Why Christ’s love is better than wine #2

I was a binge drinker between the ages of 17 and 23, regularly getting wasted for the buzz. I was drawn to Christ at the end of that time and simply stopped drinking. Old friends asked “why don’t you get drunk any more?” I’d say, “because I now know the love of Christ and it’s much better than beer.” Here’s a second excerpt from CH Spurgeon’s sermon on Song of Solomon 1:2, “your love is better than wine“:

II. CHRIST’S LOVE IS BETTER THAN WINE BECAUSE OF WHAT IT IS–

Let me remind you of some of the uses of wine in the East. Often, it was employed as a medicine, for it had certain healing properties. The good Samaritan, when he found the wounded man, poured into his wounds “oil and wine.” But the love of Christ is better than wine; it may not heal the wounds of the flesh, but it does heal the wounds of the spirit.

Wine, again, was often associated by men with the giving of strength. Now, whatever strength wine may give or may not give, certainly the love of Jesus gives strength, and strength mightier than the mightiest earthly force, for when the love of Jesus Christ is shed abroad in a man’s heart, he can bear a heavy burden of sorrow. …The love of Christ enables a man to do great exploits, and makes him strong for suffering, strong for self-sacrifice, and strong for service.

Wine was also frequently used as the symbol of joy; and certainly, in this respect, Christ’s love is better than wine. Whatever joy there may be in the world… the love of Christ is far superior to it. Human joy derived from earthly sources is a muddy, dirty pool, at which men would not drink did they know there was a stream sweeter, cooler, and far more refreshing.

It is better than wine, once more, for the sacred exhilaration which it gives. I have already spoken of this; the love of Christ is the grandest stimulant of the renewed nature that can be known. It enables the fainting man to revive from his swooning; it causes the feeble man to leap up from his bed of languishing; and it makes the weary man strong again. Are you weary, brother, and sick of life? You only need more of Christ’s love shed abroad in your heart. Are you, dear brother, ready to faint through unbelief? You only need more of Christ’s love, and all shall be well with you.

Why Christ’s love is better than wine #1

I’ve started reading CH Spurgeon’s sermons on Song of Solomon and really loved his first meditation on why Christ’s love is better than wine. These are the first Spurgeon sermons I remember reading. His work is not expository but what comes through is a palpable love of Christ as his Saviour. I have abridged the first 5 points from the full script of the sermon:

‘Thy love is better than wine’ (Song of Solomon 1:2)

Christ’s love is better than wine for what it is not.

It is so, first, because it may be taken without question. There may be, and there always will be in the world, questions about wine. There will be some who will say, and wisely say, “Let it alone.” There will be others who will exclaim, “Drink of it abundantly;” while a third company will say, “Use it moderately.” But there will be no question amongst upright men about partaking to the full of the love of Christ. There will be none of the godly who will say, “Abstain from it;” and none who will say, “Use it moderately;” but all true Christians will echo the words of the Heavenly Bridegroom himself, “Drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved.”…

Christ’s love is also better than wine, because it is to be had without money. Many a man has beggared himself, and squandered his estate, through his love of worldly pleasure, and especially through his fondness for wine; but the love of Christ is to be had without money. What says the Scripture? “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” The love of Christ is ‘unpurchased’; and I may add that it is ‘unpurchasable’.

Again, Christ’s love is better than wine because it is to be enjoyed without cloying. The sweetest matter on earth, which is for a while pleasant to the taste, sooner or later cloys upon the palate. If you find honey, you can soon eat so much of it that you wilt no longer relish its sweetness; but the love of Jesus never yet cloyed upon the palate of a new-born soul. He who has had most of Christ’s love has cried, “More! More! More!”

Further, Christ’s love is better than wine, because it is without lees. All wine has something in it which renders it imperfect, and liable to corruption; there is something that will have to settle, something that must be skimmed off the top, something that needs refining down. So is it with all the joys of earth, there is sure to be something in them that mars their perfection. Men have sought out many inventions of mirth and pleasure, amusement and delight; but they have always found some hitch or flaw somewhere…

But he who delights himself in the love of Christ will tell you that he finds no vanity and vexation of spirit there; but everything to charm and rejoice and satisfy the heart. There is nothing in the Lord Jesus Christ that we could wish to have taken away from him; there is nothing in his love that is impure, nothing that is unsatisfactory. Our precious Lord is comparable to the most fine gold; there is no alloy in him; no, there is nothing that can be compared with him, for “He is altogether lovely,” all perfections melted into one perfection, and all beauties combined into one inconceivable beauty. Such is the Lord Jesus, and such is his love to his people without anything of imperfection needing to be removed.

