The Holy Sprit and mess

We like to think that we have things pretty well under control. We make our plans and probably get annoyed if they are disrupted by others - after all, when we have planned things carefully, we arranged them that way for a reason. So it can be rather irritating when someone or something comes along and changes things, disturbs our plans and everything goes awry.

The trouble with letting go of the plans is that we are no longer quite sure what is going to happen and we no longer feel in control. How we like to be in control! And when our plans are taken over and messed up, we are left with - well, a mess!

The Holy Spirit has a really annoying habit of doing just this. So it would help to sort out early on just who is in charge here! Because if we don't want our plans being messed up, we would do well to make sure the Holy Spirit is not invited.

So, when we are planning our day, our church services, our lives - our anything, in fact - let's be clear about whether we want to be in control and keep things orderly and within the bounds of reason, or whether we are inviting the Holy Spirit to take control and willing for him to mess things up. We will undoubtedly find offering unlimited access difficult, for it goes against the grain.

Some Christians seem to think that we can put things into the Spirit's hands a good time in advance, and thus obviate the need for any last minute changes of plan. The best of both worlds: the blessing of the Spirit, a well-worked out plan, and no mess! But this may just be a qualified submission to the Spirit: "I'll ask for your help just so long as you don't spring any surprises". I suppose, in His amazing grace, He may work with what you offer, but that may not offer very much...

After all, it's much safer to stay in control, to retain our well-ordered lives and priorities - particularly where these seem to be Bible-based and Godly!

So, what is the Spirit doing in your life at present? What is He doing in your church or neighbourhood these days? If you don't know the answer, then maybe that says something in itself. But it won't reflect His disinterest, but probably that we haven't left Him any room to act.

It comes down to whether we are doing the planning and graciously allowing the Holy Spirit to join in a bit, or whether we are looking out for what the Holy Spirit is doing and asking for His gracious help that we may join in...

But it'll definitely feel messy. His priorities will be different than ours. His actions will take us by surprise. He will break all our rules and push all our buttons regarding control. And He will raise all our anxieties through our not understanding what's going on and not knowing where we're going...

And it will probably only be later, perhaps much later (if at all) that the Holy Spirit's perfect purposes and plans will make any sense.

So, how much mess can we tolerate? The sooner we decide and get this clear with the Spirit, the easier it will be all round...

Which time-zone do you live in?

Some people seem to live in the moment, neither looking back much nor thinking further ahead than this evening. They enjoy each moment without a care about what comes next. No big plans or 'smart' goals; but alive to each encounter, savouring each impression, feeling each pain.

Then there are those who are future-oriented. They may be young people impatiently waiting for 'real' life to begin, or adults rushing on to the next goal, with plans for the future which need to be worked on and with no time to linger in the present. The past is gone and cannot be changed, the present is merely groundwork for a future which beckons. Their identity is not properly visible, for they live in their plans and what is yet to be.

Others live in the past, holding proudly to past accomplishments, or unable to let go of past mistakes and regrets. Their identity is what they have already been or done. The present is to enjoy their accomplishments or torture themselves over past failures, their future just more of the same. They may be old, feeling that life has already happened; looking back and waiting to die, existing, not living. But they may be young and afraid of the future, unable to move ahead, fearing the black hole of the unknown ahead.

Which time-zone do you mainly live in?

There are joys and pitfalls in each...

There is something good about remembering and enjoying our past accomplishments. And it is right to stop and admit, even weep over our past failings. Yet there can be a devilish deceit in living primarily in the past - for it encompasses pride for past achievements, or denies the possibility of Jesus' forgiveness for past sins; and it further implies that God has nothing more for us to do. On all three counts, this is false.

There’s something valuable about living in the present and those who live with a future-orientation too quickly dismiss it, underestimating the importance of treasuring each passing moment and living life to the full. And yet … the real risk for those who live entirely in the moment is that they meander aimlessly through life achieving little of lasting significance. And here, perhaps, a deceit of the Enemy is laid bare: “pursue happiness now”; “don’t worry about the future”. How well these comforting messages fit into our modern western world-view!

And there is also something good about looking to the future, setting a course and striving to achieve it. Yet there may be a deceit here too: "One day you will be somebody", while actually achieving nothing of consequence, not even being fully alive to the moment. It can be an avoidance of the present, or it may be dreaming a pipe-dream. It also contains a common deception, in thinking that the future is ours to plan - for God alone holds our future in his hands.


