Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God: Thank God for Jesus

During the period of Lent in my church, each Thursday is devoted to Lenten devotions, during which someone, usually a priest, makes a presentation on one aspect of a Theme for the year. This year the Theme is; " To Know, To Live, To Share the Faith: My Responsibility.
On Thursday last, I was asked to share my thoughts on one aspect of the Theme - To Live the Faith. And God who is always ahead of us, and knew that I certainly could not stand up in front of the congregation and presume, as one who is constantly battling with my own spiritual deficiencies, to tell people how to live the Christian Faith, provided me with great help. From a book I have been led to read during Lent. ETHICS by Dietrich Bonhoeffer – German Theologian (1906-1945).
I have great admiration for this German pastor. Why? A friend, and member of this Ministry, who is a great cultural icon in my country, assisted me in recalling an old Jamaican proverb.

" If fish go a river bottom and tell you say shark dung dey, believe him".

Which, when properly translated and explained, means that, the views of one who has great familiarity with a given situation ought to be highly regarded. In the sense that this pastor, this theologian, whose faith in Christ led him to return to Germany and oppose the Nazis, when others were leaving, and who was eventually hanged, in my view, his perspective ought to be highly regarded So as I shared with my church family, I now share with my wider Internet Family, most of whom are not members of the Anglican church, and in fact some are not Christians at all. But I pray that through this, and, or, any other medium that God chooses, we who are committed to Christ may be renewed, and that others may come to know and love our Blessed Saviour.

Bonhoeffer's perspective, is greatly influenced by one of the key moments in the Biblical revelation about Creation as told in the book of Genesis.

“The man is become as one of us, to know good and evil,” says God. Gen. 3:22
As a result, as we will see, as his argument develops, such knowledge led to DISUNION with God. Ultimately, Bonhoeffer asserts, †RECONCILIATION, with God, the correction of this DISUNION, is only possible in and through JESUS CHRIST

Therefore, in this context, the first point I made was that, in order to live out one's faith, we need to have a clear, and doctrinally accurate, understanding of such a faith. Which then led to the first question and a proposed answer based on Bonhoeffer's arguments ( which in effect are all reminders, taken from the Scriptures, but shared with great clarity and therefore allows for a better appreciation)

Question : What is our understanding of the faith?
Answer: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. “ …..Yet not my will but thy will be done”
†Living the faith is essentially to carry out God’s will?

Here Bonhoeffer draws on Jesus' declaration in another garden - Gethsemane - when He faced His greatest temptation, from Satan, to let the cup of sorrow and pain bypass Him, to bypass the Cross of Calvary. And Jesus in the midst of His greatest test, responded with these life changing words, which are part of The Lord's prayer which He Himself, through His disciples, taught all mankind.
So the next question in our search for an answer to the question of how does one live out the Christian faith, according to Bonhoeffer, has to be: †How does one determine God’s will and how do we carry out God’s will?

It is here now that we get an insight into that momentous decision taken by Adam and Eve to listen to Satan and ignore the Word of God, which is what started all the trouble for mankind.
" Did God really say "You must not eat from any tree in the garden"?
And which temptation, Jesus, when faced in the wilderness , each time responded by quoting the Word of God - remember " man shall not live by bread alone...." in response to the temptation to turn stones into bread and satisfy Jesus' hunger.
So they both ate and came to know good and evil.

Bonhoeffer then declares, in a entire chapter devoted to this subject, and which arguments, I have reduced to bullets points that :


Man at his origin knew only one thing: God
It is only in the unity of his knowledge of God that he knows of other men, of things of himself
He knows all things only in God, and God in all things
In knowing good and evil he knows only himself and no longer knows God: for he can know God, only if he knows only God.
The knowledge of Good and Evil is therefore separation from God
Man’s life is now in disunion with God, with men, with things and with himself.

Two points: Although the assertions are self explanatory, this perspective on the Genesis account of Creation, for me, is one of the most important lessons that all Christians need to appreciate. And even more so for non-Christians. For unless we appreciate this fundamental difference between " Original Sin" which is really separation from God, DISUNION with God - the root, and, "sins" the manifestation - the shoots - of this first act of rebellion, and on which both Christians and more so non-Christians place so much emphasis, we will never understand the extent of God's love in sending His Son ( He Himself taking on human form) Jesus to die for all mankind. For this perspective, this truth, destroys all the myths about people living a " good life" and going to meet with St. Peter and then God in heaven. This truth properly explains, and thereby counters, and hopefully placates the anger of so many, that the Christian faith is exclusive, and even arrogant, in ( its) the claim of our Blessed Saviour that, " No man cometh unto the Father except through me". But as we shall see this truth, properly understood, provides a real basis for loving Jesus, and not for some of the " commercial reasons" that abound, and which kind of love has no power to change a society and provide the " abundant life" promised by Jesus, but on account of what took place on the Cross of Calvary.
Secondly, this perspective, this truth, also offers an explanation for our abuse of the environment, a very current issue; the reason for so many problems with intimate and social relationships -the domestic violence, the rate of divorce, the breakdown in family life, the murder, the rape, the disregard for the poor and the powerless; and, because of, even our lack of understanding of self in the wider scheme of life.

Following Bonhoeffer's train of thought, our next stop in this journey, is, if we were separated from God, in DISUNION with God and have decided to accept Christ's offer of salvation, and become RECONCILED with God and wish to live out our Christian faith by carrying out God's will, the next step is to Prove, and Discern God's and then to do God's Will. And so Bonhoeffer argues, again in an entire section that:
†
PROVING – not intuition; not the voice of the heart; not obvious; not system of rules. Only on the basis of metamorphosis- an overcoming of the form of fallen man, Adam and conformation with the new man Christ. Proved- because it is new every morning
DOING – Only in doing can there be submission to the will of God.
“ Without me ye can do nothing”.
†
One of the great challenges that Bonhoeffer issues to the people of God, in essence, is a caution to subject, what we may believe to be a " prophetic" word from God, to the sternest testing. As not every voice one hears in one's head is necessarily the voice of God. And which ( often false ).
belief has , and continues to, cause immeasurable damage to church life, relationships and how others regard the church. Also that this proving of God's will is to be sought anew every day. Thirdly, proving God will, without actually Doing God's will, does not help us to live the faith. Finally, again, without Christ's Spirit transforming us into a " new man", by metamorphosis, and without Christ doing His work through us, we cannot live out the faith.

