Psalm 51

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 NIVUK http://bible.com/113/psa.51.10.NIVUK

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Psalm 51:17 NIVUK
http://bible.com/113/psa.51.10-17.NIVUK

Righteousness... Right relationship

. ‘Righteousness’ is ultimately about right relationships – a right relationship with God and right relationships with others. In the New Testament, we come to understand that this righteousness is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ

Mess-age

For all of us, like Peter, our mess of yesterday can become our mess-age today. Our test can become our testimony.

Just showing up!

‘Eighty per cent of life,’ according to Woody Allen, ‘is just showing up.’ So much of life is simply the set of circumstances we find ourselves in – things happen to us. For example, our parents, our genetic design, the weather, much of our education and our government are all things that we experience as ‘happening to us’.

Prayer as active participation

Prayer takes place in the middle voice. Prayer cannot be in the active voice because it is not an action I control. That would be a pagan concept of prayer: we make the gods do our bidding with incantations and rituals. Prayer is not in the passive voice either, in which I slump passively into the impersonal and fated will of gods and goddesses. In Christian prayer, I enter into an action begun by another – my creating and saving Lord. I then find myself participating in the results of his gracious action. In one sense, the whole of the Christian life is prayer. We welcome God’s gracious hand in our lives, and we participate in what he is doing in the world. God involves you in his plans. Of course, he could do it all on his own, but he chooses to involve you. He gives you freedom, yet he remains in control.

Holding a grudge

If someone has offended you, don’t return the offence. It is said that holding a grudge is like letting someone live rent free in your head. Instead, return hatred with love. Speak well of the other person even behind their back and you may find that your love puts an end to the bickering and heals the relationship.

Guidance: 5 main ways

There are five main ways in which God guides us (the five CSs): Commanding Scripture (the Bible) Compelling Spirit (the Holy Spirit) Counsel of the Saints (the church) Common Sense (reason) Circumstantial Signs (providence).

River of life....living water

At the Feast of Tabernacles, the people would go to Jerusalem to celebrate the time when God, through Moses, brought water from a rock in the desert. They would thank God for providing water in the past year and pray that he would do the same in the coming year. The water was also seen as a sign of God’s favour and a symbol of spiritual refreshment (see, for instance, 1 Corinthians 10:3–4). It was on the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles that ‘Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his [innermost being] shall flow rivers of living water”’ (John 7:37–38, RSV). He was saying that these promises would not be fulfilled in a place, but in a person. It is out of the innermost being of Jesus that the river of life will flow. Also, in a derivative sense, the streams of living water will flow from every Christian! (‘Whoever believes in me’, v.38). From you, Jesus says, this river will flow, bringing life, fruitfulness and healing to others. This picture is picked up again in the book of Revelation, where we see fulfilment of the city of Jerusalem (Revelation 22:1–3). Just as a river had flowed out of Eden at the very beginning of the Bible story (Genesis 2:10), so now at the end, in the new heaven and the earth, a river flows from this city of God, where God makes his home with humanity forever.

To have a child like faith

Jesus calls us to become like children. He never tells us to be childish (in the sense of being simplistic), but he does tell us to be childlike. To be childlike is the opposite of being independent and ‘grown up’. Children tend to be open, receptive, trusting, humble, loving and forgiving. The God-centred life is a life of childlike dependence on him. You become like a child again when you show and share your honest feelings, acknowledge how fragile and vulnerable you are and how much you need God and other people. Children are instinctively driven to explore and discover. They neither dwell in the past nor settle for the present, but look forward – with an unquenchable curiosity – to the future, fuelled by wonder and an immense capacity for enjoyment. Cultivate this freedom to respond instinctively, like a child, and to feel and express wonder, awe, love and joy – to rush in and eagerly explore, probe and discover things for yourself.

Prayer foe the day

Lord, today I submit myself to you. Quicken my conscience with your holiness. Nourish my mind with your truth. Purify my imagination with your beauty. Open my heart to your love. I surrender my all to your purpose. I worship and adore you.