God’s attitude to time seems to be different to all these. He manages to have both a ‘grand plan’ stretching from before the beginning of time until eternity and yet to also be totally present in the moment. There’s no aimless wandering here; he has a very clear purpose. He is not side-tracked or distracted; his purpose will be accomplished. And yet he also has time to linger and make meaningful every brief encounter, time to address each fleeting concern that we take to him, time to enjoy each sunrise and smile, time to share our hurts and disappointments, and time to be alongside us in our despair.

But, we may say, God has a unique advantage when it comes to time, being eternal and all that. Yes - and no. Though our earthly lives have but a brief span set by God, he has nonetheless set the pattern for us.

So let us also pray that the Lord would help us to remember what he has done in the past and to give him the glory, while relinquishing our past failings into his forgiving hands; to live every unrushed moment fully with him, redeeming it for his eternal purpose; and to hold unswervingly to his call on our lives until we reach our eternal heavenly destination.

Why emotion matters

It's only when we communicate or understand the emotional side of what is being communicated, that we can properly understand and truly relate to a person.

For example, a parent says: "The children have grown up and left home". This is a simple and clear statement, a piece of factual information; we've learnt something. But we are not yet in touch with that person, and we can't actually understand them properly until some emotion is shared.

"The children have grown up and left home, and I'm missing them like crazy", or "The children have grown up and left home and I'm so glad to have them out of the house!". Now we are beginning to know the person and understand what they are experiencing ...

With no emotion, we know about a person; but with emotion being expressed we begin to know the person. Those two things sound similar, but are a million miles apart.

Much of the time in churches people learn about Jesus and about God. That is fine as far as it goes - but it's not the same as being a Christian! Where is the living relationship?

Knowing that Jesus lived, taught, performed miracles, died, was resurrected and ascended to heaven - is interesting; but what does that have to do with me? It's only when I recognise that Jesus did these things because he loves me, grieves over my sin, longs to forgive me if only I will accept, yearns for a relationship with me - that things becomes personal. And this difference isn't just knowing more facts, but being in touch with how he feels about me!

And my response is not sufficient if I merely recognise the fact, or intellectually assent, that I need his forgiveness. It becomes real when I too weep over my sin, feel the joy of being in his presence, am honest with him about my struggles and fears ... Now we have a relationship!

So if a church keeps emotion out of the sanctuary it is stifling living relationships with God. How very sad!

Emotion is not enough on it's own for a good relationship, but being wary of emotion in Christianity merely indicates that our relationship with God is more intellectual than personal - relating to the ideas in Christianity, rather than relating to God.

Fortunately for us, God wants to have a very personal and emotional relationship with us. It's high time we responded - with joy!

Head, heart and hands

Each of us naturally leans towards using our minds, or our emotion, or our practical abilities. People tend to be strong in one of these ways of operating, adequate at another, and are often poor at the third. There's nothing wrong with this - it's just that people are different.

Those who most readily respond with their minds will think first; they may also feel some emotion or do something practical, but these will come after thinking. They are likely to be comfortable with understanding and reasoning; they have good 'head knowledge' and understand how (some) things work, which gives them a 'mental map' of what is happening and how best to respond. They will use phrases such as: 'I think that ...', 'What is happening is...', 'I know about that...'.

Others are primarily in touch with their emotion. They hear about something that has happened and are moved by the joy or sadness in it; tears and happiness will be familiar. They may not think through a situation, but they are in touch with what they feel about it and this guides their decisions and actions. They will use phrases such as: 'I feel that...', 'It's so sad that...', 'That poor person!'.

Others are first and foremost practical. Their first inclination is to do something; so if they hear about a person in need, their response is to do something practical to help. They will use phrases such as: 'How can we help you?', 'Can I drive you there?', 'Let's take them some flowers'.

We may well not be aware of such strengths and weaknesses in ourselves, and so are puzzled (at best) or scornful (at worst) at others who have different responses.

