Just in case you aren’t fully convinced, we are spending one more blog looking at how much Scripture proclaims Jesus to be the hope of the whole world! Here, Paul is telling the Colossians his own reasons for working so hard – because he longs to present people that are fully mature before God.
Again, we are told of the supremacy of Christ, how He has been in existence since the beginning of time and helped the Father create the world and everything in it. We are also told that God could only reconcile us to Himself through his Son’s sacrifice.
Interestingly, Paul also refers to the fact that God has made salvation available to the Gentiles too. Remember, in Acts 10, God showed Peter a vision about this, urging him to eat animals that had previously been thought unclean. When Peter resisted, God said ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean’ (v.15) and immediately God put him in contact with Gentiles, to whom Peter then continually preached salvation.
The hardworking nature of both these men challenge me on days when I’m weary. They both understood that this hope is for everyone, not just to be kept to ourselves.
How often do we judge those around us? We may think that a particular neighbour, colleague or family member would never respond to the hope we have in Jesus – but who are we to judge? Only God can look into the hearts of men and women and truly know where they are at.
Interestingly, we were discussing this very subject in our small group this week, and we admitted that we can have a tendency to decide ourselves who seems ready to hear about the gospel – and who doesn’t. Often it is actually our fear of others rather than God that keeps us silent, but let’s remember that it is through us that: ‘God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory’ (v.27).
Prayer: I’m sorry I sometimes judge those around me as not being worthy of, or interested in, Your love. None of us could earn our salvation – thank you that we don’t have to!
Last week we looked at the start of 1 Peter 1. The second half of that chapter continues with an exhortation to set our hope on future grace. This is an active thing; a choice. Indeed John Piper has described hope as being ‘faith in the future tense’ (a phrase we will come back to later in our study) and, just like faith needs to be exercised in order to grow, so too, I believe, does hope. So what should that action look like?
In these verses we are being urged to live holy lives rather than giving in to our earthly nature, and to love one another sincerely. If we are honest, there are times when it is far easier to give in to fear, anger, lust, dishonesty etc. What about the harsh words spoken over you? Maybe by someone in your local church? Or the friend or spouse who does something to really hurt you? Or perhaps you suffer daily through sickness. It is hard to feel hopeful in these times – and hard not to respond with our fleshy natures.
We will be taking a closer look at how we cling to hope in the midst of troubles later, but I think one of the keys is contained within this passage. We constantly have to remind ourselves that we were saved by something that will never perish – the precious blood of Jesus. And our truly, magnificent, all-powerful heavenly Father chose to redeem us in this way and so our hope is also in Him.
Whatever today looks like, our tomorrow is certain and sure – glorious intimacy with Him. Remind yourself today that God’s word is ‘living and enduring’ and never returns to Him empty (Isaiah 55:11). God will always have the last word. Hallelujah!
For prayer and reflection: Meditate on the fact that Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world to be your Saviour. How you can remind yourself of that amazing hope throughout today?
My husband and I recently started using a fitness app on our phones, as we want to lose a bit of weight. It is quite time-consuming making a note of all the things that we eat but, it is a great way to keep a check on the amount of calories that I’m consuming – and it has definitely stopped me from grabbing a snack each time I go to refill my hot water mug or eating a slice of cheese while I’m cooking or preparing the children’s packed lunches.
However the slightly frustrating part is that my husband seems to be losing weight more quickly than I am, and he can already feel and see a slight difference in his body. I have heard that women take longer to shed the pounds, so I keep saying that to myself – but I’m still annoyed.
Then this morning happened. God started gently talking to me about this attitude – and revealed that it runs throughout my life (ouch).
I heard him whisper to my heart: ‘You want the quick fix. You don’t like the long haul.’
I had been looking for a little bit of encouragement, to help me keep going (as I’ve been feeling hungry constantly, whereas my husband has always been someone who can take or leave food).
So I wasn’t too chuffed to hear what God was saying…but then I took time to reflect on it and realised He was right.
For example, I’ve been reading Jen Wilkin’s great book Women of the Word, which challenges the way we approach the Bible. I said a hearty ‘Amen’ when I read her comments on how too often we can go to the Bible to find out more about ourselves, or to look for answers or direction, when actually the point of reading the Bible is to find out more about God.
