Sunday, October 24, 2010

Now is the time.... For Balance



On the seventh day, having finished his task, God rested from all his work.
Genesis 2:2

Today I was watching a programme which featured a 13 year old girl who was playing sport every night of the week and on the weekends. Not only was she an excellent player but she was playing at university level, not high school level. She was asked if she ever had fun, to which she replied, “I have fun playing sport.” Hmmmm. Her grandmother was very concerned that her granddaughter’s life was not balanced and her concern was justified and validated by the host.

Today’s world seems to have spun right out of balance in so many ways. People have either forgotten how to truly take a rest, or, they are too lazy or unmotivated to get a job because their parents or the social welfare system gives them all they need. What happened to balance and work ethic? Personally I get equally concerned about people who work 7 days a week and never take time to rest as I do about those who refuse to get a job, but I want to address the former issue.

Work is good and the Bible affirms this when it says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 that if a man does not work then he should not eat. God appointed each to work because laziness is not healthy for us. But each of us also needs to know how to rest and relax.

As I have observed the lives of some families I just feel exhausted when I see the number of activities that they are involved in and the constant running around by “Mum’s taxi” that it takes to make it all happen. I am not against healthy activities but I think we need to ensure that a healthy balance of home life and socializing is achieved so that the family remains a place of stability and peace, a safe place to return to and a place where family meals are valued and important and relationships cemented.

It is often easy for Christians to be over-involved in church-based activities. I know because it happened to us many years ago. We lost the balance for a time and our Christian life became more about church attendance than about relationship with Jesus who, incidentally, gives us rest (Psalm 23:2). We need regular time to rest if we are to live a healthy, balanced life. We should not live life in a constant whirl of activity, flying in and out the door, passing each other as ships in the night, with never time to sit with the family and be a family. The day after I first wrote this piece a man on the radio, speaking on the same subject said, “Children deserve more that the leftovers of our time.” How true.

If keeping the family finances afloat requires you to overwork, then perhaps you need to reassess your needs and where the money goes. Or is work a convenient and ‘legitimate’ activity to keep you too busy to face uncomfortable issues? There may be other reasons why you may not have balance. Perhaps it is time to take stock; time to smell the flowers or enjoy the sunset God has painted for your refreshment.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please shine your light into my busy world and show me if I need to find more balance in my life. Amen

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Now is the time..... To Walk in the Light


And God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:3-4

This week the world has witnessed the amazing sight of 33 Chilean miners being rescued from what could easily have been their burial chamber more than 700 metres deep underground. Some say it was ‘pure chance’ that they were even detected more than 2 months ago; but I believe that God indeed heard the prayers of these men and their families and helped their rescuers to bring them to the light of day and into the arms of their waiting loved ones.

If you watched, you will have noticed that each of these men wore dark glasses to protect their eyes from the light. This was to prevent damage to their weakened sight after so long in the dark. The glasses will not be removed until their eyes have had chance to adjust to normal light again.

Today as I read my daily devotional which included the verses from Genesis above, it brought the miners to my mind again. I am sure that as they languished in the darkness of their ‘prison’ deep below the surface the miners all longed for the light. I’m sure they too agreed with God, that light is good. It is difficult to imagine what deep darkness is like unless you’ve been down a mine and turned the light off. Colin did that in Wales many years ago, I was happy just to hear him recount the story. Apparently you cannot even see your hand in front of your face. Not for me, that’s for sure!

Anyway, back to my thoughts on light…… I also read in John 1:4 that Jesus, who was with God from the beginning and vitally involved in creation; this same Jesus was and is life and light. 1 John 1:5 declares that God is light and that there is absolutely no darkness in him. In fact in Revelation 22:5 John tells us that in heaven we will not need a lamp or the light of the sun because God alone will be our light.

God has called us out of darkness and into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9). We are no longer people of darkness but it is possible to be pulled back into the darkness if we choose to walk in ways that are contrary to God’s word. Darkness blinds us to the light of God’s truth and dulls our conscience. It is like we are wearing dark glasses.

1 John 1:6-7 warns that “ if we claim to have fellowship with him (God) yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Is there any hidden area of darkness in your life that you afraid to confess to God. Don’t be, he knows about it anyway but he wants us to own up to it and be cleansed so that our relationship with him is restored and the darkness cannot hold us in bondage to sin.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you that you came to deliver me from darkness into your wonderful light. Shine your light into my heart today and show me if there is any hidden darkness and grant me grace to walk in the light with you. Amen