Recognition

 I read an extract from Milton's "Paradise Lost" today. The angel who encountered Satan could not recognise in him the glorious Lucifer, bright morning star, that he had been before his rebellion against God and fall into evil.

It made me think of how a man I first met in a Maximum prison has experienced the same reaction but for the opposite reason.

He was a gangster from the age of thirteen, involved in drugs, prostitution, murder, full of hatred and bitterness, the epitome of the fallen Lucifer.

He was in and out of the prison system, from juvenile to adult, always involved in gangsterism until he encountered Jesus whilst serving his latest sentence in Maximum. 

That meeting completely turned his life upside down.

The first time his mother came to visit after he'd committed his life to Jesus she walked right past him, not recognising her changed son. 

Recently he's been moved from Maximum to Medium. Men from his past who knew him as the gangster lord on the outside and who'd been in and out of prison during his present sentence, didn't recognise him, he's changed so much.

Today his concern is how best to serve Jesus, to live and speak the gospel to those who are still living the life he once knew so well.

It could feel insulting if old "friends" and definitely if your mother walked past without recognising you but what a wonderful reason if it's because you once resembled Satan but now reflect Jesus.

Regular or Consistent?

 I met someone new last week. A single mum who had drifted away from her faith for several years, been badly hurt by experiences in churches but in the last few months has been revelling in a glorious reconnection with God, a renewing of relationship of love, challenge and growth.

She told me how much she values regularity, how she doesn't like to do anything she'd consider out of character but how living with Jesus brings the unexpected. 

God doesn't do things in a "regular" manner but he is consistent.

Some people talk as if the God revealed in the Old Testament is very different from the God revealed by Jesus in the New Testament. That isn't the case. God, from Genesis to Revelation to 2021, is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. His messages of love to rebellious humanity, his sorrow at our wilful decisions to do life our way not his, his appeals to turn to him (for why do we choose the way of death when abundant life is freely offered?) are the same throughout. Have a look in the Bible, it's very striking. The experience of millions of believers in the centuries since also bears witness that God does not change. I can read poems written by Christians hundreds of years ago and know that they follow the same Jesus I do.

"I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings." (Hosea 6:6 NLT)

Regularity, routine, rules/customs, prescribed behaviours or sacrifices can all provide a sense of security. We know where we are, what we have to do, what to expect. 

Life isn't like that. 

If anyone had been in any doubt, the events since the explosion of covid19 into the world should have proved that what a society considers normal can be turned upside down with frightening speed. It's only God that doesn't change.

That doesn't mean he's predictable: how can our finite minds predict the infinite workings of his? He will always act according to his character - holy, loving, just, good, merciful, trustworthy, all-knowing - but will often act in ways we could never imagine. Most believers can recall times when a seemingly unsolvable problem has been solved in a way so simply elegant and amazing or so involved and amazing that without knowing God's hand was behind it it would have seemed incredible. Allowing God to be in the driving seat of your life opens the way to the most amazing experiences in the most unexpected places with people you'd never have expected to meet: he's always consistent; never regular.

What's the point?

"What's the point of loving God? Or praying to God? Or going to church? Or trying to follow God's commands?"

 This was a question that came up on a blog I read (http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/) and it's a good one. What is the point?

 It just so happens that I've spent the better part of today in prison, leading Bible studies with men incarcerated in Maximum and Medium security. Of all people you could say that they've experienced life at its rawest, they've seen (and caused) death and hideous abuse. They have no stake in the riches of society but have torn at its fabric to extract benefits for themselves. They have been caught and are paying the penalty society demands.

The words of this question didn't come up in the Bible study I led on "Don't look back - A new start", but the answer did.

One of the men in Maximum pointed out that we're all going to die, it's an inescapable consequence of the rebellion of humanity against God. He knows that to die without knowing Jesus, to be left to face the Judgement alone (if we've chosen to live without Jesus) is a prospect too awful for words.

The point of loving God is that life without him is too terrible and hopeless to imagine (especially if you've experienced it in part), though too many people live in that hopelessness, fear and uncertainty. Belief is not a crutch to see you through. Reading the Bible, knowing God, makes sense of the world we live in, and offers (never forces) a solution.

Broken

 In prison ministry we talk a lot about the brokenness of the world and the people in it. 

We are all broken in some way, that is true and is clearly seen in the violence, pain and struggle of life. Hurting, broken people hurt others.

Sometimes we need to take a step beyond this thought so brokenness doesn't become an excuse for what we do towards others.

We are broken, the world is broken because it is fallen. Because of rebellion, the self-centred, selfish desire to do things our way, not God's, we have fallen from the lives of perfect harmony we were created to live. 

The fall broke us.

God does not break us: other people, ourselves, their choices, our choices, these are the things that break us.

God heals and binds together.

If we let him.