Overcoming Inaction

In our last post we talked about Faith and Action. We looked that if we really believed something is true – our actions will be in line with that belief. If I believe that I am about to be hit by a car – my action will be to move.

I was reading Psalm 1 the other day, and I think even here, we can see some more of what I am talking about. If we were to just take Psalm 1:1, we would get -

Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers

Taking just this verse, we can see that by not doing the wrong things, we are ‘blessed’. But no! That is stopping half way through the sentence. What does Psalm 1:2 say?

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.

So it is not enough to just avoid sin – to hide in a corner and say ‘no, I don’t do that’. We have to take the next step, and ‘delight in the law of the Lord’. We have to come before Jesus, and submit ourselves to Him, and then the actions of our faith will be those of verse 1 – out of our submission to Jesus we will not walk in step with the wicked, we will not stand with the sinners.

You may wonder if I am wandering off topic…. But we get a direct example of this, related to faith and action, in Mark 10:17-27. We meet a ‘rich young ruler’. He begins well – he runs up to Jesus and ‘falls on his knees before Him’, and asks ‘Good teacher,what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

When he is presented with the law, he claims to have kept it since he was a boy. He is a Psalm 1:1 man – he hasn’t walked in step with the wicked. But then the real call of Jesus is placed on his life – will he give up all in this world that has a hold on him (in this case, his riches), and follow Jesus? Will he take the next step and truly believe in God, and then act in accordance with that belief?

And we know the result – he ‘went away sad’. He wasn’t in his own strength able to give up what he loved, and he wasn’t willing to submit to Jesus to find the help he needed to give it up.

For though not many of us are rich – we all have things in this life that hold us back. We all have things that we hold onto ourselves – that we don’t have the strength to overcome, so we can fully serve God. But Jesus answers his disciples, the rich man, and even us.

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Mark 10:26-27 (NIV)

So back to our original questions – what do you truly believe? Do you believe that Jesus saves? Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God? Then we need to start acting in accordance with that belief. We need to first recognize that even in ourselves there are things that hold us back – there are things in our lives which stop us from acting in faith, despite knowing the truth.

So firstly, be challenged. I know there are things in my life that do not fully reflect my faith in God (and I am sure you are with me much of the time). So we all need to come to God and repent of the things that hold us back, and pray for strength to overcome – because with God, all things are possible.

And secondly, be encouraged. Jesus never said that faith would be easy. He never said that once we have submitted to Him, that all our problems would magically disappear. But He did say He would be with us, to guide us, protect us and strengthen us so that we would be complete in His timing.

If you believe something is true…

If you believe something is true – you will usually act in accordance with that belief.

If I am standing on the corner and believe I am about to be hit by a car, without question I will move from where I am standing!

If I believe I might be about to lose my job, I will no doubt touch up my resume and start looking for a new one!

If I have something broken and believe my friend can help me fix it, I will probably call my friend for help!

Over the next few posts, I will be looking at faith. Faith is our belief in God. We have faith in God. We have faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that through the work Jesus did for us on the cross, we can be saved.

Furthermore, I think that if I truly believe something, I will act on that belief!

And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
(Mark 2:3-5 ESV)

Most of you will have read or heard about these guys. I still remember the drawings in the childrens Bible I had showing the guys pulling roof tiles to get their friend in front of Jesus! Spend any time thinking about it, and it is a crazy scene.

You see, these guys believed something – they believed that Jesus could heal. And not just heal a common cold, or a skin rash, or even a minor disability – but that Jesus could make a paralytic walk. That is not a minor thing, not something that will be fixed by a skin cream or an antibiotic. It is still something that our medical profession now, 2000 years later, is trying to achieve – take someone who cannot walk and help them.

And it wasn’t just a passing belief either. They tried to get to Jesus the ‘normal’ way, but the crowd was too much, too thick, too numerous to carry their friend through. So they thought through the problem and came up with a solution. Can you imagine the conversation?

“Hey, if we climb up to the roof, and tear open the tiles right above Jesus head, maybe we can lower him through!”.

“Okay!”.

How did they get on the roof with a paralytic on a mat? How did they start tearing the roof off? Did they come prepared with rope to lower him? No, it wasn’t an easy task, but they had faith that Jesus could, and would heal their friend, and were willing to go to some pretty extreme lengths in response to that belief.

The had faith – and their faith was shown in their action.

What do your actions show?

Have a think about it, and we will look more in our next post.

Faith of equal standing – 2 Peter 1:1-2

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
(2 Peter 1:1-2 ESV)

Here is just an amazing statement in this letter from Peter. “To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours…”

Peter here is talking to all Christians. He is not just saying ‘to all the elite Christians out there’, or ‘to all that have their life together’. He is not just talking to Pastors, ministers and church leaders, but to ‘all who believe in Jesus Christ’. What a statement, that before God we are the same, whether we are a brand new believer or an apostle who was with Jesus from the very beginning of His ministry…. There are no levels to faith, there is no hierarchy in faith – there is simply faith of equal standing.

