God has the Power

God has the power.

The Bible reveals God as being love. Not as Someone who just loves a lot. The very essence of his being is love. He can’t do anything else but love. That is who he is. God is Love. Love is God.

He created everything. I am looking out at a flowering garden which has flourished in the warmth and good weather this summer. The roses are huge and fragrant. 

I, too, should be flowering. I have flourished in the warmth and goodness of God’s love. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that God has the power to cause all kinds of gifts to overflow to you. All kinds of gifts.

He is love. He is good. He has the power. Do I have the faith to believe that and the perseverance to pursue it? To pursue him, for the gifts he has given me to overflow within me?

Paul also wrote, to Timothy, that he should fan into flame the gift of God. One of the gifts I believe God has given me is an ability to write and a desire to write for him. But lately I’ve allowed busyness to intervene, to steal reflective moments when creativity is birthed and can grow. 

Lately? Maybe most of my life I’ve allowed myself to be driven by the obvious (an untidy house, mountain of ironing, proliferation of weeds, etc etc) and loosely considered that I will write more when I have more time.

This is the day that the Lord has made. Today. I may not have tomorrow. I may never have more time than I have today.

I am repenting of my own distractedness and praying for perseverance in fanning into flame one of the gifts God has given me. I want to flower. I want to flourish and produce writing that blesses others, that feeds the souls of people, that draws them to God and that helps them laugh and enjoy the gift of life.

What gifts has God given you, that you long to see flourish? Because he has the power. And the will. And the love. Trust in him. That’s what I’m trying to do.

Olympic Fever

Fifteen years ago, he used to come over to play with our son Doug, and sometimes spend the night.

He was always polite and a pleasure to have. Good at football, a natural on the piano, Ben found his sport near the end of primary school when he went snow boarding.

And now, for the second time in his young life, Ben Kilner is on Team GB competing at the winter Olympics. He has sacrificed and trained and we feel so privileged to be able to know this fine young man and watch his progress in Sochi.

St Paul wrote to Timothy that athletes only receive the victor’s crown if they compete according to the rules. He wasn’t really writing about athletes, of course, but about followers of Jesus Christ. But the amazing thing about following Jesus is that there is only one ‘rule’ and that is to love him. 

Anyone who really loves Jesus, will want to be with him more and more, and the more you are consciously with someone, the more they rub off on you. You learn what they think about things, and your own thoughts are influenced. Deeds follow thoughts.

Ben absolutely loves the thrilling, adrenalin-rush of his chosen sport and I imagine that whatever rules there may be, they are kind of part of his psyche by now, not something he needs to consciously think about as he goes out to compete.

Praying for an amazing experience for Ben, and that he is able to be the best that he can be. And that is surely worth a medal.

Slow to catch fire

The fire was set well. Rolled newspapers surmounted with kindling wood, and a few bits of coal to get it going.

The paper caught but then fizzled. The wood didn’t even sizzle. I did the trick which often works – create a draft by stretching a newspaper across the top of the opening to the fireplace, funnelling the air underneath and acting as a blower. Yes, dangerous.

This time the newspaper I used caught fire and I had to stuff it all in on top of the wood, where it acted like a blanket.

Now I’ve spent an hour nursing this pathetic flame to life. It is finally showing some signs of having caught, but it has made me think.

Why does some wood – which is supposed to be easily lit – need so much help to catch fire? Why does it not catch despite newspaper all around it blazing away?

Why do some people – even those sitting in church – need so much help to catch fire? Why don’t they blaze into flame when they are so close to others who are on fire for God? 

Sometimes perhaps they are dampened down by the residual ash of previous experiences. Memories of spiritual highs which went bad maybe hinder their flammability. Maybe they’ve been dampened by the world’s ideas and expectations. Faith has grown cold. Hope has died. Cynicism and worldliness have killed the fire.

Maybe those around them are not hot enough. Maybe they aren’t fanning into flame the hope planted within them, the fire of the Holy Spirit. Maybe, having met with negative reactions or rejection, they’ve decided to keep the Spirit just about alive but not ‘hot’ enough to be noticed, rather than be mocked or ignored any more. 

Paul writes to Timothy, ‘fan into flame the gift of God’. The fire in my grate is beginning to catch. I’m going to fan into flame the gift God has given me – his Holy Spirit. How about you?

Distracted

Distractions – I think I know something about them! How easy it is to get side-tracked and lose sight of the goal! 

Just back from walking Dusty near Drum Castle. We do that walk every so often, but not so frequently that we know every trail. So today we got distracted down a path well-trodden, but which did not lead to the pond Dusty longed to find. We had to turn back, retrace our steps, and then we found it. Nothing, then, could distract Dusty from swimming for sticks in a pond overflowing into a downhill stream. 

Paul wrote to his protégé Timothy, encouraging him not to get distracted from his task, which was sharing the good news that Jesus Christ died and was resurrected to new life in which believers can participate. He specifically names some common distractions. Worthless words that lead to godless lives. ‘Youthful lusts’ which lead many astray. Time spent – wasted – joining in worldly activities. Foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. 

Stick to the point. Don’t lose sight of the goal. Focus. 

Focus on Jesus, the author and perfector of our souls. Everything else fades by comparison to the glory that is in him.

I've been distracted; I've got an e-mail to compose.