William Temple on worship

William Temple, like his father before him, was Archbishop of Canterbury (1942–1944). Among his many remarkable achievements, he wrote a superb commentary on the Gospel of John. He wrote the entire commentary, entitled Readings in St John’s Gospel, whilst praying on his knees before God. About worship, he wrote: ‘Worship is a submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose – and all this gathered up in adoration.’ Worship saves us from being self-centred and makes us God-centred. You were created to live in a relationship with God. That should be your number one priority. If you put God first in your life all kinds of blessings follow. Because God loves you he warns you of the dangers of disregarding the design for your life.

Attitude of gratitude

It is easy to be like the nine lepers who forgot to thank Jesus. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude – taking time to thank Jesus for answers to prayer, his constant love, his forgiveness, his kindness and especially for the promise of God’s presence with you.

Losing the presence of God

What Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden when they sinned was the presence of God. Even more than possessing the law, the distinguishing feature of Israel was God’s presence with them. The temple was not primarily a place of sacrifice but a place of God’s presence. The exile was such a disaster for the people of God because they were away from God’s presence.

Compartmentalising life...the Titanic

When the Titanic set sail in 1912, it was declared to be ‘unsinkable’ because it was constructed using a new technology. The ship’s hull was divided into sixteen watertight compartments. Up to four of these compartments could be damaged or even flooded, and still the ship would float. Tragically, the Titanic sank on 15 April 1912 at 2.20 am. 1,513 people lost their lives. At the time it was thought that five of its watertight compartments had been ruptured in a collision with an iceberg. However, on 1 September 1985, when the wreck of the Titanic was found lying upright on the ocean floor, there was no sign of the long gash previously thought to have been ripped in the ship’s hull. What they discovered was that damage to one compartment affected all the rest. Many people make the Titanic mistake. They think they can divide their lives into different ‘compartments’ and that what they do in one will not affect the rest. However, as Rick Warren (from whom I have taken this illustration) says, ‘A life of integrity is one that is not divided into compartments.’ David prayed for ‘an undivided heart’ (Psalm 86:11). He led the people with ‘integrity of heart’ (78:72). Supremely, Jesus was a ‘man of integrity’ (Matthew 22:16; Mark 12:14). How can you and I avoid the Titanic mistake and live lives of integrity?

Consider the cost

He says, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even life itself – such a person cannot be my disciple’ (v.26). The word for ‘hate’ is a Semitic idiom that means ‘love less’. It is a relative term meaning not to honour or privilege something above something else. In other words, Jesus must be the number one priority in your life above even family and your own life. He goes on, ‘And those who do not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciples’ (v.27). The image of the cross clearly suggests that there will be suffering. Finally he says, ‘Those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples’ (v.33). You have to open your hands and put everything you have at his disposal.

Criticism

When we are criticised, there is no point in replying to those who are merely mocking us (v.7). If we do they will hate us even more. But it is worth replying to the ‘wise’. Our response to criticism should never be to ‘insult’, ‘abuse’ or ‘hate’ (vv.7–8). Rather, we must learn from it in order to become ‘wiser’ and to ‘add to [our] learning’ (v.9). Indeed, our response to a rebuke should be increased ‘love’ (v.8b). This is far from easy – our natural reaction to criticism is often to lash out, or try and justify ourselves. Yet the wise path is to seek to learn from the rebuke or instruction, however difficult that may be.

Much given, much asked

Jesus calls you to obey and to serve him with faithfulness and wisdom. If you use what God has given you wisely, he blesses you by giving you more responsibility. The more that God has given you, the greater the responsibility to use it well. Jesus says, ‘From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked’ (v.48b). If you have a happy home, a good education, health, friends, job, food, clothes, holidays; if you have access to the Bible, freedom to meet together and pray, and so on, then you are one of those to whom much has been given. And much will be expected.

