I’m taking a break from blogging over August; things will start up again in September. In the meantime, here is an entry I’ve been brewing for a while. Coincidentally, Cat Caird has blogged recently on the same theme, so do have a read of her entry too.
“I’d heard it all before.”
We were discussing a talk at a conference I’d missed, and I asked how it had been. “Good”, I was informed, “but nothing groundbreaking.”
“I’ve heard it all before.”
I was reading through one of the gospels again, and was struggling to get anything out of it. It was all so familiar – stuff I’d learnt as a kid. I wanted something new, something fresh. I didn’t seem to be finding it.
Do you feel like you’ve “heard it all before”?
When I’m tempted to think so, I need to ask myself: “do I really think the gospel is boring? Do I really think I no longer need to hear it?”
The preacher is telling me of God’s grace. Stop. Think. God sets his love on you, unlovely as you are. He’s working in you to make you like Jesus, the perfect man, the servant king. You deserve death, yet God gives you an eternal inheritance, welcoming you into his own family. Grace upon grace. Boring? No, there are depths here that will take an eternity to uncover.
I’m reading a familiar passage. Stop. Think. Here’s a chance to see my Lord and Saviour more clearly. To dwell on his character, to see more of his goodness. He is the chief of ten thousand; he is altogether lovely. Yes, I know this already – but like the wife who never tires to hear her husband say “I love you”, this shouldn’t matter to us. It is good to hear it again, to be reminded of truths that so often slip from our grasp.
Sometimes we think we need to hear something fresh every day. But God gives us the gospel, again and again, to re-fresh our hearts. It’s news we should never tire of – and if we are tiring of it, the solution is more gospel. We can’t have heard it right.
Let’s take every opportunity to set our hearts on our wonderful God once more. “Father, I’ve been reminded of your fatherly care and protection. Show me where I’m seeking to be self-sufficient so that I can turn back to you.” “Lord, you’ve shown me again that your Son is glorious. Thank you for a fresh sight of him.”
Jared Wilson writes:
Why do angels long to look into the good news? Because it is fascinating! It is eternally interesting. It is thrilling. It is simple, yet complex. It is a diamond: one brilliant treasure with a million gleaming facets, each offering a million vantage points alight and gleaming with the majesty of its architect. (Gospel Wakefulness, p203)
Heard it all before? Maybe. But don’t you long to hear it again?
“What are you doing with your singleness?”
This is a question I’ve been mulling over recently. Two weeks ago I was best man for my friend Dan, and various people at the wedding were jokingly matching me up with the single bridesmaids. (If you’re reading this, bridesmaids, now you know what the ushers were talking about…)
My friends were both well-meaning and (thankfully) not serious. But it made the sermon I heard a week later all the more striking, where the preacher pointed out that both Jesus (in Matthew 19) and Paul (in 1 Corinthians 7) say that – for some people – singleness is better.
There’s a certain cultural narrative that would agree – at least for men. Marriage is limiting; singleness means freedom. Wives are the “old ball and chain”, tying you down. “Bachelors” are lively, fun and sociable. (Contrast this with the associations of “spinster”… but that’s a whole other article.)
Singleness offers freedom to indulge yourself. You don’t have to think about your spouse, so you’re free to do what you want.
Except that’s not what Jesus or Paul have in mind. Singleness is better because your freedom enables whole-hearted service, not cold-hearted selfishness.
There are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it. (Matthew 19:12b)
Some choose to live like eunuchs (i.e. remain single) “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven”—and those who can… should.
Now, clearly both Jesus and Paul have lots of positive things to say about marriage, but my guess is that readers of this blog will have heard much of this already. What they say about singleness, however, is a different story. However positive we are about singleness before marriage, our assumption is still that eventually people will get married. Might we have lost something of the Bible’s radical call here? When was the last time you heard young people encouraged to “grow up… and remain single”?
So I return to the question, “what are you doing with your singleness?” I’ve often frittered it away. I’ve not considered things like overseas mission because it might stop me from finding a wife. I’ve used my time selfishly, rather than using it to serve. I’ve been jealous of friends who are married, rather than seeking to be family to those around me.
If you’re single, what about you?
I have a friend who uses his evenings, weekends and holidays to run a summer camp for teenagers. I have another friend who serves meals to homeless people every Tuesday night. Another is pioneering student ministry in a predominantly Muslim country. Another travels round Europe as an itinerant evangelist. None of them could do half as much if they were married. They’ve stayed single “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven”.
So then, he who marries does right, but he who does not marry does better. (1 Cor 7:38)
Better? Really? For the sake of the kingdom, for some people… yes, really.
If you’re single… what about you?
O God of Grace,
You have imputed my sin to my substitute, and have imputed his righteousness to my soul, clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe, decking me with jewels of holiness. But in my Christian walk I am still in rags; my best prayers are stained with sin; my penitential tears are so much impurity; my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin; my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance; I need my tears to be washed; I have no robe to bring to cover my sins, no loom to weave my own righteousness; I am always standing clothed in filthy garments, and by grace am always receiving change of raiment, for you always justify the ungodly; I am always going into the far country, and always returning home as a prodigal, always saying, “Father, forgive me,” and you are always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it, every evening return in it, go out to the day’s work in it, be married in it, be wound in death in it, stand before the great white throne in it, enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding righteousness of salvation, the exceeding glory of Christ, the exceeding beauty of holiness, the exceeding wonder of grace.
— "Continual Repentance", from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, p136-7.
It is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee—it is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith. We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking unto Jesus.” Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to him; when thou liest down at night look to him. Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after him, and he will never fail thee.
— Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening