Foundations

Any woman or make-up artist will tell you that a good base is essential.

Foundation is important.  It's what everything else is built on.

It's the same with buildings and constructions (so I'm told).  The larger the building, the deeper the foundations need to be.  Wikipedia provides a useful diagram explaining this complex idea:

If we want to have steady and firm, solid lives, we need solid and firm foundations.  It is easy to read the Bible or listen to a talk or chat to friends about faith or be moved by the words of a song.  And then forget it.  It bounces off the skin and doesn't sink beneath the surface.  Our foundations are shallow.

If we want deep foundations, we have to let God's words work their way into our lives:

"If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock.  When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last.  But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation.  When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards.  It was a total loss."

[Luke 6:48-49 MSG, emphasis mine]

Sometimes we need to dig deep and excavate our foundations.  We find that we have built our lives and our beliefs on false foundations that are not based on God's truths.  We have shaky, shallow foundations which are based on our own ideas and understanding; they are based on false 'truths' and they can't support us when difficulties come.

We need to dig up these false foundations and start over.  And we need to work God's word into the depths of our soul.

"There is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ."

[1 Corinthians 3:12 MSG]

There is only one firm foundation. And His name is Jesus.

Let's build on Him.

What's In A Name?

People get my name wrong a lot. I can count over 30 variations of spelling and pronunciation and it really irritates me. None of those alternatives are my name. None of them are me.

We identify ourselves by what we are like as people, but also by what we are called, what we are known as. And we don't just feel a minor frustration when our names are misspelled or mispronounced, we feel as though we ourselves are misunderstood or unknown.

One of Shakespeare's most famous lines is all about names:

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

Juliet says that her beloved would still be as attractive to her if he had another name.  But doesn't this undermine the significance of names and the meaning that they carry?  Names are important.  The first thing we share when we meet someone knew is our name: it describes and defines who we are.  And people change their names and abbreviate them to reflect their personalities.  Oscar Wilde even wrote an entire play about the issue and importance of names [The Importance of Being Earnest].

Names matter.

In the Bible, names had meaning too.

God reveals His name to Moses in Exodus:

"I am who I am.  Tell the people of Israel 'I am sent me to you.'"
[Exodus 3:14, NLT]

God chose to reveal Himself in the present tense.  I am.  Not I was.  Not I will be.  But I am.

God is. 

Constant.  Consistent.  Unchanging.  Unwavering.  Stable.  Steady.  Reliable.  God is the same today as He was when Moses encountered Him.  God is alive and active in our lives today.

God is.

Names matter. 

Remind Me Who I Am

Today I overheard someone say to their friend, "Just be who you usually are.  Be yourself."

How often do we need to hear those words ourselves?

It is so tempting to change or alter or refine or disguise ourselves in different circumstances.  When we are with different friends, when we are with colleagues, when we meet someone for the first time, when we chat to our family, when we talk to our boss, when we are at an interview, when we are on a date, when we are with confident people, when we are with quiet people, when we are with intelligent people, when we are with fashionable people, when we are at church, when we are at the pub, when we are at the supermarket, when we are in a club, when we are by ourselves.

We can have so many different versions of ourselves that sometimes we forget who the original is, we forget how to "just be who you usually are."  Sometimes we get so caught up  in looking for ourselves in different ways and in different places, that we forget what it means to really be ourselves. 

We forget who we are.

But the Bible says that we are uniquely created and designed by God, we are His masterpieces [Ephesians 2:10].

So instead of adapting ourselves in different circumstances and with different people, let's work on finding out who we really are and celebrating and embracing that.  Discovering our true identity in Christ and not comparing ourselves to anyone else.

"So since we find ourselves fashioned into all of these excellently formed and marvellously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't."

[Romans 12:6, MSG]

These are the words of one of my favourite songs - Jason Gray "Remind Me Who I Am".  Beautiful and so profound.

