35

Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through faith alone, where does this faith come from?
All the gifts we receive from Christ we receive through the Holy Spirit, including faith itself. (Titus 3:4-6) (from here)

Thank you for giving me faith, Lord. I saw that Christianity was desperately important and I saw that if it was true, I must sign on. It was you who made me so sure of its truth, even before I'd heard the historical evidence. I wasn't even there intellectually - had someone asked me, I may well have said that it could be true spiritually but not literally. Yet that wasn't what I believed - without understanding it, in my heart I knew it to be actually, really true.

My faith brought me life, now and always. Thank you.

34

Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through Christ alone, must we still do good works and obey God's Word?
Yes, because Christ, having redeemed us by his blood, also renews us by his Spirit; so that our lives may show love and gratitude to God; so that we may be assured of our faith by the fruits; and so that by our godly behavior others may be won to Christ. (1 Peter 2:9-12) (from here)

Lord Jesus, you saved us that we might make something of our lives. You could not be more loving or more good and generous. You could not have done more for us. What you did was unthinkably, unimaginably, breathtakingly, heartbreakingly kind. A deed so beautiful it illuminated all history.

We submit to you because in an instant you won our hearts. And it is so good living as you tell us to live. There could not be a better Master or Dad.

You change us. You are more than the best human ruler - you are God Almighty, and having won us, you change us. We are obedient when it hurts; we do things we never would have done before. For now we know you. And if we sometimes doubt our faith, we have these changes to assure us that it is real.

May we never grow weary in doing good. May we fight for it, fight with your Spirit. May there be nothing in our lives that says you are not good or you are not strong. May it be our greatest privilege and joy to follow you. May our changed character be a source of great assurance. May people be saved as they look on our good, hope-filled lives.

33

Should those who have faith in Christ seek their salvation through their own works, or anywhere else?
No, they should not, as everything necessary to salvation is found in Christ.To seek salvation through good works is a denial that Christ is the only Redeemer and Savior. (Galatians 2:16) (from here)

Thank you, Lord - I might doubt your desire and power to work in the world and be endlessly worried that I'm not serving as I should, but on this most basic of beliefs I do okay. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for assuring me that I am saved and safe only because of Him. Thank you, Lord, that it is so and that I know it to be so. That you did it all, leaving nothing, nothing for me. That on the cross it was done.

Thank you that in those times when I feel like I'm not good enough to approach you, that that is exactly what you died for - for people not good enough to approach you. That in those moments I don't need to - I should not - first improve myself and then draw close. That I can and must simply kneel at your feet and receive forgiveness. Thank you, Lord, that these times don't come as a surprise to you, but they have been provided for - that there is no sin that falls outside of what you brought to pass, hanging there.

There is nothing else; there is no other hope; we do not even have hope in ourselves. Praise you that it is all in you. All!

32

What do justification and santification mean?

Justification means our declared righteousness before God, made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection for us. Sanctification means our gradual, growing righteousness, made possible by the Spirit’s work in us. (1 Peter 1:1-2) (from here)

We are perfect in you. Knowing this, we strive to live out who we are, having our very selves changed by you. It's radical and profound and I am well-accustomed to it. Yet my life betrays how feeble is my actual faith - the anxiety, worry, stress, pressure, and striving I live by show I doubt my perfection and the security I have in you. I strive for my sanctification with more than a glad, grateful confidence and a serious purpose. Forgive me, Lord. Thank you for the people who have helped me to - at last - see this about myself. Give me the assurance I lack - of your goodness, power, and trustworthiness and my security in you. Help me ever strive, but as your beloved child. Have mercy on me.

31

What do we believe by true faith?
Everything taught to us in the gospel. The Apostles’ Creed expresses what we believe in these words: We believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. (Jude 1:3) (from here)

Thank you, Lord, for the things we know to be true. Thank you for speaking to us and letting us know your thoughts and the sort of God you are - a little similar, but so very different to human-made gods. Thank you for the things you have done in the world before the eyes of all, and for the things you promise to do.

Lord, sometimes I grow weary of the Apostle's Creed and its truths seem faded. Forgive me. Help me thrill at the profundity and surity of these words and at the privilege of being part of this great family stretching out across countries and years, together affirming the very same things.

Praise you for who you are, Father, Son and Spirit! Praise you for what you have done on this earth - on that hill! Praise you for the coming consummation of all! Now I know what it is to live. I am to live under you. It has been your pleasure to save me and have me repeat these words with all my heart and mind. And I thank you for it.