Which then brings us to the next point - Love. The main attribute of the God who we serve, and whose faith we are intent on living out. And which attribute though immortalized in song as a " many splendored thing", in Spiritual terms, is a most misunderstood thing, with grave consequences for all. As, not just Bonhoeffer, he only reminds us, but the Scriptures declare that : " Without love it profiteth us nothing". So the argument continues:


LOVING – Without love everything falls apart. With love everything is pleasing to God. “ If I have the gift of prophecy….all faith…body to be burned…bestow all my gifts to the poor…and have not love it profiteth me nothing. What is love? Bible –
†“God is love” ; only he who knows God knows what love is…..unless God reveals Himself to him….Jesus is the revealed of Love of God. Love is therefore the reconciliation of man with God in Christ. Disunion is at an end

Praise God then, because of love, Disunion is at an end. So love in Christian terms is not just the emotions one feels for those in need, or those in grief, or the sick or our brothers and sisters in Church, but is in fact the revealed love of God acting in and through us by the power of Christ's Spirit. That's what happened on the Cross of Calvary: God's revealed love destroying " Original Sin" - DISUNION and death, and providing the basis for the forgiveness all sins. That's the only kind of love that can fulfill God's command to love not only those who love us, as even the pagans do that, but to love those who persecute us, who revile us and say all kinds of things about us. Only in Christ then, can we truly live our faith.
Finally, perhaps the most important issue of all in this quest to live out our faith. To know our faith is one thing. To prove the faith and be determined to act is another. To understand that we have to do all of of this in love, is still another issue, but how, is the final question. So Bonhoeffer continues, and I continue to offer a precis of these weighty arguments .
†
Christ is the only giver of forms.
†It is not achieved by “ dint of effort” to become like Jesus
†It is not Christian men who shape the world with their ideas, but it is Christ who shapes men in conformity with Himself
†“ During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers…..to the one who could save him from death…..reverent submission

†….though he was a son he learned obedience from what he suffered”. Heb.5:7-8
†The church is not a religious community of worshippers of Christ but is Christ Himself.
†What matters in the Church is not religion but the form of Christ and its taking its form among a band of men and women
†It is a mystery for which there is no explanation that only a part of mankind recognize their Redeemer

A couple of points as we contemplate this final issue of " the form of Christ". The essence of the Christian faith can be summed up in a famous passage in the book of Galatians: " I have been crucified in Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I but Christ who lives in me".
In order for us to live out the faith we have to come to this understanding, and ask in deep and constant prayer, in the same way that Jesus - in his days on earth prayed, with loud cries and tears - that the Spirit of Christ may be formed in us. For if our Blessed Lord prayed so fervently, that His life - as one who was fully man, yet was without sin - may be one with His Father - and therefore not be given over to death, which is the fate of all mankind who continue to live in the flesh, in the original state of Disunion, then how much more should, we sinful mankind, be fervent in our prayers that the Spirit of Christ may live in us. I pause in the journey, almost at the end now, to reflect, in this context, on a passage from Romans, which is very germane to this issue of living by the flesh, and which I have been led to reflect on time and time again this week.

" Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life, and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if the Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit id alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you." Romans 8:5-11 NIV

Also, what is true for the individual, is equally so for the collective church - that the church being the body of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus now lives and acts through a believing and obedient church. A fact, a truth which has profound possibilities for the renewal of a society in which the church really exists, regardless of the numbers. Just this week I read a meditation in which John Wesley, whose team of men famously transformed English society so profoundly in his time, declared that :
" Give me a hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I will shake the world.".
And a similar declaration by God to Abraham came into my mind : " If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.......For the sake of ten I will not destroy it". Gen. 26&32. NIV
Finally, one of the great mysteries in the world is why we who are in the church, recognize our Redeemer - Jesus Christ - and why others, for whom He is equally their Redeemer too ( " For God so loved the world.....) have failed to acknowledge Him. Regardless of this sad mystery, what is not in dispute is our mandate to tell, all who live in this world, about the good news of the gospel of Christ, wrought on the Cross of Calvary. That in Him , everybody has been reconciled to God - murderer, thief, the corrupt, the greedy, the profane, the wicked, the drunkard, the atheist, the adulterers, the persecutor of Christians, the Jews, the Muslims, all. All they need to do is to acknowledge their sinfulness before God and accept His gift ( not free, as someone died) of salvation.

So in living out our faith let us:


†Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith……Hebrews 12:2 NIV
†Without me, ye can do nothing John 15:5
†It is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose. Phil. 2:13


Let us follow the hymn writer who wrote these words from " The Old Rugged Cross" and declare that:

Nothing in my hand I bring;
Simply to thy cross I cling.
Naked: come to you for dress.
Helpless: look to you for grace.
Foul: I to the fountain fly.
Wash me Saviour lest I die



And finally declare that we love Jesus because:

My God I love thee, not because
I hope for heaven thereby
Nor yet because who love thee not
Are lost eternally

Thou, O my Jesus, thou didst me
Upon the Cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails and the spear,
And manifold disgrace

And griefs and torments numberless,
And sweat of agony;
Yea, death itself –and all for me
Who was thine enemy

Then why, O blessed Jesu Christ,
Should I not love thee well?
Not for the sake of winning heaven
Nor of escaping hell

Not for the sake of gaining aught
Nor seeking a reward;
But as thyself has loved me,
O ever-living Lord

So I would love thee, dearest Lord
And in thy praise will sing;
Solely because thou art my God
And my most loving King

Then we will be truly be able with power to live out the faith.

In summary:

†In the beginning Man knew only God, and all things through Him
†In direct disobedience to God’s Word, Man came to know good and evil
†Such knowledge led to separation and disunion.
†Disunion can only be corrected by reconciliation in and through Christ

†To be in Christ means to die to the old self and to undergo metanoia by the power of the Holy Spirit and to have the Spirit of Christ formed in us – new every day.
†Only then can we prove and carry out God’s will
†Only then can we claim confidently to be Living the Faith, as Christ lives in us to carry out His Father’s will – to Love God and neighbour as we love ourselves

Lent and God's Will

Two powerful thoughts came into my mind this week. One, that Lent is about self-denial and not about self-delusion. A thought supported by a statement shared by a priest, inter alia, during a Lenten Devotion presentation last Thursday, when he quoted Psalm 14 ( 1) " The fool has said in his heart that there is no God. The other, that there ought not to be any other context to this Internet Ministry during Lent, except the reality of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. So yes, there may be issues in Spain, or Chile, Costa Rica, or Singapore, the USA, UK, Africa, India, Australia, Pakistan, and God knows that there are sufficient issues in Jamaica to engage one's mind. But this is a time for a deep reflection and meditation on the only reality in this world - God as revealed by the power of the Holy Spirit, in and through Christ Jesus. For what shall it profit a man or woman to be knowledgeable of the world's problems and to try and respond, if that action is not informed by, not only God's will, but of equal importance, God's presence.
So let me start right there and share some of what the Lord led me to reflect on this week, following my continued reading of Bonhoeffer's Ethics, and writings of other Saints of yore.


