What Wouldn't I Give?

I've just won a month's stay in a luxury apartment in the sun; all expenses paid, and with £1,000 of spending money thrown in.  "What's the catch?" I hear you ask.  There's no catch; it's simply not true.  But what if it were ... what would be your reaction to my 'good news'?  Would you simply congratulate me on my good fortune and wish me well?  Or would there be a little twinge of envy ... would you say, for example, "I'd give an arm and a leg for something like that!"

Of course you wouldn't really be considering a double-amputation ... if nothing else, that would mar your enjoyment of what you'd done it for.  It's just a metaphor people use to express a desire for something just beyond the reach of normality: a luxury holiday, the latest i-phone or a night out with <insert name of favourite celebrity>.  But come back (a little closer) to reality for a moment.  What would you give?  What would you really give for a prize like that, or better?  a month's salary ... or several perhaps? a year of your life? or even (we're heading into Faustian territory here) ... your soul?

Jesus told a couple of parables that described men who found themselves in just such a situation.  One man found some hidden treasure, the other a valuable pearl.  Each went away and sold all he had in order to possess what he'd found (Matt. 13:44-46).

At first glance these two seem to be saying the same thing ... but look closer.  In the first, Jesus likened the treasure to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Someone finding something so wonderful as eternal life in God's Kingdom might well sell all he had to possess it.  In the second parable, however, Jesus focused not on the object, but on the finder, the merchant who - like a shepherd in another parable (Matt. 18:12-14) - had been searching ... in this case for fine pearls.  Commentators have therefore suggested that the merchant is God himself, who gave his Son's life in order to redeem us.

A little further in his gospel, Matthew tells us of a young man who clearly embraced the worthy aim of eternal life, and asked how he might achieve it.  Jesus told him to sell his possessions and then follow Him ... advice that saddened him because of his wealth (Matt. 19:16-22).   Jesus' ensuing conversation with Peter and the others explained this somewhat unexpected demand on the young man.

It's not that God wants to deprive us of our possessions, or that the price of admission to His Kingdom is so high that few if any can afford it (as the disciples feared, v.25).  The problem is that the more possessions people have, the more they rely on them for their well-being.  The things they own - or their investments - are the focus of their lives; it is they that come to possess their owner!  It was the pull of the young man's great wealth that prevented him acceding to Jesus' call to follow Him.

A competition for an expensive holiday or cruise usually states that competitors must be available for travel on a particular date; there's no fee, but a condition.   Like prizes such as these, there's no actual charge for us to enter God's Kingdom.  Thanks to Jesus' redeeming death on the Cross, it's a gift: all we have to do is accept it; but in order to do so, we have to be free of other 'allegiances'.

What is it that rules your heart?

What is Your Candle?

People complain about the length of time that the Church of England takes to appoint a new vicar, but perhaps the delay is for the best in some ways.  No one likes change and, if there's a year between the departure of one priest and the installation of the next, it gives the people a chance to forget about the good points of - and maybe remember some of the bad bits about - the parson who has just left.  What's important is not the personality or habits of the incumbent (although it does help if they're easy to get on with), but their credentials and their spirituality.  We've just had a new vicar after just over a year without and she has been welcomed from day one! 

Two complementary factors last weekend highlighted this fundamental point for me.  On Saturday, our vicar was one of five from our church who, among hundreds of other entrants, took part in Muddy Mayhem, a 5 km obstacle race (with mud) in aid of the local hospice.  I noticed from one of the pictures I took that she was wearing her 'dog-collar'.  The next morning, over her normal robes, she was parading her finisher's medal from the event and used it to thank people for their support and promote the good work that the hospice does.  If you've dedicated your life - or just some part of it - to a cause or set of beliefs and have been given a badge as a sign of this, then you should be willing to wear it and make that allegiance known, rather than be ashamed of the fact.  

I recently read about the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings chapters 18 & 19.  Elijah had taken a terrific stand for God against the evil king Ahab and his even more evil wife Jezebel.  As a result Jezebel had made a sinister and very specific threat against his life.  Not surprisingly, we might think, Elijah fled.  He didn't just hide behind the hill in the next valley, either; sustained only by angels, he went 200 miles away to Mount Horeb, where Moses had been given the Ten Commandments centuries before.

There God said to him - twice - "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  He re-commissioned him, gave him instructions and identified others who would help him finish the job of defeating Ahab once and for all.  The implication was that, although exhausted, afraid and depressed, instead of running and hiding far away Elijah should have remained visible, stood his ground in the Lord's strength and completed the task he had been given.  

The Gospel tells us (Luke 11:29-36) how Jesus compared the teaching He was giving to His disciples to the mission of Jonah, who had been sent as a sign to Nineveh.  "No one lights a lamp," He said, "and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl.  Instead, they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light." (v.33).  

If you have a badge or sign of belonging to an organisation of which you're not ashamed (and if you are ashamed of it, why do you still have its badge anyway?), you should be willing to wear it, making it visible to all who know you, and offering others the chance to comment on it or ask you about it.  

What's the candle you've been given?  Does it shine out?