Reflections on being chosen by God for something bigger – based on 1 Peter 2:4–10.
‘you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession’
I have struggled with my sense of self-worth in recent days. After an incredibly intense period of both work and church, throughout lockdown and beyond, things have slowed right down. Due to the pandemic, some of my regular clients have recently closed down projects that I’ve worked on for years. Others have new teams at their helm; I just don’t know whether I will get any work from them now.
So I’m not too sure what the future holds regarding work. I know my worth is not tied up in what I do, but that, coupled with a deep sense of loss, has rocked some of what I thought was sure and secure. However, I take great comfort from what it says at the start of this passage about Jesus. He was ‘rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him’. Yes, there will be moments when we are rejected, moments when we are passed over, but that does pale into insignificance against the fact that we are precious to God.
WE ARE PRIESTS
What can give us an extra sense of value and significance is knowing that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves – a holy nation, a royal priesthood. These phrases are first found in the Old Testament, where Israel was called God’s holy nation. God taught them to ‘set apart’ priests to undertake the rituals and sacrifices necessary for God to dwell with them. But when Jesus came, He was the ultimate high priest. While other priests had to offer sacrifices for their sins, Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for all our sins – forever! In this amazing act of redemption He has made us to be priests – also ‘set apart’ to reflect the holiness of God to the world around us.
LIVING STONES
The other image in this passage is of us being built into a spiritual house. As ‘living stones’, we remain close to Jesus, the foundation on which we are built. It also means we are united with other believers. We are never alone.
Prayer: Rather than focusing on the times when I may be rejected, I choose to thank You Lord for the privilege of being part of Your holy nation, Your chosen people. Amen.
I have been an avid reader (and lover) of Fiona Veitch Smith’s Poppy Denby Investigates novels, so am thrilled to be a part of her blog tour as she celebrates the release of her fifth book, The Art Fiasco. Here she tells us more about the faith journey of her main character, Poppy, as well as her own.
When Poppy Denby (22) arrives in London in 1920 to start work on a newspaper, it is the first time she has moved away from her evangelical community. And she’s in for a bit of a shock. She goes to live with her suffragette aunt, a former doyenne of the West End stage, and gets introduced to an eclectic mix of socialites and socialists.
Aunt Dot believes in God and drops into the occasional church service, but is not an evangelical Christian. She, like her brother Poppy’s father, was brought up Anglican. Poppy’s father became a Methodist when he met his wife, an earnest evangelical, running a soup kitchen. He becomes a Methodist minister. However, it’s her mother’s strict fundamentalism that has the most influence on Poppy. She spends most of The Jazz Files worrying about what her mother will think of her new lifestyle choices: drinking alcohol, wearing make-up and going to jazz clubs with the totally irreligious Delilah Marconi.
For most of the first two books Poppy is being weaned away from strict evangelical culture. Some people would describe it differently: ‘backsliding’. However, that’s not what I intended to convey. What I hope to show in Poppy’s spiritual journey is that she comes to meet other people of faith who do not have the same views as her mother, and that she learns to separate belief from approved behaviour. She meets people whose faith is expressed through social justice and human kindness, some of whom, like the mentally abused Elizabeth Dorchester, doggedly hang on to God by their fingertips, rather than through puritan standards of morality.
However, Poppy’s faith remains an important part of her life. But all is not peaceful in her heart as she lost her brother in the war. ‘Why did God let him die?’ and ‘why does God allow suffering when he has the power to stop it?’ are questions that claw at her soul. The crisis comes to a head in The Death Beat, where, by the end, she finds some sense of contentment, even though all threads have not been neatly tied up. This is what many of my readers (Christian and non-Christian) say is something they can identify with: Poppy does not have all the answers, and shares many of their doubts.
In The Cairo Brief, she again has a meltdown when she attends a séance. The dire spiritual fears of her youth resurface as she is terrified of opening herself up to the occult and demonic influences. However, she soon discovers the whole thing is a hoax, exploiting the emotions of the bereaved for financial gain. Nonetheless, she is still desperately worried that a photograph of her at the séance might find its way to her mother.
