I must admit to having a chuckle as I read it! I’m sure each of us have had instances in our experience that highlight the fact that we can all be insensitive at times. The trouble with someone being insensitive is that if often depends the temperament on the individual as what may be insensitivity to one person may not be to another. This should give us a sense of caution as we proceed. Of course, the other end of the stick is where someone is oblivious to the havoc they wreak as they interact with other people. So what to do?

At a conference for leaders many years ago the speaker made a poignant statement. He said that you will never succeed as a leader without the quality of self-awareness. Since that time this statement has reared its head a number of times. Particularly when leaders have publicly displayed insensitivity with sad effect in the lives of other people.

So firstly, we need self-awareness. This means we need to understand the effect we have when we meet people. It includes a most important taming of the tongue. We must be aware of what we say and most importantly, how we say it. Over the years many people have said unkind things in unkind ways and given the phrase, “I said it/ did it/ in love”. Of course saying we did it in love does not mean we did! Love is not only expressed by what we say but also in how we say it. If we are correct in one but not the other, love has not been expressed. I find this most difficult when something needs to be said that can cause offence. The temptation is to just blurt it out and run. However, I’ve learned that especially in these circumstances I need to spend more time formulating what I’m going to say. You’ll notice the world does this rather well by preparing statements. This is not a bad thing. In fact, I think it a good thing. Surely it is better to carefully think through what we’re going to say before we say it? Better still, write it down as the mind may forget at the moment of delivery.

Tim Elmore on his blog gives us some helpful advice:

Four Steps You Can Take

It seems we all have blind spots—and half the battle to overcoming them is simple awareness; admitting that they exist. Here are steps you can take to address them.

1. Invite friends you respect to hold you accountable for your conduct. Give them permission to reveal to you the quirks and habits that could sabotage your growth.

2. Capture yourself on video as much as you can. Watch the footage and evaluate how you come across to others.

3. Ask your supervisor, at work, to clue you in on your damaging patterns. In fact, invite a 360-degree assessment from bosses, colleagues and teammates under you.

4. Invest time daily evaluating your performance and other’s reactions at the end of the day. Ask yourself: If you were your own boss, what advice would you give?

The only one I would add to this is be open to the Holy Spirit. I find the Holy Spirit is very willing to stop us before we say or do something inappropriate, but we must be open to him.

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“There are worse things than our final departure to the grave. One is the slow strangling death that surely comes to those who try to live by bread alone. For when we live by bread alone, we die by bread alone … Not that we immediately notice it, however. Modern culture is engineered to cover up such death.”

Dorothea Soelle

One of the constant dangers the Israelites faced was the influence of the nations around them. Once a nation was allowed to live with Israel, it was not long before Israel began to break God’s laws. This was disastrous as it led to judgement and punishment. Why was this so disastrous? Because God was living in the midst of His people and he had stringent rules. These rules where not to make life difficult, but to make it possible for a holy God to dwell amongst sinful people.

Our modern society rejects this. It is a society that rejects any sort of absolute right and wrong, simply because it does not want to face up to the fact that judgement will ensue. It makes them feel guilty and that is not what they want to feel.

However, Christians should be different. We should be happy to embrace God’s requirements for the sake of having the living God dwell with us. Things have changed since the Old Testament. God no longer lives in a man-made building, but in the people themselves. This then is why we should carefully heed the Bible’s requirement on how we should live and behave. Herein lies the problem. If, like the majority of the world we never read the Bible, meditate on it nor bring our lives into line with its requirements, we will never know the indwelling presence of God through the Holy Spirit. We’re in the same danger the Israelites where in in that we are slowly absorbing the values of the godless world around us whilst lamenting the demise of true spirituality. This absorption is so slow it is almost imperceptible.

So what are we to do? First, we need to recognise that the sinful nature within us will always sabotage our internal compass of right and wrong. We all know that work equipment when used needs checking every so often to make sure it’s still working correctly. In fact the more frequently something is used the more frequently it needs re-calibrating. Our lives also need a regular re-calibration.

Our lives are filled with circumstances and situations that require us to make decisions. These decisions will be based on our internal compass. If that compass is not cared for and regularly re-calibrated our decisions will slowly take us off course. Sadly, this is evident in the lives of many believers who make appalling decisions.

How do we re-calibrate? Re-calibration is the idea behind God’s sabbath rest. The sabbath is not just about resting from work, but using the time to reflect on our past week in the light of God’s word. It allows us to ask questions such as, “have I been obedient to God this week?”, “Have I acted in any way that needs confession and repentance?”. There are many such questions we could ask. The sabbath also allows us to look ahead. We can bring our week before God. If we have failed in any way to live a pleasing life before God we can ask God’s help for the coming week and reflect on how we will accomplish this. This is how we re-calibrate. We do it away from the activity of the world and we use God’s truth as the measure for our lives. This should also be done everyday in a smaller measure. Those of us who re-align our compass like this regularly will find that we will increase in maturity and most of all we’ll know a greater measure of God’s presence in our lives!