Your salvation is sure – whether you have just believed in Jesus this minute, or have been a believer for all your life. Your salvation is sure, whether you have been a ‘good person’ all your life or not, providing your faith is in Jesus Christ alone. There is nothing you need more than that faith in Jesus Christ. (To be sure there will be effects of your faith that will show in your life – but you don’t need these external ‘things’ to be saved, or to have a faith of equal standing even with the apostles! But more on that in another post)

So take that today as an encouragement and a challenge. You have been given the same faith, a faith of equal standing with every other Christian, whether still alive or passed away before us, right back to the apostles who spent 3 years personally with Jesus. And know then that no matter what has come before in your life – you can live an effective and fruitful life in Jesus Christ from this minute on, if you will only trust in Him, and believe that He can and will use you right now.

Closer than your iPhone – Psalm 145:18-21

Have you noticed how much smaller our world has become, especially over the last 20 years or so? I’ve been privileged enough to live through this resizing and reshaping of the world, experiencing the mind blowing difference it has made – that already we take for granted!

For the majority of the history of the world, distance has mattered, especially in regards communication. For thousands of years the only people who could hear you yell were those close enough to hear you! If you were to cry out for help, only those who lived within earshot could have responded. At best (and not often, nor reliably, nor to everywhere), you could write a letter or send someone with a spoken message to communicate with someone far away.

It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that communication started to change – with the invention of the telephone. Suddenly, though only for a minority at first, you could pick up this wooden or bakelite thing and speak to someone on the other end! Suddenly our friends were closer.

And then in the 1980’s two more revolutions really took hold. The internet and mobile telephones. The culmination of which is the smartphones and tablets many of us have access to today. Today I can jump on my phone anywhere with mobile signal (most places I go!), and say hi to a friend, or even broadcast a request for prayer or help. Email, Twitter and Facebook connect me to potentially millions of people at the click of a button. No longer do I need to call out and hope someone hears – I can communicate with almost anyone, anytime, anyplace, in many different ways.

But even with all of this amazing technology, many of us can still find ourselves alone. We can still find ourselves in anguish, in distress, with no one to help us and no one to call upon. We might find ourselves in a place with no friend to listen to our cries, to comfort us in our distress or to guide us into new hope.

Well, not quite no one.

The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he also hears their cry and saves them.
The LORD preserves all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD,
and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
(Psalm 145:18-21 ESV)

Despite the rapid proliferation of modern technology, it has nothing on God! Despite the fact that He created the universe and all that is in it, if we call on Him in truth He will be near to us. Not just near in distance, but truly near as a friend and helper.

I don’t know if you have thought that through, but it is a pretty revolutionary thought.

If I said I could today call on the ten richest people in the world to help me, despite being nothing myself, you would probably write me off as a fraud. And since I don’t know any of them personally, you would be right!

Despite that, the Bible constantly declares that God is near to us when we call. Not just ‘some guy’, not even a rich guy, or a wise guy (just what we need….), or a powerful guy. But that the God who spoke the whole universe into being – just spoke it – is near to me when I call on Him for help.

Yes, that is a truly mind bending thought, but if only we could get it into our heads, it would utterly transform our lives!

No wonder at the conclusion David (the author of this Psalm) declares -

My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD,
and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

God of the Open Hand – Psalm 145:14-17

Today I have two pictures for you!

Have you ever seen someone in need – someone really in desperate times – get something to help them along? It is a face of relief, of thankfulness, even of love. It is the eyes and smile of someone who knows that suddenly everything is going to be alright – they are going to make it through.

Or maybe have you ever seen a child get a surprise gift? Their eyes light up with surprise, there is nothing like a small child to really register clear emotion! The picture in todays post is from Operation Christmas Child – which strives to give gifts to children who won’t receive any, to share and show the love of Jesus.

We have just spent a bunch of time looking at the greatness of God and the awesomeness of His works. And yet, this same God who created the universe and can completely blow our mind with the complexity and beauty of the universe, is willing to come down from the heights and help us in our need.

The LORD upholds all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.
(Psalm 145:14-17 ESV)

That truly is a picture of us isn’t it? We have nothing really to offer. In the scale of the universe, we are essentially invisible! And yet, the God who created it all comes down with kindness, grace and love and lifts us up, especially when we call.

He is the God of the open hand! You have heard the term ‘tight fisted’ before I am sure. A tight fisted person is someone who holds on to everything they have unwilling to share a penny with anyone. But our God is the opposite – he has an open hand, showering His love, mercy and grace on us all every day.

So again, take time today to recognize God’s work in your life – that despite how great and awesome and powerful He is, He still steps down to our level and lifts us up from the trouble we find ourselves in. Doesn’t that fact alone make Him doubly worthy of our worship and honour?