Provide and Protect

This is part of a series I'm writing this year called 'The Other A-Z of Christianity'.
In most A-Z lists of Christianity you'll find that 'J' is for Jesus, 'F' is for faith, 'S' is for sin or salvation and 'A' for atonement.
What I want to do in this series is to go a little deeper and write about some topics that don't always get top billing but are still important.

My Dad (left), Grandad and Mum. (1975 approx.)

D. Dad

A few things have been on my mind lately.

• My dad passed away recently.
• I'm about to become a Grandad.
• The President Trump chaos.
• I have a loving, caring, never-gives-up father in Heaven.

The amazing thing is that all these things have a common thread. Two words. Provide and Protect.

Dads do it for their children.

God does it for His children.

And Donald Trump is attempting to do it for America.

The commonality is that we all want what's best for our children/nation.

How we go about it varies.

Some dads buy everything for their kids, even houses and cars, if they can afford them. Other dads think it'd best for their children to earn those things themselves, and in doing so learn the value of hard work and saving etc.. But the goal is the same. Provide and Protect.

God also deals with each of us differently, teaching us life skills in different ways according to the maturity of our relationship with him. But the goal is the same. Provide and Protect.

President Trump has taken a radically different approach to his predecessors. But, according to him, his goal is the same. Provide and Protect.

The problem with 'providing and protecting' is that when we allow our own agendas and fears to sway our thinking we can quickly become people who, instead of providing and protecting, end up dividing and rejecting.

It happens in families with over protective parents. Children rebel.

It happens in families where parents with good intentions provide everything their children want. Spoilt brats result.

I hope it doesn't happen in America. I hope that President Trumps provide and protect sentiments (that are echoed in the 'Make America great again' slogan) don't become a divide and reject policy.

Time will tell.

My mum and dad provided and protected me and my siblings to the best of their ability.

There were times when money was tight but they always provided.

There were times when our family seemed like it was falling apart but they always protected.

Love conquers all.

Thanks Dad.

The Fog

This is part of a series I'm writing this year called 'The Other A-Z of Christianity'.
In most A-Z lists of Christianity you'll find that 'J' is for Jesus, 'F' is for faith, 'S' is for sin or salvation and 'A' for atonement.
What I want to do in this series is to go a little deeper and write about some topics that don't always get top billing but are still important.

C. Community

Community, family, fellowship, call it what you will, but at the end of the day it has become the unwilling casualty in a world gone mad.

We live in a world that's destroying itself, not through global warming but through the global war to be in control, to be the one who's right, to be the one who others look up to. We've become a society where selfishness is applauded, where money can buy you anything and where the right to own a gun is more important than the right for every human on the planet to have a regular healthy meal.
We've become a world where community has become little more than a dim light in the fog of selfishness.
And to make things worse, this fog has crept into some niches of the Christian church.

We, as Christians, need to take a good look in the mirror. Not our own fragile fogged-up mirror, but Gods fog-free mirror, the Bible. Trouble is, we've managed to fog up that as well with our own selfish, comfortable, naïve theologies that put us on a pedestal instead of God.
We need to drop the chains of theology and very simply do what Jesus said....'Follow me.'
Follow his example of love, selflessness, compassion, mission and prayer. Jesus 'power' came through submission to the Father. We try to do it the other way, to get our power by having others to submit to us.

It saddens me that people have become nothing more than pawns in the power plays of the powerful. And I'm not just talking about politicians. I'm talking about everyday people, you and me, who, in our own selfishness seek to get our own way in any given situation.
What we need to do is step back and let God have his way.
Each of us needs to let Gods love, grace and wisdom be our guiding light in every situation.

When we let the warmth of Gods love shine through then the fog of  our selfishness will fade away and communities will, once again, flourish as God intended.

Jesus and Bob The Builder

This is part of a series I'm writing this year called 'The Other A-Z of Christianity'.
In most A-Z lists of Christianity you'll find that 'J' is for Jesus, 'F' is for faith, 'S' is for sin or salvation and 'A' for atonement.
What I want to do in this series is to go a little deeper and write about some topics that don't always get top billing but are still important.

B. Buildings

Have you ever thought that the person who made the nails that were driven through Jesus hands and feet probably thought that they were going to be used as part of a building? They were right.

Have you ever thought that the person who cut down the tree that was used to make Jesus cross probably thought it was going to be part of a building? They were right.

Everyone who aided in building and putting Jesus on the cross were actually aiding in the building of something much bigger. The Church.

The death and resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of the Church.

When Peter had the revelation that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus replied 'Upon this rock I will build my church.' Matthew 16.18

The Church is built with revelation in the hearts of men, women and children. Not with bricks, mortar and stain glass.

