Week 11 : Goodness : A virtue to adopt

Read: Luke 10:25-37

On day Jesus spoke of the importance of goodness after an expert in the Law asked him what he needed to do in order to live forever. The man was referred back to the Law. Jesus was quite keen to know how the man himself interpreted the teachings found in the Scriptures because he felt this man must have been very knowledgeable about the topic.  

The expert told Jesus, in his opinion, there were two things you needed to do in order to gain eternal life. First of all, you needed to love God totally. And second, you had to love those around you as much as you loved yourself. Jesus agreed with what this expert had to say and he told him he would receive life eternal if he did both of these two things.

Now the expert had no problem at all with the first task because the fact that he in love with God could not be disputed. After all, his extensive knowledge of the Scriptures was proof enough of this great love. However, he desperately hoped this alone was enough for him to life forever in the presence of God because he had no love for foreigners.  

Jesus seemed to under this because he then went on and told a parable about a Jewish man who was attacked by robbers. Both a priest and a righteous Jew walked past the wounded man without helping him before, finally, a Samaritan "took pity on him". He helped to man by cleaning and bandaging his wounds before taking him to a wayside inn.

The Lord then asked the expert in the Law who he though had acted in a neighbourly fashion to the man who had been attacked. The expert agreed it had not been his countrymen who had helped the injured fellow, but a stranger from a foreign land. This Samaritan had shown his goodness by stopping to give first aid to a man who he didn't even know.  

From this parable you can see how showing mercy to those are in need is an essential part of the Law. It is actually one of the prerequisites for being granted eternal life when Jesus returns to judge the quick and the dead at the end of time. Not only will your love of God be taken into account, but so too will your love of mankind, your endless compassion.

Always remember that when Moses said he wanted to see the glory of God, he was told, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." That is how God reveals Himself to friends and neighbours alike.

Pray: Jesus. Help me to be a good person lie this Samaritan so I can show goodness to those in need around me. Amen.

Week 10 : Witchcraft : A vice to avoid

Read: 2 Chronicle 33:1-20

Often in history a bad king succeeds a good one. This happened in 687BC when Hezekiah died and his son, Manasseh, became king of Judah. The greatest contrast between the father and his son can be seen the approach each one had to religion. Hezekiah centralised worship in the Temple in Jerusalem and Manasseh, initially, "practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists". The differences were truly astounding.

In Judah under Hezekiah a city-state based on Jerusalem seems to have developed. This is because the Assyrians had invaded Israel and many refugees had arrived in Jerusalem as living in the countryside had become largely impossible. In addition to adding to the fortification of the city, the king ordered the destruction of rural cultic sites, and he also sponsored much religious writing including the outpourings of several minor prophets.

The region had become a less dangerous place by the time Manasseh began his reign. In his approach to religion, he promoted the old practises as his reign progressed, even reinstating the worship of Baal and Asherah. Of course, practicing witchcraft was only one of a multitude of his evil deeds, all of which "the Lord spoke" against. This king totally ignored this warning so God allowed the Assyrians to capture him and deport him to Babylon.

The lesson here is clear. If you completely disregard God and continue to practice witchcraft and do what is evil in his eyes then you will be punished. For Manasseh this meant having a hook placed in his nose and being bound with bronze shackles. Only after being humiliated in this way did the king humble himself and pray; only then did God have compassion on him. He let Manasseh go back to Jerusalem. As a result king came to accept "that the Lord is God".

This is what people today who practice witchcraft need to do. Unfortunately, like Manasseh, these people see no real urgency in changing what they are doing. The light only begins to dawn if what they do leads to dire consequences. Then they are faced with a choice - repent or continue to suffer the consequences of their evil behaviour. And if these people choose to humble themselves and pray then they will be saved. Of this there can be no doubt.

After all, Manasseh went on to strengthen the fortifications of Jerusalem and to place soldiers in strongholds throughout Judah. This was more than he was able to do before he repented of his evil. So you can expect similar results if you repent of your evil. Your life will be more successful. You will discover, no matter how good your life might have seemed when you are practicing witchcraft, it will be even better because now you can really be like Jesus.

Prayer: Jesus. When we realise we have been doing the wrong thing, help us to repent so that we might be able to live a better, more successful life. Amen.

Week 9 : Kindness : A virtue to adopt

Read: Luke 6:27-40

Jesus said if you show kindness to those who are opposed to you, you'll be rewarded extensively because you're acting like God. His kind nature makes Him unique. He constantly expresses His kindness to people who are neither grateful nor good.

