We all love a good quote, so let me start by quoting the Son of God. “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25 NIV) or even better yet, from the NLT- “Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart.”

You talk to any Christian and for most part, they will agree that God has created us for relationship and community, yet statistics reveal that more than 50% of Christians do not go to church. Many brothers and sisters love Jesus with all their heart, yet cannot bear to be around other Christians, let alone go through the agony of sitting through yet another church service.

Christians are hurt, wounded, bleeding, tired of the politics and drama, and fed up with the backstabbing, the gossiping, and the insipid messages. Yet, deep in the heart of everyone who has tasted the living water, there is a cry for true community, a place to belong, a family that is welcoming, accepting and safe to be around. The children of God are desperate for authentic, covenant relationship – the kind that says “I can see you’re a mess, and I am sure you can see that I am pretty messy too, but let’s stick together as we work with the Lord, as we give each other room to be transformed into His image”.

I have been around church long enough to have had my fair share of church barbeques, church picnics, church camps, church outings and the rest. Yet, with all our efforts to connect people to one another, to create some form of unity, we have failed miserably and the result is plain to see. We are a house divided, a family splintered by feuding and falling apart.
So what is the remedy? I believe that we had it all wrong, a bit back to front. We have worked very hard to connect people to one another, to build some sort of spiritual community and we have hoped that by doing so, we would become united, that we would inspire the flock to grasp their leader’s vision and run with it. We’ve encouraged people to bite their tongues, turn the other cheek, consider what Jesus would do…and yet we have been sliding down a slippery slope, into what now seems to be a free-fall into the abyss.

I believe with all my heart that the answer to every question, the medicine for every illness, the remedy for whatever ails us, is JESUS. Only Jesus, always Jesus. Jesus is the key to putting back together a family splintered by feuding; Jesus is the One Who will unite a house divided against itself.

Right here, in the book of Colossians, chapter 1 verses 15 – 18 is the prescription:
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. (NIV)

Jesus is the answer for a fragmented body, for a feuding family, for a broken marriage, for every part of our lives that is falling apart at the seams. Once a person is altogether connected to the Head, uniting with others, who are equally connected to the head, becomes easy. It’s inevitable that when we are connected to the Head we want to be connected to the body and whatever is born out of Him holds together because it must. In Jesus there is no fragmentation, no brokenness, no darkness and no lack. As ministers of the Word, as priest, prophets and kings of our homes, our workplaces, our schools, our circles of friends, let us labour to connect people to the Head, Jesus Christ, rather than work so hard to connect them to one another. That part will take care of itself, for as we have been told “birds of a feather flock together”.

For some time now I have been meditating upon the fruit of the spirit – joy in particular.  I have read the Word, done online searches and found that there are that many ideas and opinions on the topic.  The contention seems to be whether joy and happiness are equal.  There is a school of thought that says “absolutely not”, but I have also found authors who argue that any Christian contending that  joy is not the same as happiness; that you can be full of joy, yet be utterly miserable, is just offering an excuse to justify their own miserable, depressed dispositions and sour personalities.  The topic fascinates me as I am in a hard season, with moments of sheer happiness as the world defines it, few and far between.  I miss my children, my home, my friends and at times I feel desperately lonely, like many of you also, I’m sure. Now that I have made a public confession that right now I am not a happy camper, let me make a little detour and take you back to a conversation in my dining room around Christmas…

 My favorite almost-8-year old girlfriend came with her parents to share our table.  She had some food left on her plate and we all know the rule…dessert was in peril.  She offered the left-overs to mum, who declined.  Dad?  No takers there either.  She even eyed me hopefully for a brief moment… Then the two of us had a little girlfriend-to-girlfriend chat.  The dialogue went something like this:

 Me:    Do you know why you still have that food on your plate?

Miss:  No. (Her little eyebrows scrunched up in a quizzical frown)

Me:    You did a very bad marketing job (laughing on the inside)

Miss:  What’s “marketing”?

 I realized the conversation had dried up – everyone was listening now.

 Me:  Marketing is when you convince someone what you have to offer is something they really want.  See, what you offered us were left-overs.  If you had told us that what’s on your plate was utterly delicious and very special and you loved  us so much that you just had to share it with us, someone would have been  more than happy to help you out.  That’s good marketing.

