16 October

In early February 1974, I was facing the biggest decision of my life. I was convinced through reading the New Testament that Jesus really was the Son of God. But I did not want to be a Christian as I feared that I would lose my freedom. The last things that I associated with faith were love and freedom. I associated faith with losingmy freedom. I thought that God would want me to stop doing all the things that were fun and that I enjoyed.

In fact, that initial act of faith, which was the biggest decision of my life, has led to a life of freedom and love. Love, faith and freedom are inextricably entwined.
With Paul it seems that the more he has grown in his relationship with the Lord and the closer he has come to the light of Christ, the more he sees his own unworthiness. I think it is often true that as we go on in the Christian life, our conviction of sin increases and our appreciation of God’s forgiveness, love and mercy grows.

True guilt is not an unhealthy emotion – provided it is followed by repentance and forgiveness. P. T. Forsyth once said, ‘Our churches are full of the nicest, kindest people who have never known the despair of guilt or the breathless wonder of forgiveness.’

So I now proclaim “freedom” for you… “freedom” to fall by the sword, plague and famine’ (v.17). This ‘freedom’ is the false freedom that we so often see experienced in the world today. The freedom to sin leads to destruction. The freedom that God wants to bring in your life leads to a life of faith and love. This is true freedom.

15 October

Martin Luther King said, ‘On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question, “Is it right?”
As Ken Costa writes, ‘We only grow in wisdom if we learn from our mistakes. Siegmund Warburg [Ken’s first boss] said on this subject: “Some name it disappointment and become poorer, others name it experience and become richer.”’

14 October

It has been said that a great oak is only a little nut that held its ground. The temptation to fall away and backslide usually begins with our hearts and eyes. The psalmist clearly experienced a battle within himself. He wrote, ‘Turn my heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things’ (vv.36–37a).

So often, backsliding begins by setting our hearts on what’s in it for us, or allowing our eyes to wander onto ‘worthless things’ (v.37). Turn your heart and eyes to God’s word and you can stand firm. As The Message puts it, ‘Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets’ (v.37).

God’s word is the place to find delight (v.35) and be enabled to persevere (vv.37,40). This is because God’s ‘laws are good’ (v.39). The psalmist prays, ‘Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end’ (v.33). Jesus said, ‘Whoever stands firm to the end will be saved’ (Matthew 24:13).

Martin Luther said, ‘I live as though Jesus Christ had been crucified yesterday, had risen this morning and was coming again tomorrow.’

13 October

Do not simply sit around waiting for Jesus to return. God has a ‘good purpose’ for your life. He has called you. He puts ideas into your heart. He works in you both to will and to act according to his good purpose(Philippians 2:13).

But God will not force his plans on you. He requires your cooperation. If you want his plans to be fulfilled in your life, you need to seek him. He promises that, if you do so, you will be found by him (Jeremiah 29:13–14b). As you spend time with him, you will become like him and he will lead you into the good plans he has for your life.

In all this, Paul prays that the name of Jesus will be glorified: ‘If your life honours the name of Jesus, he will honour you’ (2 Thessalonians 1:12, MSG).

There is an expression: ‘Bloom where you’re planted.’ This passage encourages you to make roots even where you feel uncomfortable or isolated (like in exile). Sometimes the place where you find yourself is not where you want to be but if God has led you there, then that place must be fertile ground for God’s work in you to thrive.

12 October

Jesus gives us a picture of true humanity. Dare to be different, by being like him. Don’t follow what the world tells you is desirable, but follow God by becoming more Christ-like.

Your lifestyle is to be totally different from those around you. You are to honour your leaders: ‘We ask you to honour those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!’ (vv.12–13a, MSG).

You are called to a life of respect (v.12). Always treat people with respect. Always stay peaceful (v.13): ‘Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out’ (vv.14–15, MSG). If you want to bring out the best in people you must see the best in them.

Be kind to everyone. Kindness should be a distinguishing feature of your life: ‘Always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else’ (v.15). Even little acts of kindness are so powerful that they can change the world around you.

