FRESH Official Podcast

For most of us, our default position in life is that we really, really want to trust you. But … can we trust you? Are you trustworthy? Well, that depends. Is what we see and hear from you what we’re actually going to get? One-on-one, interpersonal communication takes place billions of times every day around the globe – verbal, written, body language – in many nuanced ways that vary from one culture to the next. But whatever the intricacies of effective communication may be in your context, we each value clarity and reliability. We want to be able to depend on a person’s word. We want them to keep their promises. So, are you a person who keeps their word? Are you someone whose promises can be trusted? Jesus has an amazing way of boiling complexity down into something simple and profound so that we can’t mistake what He means: Matthew 5:37 Say only ‘yes’ if you mean ‘yes,’ and say only ‘no’ if you mean ‘no.’ If you say more than that, it is from the Evil One. Simple, isn’t it? Let your yes mean ‘yes’, and your no mean ‘no’. In other words, be a man or a woman of your word. Don’t embellish it. Don’t make it complicated. Just communicate your intent and your promise clearly and simply. Sure, there are different communication nuances from one culture to the next. Expressing your intent in an Asian culture for instance is quite different to expressing it in many a Western culture. But at the end of the day, it’s really simple: Say only ‘yes’ if you mean ‘yes,’ and say only ‘no’ if you mean ‘no.’ If you say more than that, it is from the Evil One. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Making fun of our political leaders has become something of a national pastime for many people in society today, not to mention whinging, complaining, attacking, undermining and belittling them. Some, perhaps many, would argue … all with good reason. So, is it fair and reasonable for us to criticise leaders like that? For those who live in democracies, it’s quite easy to do it openly. For others who live under different political systems, the behaviour can be much more covert … but still, grumbling in the heart rather than with your mouth has the same effect on you. It eats away at you like a cancer. Back in the 1st Century AD, Christians were doing it tough. And into that reality, that context, comes this word from God Titus 3:1,2 Remind your people that they should always be under the authority of rulers and government leaders. They should obey these leaders and be ready to do good. Tell them not to speak evil of anyone but to live in peace with others. They should be gentle and polite to everyone. There’s not a single government in the world that will always enact good and godly legislation and will always treat people honourably and fairly. In light of God’s incredible love and complete perfection, every government since time began has been imperfect. So, given that reality, let’s just read this passage again and let it sink in: Remind your people that they should always be under the authority of rulers and government leaders. They should obey these leaders and be ready to do good. Tell them not to speak evil of anyone but to live in peace with others. They should be gentle and polite to everyone. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

You know how it is … out of all the important things in your life – your relationships, health, finances – nine out of ten of them are bubbling along just fine, but there’s that one thing that’s causing you so much grief. And you know how it goes, right?! We want to whinge and complain about that one thing, somehow carrying on as though we’re completely blind, completely impervious to the nine out of ten things in our lives that are going along so wonderfully well. Why do we do that? Human nature, I guess. So it comes as something of a slap in the face when you look at Jesus and realise that He didn’t complain once about His life. Sure, sometimes He admonished His disciples. Other times He criticised the religious leaders of His day. But come on, can you think of one instance where a single whinging word crossed His lips? I didn’t think so. Not even when He was betrayed by Judas, unfairly tried, beaten, reviled and ultimately nailed to a cross. Not a one! Which makes all the whinging and complaining that we carry on with some days seem pretty lame and ridiculous, don’t you think? Philippians 2:14,15 Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you will be blameless and pure, children of God without any fault. What, according to God, should we do without complaining or arguing? Absolutely everything! And why should we do everything that way? So that we’ll be blameless and pure, children of God without any fault. So, today, let’s get a revelation together. No matter how difficult things get, no matter how unfair they may seem, stop whinging, stop complaining, stop arguing … and get on with it! That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Have you ever had someone in your life – perhaps a member of your extended family or someone with whom you’ve been friends for a long time – and you get to the point where you’ve just had enough? I think we’ve all had people like that in our lives: That one family member who’s blotted their copy book once too often. That’s it! He’s not coming over for Christmas ever again! Or that woman you’ve been friends with for years, but she’s just become more and more difficult to get along as time’s gone by. So, at some point (perhaps without even thinking about it) you’ve cut her loose. She’s just not worth it! How do we get to that point? How is it that we can take a once important relationship and just throw in the trash? Perhaps that feels a bit blunt to you today. Perhaps it touches a raw nerve. But then perhaps, just perhaps, that raw nerve needs some attention today. So, if you have a relationship skeleton like that in your closet, so to speak, here’s a Scripture that may well be a word in due season for you: 1 Corinthians 13:7 Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits. Isn’t it true that you and I have been more trouble than we’re worth in the lives of those around us? Isn’t it true that we’ve gone through rough patches in our lives, when we haven’t been all that pleasant to be around? And yet, still … those other people hung in there for us. Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