30

What is faith in Jesus Christ?
Faith in Jesus Christ is acknowledging the truth of everything that God has revealed in his Word, trusting in him, and also receiving and resting on him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel. (Galatians 2:20) (from here)

Thank you for giving me faith, Lord. So many times I see intelligent people completely misunderstanding the cross, returning to that old idea of good behaviour. Sometimes they get it - and nothing changes, it has zero effect on their lives. Thank you for lifting the veil from my eyes and heart so I recognised the truth of what was said and was willing to bank my life on it. You gave me the gift and you opened my hands to receive it. My life would be other had you not stepped in - my death too.

Thank you for your mercy. Thank you that the security of my faith is my trust in him, no matter how fervant or faltering that trust might be. Yet please help it grow strong as I know him more. Give me this too. The gift, the open hands, the eager embrace.

29

How can we be saved?
Only by faith in Jesus Christ and in his substitutionary atoning death on the cross; so even though we are guilty of having disobeyed God and are still inclined to all evil, nevertheless, God, without any merit of our own but only by pure grace, imputes to us the perfect righteousness of Christ when we repent and believe in him. (Ephesians 2:8-9) (from here)

I never got to this point. I think I simply saw that you were Lord and began to follow you, learning more of you and your ways as I went along. I never asked this question - I was absolutely looking for help, but help in earthly things, never help in the face of death.

But I shudder at the thought of not being saved - that that's what I once was, that it's what my friends are. I see the awful danger of it. I see the futility of trying to right things ourselves and I see that our only hope is to humble ourselves and throw ourselves on your mercy. That it is every bit a saving or a rescue as when someone's drowing in the shallows or on an organ waiting list or in the darkness of a paedophile's brothel.

How then can we be saved? By jumping into your arms. By believing that you will catch us. By believing that you can catch us.

You are better than a lifeguard, better than an organ donor, than a policeman, than an ordinary citizen picking through rubble in the hope of hearing someone's voice or a boyfriend lying in front of his girl so his body might take the bullets meant for her. These beautiful deeds are but pale shadows of you. You saved us from horror when there was no injustice in it. You secured heaven for us for all eternity and in the face of all threat. And you did it at such cost.

Thank you that when we ask about salvation, there is something to be said.

28

What happens after death to those not united to Christ by faith?
At the day of judgment they will receive the fearful but just sentence of condemnation pronounced against them. They will be cast out from the favorable presence of God, into hell, to be justly and grievously punished, forever. (John 3:16-18 & 36) (from here)

Lord Jesus, I want to tell you that I hate hell. I want to make you understand how deeply it troubles me. But you don't like it any more than I do.

I want to somehow convince you that it's unnecessary or unjust or could be avoided, that ridding us of it would be better for your image or make you a better God. I speak as if you were untroubled by its existence; as if you had not shown yourself to be perfectly good and loving; as if you were so cruel or uncaring as to allow it when other, better options were at hand. You are not that god.

I should rather believe you. That hell is real and eternal and terrible. That it is just - because it is what people want, and because it is what we deserve. That in its justice it is loving and dignifying - because it shows that what we do with our lives matters, and that the evil we do to others and they to us does not go unnoticed.

I cannot say why evil stepped into this world, why an angel became the proud, murderous, lying, crafty Accuser. It is better that I cannot say, for I would not wish there to be a reason. Yet still I cannot understand why you would have it so. But I see that it is bad and I see that there needs to be justice and I - mostly - believe you when you say that hell is just.

Father, as always, in the things I do not - and cannot - understand, and in the times when I rock on the edge of accusing you (following my former master), I come back to the cross. There I see that you suffered hell so that we might not have to. There I see that in your justice you were all love. There I see every person invited and beseeched to throw themselves upon your mercy.

Lord, teach me how to talk about this with my friends. Stir my heart to pray for them. Give me at once a dreadful urgency and a sure trust and joy in you. Make me more like your beloved Son.

27

Are all people, just as they were lost through Adam, saved through Christ?
No, only those who are elected by God and united to Christ by faith. Nevertheless God in his mercy demonstrates common grace even to those who are not elect, by restraining the effects of sin and enabling works of culture for human well-being. (Romans 5:17) (from here)

This is the part I hate of my faith, though I see it is just and fair. Yet I do not understand why, being merciful, you would not extend that mercy to all instead of only some. That is how I would do it. But, Lord, I am nothing. I know nothing. My thinking and feeling is eaten up by sin. Who am I to judge or seek your place? I am not and I do not. Knowing what you did for me and countless others - and greater and better still, for your own glory - I cannot help but declare your goodness and put my trust in you.

