What I Believe About Sowing and Reaping

I believe in every action having a reaction. I think there is a need to get away from the concept of punishment from God. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. When we go along the lines of punishment for sin, it negates the redemptive work of the cross. The whole punishment for sin mentality causes a lot of confusion and stress as Christians anxiously analyse every little thing they do for hidden sin and potential consequences.

I believe that we are no longer punished for sin, but that sin itself has its own built-in correction mechanism. If we bear in mind the grace and mercy of God, and the fact that each of us differ in terms of maturity, beliefs and calling - we find that it is often impossible to predict the likely outcome of certain decisions and actions we commit to.

There is also the issue of God causing suffering to teach you something: I do believe that God allows certain things to happen to us for a reason. I believe that something good can come out of these bad situations. It seems that God meets us right where we are on the journey, knows what's right for us, knows what action we are likely to take and works with us to teach us, refine us and define us. That might have the appearance of punishment to us, but God simply works with us according to where we are on the journey of life. Could certain situations be avoided? Well it seems to be the case, but God often allows us to make the decisions that are in-line with our current beliefs, attitudes and desires. Anything else is divine intervention.

But I think it does help to not over-spiritualise things and just know that every action will bear natural consequences - there's nothing weird or other-worldly about it. If I neglect my need for physical exercise and overindulge in junk food - my physical appearance and level of fitness is likely to show the consequences of that - natural law of action and reaction. I am not being punished for my sin because I get unfit and flabby - there is a perfectly normal, logical explanation for my condition in this example. Now, for me to gorge on junk food and neglect exercise, and maintain the same level of fitness as an athlete, would require divine intervention.

Sometimes God does intervene in our circumstances according to His grace and mercy. But I believe that to a great extent, God prefers us to live out the natural consequences of our beliefs, attitudes and desires - which all culminate in our disposition.

Now, whatever it was that led to the overindulgence in this example, is another matter: it is likely to be a whole chain of thoughts and events along the path of life that contributed to that outcome. In the bigger picture of life, it could be seen as the sum total of all the thoughts you have thought and actions you have taken so far in life.

Being Led By Man Instead of The Holy Spirit

If we try to take the place of the Holy Spirit in our lives with all sorts of man-made doctrines, then we potentially block a move of God. We can think “Oh, pastor says we should not do that”. When in fact, God wants us to do that, but we pay no heed to the inner witness. This grieves the Holy Spirit. It creates dependence on the pastor and on man-made doctrines, instead of God.

So many people are so used to being spoon-fed rules and regulations that they do not think that they can be guided by God themselves. The pastor perceives that the people do not know what to do. Perhaps they don’t seem to achieve much, no-one seems to be witnessing effectively, there is no church growth, and people in the church are still sinning. The pastor takes it upon himself to take the place of the Holy Spirit for others - he becomes their light instead of God.

We look to the pastor as being almost perfect and a chosen vessel for God – so we do not ever consider that he might be wrong sometimes or that he might not know what is best for us in a given situation.

It seems that when we are struggling in life, going through a hard time and generally trying to find where we fit in with life as a whole – we can be rather vulnerable, frightened, cautious, confused and tentative about making decisions. But it is important that we learn to find our composure, develop maturity, sharpen our intuition and just get on with our own lives. We can never give the responsibility for living our lives to someone else. This means that we are likely to make more mistakes and we will get hurt along the way – but it is better than allowing someone else to take control of our lives for us.

There is an increased danger in that the pastor will usually veer towards caution, which is wise when someone He is not sensitive enough to the guidance of the Spirit, and when ministering to others - this has the effect of limiting God. It sets parameters on how we are willing to allow God to move in our lives. A good example could be in the office, some work colleagues ask you if you want to go to the pub after work. Straight away, your religious teaching says “No”. I agree that pubs are not the most ideal environments for Christians to spend their time. But if you were sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, then you might feel led by Him to go. You might struggle with this and stand by your “No”.

But the Holy Spirit might insist and therefore you might then say “Yes”. As you are in the pub sipping your soft drink, one of the guys might bring up the topic of Christianity. You might find that words come to you to say to him, and before you know it, you have witnessed successfully. You did not plan to talk about Jesus, but because He is in you, it came naturally for you to be His witness.

