Monday 15 April 2019

A Balanced View

Sometimes lately I've had a definite problem hearing everything that was going on around me.  I don't believe that I'm going deaf, but rather that the problem is linked to a recent fall that left me with internal bruising connected with bent - I had feared cracked - ribs.  Three weeks later, I'm pleased to say that, in general, I'm much better but, when in sleep my body follows its natural instinct to turn over, there is sufficient pain to wake me up.  The result is that, instead of spending part of the night on one side and part on the other, the 'deaf' ear tends always to be the one I lay on.  I believe that balance is critical in all aspects of life; I'm sure that's how we are made to live: part asleep and part awake, part working and part resting, and so on.  As the old saying has it, 'all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'. 

When it comes to church, some of the prescribed lessons are from the Old Testament and some from the New.  Although sometimes we can't quite make out how one relates to the other, we accept that it should be that way.  If we get carried away with the excitement of the stories of the Judges' wars, or the visions of the Prophets, it's easy to see these as an end in themselves.  Or we can be so entranced by the teaching of Jesus, his battles with the Pharisees or the story of the infant churches in Acts and Paul's letters that we consider the Old Testament an irrelevance.  Either way, we lose sight of God's overall plan for His people.  Early in His ministry, Jesus taught His disciples, "I haven't come to abolish (the Law or the Prophets) but to fulfil them." (Matthew 5:17).  Throughout the New Testament there are references to the Old, and in many places the Old Testament carries indications of the things that would be fulfilled by Jesus in the New.

Balance is important in everything.  It's all too easy for us to consider that our own point of view is the only one that is right, and to regard those who think differently as wrong, irrelevant ... or worse, evil.  Nowhere is this more the case just now than in regard to Brexit.

When a decision has been made and implemented - in whichever direction and by whatever means - and the dust has settled, there will be a significant portion of the population who will be, to say the least, dissatisfied.  Logically, it's impossible for half the population to be 'right' and the other half 'wrong', whichever way we might assign those labels.  We must accept that those who voted 'leave' in the referendum three years ago did so sincerely according to their beliefs, experience or guidance at the time.  Similarly those who voted 'remain' were equally sincere according to their values and perceptions.  Tolerance and a balanced understanding of the views and motives of either side is the only way that our nation can be healed from this devastation.

Like me, you may have been praying about this.  Naturally enough, our prayers will have been that the outcome is in accordance with our own views.  Not all prayers are answered by 'yes', however.  In some cases the answer is 'no', and in that case we are disappointed; we feel let down.  In His prayers on the Mount of Olives, Jesus prayed, "for those who will believe in me through (the disciples') message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you." (John 17:20-21).  This is a prayer that remains unanswered by 'yes': the church is far from united.  Mark's description of these events includes Jesus' plea that he might be spared the agony to come.  He concludes, "Yet not what I will but what you will." (Mark 14:36).  This is a useful 'condition' to add to any prayer, to avoid disappointment.

How willing are we, in all circumstances, to let God's will be done in our lives?

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