Make good choices

Make good choices. God says, ‘I’ve brought you today to the crossroads of Blessing and Curse’ (v.26, MSG). If you choose disobedience you end up miserable. If you choose obedience you will be blessed by God; you will be a magnet for his blessings. Wisdom is choosing to do now what you will be satisfied with later. The temptation is to disobey God because we see everyone around us doing that. Moses says, ‘Be careful not to be ensnared by enquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same”’ (12:30). He goes on to say, ‘Do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it’ (v.32).

Fear the Lord

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord ’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
Deuteronomy 10:12‭-‬13 NIVUK
http://bible.com/113/deu.10.12-13.NIVUK

Inner life

The focus of the inner life, according to Jesus, is the poor: ‘Give as donations to the poor… and behold, everything is purified and clean for you’ (v.41, AMP). Giving cleanses the heart. Jesus goes on to say that outward giving in itself is not enough if you neglect ‘justice and the love of God’ (v.42). As Father Raniero Cantalamessa writes, ‘It would be a mistake to think that insistence on the inner life could harm our energetic commitment to the kingdom and to justice. Far from diminishing the importance of acting for God, interior life lays its foundation and keeps it going.’

Inner thirst

The psalmist speaks of an inner thirst: ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you’ (v.1). He continues, ‘My inner self thirsts for God’ (v.2, AMP). Only God himself can satisfy this thirst. Knowledge about God will not satisfy your inner thirst. Cry out for God’s presence. Meet with God (v.2) and pour out your soul (v.4).

Seeking God

However, seeking God requires discipline and patience – you have to learn to wait on God. You can miss out if you are in too much of a hurry.
Moses tells the people to ‘listen’ to these instructions, ‘learn them’, ‘live them’ (v.1, MSG). If you seek God daily, persistently and wholeheartedly, you will find life in all its fullness, and it will transform the way that you love and serve others.

He then goes on to explain how persistence is just as important in your relationship with God. ‘Keep on asking... keep on seeking... keep on knocking... For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened’ (vv.9–10, AMP).

Jesus particularly relates this to receiving the Holy Spirit (v.13). You need to keep on seeking for more of the Holy Spirit and his wisdom and power in your life.

Spend time with God Marta v Mary

Mary had her priorities right. She ‘sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he said’ (v.39). She realised that, although there were many distractions and worries around, there was nothing more important than simply sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him. This should be your number one priority. Martha was too busy to take time to enjoy her friendship with Jesus when he came to her home. Not spending time with Jesus is the biggest mistake you can make in your spiritual life. Nobody on their death bed ever said, ‘I wish I had spent more time at the office.’ Many regret not spending more time on their most important relationships.

Help the needy

Draw near to people who are in need – get involved and help them. You are never more like God than when you are helping hurting people, lifting up the fallen and restoring the broken. This must be a high priority in your life.

Mountain top and valley

Mountaintops inspire us, but valleys mature us. The tough realities of life awaited the disciples at the bottom – failure in their ministry, lack of understanding and rivalry. But the experience of the mountain can help you to see your life down below in a new and different way.

Truth and love

Jesus personified God’s love but he also said, ‘I am… the truth’ (John 14:6). The Holy Spirit pours God’s love into your heart (Romans 5:5) but is also the Spirit of truth (John 15:26). Truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love; love becomes soft if it is not strengthened by truth.

Give up your life

Jesus said that if you and I live a life of selfish ambition – even if you are the most successful person of all time and ‘gain the whole world’ (v.25) – it will do you no good at all. The way to find life in all its fullness is to abandon your life to the love of Jesus and of others. Take up your cross daily and follow him (v.23). Being willing to give up your life is the ultimate act of love. This is the example that Jesus set first. He calls you and me to follow his example: ‘cleave steadfastly to me, conform wholly to my example in living and, if need be, in dying’ (v.23, AMP).