Lord forbid that I should lose the wonder of the Gospel To see a sinner so wretched forgiven and loved so dearly A self righteous man made aware of his filthy rags Teach me this Gospel everyday for I forget it daily
When the Word falls from my heart The comfort of this globe sets in so quickly When my eyes forget to look to you daily My ears are drawn to the noise around me easily
When daily devotion is not my normal habit The old man of sin sanitized in Christian activity takes control I become a very sick sinner who looks okay I say the right words but murmur inside
Forbid that in the frontline of ministry I should forget what I need That I should teach others the Gospel but forget my need of it Help me to kill the man of sin, the proud man within Give me the humility to see my great need of you daily
Teach me the wretchedness of sin even of my little sins Give me the gratitude of the Gospel to stand amazed daily Forbid that I should make my good works my hope Give me the assurance of the blood that paid fully my debt
Take back this life you gave and conform it to my saviour Though my will and desire fight you yet I know your will is best Teach me to kill sin daily and to abound in your good works Forbid that the comfort of this life would rob me the joy of service
Teach me the Gospel everyday for I need it like the first day Remind me daily of my great sin even as I grow older in salvation Forbid that a day will come to think I’ve graduated from this need Peg my heart to your Word to see my great Saviour everyday
One of the fears we have as a people is to imagine that either our leaders don’t know our situation or they simply don’t care. It’s double tragedy to imagine they’d careless about our fate and instead only favour their peers. It’s painful, it makes us angry knowing we put them there but hopeless when we realize we can’t change things.
So when one finally walks down our path and says I know what you are facing that in itself is great news. It says they see our plight and all they need is to show they are genuine. To make us believe the era of the Messiah has come with them. That with them in office our pain will be a sad history. That finally something will change and however big or small a change we all want it.
To know we are known and someone cares is the greatest asset for a human heart. To know our leaders knows our plight and will do something about it sells us hope and what’s more precious than hope? But critics will ask, how many times have we had this narrative before? And what makes us think this time it will be any different? Was there a politician who didn’t seem to share our plight and promise change?
Now here is where things get tricky. You see a good portion of us will lean on hope no matter what history says. It’s the last coin in our pockets and we have to treasure it. If we lose it we’d have to kill ourselves. The instict of survival in us holds on to hope when everything else fails. And if the other side isn’t selling a better deal to us then we have no other choice.
Unfortunately if we looked back we’d know better and that more blown out promises have been made by many politicians before. That a man who wants an office and desperately so will say anything our ears want to hear. A man who wants a girl has no problem going down their knee. And our history is full of the promises of politicians both those in government and in opposition.
I’m not trying to use this post to discredit a certain party or favour another candidate. I don’t want to make us feel hopeless if anything I hold to hope like there’s nothing better. But I would always say be suspicious of politicians because in truth all of them actually do know our plight. Don’t be deceived they don’t know what’s happening perhaps they may not be as invested but they all know. They’ve got foot soldiers on the ground and honestly it doesn’t take a genius to know our suffering. You just need to turn on the news. The question is how genuine is their proposal?
Unfortunately I don’t trust the ruling class or even the opposition blindly because I wouldn’t trust any man blindly not even myself. I want to look back and see consistency of care and concern. I want to see there’s some shred of honesty in a manifesto not merely inflated promises. Sometimes I think going against the grain and playing the long game instead of blindly replacing the status quo might be the key to change.
But there’s always a risk in politics that any one leader however well measured will ultimately fail us. Power has a way to blind and change people and man is not that trustworthy either. In the end we need more than someone who seems to identify with us and appears genuine. We need someone without the disease of all men that in the end cares for their own welfare. Here’s where democracy fails us because we need more than one of us for a better leader.
It’s the one who came down to face our plight with us that can truly say they know us. But it’s the one who is unlike us in our selfishness who can actually help us. One who sees our plight, puts down his pride and washes our feet. We need one like us but better than us. One who sympathises with our weaknesses but can truly help us. One who’s proved genuine and trustworthy.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll find him in the next election but it means our future is guaranteed either way. It means we can still lean on hope though our choices down here are likely to fail us. We have true hope in him not in the lies from every election year. In him there’s no risk of corrupting power. We have hope in one who walked the earth and rose to rule in the heavens. One who truly saw and acted for the plight of the oppressed and is concerned with the least of us. We have Jesus who is God and man, a leader we can truly trust in. He says,
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
We live in a time when people not only rebel against God but where godly values are seen as being evil not just old fashioned. A time when many believe Christians and the God of the Bible should learn something from our woke world. A time when it’s not the church confronting the world but the world raising an accusation finger on the church. When our world truly believes the church and her long history of teaching and demanding obedience to an old book is actually the problem.
In truth we’ve been here long before only for the most part this has been localized in certain circles or remained a private struggle but now it’s becoming a mainstream view. More and more people are embolden not only to question God in private but confront him in public. Many believe it’s time for the church to listen and learn. And since the world is just a click away many have undertaken this as their mission. To confront Biblical values of marriage, our society, leadership at home, in church and in the world. To teach God a lesson on gender, equality and justice.