The love of Christ, too, blessed be his name! is better than wine, because it will never, as wine will, turn sour. …Oh, how often, beloved, have we grieved him! We have been cold and chill towards him when we ought to have been like coals of fire. We have loved the things of this world, we have been unfaithful to our Best-beloved, we have allowed our hearts to wander to other lovers; yet never has he been soured toward us, and never will he be. Many waters cannot quench his love, neither can the floods drown it. He is the same loving Savior now as ever he was, and such he always will be, and he will bring us to the rest which remains for the people of God.

Once more, Christ’s love is better than wine, because it produces no ill effects. Many are the mighty men who have fallen down slain by wine. Solomon says, “Who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has babbling? who has wounds without cause? who has redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.” But who was ever slain by the love of Christ? Who was ever made wretched by this love? We have been inebriated with it, for the love of Christ sometimes produces a holy exhilaration that makes men say, “Whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell.”

O teach me what it meaneth

If there are any modern hymn writers who read this blog, could you write a new tune for this?

O teach me what it meaneth,
That cross uplifted high,
With One, the Man of Sorrows,
Condemned to bleed and die!
O teach me what it cost Thee
To make a sinner whole;
And teach me, Saviour, teach me
The value of a soul!

O teach me what it meaneth,
That sacred crimson tide,
The blood and water flowing
From Thine own wounded side.
Teach me that if none other
Had sinned, but I alone,
Yet still Thy blood, Lord Jesus,
Thine only, must atone.

O teach me what it meaneth,
Thy love beyond compare,
The love that reacheth deeper
Than depths of self-despair!
Yes, teach me, till there gloweth
In this cold heart of mine
Some feeble, pale reflection
Of that pure love of Thine.

O teach me what it meaneth,
For I am full of sin,
And grace alone can reach me,
And love alone can win.
O teach me, for I need Thee,
I have no hope beside—
The chief of all the sinners
For whom the Saviour died!

O teach me what it meaneth
The rest which Thou dost give
To all the heavy-laden
Who look to Thee and live.
Because I am a rebel
Thy pardon I receive
Because Thou dost command me,
I can, I do believe.

O infinite Redeemer!
I bring no other plea;
Because Thou dost invite me
I cast myself on Thee.
Because Thou dost accept me
I love and I adore;
Because Thy love constraineth,
I’ll praise Thee evermore!

Words: Lucy A. Bennett (1850-1927).

Praying with scripture

As a new Christian, 16 years ago, I was taught the ACTS model of prayer:
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication

It is a good framework for prayer but we can end up saying very little if all we say is “I love you God”; “I confess to you that I have done/not done…”; “I thank you for…” and “please Lord…” followed by whatever is on our mind at the time.

Last year at St Luke’s we were joined by a ministry trainee from Ghana whose prayers were laced with scripture. I was learning memory verses with my kids at he time and so I found it fairly easy to begin praying using bits of God’s word. This had made rote learning lots of the bible much more important for me.

A friend said recently “I’d love to pray like that in my CU but suspect I’d be told to keep it short and simple and to stop showing off.” It would be a great shame if Christians discouraged each other from memorising and praying the words of God. British evangelicals could take a lead from West Africa and encourage one another with these words (1 Thess 4:18).

Directions for a peaceful death – Richard Baxter

I have abridged Richard Baxter’s direction for a peaceful death to give to people facing death.

Comfort is not desirable only as it pleases us, but also as it strengthens us, and helps us in our greatest duties. And when is it more needful than in sickness, and the approach of death? I shall therefore add such directions as are necessary to make our departure comfortable or peaceful at the least, as well as safe.

Direct. II. Misunderstand not sickness, as if it were a greater evil than it is; but observe how great a mercy it is, that death has so suitable a harbinger or forerunner: that God should do so much before he takes us hence, to wean us from the world, and make us willing to be gone; that the unwilling flesh has the help of pain; and that the senses and appetite languish and decay, which did draw the mind to earthly things: and that we have so loud a call, and so great a help to true repentance and serious preparation! Ordinarily it is a mercy to have the flesh brought down and weakened by painful sickness, to help to conquer our natural unwillingness to die.

