Lining up with reality

I have been doing some study of the ten commandments lately.

One point I've seen is this: that the first "table" (commandments 1-4) are in part about lining up with reality.

If I said to you, "You shall have no other gods before me" or "Do not take my name lightly on your lips, or you will be guilty", you'd justifiably take me for a raging egomaniac. I'd be asking you to live out a lie. I have no worthiness, either inherently or through my inglorious actions, to receive such treatment from you.

But when God gives such commandments, there is no fault in him. He is calling us to reality - to recognise the true order of the universe. He is calling us to live according to how things really are.

In the first commandment, he calls us to have no other gods before him: because he is the one true living God. We are summoned to worship him, because worship of our Maker, Sustainer, Saviour and Judge is the foundation for a right view of all reality. There is no other like him: therefore we should not give any that place either.

In the second commandment, he tells us to avoid use of our imaginations in worship, and to worship him strictly according to his revealed will; and in particular, not to imagine that he is adequately represented by any part of the material creation. He is far more glorious and exalted than we can conceive. His excellence cannot be captured in any created thing. Our lives should reflect this wonderful truth and testify to it.

In the third, he tells us that his name is highly exalted and should be rightly hallowed. There is nothing common about him; everything to do with him is holy. In all of worship (and thus in all of life), he must be given unique and unceasing honour - and not to do so is a serious error. He deserves a dignified, awe-filled approach to life in his world from us, because of his awesomeness.

I have not moved on to my study of the fourth yet, but it is easy to see how it carries out - I will leave that to you! But the point is this: the "first table" of the law lays down, amongst other things, the true order of reality. Unless your life reflects it, you are not simply sinning, or breaking a command that's hard to keep, but you are living in God's world in an unreal way; you are living a delusion, a lie. God does not call us to worship him because of some emptiness or need in himself; he calls us to build on the one true foundation for life - the only route to true joy. He tells us of the foundations that he built our world upon: his own glory. A man who thinks his wife is a tree or that his cat is his son is hardly likely to enjoy the true joys of marriage or family. Neither can a person who neglects the ten commandments.

And when we see this depth in the commandment, we face a fact: how far short we must have fallen, and how gracious the Lord Jesus Christ must be. How he must have suffered to bring us back to God in the face of our neglecting of these holy requirements!

American edition of "Should Christians Embrace Evolution?"

Presbyterian & Reformed publishing company are publishing an edition of "Should Christians Embrace Evolution?" (to which I contributed a chapter) for the American market next month - and it's available for pre-order from Amazon.com already: http://www.amazon.com/Should-Christians-Embrace-Evolution-Scientific/dp/1596382309

Keep plodding

Another year rolls round, and I inevitably recall one of my most memorable days, the 125-mile 1998 Devizes to Westminster ("DW") canoe marathon. I can't imagine I will ever see "April 10th" approaching on the calendar and not remember that day.

One reason I won't forget it is because of some of the lessons I learnt along the way.

One of those lessons is, keep plodding on. If you keep moving forward, then the end will keep getting closer, and must at some point eventually arrive. There's hurt; there's trouble; but nothing worthwhile is achieved in either the world or the kingdom without going through those barriers. Those who raise mind over matter will get the medal; those who do not, won't. In most walks of life, there are lots of people who are less talented, but who get their anyway because they refuse to believe they are defeated. Talent is a great blessing, but determination can make up for a lot. Simple observation teaches us this useful truth.

Some people are more determined by nature than others. They have been blessed by God with an extra measure of this grace from birth. But in every Christian, we should be growing in our focus and resolve year by year. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit; the ability to take ourselves in hand and say "I will make sure I see this through" is a blessing we can seek and expect to grow in if we walk rightly. Whether in pursuits that only have value in this life, or ones with eternal value, to lack resolve is the road to failure. Because Christ is risen, we are not doomed to fail in the areas of life that he gives us opportunities to do something beneficial in. Despite a thousand setbacks and disappointments, God remains the God who raises the dead and does the impossible. In the work of the gospel in Kenya, the task to be done is absolutely immense and our resources in ourselves are nothing. But God can do anything, and our job is to plod on and trust him.

