FRESH Official Podcast

Some people just take a dislike to us in a way that seems ever so unreasonable, ever so unfair. Of course, try as you may, you can’t please everyone. But still … it smarts. After all, we like to be liked. It’s a harsh truth that some people just don’t like you; some even hate you. Sometimes it’s justified, sometimes it’s … well, if not justified, then certainly understandable, and sometimes it’s just downright unfair. Off the top of my head, I could easily rattle of half a dozen people who really don’t like me. There are doubtless many more than that. And yes, in some cases given my behaviour over the years, it’s justified or at least understandable. But in some cases, it’s unfair. What do you do with that? How do you handle that? Do you let it eat away at you or do you deal with it? And if you choose to deal with it, exactly how do you deal with it? The Apostle Paul put it like this: Romans 5:8 … but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (ESV) I don’t know about you, but as I stop and take that in, as I allow it to ruminate in my heart, it overwhelms me. God had (has!) every reason to hate me – you too, I’m guessing, given all that we’ve done in our lives. But instead, in the most emphatic of all statements of love, He sends Jesus to die to pay for our sin. American theologian R.C. Sproul put it like this: “When I think I’m unfairly hated, I try to remember that I am unfairly loved”. That’s how you deal with it! And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

One day, all the things that we hold dear in this world – our relationships, our possessions, our reputations even – will pass away. Every high priority in your life and in mine will become completely irrelevant. It’s a sobering thought, but in a world that offers so much, perhaps it’s time for us to sober up. There’s nothing wrong with focussing on your family, having a career … with all those good things … but one day, they’ll all be gone. And so here we are, living amidst a glut of alternatives with the risk of being drawn inexorably away from the most important, the most powerful reality of all: God Himself. Might I ask you today, have you, little by little, been focussing more on the here and now, more on the temporal things, and less on this God who sent Jesus His Son to die to set you free from all that, and to rise again to bring you a new and an eternal life? Just asking, because … 1 John 2:17 The world is passing away, and all the things that people want in the world are passing away. But whoever does what God wants will live forever. Our lives here on this earth are less than a single grain of sand amidst a seemingly infinite universe, because the life that we’ll lead beyond the grave will go on for all eternity. It will never end. And that life will be lived either in the Presence of God, or in torment, separated from Him. Friend, this world is passing away, and all the things that we want in the world are passing away. But whoever does what God wants will live forever. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Duplicity is one of the most dangerous things that we can allow to creep into our lives – especially when the person we’re deceiving is ourselves. We say we believe in Jesus, but we live our lives as though we don’t. We all tend to view the Gospel of Christ through the lens of our present reality. If you live in a largely affluent society as do I, you tend to see the Gospel through that lens of affluence. Those in poor circumstances see the Gospel through their lens of poverty and aspiration. People who are oppressed see the Gospel of Christ through the lens of their desire for liberation … and so on. The point is that, amidst the reality of our present circumstances, we can end up longing for the things of this world far more than we desire to see the kingdom of God, the lordship of Christ, growing in our lives, transforming our worldview and our behaviour. That’s the truth of the matter. So … reality check: 1 John 2:15,16 Don’t love this evil world or the things in it. If you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. This is all there is in the world: wanting to please our sinful selves, wanting the sinful things we see, and being too proud of what we have. But none of these comes from the Father. They come from the world. Now there’s a course correction if ever I heard one. What lens do you see the Gospel of forgiveness and repentance through? To what degree do your worldly desires and aspirations prevent you from being transformed into the kind, gentle, humble, generous individual that Jesus wants you to be? Don’t love this evil world or the things that are in it. