The verses set for reading and meditation, contain a lot of material which are worthy our consideration and prayer. They are useful in seeking God’s direction on those areas in our own lives which are stopping us from loving Jesus with all our heart, mind, soul and strength – our first great love!

I’ve highlighted what I consider to be the relevant bits in today’s verses, Revelation 2:1-7 (NIV): “These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen!

Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

These verses tell us that the church in Ephesus was doing quite well compared with many of today’s churches! They were hard working in undertaking good deeds, and did not grow weary from the hardships they suffered. In addition, they tested the teachings of their spiritual leaders and hated the evil practices of those who did not follow God’s commands. In summary, they had all the appearances of being a very faithful group of people – except for one important aspect – they had taken their eyes off Jesus – they had forsaken their first love!

We know that this (to be faithful to our first love) is a life and death issue, because God says; ‘If you do not repent I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.’ All their good works and perseverance will count for nothing – now that’s a challenging statement – don’t you agree?  Yet these Ephesians also showed that they were able to discern what was good and bad spiritual teaching and also knew that they must avoid evil practices. Therefore, they had the ability to repent – to remember the height from which they had fallen – and, to change their mind and worship their Lord in love.

Compare the Ephesian church to what we have today – a general inability to discern what is right and wrong – a tolerance of sexual immorality – basic aspects of Jesus’ teaching ignored – and, a lack of understanding of what is ‘our first love’. Plus, many have no memory of the height they may have fallen from, because they never reached that height in the first place!

Selwyn’s summary is worth repeating here: “It’s easy to move from dependency on Christ to something else, and when we move away from dependence on our Lord the in order to restore our relationship with Him we must repent.

This, I believe, is something so many forget on the journey of faith. Many believe repentance is a one-off act. But repentance is a change of mind about where life is found, and sometimes we seek life in something other than God. The entire life of the believe is to be one of repentance, … ”

[Footnote: Did you notice this sentence in the verses from Revelation? “You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” Who the Nicolaitians were and their practices are not exactly known. We can guess (speculate) from these verses, and other verses, in Revelation; and some of the more reliable writings of the early church fathers, that this group may have participated in idol worship and sexual immorality. It may have been their view that God’s grace covers these evil activities which was a common theme with some early gnostic groups.

It’s generally accepted that they were a group who compromised their beliefs and activities with non-Christian cultures. Whatever they were doing, the important point is that God hated them because of their practices. 

Now, consider the practices of some groups within our own Christian communities who also justify their life-style on the basis that God – is a God of love, full of grace. Perhaps they too should be aware that God also hates evil – there can be no compromise in this area. A view which states that God’s love covers and approves of all evil – is a view, which cannot accommodate repentance.  What do you think?

I’ve paused for a few days to think and pray through the issues that are relevant to this next topic, about ‘repentance’.

As Selwyn says: “Another important step on the journey of faith is to come to a clear understanding of repentance.” I feel that many people may have some understanding of what this word ‘repentance’ means but they don’t have a clear view of how the meaning of this word – this word in action - is accepted by our heart. In other words, many have a ‘head’ knowledge of repentance but the knowledge has never taken the long and difficult path down to the ‘heart’. The engine-room which fuels our motives.

Martin Luther’s hit the nail on the head when he wrote: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent’ He willed that the entire life of the believer be one of (continuous) repentance.”

Selwyn goes onto say that the word ‘repentance‘ takes its meaning from the Greek word ‘metanoia’  – “which signifies a change of mind. When we become a Christian; we repent (that is, we) change our minds about running our life on our own terms, deciding instead to surrender it to Jesus Christ. That is the initial act of repentance.”

However, the reality of life and the activities of Satan means it is essential that we constantly review our ‘state of mind and heart’ – do we still love Jesus with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our strength? It’s a feature of our human nature that over time we can take our eyes off Jesus and allow the distractions of this world to take 100% of our attention. How do we prevent this from happening?

What’s your approach to repentance?

