The end of all things will be televised

And so as 2010 draws to an end it also marks the end of a decade - the first decade of the 21st Century. And with the end of this decade comes the end of a very important chapter in my life. In short I have grown up! Over the last 10 years I have graduated from high school, college and university as well as have become a qualified secondary school teacher. My formal education is behind me: I have grown from a teenager into a man. I have made and lost friends; I have been in love and had my heart broken. There have been many new beginnings and some untimely endings. Through this process of maturation I have learnt much about life, about responsibility, about pressure and expectations and about faith.

So I look back on this past decade for the last time. My future is ahead of me and I can only imagine if it will be as eventful as the last 10 years. In many ways I feel like the character JD from Scrubs as he left Sacred Heart Hospital. Always prone to fantasising his life, as he stepped out of that building for the last time, his final shift over, he imagines what the future may bring him: whether it will bring him the happiness of love and friendship he holds so dear and desires about all else. It is a very moving and poignant scene and made for very powerful television. In my own sentimental and romantic way I too stand at a precipice. A new epoch, a new era of my life is about to begin. I pray that the lessons I have learnt of life and faith will hold me in good sted in the decade to come as I seek to grow as a man and as I find my place in this world.

So 2011 beckons and a new dawn is about to rise. I am happy to be alive and desire more of God. Life is a journey; a journey of self discovery and self fulfillment. It is a journey in which, if we are perceptive enough, we will learn more about our divine Creator, through nature, through our relationships and experiences and through Scripture. The other night I watched the Last Samurai for the first time. That film is also about endings - the end of a proud warrior tradition; of a noble aristocratic warrior code. The lead character Katsumoto is persuaded, by Tom Cruises's character, to lead one last act of defiance against the vanguard of Westernisation that was heavily influenced by the American negotiators and diplomats. Faced with the latest in military technology, Katsumoto's Samurai are no match for the Imperial Japanese army armed with Canons, rifles and Gatling Guns and tragically, yet heroically Katsumoto is shot down and dies a martyr. In the final scene of the film the young Emperor of Japan asks Tom Cruise how Katsumoto died to which Cruise's character replies:

"I will tell you how he lived!"

Jesus was a man who lived with the utmost integrity. Jesus was a man who taught the world not just about love through his death, but about what it means to be human through his life. He was a teacher, a devout and pious man of God, yet without all the hypocritical trappings and character flaws of the religious leaders of his day. Oh to have been alive and to have lived along side Jesus! As Tom Cruise's character slowly comes to admire and respect Katsumoto's Samurai way of life, so too as I learn more about Jesus I am compelled to live as he did; to emulate his compassion and mercy; to be led and guided by his wisdom, to have such a strong sense of justice as he did and to embody and personify the love and faith that he epitomised. Jesus truly was a great man; who though died a criminal's death unjustly, died a martyr and more importantly died a saviour.

Just as the cherry blossom symbolised the Samurai's life - beautiful, noble yet fleeting; so too the Bible says man's life is but grass, like a mist that quickly evapourates. We are mortal and our mortality is fragile. But I choose with the life I have been gifted by God, with every breath I take, to grow in stature of faith and love; to nurture the essence of God that has been imputed to me by the Holy Spirit and to grow closer to my Creator. Jesus lived roughly 33 years. Like the Samurai his life was short. But what a life! He lived the equivilant of 10 lives in his short one! With what ever time God graces me with I want to make it count; I don't want to waste such a precious gift. I will be 25 in 2011; I will have lived a quarter of a century on this earth - I want to make sure that every single day is made to count; that the true essence and Shekinah Glory of God is revealed to me and that in every way I can learn what it truly means to live as Jesus taught me.

I have a suspicion that my future may lie abroad. Before Jesus ascended into Heaven he commissioned his Apostles to:

"Go forth and make disciples of all nations..."

I desire to see God's kingdom grow here on earth: to see lives saved and to see Satan's kingdom diminish. The Bible says to store up for yourself treasure in heaven and when I die I want to have a nice, healthy bank account waiting for me! I would love to go to Japan but I do not know for certain what God's plan for my future is. I just need to be open to it. To live every day as if it were my last. It is said that the Samurai's life was a preparation for his death. The same is true of the Christian.

So I welcome the New Year and just as Japan is known as the land of the rising Sun, so I desire to see the Son of God rise over the earth to administer justice, peace, equality and love.

Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day...

So here I am, on Christmas eve 2010, waiting for the inevitable. I want to share something very precious, something close to my heart - I want to share what has been going on in my journey with God. This time of year always throws up many conflicting emotions and feelings: you have the spirituality of the Gospel message of Hope conflicting with the plastic artificiality of the materialistic impulses of what has come to define much of the secular side of Christmas. I'm not against spending at Christmas, nor am I against buying presents that say something of our affection, love and gratitude towards our friends and loved ones. Nevertheless as I get older, and the 'magic' of Christmas begins to wear thin, I cannot help but feel in some way uninspired by the emphasis upon materialistic consumption at this time of year. When I was a child I would know what I wanted for Christmas and ask, expecting to receive exactly what I'd asked for oblivious of cost or sacrifice on my parents' part. As I reflect I am reminded what the Bible teaches from 1 Corinthians:

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." 1 Corinthians 13:11

As an adult I have a far greater appreciation for the financial sacrifice that my parents must have made to accomodate my Christmas list. Like many parents I was allowed to believe as a child that Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, was the kindly and munificent person who would provide me with my materialistic desires. I believe that whilst the pseudonym of Santa Claus is in itself an act of gracious love that does not seek its own ego; unfortunately it does nevertheless fuel a selfishness in children that detaches the receiving of presents from a genuine gratitude towards those from whom they are bought. And thus as an adult my attention at Christmas is drawn away from a materialistic perspective towards one of faith.

