

Is that even possible, humanly speaking? When we look at the world around us both near and far it doesn’t look at all possible. But I believe that when we choose to ask God to come in and help rather than taking the easier option of ignoring or giving into bad thoughts, he does come alongside and show us surprising possibilities that were not at all on our radar. When I am in this situation struggling with the relationship there are two questions I dare to ask God that he always seems to answer.

First, I ask him to show me how he sees the person, not in their failed state but how God created their inner person before life did harm to them. In other words, I’m asking God “Why do you like this person, what is so amazing about them?”

Then I ask him to show me what has happened to them to make them the way they are, the things that have formed the negative characteristics that may cause problems both for the person and for those around them.

The result of this is always the same: God softens my heart towards them. I often find I can be with them happily or I can be in the same place and not be affected by the feelings associated with that person previously. Over time I find that rather than choosing to ignore the difficulties I can acknowledge them and pray and bless the person, honestly wanting the best for them. God is full of surprises; he can and does make important relationships happen when we least expect it. He can even rebuild relationships that we think are irretrievably broken.

God is all about making damaged relationships whole. After all, that is the main message of the cross on which our faith firmly stands.

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[1] YouTube link: Surprising Relationships
Bible references: Matthew 5 v44
 

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.