The Poppy Denby Investigates series so far.
Book five, The Art Fiasco, is set two years later. In between the usual murder and mystery, Poppy finally goes home to face her mother. But Poppy has grown as a woman – and as a Christian – since the guilt-ridden days of The Jazz Files. She now firmly rejects her mother’s view that a Christian woman should not work for pay. She believes that what she does as a journalist and amateur detective is just as much ‘God’s work’ as teaching Sunday School and working in soup kitchens. She believes that bringing killers to justice and helping bereaved families discover the truth is worthy work. She no longer cares (as much) what her mother thinks about her lifestyle (which by most standards is still fairly modest). However, she also grows in respect for her mother who, despite her strict views, is portrayed as a woman of compassion, helping young women who have become pregnant out of wedlock. She is respected by the mining community with which she works, despite, in their words, being a ‘bit of a Bible basher’. In turn, Poppy’s mother learns to respect her daughter and her choices – although she’ll never get over her wearing make-up.
What of Poppy’s journey is reflected in my own?
I went to a C of E primary school in the 1970s and occasionally attended church with my mother, who believed in God but was not overtly religious. I went to my first (and last) Sunday school class on my fourth birthday. When the teacher announced it was one of the other children’s birthday, I stuck my hand up to say it was mine too. In front of the whole class she said, ‘You shouldn’t lie, Fiona, God doesn’t like liars.’ I never went back.
When I was ten my dad got a job on the mines in South Africa. Soon after we moved there, we were befriended by a deacon in the local Methodist church who asked if he could take my brother and I to church with him. My parents thought this was a good idea. What they didn’t know was that he was a paedophile. I was his victim for over a year – the first incident taking place in the car park of the church while Sunday school went on inside. We moved to another town when I was eleven; my parents never knew about the abuse.
It was when I was eleven that I came to know God myself. The Gideons handed out Bibles at my school; I took mine home, read it and now believe that God spoke to me personally that day. Despite my bad experiences with church people, I came to have a faith of my own. To cut a long story short, for the next 20 years I was involved in a series of fundamentalist and evangelical churches, communities and para-church organisations, some of whom (along with a number of good things) had very strict behavioural codes and cut-and-dried theology about who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’. It was only in my early 30s that I started to realise that I didn’t have to believe all that to be a follower of Jesus.
Now, aged 50, I no longer consider myself an evangelical, although I am content being a member of a progressive evangelical Baptist church. The writing of the Poppy Denby books over the last six years has reflected some of that journey. Poppy’s mother is representative of the type of Christianity that I have been weaning myself from. And now, like Poppy, I’m far more content in my faith: God has never let me go; and is more important to me than ever.
Fiona Veitch Smith is the author of the Poppy Denby Investigates novels, Golden Age-style murder mysteries set in the 1920s (Lion Fiction). The first book, The Jazz Files, was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger, while subsequent books have been shortlisted for the Foreword Review Mystery Novel of the Year and the People’s Book Prize. The latest book, The Art Fiasco, is out now. See www.poppydenby.com for more information on the series.
If you are interested in reading more from Fionaon my site, you can take a look at previous guest blog posts from her here and here and read an interview I did with her after The Jazz Files was published.
These reflections, on how we are created for a particular purpose, are based on Ephesians 2:1–10.
‘we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’ (v10).
We have looked at how God has made us to be new creations, or ‘alive with Christ’. Not only that, we are ‘seated with him in the heavenly realms’ – we have eternal life now to enjoy and an inheritance with Jesus.
MADE FOR A PURPOSE
The key verse I have pulled out of this passage shows us that we have ready-prepared ‘good works’ to do. Often our sense of self can unhealthily be caught up in what we do – our society seems to like labelling people by their jobs, and, as a result, one of the first questions we ask people when we meet them is what job they have.