When was the last time your re-aligned you internal compass? What are you doing with your sabbaths?

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The young person never really looks at the amount of time he has been allotted. True we don’t know how long we will live, but we can be certain we won’t be around for the change of the next century. We all understand that we have limited time. Time is the currency of our lives, we spend it every day and end up with a shorter amount.

This should mean that we are careful with time. Since time is the currency of our lives, what I end up doing with my time is in some way what my life is worth. If someone was to ask us to give our life in place of another for a large some of money we would all refuse. Nothing is worth giving up living. But what we don’t seem to comprehend is that what we spend the years of our life doing becomes its intrinsic value.

Every day we are faced with opportunities. Some will repeat themselves, others will be one-off occurrences. We decide what we do with them. Often, we are fooled into believing that all days are alike, but I want to introduce the idea to you that all days are unique. They occur only once, they will not resurface, and what we do in that day goes down into history forever, never to be changed. There is one more challenging and sobering thought in this process and that is that God will require us to give account for each day. I mention ‘each day’ as we often think that God will lump all our years into a single accounting. What if God goes through every day with us, what if he puts each day on a projector screen and asks us to account for every thought, action and word? It’s a scary thought, but perhaps one we should think about. There is enough evidence in the Bible of God expecting an accounting of every word and deed.

So what should we do? Perhaps we need to admit that we are not good in our use of time. In the light of God viewing every day moment by moment we see how we squander our time. By squander I don’t mean sit around doing nothing, but doing things that don’t really matter in terms of God and his Kingdom. Maybe the first step needs to be repentance.

As much as it might be good to know what we shouldn’t be doing with our time, we should also have a clear idea of what we should be doing. The Bible and prayer will furnish us with enough things God requires us to do. God has a specific purpose for each one of us and to achieve it we need to give it time.

It is a sobering thought that from the start to the end of his ministry Jesus required 3 1/2 years! Once we find what God has for us and we do it diligently we will find satisfaction, peace and a sense of having just the right amount of time.

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Lord, who may be a guest in your home? Who may live on your holy hill?
2 Whoever lives a blameless life, does what is right, and speaks honestly. 3 He does not slander, or do harm to others, or insult his neighbour. 4 He despises a reprobate, but honours the Lord’s loyal followers. He makes firm commitments and does not renege on his promise. 5 He does not charge interest when he lends his money. He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. The one who lives like this will never be upended.

–Psalm 15 (NET)

My attention was caught by the title of a chapter in a book by A.W. Tozer. It read, “God is easy to live with”. It made me realise that I had never really looked at my relationship with God in terms of living with him as I would with my wife or a friend. Normally, when you live with someone you need to come to an agreement on how you will live, “how can two walk together except they be agreed” comes to mind. Usually in sorting out the terms of living together some compromise is made on both sides. This was further emphasised when we recently did a study on Psalm 15. This psalm was aptly called, “hanging out with God” by David Shiels. The psalm describes the kind of people that can live with God.

The words of the song, “Jesus take me as I am, I can come no other way” often express what we feel when we come to God. It would be nice to leave it there, but although we come as we are, change is expected. Psalm 15 is very clear about the kind of people who can live with God. It should go without saying, that repentance from sin and turning to God are the first steps on the road, but it doesn’t stop there. Jesus may take us as we are, but he certainly doesn’t leave us there. He also does not want us to be satisfied with how we are, he wants us to look forward to what he wants us to be. There needs to be an openness in us to God for the changes he desires to bring.

The psalmist doesn’t mince his words. We need to live blamelessly, do what is right, and speak honestly. We should not slander or harm others, we shouldn’t condone those who despise God and his ways. We shouldn’t go back on promises we have made just because they have become difficult or costly. We should be free with our possessions and help those who have been wrongfully accused. Doing these things are a sign that we are ready to live with God.

We could end at this point, but I love the last sentence in the psalm, “The one who lives like this will never be upended”. Often we find that situations or circumstances turn our lives upside-down. This is not so with those who live with God. It would do us all well to approach God once again and see what we need to change to bring about a conscious manifestation of the presence of the living God. Perhaps this psalm can help us?

Let me encourage you to read this psalm slowly and repeatedly. Ask God to show you how you can become the kind of person that can dwell with God.

