What-on-earth-am-I-doing moments

Have you ever stopped and wondered whether God actually exists? Is the Christian way an elaborate pretence, a means of coping with life? I guess it would be ok to live with such a deception if it provided things like safety and autonomy. But true Christianity does not.

Take safety for example. In many parts of the world, it is not safe to be a Christian; you can be killed for declaring the gospel message. Yet in such circumstances Jesus tells his children to take the good news and “proclaim it from the roofs” (Matt. 10:27). He says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell (v28)”. Put another way, we must show by our obedience that Jesus is to be valued more than life itself. To do this, we must believe that God exists, is in control and has the power to do what He has promised; namely, to raise us from the dead just as He raised Christ from the dead.

I have not experienced such an extreme test of faith. Not that we experience tests of faith that are any less real. Think for a moment of the young woman who chooses to forgo marriage till she finds a man that loves Jesus as passionately as she does. Has she set an unattainable standard? As the years pass, the pressure to compromise mounts. Does the Bible really require her to marry a Christian? Can God be trusted? Is Christianity a game? She looks so different to her peers with their whirlwind romances, live-in partners and elaborate weddings.

But that is the point. If we believe that God exists; if we obey His commands; if we believe His promises, then our lives WILL look vastly different to those around us. We serve a different God. True faith will affect your motivation, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the way you spend money, where you live. And you will experience regular what-on-earth-am-I-doing moments; pivotal moments when you desperately hope that God proves faithful and good, making the danger or sacrifice or suffering worthwhile.

The Bible says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb 11:6). So faith in God points others to the fact that God exists and that He is good. Faith provides visible evidence that God’s rewards are by far the most satisfying. Moreover, when we rise above those what-on-earth-am-I-doing moments and trust God in spite of everything – that is when we are pleasing Him the most. Indeed, it is THE ONLY way to please Him.

Cheers for now - Ian

The significance of planting maize

Saturday morning found me hunched over a badza with sweat dripping off the end of my nose. I was discovering that when a man in his forties bends to dig a hole, his belly has a most indecent tendency to bulge over the top of his belt – no matter how hard  he tries to suck it in. It wasn’t a pretty sight. But fortunately there weren’t too many people watching! Actually, Kath, Matt and I were in our back garden where we plan to plant maize as part of the Operation Trumpet Call (OTC) initiative. You can see a few select (and tasteful) photographs of our efforts on the Transformed? Facebook page.

What is OTC all about? Well, Zimbabwe is facing a serious food shortage this year, so OTC is calling Christians throughout the land to plant as much maize as they can, using the Foundations for Farming principles (see http://www.foundationsforfarming.org/ for more information). We believe that Zimbabwe needn’t be a begging nation, provided that we are faithful with what God has given us, trusting in Him to multiply and bless our efforts. So our little 6m x 6m maize garden will be a public declaration of trust in God for the rescue of our nation.

But there is more. The church in Zimbabwe has been dismally divided, with each denomination or independent group building its own empire. How can we call the people of Zimbabwe to unity and love when the church is divided? OTC seeks to address this problem and to channel an already growing desire for church unity. Under the banner of OTC, Christians from across denominational and church lines are joining together to grow maize as a visible symbol of their growing unity.

Lastly, the church in Zimbabwe has to a large extent failed in its mandate to champion the cause of the poor. A vast percentage of our population lives in the rural areas, living well below the poverty datum line. So Foundations for Farming (FfF) trains people to make a living from farming by using appropriate, environmentally sound and cost effective methods. Further, farming provides an effective parable of the Christian life thus FfF uses it as a means to address both spiritual and physical needs.

We are a wealthy, privileged family by Zimbabwean standards; consequently, our maize garden declares that we a concerned about the poor, just as God is. In point of fact, our small, by-hand farming efforts have given us a tiny taste of just how hard it is to be poor. After about five minutes of digging holes, the muscles at the top of my butt were quivering with fatigue. Ten minutes later, I was licking the blisters on hands. And my gardener’s family will plant more than 100 times the area we do in 2010! This probably explains why my gardener doesn’t have a belly that hangs over his belt... whether he is bending over a badza or not!