 Now I do hear some say “Shame on you for teaching the kid to lie” (and you are right – shame on me, feet of clay exposed) but in my own defense I did sample the cooking wine and I wasn’t really thinking about the moral implications and we did have a really good time for the rest of the evening marketing everything from after-dinner coffee to the cleaning duties.  Back to where I started at the beginning – joy.

The online Webster’s define joy as “feeling of great happiness; the source or cause of great happiness:  someone (a person) or something that gives joy to someone and success in doing, finding or getting something”.

 Happiness is defined as: “a state of being happy; an experience that makes you happy; a state of well-being and contentment and a pleasure or satisfying experience”.

 Let me put it like this…happiness is eating that piece of chocolate cake, knowing that you will have to deal with the regret later and joy is like sitting down to a healthy, yet somewhat bland meal, knowing that you are investing in your future well-being.  I find very little happiness on the treadmill at 5 o’clock in the morning but great joy in knowing I am healthier and fitter in my 40’s than I have been in my 30’s.

 We have been conned with (and bought into) a great marketing job and I’m not even talking about the advertising world selling us happiness in yet another new and improved package.  We have been sold a gospel that promises us happiness on the temporal level, we have been marketed a disciple’s life without sacrifice, struggle and pain.  So when it comes – those hard, hard seasons – we feel a sense of entitlement and we’re angry at the unfairness of it all.  We bought a Bible without scriptures like James 1: 2 and 3  ^“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”  We read these and mutter “whatever” under our breath.  We think we are entitled to eat, drink and be merry, that Jesus died to make us happy.

 In the book of John, chapter 15, verses 9 – 11 Jesus speaks these words:  ⁹ “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

 The word joy in this scripture is the Greek word chara and mean: joy, gladness – received from you, the cause or occasion of joy AND the person who is one’s joy.

 Let me give you verse 11 again, this time taking the liberty to add the Greek meaning.   

 ^“I have told you this so that My joy (the cause or occasion, the Person who is My joy) may be in you and that your joy (the gladness received from the Person who is our joy) may be complete.

It is when His joy, the Person of Holy Spirit, is in us that we can experience complete joy, knowing that He enables our obedience, our daily acts of obedience is what helps us to remain in His love and when we remain in Jesus’ love we also dwell in the Father’s love.  That’s my happy place…Daddy’s arms.

Paul asks of the Thessalonians this question:  For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? (1 Thes 2:19)  Then he goes ahead and answers the question by saying “Is it not you?  Indeed, you are our glory and joy. (V 20)

Jesus, “for the joy set before Him, endured the cross”.  The joy set before Him – us.  Me and you and every other human ever to draw breath.  Should our joy not be in Him, the Person that gives occasion for joy and the hope of an eternity with Him and in pouring out our lives for the joy of others, so that we, like Paul, can look at people and say “Is it not you?  Indeed, you are our joy”.  Even when times are hard and we don’t feel particularly happy, we have Joy living in us, we have the hope of an eternity living in the presence of Joy, breathing, living, being  joy.  Surely, that is something to sing about!

I am coming out of a very hard, difficult and emotionally exhausting season, as I suspect many you do too.  Many days I felt like giving up on my call, giving in to self pity, agreeing with the voice of the enemy that spoke through human voices, spoke through my inner voice.  Voices that called for me to come back into bondage, voices that told me I didn’t measure up, voices that reminded me of my past failures and “enlightened” me to my shortcomings.  But then from deep inside of me the Spirit called me to rise up, to come up higher, to take courage…

This morning I read something I wrote a while ago and I found myself thinking…this is good, Nicky, pay attention.  Listen to this lady, she’s on to something.  If you have read this before, read it again.  If you have not, enjoy.  I pray that you too will hear the Voice of Truth and that He will silence the Liar for you too.  By the way, in case you were wondering, the lovely young man featured in the story is now husband to lovely Gemma and yes, he added a few more.

TATTOOS, RED LIPS AND DANGLY EARRINGS     

Written 31 August 2012

My youngest son has put the cat amongst the pigeons, getting himself tattooed.  Word got out at our cell meeting and the reactions were interesting, to say the least. 

It got me thinking and I started to question the Lord about all this.  I can’t say I blame the boy.  You see, I like to wear colorful outfits from faraway lands, I paint my toes green and blue, sometimes they even glitter, I pierced my nose once and the stud makes an appearance now and again, I like my lippy and my jewelry make a statement – I am colorful!  I sway to the music when I worship, I clap, I laugh, I cry and sometimes I even shout “Amen!” when I like what a preacher says.  I walk barefoot, I sit on the carpet, I even have a glass of champagne when the occasion calls for serious celebration.  Now I want to tell my son no piercings and no tattoos.  I think not.