But it is not the subject of faith at Christmas that I want to address. It is, more personally to my life at present, my own walk with God. This Christmas I have been challenged with deep rooted bitterness. Bitterness towards those who have hurt me deeply in the past. Those to whom I have allowed in years gone by to place a dark cloud over my thoughts and feelings at Christmas time. One such person, and the foremost person of my resentment, was my ex. Having believed I had forgiven her for the hurt she caused me, I assumed the matter dealt with. But after searching my heart I realised I had not let that hurt go. I had clung on to the hurt as a kind of excuse for the bitterness I still felt towards her. Convicted of such ungodly emotions as sin I began to pray, not only for my forgiveness but for her wellbeing. For the past couple of weeks I have been actively praying for those people who I have perceived to have wronged me. I have been praying for their happiness, wellbeing, faith and for peace. As I prayed, selflessly for these people I truly felt a sense of God's peace rest with me. I felt a release; a freedom and a joy in my spirit. I knew that I had grown closer to the true heart of God.

For God is a God of grace as well as judgement. A God of love as well as wrath. And ultimately a God who deserves to be worshipped and praised for who He is; not for what he can do for us but for who He is. God is not some sort of cosmic Santa Claus with whom we bring our spiritual Christmas list too and expect to receive everything we ask for. God sent his Son into the world because He so loved the world! (John 3:16) God first loved us. He taught us the meaning of love, the meaning of forgiveness and the meaning of grace.

"Anyone who claims to live in the light but hates his own brother is still in the darkness." 1 John 2:9

God showed me grace by forgiving my sin through the way of atonement by the death of Jesus Christ. Not only is God the creator of all life, He is also the author of salvation. We have done nothing of ourselves to deserve His divine forgiveness and grace. This is the God whom deserves to be worshipped, deserves to be followed and above all deserves our love. By examining my own heart, in accordance with Scripture I knew I was far from the true essence of God. I may still be single, but I am now much closer to the heart of God. This is a realisation that is beautiful and a transformation that is astonishing.

Merry Christmas one and all :-)

Hope for Israel

As I read from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke this morning; re-reading the nativity stories of the birth of Jesus, something very powerfully struck me: both Gospels placed emphasis on hope of the salvation of Israel through the birth of Jesus. Matthew's Gospel, which bears many signs that it was written with a very Jewish audience in mind, states very clearly that Jesus' birth and first coming was the fulfilment of many Old Testament prophecies including Isaiah and Jeremiah. Isaiah 7:14 says:

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel."

This prophecy is directly quoted in connection to the receiving of the news to Mary from the Angel that she was to give birth to Jesus. Yet even in Luke's Gospel, purposefully written for a Gentile named Theophilus (Luke 1:3), places special emphasis on the salvation of Israel through the reference to two people within the Temple when Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to God in Jerusalem. One was a man called Simeon, the other a prophetess called Anna. Through Simeon's declaration of faith, as he was filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus is called the:

"glory to your people Israel."

Whilst Jesus is also described as a light to the Gentiles it was clear to me that Israel is very much a focus within the Gospel narrative of the birth of Jesus. This was a watershed moment within Israel's history - a new epoch had dawned; Israel's messiah was born...and he was the Son of God himself!

There are many within the Church who interpret Jesus' first coming and his death and resurrection purely in Gentile terms. Jesus great commission to his disciples to go forth unto the ends of the earth is seen as the point where God's focus shifted from one nation (Israel) to the world. Indeed many within the Church today are hostile towards Israel and have no thought of taking the Gospel to Jesus' own people.

I do not believe this was God's intention. I do not believe the Church has replaced Israel in God's eyes. I do not believe the Gospel is a totally Gentile affair. While the Bible is clear that God wishes none to perish (2 Peter 3:9) and that Jesus is the Light of the World (my emphasis); nevertheless Ephesians describes the relationship between the Church and Israel as being One New Man (Eph 2:15-16). Ephesians states:

"remember that at that time you were separate from Christ excluded from the citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, (my emphasis) without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility...His purpose was to create in himself one new man out the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross..." (my emphasis)

Israel is still very much in God's heart. God has not foresaken his ancient covenant people. Neither should the Church.

I received an email recently from a Jewish charity with an article about what to pray for when praying for Israel. Here is a summary for those who feel called to pray for modern day Israel (and I encourage everyone to do so)

1. Israel's military - that Jewish believers in Jesus would find favour in the army and glorify God through their actions and decisions
2. Israel's economy - that the government and successive governments would take responsible and wise action regarding welfare pay outs, especially to the orthodox Jewish community and be able to intergrate them successfully into the work force
3. Freedom of Speech - that Jewish believers in Jesus would not be persecuted by Orthodox Jewish groups and be allowed their freedom of expression within Israel.
4. Israeli Government - an end to the corruption within the government
5. Safety - there are mafia like organisations which run human trafficking as well as Sudanese illegal immigrants that are resorting to crime.
6. Morality - there is growing amorality within Israel as future generations are growing up without a Biblical basis for morality
7. Salvation - Romans 11:26 says "All Israel shall be saved." Pray that Israel would know her saviour and messiah.

I encourage all of you reading this to open your heart to Israel, without whom we would not have the Bible or our saviour, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.