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Today I want to share with you something that I’m incredibly passionate about; something that motivates me, drives me to do what I do. It’s this; seeing you grow in maturity in a rich, powerful, dynamic relationship with Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote almost half of the books in the New Testament. Those “books” come to us today in the form of letters to different churches, some of which he and his co-workers had planted. And throughout those letters, even when he’s giving them a stern talking to, as he did for example with the Corinthians and the Galatians, his pastoral heart for them is right there on his sleeve. You can’t miss it. And that’s how I feel about you and the countless others who listen to, watch or read these daily Fresh devotions. So, when I read these words that Paul wrote to the church in Colossi, they stirred my heart deep inside: Colossians 1:9-11 Since the day we heard these things about you, we have continued praying for you. This is what we pray: that God will make you completely sure of what he wants by giving you all the wisdom and spiritual understanding you need; that this will help you live in a way that brings honour to the Lord and pleases him in every way; that your life will produce good works of every kind and that you will grow in your knowledge of God; that God will strengthen you with his own great power, so that you will be patient and not give up when troubles come. Then you will be happy. As we journey each day together through Fresh, that’s my prayer for you. And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

We live in a world today where the things that we’ve always known to be wrong – greed, lust, immorality and the like – are now not only being called right, but applauded. And woe to anyone who stands against them. And that’s a situation that frankly, I understand perfectly from the other side. Because before I became a Christian, before I accepted that what God says is right, is indeed right, and what He calls wrong, is wrong, I was so deeply offended by those goody-two-shoes Christians. Whilst I wouldn’t have been able to use these words back then, their righteousness pricked my conscience because deep down I knew how black my sin was, how wrong my wrongs were, but I didn’t want to let them go. So I actively persecuted the Christians in my life. That’s what happens. You stand against an injustice, you refuse to laugh at that dirty joke someone tells, you refuse to lie, or you decline to accept the immorality being peddled these days as the norm … and the world will hate you for it. So what’s the answer? Do we step back from doing what’s right? Do we blend in and “go with the flow”? I don’t think so! 1 Peter 2:15 When you do good, you stop ignorant people from saying foolish things about you. This is what God wants. Ultimately, goodness shines through. Your goodness in the face of evil, and the price you pay for that, will impact more lives than you can imagine. The goodness of those Christians whom I persecuted, their humility, their acceptance, their forgiveness … played an incredibly powerful part in me coming to faith in Jesus. Do good anyway. That’s what God wants. And that’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Suffering unjustly is the pits, amen? When you suffer for doing what’s right, it’s just so wrong. And yet, when we do suffer for doing what’s right, we’re not alone. We chatted about that yesterday … this reality that suffering is our opportunity to grow in maturity in Christ. But when the suffering is unjust, when we’re punished for doing what’s right, our pride tends to rise up and block any good work that God may have been planning on doing in growing our own character. That’s why the lesson of the Cross is so powerfully instructive: 1 Peter 3:18 Christ himself suffered when he died for you, and with that one death he paid for your sins. He was not guilty, but he died for people who are guilty. He did this to bring all of you to God. In his physical form he was killed, but he was made alive by the Spirit. That’s the ultimate injustice in all of human history; Jesus the Son of God who never once sinned, who always did right, being nailed to that Cross to pay for my sin and yours. And right there, we have our role model, Jesus, whom we can look to when we’re suffering unjustly for doing what’s right. He wasn’t guilty, but He did it for us. And though He was killed, He was made alive again by the Spirit. And that … that’s the spiritual dimension in suffering, both in His suffering back then and our suffering today. Because when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us in our times of suffering, He brings life. A new life. A resurrection life, free from the devastating clutches of our sin. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Suffering is a theme that I love to return to again and again, both in my learning and development and in yours. Because it’s in that place of suffering that we have the greatest opportunity that God will ever hand us. Any athlete will tell you that they suffer a lot when they’re training. It hurts to build muscle. It hurts to grow endurance. But for them, it’s suffering with a purpose. It’s suffering in order to become better, faster, smarter, more skilled at their sport. That’s why they suffer. And the same is true in our lives as well. We know that those difficult times are the times of greatest opportunity for God to mould our character; to teach us how to rely on Him; to knock off our rough edges so that we’ll look more and more like Jesus. But – there had to be a ‘but’, right? – all too often suffering involves injustice and that injustice causes our pride to rise up. That injustice gives us a bad attitude and that, right there, tends to block any benefits that God may have worked in our character through our