Thoughts on Jonah

Last week whilst I was sat in the service, a thought pop into my head. There is a fairly impressive miracle in this book which isn't really mentioned. Jonah gets swallowed by a huge fish, and survives for three days in a stomach of a whale.

How did he survive the stomach acid or more importantly the lack of oxygen for three days?

In Matthew 12:40, Jesus says:

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

As Jesus clearly believes that Jonah was:

• Swallowed by a huge fish
• Was there for 3 days
  Survived the ordeal

I think that we also should believe it, therefore (from my admittedly limited research and knowledge about huge fish) I’ve come to the conclusion that surviving the ordeal was in equally impressive miracle on God’s behalf to providing the fish to swallow Jonah and then vomiting him onto dry land. And therefore, this story can be one of encouragement and hope to us today.

Whilst today in our lives we're not likely to be swallowed by a giant fish, we're are likely to be in places that really pretty tough. Places where we get to rock bottom, and can't see any favourable way out (let's be honest being vomited onto a beach isn't great but is considerably better than the other option), places where we can't see a way of surviving let alone thriving.

If God stepped into to prevent Jonah from dying, he can step into the situations we find ourselves in today and will help us survive. As Christians we should expect life to get tough in places, and therefore when survival seems challenging remember these words of Jesus from John 16:33:

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

We believe in a God who has immense powers, who can control the natural world. But that same God came to this earth and went through suffering greater than we can imagine by dying on a cross. So when we go through suffering we can cry out to a God who understands and goes through our suffering with us, and we can take hope that Jesus has beaten death and will one day return in glory.

(This blog was originally posted on www.belfreystudents.org/blog)

Loving God with a sinner's heart

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Luke 7:36-50

I don’t know about you, but that passage really challenges me. Why? Because I think, I can often be like Simon the Pharisee. I obey “the law”, I live a “good life” and even better, I’m Jesus friend. But I’m keen to forget the fact that by obeying the law, I often become legalistic in my lifestyle, that I only have a good life not a perfect one, and that Jesus is my friend because he was first my Saviour. But, that selective forgetfulness is an issue. By forgetting that Jesus Christ is my Saviour, I often feel I can start to love him less, because I also forget just how desperately I need him in my life.

By forgetting about my sinful life and by rationalising the sin in my life as only natural, I end up editing myself. I present myself to God as a better version, which is an issue in itself. But when I do that, I also reduce the debt that I perceive to owe God, and so like in Jesus’s parable my love for God decreases. Like Simon, I only love God a little. I don’t offer to wash his feet, or anoint his head with oil, or even give him a kiss. By rationalising the sin in my life, I no longer perceive my need for my Saviour Jesus Christ and become content with Jesus my friend.

In contrast, the sinful woman is fully aware of her sin, and by her very awareness of her own shortcomings, she enters Jesus’s presence with a much greater attitude of love. Yes, the expensive perfume that she poured on Jesus’s head would have probably been bought using the money gained through prostitution, but she is honouring and worshipping God where she is at.

Whilst we shouldn’t be living lives that embrace sin, we can (and should) as this passage shows celebrate and worship Jesus for coming to and dying for us in order to save us from ourselves. Regardless of our sin, whether we perceive it to be big or small, we need to be worshipping God because of what he’s done for us. I think it’s important to remember that we’re never going to be perfect enough to worship God on our own, because for God: sin is sin. There is no hierarchy, it’s just sin. The only way we can come to God, is through the purifying blood of Jesus.

So like the sinful woman, let’s get honest with God, acknowledge not justify our sin, and love him more because of our need for him.

When we’re struggling with our sin, let’s cry out in our desperation, asking him to come into the situation, rather than push him further away because of what we’ve done.

And in doing so, let’s worship God with all of our life, repent of our sin and embrace our Saviour showering him with our love from the bottom of our hearts because we know how much we desperately need him.

(This blog was originally posted on www.belfreystudents.org/blog)

Are you a Mary or a Martha?

