Review of Life

Review of Life based on the temptations of Jesus – Talk at Ashley 27 July
(Luke Chapter 4)

Every so often it might be useful to take a step back and review our life to see where we have been, where we are now and where we are going. It can take many forms and cover a long period and could be our whole life or it could be much shorter period of time like yesterday, last month or last year.

The story of Jesus time in the wilderness and his temptations could be seen as his review of his own life which was a prelude to his ministry. Jesus is our role model and this shows that for him it was very challenging thing to do and the extent of this challenge will depend on such things as personality, life experience and our current circumstances of life. He faced powerful temptations in his life related to what he knew of his own power, authority and gifts and the way they might be used. The temptations in the garden of Gethsemane indicate that the questions never completely left him and his choice of vulnerability, service and suffering and whether this was the right way to go would return.

In the light of this it may be that sometimes a review could be best done with the help of a friend to encourage and lift us out of a sense of failure or ‘what ifs’ that we can all be prone to at times. Maybe sometimes it is best left alone completely until we know we are in the right place to cope. I just offer this as a way we might consider at opportune times to re-gain a sense of meaning, purpose or direction in our life which offers clues and encouragement as to the future. Jesus ministry we believe was only about three years and he changed the world – so it is never too late and we are never too old!

Jesus in his wilderness temptations can be seen as him seeking the way to go and how to make sense of what he knew already about his birth and his life so far. With what we know about his life could there be hints of the material he might have been wrestling with? What about the circumstances of his birth and what his mother might of told him of angels, wise men bringing gifts and prophecies. What was the meaning of his baptism and the words that his cousin John spoke about him? What about the story of his parents fleeing to Egypt when he was a baby? How come he seemed to be able to speak so easily with teachers of the law at such a young age? What was the point of all that training in the carpenters shop? What does it mean to set people free? Was he pondering on the verse in Isaiah that he was to preach on in the synagogue at Nazareth? What is God’s kingdom? And may more questions……. Forty days wrestling with what was his mission in life and how was he to fulfil it. What we are told in the three temptations could be seen as attempts by Jesus to make sense of what he already knows, what he feels called to and how this might be worked out in his life.

He leaves the desert full of the Holy Spirit and goes in to his home town and preaches about releasing captives and setting prisoners free. After this encounter he realises that he needs to leave Nazareth and that his ministry can not be fulfilled there and tells everyone this. He is then rejected by his home town which leads him to a wider ministry in Capernaum and Jerusalem. Was the rejection with all the pain there must have been the spark that produces the explosion of his ministry with healing, preaching and casting out of demons to a wider audience? It is amazing to think that rejecting could be a powerful tool for doing God’s work in the future.

We might think that ours in so small a life in relation to Jesus but in God’s eyes we are all called to be a part of God’s presence on earth. We are now his Body. Sometimes a review can be tied in with a holiday or a retreat, a day’s walk or just a short time-out which gives you an opportunity to:

STOP and look at your life
LOOK at what you see and ponder on it
LISTEN to what this might say to you.

In the end this is an unpredictable spiritual exercise with the Holy Spirit. It always seems best to me to not try too hard and have patience. We are looking for ‘clues’ as to what might be there for us. It might take a while to see anything and so you need to stay with it and have the faith that there is something there that God wants to communicate.

Moving mountains vs being equipped for the climb

I have been thinking more about the idea of moving mountains and as I think back on the situations that I have faced in my life more often than not I have had to climb the mountain rather than it being moved out of the way or flattened. As I said on Sunday I believe God often wants us to see the view from the top but this does mean we have to go through a strenuos and sometimes scary climb. However, if we put our trust in him and we are prepared to use the strength of his Holy Spirit to help we will make it to the top and be able to enjoy the view and being with God

Micah 4:2 Come let us go up the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.

Being a pencil for God

Why not run through the powerpoint below and give us your thoughts on being a pencil!



Thanks to Anita for bringing this to our attention.

Jesus perspectives

Have had a busy week but am finally getting round to posting something about last Sunday's men's meeting in the Speckled Hen.

Had a good turnout (and the pub was busier than normal, a birthday party was going on and there was some tennis match or other on the TV) and some interesting discussion. Our guest, Andy Frost of Share Jesus International, used a set of intriguing photographs to provoke some discussion on how meanings can change when we look at things from different perspectives, naturally leading into discussion on our perceptions and images of Jesus (such as the stereotypical one in the corner!).

Andy referred to what Jesus said about himself in Luke 4 where he refers to the Spirit being upon him to preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, release for the oppressed and proclaim the year of the Lord's favour and suggested from that the concept of Jesus the revolutionary.

I think that passage is pretty revolutionary and it offers Jesus' hope to those who have lost out in life, be it emotionally, spiritually, physically or materially. This hope was evidenced in Andy's accompanying friend Leon, who came with his family to this country as a Kosovan refugee fleeing violence and war, and now seeks to reach out to others here (and back in Kosovo) with God's love.

The challenge for the church is how we can embody that revolutionary spirit in our activities and engagement with the community. We did start to discuss a bit about how different ways of being church can help or hinder that revolution. Not a subject to properly cover in one night but hopefully we all got some inspiration and challenge whilst crowding round a table in a local pub!

Questions

Hi Sue

Thanks for the comment. The questions from last Sunday's talk were:

What would be our strap lines?
What runs our life?
What clues are there for our spiritual development?
What could we commit ourselves to?
What habit could we change in 21 days?

With the first question I suggested that the apostle Peter might have had the strap lines:

I will make you fishers of men
Feed my sheep
Do not call anything impure that God has made clean

The last question relates to a piece of research that I spoke about that concluded you can change a habit if you continue the change for 21 days. Intuitively I think that the research might be right (although you never know with these pieces of research) and if it is I found that very encouraging (so, I hope it is). It was in a book on happiness that went on to say.

Why not make happiness a habit in 21 days!!! Quite a challenge.

What is Your Treasure?

Nice to be back in Blog Land!!! I have just not quite made it for a few weeks and my photography course has always won. But that is finished now and the prodigal returns.

If you were at Ashley on Saturday (payer meeting) or Sunday (morning service) you would have heard that I met a man on train whose passion was carp fishing and I spent a happy hour learning about it. There is his picture cuddling up to his treasure.

I am fascinated but what makes a person have a passion for something and it always reminds me of Jesus and the parable of the treasure in field (Matthew 13: 44). The man sold all he had for the treasure.

Jesus seems to have always wanted people of passion around him. It is as though he can sort out the mistakes we make and the hang ups we have as long as there is passion there. Is that why he persevered with the apostle Peter? He was a fisherman too!!!

Passion gives us energy and is life giving.

I took a picture of these in St Albans Cathedral hanging over the bookshop area. I thought they were a good image of passion.

Scary but energising

A Passion for quotations

I have a bit of a passion for quotations. I really enjoy reading thoughtful and concise sentences that contain so much in so few words. Poems and song lyrics come into the same category. One of my favourite poems at the moment, by a poet called Hafiz is:

Now
That
All your worry
Has proved such an
Unlucrative
Business,
Why
Not
Find a better
Job.

For some strange reason I don't; I go over and over the same ground and it is clearly ridiculous. Reading things like this can bring me back to God because they are a bit of sanity when I am losing my perspective.

A smiling God

The Lord bless you and keep you:
the Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face towards you
and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26

Thanks to Shaun C for the forwarding the photo