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In Matthew 26:28 Jesus says,

“…for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

A covenant is an agreement, a contract that is drawn up between individuals. This particular covenant is drawn up in Jesus Christ’s blood. Jesus’ blood assures the validity of the covenant. This means it does not depend on you or I, but on Christ. We should derive great peace from this as Jesus does,

“…all things well…”.

There are too many benefits to mention that this new covenant brings to us. However, in this passage it clearly talks about the forgiveness of sins. The new covenant in Christ’ blood removes our sin. What tremendous news! All our disobedience and wrong doing is no longer counted against us. It does not matter what the devil whispers in our ear, or what the world says, or other people’s opinion. What matters here is that God in Christ says that through this new covenant all our sins and the punishment they deserve are removed. This means we can live a guilt free life with peace and joy, because Christ’ covenant sets us free.

It does not mean that we are free to continue to sin or do our own thing, but we are free to love and serve God with all our hearts, mind and strength, without needing to worry about the future judgement that is coming on the whole world.

No wonder they call it good news!!

In a psychology experiment, researchers showed their subjects a one-minute movie in which six people move around a room while passing basketballs back and forth in teams of three. Subjects were instructed simply to count the number of passes made by one team. But while concentrating on their counting, nearly half of viewers completely failed to notice a woman in a gorilla suit who walks through the group, briefly pausing to pound on her chest. In all, she is on screen for nine seconds—an eternity in attention research. Repeated many times over, the experiment demonstrates the concept of “inattentional blindness,” or missing something fully visible because one fails to attend to it. For author Maggie Jackson, it serves as a reminder of the many important details in life that are overlooked because technology-addicted, overloaded multitaskers divert their attention incessantly to electronic devices.

Kairos Journal

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It only takes a moment, so please click on the link and have a look.

Are You A Comic Sans Criminal?

Obituary to Mr. C. Sense.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

• Knowing when to come in out of the rain
• Why the early bird gets the worm
• Life isn’t always fair
• And, maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year old charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. His health declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Asprin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. He took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little on her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter Responsibility, and his son Reason.

He is survived by his 4 step brothers:

• I know my rights.
• I want it now.
• Someone else is to blame.
• I’m a victim.

Not many attended his funeral because few realised he was gone. If you still remember him, do stay true to his principles. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Every person who has ever lived (except Jesus) finds themselves in a peculiar position. We have been contaminated by sin. Sin is not an innocuous condition. We cannot live with it for all eternity as this contamination leads to an eternal death separate from God in a place called Hell. This is a serious condition. As with most diseases, the contaminated person is powerless to do anything. Whatever, he tries does not remove the condition. Good behaviour and practices does not remove this infection. More is needed.

God steps in. The removal of sin requires that someone take the punishment for the contamination. We willfully disobeyed God which led to this situation. God’s justice does not allow this disobedience to be overlooked. God sends Jesus the only uncontaminated man ever to have lived, to take this punishment upon himself and so release the antidote that removes the infection.

Christ’s death satisfies God’s justice. Christ’s resurrection demonstrates his power over sin and our release from its effects.

However, we hit a problem. Many people who have been ill for a long time may be cured, but demonstrate psychosomatic symptoms. This means that although they are clear, they do not believe this and live as though they were still sick.

Are you one of those people? Jesus Christ cried, “It is finished”, on the cross demonstrating that the work of salvation was now complete. Nothing more needs doing by God. It has been done.

What then remains? Faith. Jesus rebuked his disciples countless times, because they simply failed to exercise their faith. Faith means that we believe the promise of God. Not just mentally, but in such a way that it can be seen in our actions.

Do you believe that Christ removed all your sin through his death and resurrection? Does your life bear this out in your thinking and actions? If not, perhaps you need to begin to exercise your faith.

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“[6] And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. [8] All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”
(Matthew 24:6-8 ESV)

Even the strongest of us would be hard put not to lose heart in these things. However, Jesus does say that we are not to be alarmed. We’re also reminded that it is in the “last days…” that God pours out his Holy Spirit on all people.

So what are we to do? As ever, we need to place out trust in God. Psalm 9 reminds us that those who know God will trust him. We need to get to know God in a greater measure. Once we have an ongoing intimate relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit we will begin to know an abiding peace. Peace is essential. Peace allows us to function properly on a day-to-day basis and not run off in some sort of panic. Jesus told us he would leave us his peace (John 14:27). He told us we would have much trouble, but to take heart as he has overcome the world. So what do we do in difficult situations? We follow in the footsteps of the great men and women of Hebrews 11. We don’t allow the world to move us, we don’t allow the difficult circumstances to move us, but as Smith Wigglesworth so ably said,

“I am not moved my what I see, I am only moved by what I believe.”

We finish with the words of Jesus:

[27] Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:27 ESV)

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