You are a citizen of a different world. You have to learn a new language. What Paul describes here is effectively the grammar of a new language: ‘Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances’ (v.16). Prayer should be like breathing – something we do continually, but often unconsciously. Instead of always complaining ‘give thanks in all circumstances’ – expressing your thanks to God and other people – in little things as well as big things.

‘Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil’ (vv.19–22).

All this can seem a very daunting prospect. But you are not on your own. Paul prays, ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through’ (v.23), and he finishes on a resounding note of hope and help – ‘He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it’ (v.25).

11 October

Instead of just ‘looking out for number one’ – wanting more and more pleasure for ourselves – we are called to live lives that please God more and more (v.1). Rather than ‘more, please’ we should live lives that are ‘more pleasing’ to God. We are called to love God ‘more and more’ and to love others ‘more and more’

10 October

‘Surprised by joy’ is how C.S. Lewis described his conversion from atheism to faith in Jesus Christ. He had never expected that there was any connection betweenGod and joy. If anything, he had thought it would be the opposite: ‘For all I knew, the total rejection of what I called Joy might be one of the demands.’

Convinced that it was true, Lewis ‘admitted that God was God’. At that moment, he was ‘the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England’. To his great surprise he found that following Jesus was the very opposite to what he expected. He experienced great joy through his new-found faith. He discovered that ‘the heart of reality’ is to be found in a Person. He wassurprised by joy.

Many people confuse pleasure, contentment and joy. ‘Pleasure’ can come from a good holiday, a pay rise or a box of chocolates. People can become pleasure addicts – always seeking the next fix. But these experiences of pleasure come and go.

‘Contentment’ is longer term – being satisfied with your life, your home, your job and your relationships.

But there is another kind of happiness that we call ‘joy’. It is not a fleeting emotion, but a deep way of being – a state of mind that is available to everybody. It is not found in things, but in a Person

9 October

This should be our aim and our prayer – to be a church worthy of imitation, where the gospel rings out not only in our own local area, but everywhere. The aim is not empire building, but gospel spreading. Paul does not commend the Thessalonians for the size of their church (we do not know how big it was). Instead, he commends them, ‘you’re the message!’ (v.8, MSG)

Jeremiah 18-20New International Version (NIV)

At the Potter’s House

18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares The Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. ⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

8 October

Jesus turned the world upside down. He reversed the values of the world. Supremely, on the cross, Jesus turned the world upside down. In an act of ultimate humiliation and apparent defeat he brought the greatest victory the world has ever known.

Jesus is ‘the living stone – rejected by human beings but chosen by God’ (v.4). Jesus is now the chief cornerstone in the church on which the whole church rests.

Jeremiah 17:7
‘Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.’

Trust is being able to let go and give oneself, or a situation, over to God, without holding back. It is a child in a parent’s arms, never doubting for a moment that they are safe.

7 October

As Joyce Meyer writes, ‘It takes a lot of “heart work” for us not to be at least a little bit glad to see that person get what is coming to [them]... We should always remember that “hurting people hurt people”. Those who hurt us are usually hurting within themselves, and their pain may be so strong that they are not even aware they are hurting us.’

It is so easy to gloat when those who have been causing us problems and opposing us mess up and fall. It is rather tempting to enjoy the moment. But this is the wrong response. Watch your heart and resist these thoughts.
Change what you think about (vv.1–12)

Right action begins with right thinking. If you want to live this resurrection life, made possible by Jesus, Paul writes: ‘Set your hearts on things above… Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things’ (vv.1–2).

In the world, if someone lets you down, that is often the end of the relationship. But you are to ‘forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you’ 

As C.S. Lewis says, ‘To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.’
The way Christians relate is so different from the world and should be so attractive.

How is it possible? You must set your heart and mind in the right place and, as Paul goes on to write, ‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace’ (v.15).

God’s peace acts like a referee in your heart – telling you what is in and what is out. One of the questions you should ask about any decision is: ‘Do I sense God’s peace about what I am about to do?’