Selwyn continues his discussion on the unsettling issue of mystery – those aspects of God and our lives which we cannot understand. It’s quite clear from the Bible that some of the reasons and explanation of ‘who, why, what, and when’ that relate to our life’s journey – will not (in a general sense) be revealed to us – this side of the grave.

There can be a range of responses; for the non-Christian, it’s often a case of ‘it’s all rubbish anyhow, there are no answers – what you see, is what you get’! Some, who are searching for some type of god; often go down a path of trying to find the right mystic, the right teacher, the right (coded) books to reveal secret knowledge that can only be shared with a chosen few. And, still others, place the blame for their ignorance, upon their own heads. They think that they are either not good enough – too sinful - or, have not done a sufficient number of good tasks to earn the credit required to qualify them to be told the answers to these mysteries of life. 

The explanation is far too simple for many to accept – God does not want us to know all the answers at this point in time – it’s His sovereign right to determine what we may know and what we should not know. He is our creator , we are His creation. However, the vast majority of people on this planet will not accept that there can be a limit placed upon our abilities.

The only people who can accept this reality are those who belong to Him – those who have a relationship with Him – the stronger our trust is, in His love, the easier it is to cope with ‘mystery’.

Selwyn makes this very good observation about Job: “Job’s longing for answers to his questions ceased when he discovered God drawing near to him. And once he had entered into a personal relationship with God he found that knowing God closely and powerfully meant that his mind was at peace.”

He goes onto say, the message for us, is: “What is more, we too, by God’s grace, can walk in the dark knowing that God is good. Mystery and confusion are part of our spiritual journey and their purpose is to increase our trust in God.”

All of us will go through periods when bad things will crowd in on us and bring us to our knees. Satan will be loudly telling us, ‘see, God does not love you – for, if He did – He would not let these terrible things happen to you’.

Our response, can be an honest cry to God for His comfort and help – it’s a response born out of our love for God based on a true relationship built stronger by our walking in the light of His Word. It’s a faithful hope in His love which will never forsake us, or leave us to cope with the burden by ourselves. It’s a faith which reflects both the sacrifice of the cross and the victory of His resurrection . It’s an answer to Satan’s jeers, which says: ‘Jesus loves me – He has purchased my life with His blood – He will turn my tears into joy!’

What is your view?

One of the great gifts of God is His Word.

Scripture is full of stories about people who express their feelings honestly to God. After all, God knows how we feel – for example, it’s pointless to pretend that we are full of joy when we are going through a really tough time, or dismissing our  hurt feelings as some form of ‘character building’.  Pretending our feelings are different to what they really are, or burying them (pushing them out of our mind) are just devices a proud heart uses to escape the need to approach God.

I like this bit, by Selwyn: “Reading through the psalms we see the psalmists constantly being overwhelmed by what they cannot control or change. Yet their cry of desperation opened them to the development of a faith and a trust that holds them fast in the midst of everything. And though they do not have answers, they have God.” This last sentence is the heart of the matter – our trust in His love is an expression of our love for Him. What do you think?

So, is there anything we can do which can help to make our rocky path, smoother? Yes, immerse yourself in God’s Word!

As Selwyn says in his conclusion: ” … if we allow God’s Word to live and take root within us, when our hurts and frustrations scream within, God’s Word will burn in us, and we, too, will hear His message above the tumult.”

Daily devotionals, such as ‘Every Day with Jesus’, are helpful resources but they must never replace our consistent and habitual reading of the Bible.  It’s through Scripture that the Holy Spirit makes known God’s great love for us. Do you agree?

Well, looks like I should have read a few studies ahead regarding my comments yesterday which are, to a certain extent,  reflected in what Selwyn talks about today – well, it must be an important issue   .