While it is wrong to find our identity in our jobs, as it should be found only in God, He fashioned us to enjoy living purposeful lives – and that includes doing His work. It is really important that we remember, as this passage reminds us, that our salvation is a gift of grace – not something we have worked to earn. Since we have been saved, however, God does have a particular purpose for each one of us to undertake. Isn’t that exciting?
WORKING FOR HIM, ALWAYS
I think that we can easily fall into the trap of compartmentalising our lives, and somehow viewing what we do specifically for the church as God’s work, whereas everything else is somehow outside of that remit. However, I firmly believe that God wants to be involved in every single area of our lives.
Being alive with Christ means we have an active relationship with God at all times. We can be doing His good works just as much in the way we conduct ourselves at work or in front of our children – even in our leisure time – and, in fact, that reveals the evidence of God being at work in our lives to those around us.
Prayer: God I am so grateful that You have made me alive in Christ; not only that, but You have created me for a specific purpose. Help me to live that out each day. Amen.
I am delighted to welcome Liz Carter onto my blog today. Her beautiful new book, Treasure in Dark Places: Stories and Poems of Hope in the Hurting, which I had the joy of endorsing, is out today. I am thrilled that she agreed to share a little about the writing process and what life was like for her while she was writing it. Like the experience I had while writing my latest devotional, Liz was, at times, in deep despair and isolation when putting this book together. Wrestling with our own circumstances, looking to the Bible and trying to find some sort of sense for ourselves but also to bring hope to others is at the heart of much of the writing we both do. She is such a talented writer, weaving honest reflections with thought-provoking imagery. I commend her book to you wholeheartedly – it would make a wonderful Christmas present. I would definitely describe it as ‘hope for the hurting’. Here are her answers to a few questions I posed to her.
Tell me about the writing process during the isolation of shielding
When I first received the shielding letter back in March, I was shocked and fearful, the words ‘at risk of severe illness’ pounding through my mind. When I began to get into the swing of shielding, though, I thought I had it sorted, I thought I had a plan: I would finish the book I’d been working on for a while, a book about our identity in Jesus and God’s back-to-front kingdom. I told myself shielding wouldn’t be a huge issue because I was used to being isolated at home for long periods when ill with my lifelong lung condition. But I simply didn’t take into account the mental toll the whole thing would take, and how being separated from my family would send me into some dark days and darker nights. It felt as if the words were slipping away, as if this was not going to plan. It was as if a door was slammed in my face and I broke into pieces, already battered by isolation.
Then I started to write some poetry about the pandemic and about the darkness I found myself in. I’d written so much before about living in physical pain, but this time the pain went further into my mind and the words began to flow in the most unexpected direction. At around the same time a couple of friends suggested I collected together some of the stories and poems from my website into a book, and so the idea for Treasure in Dark Places was born – and then grew so much wider, with mostly new material written over the painful time of shielding.
Was writing this new book a form of lament for you at times?
Definitely. I found that words were pouring out that seemed almost too sharp, too vulnerable, too real at times, and they were words of lament. They were words that were birthed in struggle and that sat there in the pit with me, like the words of so many of the Psalmists who were never afraid to lay out their stark agony before God. Many of these Psalms have been a huge help to me over years of living with pain, and their words spoke even more deeply to me over these months, with their honest agony and their call to remember and to praise within the storm.
I think that as Christians we often forget how to lament, or even feel that lament should not be given a place in our prayer lives or in our corporate worship. We’ve somehow inherited the twisted idea that we should only, ever, be living in great joy, unaffected by the sadness around us, in a kind of damaging triumphalism that leads us to feel as though we are letting God down when we turn to sadness, anger or other big emotions. But the Bible gives us permission to express those things in big loud voices, to shout out our pain, to cry out our struggle, to weep at the feet of Jesus when it all gets too much. For me, my writing this summer was a long lament and a choice to turn to God in the midst of it, so some of the poems in the book are more melancholic, and others turn more quickly to hope.
How different was it to write the poetry and imaginative prose sections?