6 October

Jesus has done it all. You don’t need to add anything: ‘So don’t put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services or holy days’ (v.16, MSG). All you need is Christ ‘who puts us together in one piece, whose very breath and blood flow through us. He is the Head and we are the body. We can grow up healthy in God only as he nourishes us’

Don’t be afraid of pressure. Pressure is what transforms a lump of coal into a diamond. Life can be seen as a series of tests. We test things by putting them under pressure. Physical muscles grow through being put under pressure. God is more interested in how your heart and mind grow when they are tested; he tests ‘the heart and mind’ (11:20).

God is not impressed by what we say we will do – he is impressed by what we do when we are put under pressure. Progress in life and in ministry happens when you are tried and tested, and you pass the test.

5 October

The purpose of your life is to understand and know God (v.24a). If you know God and his kindness, justice and righteousness, then you will imitate him and bring him delight (v.24b).

Today, some people still literally worship idols. Others worship a different type of ‘idol’. We are tempted to worship success, intelligence, money, power, celebrity or sensual indulgence. Personally, I have never met anyone made happy by these things alone. Yet, advertisers consistently play on our desire for these things, even though they fail to bring us true happiness.

4 October

An attitude of gratitude.

Praise is giving glory to God for who he is. Thanksgiving is giving glory to God for what he has done for us. It is the lens through which to view our entire life. 
St John of Avila (1500–1569) wrote, ‘One act of thanksgiving when things go wrong with us is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclination.’
‘Hallelujah’ is one of the few Hebrew words to have entered the English language – it is a call to praise the Lord.

Jeremiah 8:7

Each pursues their own course
    like a horse charging into battle.
⁷ Even the stork in the sky
    knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
    observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know
    the requirements of The Lord.

3 October

‘Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor,’ said the American Statesman, Benjamin Franklin. Few people seem to be genuinely content. As Martin Luther once said, ‘Contentment is a rare bird, but it sings sweetly in the breast.’

The Bible never promises that we will not face hard times or difficult situations. But it does promise us God’s strength and grace in these times.
No one goes through life without difficulties and hard times. Paul is not without his troubles (v.14). He is in prison and no doubt has plenty to worry about.

However, he writes, ‘Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus’ (vv.6–7, AMP). This is a remarkable and wonderful promise, and one that I have claimed and experienced many times in my own life.

Corrie ten Boom defined worry as ‘a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a centre of fear’. Worry can wreck our lives. Some of our worries, like Paul’s, are real, and some are illusory, but in either case, a life weighed down by worry is not really living.

The word for peace means far more than an absence of hostility. It means wholeness, soundness, well-being, oneness with God and every kind of blessing and good. It is a peace ‘which transcends all understanding’. It surpasses both your ability to cope, and your anxiety about what is to come.
Wrong thoughts......you can resist these. As Martin Luther said, ‘You can’t stop a bird flying overhead, but you can stop it nesting in your hair.’

2 October

Make your relationship with God your number one priority. Like the psalmist, declare that your ambition is to walk before the Lord: ‘I’m striding in the presence of God’ (v.9, MSG). Make sure that your life is centred on a love relationship with God. This is the way to find ‘rest’ for your ‘soul’ (v.7).

Karl Barth once said, ‘Jesus Christ came to destroy religion.’

1 October

Archie Coates, vicar of St Peter’s Brighton, speaks of the church as a ‘blessing machine’. That is exactly what we as Christians are called to be – as the church and as individuals – and you really can be a blessing machine.

We are ‘children of God’ (v.15). You are called to be like your Father in heaven, who loves to bless. You have a responsibility to work out your own salvation (to see God’s grace impact every area of your life), but it is he who ‘works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose’ (v.13).

Many people are reluctant to trust God with their future because they fear that God will make them do something that they have no desire to do, or will make a mess of their life. Of course, both of these fears are without foundation.