" When the Bible calls for action it does not refer a man to his own powers but to Jesus Christ Himself. 'Without me ye can do nothing' John 15:5. This sentence is to be taken in its strictest sense. There is really no action without Jesus Christ. All the innumerable different activities which in general assume the appearance of action are, in the judgement of Jesus, as though nothing has been done. This saying of Jesus demonstrates more clearly than any other saying in the Bible that all action is entirely bound up with Jesus Christ and no clearer distinction can be drawn than this between true action and all kinds of false action".

Wow! This is indeed " heavy " stuff. No wonder the Christian religion has come under fire throughout the ages, for being too exclusive, as you cannot get any more exclusive than this.
As this is not just a man speaking, but God-Man. Fully God and fully God. A great mystery. But equally so the only reality. But being misunderstood, or being ignored by the world at large is not the real problem. The bigger and more serious issue, is that we, as children of God, quite often, do not live as if this statement by Jesus is true. So we make plans and engage in actions, to " save the world" and do not bring them before the Lord in any serious way. For both Christians and non - Christians, whether or not they accept the truth of the statement, the reality is that, since Christ is going to judge all actions taken by all mankind, all lives lived, all doctrines held dear, then unless such thoughts, lives and actions are directed by Jesus Himself, then all would have been to no avail. The reason why a proper understanding of this statement is so critical to the life of a baptised child of God is as follows, as explained by Bonhoeffer.

THE PROVING OF GOD'S WILL

Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God. Romans 12:2.......This (and other sayings) show the error of the view that the simple recognition of the will of God must take some form of intuition which excludes any sort of reflection and that it must be the naive grasping of the first thought or feeling to force itself upon the mind........The will of God may lie very deeply concealed beneath a great number of available possibilities.......The will of God is not a system of of rules which is established at the very outset; it is new and different in each situation in life, and for this reason a man must ever anew examine what the will of God may be. It is no longer a matter of man's own knowledge of good and evil, but solely of the living will of God; our knowledge of God's will is not something over which we dispose, but it depends solely upon the grace of God, and this grace is and requires to be new every morning. This is why this proving or examining of the will of God is so serious a matter. The voice of the heart is not to be confused with the will of God, nor is any kind of inspiration or any general principle, for the will of God discloses itself ever anew to him who proves it ever anew."

Let me take a break from Bonhoeffer and share with with you, the hymn that has been on my heart all week, even to the extent that my wife has singing it too.
I wake up with it. I go to bed with it. Even at mid-day I marvel at its teachings.

New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove;
Through sleep and darkness safely brought,
Restored to life and power and thought.

New mercies each returning day,
Hover around us while we pray;
New perils past, new sins forgiven,
New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven

If on our daily course our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.

The trivial round the common task,
Will furnish all we need to ask,
Room to deny ourselves a road
To bring us daily nearer God.

Only,O Lord, in thy dear love
Fit us for perfect rest above;
And help us this and very day,
To live more nearly as we pray.

Close examination of, and reflection on, these words will not only validate what I have been saying, about daily proving what God's will is, but also help us to reflect more deeply on this issue of self- denial and Lent.
So back to Bonhoeffer and his assertion, based on a deeper understanding of Holy Scripture, that the only reality is Christ Jesus in all spheres of life - not just the Christian perspective.


" So how does a man set about this 'proving what is the will of God'? The crucial precondition for this is that this proving takes place solely on the basis of a ' metamorphosis', a complete inward transmutation of one's previous form, 'a renewing of the mind, ( Romans 12:2) a 'walking as children of light ( Eph. 5:8). This metamorphosis of man can only be the overcoming of the form of the fallen man, Adam, and conformation with the new man Christ......the new form , by virtue of which alone the proving of the will of God is possible, has left behind and beneath the it the man who in his defection from from God won for himself the knowledge of good and evil. it is the from of the child of God who lives in unity with the will of the Father in the conformation of of the one true Son of God".

One of, if not the greatest problem in the church today, and hence its relative, as compared with the early church, ineffectiveness, is the lack of appreciation and belief in this profound truth. That only those believers, who have by virtue of, " dying to self", by deep prayer and commitment to knowing only Christ, and identifying with His death, day by day, and have undergone this 'metamorphosis, by God's grace ( put on Christ) can 'prove' God's will. It is not an overnight thing. It is not something that happens immediately on being baptised or on becoming Confirmed. Or even by virtue of going to church regularly over many years. But rather, as Bonhoeffer explains, it follows on an appreciation of the utter " wretchedness" of one's life before a holy God, and a clear understanding that our knowledge of good and evil has separated us from our original union with God and marred the "image" of God within us. And from which " helpless" position, we can only be rescued by Christ, not being with us, alone, but living in and through us, by the power of the Holy Spirit of the living God.

This knowledge has such profound implications for the work of the church in continuing the Ministry of reconciliation done by Jesus. For as Bonhoeffer reminds us, and about which I will write more extensively next week, Jesus died, not just for us who believe, but for all mankind.
So God has, in Christ Jesus, pronounced fallen man free of sin, and has in Christ made a new man, into which new, reconciled and renewed state, all can enter by belief. Our role, then as part of this renewed mankind is to, in the power of Christ and Christ alone, share this gospel, this truth with the gunmen, the rapists, the prostitutes, the robbers, the profane, the " rampin shop people", the " get on baad at carnival time people', the " good people in society", the rich and the poor, the mighty and the lowly - all mankind. Judgement is for the Lord. Our responsibility is to know, to live and to share this faith.