Having said all that, I have to tell you I fear God with an all-consuming holy fear…but I love Him more.  So I talk to Him about these things, just to make sure I am not off-side with Him. I want to share some thoughts with you. 

As I was meditating on these things I saw a mental picture of rows and rows of cages. Small, damp, cold, bare cages.  Jesus was walking from one to the other, unlocking them and swinging the gates wide open.  Some people saw the gates swing open and just about ran Jesus over, desperate to get out of there.  Some waited a while, stood at the entrance, looked out, saw others running, jumping and dancing outside.  They longed to be there too, so they took hesitant steps towards their freedom.  The further they went from those cages, the raster they ran.  The faster they ran, the freer they became.  Other still lingered in their cages.  You see, it’s all they know.  Those cages are safe.  No temptation there.  No distractions there.  It’s familiar.  Their grandparents lived in cages, just like those.  So did their parents…never did them any harm is… is what they say to themselves.  They know exactly what is expected inside those cages.  Tradition has taught them well.  They know when the next meal is going to come and they have very little responsibility inside.  No-one ever ventures in there and if they do, they are very quickly enlightened to the rules and laws inside the cage, making it a safe place for all.  No unexpected, “unpleasant” surprises for anyone.  Often these ones will peer out of the cage, watch the ones frolicking outside and judge them harshly, criticizing the way they dress, speak, worship, serve.  It’s hard to think outside the box when it is all you know.

What a sad existence, especially in the light of what the Word has to say about all this.  Galatians 5:1 reads “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law”.NLT  Yet another translation puts it like this: “The Messiah has set us free so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom. So keep on standing firm in it, and stop putting yourselves under the yoke of slavery again.” ISV

I love the part I have highlighted for you – stop putting yourselves under the yoke of sin and of the law.  The law kills but Jesus sets us free so that we can be totally free, without bondage of any kind.  Jesus does not condemn us, He expects nothing but our devotion and our love.  He will receive it through broken vessels; imperfect songs and mumbled prayers from a pure and adoring heart pleases Him more than the well-polished performance He has to endure too often.  He would rather have a tattooed 18-year old with a heart breaking for the homeless, the poor and the broken, than a well-polished little Pharisee, when He is out, about town where the need is.

The verse I quoted is not just one verse, taken out of context, excusing my ungodly habits.  Look at John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed, and Romans 8:2 “ because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” And Romans 6:16, 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

You see, friends, it’s not the length of your skirt, the size of your earrings, the color of you nail polish, or the lack of it, that matters.  It’s whether you take Jesus at His word, trusting Him to preserve you as you make your way through life, dancing, singing, sitting on the carpet, painting your lips.  I do not know what your cage is like or why you fear to leave it, but I know this, you do not have to make it your home. 

Whether you are confined by religious tradition, the letter of the law, secret sin, addiction, bitterness, pain, anxiety, the spirit of fear, it’s all the same – you are a captive, living in a cage with a wide-open door.  You do not have to fear falling into sin, Jesus will preserve you and present you to the Father, without blemish or spot – He promised to do that for us.  As you surrender to the law of Love, give yourself unconditionally to the Messiah, He will keep your feet on the paths of righteousness.  Trust Him!  If you are caught in a web of addiction, of sin, of bitterness, unforgiveness or even religiosity, I want to tell you that you do not have to make that horrible place your home.  If you haven’t already, I dare you to call on Jesus and allow Him to unlock your cage, and when He does, run friend, run.

If you are on the outside, having to listen to the voices coming from the cages, condemning you, stealing your joy and causing you to feel judged, weighed and found too light, I want to encourage you to set your eyes on the Lord.  You will find Him right there, where you are, encouraging you to enjoy your freedom.  He will guide you, He will encourage you, He will teach you and He will use you.  Join your voice to mine, call to the caged ones, draw them out, and entice them to join us on the outside.  Pray for freedom and may the Lord have mercy on us all.  Stay free, keep moving further and further away from the cage and keep your ear on the ground, it is the season of God’s favor.  Listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit as He guides you and have fun loving Him.  It’s a joy and the joy of the Lord IS our strength.