If your will is surrendered to him, God will give you the desire to do whatever he is calling you to do. If he is calling you to a ministry with the poor, that is where your heart will be. If he is calling you to teach, he will give you a desire to teach. If you surrender to his will, he will bring about ‘his good purpose’ (v.13).

What he wants for your life is good. It will not necessarily be easy, but you will not be able to improve on his plan. He will also give you the energy you need: ‘That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure’ (v.13, MSG).

Paul knows the joy of being a ‘blessing machine’. He writes, ‘Do everything readily and cheerfully – no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night’ (vv.14–16a, MSG).

30 September

When people praised John Wimber because of a talk he had given or a healing that had happened through his ministry, he used to say, ‘I’ll take the encouragement, but I’ll pass the glory on.’

The psalmist gives us a great example of passing the glory on – bouncing it back up to God. He starts: ‘Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness’ (v.1). He goes on to give two reasons why you should glorify and worship God.

The first is because of our experience of God’s ‘love and faithfulness’ (v.1b). Worship is a response to what God has done for you. Give him all the glory.

The second is the oft-repeated biblical truth – you become like that which you worship: ‘Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them’ (v.8). So, if we worship idols, we become totally lifeless, unable to do anything of any value at all.

Put your trust in the Lord who is your ‘help and shield’ (vv.9–11). If you put your faith in the Lord and worship him, you will become like him – you will be changed into his likeness and obtain fullness of life.

A Christ-like attitude is the key to this unity. Any disunity in the church would have detracted from Paul’s ‘joy’ (2:2). Disunity so often comes from ‘selfish ambition and vain conceit’ (v.3a). The key is to consider others better than yourself (v.3b), to look not only to your own interests, ‘but also to the interests of others’ (v.4).

‘Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand’ (vv.3–4, MSG).

In other words, you are to have the same attitude as Jesus, who let go of his natural, legal and social status, and made himself ‘nothing’. He took ‘the very nature of a servant… he humbled himself’ and ‘became obedient to death – even death on a cross!’ (vv.7–8). He took the path of downward mobility, humble service and unselfish love. If you are ever anxious about your relative status, remember that Jesus made himself lower than we could ever imagine.

And as a result, ‘God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’ (vv.9–11).

This is how you can glorify God: by following Christ in his humble service and selfless love. (vv.3–4, MSG).

In other words, you are to have the same attitude as Jesus, who let go of his natural, legal and social status, and made himself ‘nothing’. He took ‘the very nature of a servant… he humbled himself’ and ‘became obedient to death – even death on a cross!’ (vv.7–8). He took the path of downward mobility, humble service and unselfish love. If you are ever anxious about your relative status, remember that Jesus made himself lower than we could ever imagine.

29 September

Proverbs 24 

Saying 21

3 By wisdom a house is built,
    and through understanding it is established;
4 through knowledge its rooms are filled
    with rare and beautiful treasures.

St Augustine wrote, ‘[God] you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.’

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, ‘Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.’

For those who are in Christ, the promises of the Lord in Zephaniah are fulfilled in you. As Father Raniero Cantalamessa writes, ‘Everything that God does and says in the Bible is love, even God’s anger is nothing but love. God is love!’

28 September

God wants to set people free, both from the literal bondage and oppression experienced by modern day slaves, and from our slavery to sin and addictions (such as a reliance on alcohol, work, overeating, drugs or sex). And in the future, when Jesus returns in victorious power, God will free everyone from everykind of slavery.

• Focus on the truth of Jesus
  ‘With a belt of truth buckled around your waist’ (v.14a).
  
  Focus on truth of heart. Transparency and authenticity are the opposite of hypocrisy. We also need to focus on the truth of doctrine as revealed in Scripture. Both are personified in Jesus who said, ‘I am the truth’ (John 14:6).
• Keep short accounts
  ‘With the breastplate of righteousness in place’ (Ephesians 6:14b).
  
  Jesus died so that you might have the righteousness of God. When you fall, get up quickly. Keep in a right relationship with God and with others.
• Get actively involved
  ‘With your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace’ (v.15).
  