Finally a word from A. W. Tozer ( 1897- 1963) - PANTING AFTER GOD

Psalm 42:1

Within the hearts of a growing number of evangelicals in recent days has arisen a new yearning after an above-average spiritual experience. Yet the greater number still shy away from it and raise objections that evidence misunderstandings or fear or plain unbelief. They point o the neurotic, the psychotic, the pseudo-Christian cultist and the intemperate fanatic, and lump them all together without discrimination as followers of the " deeper life".
While this is of course completely preposterous, the fact that such confusion exists obliges those of us who advocate the Spirit -filled life to define their terms and explain their position. Just what, then do we mean. And what are we advocating?
For myself, I am reverently concerned that I teach nothing but Christ crucified. For me to accept a teaching or even an emphasis, I must be persuaded that it is scriptural and altogether apostolic in spirit and temper. And it must be in full harmony with the best in the historic church and in the tradition that marked by the finest devotional works, the sweetest and most radiant hymnody and the loftiest experiences revealed in Christian biography.
To speak of the " deeper life" is .....to insist that believers explore the depth of the Christian evangel for those riches it surely contains but which we are as surely missing. the " deeper life " is deeper only because the average Christian life is tragically shallow.
They who advocate the deeper life today might compare unfavorably with almost any of the Christians that surrounded Paul or Peter in early times. While they may not as yet have made much progress, their faces are toward the light and they are beckoning us on. It is hard to see how we can justify our refusal to heed their call.
What the deeper life advocates are telling us is that we should press on to enjoy in personal inward experience the exalted privileges that are ours in Christ Jesus.; that we should insist upon tasting the sweetness of internal worship in spirit as well as in truth; that to reach this ideal we should if necessary push beyond our contented brethren and bring upon ourselves whatever opposition may follow as a result.

I thank God each year for this period of reflection and the seeking of a deeper understanding of the faith. And which deeper understanding can only come, if more and more, year by year, day by day, moment my moment, Christ lives in and through me. This is the only true meaning and purpose of Lent. Any other is self-delusion and will be so judged in the fullness of time. Amen

Lenten Reflections inspired by a German Christian who opposed Hitler even unto death.

It's great to be back home, even when you have been treated well abroad. Still many problems and the killings continue unabated - four were murdered last night - but home is just home. Especially when you return to family, friends, co-workers, and church family. T'was just great to see, family members and my friends at work. To see friends in Christ this morning, and to hear God's Word, in God's church with God's people and to participate in the receiving and in the sharing of Holy Communion. But having returned the discipline of Lent continues and so I have been reading more, reducing my Facebook activity ,watching less television, listening mainly to the news, very little listening to talk show radio, and just trying to hear what the Lord is saying to me and to the church at this special time.

In pursuit of that objective, I came across, yet another book by one of my favourite Christian writers - Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Favourite not only because of the clarity of his writings, but because he lived in Germany during the Nazi years, during the time when 6 million Jews and many other were wiped off the face of the earth, and during the time of one of the worse periods in human history. And he resisted when others acquiesced. He returned home from the relative comfort of the USA to take part in the struggle to rescue his country when others were fleeing. He stood up and was counted among those who said 'no' to the wickedness of Hitler, while others kept quiet to save their 'skin', but lost their soul and are now judged very harshly by history. Because of his resistance he was executed in the last days of the war by the Nazis. You have to respect that kind of life.

So I am reading Bonhoeffer's classic book on " Ethics" for Lent. It's heavy stuff and requires a lot of concentration to appreciate what he is sharing with the reader. But, as the Americans say, what he has to offer is " huge". And as I read I understand even more clearly that this kind of material could only have been written by one who had suffered much, and had come face to face with evil in the heights of its powers. We in Jamaica think we are going through a rough time on account of the murder, rape, bad manners, loud and disgusting music, bad driving, and the very challenging political and economic situation. But those on the wrong side of the fence during the time of Hitler, lived through a veritable hell. An experience that we cannot even begin to imagine much less to compare. Therefore when such a person writes about the love of God, in the most profound ways, we should really ought to pay attention.
Bonhoeffer begins , what was an unfinished work, with a very deep discussion on what happened when mankind , children of Adam, came to know good and evil. Bonhoeffer asserts that:

" man in his origin knew only one thing: God. It is only in the unity of of his knowledge of God that he knows of other men, of things and of himself. He knows all things only in God, and God in all things". Then Bonhoeffer asserts that " The knowledge of good and evil shows that he is no longer at one with this origin."

This kind of perspective of what took place in the Garden of Eden is again, " huge". And, therefore explains why the forces of evil, dressed up in all kinds of sheep-like clothing, have tried to deny flatly or make mockery of the Fall of mankind from his original relationship with God. No wonder then that those who would have us believe that Darwin's great work of Evolution, with which some serious Christians do not have any major problems, is the only explanation for the origin of mankind - which all Christians reject. Because what Bonhoeffer, and the entire Christian doctrine, explains, is that God's love for mankind , as revealed in Jesus Christ, the God-Man, has its genesis in this falling away of man (who was made in the likeness and image of God) from his origin. All because we departed from knowing all things in God, and through God, and came to know good and evil.

So Bonhoeffer continues; " He ( mankind) knows himself now as something apart from God, outside God, and this means that he now knows only himself and no longer knows God at all: for he can know God only if he knows only God. The knowledge of good and evil is therefore separation from God. Only against God can man know good and evil".