I found that in many of my stories I turned to poetic devices and phrases within the text at times, in order to echo the poetry. The main difference is that with the stories I needed to stop and consider the form, the overall framework and the beginning, middle and end – not so much to plan in depth, but to take more time to shape the piece. However, with the poems, they were more free-falling, the words hitting the page where they wished to and generally staying there in some form. Some of the poems are written in rhyme or with rhyming elements, and this took more thinking about, but they were generally born out of words that tumbled out rather than any great planning on my part!Writing poetry and short stories is very different in terms of how I approach the piece, yet in this book both come from a deep place of hope, the hope God imbues me with even when it hurts.
What do you want readers to get from spending time with your new book?
My prayer is that readers will get a glimpse of the hope we find in Jesus through these pieces, that they will unearth the treasures that are sometimes only to be found in the deepest darkness. I want readers to know they are not alone in their struggle, that it is okay to struggle as a Christian and that they are not somehow failing God or anybody else when life is tough. My poems and prose ultimately point to Jesus, who went through the very worst of suffering and understands our pain more than anyone else ever could, and so stands with us within our darkness, allowing his light to puncture through and flood us in his incomparable love.
PS Liz and I are both part of the Association of Christian Writers, and both write monthly posts for their More than Writers blog. Liz wrote one about how she was feeling on the eve of publication day, and I wrote one suggesting ways we can support one another as writers. Do take a look if you are interested.
Let’s start with the amazing truth that we are new creations in Christ. There may well be things we are ashamed of from our past, but God is saying that it is time to let go. Once we have asked for forgiveness 1 John 1:9 says that ‘he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness’. He doesn’t keep remembering our past.
FROM THE INSIDE OUT
He has made us new creations, from the inside out. As we saw in the first of this devotional series, He is most concerned with our hearts. When we accept Jesus as our Lord, He places His light into our hearts, which reorders everything – our beliefs, feelings, actions, wills. This includes a new perspective on others, which is why Paul says to ‘regard no one from a worldly point of view’ (v1). Wow that’s certainly a challenge right there isn’t it? But God has changed us for a reason – to be His ambassadors. We are to be made into the righteousness of Christ in order to reconcile others to Him too.
AN INCREDIBLE TRADE
Isaiah 61:10 reminds us that being clothed in righteousness is a reason to rejoice in God: ‘I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness’.
Just think about the trade that God did in order for us to be righteous: our worthless, ugly sin for His righteousness, which is of immeasurable worth. In the parable of the pearl of great price (Matt. 13:45–46) Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for a great pearl – when he found it he was willing to give up everything else in order to buy it. That is how great a treasure becoming new creations in Christ is for us.
Prayer: Lord may I never lose the wonder of how You transformed me from wretched sinner to beloved child. Today I choose to delight in being a new creation. Amen.
I have the huge pleasure of introducing Sarah Grace to my blog. I know her as a confident and caring publisher – it wasn’t until she wrote this guest piece that I discovered she lives with dyslexia. Here, she describes how she manages to do so, and the tools she believes will help us all understand and manage our mental wellbeing more successfully.Before I hand over to her, I just want to remind you that last year for World Mental Health Day I highlighted some other writers who look at mental health in their work, in case you’d like to take another look at that article.
I think it’s wonderful that right in the middle of Dyslexia Awareness Week is World Mental Health Day, because there is such a link between the two. As I talk about in my book, Journey with Grace, dyslexia can lead to extreme anxiety and even suicidal thoughts.
Recognising our strengths and limitations
Often dyslexia can be undiagnosed and understated. Dyslexics can often feel like we can be tripped up at any hurdle. It is not just ‘b’s’ and ‘d’s’ getting muddled; there are many unseen aspects to it. We may be able to tackle a task one day yet the very next day that same task seems difficult or even impossible. However, when we are honest with ourselves and others about the effects of dyslexia we are able to manage better. Rather than an excuse, owning, recognising and understanding both our limitations and our strengths helps us day to day.