Then Jen began talking about all the different ways we can choose to read the Bible – such as thematically, delving into it randomly like we’ve been ‘led’ to a particular passage. And I realised that I can have a tendency to do that.
She then moved on to talk about a systematic approach to digging deeper into the Word. I began to get excited but then, as I read on, I realised that it was going to be a lot of hard work! I even thought to myself: ‘why would I do this all myself when so many others have done it before me?’ I hate to admit that, but it’s true!
Jen herself recognises the great insights found in commentaries and in the introduction to books in study Bibles and yet there is a treasure to be found when we research and read for ourselves, beforewe read what they say.
Even when I’m writing Bible study notes I want to get to the heart of what the message is quickly – and yet I feel a quickening that God is perhaps challenging me to slow down and do even more hard workto allow Him to reveal deeper secrets to me from His Word.
And I think the truth is we can have the ‘quick fix’ approach to all areas of our lives. Part of it is probably down to our consumer-led culture, but a lot of it is our sinful, selfish nature.
As God speaks to me more personally about this, I’m finding I’m recognising and repenting of attitudes that I never recognised as lazy or self-entitled before.
What about you? Are there areas in your life that you are beginning to realise you look for the ‘quick fixes’ in?
I simply had to start our study focusing on the person of Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate hope for the whole world. As Christians we believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection has provided the way for people to be saved.
This passage has such a richness to it, reminding us that it is through God’s mercy towards us that we have this hope at all, and through Jesus’ perseverance and willingness to die a truly horrific death. We also have an amazing promise – we can now partake in the same inheritance as Jesus and it is being kept for us until we get to heaven!
The passage doesn’t shy away from explaining that we will face struggles in this world. Indeed the people Peter was writing to in this letter were ‘scattered throughout the provinces’ (v1) and some of that was no doubt due to persecution. But trials while on this earth do not disqualify us from our inheritance, which is an important truth to cling on to when we are feeling close to despair. In fact, here we learn that often they prove the genuineness of our faith.
Verse 8 is one I think we should all keep close to us, as it is full of comfort and hope. We believe even though we do not see, and that gives us a glorious joy that can only be found through our Saviour. What a hope we have! It is not based on our own strength, deeds, health or bank balance –but on Him alone. There is nothing we need to do to earn it, as it is a gift.
Let us never take hope for granted.
For prayer and reflection: Thank you for the hope that I have in Jesus Christ. It blows my mind that I am a joint heir with Him. Help me to live in the light of that truth, whatever I go through today. Amen.
Having finished our study on holiness last week, I am turning to look at hope next. Scripture is full of verses about hope, some of which I want to unpack with you. And yet, at the very start of our time together, I want to share with you my own hopes and prayers for this study.
I was drawn to the subject of hope after my husband led his first study at the ‘pastors’ life group’ he attends. He had just taken over leading the church, and with the added responsibilities and joys come added pressures and difficulties. And yet, during that study, he challenged other pastors from nearby churches to look afresh at biblical hope, and the fact that it is rooted in the truths about God. He then got them to look at their own hopes for the coming year, and the things perhaps they were beginning to lose hope for and challenged them to look at them afresh alongside relevant Scripture.
When I first looked at his notes I too was challenged and decided to explore this whole subject further. This passage from Ephesians is my prayer for you. That as we look at various verses on hope together God will reveal Himself to you once again and your heart will be refreshed and revitalised by the lifegiving knowledge that we have a hope beyond all earthly hopes, which God our Father Himself has called us to.
That hope is accompanied by an inheritance – and the same amazing power that raised Jesus from the dead. Wow. We have a lot to be grateful for don’t we?!
For prayer and reflection: At the start of this new study Lord I do pray that you will open the eyes of my heart to a fresh revelation of the hope that you have called me to.
Today’s short reading, which I have chosen from 1 Thessalonians 3:12, is my prayer for you as we end this study on holiness together. The verses talk about how it is Jesus who makes us strong and enables us to love one another. Not only that, Paul is reminding the Thessalonian church that it is the Holy Spirit alone who can strengthen them – from the heart outwards. He does this for each one of us, in order for us to be ‘blameless and holy’ before God.