One cannot read this life changing ( or again what the Americans call "game changing") stuff for too long. So I had to stop reading several times and allow my head to " wrap around" these things. As, not being entirely new in concept, but really explaining so much more clearly why all of us have the potential to exhibit such evil behaviour, I had to pause to reflect and as I write , to thank God that He led me to the bookshop in Dolphin Mall and not to Macy's in International, that day. The basic problem with, people, my people who are killing one another in Jamaica, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, in the cities of America and Europe, and places like Darfur, is that we don't understand how much this falling away from God, has programmed us to act like people who do not know God. This very same falling away from his origin, of knowing only God and others and himself through God, explains why an Austrian man can lock away his daughter for years and commit incest with impunity; why a previously trusted and deeply respected Rap singer can ruthlessly and mercilessly - behave like a veritable animal - beat up his superstar girlfriend who dared to read a text message from another woman; why a previously well respected freedom fighter can suddenly make a U -turn and become a monster; and why, in pursuit of power, previously well thinking politicians, could introduce gun violence into a once peaceful country and thus unleash an era of wickedness hitherto unknown and unparalleled in the Caribbean.
So, we delude ourselves into thinking, or have been hoodwinked, that we can know God by deep meditation; praying seven times for the day; fasting for weeks; reading the Torah or the Koran or the Bible from cover to cover or a thousand other ways; " saying Lord Lord, and worshiping God with our lips and not with our hearts". And worse that we do not really need God at all. Thus causing evil to be unleashed all over the world, and for mankind to be always, " playing catch up" with no end in sight - unless God in His mercy intervenes, which thankfully He does from time to time.
So after all of this what does this German martyr say about God's love. He begins by quoting one of the most popular Bible passages which speaks about love.
" And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing" ( 1 Cor. 13:2 and 3). This is the decisive word which marks the distinction between man in disunion and man in origin. The word is love. ( We once had a Prime Minister who unfailingly employed that term - in his own limited understanding of it). There is a recognition of Christ, a powerful faith in Christ, and indeed a conviction and a devotion of love even unto death - all without love. That is the point. Without this " love" everything falls apart and everything is unacceptable, but in this love everything is united and everything is pleasing to God. What is this love?.........The Bible does not fail to give us the answer. We know this answer well enough, but we continually misinterpret it. It is this: " God is love ( 1 John 4, 16)......this sentence is to be read with the emphasis on the word God, whereas we have fallen into the habit of emphasizing love. God is love; that is to say not a human attitude, a conviction or a deed, but God Himself is love. Only he who knows God knows what love is; it is not the other way round; it is not that we first of all by nature know what love is and therefore know also what God is. No one knows God unless God reveals Himself to him. And so no one knows what love is except in the self-revelation of God. Love then is the revelation of God. And this revelation of God is Jesus Christ. " In this was manifested the love of god toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him ( 1 John 4.9).....Love has its origin not in us but in God. Love is not an attitude of men but an attitude of God.........
We can now continue to follow the Bible in answering the question: "What is love"? Love is the reconciliation of man with God in Jesus Christ. the disunion of man with God, with other men, with the world and with themselves, is an an end. Man's origin is given back to him".

I will stop there. As there is so much on which we need to reflect. Perhaps none more important than Christ's seemingly very provocative and very controversial statement that : " I am the way, the truth and the light, no one cometh unto the Father except through me". This single assertion by all of Christianity has unleashed a veritable torrent of invective and charges of exclusiveness and arrogance against the professing Church throughout all of history until this present day. We make no apologies for this statement in the light of Scripture and in the light of what this suffering servant of God has to say. In fact, at the start of his book Bonhoeffer, this German Pastor, who opposed Hitler even to death by a firing squad, makes bold to say that :

" The knowledge of good and evil seems to be the aim of all ethical reflection. The first task of Christian ethics is to invalidate this knowledge. In launching this attack on the underlying assumptions of all other ethics, Christian ethics stands so completely alone that it is questionable whether there is any purpose of speaking of Christian ethics at all. But if one does so notwithstanding, that can only mean that Christian ethics claims to discuss the origin of the whole problem of ethics, and thus professes to be a critique of all ethics simply as ethics."

So what has been reinforced in my mind so far this Lent from reading Bonhoeffer and not listening to Cliff Hughes or Trevor Munroe or Barbara Gloudon or Emily Crooks, or watching movies or listening to the Temptations or Taurus Riley or spending time on Facebook?
Thank God for Jesus. For without Him there would be no reunion with God. No reconciliation of God with fallen mankind. No giving back to man His origin. No chance of ending wars. No chance of mankind repenting of his sins and being given a second chance to know God. No hope for all mankind. But, every hope of sharing in that love that is kind, is patient, is not rude, does not delight in evil, always hopes, always trusts. Knowledge that with Christ, and in Christ, and through Christ our faith will not be in vain, our giving of ourselves and our possesions will not be in vain and all our sacrifices will not be in vain. That I can truly know God and only God again, which was the original state of mankind, made in the image of God, but marred by Adam's, and my choice - my fault, my own fault, my own grievous fault. That my country can change, and that there is hope. As crime and violence and general wickedness is but only part of the reality of life in Jamaica; the greater reality is that in Christ Jesus all of mankind, wicked and pious but still full of sin, can change and once again become 'children of God' and not of Adam, and bring peace to a troubled world. Praise God.

True Confidence to live in this world comes only from God and His Son Jesus Christ

If you did not see Black in America 1 on CNN, featuring Soledad O'Bryan, which aired shortly before Barack Obama won the US Presidential elections, make sure you catch Black in America 2 which is due for release in July of this year. Great documentary on the struggles of Black folks in the USA. This week O'Bryan put together a panel to discuss some aspects of the documentary and an ex-Basketball star made a comment which left a lasting impression on me.

" What separates the merely good ballplayers - and they are many of them - from the elite - only a few and he singled out Kobe Bryan as an example -is confidence. And confidence is something which you cannot give but you surely can take away. This is response to the non- attendance, or reduced attendance of parents in activities involving black kids in the USA vs the white kids.

And the result of which is that these kids lack the confidence which would assist them in doing well at school, simply because there is no one there to " cheer " them on and so their confidence is literally " taken away". Interesting point.

As I flew thousands of miles these last few days, and thank God landed safely each time, amidst reports of planes crashing in Buffalo, Holland, London and the " miracle on the Hudson River", the only thing that kept me from worrying too much was my confidence in the God to whom I pray for Grace and Mercy each day; each minute, each moment. And as I write I recall a wonderful woman of tremendous faith reminding me of the words of that wonderful song recently:



" Your grace and mercy

Brought me through.

I am living this moment

Because of You.

I wanna thank You

And praise Your Name

Your Grace and Mercy

Brought me through





And I live in a country which has one of the highest murder rates in the world and so the only thing that keeps me sane when I open my gate, or leave my office late at nights, is the confidence in the God whom I serve - not any gun in my waist ( that is of no use in sky anyway).



So this week, Lent, the most sacred period in the Christian calender and in particular Anglicans and other denominations - not Christmas as many believe - started on Ash Wednesday. A time when we spend more time engaging in the three great disciplines. Prayer, Fasting and giving alms to the needy. A time of self-denial and reflection, remembering our mortality and sinfulness before an Almighty God, who in His Grace and Mercy rescued us from the sentence of death on the Cross of Calvary in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son. It is a period which culminates in the agony of Good Friday and the joy and celebration of Easter Sunday. And I have been taught and have experienced it for my self over the years, that one cannot truly celebrate Easter and the glorious resurrection of Christ without going through Lent and its many disciplines.