Direct. III. Remember whose messenger sickness is, and who it is that calls you to die. It is he, that is the Lord of all the world, and gave us the lives which he takes from us… You cannot deny him to be the disposer of all things, without denying him to be God: it is he that loves us, and never meant us any harm in any thing that he has done to us; that gave the life of his Son to redeem us; and therefore thinks not life too good for us. Our sickness and death are sent by the same love that sent us a Saviour, and sent us the powerful preachers of his word, and sent us his Spirit, and secretly and sweetly changed our hearts, and knit them to himself in love; which gave us a life of precious mercies for our souls and bodies, and has promised to give us life eternal; and shall we think, that he now intends us any harm? Cannot he turn this also to our good, as he has done many an affliction which we have complained about?

Direct. IV. Look by faith to your dying, buried, risen, ascended, glorified Lord. Nothing will more powerfully overcome both the poison and the fears of death, than the believing thoughts of him that has triumphed over it. Is it terrible as it separates the soul from the body? So it did by our Lord, who yet overcame it.

Direct. V. Choose out some promises most suitable to your condition, and roll them over and over in your mind, and feed and live on them by faith.

Direct. VI. Look up to God, who is the glory of heaven, and the light, and life, and joy of souls, and believe that you are going to see his face, and to live in the perfect, everlasting fruition of his fullest love among the glorified.

Direct. VII. Look up to the blessed society of angels and saints with Christ, and remember their blessedness and joy, and that you also belong to the same society, and are going to be numbered with them. It will greatly overcome the fears of death, to see by faith the joys of them that have gone before us; and withal to think of their relation to us; as it will encourage a man that is to go beyond sea, if the far greatest part of his dearest friends be gone before him, and he bears of their safe arrival, and of their joy and happiness.

Direct. VIII. That sickness and death may be comfortable to you, as your passage to eternity, take notice of the seal and earnest of God, even the Spirit of grace which he has put into your heart. That which emboldened Paul and such others to groan after immortality, and to “be most willing to be absent from the body and present with the Lord,” was because God himself “wrought or made them for it, and given them the earnest or pledge of his Spirit,” 2 Cor. 5:4,5,8.

Direct. X. When you see any of this evidence of your interest in Christ appeal to him to acquit you from all the sin that can be charged on you; for all that believe in him are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” Rom. 8:1. Whatever sin a penitent believer has committed, he is not chargeable with it; Christ has undertaken to answer for it, and justify him from it; and therefore look not on it with terror, but with Penitent shame, and believing thankfulness, as that which shall tend to the honour of the Redeemer, and not to the condemnation of the sinner. He has borne our transgressions and we are healed by his stripes.
Direct. XI. Look back upon all the mercies of your lives, and think whence they came and what they signify. Love tokens are to draw your hearts to him that sent them; these are dropped from heaven, to entice you thither! If God has been so good to you on earth, what will he be in glory! If he so blessed you in this wilderness, what will he do in the land of promise! It greatly emboldens my soul to go to that God, that has so tenderly loved me, and so graciously preserved me, and so much abounded in all sorts of mercies to me through all my life. Surely he is good that so delights to do good! And his presence must be sweet, when his distant mercies have been so sweet! What love shall I enjoy when perfection has fitted me for his love, who has tasted of so much in this state of sin and imperfection! The sense of mercy will banish the fears and misgivings of the heart.

Direct. XIII. Remember that all mankind are mortal, and you are to go no other way than all that ever came into the world have gone before you (except Enoch and Elias).

Direct. XIV. Remember both how vile your body is, and how great an enemy it has proved to your soul; and then you will the more patiently bear its dissolution. It is not your dwelling-house, but your tent or prison, that God is pulling down. And yet even this vile body, when it is corrupted, shall at last be changed “into the likeness of Christ’s glorious body, by the working of his irresistible power,” Phil. 3:20,21. And it is a flesh that has so rebelled against the spirit, and made your way to heaven so difficult, and put the soul to so many conflicts, that we should more easily submit it to the will of justice, and let it perish for a time, when we are assured that mercy will it last recover it.

Direct. XV. Remember what a world it is that you are to leave, and compare it with that which you are going to; and compare the life which is near an end, with that which you are next to enter upon… Is a wicked world, a malicious world, a cruel world, an implacable world, more pleasing to us, than the joy of angels, and the sight of Christ, and God himself in the majesty of his glory? Has God on purpose made the world so bitter to us, and permitted it to use us unjustly and cruelly, and all to make us love it less, and to drive home our hearts unto himself? And yet are we so unwilling to be gone?