  Here Paul may have had a verse from our Old Testament reading for today in mind: ‘Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace!’ (Nahum 1:15). The devil hates the gospel – because it is God’s power to change lives.
  
  Paul asked the Ephesian Christians to pray for him: ‘that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel’ (Ephesians 6:19).
• Trust God in difficult times
  ‘In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one’ (v.16).
  
  The arrows are such things as: false guilt, shame, doubt, disobedience, malice and fear.
• Win the battle of the mind
  ‘Take the helmet of salvation’ (v.17a).
  
  The battle is won or lost in our minds, so it is essential that we ‘take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
• Soak yourself in the word of God
  ‘The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’ (Ephesians 6:17b).
  
  Use the Bible when you are under attack, just as Jesus did when he was tempted in the desert (Matthew 4:1–11).
• Keep praying
  ‘Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests’ (Ephesians 6:18)
  
  Mary Queen of Scots said, ‘I fear John Knox’s prayers more than an army of ten thousand men.’
• 
  

27 September

The word used for submission is different from the word used for ‘obey’ (6:1). Submission is voluntarily yielding in love. It is a beautiful characteristic and it is clear from the overall heading, ‘submit to one another’ (5:21), that Paul expects mutual submission. This teaching would have been a revolutionary concept in first-century culture.

Isaiah 66:2b

‘These are the ones I esteem: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and tremble at my word’ (v.2b). ‘But there is something I’m looking for: a person simple and plain, reverently responsive to what I say’ (v.2b, MSG).

This is another way to please the Lord. Through constant study of, and submission to, his word, God keeps us humble and contrite. It is easy to become prideful until we fall on our knees before God and his word, and see ourselves in the light of his truth.

26 September

When she was nineteen years of age, Chiara Lubich gathered with a few friends in northern Italy. It was 1939 and, as bombs fell, they asked this question: ‘Was there an ideal that bombs could not destroy?’ Their answer was, ‘Yes, the love of God’.

They had experienced God’s overwhelming love and they wanted to share it with others. They imitated God by living a life of love (Ephesians 5:1–2). They helped those in need. They shared what little food they had. They found clothing for those who had none. They comforted the bereaved.

Such a warmth emanated from Chiara and her friends that people gave them the name ‘Focolare’, which means ‘hearth’ or ‘fireplace’. Focolare now has 2 million members in 182 countries. Members of the Focolare community make it their rule of life, 24 hours a day, to live by the golden rule of Jesus: ‘Do to others what you would have them do to you’ (Matthew 7:12).

Love is practical. Chiara said, ‘Love the other person as yourself… Imagine how the world would be if the golden rule were put into practice not only between individuals, but also between ethnic groups, peoples and nations, if everyone loved the other country as their own.’

How can we imitate God and live a life of love?

St Athanasius wrote, ‘God became like us in order that we might become like God

What is ‘holiness’?

Paul gives six practical examples of holiness – six keys to good relationships in a holy church (4:25–5:7):

• Authenticity
  ‘What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretence. Tell your neighbour the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all’ (4:25, MSG).
  
  This is a life of honesty and integrity. The danger of talking about ‘holiness’ is that it leads to intensity. But there is a fine line between holiness and being ‘holier than thou’, between being pious and being poisonous! Authenticity frees us to admit we’re far from perfect. We can be vulnerable with one another. This leads away from hypocrisy.
• Passion
  ‘Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry – but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life’ (vv.26–27, MSG).
  
  Although anger is not intrinsically sinful, it often leads to sin. In anger, the devil sometimes finds a foothold in our lives that easily becomes an addiction. Anger is an emotion that we need to handle with care.
  
  On the other hand there is a positive side to anger. It can be a God-given emotion. God expresses anger (5:6), but of course he does so under control. Jesus’ anger was a righteous anger towards sin. It was Wilberforce’s passionate hatred of slavery that eventually led to the abolition of the slave trade.
• Work and generosity
  ‘Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work’ (v.28, MSG).
  