During this study we have looked at how holy our God is, why blood sacrifice was necessary for us to have a restored relationship with Him and what responsibility we have to pursue holiness. In our final look at holiness I want to come full circle, back to a reminder that, for all the efforts that we do need to put in, becoming holy is based on our standing in Christ and the work that the Holy Spirit does within us.
As we have seen, holiness means being set apart. Two Timothy reminds us that vessels can be used for both noble or common uses. Paul was urging Timothy to allow God to use him for His higher purposes. I love the way The Message translates verse 22: ‘Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.’
There needs to be a willingness to set aside our own agendas and bow to God’s will for our lives in order to be made holy and to bless others. But that is also the way to satisfaction and fruitfulness. Remember: we have been made alive in Christ – becoming holy simply means becoming more the people that we were created to be.
Prayer: Lord, thank You that in You I am blameless before God. I recognise that continuing to pursue holiness is the way to become the person You want me to be. Help me to submit to the work that the Holy Spirit is doing in my life. Amen.
Let’s start by reminding ourselves of some central truths that we have discovered during our devotional on holiness. Today’s reading is a great motivational passage to help us run our race of life well, refusing to give in to sin. It teaches us to remember Jesus and how He lived His life with His goal always before Him. There is a ‘big picture’ being painted here, which is there to help strengthen us in those moments when we feel like giving up our efforts.
We are also told to ‘Endure hardship as discipline’ (v7), as we are God’s children and that ‘God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness’ (v10). Jerry Bridges in The Pursuit of Holiness says that, ‘Holiness is … required for our well-being’ and makes the point that God’s discipline is a way in which He enables us to become holy. He disciplines us because He loves us and desires to have the type of close relationship a father has to his child.
Again we see the word ‘Therefore’ being used in verse 12. There is a sense that we need to be responsible and disciplined in our lifestyles and that it isn’t just for our benefit. We are to be good examples to others and live at peace with one another.
I have ended today’s reading with the reminder that ‘without holiness no one will see the Lord’. Yes it is a gift freely given, but if we long to see God we must run hard after holiness. I love how Kevin de Young puts it: ‘To run hard after holiness is another way of running hard after God’.* It isn’t holiness as an end in itself that we are seeking, but the One in whom it is all hidden: Jesus.
Prayer: Father, help me to understand the unending love that is behind Your discipline. And that seeking holiness is really seeking to know Jesus more. Amen.
*Kevin de Young, The Hole in our Holiness (Crossway, 2007)
An Insight into shame is published by CWR and can be purchased here.
It has been over a week since my latest book, An Insight into Shame, was published and so I felt it was about time I highlighted it in a blog post! Co-written with Heather Churchill, it looks at the difference between shame and guilt, how psychologists believe shame develops in each of us, various approaches to dealing with the threat of shame, understanding our own experiences with shame and finding healing from wounds from the past.
Heather is the Head of Counselling Training at Waverley Abbey College and has years of experience as a trainer, therapist and supervisor. It was a privilege to work on this book with her – I learned a great deal from her that has been so useful already.
We have included lots of real-life stories in the book, including our own. As I sometimes run an ‘unmasked: stories of authenticity’ blog on a Friday, I thought I’d share an extract that reveals how shame affected both of us right back in our childhoods.
There are a wide variety of theories that have been developed about shame, such as Jungian, Cognitive Behavioral, Psychodynamic etc. But, to simplify all their findings, it is probably accurate to say that the emotion of shame is believed by psychologists to be something that is formed early on in childhood. There is now almost universal agreement that the emotion of shame emerges during the toddler stage.[i]
Psychologists believe that shame plays a key role in the development of the self, impacting the way a person views and evaluates themselves. They recognise that children can evaluate from a surprisingly young age and form a ‘picture’ of themselves, which is basically an internalised view of who they are.[ii] Children also develop a view about how others perceive them. In many ways, psychologists would say that the only way a child can begin to know themselves is through the eyes of those who are closest to them – generally their parents or main early care givers.[iii]
Any difficulties in the relationships with care givers will have a huge impact at this stage, as high levels of shame are likely to develop. So we can see that shame is central to a person’s developing sense of self.