Going home for the Christmas holidays can be a perfect time to reflect. To look back upon the last term, to remember what you heard God was saying into your life and work out whether you have responded to him. To reflect on how you’ve spent your weeks; work out what you’ve enjoyed and what you want to change. So, to help you reflect on your autumn term, I want you to consider this story of Martha and Mary from Luke 10:38-42.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

I don’t know about you, but my natural default is being a Martha. I enjoy being busy, I enjoy serving God, but like Martha, I can often become distracted and worried rather than trusting in God. Martha loved Jesus; she welcomed him into her home and then busied herself making a meal for Jesus and his disciples. Why? Martha wanted to give Jesus the best that she could and that’s amazing. But she was doing it in her own strength; she got distracted by what she felt that she “needed” to achieve, rather than what Jesus wanted her to do, which was for her to spend time with him, to sit at his feet with Mary and listen to him.

How often do we try and become more servant-hearted to please God, to an extent where it becomes the focus of our lives? That we forget about the God we are serving because we become too distracted by our acts of service to him. Like Martha, we shouldn’t take our eyes of Jesus. Think about what Martha was doing, she was preparing a meal for Jesus, who has the power to feed thousands from just a pack-up. Jesus could have easily prepared the meal himself (and his disciples). But Martha, like I do, like I’m sure we all do, got distracted from the fact that the man she was serving is God and felt she had to do it in her own strength. Martha’s intentions were good, we should be serving God today, she invited Jesus into the situation, but then failed to listen to what Jesus was saying and instead listened to the expectations of her culture. Like-wise, we often invite Jesus into a situation only then to run around him trying to do what we perceive is correct in order to honour him.

Instead, we should be like Mary, we should invite Jesus into our lives and then sit at his feet and listen, to let him change our lives. As Christians our aim is to become more Christ-like, than surely the best way to do so is to sit and his feet and worship him? To love and adore him in order to be able to start acting more and more like him in our everyday life. Instead of trying to prove to Jesus we are worthy of him, let’s fall at his feet and remember we are dependent on his grace. 

(This blog was originally posted on www.belfreystudents.org/blog)

A Day of Rest

When I started my degree, I can remember being challenged to take a ‘rest day’ from my studies. Unfortunately, I thought I knew better, I was a chemistry student, and didn’t they realise I had to study at every available moment? However, the person that challenged me pointed to the biblical teaching on this. Genesis 2:2-3 says:

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

And also the fourth commandment, Exodus 20:8-11

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all you work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor any male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your town. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in it them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

I then started to try and put into place a day of rest, not because I felt like I was commanded to, but because I felt it was important. I still did things which the Pharisees would have taken to be ‘work’, for example a food shop, but I enjoyed a lazy morning, studied God’s work, something that for the rest of the week often had a time limited, and just enjoyed resting. 

So, I want to encourage you to do try and take a day of rest a week. I know there are many arguments not to, but as well as being a style of living commanded by God, I also believe it is beneficial to your health and is also an amazing witness. When your friends are in the midst of exam panic, it can be very difficult to take a day off, but in doing so you’re showing you’re trusting in God rather than your academic success. That you put your dependence on God, rather that on your own ability. I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t work, Exodus 20:8 says "Six days you shall labour and do all your work..." which clearly suggests that as God's people we should work hard, and that we can honour God in our studies, but we need to be careful to take the seventh day as a Sabbath, a day of rest. 

Whilst I managed to maintain a day of rest throughout the majority of my degree, I’ve recently found that I’m slipping back into not taking a day of rest. And, consequently, have been re-challenge on the importance of this. God has used several ways in order to get me to stop and listen, to wait and rest in his presence. But the way he has spoken most regularly, and with the deepest conviction, was through his word in the Bible. I’m currently doing the Soul Survivor Bible in a Year, and have just finished Exodus, and over and over again God stresses the importance of resting. Now I’m no longer studying, I can’t use the blanket rule of no chemistry on a Sunday, because work now takes lots of other forms. But, I’ve realised the habits I used to have for a Sunday, being able to have a prolonged time with God, study the bible more in-depth, and also just to physically rest, I’m now missing. And they’re habits I want to get back into.

So, I challenge you: this week re-organise your diary, arrange to schedule your work into 6 days not 7, and take up a day of rest. You can work out what you count as ‘work’ and what is ‘rest’ and make sure you take a day off. 

(This blog was originally posted on www.belfreystudents.org)