Perhaps someone thinks that the connection between canoeing and gospel preaching is tenuous. Not at all; God made every part of human life. He teaches us many things in different ways. I learnt in a very practical way from my canoeing and my coach that patience and determination open many doors to us that are otherwise closed. That's a lesson I hope I'll be able to use for the kingdom. How about you?

Where atheism takes you

A C Grayling is one of the media atheists - a professor of philosophy who also writes frequently in the press.

Look at this article and note:

1. The sheer empty hopelessness of Grayling's creed.
2. His sheer heartlessness in the face of a genuine tragedy.

I for one am glad atheism isn't true.

Missions and dependency

Telling quote here from missiologist David Hesselgrave (“Planting Churches Cross-Culturally: North America and Beyond”, Baker Academic, 2000, p340-341):

“ME-3 illustration: Two churches are located within a few miles of each other in a certain Asian country. One was founded some twenty-five years ago by a dear missionary lady who appealed for support from the homeland but did no more than pass the collection plate in her congregation of nationals. The other was started somewhat later by a missionary and national pastor working as a team. In this church, as soon as people became believers, they were instructed concerning stewardship and challenged to give so God's work might prosper. Several years ago leaders of both churches were interviewed. Both congregations include some prominent and well-to-do people within their membership. But the first congregation had about thirty members and an average Sunday offering of about ten to twenty dollars. It was still without a pastor because the members “could not afford” to hire one. The second congregation numbered almost two hundred members and had an average Sunday offering of fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars. And in addition, it was starting two daughter churches!”

What has Christianity got to do with mathematics?

Just added to my website: "What has Christianity got to do with mathematics?". This article aims to give a brief, non-technical answer to the given question.

Your family is your work, and your delight

Ever heard someone say... "because of work, I have little time for family?"

Amongst pastors, ever read one of those book dedications where the author apologises to his family for neglecting them whilst he worked at it? The most "memorable" one such I ever read was at the front of a book on holiness...

According to God, a man's family is his work. You can't neglect your family in favour of your work any more than you can neglect your health for the good of your body, or omit to brush your teeth whilst pleasing your dentist.

I find this thought a big help because the temptation comes to all men. We've started a task or twenty tasks, and then comes an "interruption" - another one! - from family. "How will I ever get the work done", the man wonders. Remembering that the "interruption" is itself his work - his God-given appointment, his holy calling in God's earth - helps us get over mental hurdles. Ultimately God appoints every task we have, and if he's now called us away from one to the other, what is the problem? Is it not right that he sets the schedules, not us?

And if we think Biblically, then the work which earns our daily bread is of much less true value than the work which bequeaths godly people to the world to serve it. A great career might earn you a stack of cash and a gold retirement trinket at the end (though we trust you also fulfilled your God-given vocation to his glory on the way!). All this is left behind at last. But your family can be a real gift to the world that lasts and lasts - to a thousand generations! Even if your "career" is spreading the Word, ultimately no convert or student can be influenced by you to influence the world like your family can.

Once we are set free from the tyranny of the secularist belief that work is real life and family is an often-unaffordable luxury, we are set free to delight in one of God's greatest treasures and pleasures. I ran some running races after tea against my eldest today. A simple pleasure, but worth more than words can express and more than can be counted in money. Smiles, fellowship, a bond strengthened in a simple way; it's an investment where you can't see the worth growing by observing anxiously, but whose worth is obvious to all with eyes in the end. At times, and often, it takes faith to measure the value of patiently persevering with all the trials of daily life in a family; but the rewards of a Christian family are abundant in this life as well as the life to come.

Interupt work for family? Interupt work for a glorious work, and a true delight.