For example, on difficult days I try not to compare myself to how I am on better days. I have learned to go with what is happening on that day. So, if I am struggling with numbers, I will leave my accounts alone that day if I can, and wait to tackle them on a better day. I might find spelling difficult one day so I will delay writing an important email until I am less tired and see if it comes more easily at another time.
Capturing our thoughts
I have learned not to sweat the small stuff, to slow down and be kinder to myself. I try to see the bigger picture of life. Competing with ourselves and others can make life incredibly hard. We need to ask ourselves: is it thoughts in our head or is there really a competition going on? Making sense of this and letting go of the mental battle can be such a relief, as it is exhausting to keep it going with no resolve.
I have learned how important it is to recognise the conversations that we have in our minds. We can capture the thoughts by speaking them out, perhaps to a counsellor, or through journaling, in order to see them for what they are and make sense of them. It can be hugely valuable to make ourselves this vulnerable, as it helps us to recognise and acknowledge how damaging the mental battles can be. It also helps us to move away from them.
Slowing down in order to learn more
Alongside my book, I am publishing a journal called Journal with Grace in order to encourage readers to write down their feelings and emotional reactions in order to see the connections. I have learned that when we take time for ourselves, by slowing down and taking a step back from the business of life, we can see what is actually happening. We are then able to notice our own behaviour, our emotions, reactions, stresses, dreams and desires.
During lockdown many of us had a chance to slow down, but when life started to open up again anxiety may have crept in. Making time each day to slow down, and be more aware of ourselves, our responses and the particular challenges we are facing that day, helps us to face the fear and understand what is behind it. We can also learn to break down the tasks that feel overwhelming into smaller steps. It is truly a privilege to give ourselves time to know ourselves, in order to face the fears and anxieties that stop us reaching our true selves and calling.
I do hope that Journey with Grace will help you take that time out, be inspired by the stories of transformation and find space to retreat, journal and discover how life can be enjoyed one day at a time.
Sarah Grace is an integrative psychotherapist in private practice and a director at Malcolm Down and Sarah Grace Publishing. Embracing her own life journey with dyslexia, she uses her counselling and coaching skills to work closely with clients, helping them lead a more fulfilling life.
Our society is always pushing us to do more, achieve more, be more – and listening to its messages can erode our sense of self-worth. On top of that, many of us have experienced isolation, deep losses and difficulty with concentration this year. This can cause us to feel unloved and unworthy. I know that struggling with a sense of low self-esteem is hugely difficult, and I certainly don’t want to belittle what some of you may have been through as a result.
REMINDING OURSELVES OF TRUTH
My intention in writing is to encourage each one of us to remind ourselves of who God says we are. In order to counteract the negative pressure, we need to continually soak ourselves in truth. So let’s look at who God says we are – and why – in this passage.
Firstly, God chose us to be His ‘before the creation of the world’ (v4). We aren’t worthy in and of ourselves, but because God chose to make us ‘holy and blameless in his sight’ through the sacrifice of Jesus (v4). Why did God do this? Verse five gives us the answer ‘in accordance with his pleasure and will’. Just let that truth soak into you: you are worthy of His love through Jesus, and it gives God great pleasure to love you!
LOVING OURSELVES ISN’T SELFISH
I know that the Church can have a tendency to be affected by the culture around it. As a result, some are concerned that churches in the West are becoming too ‘I’ centred. I understand that, and think there is some truth to it. But knowing our sense of worth, as it is found in Jesus, and learning to love ourselves as God loves us, isn’t a selfish thing. In Matthew 22:38 Jesus said that each one of us should ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. In order to do this, we need to learn to accept the worth that God gives to us. If you particularly struggle with this, I pray that you are able to take a step closer to acceptance of yourself today.
Prayer: Thank You Lord for the reminder that You find me worthy of Your love – and that I am to love myself too. Help me to do that today. Amen.
If you would like to read more about how we can struggle with our sense of self-worth, this interview with Anne le Tissier contains some helpful truths.
If you know loving yourself is something you find really difficult, I invite you to take a look atInsight into Self-acceptanceas you may find it helpful.