This celebration of God's mercy to us in Christ Jesus, is what gives Christians confidence to live a joyful life, even in the midst of grave difficulties, financially, emotionally and physically; to live a life of sharing with others, of one's self and one's possessions, even when times are hard as they are here in Jamaica and in the USA and Europe from which I just returned; to worship God at all times moment by moment, because of His many Blessings to us. And confidence even to face death when that event inevitably arrives one day - and we all hope not too soon, but God's will be done - because we know in whose hands we will commit ourselves at that time, and to the certain joys of eternal life.

But this confidence comes only to those who believe in the Sovereignty of God in one's life and accept the need for the saving grace of Jesus, on the one hand. And are prepared to tell others about this free gift of salvation on the other hand. As God's blessings are not just for us to celebrate for ourself but to share the good news with others - with confidence. And the Lenten disciplines help us enormously in that regard. Forget the Easter Bunny and the bun and cheese.

That's a superficial understanding of a profound issue. So too, forget about giving up the cigarettes and the alcohol, and the chocolates for Lent. No particular blessing of a spiritual nature awaits anyone who indulges in that kind of activity - although whether Lent or not, from a physical health point of view, some of those habits are worthwhile giving up. So forget those but reflect deeply on a message from Chris Tiegen which I read this morning



BLESSED FOR A PURPOSE MARCH 1.



" Return home and tell how much God has done for you"

Luke 8:39



IN WORD Why has God been good to us? Because He loves us? Of course this is true. But there is more. He has been good to us because He loves others, too. He wants us to tell of His goodness. His mercy has been given so that we might speak of His mercy; His patience that we might speak of His patience; His blessings that we might tell others that He is a God who blesses.

All His goodness towards us is for us, yes, but also for others. It is for the reputation and glory of His name.

This is not new -- it was how He has made His name known from the beginning. " I will bless those who bless you ..... and all the people on the earth will be blessed through you". ( Genesis 12:3) " You sent miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh...... You made a name for yourself, which remains to this day" ( Nehemiah 9:10). This is our story, too. God has been good to us not for our own glory, but for His.



IN DEED Pledge to tell others what the Lord has done for you. Learn to say , " Let me tell you about God's patience. He is so patient that He -------," and fill in the blank with a story of how He has dealt with you. Learn to say, " God is so merciful that He ------," and tell someone of His mercy toward you.

This may seem difficult because it will require honesty and transparency on our part. The Gerasene from this text must say that he is an ex- demoniac when he tells the story. We may have to confess that we needed mercy, or why God had to be patient with us. This often does not reflect well on us. But it does reflect well of Him and His glory --not ours -- is the ultimate purpose of all creation.

Give Him the glory. Tell what He has done for you.





Finally we cannot by ourselves gain the kind of confidence that God offer freely in Christ Jesus. And we cannot by ourselves speak freely abut God's goodness to us. Not can we manage the rigours of a observing a holy lent by ourselves - self sacrifice, fasting - self denial - deepening our prayer life ; repenting of our sins. But God can.

So the following hymn came into my mind this week and provided much strength and spiritual blessings.



Breathe on me Breath of God.

Fill me with life anew;

That I might love what thou dost love

And do what Thou wouldst do.



Breathe of me breath of God,

Until my heart is pure;

Until my will is one with Thine

To do and to endure.



Breathe on me breath of God,

Till I am wholly Thine;

Until this earthly part of me

Glows with Thy fire divine.



Breathe on me breath of God,

So shall I never die;

But live with Thee the perfect life

Of Thine Eternity



Amazingly, tonight as i flew back home, I sat beside a friend who among other things, said to me, in response to a discussion on how the church can help others at this time, and the need to discern God's will for each of us; " if we would only live a life of thanksgiving, then things would be much better in the church.



Lord renew thy church beginning with me. Lord renew Thy church so that the church may renew the nation(s).



Your Grace and Mercy, brought me through............ Amen

Life in Madrid; Life in the Spirit

I am in the land of "The Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria". And actually saw the statue of Colombus ( this man who "discovered" the new world) in a park in Madrid yesterday. This is a huge country ( 500,00 sq.Km vs our 11,000Km, both approx. figures) with a long history of involvement in world affairs. This is also a rich and proud nation, a land of bullfighters, a land

of fine leather, fine wine, parks and Universities, small non-ostentatious cars - think I spooted one SUV - and very gifted footballers; the Real Madrid Stadium, a huge struture in the middle of the town, which can hold 9300 screaming fans, is just down the road from my hotel. On Ash Wednesday when they play Liverpool, the tickets according to my taxi driver will go for 200 Euros. There is talk about Goya, probably their most famous artist whose head was never found after he was killed. There is talk of fashion and which street has the most expensive stores and homes. Not much poverty is in evidence here -just a few of my Africans brothers on the main street downtown hawking their wares. For the most part the people in Madrid seem courteous and friendly, and they are passionate people - just like our Jamaicans. Even the weather was nice to us, as last week they had snow covering the streets. People seem very contented , peaceful and orderly. They wait on the pedestrian light to change and then cross only at the prescribed point on the road. They don't break the red light and there is little violence here - at least we have not heard much about it. Apart from the cold, I could see myself living here. Perhaps my embattled soul is just hungry and impatient for order and peace.

But I read something, again, in 2 Corinthians about which I have been longing to write all week.

It's something that my soul longs for and an attitude that the world needs. For how much of Goya's paintings can you buy or spend time viewing? And does it really matter how expensive your home is or whether or not you can afford to watch Real Madrid - the world's richest football club - play. How much satisfaction can that provide and for how long! And can all that wonderful living help to solve some of the world's pressing problems? I thank God that ever since I graduated from University He sent me to work in an innner city where I see life in the raw and some of the most wonderful people, despite the harshness. It has kept me grounded.

This week I read a familiar passage of Scripture which has kept me even more grouned in respect of what life is all about.



" We always carry around in us the death of Jesus so that the life of Christ may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus'sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."