The more yielded we are to God, the more He can do through us. But if we set up rules and guidelines – we can end up missing out on what God has for us and wants us to do.

A New Perspective on Repentance

Okay, I'm probably stirring a veritable hornet's nest with this one, but here goes...

For a little while now I've been pondering the role of repentance in the life of the Christian.  Most people are aware of the raging debate in Christendom about 1 John 1:9 and whether or not a Christian should confess their sin or not - some say that verse is written to non-believers, others disagree.  I'm well aware of that and I've been there: I've been in that place whereby I've trembled in my boots every time I say a cuss word, or something, and wonder if I'm out of fellowship with God.  I'm over that now and I've been set free.  But I'd just like to possibly bring a new perspective on this much debated topic of repentance.

The Greek word for "repentance" literally means "a change of mind".  This makes no mention of verbal  confession of sins to God.  Anyway, most Christians know when they've sinned and don't need to remind themselves, and God, of it.  So what role could repentance play in the life of the Christian?  Have you ever experience those moments when you were completely unaware of something, when suddenly, you become very aware of it?  Perhaps you were treating someone in your life very disrespectfully, when all of a sudden you are struck with just how much of a self-righteous ass you have been.  In that moment, you are like thinking, "Oh no, what on earth have I been thinking?"

Another thing that comes into play is what I call the "ticking time-bomb analogy": you're getting on merrily with your life when all of a sudden, something you've been doing or something you've been putting off, suddenly explodes in your face.  Perhaps you've been mistreating your wife and now she's had enough.  It's as if there's nothing you can do in that moment to compensate for all those years of ignorance and neglect.  I think that's it: it's about awakening from a state of deep-seated ignorance.  This in in stark contrast from lighting-up a cigarette and going through some half-hearted ritual about how you know it's bad and your sorry to God about it and so on.

For me, I believe that repentance is a change of mind, attitude and awareness.  It's like something suddenly dawns on you.  It could be various different circumstances which are "brewing" in the background and all of a sudden it just comes to a head and falls down on you like a ton of bricks.  So if this is repentance, what are we all fretting about?  Because we know that this concept exists and is in full force in our lives.  I suppose what is debatable is whether we confess our new found awareness to God.  But in this situation I see God as the invisible, but ever-present "third-person" who is available for us to talk to and mull things over.

I suppose God does not have to be our confidante - it could be a close friend, spouse, neighbour, the cat, the dog, the aspidistra or the brick wall - perhaps the difference is that God is ever-present, real, willing to listen and willing to give feedback through impressions and feelings?  This is very different to the angry God, whip in hand, ready to pounce on us because we did not read the Bible as much as we should have last week.

So, having said all of this, I'm all in favour of repentance.  Repentance is important to moving beyond a sticking point in our lives, an attitude that held us back.  Perhaps you repent of being angry towards your ex-wife and the alimony you have to pay?  Repentance is a good thing if it sets you free from the burden of getting upset about that situation?

What are your views on repentance?  Particularly in light of the alternative view of it that I've hinted towards in the above text?

The Lure of Full Time Ministry

I'm just reflecting on something that used to be so alluring to me in the past: the desire to get into full-time ministry.

When I first became a "proper" Christian in the late nineties, there was always this feeling that the Senior Pastor had all the answers - because he seemed so wise, popular and even performed miracles. The idea was that life for most Christians really sucked: like we were these innocent little lambs in this harsh world that seemed to difficult and disappointing for us. There was always this sense that the only way for you to find satisfaction as a Christian, because you were ever-so spiritual, was to become a pastor.

I remember listening, or reading, wide-eyed at these beguiling stories of ministers getting their needs met in some spectacular fashion. The favourite seemed to be a minister having some "need", which was always full-time ministry related (such as a new youth ministry building), praying about it, then someone in the congregation giving them an envelope with the exact amount in it. It seemed to me that as soon as a Christian got his act together and was no longer a moron - God would immediately whisk him or her away from their mundane 9-to-5 existence - into an exciting life in the service of God (as if anything else is not serving God).