Putting my foot in it

A couple of weeks ago, I bumped into a past lecturer of mine. I probably looked like a rabbit in the headlights. My over-worked CPU was trying to do two things at once: 1) remember his name and 2) scan my hard drive for a conversation starter. Well reader, I got the name right, but my opening salvo was a conversation killer: “So, are you still victimising students at Harare Theological College?” Arrrrrrrgh.... why did I say that! I guess we all put our foot in it from time to time.

                Having discovered one cannot physically die from embarrassment, I got to wondering why the tongue comes without ABS braking. Why is it SO hard NOT to say the first thing that pops into my mind? And why are “pop-up” thoughts usually the last thoughts we should verbalise? My lecturer was one of the best, having had a profoundly good influence on my preaching and ministry - so my “pop-up” wasn’t even true.

So much for verbal knee-jerks! But I find it difficult to meet Biblical standards of speech even when I have thought before speaking. The Bible says, speak “only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (Eph. 4:29)”. Question: which words will most build a person up and meet his needs at a particular point in time?  After all, constructive speech isn’t simply about giving a person a mirror and helping him to like what he sees. In some cases, Jesus gave a loving rebuke.

                In fact the Biblical standard is impossible to meet. James writes: “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check (James 3:2).” James is saying that control of the tongue is a measure of how much you can control your entire self. If you can control your tongue perfectly, you are a perfect person. So your speech is an audible measure of your inner maturity. If you are honest, you will admit that your speech bears testimony to the fact that you are not perfect ... yet.

However, we must have a passion to become steadily more like Christ. We haven’t arrived. Yet we ARE on our way. And here’s the thing, only the Holy Spirit can help us to become more and more like Christ. Paul describes our ongoing transformation in these terms. “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). The change is progressive, and it is brought about by the Spirit.

                So may you learn, as I have, to view speech as a measure of maturity and as a stimulus for growth. Aim for growth, but recognise that perfection is impossible this side of heaven. Be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to become angry (James 1:19). Invite the Spirit to help you. Ask Him to ring the alarm bell when you are about to speak destructively. Get His perspective on what to say in any given situation, asking for words that will build up and meet needs. But when you put your foot in it, tell yourself, “Ok, I haven’t arrived, but I’m on my way”. Then use the failure as a spur to deepen your “transformation partnership” with the Holy Spirit. Work with the Spirit, and He will change you and your speech from glory to glory. You need not be the same today as you were last year, nor do you need to be the same next year as you are today. We are being transformed into the likeness of Christ – praise God!!

Cheers for now - Ian

Our Only Legitimate Fear

I often feel vulnerable after preaching. Is it because teachers of the Bible will be judged more strictly (James 3:1)? Am I apprehensive about whether I have correctly handled the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15)? Dare I admit, reader, that sometimes there are other fears that emerge from the darker corners of my heart. Did I make a fool of myself? Have I exposed myself as a hypocrite? Will people still like me after what I said? Did they agree? Am I still respected? Have I been ignored?

Maybe it concerns you to think that I worry about such things. It concerns me too. Yet how often do we end up fearing the wrong things? It helps to be reminded that Christians have only one legitimate fear. Jesus talked about it while preparing the Twelve for their first missionary journey (Matt 10). He used the opportunity to describe what would happen to His disciples in the future as a result of preaching the gospel message. They would be flogged, arrested, charged, betrayed by family members, put to death, hated, persecuted, pursued from one town to another and accused of being satanic (17-25). This list is a compilation of one’s darkest nightmares! Yet Christ says “do not be afraid” of the people that do these things (v26) but keep doing the very thing that will attract their attention: preaching the gospel (v27).

How can Jesus tell us not to fear torture, betrayal and persecution? Is He minimising them? By no means! It is just that by comparison the pain of these is insignificant when contrasted with the agony of eternal separation from God (v28). And if fear is your true master, eternal separation from God is where you are headed. Christians cannot have two masters. Jesus did not purchase your life with His precious blood so that you could obey someone else.

Our only legitimate fear, therefore, is the one that leads us to revere and obey God as our one and only master. Every other fear must be crucified just as we were crucified with Christ. What fear is God asking you to crucify today? Whatever the fear is, do not let it master you. Do not allow fear to shape your life or colour your decisions. Submit only to Christ and reject all other masters. Yes, this may lead to hardship, but such “light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (1 Cor 4:17).