In this day and age, the deal is that when you invest in something you expect a return. After all, that’s what, by and large, makes the world economy go round. I lend you some money, and you repay me the capital plus interest. That’s the deal. And sure … when it comes to economics, that “deal” is not a bad thing. But what about in our interpersonal relationships – when you give someone, let’s say … a leg up at work; when you go out of your way to support them or help them in some way? What quid quo pro are you expecting in return, hmm? There’s always something – because we tend to approach life on the basis that if I make an investment, I should get a return. Enter Jesus with this radical thought: Luke 6:35 I’m telling you to love your enemies and do good to them. Lend to people without expecting to get anything back. If you do this, you will have a great reward. You will be children of the Most High God. Yes, because God is good even to the people who are full of sin and not thankful. As if loving your enemies and doing good towards them weren’t enough, Jesus goes on to undermine our expectation of a return on investment – that most fundamental of both economic and interpersonal expectations. Lend without expecting a return – that’s the bad news. But the good news? If you do this, you will have a great reward. You will be children of the Most High God. How wonderful is it, when we quietly invest in someone else, expecting nothing back from them, only to discover that God has the most unexpected blessing waiting for us just around the next corner? If you do this, you will have a great reward. That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Regret is an emotion that, obviously, we wish we’d never experienced. And yet, here we are. We all know what that word “regret” means – not because we’ve read the dictionary, but because we’ve lived it. If only I hadn’t said that! If only I hadn’t done that! If only I’d remembered. If only … there it is, right there.  Regret; that compelling desire to hit the rewind button so you can do that one thing differently to avoid the pain it’s now causing you, others or both. Regret. We can only imagine the regret that Israel must have felt while consigned for seventy years to Babylon because they’d turned their backs on God by worshipping idols. So God allowed the Babylonians to raze Jerusalem to the ground … taking His chosen people captive to be their slaves. And when God finally sets about setting them free, restoring them to the Promised Land, He reminds them: Isaiah 48:17,18 The LORD, the Saviour, the Holy One of Israel, says, “I am the LORD your God. I teach you for your own good. I lead you in the way you should go. If you had obeyed me, then peace would have come to you like a full flowing river. Good things would have come to you again and again, like the waves of the sea.” If only … they’d obeyed God. And there it is. There’s His Word of warning to you and me today. There’s blessing in obedience, as His favour chases you down the street. And there are consequences in disobedience, no matter how alluring a temptation may appear. Don’t find yourself in that “If only …” place of regret again. Obey God. That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

It’s funny how the human psyche works. Sometimes the obvious can be staring you in the face, but somehow your mind can’t grasp it. It’s only when you come back to it a second or third time that you get it. You’ve been there: “How come I didn’t see that before?” I love doing crosswords. As someone who crafts words in my day-job, playing with them somehow relaxes me. And this phenomenon of not seeing that which is plainly obvious the first time, happens again and again. Eleven across. A seven-letter word for a vehicle used in space. I have the third letter – P – and the fifth letter – U – but I stare at it and stare at it and just can’t get it. How many vehicles can there be that are used in space? Yet I come back a half hour later and there it is instantly – “capsule”. It’s just how our minds work. We often miss the blindingly, glimpsingly obvious, first time round. Which doubtless is why wise old King Solomon, said this: Proverbs 2:1-5 My son, pay attention to what I say. Remember my commands. Listen to wisdom, and do your best to understand. Ask for good judgment. Cry out for understanding. Look for wisdom like silver. Search for it like hidden treasure. If you do this, you will understand what it means to respect the LORD, and you will come to know God. Look at the action verbs in that: pay attention, remember, listen, do your best, understand, ask, cry out, look, search. The things of God are plainly obvious. The things that’ll transform your life are right there under your nose. But sometimes you have to come back for them. Often times, you just have to dig deeper. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