Forgive me, Lord, when my doubting and accusing verge on blasphemy. Have me know my place. Have me bow before you and trust you, in part from fear, but much more with happy rejoicing.

And while I don't know if in the end you will save any or all of my friends and family who are now far from you, yet I thank you for them. Thank you for their loyalty and their care, for the many ways they are a blessing to me. Thank you that you stop us from being what we might, from cruelty and violence, betrayal and anarchy, for we are each capable of all that. Thank you for the dignity and intelligence and creativity and good we keep. Help me ever appreciate and respect my friends and society, even as I seek their salvation. Help them see that this is so and wonder at it despite themselves. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy.

26

What else does Christ's death redeem?
Christ’s death is the beginning of the redemption and renewal of every part of fallen creation, as he powerfully directs all things for his own glory and creation’s good. (Colossians 1:19-20) (from here)

One day, living here in Chile, I will experience an earthquake - it's just about given. My building sways with the passing traffic and gentle tremors don't bother me, but I dread the big ones and I dread that earthquake even more. In Australia, my parents' house backs onto bush and, living there, bushfires are always a possible threat. But I am rich - the fire service puts out the fires on my parents' hill, and here my building is sturdy and withstood the last earthquake. I don't know what it is to live in places where broken nature might kill you.

It's even more than this - we live with smog and weariness and disease and ground that produces little. Even without your revelation, we might think the physical world cursed. Our world and our bodies are no longer our friend, though they keep much of their magnificent beauty. It's the stuff of a dark fairytale, but it is our reality. Somehow this was the fitting punishment for the darkness that we welcomed into our hearts. Ruined, deeply evil humanity could no longer live in a glad, whole land. And the land cries and we join it.

And it rejoices at the name of Jesus and it longs for the consummation of all he wrought on the cross.

Thank you God that one day all will be well, that life will be much like the life we know, but utterly changed. We will step into a strangely familiar yet wholly foreign place, in bodies we know and do not know, and feel more at home there than we ever imagined. Thank you that on the cross you fixed everything. Thank you for your love wrought in justice. Thank you and thank you. A million times thank you.

25

Does Christ's death mean all our sins can be forgiven?
Yes, because Christ’s death on the cross fully paid the penalty for our sin, God graciously imputes Christ’s righteousness to us as if it were our own and will remember our sins no more. 
(2 Corinthians 5:21) (from here)

Maybe I'm going to do something terrible, or in anger, say something destructively cruel. Maybe my heart will soften and I will be horrified at my ordinary wrongs. Whatever it is, you received its exact punishment on the cross. That time when I thought that my negligence might have played a part in someone's death, and saw that with my confession, I might lose all, I remembered the murderer Moses, that there was forgiveness even for that and a place for him. Help me to appreciate how this is amazing. Help me praise you for your justice and for the completeness of your generous love. In my security, let me marvel and exclaim that I am secure.

Thank you that you came to earth to be punished for every last piece of evil, becoming all the wicked things though you were pure. And now you are raised up and I bow before you, smiling with relief and joy, my Lord and my King.

24

Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die?
Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God. By his substitutionary atoning death, he alone redeems us from hell and gains for us forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and everlasting life. (Colossians 1:21-22) (from here)

I am here, as I now am, with all the hopes and promises I hold dear, with you at my side, with sorrow and comfort in sin - all because of you. I don't know how bad the things are that I have done and thought and felt and willed, but I know they're bad. You saved me from hell. You took the punishment that was coming to me and now there is none leftover for me. I don't have to spend a day or a minute there, for I died and was raised with you.

Without you, I would be going to hell for all eternity, though it costs me to say. Now I am safe and at home. Without you, that punishment would be deserved, though I struggle to see it. Now I am safe in your nail-pierced hands.

I tried to take your place. I walked up to you, the Maker and Lord of all, and spat in your face. Or I walked up to you and, failing to even acknowledge you, gazed over your shoulder. Then I started running things my way, as if it were my right. I know I only see the smallest part of how ugly and wrong that was. But you saw the abyss waiting for me and saw that I could not - nor wished to - step aside. So, taking on the disguise of a punk or an indifferent, you jumped in to suffer an eternity of pain - the punishment of many, including me. And now there is none leftover for me. Because of you, I am safe and free.