Direct. XVI. Settle your estates early, that worldly matters may not distract or discompose you. And if God has endowed you with riches, dispose of a due proportion to such pious or charitable uses, in which they may be most serviceable to him that gave them you. Though we should give what we can in the time of life and health, yet many that have but so much as will serve to their necessary maintenance, may well part with that to good uses at their death, which they could not spare in the time of their health: especially they that have no children, or such wicked children, as are like to do hurt with all that is given them above their daily bread.

Direct. XVII. If it may be, get some able, faithful guide and comforter to be with you in your sickness, to counsel you, and resolve your doubts, and pray with you, and discourse of heavenly things, when you are disabled by weakness for such exercises yourselves. Let not carnal persons disturb you with their vain babblings. Though the difference between good company and bad, be very great in the time of health, yet now in sickness it will be more discernible. And though a faithful friend and spiritual pastor be always a great mercy, yet now especially in your last necessity. Therefore make use of them as far as your pain and weakness will permit.

Direct. XVIII. Be fortified against all the temptations of Satan by which he uses to assault men in their extremity: stand it out in the last conflict, and the crown is yours.

Preaching wrath and grace

I find one of the most difficult areas of preaching and teaching about God is how to communicate his wrath and his grace so that sinners know God is primarily for us and not against us; that he wants what is best for us and goes to great lengths to show it. Ebenezer Erskine’s sermon, “the sure and solid grounds of Faith’s assurance” is a great example of a demonstration of how to show God is not only an enemy but merciful and kind.

so long as we conceive God to be an implacable enemy, our prejudice and enmity against him will remain and while enmity against God stands in its full strength, against it is absolutely impossible we can have any trust or confidence in him; instead of drawing near to him with full assurance of faith, we flee from him like our first parents, under the awful apprehensions of his wrath and vengeance: but let us once be persuaded that he is a God of love, grace, pity, and good-will in Christ, then, and never till then, will we put our trust under the shadow of his wings (Ps 36:7). And, therefore, to break the strength of our enmity and prejudice, and so to conciliate our trust in him, he is at the greatest pains imaginable to persuade us, that he bears a hearty liking and good-will toward us in Christ. And there are more especially these three ways God takes to convince us of his good-will toward men upon earth.

1. By solemn proclamations and declarations of his mercy and grace. e.g. Exodus 34:6-7 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty

2. By solemn oath. e.g. Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.

3. As if his word and his oath were not enough to convince us of his mercy, love, and good-will toward us, he hath given the most convincing and practical demonstration of it that was possible for God to give, and that is, by giving himself; in the person of his eternal Son, to be incarnate, or manifested in our nature; yea, to be made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted. O how great is this mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh! Without controversy, great and unsearchable is the mystery of love and good-will that shines with a meridian bistro in an incarnate Deity. If God had not loved us, and borne such a hearty desire after our happiness and salvation, would he even made such a near approach to us as to dwell in our nature, when he passed by the nature of angels? Yea, he was not content to become one with us in nature, but he goes further, and becomes one in law with us; he puts his name into our debt-bond, and becomes “sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” e.g. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Baptism, an outward sign of what?

There’s a phrase describing baptism which is used by lots of evangelicals:

“baptism is an outward sign of an internal reality.”

In other words, baptism is a signpost to the believer and to other believers that the person being baptised has experienced faith in Jesus.  But this is only half the truth. Baptism first points people to Christ, as:

“baptism is an outward sign of an external reality.”

The sign of baptism does not first point us inwards to a sense of faith but first outwards to the object of faith, who is Christ crucified and resurrected. 

I teach my baptised children about their baptism and do not ask “does your baptism help you feel saved” but “remember, your baptism points you to Jesus who died for your sin and that you must die with him (Romans 6:3) and to his empty tomb, and that you should live a resurrected new life in him (Romans 6:4-5).” As I teach teach them this, I pray that the Holy Spirit will grow their sense, or feeling, their experience, of faith in Christ.

Baptism is a means of God’s grace which strengthens faith in Christ, when we are taught that he is the object of our baptism. The internal reality follows the external reality.

If paedobaptists and anti-paedobaptists could agree on this, then we might work much better together.  Christ is the the thing signified in baptism, not our sense of faith in him.

