One Stumble at a Time

One stumble doesn’t mean the end of the road.

When people fall, the surrounding reactions are varied – some point and laugh; some stand by, uncertain what to do. Others quickly avert their eyes and hurry past, pretending they didn’t see; while yet others simply sigh in disappointment that their heroes, who seemed to always have the perfect balance, in fact proved to be only too human.

And yet some will stoop down, take the grazed hands and gently help the fallen up, while murmuring encouragement, conscious of the many times they themselves have fallen. Sometimes publicly, to much ridicule, sometimes in private, with only the courage born of the knowledge of God’s grace and the comfort of the Holy Spirit’s company to dust off the hurt and the dirt.

They are mindful of their own imperfect humanity and the help given them, with the only valid response being to share this unconditional love and compassion.

All of this may remind you of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37. That parable has often been explained as a lesson to help those in physical need – as an example of reaching out to the hurt and the homeless and the hopeless.

These are all accurate and valuable teachings, but have you ever thought of the injured man in the story as an upright Christian leader, admired and respected by all, who has been ambushed and deceived by the allure of Satan’s lies and temptations? Who has been robbed of his dignity and righteousness by the rough and greedy hands of sin?

That is why it is important to remember that all are born with gifts and the great capacity to be used by God. When one is doing good, instead of praising them, praise God, who is working through them, and encourage them to remain faithful and available to the Holy Spirit’s guidance; for if you confuse the good works with the do-gooder, you will confuse the sin with the sinner. Hence the saying, hate the sin and not the sinner.

It is without doubt disappointing when someone you’ve looked up to and trusted, makes a mistake and loses their way. But that is when they need your support and encouragement the most. When they need to be reminded that God’s love covers over a multitude of sins (James 5:20, 1 Peter 4:8) and that there are brothers and sisters in Christ to walk the road with them. And yes, even to help each other up when we fall.

(Hebrews 3:13)

Worthy of Cake

Wow. I am in agreement with so much of what Pastor Jason Render preached on Sunday! I’ve been thinking on it all week and being inspired.

I must admit that I have also felt guilty sometimes when I consider how blessed I am. Sometimes it doesn’t seem fair that there are good things happening in my life and that God is opening doors and showering me with gifts when others are struggling to keep food on the table or a roof over their head, while yet others are in situations to dire for me to even imagine.

I feel so unworthy – I know myself and what I’ve done and the kind of person that I am – and that kind of person doesn’t deserve such favour.

And yet, when God looks at me, all He sees is His beautiful child, the work of His Hands, His Creation and He can’t help but love and give and shelter. This is not because of anything that I have done or possibly could do, but because when He looks at me, He sees me through His Son. He sees me through a Jesus-filter that purifies me and polishes me until I glow with value and worth, like a diamond in a coating of coal.

Imagine rough, coarse and dirty flour – it may be suitable for baking the casual bread, but one would never consider it worthy of baking into a cake. Yet if it is sifted – meticulously and painstakingly sifted – it will be rid of impurities and dirt, resulting in a soft, smooth, pure flour that is perfect and worthy for cake-baking.

Without Jesus as my sieve I am, and always will be, rough, coarse and dirty flour. There is nothing I can do to change it, except ask Jesus to sift me every day – decontaminating, purifying and justifying me – to make me useful and worthy. So that when God looks at me through the Jesus-sieve He sees something good and pleasing.

So that when He looks at me He will say, “Yes, this I can make into a big, creamy, chocolatey cake.”

Winging It

I don’t know what God’s plan for my life is. Or at least not the whole plan. I can guess at certain elements it may include, considering the talents and environments I’ve been given. But right now I’m not even sure what the next step is.

Sometimes I wish that my Heavenly Father would just reveal it all to me – maybe in a nice visual flowplan, depicting exactly what’s going to take place and when and how I need to behave. At times it seems that would simplify everything and take all the pressure off trying to live off the cuff. After all, planning is biblical.

But when I’m honest with myself, I know that it’s to our benefit that God does not usually reveal His plans more than one step at a time.

If you knew what was coming, would it honestly relieve the pressure?

Wouldn’t you worry more about how to handle the situation that’s coming up? Wouldn’t you spend hours planning how to behave and agonising over whether you’re strong enough or skilled enough or godly enough to handle the circumstances successfully?

Matthew 6:34 says that one should not worry about tomorrow, as each day has enough worries of its own.

Right now I can certainly testify to the truth in that. With everything that’s going on today, I couldn’t handle the stress of trying to figure out how to cope with whatever’s coming in the next few months or weeks or even the next few days!

Living God’s plan one step at a time is certainly more exciting than being able to predict the end of the story. It is also comforting in a way, because you know that as long as you’re relying on God to reveal the plan, He’s always going to be around. When you don’t know what’s lurking around the corner you’re not likely to let go of God’s Hand and give Him the “Thanks, but I can take it from here” treatment.

More likely you’re going to be squeezing His fingers with all the might of your sweaty little hands and surreptitiously edging into the shelter of His empowering wings. As long as you’re there, you know you’ll always be safe, no matter where you go or what you face.

So I’ve learnt to plan my course, but let God direct my steps.

A 25-hour God

I heard such a great message this weekend – and the funny thing is that it was an impromptu, unplanned contingency sermon when the original plan hit a few snags. The Hand of God, perhaps?

It’s always heart-warming to be reminded of something that you yourself can testify to, having experienced it in your own life, but that’s since gathered cobwebs in the corner of your mind with the passing of time.

Once again I find myself with more gristle on my plate than time on my hands and the way through, if there is one, is not in plain sight. But I know that whatever needs to be done will get done and I’ll have time for the things I really want to do after I’ve done all the things that I really have to do!

I can say this with full confidence, speaking from experience, because when you seek the Kingdom of God first, keeping your relationship and quality time with Him your main priority, despite not seeming to have the time for it, He will make, not only your cup, but also your hourglass runneth over!

So forget the Bar-Ones, God’s the only thing that has ever given me a twenty-five hour day!

Unpredictably Consistent

It seems to me that God is easier to understand than most human beings.

While there is certainly more to God than there is to any person, and indeed more to God than anyone could ever comprehend, God is far more consistent than any human being.

But make no mistake – consistent does not mean predictable!

God will never cease to surprise you in the way that He participates in your life. He will answer prayers, make interventions, open and close doors and give guidance sometimes in a way so lateral and oblique to your way of thinking that you may not even recognise His Hand in your life unless you consciously seek it or trust it to be there.

But once you see Him in the twists of your life’s path, what He does will just MAKE SENSE in a way that people’s actions never will.