What an absolutely wonderful way to look at life. How utterly unselfish! How great must be the feeling if one can live that kind of life - death is at work in you so that life may be at work in someone else! Wow. I suppose that' s how a mother feels if a situation arises and she would willingly give her life for that child. Or a husband for his wife. Could we really expect that from a politician? No doubt that's how our modern day heroes felt. Like Martin Luther King Jnr. Or Nelson Mandela.But here in Holy Scriptures St. Paul is not only describing his own attitude, but rather the self-sacrificial mindset of the One whose name we bear and who we call Lord, Lord.



And this passage came flooding into my mind. The KJV and not the NIV which I normally use



Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.



And then this meditation which I read yesterday.



HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CARRIED AWAY FOR HIM FEBRUARY 21



OSWALD CHAMBERS



" She has wrought a good work on me". Mark 14:6



If human love does not carry a man beyond himself, it is not love . If love is always discreet, always wuse, always sensible and calculating, never carried beyond itself, it is not love at all.

It may be affection, it may be warmth of feeling, but it has not the true nature of love in it.



Have I ever been carried away to do something for God not because it my duty, nor because there was anything in at at all, beyond the fact that I love Him? Have I ever realized that I can bring to God things which are of value to Him, or am I just mooning round the magnitude of His redemption whilst there are any number of things that I might be doing? Not divine colossal things which could be recorded as marelous, but ordinary simple human things which will give evidence to God that I am abandoned to Him? Have I ever produced in the heart of the Lord Jesus what Mary of Bethany produced?
.....personal abandoment to God is of more value than personal holiness.......

St. Paul was abandoned to God and thus could say with conviction that " he always carried around in him the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be realeaved in his mortal body.

I have a friend from Uruguay who is here with us at this road safety conference in Madrid. She has just abndoned herself to saving lives on the roads. Why? Her brother, a famous racing driver was killed in a crash. And so too her Dad and her grandparents. She could have been so overwhelmed by all of the grief and pain, but she chose not to. Nani is not a Christian, in fact she says that in her country, most people lead a secular lifestyle. And when I told her about this Internet Ministry after church this morning, she asked to be included. I think the same goes for many people here in Spain as lots of activities take place her on Sundays. As in many parts of the world now. So who is willing to abandon themseves to God in Christ, so that though death may be at work in us life is at work in them. Is there any other way to live as a Christian? If there was then Christ would have spared Himself the agony of the Cross. And He did not so we cannot.
If non Christians are abandoning themselves to help others, how much more we who call ourselves by that precious name must die with Christ daily so that others may live.
Then the people in Madrid may truly experience the abundant life. Then there may be peace and order in my country.

Finally I got up with this song in my heart this morning. A song you can only sing truthfully if you are completely abandoned to God and prepared to be " poured out wine", and "broken bread", as Christ was, and so carry around His death so that others may have life.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;

Be all else but naught to me, save that Thou art.

Be Thou my best Thought, in the day and the night,

Both waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, be Thou my true Word;

Be Thou ever with me and I with Thee Lord;

Be Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my breastplate my shied for the fight;

Be Thou my whole armour, be Thou my true might;

BeThou my soul’s shelter, be Thou my strong Tower:

Raise Thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,

Be Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:

Be Thou and only Thou only, the first in my heart,

O Sovereign of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, Thou Heaven's bright Sun,

O grant me its joys after victory is won;

Great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

I pray God that someday we may truly learn by the Power of The holy Spirit of God to live life this.

Obedience is better than worship

Four o'clock is just four o'clock whether you are in Madrid, Miami or Jamaica. And whenever the Lord wakes me up at that time and instructs me to write I need to be obedient and not argue. Which is what I did this just now, after a long flight across the Atlantic, yesterday and not much uninterrpted sleep during or after the journey. What's the message about. Obedience.



From Jesus Himself in a meditation I read this morning - God always prepares us if we listen carefully - by Tiegen. And which meditation I was led to read again as I woke up and began my devotions, and as I read I recalled my own deficiencies and was then compelled to write.



SAYING AND DOING FEBRUARY 19



" Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and not do what I say". Luke 6:46



IN WORD It is a penetrating question . The Lord of all creation has put His finger on the inconsistency that invades all our hearts. There is always a discrepancy between what we say and what we really believe. For some of us it is a slight discrepancy; for orthers it is vast. For all of us, " Lord has not always meant what it should. God has a way of testing His Lordship in our lives..........



From Oswald Chambers whose words of wisdom included in the meditation at the side, is what really touched my heart and made me stop and think about this profound message from the Lord.



" The best measure of a spiritual life is not its ectasies but its obedience".



I thought about us Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and our shared focus on the joy of taking Holy Communion; " Here O Lord I see thee face to face....." wrote the hymnwriter inspired by this most precious act of worship. But how many of us are really obedient to Him whom provides such an ectasy. The same applies to the Pentecostals who revel and find great joy in " speaking in tongues"; or the Seventh Day Adventists who find great joy in being obedient and keeping the Sabbath; or the Baptists and whose rich history of involvment in the nation's history acting on the movement of the Holy Spirit and fiery sermons about social activism has greatly endeared them to many across the world; or the "Evangelicals" who are hungry for the souls of all mankind and place an emphasis on crusades and "seeking the lost". All rewarding and part of the mandate of being a Christian, but ultimately the question arises how obedient have we been to Him who call Lord.

My mind ran also on the many who are " God fearing", and " Christian minded", in our country who often acknowledge the Sovereignity of God and even the reality of the crucified Christ, quote the Bible frequently and like the American Presidents often say " God bless you". But who in the choices they make demonstate their unwillingness to be obedient to the One they call Lord.
So who is not guilty. Not me. Not you. So the Lord who is always preparing us if we would but listen carefully led me on more than one occasion to pray the last verse of a most wonderful and instructive hymn:

Hark my soul it is the Lord
Tis the saviour hear his word
Jesus speaks and speak to thee
Say poor sinner loves thou me........

Lord it is my chief complaint
That my love for you is weak and faint
But I love and adore
O for grace to ( trust and be obedient- my words) love thee more.