  Holiness is often mistakenly understood as the need to separate ourselves from those we consider unholy. Perhaps work colleagues, for example. Paul’s point is very different. He sees work as part of a holy life. Work in itself is good for the satisfaction that it brings but there is also toil, struggle and effort. So why do people go to work in the morning? One answer is: in order to be holy.
  
  Paul finds it necessary to say do not steal any longer, which hints that some members of the early church were ex-offenders. The church clearly welcomed and cared for ex-offenders. Rather than taking from others, they should now contribute to those around them. The best way to do that is by working. Work in itself is ‘doing something useful’, as well as enabling them to ‘share with those in need’ (v.28). Ex-offenders or not, work is – for everyone – a part of being holy.
• Encouragement
  ‘Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift’ (v.29, MSG).
  
  Words matter. What you say is of vital importance. It can either build people up or drag them down. Use your mouth for good – for encouragement and for building others up.
  
  Encouragement is like verbal sunshine. It costs nothing. But it warms hearts and even changes lives.
• Grace
  ‘Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you’ (vv.31–32, MSG).
  
  Sometimes we have a picture of a holy community being a place where all the people are walking around looking holy and not really wanting anyone who is not holy among them. But Paul’s picture is far from that.
  
  Paul’s vision of a holy church is a community that rids itself of all bitterness, anger and slander, and that welcomes those who are ex-offenders, those struggling with lifestyle issues, those who are divorced, those who have messed up. It is a community of people in need of forgiveness and a place where forgiveness flows freely because forgiven people forgive.
• Purity
  The church welcomes everyone, because it is kind, compassionate and gracious. At the same time, you are called to a life of purity without ‘even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people’ (5:3).
  
  Rather than self-centred sins (vv.3–4a), you are called to God-centred thanksgiving (v.4b). There is also a strong warning here from Paul. There is forgiveness for sins, but those who end up setting their course against God’s ways will not inherit his kingdom (v.5).

25 September

John Stott writes, ‘Truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love; love becomes soft if it is not strengthened by truth.’ 

Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth and was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling it, he found the place in today’s passage where it is written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (Isaiah 61:1–2; Luke 4:18–19).

He said to those there, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’ (v.21). What does Jesus’ manifesto involve?

Transforming lives
When you encounter Jesus, a great exchange takes place in your life. He takes your sin and gives you his righteousness. He gives freedom to the prisoners, sight to the blind and release for the oppressed (Isaiah 61:1–3). He bestows on you ‘a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair’ (v.3).Transforming relationships
Jesus uses the analogy of marriage: ‘As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you’ (62:5b). Marriage is meant to point people to the close, intimate and loving relationship God desires to have with us. A strong society is built on strong families. Strong families are built on strong marriages.Transforming culture
Cities tend to be the source of culture. Isaiah declares, ‘They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations’ (61:4). The manifesto of Jesus involves the transformation of the mountains of influence: the market place, government, education, media, arts and entertainment.Transforming society
A transformed society will involve dealing with issues of poverty. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor (v.1b). It will also involve issues of justice. So much of the world’s suffering is caused by injustice. ‘For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity’ (v.8a).Transforming leadership
Leadership is key in any society: ‘You’ll have the title “Priests of God,” honoured as ministers of our God’ (v.6, MSG).

24 September

Reading the Old Testament is like going into a dark room full of furniture. We get a sense of what is inside the room by feeling the sofas, chairs and pictures. But, as we read the New Testament, it is as if a light is switched on and we see the room clearly. Jesus places the Old Testament in new light. To paraphrase St Augustine, ‘In the Old the New is concealed, in the New the Old is revealed.'

True wisdom begins with respecting, revering, honouring and worshipping God: ‘He is so personal and holy, worthy of our respect’ 
Isaiah promises that, ‘If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight’ (vv.9–10, MSG). The light will be switched on. The secret will be revealed.