It’s funny how the human psyche works. Sometimes the obvious can be staring you in the face, but somehow your mind can’t grasp it. It’s only when you come back to it a second or third time that you get it. You’ve been there: “How come I didn’t see that before?” I love doing crosswords. As someone who crafts words in my day-job, playing with them somehow relaxes me. And this phenomenon of not seeing that which is plainly obvious the first time, happens again and again. Eleven across. A seven-letter word for a vehicle used in space. I have the third letter – P – and the fifth letter – U – but I stare at it and stare at it and just can’t get it. How many vehicles can there be that are used in space? Yet I come back a half hour later and there it is instantly – “capsule”. It’s just how our minds work. We often miss the blindingly, glimpsingly obvious, first time round. Which doubtless is why wise old King Solomon, said this: Proverbs 2:1-5 My son, pay attention to what I say. Remember my commands. Listen to wisdom, and do your best to understand. Ask for good judgment. Cry out for understanding. Look for wisdom like silver. Search for it like hidden treasure. If you do this, you will understand what it means to respect the LORD, and you will come to know God. Look at the action verbs in that: pay attention, remember, listen, do your best, understand, ask, cry out, look, search. The things of God are plainly obvious. The things that’ll transform your life are right there under your nose. But sometimes you have to come back for them. Often times, you just have to dig deeper. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

So, a question for you today: how often do you think about how you’re living your life? How often do you reflect on how you respond to different situations, different stimuli, good and bad, in your life? They’re big questions, because if you just get up each day and respond to things – good and bad – in the same way, then nothing’s ever going to change. If we imagine that for things to get better, those people out there have to change, our circumstances have to change – then we’re going to be waiting for a long time, because they may never change. So what’s the answer? Psalm 119:59,60 When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. (ESV) So, back to my initial question. How often do you think on your ways? Because let me tell you, every time I open the Good Book, every time I open God’s Word, He causes me to think on my ways. He shines His light, His glory, His power, His love, His joy, His peace into the darker recesses of my soul. And the impact of that is to create a yearning deep within to honour Him, to obey Him, to turn my feet toward His testimonies so to speak. That daily act of Bible reading, of hearing God speak to me and then thinking on my ways in light of His Word, hastens me not to delay in keeping His commandments. That’s how it’s meant to work. That’s how God changes us. That’s how He transforms our lives. That’s how things get better – whether those other people, whether our circumstances, change or not. And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

If you’re someone who joins me daily in this Fresh devotional message – whether by email, or on television, radio, through the many digital channels … wherever – have you ever wondered what the whole point of it really is? As the guy who writes, records, shoots these messages 365 days a year, it’s a question I ask myself often, because I don’t want to be wasting my time or yours. With all the production and consumption of these daily Fresh messages that goes on around the world, what a tragedy it’d be if all that was a wasted effort. But it’s not, because here’s the point; here’s the reason we at the ministry of Christianityworks do what we do in producing, broadcasting and publishing these Fresh messages each day: Colossians 1:28 So we continue to tell people about Christ. We use all wisdom to counsel every person and teach every person. We are trying to bring everyone before God as people who have grown to be spiritually mature in Christ. I’m passionate about seeing you – yes, you! – draw closer and closer to Jesus, in a rich and powerful relationship with Him that’ll transform your life, that’ll have you telling others in your corner of the globe about Jesus – to help them do the very same thing. So can I encourage you today to be a man or a woman of God’s Word; to dig deep into His wisdom and counsel to bring yourself and those around you before God as a people who’ve grown to be spiritually mature in Christ? Because that … that’s the only way, my friend, that we’re going to change the world. One soul at a time. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.