So whether we are in Madrid doing the Lord's work, or in Miami, or London, or Jamaica or wherever on God's planet, our goal is not the joys and ectasies and satisfaction of serving God or calling His name, but on being obedient. As He is the only One who really knows what He requires from those whom He has created. To be obedient to His Son Jesus. That's the only way the madness in Jamaica, or in Spain - already I have considered the reality of the Basque separatists - or in Iraq, or in North Korea - developing as we speak -or in Mexico or in London where they killed teenagers last night or......... Amen

My Jesus is highly recommended: Send these 'daggering' people to the church that they may know Him

This week in Jamaica the entire country was was once again caught up with the debate about "daggerin songs " and "Rampin Shop", two of the type of songs said to contain sexually explicit lyrics, and which were targeted by the Broadcasting Commission to be banned from the public airwaves. It was amazing to hear media personalities, who are quite influential, admitting to their love for what " the uptown middle class people " call slackness, and defending their right to listen to " adult" material". One young man even went so far as to say that songs like Rampin Shop help to unmask the entire society - I can only assume that he was saying that there is a hidden desire in most of us for this kind of material. Well he can speak for himself but certainly not for the vast majority of people whose views I have canvassed.
Many of us have grown tired of repeatedly warning the society of the profound damage we are doing to ourselves and to the next generation by adopting this naive view of the consequences of allowing " garbage " so much access into our minds. All sorts of things now have free access to the sometimes unprepared and non-discriminating minds of both young and old. And so the old order is changing and we live in an increasingly " anything goes " and " if it feels good do it" society. It's very distressing and increasingly frustrating to live in Jamaica now. Sure, there are some "bright lights" which help to lift our spirits every so often but generally speaking the society is becoming more and more course, rude, impatient, violent and uncaring.
So what do we do? Throw up our hands in the air in despair? Join the debate and argue one's point of view forcibly and verbally chastise those who are, in our opinion, leading the society, not just the young people, astray? Keep quiet and mope and pray that the Lord will soon came His world. Run away and head for " greener pastures", wherever that may be in today's troubled world? Examine ourselves and see where we need to change and help to make a difference.
I believe it is the last option about which the Lord spoke to me this week, as I read the Scripture passages in my church for this week, and reflected deeply on a meditation from one of my favourite commentators.
The story which triggered a lot of thoughts in my mind all of this week, 2 Kings 5, is one of the more popular Old Testament stories and which has so much to teach us. Essentially it's a story about a valiant soldier named Namaan who had leprosy and who also had a Jewish slave girl as a servant. This little wisp of a girl recalled the power and goodness of The Holy One of Israel, who had parted the Red Sea and fed her forebears manna in the desert. No doubt she had learnt well from her parents who had been instructed by the Lord to ...." impress these commandments upon your children", and to " Talk about them when you sit up and when you walk along the road '. And therefore she shared with her master Namaan that this God was, in the words of the gospel artist Shirley Cesar, " highly recommended". Namaan took her advice and armed with much money to " buy his salvation", he went on his way but ended up talking to the wrong person - The King who had no power to cure him. Fortunately the right person, a man of God, a prophet, found about about his plight and instructed the King not to be fearful but rather to send Namaan to him so that " he may know that is a prophet in the land of Israel".
To cut a long story short, Namaan is eventually healed, but not before he had to shed his pride and just believe what Elisha the prophet told him to do. Having been obedient to the Lord he now witnesses for himself the power and love of God and he then " declares that there is no other God but the God of Israel. He tries to " pay for his salvation" but Elisha declines the money, and sends him off in peace, no doubt praising the Lord.
And then greed rears its ugly head as his servant Gehazi chases down Namman, concocts a story and eventually gets the money that Elisha had , in his mind, foolishly refused. Of course Elisha finds out what took place and punished Gehazi and his family 'forever' with the curse of leprosy. But not before Elisha utters some of the most profound words in the Old Testament and which cry from the heart has resonance for us here as church in the 21st century.
" Is this the time to take money, to accept clothes........." 5:26 NIV

A number of question coursed through my mind as I read and reflected on this powerful story.
Do we as Christians have a story to tell in the same way that the Jewish slave girl did?
Is our Jesus " highly recommended"? Have we missed any opportunity to " lift up the name of Jesus", remembering that God's eternal Word reminds us that : " But I, when I am lifted up will draw all men to myself". John 12:32. That is, when we tell people the gospel story of how Jesus died for all mankind on the Cross of Calvary, He will, by the power of the Holy Spirit touch the hearts of those who are humble. It means that we by the force and strength of our of argument , like the King of Israel, have no power to heal sinful 'daggering' mankind. But Jesus can. Our role is to tell the Prime Minister to send those Rampin Shop people, to call them our selves, and point them to Jesus, who alone can convict people of sin and shame. So that they may know that there " is balm in Gilead" indeed.
The further question is, are we as guilty as Gehazi, the servant of the prophet, and have compromised ourselves by seeking to prosper materially from spreading the Word of God. Is this the time in Jamaica , when so many 'hurting people' are in need of help, and in their own, oftentimes twisted ways, searching for peace and for God, for Christians to be exercising their
" right" to make millions of dollars from gospel music? What signals are we sending to the potential if not actual Namaans of this 21st century world. Does the free gift of Salvation, of Jesus' death on an old wooden Cross, for the sins of mankind, does it come with material benefits? If so, can we therefore negotiate with God before. " Lord if you prove yourself and provide me with a house and car, and send money by western union to pay my overdue light bill, I will follow you and start going to church". Or are we so much 'in bed' with the power brokers of this world, and the " glitterati", depending on them for the collection plate, attending their parties, featuring with them in the newspapers, that we are compromised and afraid to challenge them in the way they treat the poor and the disadvantaged. Is this really the time to exercise our rights as Christians, and minister only in areas where we are comfortable, speak only to people who " do not stress us too much", and live in circumstances where neighbours are civil and decent? Is this the time to exercise our right to " run away" from the problems of this nation as there is a concern that things can only get worse. Is this the time to be fearful, or is this the time to believe and trust and pray to God for the healing of this nation and point this hurting nation to Jesus.

Then I " happened" upon this meditation in the Classics Devotional Bible.

THE GOOD OR THE BEST? Genesis 13:9
Oswald Chambers

As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. these things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise the your rights to waive your rights and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your rights and allow God to make the choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice.

Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.
Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God, And God says to us, as he did to Abram, .....walk before me.......(Genesis 17:1).

Perhaps Gehazi thought he had a right to receive gifts from those who had benefited from his masters prophetic gifts. Perhaps we too think that we have a right to make the 'intelligent' choices that we do in respect of living in this troubled land and indeed this world. But is that what God wants for us? Is that part of His plan to use us for His own purpose? Is that how He will heal a daggerin nation? Our choice may lead us to the King who has no power to help.
God's choice will always lead us to Jesus - who alone can save Jamaica.
Amen