I suppose my desire to get into ministry grew more intense when I started attending a popular mega-church in 2005. There was something captivating about that charismatic speaker bounding on stage, that I wanted to re-create in my own life. They could command the crowd's devotion and obedience: they could tell the crowd when to laugh, sing, sit-up, sit-down or even turn to your neighbour and say...whatever. It's great that I can now watch the Northpoint - Sunday's Coming - Movie Trailer and laugh at what I used to take so seriously.

It's only now after years of frustration that I can now see the futility of it all. I can see how flawed that whole system is. It's only after hearing the Into the Wild and The God Journey podcasts that I'm finally awake to what was really happening. Wayne Jacobsen especially has been really expressing in recent podcasts, just how silly it all is as well as revealing the wrong motives and desire for attention that is behind it all. As I have now begun to take an honest look at my own desires, I can see that I craved approval, attention, position, power and wealth.

Another good MP3 series on this subject is "Safe Harbor Conference 2008" on Bertie Brits' website http://www.dynamicministries.com I was amazed at the honesty of Allen Speegle in this message as he related his own insecurities and wrong motives for becoming a minister and how grace has changed all of that.

A Commonsense Hope and the Need for Balance – Part 2

We do not need to think about God all the time, pray to Him, ask Him permission to do certain things and the like - it makes people really quite weird. In the Institutional Church, believers have trained themselves to inject Biblical statements and catchphrases into every other sentence. I recall listening to a Free Believers Network podcast in which one of the hosts, Kim Scott, who said that she literally had to wean herself off saying words like, “God, Jesus and church”, every other sentence. That might sound heretical to some people, but it is common-sense and practical. We can honour God, whilst at the same time, not being over-spiritual to the point of appearing fake and weird.

I listened to the The Free Believers Network podcast today entitled Spiritual Veal – 8^th October 2010. In this podcast, Darin and Aimee discussed the way in which Christians often wait for God to do things in their lives, often in supernatural ways, instead of just doing something for themselves. I think there really is a need to just get on with life like any other normal person, making decisions as necessary without complicating things by introducing layers of religious performance. Christians become rather weird when they impose all sorts of religious, seemingly Biblical concepts on their lives. Life becomes complicated when almost every single decision that you make must first be validated against the Bible, prayed about and discussed with a prominent member of the church you attend.

Charismatic preachers have given us the impression that a life in Christ will always be exciting, prosperous and full of miracles - but I don't get that impression at all. Surely, miracles by definition are rare? Revivals in the past, such as the Azusa Street Revival are often held-up as a standard to which all Christians are to attain through diligent spiritual practice. But I wonder to myself if such revivals are simply one-off experiences that occur from time-to-time, rather than something which is to be ushered in through our own efforts and experienced on a daily basis? All I know is that when I was praying for revival at Kensington Temple during the late nineties, it was really quite weird, obsessive and oppressive. Furthermore, nothing substantial and lasting happened.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t get the impression that God is desperately trying to move in the lives of Christians in order to make them perform miracles so they can stand out in the crowd. I don’t find many parents disappointed with their children because they aren’t prodigies, such as a maths genius or a music maestro. Most parents love their children even when they come out with naïve statements that make no sense, make mistakes or fall on the floor and hurt themselves. Neither do I find children who are devastated at performing a simple school play rather than appearing in a professional Hollywood production. I’m not opposed to miracles, they have their place, but I’m not going to get obsessive about them like I was encouraged to do in the past.

There really is a need to accept yourself as you are other people as they are and the circumstances of your life as they are. There is a great deal of peace and joy, even prosperity to an extent, to be found in contentment.

A Commonsense Hope and the Need for Balance – Part 1

A recent Free Believers Network podcast episode entitled Getting God to Perform – 5^th October 2010, very much summed-up where I feel I am right now from a spiritual perspective. This podcast also relates how charismatic Christians have been fed a diet of incredible stories of how God moved in powerful ways in the past. All of this has the effect of prompting us to hold on to specific expectations of how God is going to move powerfully in our own lives, typically through some sort of miraculous manifestation.