In placing our trust in God there is an element of surrendering our trust in our own abilities to find a way through a time of  unexplainable torment. As Selwyn says in today’s study, “Job had come to that place of deep reliance on God. That’s the place we, too, can come to. In the midst of mystery and confusion we can say, ‘I see no sense in this, but I know that God, the Architect of this universe, has my life and times in His hands.’” It takes a lot of courage to admit to ourselves – ‘I don’t have the ability to see any sense in this – there is nothing that I can do, to remedy this situation.’ It’s not a failure on our part to come to the point where we admit that we can’t understand the good and perfect, mind of God. In developing our relationship with Jesus we should pray for a better understanding of our strengths and weaknesses; so, at the appropriate times, we can honestly approach God’s throne and allow Him to guide us in our moments of blindness.

Today’s prayer, provides a good summary: “Gracious and loving Father, help me to focus on the things that You want me to be concerned about and leave all other matters to You. Please bring me to that place of calm, confident trust that Job rested in. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

I think that Selwyn has made a number of excellent points. For example: “Living comfortably with confusion and mystery is not easy. It erodes our sense of competence. … We like to have answers for everything mysterious because walking in the dark is disturbing. So any answer is better than none. Many people will accept glib (or false) explanations because it provides them with a way out of confusion; it provides something to hold on to. … The desperate desire to be in control makes us cling to the illusion that if we search hard enough we will find answers. … The truth is that God has not chosen to answer every question we ask, but He has promised, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’ (Hebrews 13:5)”

Over the past few days I’ve been doing some research on some of the places, my wife and I visited during our recent holiday. Most of my searching was done using Google and then reading the relevant results. One aspect that struck me was the many variations of certain stories associated with various historical sites – it was very hard to ascertain which story was the most authentic. Often the information was not even close, one person had an event occurring in the 1920s and another author had the same event happening in the 1950s. A related aspect was that the same information (that is, exactly the same words) was often repeated by a number of authors but they did not reference their (common) source.

It appears to me that there are many people who present information on the web which has not been well researched – perhaps, they have become lazy; and, in regard to information, close enough is good enough. I think this attitude is also reflected in our media and it is further aggravated by the blatant propaganda broadcast by various governments and lobby groups.

In this environment, I think it’s now easier to accept a range of ideas (often conflicting) from published sources (including the web) as explanations for the many types of ‘mysteries’ we encounter in our spiritual walk. Truth has been eroded to, whatever sounds good at the time – it appears to me that we are in too much of a hurry for critical and robust analysis, supported by consistent prayer.

Our inability to clearly articulate, research and understand the nature of our questions regarding mystery is one side of the issue; the other aspect is ‘pride’. ‘Pride’ or as some say in certain cultures, ‘saving face’ – is the main reason why we find it hard to say – “I don’t know!” Likewise, it’s our pride which can’t accept a ‘silent’ God. Do you agree?

Job asked God important questions about major, catastrophic events in his life – as you may know, Job did not get the sort of answers he was seeking – yet the dialogue between God and Job does provide an answer which can support us through the dark places found within any mystery. Jesus loves us - trust Him – He is working hard so that we can exercise our young muscles of faith.  He has our eternal future in mind and in His hand – with Him, you can trust your very life!

Today, Selwyn addresses the issue of mystery. He says: “Confusion and mystery are the issues that create such great problems for the people of God.”

It’s a question everyone has to face: “Why can’t God make His purposes clear to us and relieve us of a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety?”

This is a very difficult area, the more we get to know God and develop a living relationship with Jesus; the more (I think) we expect to receive explanations from God about the various issues which arise in our life. It’s this expectation that grows which may cause us some confusion; especially when, out of the blue, bad things happen to us. It’s like we are saying to a good friend – ‘I know you have my interests at heart and I know that you love me; so, why can’t you tell me, why this is happening?’ In a close human relationship we would expect an answer!

Like Selwyn, I believe it is to do with the development of faith and trust. It’s a trust, which is built up with many small steps – it’s a maturing of our relationship with God such that we will not question His love for us. It is, in a sense, demonstrating the Devil’s defeat – by not blaming God for any misfortune that comes our way (the Devil and our own evil nature are the origins of the world’s problems), we show that we trust God to turn every negative event into something good. We need to develop this level of trust to enable us to live victorious lives and effectively proclaim the good news!

What are your views on this issue regarding mystery?