Down Grading Christ (1)

I’ve begun reading Charles Spurgeon’s The Down Grade Controversy. The following clips from the first chapter briefly outline all sorts of ways in which ministers can drift away from the central wonders of Christ crucified:

By some means or other, first the ministers, and then the Churches, got on “the down grade,” and in some cases, the descent was rapid, and in all, very disastrous. In proportion as the ministers seceded from the old Puritan godliness of life, and the old Calvinistic form of doctrine, they commonly became less earnest and less simple in their preaching, more speculative and less spiritual in the matter of their discourses, and dwelt more on the moral teachings of the New Testament, than on the great central truths of revelation…

The Presbyterians were the first to get on the down line. They paid more attention to classical attainments and other branches of learning in their ministry than the Independents, while the Baptists had no academical institution of any kind. It would be an easy step in the wrong direction to pay increased attention to academical attainments in their ministers, and less to spiritual qualifications; and to set a higher value on scholarship and oratory, than on evangelical zeal and ability to rightly divide the word of truth…

These displayed, not only less zeal for the salvation of sinners, and, in many cases, less purity or strictness of life, but they adopted a different strain in preaching, dwelt more on general principles of religion, and less on the vital truths of the gospel. Ruin by sin,
regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and redemption by the blood of Christ—truths on the preaching of which God has always set the seal of his approbation—were conspicuous chiefly by their absence…

There was another section among the Presbyterians who, like the former two, retained a nominal orthodoxy, and professed to believe, though they seldom preached, evangelical sentiments. Men of this stamp were chiefly remarkable for the extreme coldness of their sermons, and the extreme dullness of their delivery.

On dealing with a cancer scare

I have not blogged for a week or so having had a cancer scare. It’s been a roller coaster week.

This was my second cancer scare. The first was in 2004, when I was told I had a subcataneous tumour on my nose, which had been growing for almost 4 years. Only after it was removed was I told that it was benign. The second scare, last week, started when I found a ragged black nodular lesion on my side, just above my waist. I had noticed it three months before and dismissed it as tiny blood blister and then I forgot about it. Now it was much bigger, with pink staining around it. I am in the highest risk category for melanoma and so I have always kept a close eye on my skin. My father sadly died in 2005, six years after having one removed from his neck. Photos of this lesion showed that it had all the hallmarks of a nodular melanoma, which is almost incurable once it gets into the blood stream.

I think I dealt with this scare much better than the first and this blog is about what made the difference.

After the discovery, my wife and I lay awake for most of the first night. Lots of things went through our minds, including, why didn’t I get it checked out in October? Why didn’t I watch it and photograph it each month? How would Amanda and the kids cope without me? How would I break the news to my mum, so soon after dad had died from the same disease? What would we do about the new post I was starting in five weeks’ time, as vicar of Holy Trinity?

If found God’s word brought perspective. It turned panic into peace and prayerfulness.

Perspective

Two bible verses helped me put cancer in perspective:

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Philippians 1:21-24 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

I was crystal clear on this. It is truly better for me to die now and enter eternal life with Christ, but for the sake of Amanda, our children, my wider family and the church it is better that I live. The perspective that this life is short and eternal life is real made a huge difference to the way I viewed death.

Panic into peace

The morning after discovering the lesion I went downstairs for my quiet time. In my bible reading program I came to Psalm 13:

Psalm 13:1-6
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

This was a word in season. Not only because the psalmist, David, sings of his fear for his life with deep sorrow, but because he finishes his psalm with his focus on God’s steadfast love and salvation.

That morning, my wife read Psalm 73 in her quiet time:
Psalm 73:23-24 ‘Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterwards you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And on earth there is nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.’

I went to see my GP that morning. She got me onto the melanoma fast-track. I had four days to wait until I saw the dermatologist. As I left the surgery my GP said “fingers crossed”. I said “God has control over the whole universe, even these few cancer cells. I put my trust in him. He knows what he is doing.”

Beside all the anxiety, questions and waiting, we had a sense of calm and peace, because of the promises of God. When we turned the words of these Psalms to prayer, God worked deeply in our hearts to make the promises real and the panic was turned to peace.