23

Why must the Redeemer be truly God?
That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective; and also that he would be able to bear the righteous anger of God against sin and yet overcome death. (Acts 2:24) (from here)

Lord Jesus, you were a man just like us yet even more human, for you lived it perfectly. And you were also Almighty God. This is most strange - completely God, you were a man. Completely a man, you were God.

It's strange but it is very good. No mere person could suffer what you suffered - we would all die before receiving the minutest part. But you bore the punishment of all, for all time. Because of your divinity, we are saved. Thank you, Lord, for being willing to come down from your exalted place to endure this horror.

Before you came, we lived in a world where there was no longer any hope to be found in the race of man. We retained something of our ancient dignity, but ever broken and corrupted. You became our only hope; the only one who could live a perfect life and die a perfect death. Thank you, God, for giving us yourself.

Jesus, you became our perfect Mediator. You understand and sympathise with us in our weakness, and you speak to the Father on our behalf, holding up your nail-pierced hands. When Satan accuses us, we can remember this and walk confidently into your presence. Thank you, thank you, God.

22

Why must the Redeemer be truly human?
That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin; and also that he might sympathize with our weaknesses. (Hebrews 2:17) (from here)

As I write this, Lord, you know of my disappointment and frustration: these things are not foreign to you. You have been through everything we go through and you sympathise with us - which is often exactly what we long for. But you didn't come to earth just to hold our hand in our disappointments and pain, though even that would be astonishing. You came to show us true humanity - how a life can be lived, what a man can be. You did that so you would be ready to die on the cross, so you could take our place there. Each hour and second of your short and perfect life was leading there. There you took what was owing to us for having defiled the life we are given, for undoing what a man should be. You hung there as one of us, on behalf of all your brothers, and when you rose again we were free.

21

What sort of Redeemer is needed to bring us back to God?
One who is truly human and also truly God. (Isaiah 9:6) (from here)

(Yay! Blue!)

For now I don't have to understand why this is: I have only to trust that a God-man was our one hope. You knew this and you did it, and I am grateful. You became what we are, fragile and battered by myriad things outside our control. You became subject to the things you had created. One day you were wholly, truely and only GOD, sitting and ruling over all in glory; the next you took on humanity, starting off as a voiceless, vulnerable foetus tucked inside a young mum. I don't understand it, but I know that because of your self-humbling I am lifted up, and without it I would still be wandering around in my arrogance and unhappiness, unwilling to listen to you until that day when I would be made to bow the knee and would hate you for it.

20

Who is the Redeemer?
The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself. (1 Timothy 2:5) (from here)

You redeemed us. We were lost and you redeemed us. You paid the price in your body so we might be released and restored. You walked into that North Korean labour camp, quietly demanding that all the prisoners be set free and that you would undergo their torture and animal labour. Except that we weren't innocent political prisoners - we deserved what we got, what was coming to us. The punishment was cruel because it was just - not a fraction less or more than what we had done.

How in a few hours you could suffer the punishment of all, I do not know. It was intense where it might have been eternal. And more intense because GOD was being punished. More intense because the SON cried to the FATHER, "Why have you forsaken me?".

This is what it took to redeem us. A few hours of the greatest evil as we killed God and as the Father looked on you as the sum of all human perversity. A few hours of the greatest love as you submitted to it all for love of your Father and of us, and after which the Father raised you singing to his side, crowning you with glory. This is what it means when we call you our Redeemer. It is no small thing. Help me never utter those words lightly.

19

Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God's favour?
Yes, to satisfy his justice, God himself, out of mere mercy, reconciles us to himself and delivers us from sin and from the punishment for sin, by a Redeemer. (Isaiah 53:10-11) (from here)

I first heard this as a child and with a child's acceptance of all things taught, it seemed natural to me. Lord, I find it hard to marvel at what you did, difficult to see how strange and utterly unlikely. Help me see this, Lord. It is not so rare to have a sense of God or to fear a final accounting - but a God of love, of compassion and mercy, a God who would humble himself and be belittled, a God who would deign to suffer injustice at the hands of his creation? That is rare, rare stuff. We would never have imagined a god like you, who is wholly just and loving and who answers that paradox by giving of himself. Never.

Without the cross we would be completely, terribly lost, and it would be better not to think on what comes after death. With it we have the possibility of being reconciled and now we are yours, unbreakably safe, unfathomably beloved.