When I lose my way,
And I forget my name,
Remind me who I am.
In the mirror all I see,
Is who I don't wanna be,
Remind me who I am.
In the loneliest places,
When I can't remember what grace is.

Tell me once again who I am to You,
Who I am to You.
Tell me lest I forget who I am to You,
That I belong to You.
To You.

When my heart is like a stone,
And I'm running far from home,
Remind me who I am.
When I can't receive Your love,
Afraid I'll never be enough,
Remind me who I am.
If I'm Your beloved,
Can You help me believe it.

Tell me once again who I am to You,
Who I am to You, whoa.
Tell me lest I forget who I am to You.
That I belong to You.
To You.

I'm the one you love,
I'm the one you love,
That will be enough,
I'm the one you love.

Tell me once again who I am to You.
Who I am to You.
Tell me lest I forget who I am to You,
That I belong to You, oh.

And this is a brilliant website about who the Bible says we are in Christ- http://www.joycemeyer.org/articles/ea.aspx?article=knowing_who_i_am_in_christ

It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It

I was told the other day that I talk a lot with my hands.

We were at a training session about communication and how significant non-verbal features are.  Apparently 70% of what we say is non-verbal. 

Most of what we say isn't with words.

Sometimes we can spend ages thinking about the perfect way to phrase something or the best words to use to help someone to understand our points.  But what really matters is the way we say it.  The tone of our voice, the pace of our voice, the volume of our voice, our eye contact, our body language, our hand gestures...

It's the same when it comes to faith.  Most of what we say about what we believe is non-verbal.  It's in our lifestyles.  And other people look for these things.

We say it in the way we greet them, the way we treat them, the way we handle stress, the way we handle disappointment, the way we comfort others, the way we support others, the way we show kindness, the way we show grace, the way we forgive, the way we forget, the way we give away our love, the way we give away our money.

We say more with our lives than with our words.

What are you saying with your lifestyle?

"Treat everyone you meet with dignity.  Love your spiritual family.  Revere God.  Respect the government."

[1 Peter 2:17, MSG]

"Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity."

[Colossians 4:5, NLT]

I talk a lot with my hands.  But I hope that I talk a lot with my lifestyle too.

Hide and Seek

Whenever I re-watch a film that has a plot twist, or a key turning point in it, I find myself feeling tense, even though I know what's coming.  I hold my breath and curl up my toes, just in case it will help to change the fate of my favourite characters.  I silently - and sometimes not so silently - urge them to turn around, or get to the phone in time, or not take that route home etc., hoping that somehow I will have the power to alter the outcome.

It is the same whenever I read the story of Adam and Eve.

We can't ever begin to imagine what life was like for the first couple before that moment.  To know what it was like to live in complete and perfect relationship with God and with each other.  To be "naked and unashamed." 

What I had always understood about this story, though, was Adam and Eve's reaction: when they heard God later in the day, they hid from Him.

"I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."

[Genesis 3:10, NIV]

We can all understand and relate to this desire to hide when we mess up, or make mistakes.  We hide from God, we hide from others and, sometimes, we even hide from ourselves.

But why do we hide?  And why did Adam and Eve hide?  They had spent time getting to know God before the events of Genesis 3, building and developing a relationship with Him and experiencing His love and faithfulness.  They had no reason to doubt or question Him, He had provided good things for them and had given them everything that they needed.

So why did they hide from Him?

John Townsend writes,

"Why didn't they run to God, tell Him what they'd done, and ask Him to help them?  They mistakenly saw God as someone who would hurt and not heal them.  So they hid."

They hid, and we hide, because we're afraid, because we're naked.  We are vulnerable and our 'true' selves are exposed.  We want to cover up and pretend that everything is okay.  So we sew metaphorical fig-leaves together to hide behind, so that no one will know the truth about us. 

And we are scared of people seeing our true selves, because we think that there will be judgment.  From other people, and from God.

