No terms and conditions

•August 3, 2011 • Leave a Comment

It seems that whenever you see a special offer there is almost always an asterisk that points out that special terms and conditions apply!

*Only for new customers

*plus post and packaging

*only with…

You know the kind of thing.  It seems that nothing is as good an offer as it first appears!

God’s people were used to living by God’s laws.  They knew that those laws told them how to live God’s ways, but they also knew some of them had become very precise and regulated.  They had become about doing x and y to make God happy, rather than about a good way of life. They had become over defined and overcomplicated – and people weren’t even very good at keeping them.

Into that Paul writes his letter to the Romans, and explains that all that is really needed to be saved, all that God really wanted from them, was to believe in him.  Anyone who could say in truth, “Jesus is Lord” is already there.  That is what God requires, not the elaborate jumping through of hoops, not the working out of riddles – just that people believe in him.  Doing that is what puts people right with God.

There are no special terms and conditions.  What you see with God is what you get. Trusting in him is all that is needed to be a part of all he offers.

How amazing is that!

There will be things that believing in God makes you want to do, but it is always that way round and not that you have to do those things first for God to be interested in you.

Anyone and everyone who call out to God is welcomed, accepted and blessed.

The one thing Paul asks at the end, is that those who have discovered this go and tell others.  If you have found something this amazing, why wouldn’t you want to go and tell someone?  How will they know if no one tells them?  Don’t you want them to know what you have discovered?

God loves and accepts each and every one of us.

Thank you God

that you accept me,

that there no terms and conditions,

just your love,

waiting for me.

Thank you that I can trust you,

and walk with you

in security.

May I take that with me

and pass it on.

Posted in God, Jesus, Lectionary, love
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Where is God?

•August 2, 2011 • 1 Comment

I remember a song that used to be on the amazing Play Away, that The Tweenies still seem to be singing:

I like peace
I like quiet
I like to hear the small things stir
I like peace
I like quiet
I like to hear the birds wings whirr

I like noise
I like row
I like to hear things bang and pow
I like noise
I like row
I like to hear things wham and wow

I like peace
I like quiet
I like to hear the whisper of grass

I like noise
I like riot
I like to hear the jets go passed
I like dongs and bongs and clangs
And noises that give you a shock!

I like hush and I like shhhhhhh
Quiet enough to hear the ticking of a clock

I  must confess, I’d forgotten about the quiet part of it – I only remembered the “noise and riot”!  That probably tells you everything you need to know about me!  But it reminds us that there is both noise and quiet, and we all hear things differently.

Elijah was running away.  Jezebel was threatening to kill him, the people had turned away from God, he is the only one left.  In that moment, God promises that he will pass by Elijah.  First there comes a powerful wind – but God was not in the wind.  Then came an earthquake – but God was not in the earthquake.  Then came a fire – but God was not in the fire.  Then God came – a gentle whisper – and Elijah heard it.

How often do week seek God in the spectacular?  In the amazing?  Are we looking for the fanfare?  Sometimes God does speak by those things, but sometimes it is a much more gentle voice – and if we are looking for the grand gestures, we may miss him.  In that still small voice, Elijah heard what God wanted him to do.

God is everywhere, but sometimes we feel the need to find the place where we can hear him, and what he is saying to us.  If we fill our lives with noise, we may miss the small whisper, the encouraging word, the prompt, the promise…

If we’re not hearing God, are we looking in the right places?  Are we allowing God to speak as he needs to?  Are we listening and looking for him in all things?

Lord,

I come to you,

seeking you,

wanting to hear your voice.

Help me

to wait on you,

to take time

to hear what you have to say

to me

 

Posted in God, Lectionary
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Drinks Invitation

•July 27, 2011 • Leave a Comment

By Juhanson [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) , via Wikimedia Commons”]

One of my memories of spending a few very hot days in August in Paris is of there being people appearing all over with cases of water to sell – often sat in buckets of water in an attempt to keep them cool – and we were very grateful to find them!

God issues to his thirsty, hungry people an invitation:

“Come, all of you who are thirsty.
Come and drink the water I offer to you.
You who do not have any money, come.
Buy and eat the grain I give you.
Come and buy wine and milk.
You will not have to pay anything for it.  (Isaiah 55:1)

And what a beautiful invitation it is, to come to God and have our needs met.  We don’t need money (which you need plenty of to buy water in Paris!), you just need to come.

God promises, not things that money can buy, but what it can’t, true refreshment from him.

Coming to God is not a waste of money, or an unsatisfying experience.  In him we will find what we personally need, a tailor-made recipe.

God invites us to quench our thirst in him, to let him restore us as we need.

God invites you to come, will you accept his invitation?

Thank you Lord

for your invitation to come,

to bring to you my thirst and my hunger,

and allow you to meet my needs.

Thank you

that you fill me with those things

that money does not buy,

you refresh me,

and restore me.

Lord

I come and drink

of all that you are

Posted in God, Lectionary
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