How does God feel…

What do you think passes through the mind of God as he looks down on his world and us, the human creatures he gives life to? Is it sorrow, seeing how we neglect him so much? Is it eager desire to intervene and put things right? Is it holy anger at the horrible deeds so many of us do? Or may it be complacency, suffering long over our moral madness but still managing to smile? Or compassion, looking forward to the time when he would come to our aid?

How would he desire to improve things? By cataclysmic judgments to bring us in repentance to his footstool? By tears of love, showing his desire for us to be better and to reform our ways? Or would it be by flattering us with “well-done” and smiling benignly at our efforts? Rather, wouldn’t he seek to gather us together and calm us down long enough for us to pay attention to what he wants to say to us?

At least one thing should be clear in the light of his dealings with human failings in Bible times: His feelings would show his divine love, his pure holiness, and his profound wisdom. He has feelings he would want to convey, he has a judgment he would righteously render, and he has advice that would bring the necessary improvement.

In fact, when he sent his Son Jesus into the world, these were the services he rendered to humanity in those days; and as human nature hasn’t essentially changed over the centuries, we may well listen and learn from the divine wisdom that Jesus brought: it is still there for us to read in the New Testament.

“The time is fulfilled,” was his first big public statement; “the kingdom of God is at hand” – meaning he himself was the King of glory come to open up the Kingdom of God to all believers. Then he gave two vital pieces of advice in succinct bullet-form: “Repent and believe the Gospel, the Good News” (Mark 1.15).

This means that when God looked down on humankind in those days, he saw their need to repent and to hear some good news. I’m sure that as he looks down on our society today, he has the same attitude and would repeat the same message, so let’s think about it.

To “repent” means essentially two things, but both are an appeal to change. To repent is first of all to re-think. Jesus didn’t need to do an in-depth study of the thought forms of his day, quizzing the lecturers on what they were teaching the people. Whatever they were saying, Jesus with his divine insight knew that it was wrong: they hadn’t got it all together. Indeed, they were in darkness and he proclaimed himself to be “the light of the world” (John 8.12). He would bring us truth that we could never grasp without his revelation – and how much we still need that truth!

Secondly, to repent means to change our ways, to quit doing evil things, to turn from sin and start out on a new path, learning to live in righteousness and holiness. How we need that challenge today!

The false ideas we hold to and the sins we keep committing are the source of our problems; so God wants us to change and calls us to repent.

But there’s “Good News” that God wants us to receive and believe: he’s keen to forgive us and to remake us as we commit ourselves to Christ and to that he calls us too.

March 26, 2024 0

God can forgive your sin

The Bible is a very realistic book. It does not hesitate to recount the sexual failures of some of its main characters – to make us realise two essential truths. One, that in even the best of men there is sin (the sole exception is Jesus). And two, the worst sinners may be redeemed.

Take King David for an example. He was called “a man after God’s own heart”, he penned a number of Psalms that are in the Bible, many of which express his devotion to God and trust in the Lord. But when he was tempted, seeing Bathsheba bathing, he was overcome with lust and committed adultery with her. Then, in a vain effort to cover us his sin, he brought about the death of Bathsheba’s husband, and then married her.

When the Bible records such events, it never encourages such behaviour, of course. The reader is to learn from the bad examples in the Bible as well as from the good: to imitate the good, not the bad!

Indeed, the Bible recounts how a prophet came to rebuke David for his sin, and two of David’s psalms (numbers 51 and 32) give deep emotional expression to his most earnest contrition, his search for forgiveness, his prayer of repentance, and the ultimate joy of knowing God had forgiven him.

The Bible constantly maintains that double message: first, we are all sinners in need of forgiveness, whether our sin is desperately wicked or relatively respectable; and second, our sin can be forgiven however awful it may be.

We need both those messages. To ignore how sinful we are leads us into pride and self-deception and we fail to realise our need of God’s forgiveness. To ignore the grace of God that saved even a wretch like the slave-trader John Newton (who wrote the hymn “Amazing grace”) is to cut yourself off from the hope of a conscience finally cleansed of all guilt and at peace with oneself and (more importantly) with God.

So the Bible abounds with God’s offer of forgiveness and salvation, and as we all fall short of the good life we should lead, we all need God’s forgiveness. Furthermore, no-one else can grant us that forgiveness; but God can and he wants to forgive you. In fact he wants so much to forgive you that he sent his Son to bear your sins and “pay” for them when he died on the cross, so that if you accept his offer of forgiveness you won’t have to pay for them in all eternity – yes, in hell.

So listen to God’s words: “Seek the Lord while he may be found… Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55.6-7). What an invitation!

“Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity? …He delights in showing mercy. He will have compassion on us… You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7.18-19).

“In Christ we have redemption through his blood (shed on the cross), that is, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1.7).

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1.18).

“Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3.19).