People who put their hope in something incredible happening in their life reminds me of naïve teenage girls who dream of becoming pop stars. The X-Factor has become very popular now: what makes the X-Factor hugely popular is not just the truly talented people who appear on the show – it is also the people who believe they can sing, but couldn’t sing to save their life. I think one of the most extravagant examples of this is that of two teenage girls who called themselves “Ablisa” – you can see the video on You Tube: X Factor 2010 - Girl Gets Punched Onstage (Full Ablisa Audition). What got these two started on this track was probably the two just singing to pop songs in their bedrooms. It amazes me that these two unpleasant and untalented teenage girls actually believed that they had what it takes to become professional singers.

When you put your hope for a happy and fulfilling life in what you do and what you have – you somehow become deluded into thinking you have what it takes to make something incredible to happen, and for Christians, that God will back you all the way.

We need to build a foundation of knowing that God accepts us as we are, is not mad at us, will never leave us, cares for us and lives within us. From that moment on, I believe, we need to just get on with our lives like any other normal person. One of the reasons why I really enjoy listening to The God Journey podcasts is that the focus is very simple and narrow: it is all about living in the love of God. I also enjoy listening to the The Free Believers Network podcasts – what makes these podcasts so refreshing is not so much the sense of anti-I.C. (Institutional Church) sentiment, but rather, their focus on living simply, knowing that you are loved by God, accepting yourself as you are and loving others. If during your pursuit of living in the love of God eventually leads you to leave your church, then so be it.

The idea of just embracing everyday life and getting on with your life just like any other normal person, might seem dishonouring to God at first, but I believe it is the most realistic way to live. As soon as we entertain the idea of the existence of God – we get caught-up in all kind of religious cobwebs. It can take a lot of time and effort to sift through all the religious chaff, until finally, we are left with the wheat. When we get to that place we might find that a life in Christ looks a lot different to what we were told it would look like; it might actually look a lot more like normal, everyday life than we once thought it would. This might seem disappointing to some people, but everyday life sparkles with a wonderful, joyous glow when we allow the light of God’s love to flood the darkness of our souls.

Abandon the God Idea?

I recently read a post on the Free Believers Network forum entitled, Abandon the God Idea. In this post, the woman related how she had grew up as a Christian, with the idea that God would be like a perfect father to her. But as time went by, she realised that this was more of an ideal rather than a true experience. She then left the church, wondering what to do about the whole concept of God as a Father – should she let go of her God ideas? Should she even let go of the belief in a God altogether?

I kind of get what this person is feeling here. I don't think it is the concept of a God who created the universe that we should consider letting go of - it's all the religious junk that comes with it. It's when we over-spiritualise things that we get into bother. It's when we pray for God's protection when we go on holiday and get other people to pray that our luggage won't go missing and so on.

We talk about God as if He was separate to ourselves, instead of being one with us. This was discussed in a recent podcast by the Free Believers Network entitled, The Oneness Revelation – 2^nd October 2010. The ramifications of the separation mentality are huge: instead of just making spontaneous decisions, we are supposed to check the Bible to see if there is a verse that validates our decision; we have to pray about every little single thing we want to do, discuss things with a pastor or elder in the church and so on.

I think to a great extent we need to get on with our lives without having God in our mind all the time. There is a need to get on with our lives without worrying if we will get caught-up in some kind of sin. We should not go out with the intention of sinning, but be mindful that all we can do is our best – if we end-up making a mistake or succumbing to temptation in one way or another – so be it. God loves us the way we are and when we try to earn his acceptance of us through something that we do for Him – we end-up missing the whole purpose of righteousness by faith.

I believe that a life in Christ really should look a lot more like everyday life than what the church has led us to believe – that is something that disappoints and frustrates some Christians. When someone has lived a disappointing and frustrating life, they can tend to hold-on to thoughts of a better life as a means of coping. But the adherence to fantasies is not real hope: hope is an expectation of good and the Bible tells us that it is an aspect of love, just as kindness and patience is. When Christians put their hope in something amazing happening in their life, they experience the anxiety of trying to control their life. This inevitably results in disappointment when the thing they were hoping for does not materialize.

We should not feel the need to abandon the belief that God exists. But we should strive to attain a balance: honouring God where appropriate, whilst giving ourselves credit when we achieve something good; seeing God as living within us, whilst having the sense of freedom to make decisions for ourselves.