Should The Question Be Who or Whose?

In order to answer the question, I think we need to address both questions within. Who am I and whose am I?

Who am I? Does this simply refer to what you do, where you go and why you do things? Or does it go deeper than that? Does it ask you about your hopes and dreams, your fears and your dreads, your interests and grievances, your place of resolve and your advisers? Does it ask you about who you really are underneath the facade that everyone sees and experiences.... and that we ourselves come to recognise as "us"?

I know I'm a person that craves love and acceptance, respect and inclusion. I want to be loved, so I love others. I want to be included, so I make an effort to include others. I want to be respected, so I respect others.

I do this with my family, with my friends, with others that I recognise as needing help. But does giving love, respect and so on guarantee that it will be reciprocated?

Since I crave these things as a person, and I can't guarantee that I receive them in return, the question is asked... well is it worth it?

Let's answer that in a moment.

So whose am I?

Well, I know that God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, sent His Eternal Son to earth to live as a man in perfect obedience, die as a man to conquer death, and have victory over sin so that I might be reconciled with God. So what? Why would God do that?

The answer is simple.

God the Father wanted, before the dawn of time, before the foundations of the world, before all of creation, He wanted to adopt me as His son.

Why would He want to do that??? Because He loves me. He accepts me. He wants to include me in His heavenly bond of love. Jesus, who is by His very nature, God, came to earth as a man so that we could have a relationship with God. He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, so that we could participate in the bond of love between Jesus the Son, God the Father and the Holy Spirit, who are all bound together as one, and yet are three separate.

God loves us, so that we might love. He accepts us so that we might accept others. He includes us so that we might include others. God promises to restore all of creation, and wants us to restore brokenness here on earth as He does.

So I ask the question again. Is it worth it?

What do you think?

Get Back To The Basics!

So often we see our sports heroes (well, at least I do) go through these "form slumps" where their performances are lacking somewhat. We know what they are capable of because we've seen them time and time again tear opponents apart on any given day single-handed.

Often we'll see our cricketing heroes go through form slumps. Possibly the greatest modern day batsman in the game, Ricky Ponting (yes, I do have some bias but his record speaks for itself), has gone through his share of slumps. Matthew Hayden, former world record holder for the highest score in an innings, went through a massive streak of innings where he just couldn't put together a big score. Michael Hussey seems to be going through one at the moment...

... we see this all the time and simply say, "They've just got to get back to the basics."

You see, when you have the basics down, everything else slots into place. If your footwork has flaws in it, your timing will suffer, shot placement will be awry and you'll find the fieldsman more often than the fence, the edge more often than the middle of the bat and end up back in the pavilion quicker than you'd otherwise like. When they get beyond the barrier they've made for themselves, uncomplicate things and just work on getting the basics right, we see that fluent and familiar presence at the crease and the runs tick over on the scoreboard.

My greatest sporting hero, James Hird, who I affectionately refer to as Sir James (along with many other Essendon Football Club fans), didn't go through too many "slumps" but often struggled with injury. Setting aside his incredible run with horrific injuries that would have destroyed most careers, Sir James suffered one season from being too bulky, of all things. Over the off-season and during the pre-season, he'd been hitting the weights hard to bulk up. He did a great job, and he looked huge... but it really detracted from his game. He couldn't do the basics well, because his body and the way he played just didn't suit that bulky physique.

The following season he trimmed his body down again, got back to the basics and was an unstoppable force. The Maestro could turn a game on his own boot, and often got the Bombers across the line by sheer will power alone... and the fact that he had the basics down.

When we learn to play a musical instrument, we don't go for the hard stuff right away. We need to get the basics down first. We need to learn the fundamentals before we can get our teeth into harder, "more interesting" stuff. You need to learn how to play a scale before a tune, how to buzz on a mouthpiece, valve combinations, slide positions, notes on the fretboard, hand shapes, etc before you can move on to playing things that start to resemble "music" as we know it.

So, if we need to learn the basics before we can play sport for a grade team or play a tune on a musical instrument... why do we think that our walk with God is any different?

It's time to get back to the basics! Prayer is the basis of our relationship with God and it's a two way street, peoples! Prayer isn't a one way thing. It's not us talking to God and God just sitting pretty and listening. It's not me, me, me, me, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME!!

Prayer is an encounter with God, a relationship with God, it is dialogue with God. DIALOGUE, People! DI meaning TWO. Two people speaking with each other.

We need to learn how to speak with God... but we also need to learn how to LISTEN with God.

It's time to get back to basics. Will you join me?

A New Anointing

"Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings, and it will be holy." - Exodus 40:9

This morning a handful of us walked the halls of our Church. We prayed, giving praise to God, and then anointed each room, each door, each wall with oil. A new anointing.

We blessed the building. We commanded evil to flee from the building and claimed it anew for Jesus Christ. May all that occurs within those walls be for the glory of God. May no evil pass within the walls, through the doors.

A new anointing.

This morning, we took the oil, anointed the building, consecrated all that was in it, and made it holy. We claimed it for Jesus Christ. It all belongs to Him.

Amen.