Help me marvel at who you are and what you have done, and help others see this astonishing beauty. Thank you, Lord. You are lovely.

18

Will God allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished?
No, every sin is against the sovereignty, holiness, and goodness of God, and against his righteous law, and God is righteously angry with our sins and will punish them in his just judgment both in this life, and in the life to come. (Ephesians 5:5-6) (from here)

Lord, I don't like this dwelling in the shameful, guilty, terrifying part of reality. Knowing the hopeful truth, I want to hurry there - but today I'm to consider your punishment for sin. Whenever I think about it, my mind and heart turn tricks to explain it and, so doing, minimise it. I want to say, 'Hell is the absence of God', but then I realise that I am trying to exlude all the cruelty and perversion and abuse that humans commit in this life, as if somehow your absence will create nothing more than a neutral, melancholy place. Lord, I know that the people there will grind their teeth with hate for you. And that somehow you will be present to punish-

Lord, I don't see that our sin is worthy of such a place, though I believe it is. For a psychopath or dictator, sure. But for my friends, for me as I once was, and would still be but for you? Yet I know that what lies at the heart of every respectable, egoist sin is your dismissal and that there is nothing more grotesque.

Help me see you better that I realise the unbridled evil of this. Help me know you better that I appreciate the precious goodness of submitting to you. Help me warn my friends even when they do not want to hear. Let me show them the wrongness of their lives lived without reference to you, and the danger of continuing like this, in a way they will hear. Thank you Lord that you are not only a God of righteousness, but also a God of incredible mercy. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy.

17

What is idolatry?
Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the Creator for our hope and happiness, significance and security. (Romans 1:21 & 25) (from here)

Lord, I don't want to talk about this because I love my idols so much I'm afraid you'll take them away. Somehow I think that by never mentioning them, you won't notice they're there. Silly. I'm like a kid who cuts their fringe and acts as if nothing's wrong, or who hides a broken thing the best their little limbs can manage, leaving most of it on display. Forgive me.

Lord, the things I don't want you to take away are... Now I have to think about what these fears show my idols to be- Lord, this isn't good. You should be enough for me. Thank you for giving me Pablo to teach this to me. Help me learn it and be glad. Help me see truely, and give me the courage to act on what you teach me - that you are sufficient and best - even when my heart is not yet convinced. Take from me this image of you as grasping and mean - that you would enjoy taking good things from me to make me love you more. Help me see that you are gracious and gentle, kindly and very generous. Bless me and teach me to enjoy what you give me as undeserved gifts from a better God. Let me know you so well and love you so dearly that I don't fear the loss of these things, but rather that they lose their import because you are my treasure and my heart's delight.

God, I am a baby in this. Take my hand, lead me and teach me, that I may be an example for others, that I may honour you as is your due. Amen.

16

What is sin?
Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what he requires in his law—resulting in our death and the disintegration of all creation. (1 John 3:4) (from here)

Sin is my shame and my pleasure, Lord. I have done and thought ugly things and not done good because I chose to ignore or reject you. And even now I follow in that path - because I like it and I think I know best. I show myself a fool because it is you who are good and wise, and I do best when I follow you. Forgive me and change me, Lord, for I am lost without you, a dumb punk rewriting rules that were beautifully set, raging against an authority to whom I owe my existence, who gives me my every breath, and who does all to bless me. Make me see how evil and perverted and ugly is my sin. Let me not brush over some 'small' rejection of you. Make me your happy, gladly-trusting servant and child. Make me a woman of God, lovely and strong and weak. Let me love you and have no god apart from you, not even myself. Amen and amen.

15

Since no one can keep the law, what is its purpose?
That we may know the holy nature and will of God, and the sinful nature and disobedience of our hearts; and thus our need of a Savior. The law also teaches and exhorts us to live a life worthy of our Savior. (Romans 3:20) (from here)

I try to follow your ways, Lord, and when I do, it is a blessing to me. In the reading and doing of it, I learn more of who you are, of your loveliness and grandeur. I know what you would have me do and I know where I go awry and what I have to repent of. I need your forgiveness or I am damned. In these ways, your Law is my life. Without it I would flounder in the dark and think it day. Thank you for making me dismay and for giving me hope, for forgiving and empowering me. Life's still a crazy, messed-up thing, but it's a million times better than before and I know I can trust you, the God of these fine laws. May I ever marvel and tremble before you, Lord. Humble me and lift me up and keep my feet walking the good paths. Amen.