But God's love doesn't seek us to judge us.  It searches for us to love us and forgive us and heal us and restore us.  And His love casts out our fear.

"There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love."

[1 John 4:18, MSG]

Instead of hiding when we feel naked and vulnerable and ashamed and afraid, let's seek God's love and grace and forgiveness, for we are sure to find them. 

Voices

How many times have you watched something and known that you recognise one of the actors, but can't remember their name?  (How did people cope with this frustration in the days before IMDB?)

I was surprised to find myself recognising an actress the other day, not because I recognised her appearance, but because I recognised her voice.  It surprised me because I don't usually consider myself an auditory learner; I have a very visual memory and don't often remember things through hearing. 

But everyone's voice is unique.

Of course, we can put on accents, or change the tone of our voice, or the words that we use in different situations, but we each have a unique and individual voice -

"The sound of each individual's voice is entirely unique not only because of the actual shape and size of an individual's vocal cords but also due to the size and shape of the rest of that person's body, especially the vocal tract, and the manner in which the speech sounds are habitually formed and articulated."

Everyone's voice is different.

That's why when we phone someone we know, we simply say "It's me," knowing that they will know it's us.  They know and recognise our voice.

Jesus said the same thing about His followers - we know and recognise His voice. 

"My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me."

[John 10:27]

We recognise His voice by developing a relationship with Him. 

In most new friendships or relationships, there comes a point where we feel comfortable introducing ourselves on the phone with a simple "It's me."  And we feel comfortable to do that when we know that our voice will be recognised, because we know that the other person knows us.  Similarly, Jesus doesn't just want us to know His voice, but to know Him.

And we get to know Him by reading about Him in the Bible and by talking to other Christians and listening to talks and, most obviously, by talking to Him ourselves through prayer.  And the more we practise these things, the more familiar His voice will become.  And although we may hear many other competing voices in the world, we listen to, and follow His.

We know His voice, because we know Him.

No Regrets

There is something profound about The Gilmore Girls.

In amongst the beautiful New England scenery, the tense family politics and the coffee-fuelled, quick-witted conversations, there are poignant comments and memorable remarks which linger long after the episode has finished.

In one such episode, after Lorelai breaks up with her fiance (Max) days before their wedding, Max is obviously confused and hurt.  However, instead of raging angrily about the situation, when he next sees Lorelai's daughter, he says

"I don't really believe in regrets.  All my experiences - even the ones that didn't turn out the way I wanted them to - I firmly believe they were all worth it."

Wow.

Not just, "I have a faint hope that at some point in the future I might realise there was a lesson in that experience somewhere."  Nope.  "I firmly believe they were all worth it."

Many of my experiences don't turn out the way I wanted them to.  Sometimes they turn out better than I am anticipating, and I am pleasantly surprised.  But sometimes they turn out worse than I could have ever anticipated.  I am hurt or disappointed or wounded in some way. 

And my first reaction is to feel regret. 

The word "regret" comes from the Old French "regreter" meaning to "bewail the dead", to mourn, to miss, to feel sad or disappointed about the dead.  It is a word focused on the past, on something that was or could have been.  

Whilst it would be impossible to forget the past completely, it is not helpful for us to keep going over and over it in our minds and in our hearts.  We can become attached to the past and tied to it in a way that prevents us from moving forwards.

The past is finished.  It is a dead thing, a thing behind us.  We can look back on things that have happened in the past and learn from them, but we can't live in the past.  And nothing we can do can change the past.  And in this sense, regret is futile.  Look to see what you can learn from the experience, whether good or bad, and then leave it in the past.  Leave it to rest.

Isaiah tells us,

"Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history.  Be alert, be present.  I'm about to do something brand-new.  It's bursting out!  Don't you see it?"

[Isaiah 43:18-19, MSG, emphasis mine]

Learn from the past, grow from the past, be changed by the past.  But don't hold on to the past, for it is a dead thing. 

Look to the future. 

No regrets.