Our churches also tend to have a similar bias, and are usually just as blind about it. So (to grossly generalise) the evangelicals think, the charismatics feel, and the socially active Christians get on with doing things. Moreover - to continue the caricature - the evangelicals will be very wary of emotional charismatics and dismissive of 'the social gospel' - their priority is to get their teaching right! The charismatics will be amazed at how cold and unresponsive those evangelicals are, and yet are also not so keen to rush out into practical Christian action as they are enjoying the presence of God in their worship. And those who are into practical loving in Jesus' name cannot understand why these other Christians don't do anything useful!

These differences are often dressed up in theological language, but this doesn't really reflect a difference in theology so much as that God made people different!

But Jesus - unusually - was skilled in all three areas: clear thinking, emotionally literate, and practically involved. Perhaps this is not so surprising, as each of these reflect aspects of God's own character; you will see them all threaded throughout scripture if you look.

Rather than having our churches majoring in just one of these ways of operating and then constructing a theology to justify their discomfort with others' ways of responding, can we not recognise and use the different God-given giftings of our membership so that all are welcome in our churches and all bases are covered?

Of course, our minister / pastor / vicar will have their own personal strengths and weaknesses in these areas and so will almost certainly find it difficult to operate skillfully in all these modes. Can they humbly acknowledge their own weak areas and so seek out and use those within the church who have different gifts?

Only then can we have churches which have the mind of Christ, express the love and compassion of God, and then get involved with their hands in practical loving action in the name of Jesus.

If something's worth doing, it's worth doing badly

We are often told that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. I want to propose that a more useful aphorism is that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly!

If God calls you to do something, go and do it – even if you can only do it badly. Speak to your neighbour, and feel clumsy at it; phone someone who has been on your mind, even though you don’t know quite what to say; pick up the Bible, even though you do not know where to begin; pray, even though your prayers are childish; be obedient, even when there is nothing to show for it!

For then you will rely on God’s strength rather than on your own. Then you will see Almighty God at work, and not just the result of your own feeble ability. And you will know the peace of being within God’s will; and when the world calls you a failure, praise the Lord, for it is true; but you’re a forgiven failure doing the work your Lord has called you to.

You may think: "That's fine for you to say, for you are doing alright. But me, I really am a failure!". There are likely to be times when all of us know we have failed in some overwhelming manner, and are deeply ashamed, even broken. That's not a comfortable place to be in, but in that moment we are in touch with the truth, unlike those who think they are a success.

As Christians we often don’t see the end results of our work, for we deal with faith, hope and love more than with tangible end results. If you want to be great in the Kingdom of God, be willing to give up all hope of success and greatness in this world, for God turns this world’s values upside down.

Yes, the people who choose the top seats at the table are moved down, to make way for the humble. The first shall be last, and last first. And St Paul in his letter to the Corinthian Christians says “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1v18).

Steer clear of success – it’s territory Satan entices us to – but a failure, now that is someone that God can use!

Was Jesus really such a success?

Looking at Jesus with our success-oriented eyes, we tend to see the miracle-performing, world-changing Son of God. Not the typical modern-day celebrity type, it's true, but nonetheless, a super-hero up there with the very best of them.

I suggest the view at the time might have been rather different.

Just after his birth he and his family became refugees as they fled Herod’s persecutions. We know almost nothing about his life before he started his mission - he was a carpenter living a life of obscurity in a nowhere town. At the age of about 30, having achieved nothing so far of particular note, he set out on his God-given mission - to bring God’s plan for salvation to the whole of mankind!

It went well to start with, with great crowds flocking to hear him and see his miracles. But quickly it began to go wrong: he was rejected in his home town and narrowly escaped being murdered. Not long after, the great majority of his followers fell away when the going got tough, leaving just the 12. And then one of these twelve betrayed him into the hands of his armed enemies. The others deserted when he was arrested and Peter, his most loyal supporter, denied he even knew him. Following an illegal trial on trumped-up charges, he was put to death with common criminals.

Hanging there on the cross with his life flashing before his eyes: what was there to show for all his work? Where was the fruit of his great mission? Where was the evidence of salvation for the world? In fact, where were his disciples?

No thriving congregation, no recognition, no books published, no possessions apart from the clothes he was wearing, no children. Misunderstood, rejected, dead at 33 and no memorial service with warm words. Apart from a handful, no-one cared. There were just a few frightened and disillusioned disciples who had lost hope and scattered!

As he was dying, nothing remained - except his faith in his Father. The salvation of the world, hanging by the merest of threads - in the faith of one dying man!

He dies, not seeing any evidence for what he trusts is to come. As the world judges things, his life was a catastrophic failure. (Don't let the fact that you know the end of the story blind you to the crisis at this moment in history...)

Imagine, as you look back on your life when you are dying: everything you have worked hard for and cared about - come to absolutely nothing!

So was Jesus really a such a success?

He was successful only in having lived a life of total obedience to his Father. He trusted his Father to fulfil his promise, even when all appeared to have gone wrong.

We, too, have a choice: work to be a success - and perhaps gain some possessions and achieve a modicum of recognition. Or choose to be obedient - most likely being seen as a failure in the eyes of the world - but leaving room for God to work in whatever way he wishes.

Remembered for the car or house you owned? Or remembered for being the hands of God?

In praise of failure

We live in a world obsessed with success. We are interested in the rich, the famous and the powerful, the movers and the shakers, and we watch their activities, accomplishments and lifestyle on our televisions and in the magazines and papers.

We are bombarded through the media and advertising with the command, sometimes blatant, sometimes subtle: “be successful”, usually followed up with some trite message about the deodorant you should use, the way you should look, the clothes you should wear, the car you should drive.

We think that we are well able to spot the deceit and so strain out the gnat: we know that success doesn’t depend on a fragrance, or even on our car. Yet we swallow the camel, the much more insidious and repeated lie: that we should be successful.

Everywhere there is pressure to succeed and the message is that our worth is based on our performance. Achieve, and you’re worth something; otherwise you are nothing. The world commands success, and the failures in our society are airbrushed out of sight...

No, this is a piece in praise of failure! (The very idea is shocking...)

Think through some of the well-known Gospel stories with me: there are many notable successes and ignominious failures in its pages.

Here are a some of the successful people who are mentioned in the Bible:

• In Matt 19 v16f there was the rich man who came to follow Jesus and asked what he needed to do to enter the Kingdom of God. He went away downcast when he was told to go and sell his possessions and give to the poor, then to come and follow Jesus. After this Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”.
• In Luke 12v16f we are told about a successful farmer, who had a bumper crop and decided to build new barns to horde all his produce, so that he could then retire and take life easy. But he died the next day, and Jesus used him as a warning, saying, “This is how it will be for anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards others”.
• The Pharisees were the religious and civic leaders of the day, the successful people, the top of the pile – but in Matt 23 Jesus repeatedly calls them ‘hypocrites’, ‘blind guides’, a ‘brood of vipers’, and compared them to ‘white-washed tombs’.

And here are some of the notable failures mentioned in the Gospels:

• In Luke 7v36f there was the prostitute who wept for her sinful life, and poured perfume on Jesus’ feet. She had her sins forgiven, while the Pharisee in whose house Jesus was feasting at the time was just indignant that Jesus would deal with such a person.
• In Luke 16 v19 there is the story of the rich man who lived in luxury, and the beggar Lazarus who lived at his gate. It was only the latter that went to heaven.
• In Luke 18 v9 there were two men praying – a Pharisee and a tax collector. It was only the tax collector, an outcast, whose prayers were heard by God.
• Then there was the repentant thief, crucified along with Jesus, who entered paradise …

There is a real bias in Jesus’ teaching – few successful people accepted Jesus, while many of the failures, the outcasts and nobodies were his friends and followers. And there are many more examples than these few I have mentioned.

Success is a very cruel god to worship! And here you are on very slippery ground; it is the domain of the Enemy.

What about us? Are we striving to be a success – don’t, for it’s fools gold. God isn’t interested in success, but he is interested in failures! Are we too proud to admit to being a failure? We only begin our Christian life when we recognise we are failures, and give up trying to succeed in our own strength, and plead for forgiveness. No, God isn’t interested in successful people, only in forgiven failures - in those who submit to Him, those who obey His commands and do His will.

Maybe you think that I’m saying that to admit to being a failure is the first step towards success? No! It is a key to being in a right relationship with God, but not to success in this life! God is more likely to ask you clear up the books after the service, or to be a friend to your neighbour, than to be successful, rich or famous. For God the Father knows that success is a temptation that few can withstand.

The world commands success, though the devilish twist is that most end up feeling a failure. Christ works with failures - who end up at peace with God.