In the same way, Christians need to be kind to others, because to do so is to adopt a characteristic of God. This is a key to holiness. You become holy like the Lord when you do the things that He does and, accordingly, a lack of holiness is evident when you act to the contrary.

Of course, being kind to people who deliberately set out to hinder you isn't easy. It takes an awful lot of effort. Yet Jesus said not only must you persevere when you face persecution, you actually need to adopt responses that are opposite to what nasty people expect.

Consider the example of Eric Liddell, a missionary in China during the early 20th Century. He became a Rollcall Warden in a Japanese interment camp at Weihsien. Another prisoner, Norman Cliff, recalled Liddell "won the confidence and respect of the Japanese guards."

Where less sanctified people might have resisted, this man was diligent in his service to those who had imprisoned him. Rather than acting like a traitor, he also helped his fellow inmates. For instance, when a prisoner exchange was arranged, Liddell gave his place to a pregnant woman.

He was still interned when he died of natural causes. "The entire camp, especially its youth, was stunned for days, so great was the vacuum that Eric's death had left," said Langdon Gilkey 
(Shantung Compound: The Story of Men and Women Under Pressure).

Jesus too gave His life. However, He didn't do this to save only a single soul, but to save all of mankind. This was the ultimate act of kindness. It happened because "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

The Bible states: "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man [or woman], though for a good man [or woman] someone [like Eric Liddell] might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrated his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Dying in the place of another, even if that person might be considered a lesser individual, is really quite kind. Eric Liddell had won a gold medal at the 1924 Olympics, yet he kindly allowed a pregnant woman to take his place. And he didn't hate the Japanese, but showed them kindness.

While you and I will, hopefully, never have the opportunity to show such kindness, the least each of us can do is be kind to those who are around us, even to people who are nasty. Rather than holding a grudge against someone, look for ways you can be kind to them. Then you'll be like Jesus.

Prayer: Jesus. Help me to show how I can be kind to those who seem like they don't deserve it. Amen.

Week 8 : Idolatry : A vice to avoid

Read: Revelation 2:18-29

In one sense it is easy to avoid idolatry today because Christians don't worship images or symbols of God. Sure, churches are full of crosses and there are plenty of statues, paintings, relics, icons, stained glass windows and so on, but these objects aren't worshipped. Instead, they are revered. Deeply admired, these works of art remind us of holy lives well lived.

Where idolatry is a danger in modern time is when activities substituted for worship. Being side-tracked is so easy when, instead of going to church, we are tempted to do other stuff on Sunday. How easy is it to go shopping or attend a child’s birthday party or wash the car or whatever? Has following a favourite sporting team become an all-consuming passion.

Idolatry is the practice of worshipping idols. Traditionally this meant venerating an image, or a symbol, of a god during worship. Today we deeply admire sports stars, talented singers and actors, and so on. The cult of celebrity is all powerful. Pictures of these beautiful creatures fill the media. We like them of Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

And yet the Bible warns against such adoration. Consider the Second Command given to Moses by God: "You shall not make for yourself an idol". Ironically, this was the one rule the Israelites broke straight away. As Moses has been away for too long they started to worship a Golden Calf. If it was today, they'd probably have spent lots of time on goldencalf.com.

As the Jewish religion developed, no images of God where created for use in worship. Even in the Temple, which was built in Jerusalem, there was no statue of Him. The Roman historian Josephus said when Pompey, the Roman leader, went into the holiest part of the Temple, he didn’t find an idol.

Jesus said nothing about idolatry when he was on Earth. However, after his resurrection he did condemn the church at Thyatira for eating food that had been dedicated to idols. It seems like they continued the practice of blessed meals in the name of an ancient deity. In doing this they were following the lead of a local celebrity called Jezebel.

Food is a powerful symbol, as the sacrament of the bread and the wine known as communion testifies. Of this I have very little experience because my denomination makes no use of this and I'm uncomfortable even having bread rolls and grape juice at Easter. Nonetheless many Christians use this practice to draw closer to God.

Therefore, it is easy to conclude, the use of symbols in worship is fine. Only when these symbols are worshipped is there a problem. Such worship can take different forms. For example, fandom is a type of worship, as is substituting a world activity for a religious one. So you need to make sure you don’t fall into this trap.

Prayer: Jesus. Help me to see if anything I do could be considered to be idolatry and help me to restore the right balance in my life. Amen.