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Bulletin 115 Date : 26th Oct 2007
Think Long Term - 2

In the last bulletin I spoke about God’s long-term strategies for humankind and how He put these into effect through people like Abraham, Moses and ultimately through Jesus. The scary part of all of this is that God is still working out His purposes and it’s you and I who feature in His plans. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jesus urges us to ‘be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.’ And yet we see perfection as something reserved for the saints, like Aidan, pictured here.

All too often we look at our own Christian lives and feel inadequate with the progress we are making. And yet, if we are to grow into the likeness of Christ, we need to set ourselves long-term goals. St. Paul put it like this, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Philippians 3:12)” For Paul, it was a continual struggle to reach the goal of perfection and he was only too well aware of his shortcomings. Just look at Romans 7:21-25 to see what he went through.

As a preacher I sometimes look back over past sermons. It can be both disturbing and encouraging when I see the way I used to preach years ago and how I have developed. John Wesley used to destroy his past sermons every 7 years. I have played tennis once a week for the past year with a group of around 20 other folks. One of them said to me last time we played that my serve had got much stronger since I started. Isn’t it good when someone congratulates you on your spiritual growth!

The Celtic saints encouraged us to adopt a ‘soul friend’. This is someone who we can talk to about our Christian walk. It is someone we can trust and who will be both affirming and honest. It’s someone who we can be completely open with and who will listen to us in a non-judgmental way but always seeking to help us on the path to maturity.

It’s important to notice that all who came to Jesus in need were received in this manner. The woman who was caught in the act of adultery was relieved of the judgmental attitude of the Pharisees but urged, lovingly to sin no more (John 8). In Mark 5 we read about Jairus, the leader of the synagogue, who begged Jesus to heal his 12 year old daughter. Jesus had every reason to brush him aside because of the opposition he had received from his colleagues. But, no, Jesus never held peoples’ sin against them but always sought to lead them further into the loving heart of God.

Ultimately, it is the assurance that Jesus will deal with us in the same way that releases us from past failures and urges us, like Paul, to strive for perfection. I love the conversation between Jesus and the heart-broken Peter at the lakeside after the resurrection and after Peter had denied his Lord three times (John 21:15-19). But it’s a long-term goal. When I was a young Christian I heard people telling me that once you become a Christian, you’re saved and that’s all there is to it. I have discovered over the years that salvation is an ongoing process which will only be fully realized when we meet with Jesus in the kingdom. Until that time, we need to set our long-term strategy in place to become more Christ-like. Then we may be able to say, along with St. Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.”