Jesus was saying that the moment you become a Christian you are part of the Church. (No membership forms to fill in.)

Contrary to the understanding of secular society, the Church is not a man-made building. Unfortunately, some sections of Christianity in the western world have been lured into thinking that the size of your church building somehow translates into a statement about how 'successful' your church is or that the technically advanced, contemporary, design of your building becomes an advert for Christianity to the world around it. 

The success of any church has nothing to do with the size of the building. It has much more to do with the size of the hearts of the people who gather in that building.
The design of your building is not an ad for Christianity. It's people of faith living and working in their community, loving people and sharing their lives with others that is the true ad for Christianity.

There's the saying, 'Stop just going to church and start being the church.'

We need to take this saying seriously.

Too many Christians hide within the walls of the church like it's some sought of fortress.
We think that by helping out in crèche or singing in the choir or helping to video the Sunday service that we are doing our duty. There's nothing at all wrong with doing those things but if we only do those things, and never share Jesus in our everyday lives, we are actually imprisoning ourselves within the church walls.

We have to consciously be the Church outside of its walls.

I remember one of the first 'defences of the gospel' I had to make, after becoming a Christian, was trying to explain to someone that by going to church I had not joined a club.
Unfortunately, that's how the world sees the church. It's a 'Good persons Club' where you go to your club building every Sunday to learn about how to be a nice person.

The Church is so much more than a club and so much more than building taking up space in town.
The Church of Jesus Christ is people. People who, like Peter, have had a revelation of who Jesus is and based on that revelation they go out and share it in their communities.

In case you're wondering, No, I don't have anything against church buildings if they've been built with the blessing and guidance of God.

What I do question is how far we have strayed from the model of the early church as seen in the book of Acts.
The early church met in peoples homes and they used their resources to help each other and their community  (Acts 4.32). They didn't use their resources to fund a building programme or to buy a new video production suite. They used their resources to meet the needs of those around them.
If someone in the early church had 12 refugees coming to stay at their house then the church rallied around  and got 12 beds, extra food and clothing etc. as required.
Yes, that happens today in churches all over the world but often the 'Social Effort' of local churches is squashed under the weight of expenses and up-keep on the church building and administration costs.

"often the 'Social Effort' of local churches is squashed under the weight of expenses and up-keep on the church building and administration costs."

Some parts of the church today need to take off their expensive corporate suits and cloth themselves with righteousness and humility.

Maybe, instead of building and equipping our churches to be comfortable to the saved, we need to be building and equipping our people to be comforters to the lost.


What do you think? Are church resources used wisely today?  Are church buildings necessary?
Please feel free to comment in the comments section.

Accepting Loud Music, Annoying People and No Coffee

This is the beginning of a new series I'm writing this year called 'The Other A-Z of Christianity'.
In most A-Z lists of Christianity you'll find that 'J' is for Jesus, 'F' is for faith, 'S' is for sin or salvation and 'A' for atonement.
What I want to do in this series is to go a little deeper and write about some topics that don't always get top billing but are still important.

Copyright Oxford Dictionary

A. Acceptance

The word 'accept' is commonly used in the Church today in reference to a person being saved.
eg, Johnny just accepted Christ. By automatic reply, Jesus accepts us.
That all seems pretty straightforward.

But then it gets a bit tricky. Once Johnny becomes a Christian the Bible then tells him that we have to accept one another.

Accept one another then, just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7

Paul is writing to the Church in Rome so in this verse we are being challenged to accept other Christians, or using one of the Oxford dictionary definitions, we are to welcome other Christians.
That's not hard or is it?

• What about the young people behind you in church who constantly talk to each other during the service. (Common thought is 'How disrespectful')
• What about the Christian neighbour who plays his loud music day and night. (Common thought is 'You call that Christian music!')
• What about the gay couple who come to church. (Common thought is 'God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.')
• What about the Christian from that 'other' denomination. (Common thought is 'Why don't they drink coffee?')
• And what about the Christian who doesn't go to church. (Common thought is 'How can you call yourself a Christian and not go to church?')

So how do we accept and welcome Christians who are different to us?

Maybe the answer is as simple as getting to know them. It's human nature to be drawn to like-minded people but for the good of the Church and our own spiritual lives we need to break down the barriers.

We could invite the gay couple over for dinner or go to one of the services at the church where they don't drink coffee.

When we make the move to accept others we often find that we have more in common than we thought. After all, we're all Christians and Jesus is always a good starting point.

If you have any suggestions about how we can learn to accept and welcome others please feel free to add it in the comments section.