If you turn from sin in your life – whatever you may be conscious of, and call on the name of Jesus, he will forgive you.

Clive Every-Clayton

January 28, 2024 0

A new direction

Another way of speaking about repenting, is to see it as an about turn. Instead of carrying on in the wrong direction, you turn around and go the right way.

In the Bible, God himself uses that very word, “turn”: “Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations” (Ezekiel 14.6). “Turn away from evil,” is the counsel of Proverbs 3.7. “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live! Why will you die?” (Ezekiel 18.31, 32). There is a turning away – from all that God disapproves, from our evil ways.

Then, positively, there is a turning towards the Lord himself. He calls out: “Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is none other” (Isaiah 45.22). It was said of the early Christians, when they heard the good news about Jesus, that they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1.9).

The essence of human wrong-doing is summed up as exchanging the truth about God for a lie (Romans 1.25); so the way to put right our human condition is to relinquish the lies we have been tricked into, and embrace the truth that God in his wisdom and kindness has revealed by his Son and in his word, the Bible.

As we listen to Jesus and realise who he is, we can verify if we have been ill-informed about God, about our Creator, about the true purpose of life that the Creator had in mind for us. As we read the Bible, we see why Jesus came – not only to teach us truth – vital though that is – but to bring us to see and know God as he really is: kind, loving, holy yet forgiving, merciful and wise, desiring to lead us in the good way.

We are wise when we recognise that God is truly good, and he has the right to our obedience; it is a “good riddance” to turn away from all evil. It is an edifying challenge to decide to live a new life following Jesus as Lord and Master, learning from him, seeking to resemble him in his love, purity and holiness. To be called to be a follower of Jesus is a high calling – an immense privilege. And Jesus accompanies his disciples, calling them his friends. His ears are open to our prayers; his presence as the risen Christ gives us confidence and courage. He promises he will never leave us or forsake us: in whatever situation we may be, we can count on his help. If we fail and repent again, he will forgive and comfort us. If we face tough challenges, he promises us renewed strength.

The Christian is thus called to a life-long positive relationship with God through Jesus Christ. As we repent and believe, he takes us on as his followers and he stays with us through both the good days and the tough times, ever present to encourage us, lift us up, strengthen us in doing what is right and making us a blessing to others. A whole new life opens up to the one who commits to following him in trust and obedience.

Clive Every-Clayton

October 17, 2023 0

The big rethink

When we look for authentic answers to our deep existential questions, we normally rely on our wits: we read books, we follow lectures, we discuss with those more informed than ourselves, and we think it all through. We seldom pause to realise that all this happens on a purely human level; we probably weren’t looking for divine in-put anyway.

When we open the New Testament, however, and start seeking there for potential answers, we may well be struck by an unusual word, a challenging call. Whether it is Jesus (Matthew 4.17), or John the Baptiser (Matthew 3.2), or the apostle Peter (Acts 2.38) or the apostle Paul (Acts 20.21) – the same challenge rings out: it is the call to “repent”. Jesus is radical: “Unless you repent,” he affirms, “you will perish” (Luke 13.3, 5).

This call has a double meaning, requiring a double dose of humility. Firstly, Jesus calls his followers to have a big re-think. It’s as if he knows that whatever anyone thinks (about the big questions), they’ve got it wrong! Another way of saying it is that Jesus brings the true answers that everyone needs to listen to. By nature we do not have the correct grasp of things – we are ever seeking, often very conscious of how far we are from getting good answers. If you’re in that frame of mind, be happy! You’re on the right track. You need light from the One who said, “I am the Light of the world” (John 8.12). As you rethink and put faith in the true answers that Jesus brought, you will be wisely led: as Jesus said, “he who seeks, finds” (Luke 11.9).

Secondly – and this is even more humbling – we have to re-think the way we are living. To repent means to turn away from all that is wrong, to reject sin in all its many forms, and to commit to learning how to live what Jesus would call a good life. This can be quite radical – depending on how deep one may have gone into various ungodly life-styles. But it is absolutely beneficial! Jesus’ answers to our existential questions are not merely theoretical: they demand to be heeded and to be translated into how we live. He teaches us what true fulfilment really is – how human beings find the deep happiness we long for (not the frothy gaiety that always leaves a hang-over, a deeper emptiness, an aching void). Jesus came, he said, “that people might have life – abundant life” (John 10.10). He speaks of joy and peace that he gives. “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11.28). “If anyone is thirsty,” he cries out using another metaphor, “let him come to me and drink”; “the one who drinks the water that I give him will never thirst – it will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 7.37, 4.14). Great promises! And Jesus honours them!

So his call is both to believe in him and to repent. This double commitment may take but a moment, but it leads to the most fulfilling life possible for a human being. Obviously it needs to be nourished, informed by the reading of Jesus’ teachings, but here is the key to the kind of life that we all, deep down, long for but cannot find.

Clive Every-Clayton

October 17, 2023 0