It’s time to pause and remember just how precious you are to God. Many scriptures speak of His great love for us, but one that I come back to time and time again is Isaiah 43. In moments of stress, fear and weariness it is wonderful to be able to read in God’s word: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine’ (v1). That works on my soul like a soothing balm.
I know it is important not to take verses out of context, and this chapter was written to Israel while captive in Babylon to reassure them of His restoration. However, God’s word is ‘alive and active’ (Hebrews 4:12) and has much to say to us corporately and individually today.
We are in a time of restriction – and of great fear. There is so much death and destruction all around us, and many of us are feeling worn out. There are concerns about the future, how long it will be before we can meet with family and friends again – and how many more will be affected by Covid-19. How reassuring to be reminded that, even in the midst of all these difficulties, our God is with us: ‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you’ (v2). Although our circumstances are hard right now, it is so important to focus on God and His presence with us.
Speaking truth to ourselves is so important – particularly in these days. It shifts our gaze and changes our perspective. There is no better place to find truth than in the Bible, so set aside time over the next few days to look up Bible verses that speak to you about how much God loves you. You might find it helpful to write them out and post them around your house, and pick a few to memorise over the coming days. Here’s one more to get you started, which you could use as a prayer: ‘keep me as the apple of your eye’ (Psa. 17:8).
‘Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God’ (v12).
We have already looked at how God created not only the universe, but us too – and He took great care with each individual. It is important to remember that He is behind all our natural talents and gifts too. Before we start to look at ourselves and begin to feel even a whiff of pride, we should remember that without God ‘nothing was made that has been made’ (v3). Everything in creation is down to Him – us included. The basis for our sense of self, therefore, should be rooted only in Him.
Yes, we are each valuable and unique – but only in and through Him. I find that comforting, as it makes the idea of comparing ourselves to others a little foolish (although it is still something I so easily fall into doing).
Before the creation of time, God’s plan for salvation was at work too; to send Jesus, ‘the true light’, into the world. With His sacrifice, and our belief in Him, we have the right to call ourselves children of God; faith in His saving grace is all it takes to be adopted into His family.
If you have never asked Jesus to forgive your sins, dwell in your heart and change you from the inside out to be more like Him, can I urge you to do so today! And, if you have, remind yourself that, however you feel about yourself right now, and however you are treated by those around you, you are a child of the living God, the most powerful and loving being in the universe. How privileged you are to be able to call yourself His child!
Here is how John puts it in 1 John 3:1: ‘See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!’
Prayer: I thank You that everything I am is because of You. Since believing in You, I have been adopted into Your family and can call myself Your child. Amen!
‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made’ (v14)
So many of us can have trouble accepting ourselves for who we are. Our bodies in particular come under such scrutiny, often because of the huge amount of unhelpful messages we are bombarded with by society (in the form of ads, magazines, Facebook etc). We need to stop and remind ourselves regularly that we were created by God – and Genesis tells us that we are actually made in His image!
I find this psalm so comforting – but also challenging. God is ever there; surrounding us at all times. But how often do we forget, when we are moaning that we’ve put on too much weight, or aren’t as attractive as one of the other women in church/work/at the school gate, that God formed us in our mothers’ wombs, and knew exactly what we would be like.
As we saw, God is most concerned with inner rather than outer appearance – and yet He still took the time to lovingly put our bodies together.
If you have ever spent any time looking in detail at the biology behind the human body, it is nothing short of miraculous. When I was pregnant with our children I used to read The Rough Guide to Pregnancy out to my husband. We would be amazed at the entries, which said things like, ‘this week your baby is growing fingernails’. God’s design for humans is mind-blowing!
We are going to spend some time over the next few weeks looking at who God says we are, and how those truths should be feeding our sense of self. I wanted to start with the amazing truth that God, the creator of the universe, also decided, before the creation of the world, to create you and me. Isn’t that incredible?!
Prayer: Lord I’m sorry that I can spend time fixating on the parts of my body that I don’t like rather than thanking You for creating me. I am ‘wonderfully made’! Amen.