It is the waiting and uncertainty which makes one’s mind whizz, but each time I grew anxious I prayed. During one afternoon nap, I turned Psalm 121 over in my mind and prayed it through:

“I lift my eyes to you Lord, because my help comes from you, as you made the heavens and the earth. You don’t sleep whilst you watch over me. Lord, you said that you are the shade at my right hand, so that the sun would not harm me by day, nor the moon by night. And so, dear Lord, as he sun has caused the damage to my skin and you are sovereign over the entire universe, would you graciously and mercifully take control of these few cancer cells and heal them. Have mercy on my family, Amen.”

As I thought that God could do what he said he would do, I left it to him. The next morning the pink area around the site had turned bluish-purple. I was praying lots and kept the prayers mixed between words of assurance and promises of God’s fatherly care. Matthew 6, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness (who is Jesus Christ, the righteous one [1 Peter 3:18]) and all the rest will fall into place.” Or, in other words, don’t focus on the cancer but on God, and he’ll work the rest out. Over 24 hours, the stain changed colour and faded and the black nodules reduced in size.

I found John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Cancer” a helpful reminder of key attitudes and his talk on the economic downturn (see my Vodpod on the right menu) was also really helpful. By the end of 48 hours I had moved through the worst of the anxiety, partly by refusing to accept that my conclusion was right, mostly simply trusting the words above and now it was just a case of waiting to see what was to come.

Prayerfulness and thankfulness

During the next couple of days I would swing from slight anxiety to prayerfulness. Whenever I got anxious I prayed some of the prayers listed above. I knew that whatever happened, God had used the lesion to soften my heart and to bring Christ into really sharp focus, and so I was very thankful. There was more tenderness in our family, more concern for those who don’t know Christ and my conscience was softer. Above all, I found my dependence on Christ, my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, increased and I knew he died for sin to make me right with God.

More perspective

Paul describes the Christian life as a marathon of endurance. I found that though I could survive at that level of spiritual sensitivity for long, I was left to wonder if I had really just been plodding along.

By the time I saw the dermatologist on the Melanoma Fast-Track program, four days after my first appointment with the GP, the lesion had shrunk and my photos provided evidence that this was probably some sort of benign hemasomething. I was very relieved but also very thankful to God for being put through the scare, as I had been drawn closer to Christ as a result of thinking I’d die.

It is a good thing to live life thinking that the end of life is nearer than we assume. I am left wondering if our reliance on modern medicine and the way we have largely hidden death from view dulls our senses and causes us to plod along with or without Christ.

Good grieving guide (part 4)

Never being one to worry much about the future, I had not considered anxiety to be an ingredient of grief before being asked to speak on Matthew 6:25-34, “Do not worry about tomorrow”, at a funeral recently.

When someone close to us dies, someone we loved and still love, we experience a concoction of emotions which someone unhelpfully called grief. Grief can be a mixture of loss, despair, anger, guilt, shame, broken-heartedness and anxiety. And everyone who grieves experiences some or all of these emotions to a greater or lesser extent. I’ve written on first of these emotions in the good grieving guide parts 1, 2 and 3.

In Matthew 6, Jesus deals with our sense of anxiety. It is easy, so easy to be anxious at the time of the death of a loved one. The cause of their death can cause anxiety for us. Where an illness has a genetic link, like some cancers or coronary diseases, children of the deceased can be concerned about their own health and mortality. Sudden accidents can make us anxious about putting ourselves in similar situations, like flying or even driving. It is not selfish to think about ourselves at this time, it’s only natural. And so, the death of a loved one can be a time of anxiety about our own mortality.

It can also be a time of anxiety for the adjustments which must be made in life. “How will I cope without mum?”, “What are we going to do without her?” or “life will never be the same again.”

Jesus speaks directly into our situation. His words are words of assurance for believers. As Jesus assures his followers they know they need not worry. Jesus says “do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.”

Not worrying is easier said than done, why shouldn’t we worry? Because, says Jesus, God is in control and knows what he is doing. Look at how the birds live, look at how beautiful the flowers are. God feeds them and makes them beautiful, they all live and die, and God will do much more for you, because you are much worth more to him. God looks after his creation, and especially people.

And so Jesus teaches his followers that if they are anxious, this is a symptom of a lack of faith. He asks them, “will God not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” And so if you find today that this is a day of anxiety, worry about the future and anxiety and concern about your own mortality then listen again to some of the most comforting words of the Lord Jesus:

“seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow

Seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness leads people to find the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Through faith in him the Apostle Paul asks “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32). Through faith in Christ as Saviour from sin and as the way to eternal life, anxiety ceases as nothing can happen which will take away what he has secured for those who love him.