Relationships with early care givers are not the only influences on the development of shame. Our early relationships with others can also be influential too, as our own memories of childhood interactions below illustrate.
Claire can still remember two instances at school in which she felt deep shame – just bringing them to mind causes the feelings to resurface. She moved around a lot as a child; having spent some time in America she stood in front of her new class back in England, a few days after a boy from Australia had started. She was greeted with a boy saying ‘not another one’ and felt such shame she wanted the ground to swallow her up. She continued to feel like an outsider much of the time. And, at the same school, she also regularly experienced the dreaded ‘walk of shame’ over to the PE team that had been forced to take her, as she was the only person not to have been picked to be on a team.
Heather also has an early memory of when she was about four years old. Her class teacher was away so the headmaster was in charge of the class. She was asked to write something and Heather remembers trying really hard to write in her best handwriting. The headmaster walked around the class and stopped when he reached Heather’s work. He picked it up, tore it up and put it in the rubbish bin. Heather felt humiliated, embarrassed and ashamed, and picked up a belief that she was not good enough – even at the early age of four.
We go on to look at how these early experiences affect the way that we respond to the threat of shame even today.
An Insight into shame is published by CWR and can be purchased here.
[i]R.L. Mills, ‘Taking stock of the developmental literature on shame’, Developmental Review, Vol 25, Issue 1, 2005, pp26-63
[ii]R. Mills, P. Hastings, L. Serbib, D. Stack, J. Abela, K. Arbeau, and D. Lall, ‘Depressogenic Thinking and Shame Proneness in the Development of Internalisng Problems’, Child Psychiatry and Human Development, Vol 46, Issue 2, 2015, pp194–208
[iii]J. Bradshaw, Healing the Shame that binds you, (Florida: Health Communications, 2005), p8
In recent weeks we have looked at what it means to have new life in Christ, and how we should live as a result. We’ve seen the importance, both individually and corporately, of truly comprehending our standing in Christ as it is the key to our holiness.
As we’ve read in many other places, this passage continues to use the word ‘therefore’: because we are now alive in Christ there are things we need to ‘put to death’ (or destroy the power of) – things that belong to our sinful nature. We are also instructed to clothe ourselves in virtues – the one that binds them all together is love. I love the image of dressing ourselves with such items and in fact wrote a previous post about this, which I hope you might find helpful.
We are given a picture of how the individuals in a church can come together too, to praise God but also encourage and teach one another – and to do it all in Jesus’ name with an attitude of thanksgiving.
I just want to focus briefly on the small phrase ‘hidden with Christ in God’. I love this phrase, and it reminds me of when Moses asked to see God’s glory (see Exodus 33:12–23). He was told God would hide him in a cleft in the rock as He passed by because he couldn’t look on God’s face and live due to His holiness. Similarly, we are now hidden in the rock of Jesus, safe and secure.
While this is a very different passage, I feel this follows on well from last week’s look at corporate holiness (1 Peter 2:4-10). In Acts 4 it says that the believers shared their possessions and made sure no one was in need. This is a fantastic picture of unity. And yet, even amongst the infant Church, there was a couple who chose to hold back and lie. Their story seems reminiscent of what happened to Aaron’s sons and I think it challenges us not to think of God’s holiness too lightly now we are post-Old Testament sacrifices.
In his book on holiness, John White raises the whole issue of God still being dangerous post-the cross: ‘It is quite true that God’s love is the most self-giving love. It has redeemed us and has already imparted to us a sanctification and a righteousness that could never be won by law. But we cannot take it for granted. Our souls may be saved, but our physical lives can be endangered if we grow careless about the holiness of divine things.’
I think that is what was happening here. Ananias and Sapphira were punished not because they chose to hold back some money for themselves – their land and their offering were their own to decide what to do with – but due to the lying and taking for granted that it wouldn’t matter. They revealed hearts that had a real lack of respect for the truth and being honest with God and His people. Note how the rest of the church responded: ‘Great fear seized the whole church’ (v11). They had a sudden reminder that God is holy and does not treat sin lightly. I wonder whether today’s church could do with a similar reminder …
Prayer: Lord, so often we treat Your holiness too lightly. You cannot entertain sin; help us individually and corporately to remember that. Amen.