They point fingers on how God has dealt with the problem of suffering and see him as a perpetrator. The God of love in the Bible is seen as a God of hatred and as a narcissistic being. The God of mercy as a God who is indifferent to the plight of many. The saving God as nothing more than an angry teenager that sends to hell those who disagree with him. A God who picks up on small problems like sin, the choice of consenting adults, and blows these issues beyond proportion. From the view of the world God needs to sit and learn, to evolve and move with the times.
The question before us is, is the world right? Is there something we’ve got wrong? Is it possible the all knowing God has missed something here. For many of us within Evangelical faith, defined in biblical sense, even my description here is nothing short of blasphemy. I trembled as I penned it down but I don’t think we can avoid what the world is saying. Perhaps privately we hold to this but we are not as bold to say it. Now to be clear I don’t think they are right but I think this helps us understand the people we are trying to reach with the Gospel. To see where they are coming from. To understand the problem for some of them is not just mere rebellion. These are not people who knowingly or unknowingly are just going against God’s Word for the sake of it. It’s more invested than that and many of them might believe we are the problem not them.
As I said I don’t think this is necessary new to our world. It goes back to Adam and Eve and the tower of Babel in Genesis. You see sin is not just rebellion against God’s word. It also sells the lie that we know better and that we, not God, have the best interest for us and the world around us. That we are not just right but that we are just and moral unlike the God of the Bible. Satan whispers to our ear that the problem is that God doesn’t want us to be like him. That he wants to spoil our freedom and hinder us from what’s truly best for us. And that he’s never there when we need him most. He wants us scattered while the best thing would be for us to stay in one place seeking what’s best for humanity. Building a society and a name for ourselves in this world.
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11.
While our world is more bold in calling God names and trampling down on Christian values, this is still the trick of the old liar. Sin has come out in public demanding of us to follow it’s own religion and calling names on those who disobey it. It calls men to follow it with a promise to make their life better. But in truth it’s just another faith, another gospel, the religion of modern man. But still it’s the old devil in the details masquerading like the angel of light. And this religion is strong because our hearts are easily drawn to it. It’s actually natural to man to see what God calls good as bad and see the promises of sin as heaven on earth. This is the faith of the natural sinful man.
Sin turns upside down what the Word of God demands. It pokes holes on the attributes of God and questions his motives. It raises questions on the relevance of the Bible to a changing world. And preaches to us that God either doesn’t know better or doesn’t care as much. It’s the Serpent telling Eve that God is just mean and doesn’t want us to be invisible like him. But as it was in the garden and all through Bible history, sin never delivers what it promises. But even then it demands we settle with that lie simply because it looks tangible.
But has our world become better as we’ve moved away from Christian values? Have we now found an answer to the happy ever after question in sexual revolution? Has our crusade on gender and equality outside of God brought us to the promised land? There are those who believe this is the case. But in truth when you look around you realise that as we’ve moved further away from God and his values we’ve only become more confused and lost. We are like the prodigal child that leaves their home away from the Father only to return miserable and empty.
The truth of the matter is we cannot sow seeds of selfish pursuit and still have a better society. We cannot shove God away and expect to enjoy his world without him. We cannot call good evil and evil good without facing the judgement of a broken world. It’s asking for Genesis 3 all over again. Actually it’s a miracle that we haven’t descended into anarchy sooner. It’s an act of grace that our society still works. If we managed to kick God out of the picture completely we would soon see the horns of the lying devil we are following.
In truth what our world is truly craving is a world devoid of problems. We are looking to have heaven on earth but we don’t want God in it. We essentially want to be like God and choose to blame him for our own failures. It’s Eve and the old serpent all over again. And as the Adams of this world we tell God it’s you who made us this way. You are to blame not us. Your way is not good for us. Give us a chance to show you how things are done. Take a back seat and learn what true human values look like. But praise be to God that even when he allows us to kick him out still he stays close. Praise God that amidst this man made hell God is actively involved as God over all and especially through the work of the Gospel.
For those caught up in this, what you are truly looking for, a world without problems, true freedom and happiness is actually found in God through the Gospel. It’s the lie of the devil that says you can get it in the world or in believing and following your heart. You are still not free for in getting the world beneath your feet the devil asks you to bow before him. The world, the devil and sin cannot provide what they promise. They are like politicians in a general election. They’ll say anything to get in but once in you’ll be in their mercy.
Perhaps you are right there’s something wrong with our churches today but it’s not God who is wrong. It’s when our churches have not given you the full Gospel picture. When we have picked and chosen what to teach, what sin to condemn and what attribute of God to hammer down. The God of the Bible as we see when the Gospel is taught clearly is truly invested in your life. He’s not just the Judge but Saviour. He doesn’t condone one sin and judge another. His son was tempted like you are and through the cross brought into everlasting life. He couldn’t bow to the devil and the lies of the world even when they wanted to crown him king. He knew they had no real power to provide what they promised.
But what the world promises and can’t give God promises and has given. In the Gospel we see one who died for us. One who is carrying us to our eternal home. One who sympathises and helps us in our weaknesses for our own good. One who will truly give heaven to those who trust and walk with him. Choosing God won’t give you heaven here and now. It won’t fulfill your wild cravings or make your life easier. But you are far better off with him than in the world. You’ll get true eternal heavenly hope and help by his Word and Spirit in this life. True happiness is found in him not outside of him. What you are looking for is the salvation only he gives. And you finally behold his true face in the Gospel you’ll shout in his praise.
A life in time to Preach 