suffering. Pride always blocks the good things of God, amen?! So, if that tends to happen in your life, then listen up: 1 Peter 3:17 It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing wrong. Yes, it is better if that is what God wants. Peter wrote those words to Christians who were suffering terribly and unjustly for their faith in Jesus. If God brings a season of suffering on you, if that’s what He wants, suffer gladly. Suffer with a good heart and a good attitude, no matter how unjust it feels … because God is up to something good. That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Throughout life, we tend to search for wonderful things; good things that’ll bless us, good things that’ll enrich our lives and the lives of those we love. But those wonderful things can often lead us astray. Which one of us hasn’t hoped for some wonderful things to happen in our life? Perhaps you’ve longed for a bigger home, a nicer car, a restful holiday. Or maybe it’s the right marriage partner – or, if you’re married, a better marriage. So we set off after those things – none of which are bad, in and of themselves – pursuing them with all our energy, only to discover that they aren’t all that they were cracked up to be. So where do we find those wonderful things? Psalm 119:17,18 Be good to me, your servant, so that I may live to obey your word. Open my eyes so that I can see all the wonderful things in your teachings. What a great prayer! What a brilliant thing to ask of God! That He would be good to us, that He’d help us to obey His Word, that He’d open our eyes to see – what? Wonderful things in His teachings. Let me tell you, when we pray like that before we open our Bible, amazing things begin to happen. The Holy Spirit speaks His wisdom, His love, His power, into our lives. He blesses us with the most amazing discoveries, the most wonderful things, right there through His Word. Wisdom and insight about ourselves, about others, about our relationships, about our walk with God that’ll enrich our lives beyond measure! Open my eyes so that I can see all the wonderful things in your teachings. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

It seems to be so difficult these days to speak with others of God’s love through Jesus Christ that many of His people have simply given up. And yet there’s something inside us that … well, you know. … Have you been struggling lately to share the good news of Jesus with those who don’t yet believe? Have you perhaps become a little gun-shy, having been shouted down so many times before? The truth is that many of God’s people have shut down. And so the Good News of Jesus is being bottled up; the Gospel of forgiveness and repentance is going un-said. Now, I’m not talking about being a preacher here. Not everyone’s called to that. Nor am I talking about shoving religion down people’s throats as some Bible-bashers do. No. I’m referring to a simple, natural, loving and gentle telling of the Jesus story – through both our words and our deeds. The Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah had this very same problem when he wrote: Jeremiah 20:9 Sometimes I say to myself, “I will forget about him. I will not speak anymore in his name.” But when I say that, his message is like a fire burning inside me! It feels like it is burning deep in my bones! I get tired of trying to hold his message inside. And finally, I am not able to hold it in. Let the Word of Christ be like a fire burning inside you – deep in your heart, deep in your bones. And my prayer for you is that you would grow tired of holding it in, that in your own place, your own way, with your own gifts – one way or another – you would share it. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Since the beginning of time, anxiety has been a chronic disease that’s robbed countless millions of life itself. And in the hi-tech, media- driven world in which we live today, there’s a strong case to be made that it’s more pervasive, more destructive, than ever before. So what are you anxious about right now? What is it that’s gnawing away at your soul, troubling you, causing you to toss and turn at night? Of course, things come against us in our lives. And it’s a natural, human response to worry about them. But for the one who’s put their trust in Jesus, there’s absolutely no need to live in a constant state of anxiety. From his prison cell on death row, the Apostle Paul has this to say: Philippians 4:6,7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (ESV) What should we be anxious about? Nothing! How do we lay hold of God’s peace in anxious times? In any and every circumstance, by pouring our hearts out to Him – not grumbling, but with gratitude – and telling Him what we’re thinking and needing. But here’s the bit that really gets me; that really blows my mind. If we do that, then His peace, the sort of peace that doesn’t begin to make sense amidst our circumstances, won’t merely fill our hearts – but guard our hearts from anyone and everyone (the devil included) who would rob us of this God-given, Holy-Spirit-empowered peace. My friend, listen carefully. This is God’s tried and proven promise to you today. A peace which passes all understanding is yours. That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.