14

Did God create us unable to keep his law?
No, but because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all of creation is fallen; we are all born in sin and guilt, corrupt in our nature and unable to keep God’s law. (Romans 5:12) (from here)

There was a time when we had not yet acquired a liking for sin, when it sat there a nameless possibility without nothing that would have us look again. I think that in that time it must have been less than that - everything then was so good and right and satisfying that I reckon sin went utterly unnoticed. As our forefathers gazed around at the loveliness of the world, their eyes brushed past it but without registering anything at all, for there was nothing - nothing! - they lacked.

And then Satan came along and gave it a little polish with his lying rags. He photoshopped it, making it suggest a brighter promise, an empowering autonomy. There is more truth in today's photoshopping, for the world now is messed-up and we do lack. But then there was no lack. There was no lack. Yet to have a 'better', you need a 'less-good', and that was the lie Satan got our forefathers to believe - a lie about the world, a lie about what he had to offer, a lie about themselves, and a lie about God. And because God had made the world with this couple not only as the first people, but also the representative people, it has come to us all. They acted in our name. We are born with the guilt of it and we are born with it. Our snatching toys off other kids and screaming "MINE!" about things that aren't ours isn't somehow cute - it's a common evil. We are incurably selfish and egoist and that's just how it is for us. We're not like this 'cos someone is making us, but because we want to be. We do the things we do because we want to. And there is no hope: it's so fixedly and fundamentally part of us. We are lost.

And now in Jesus we have hope. And we can chose the right and want the good. And he has undone and made new all that the first man destroyed. Because of him, the world is utterly changed. It's like a story but it is real. There was a day two thousand years ago when everything changed.

It's so strange, Lord. So unlikely... until I look around and see what it explains. And look to my own heart: what it is now, what it was. Thank you.

13

Can anyone keep the law of God perfectly?
Since the fall, no mere human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly, but consistently breaks it in thought, word, and deed. (Romans 3:10-12) (from here)

Forgive me for my sin, Lord. I think ugly things; I care little for people; I expect myself to be the star of the lives of all around me; I care little for your commands and I think ill of you; I am hardly troubled by my sins - I forget to confess them, and when I do, I struggle to name them. All this of treating others with humanity and respect and great care and ever remaining upright - I fail at it all, and when I do do it, my motives and emotions are impure. And I do not begin to grasp that for these particular sins in my life, including those of today, Jesus had to die; nor do I understand what he suffered.

Forgive me, Lord. Help me see and shudder at my sin - and then rejoice. Help me face up to and endure the shame of it, with certain hope that I will be immediately, unhesitatingly and utterly forgiven, made clean, and welcomed by you. Thank you. Thank you.

12

What does God require in the ninth and tenth commandments?
Ninth, that we do not lie or deceive, but speak the truth in love. Tenth, that we are content, not envying anyone or resenting what God has given them or us. (James 2:8) (from here)

Lord, I see that these last commandments are all of a piece. We are not to hate or injure our neighbour, nor are we to cheat on our most intimate relation, nor steal what is others. And here, we are not to cause injury by lying, nor to even yearn after what is others and wish it ours. Once again, we are to ever be unright and content, even should our situation be undesirable and our actions make things worse for us. We are to think less in and of ourselves and more of others - and you. We are to think of ourselves - not in terms of achieving comfort and pleasure, but rather striving for beauty of character, making you proud. Guard my tongue and heart, Lord. Let me always speak the truth, in love. Let me be content. Let me trust you to look after me as I live this way. Amen.

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What does God require in the sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments?
Sixth, that we do not hurt,or hate, or be hostile to our neighbor, but be patient and peaceful, pursuing even our enemies with love. Seventh, that we abstain from sexual immorality and live purely and faithfully, whether in marriage or in single life, avoiding all impure actions, looks, words, thoughts, or desires, and whatever might lead to them. Eighth, that we do not take without permission that which belongs to someone else, nor withhold any good from someone we might benefit. (Romans 13:9) (from here)

'Love one another.' 'Love does no harm to its neighbour.' How simple it is, Lord. The commands - 'Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal.' - how simple they are. And neither should we be horrified by your Son's raising of the bar. To not be people of anger and lust and grasping - why should this be so hard? Why not, like him, endure suffering without retaliating or making threats? Why not rejoice in our wives, satisfied by their breasts and intoxicated by their love? Why not be content whether well fed or hungry, living in plenty or in want?

Because it is hard, Lord: it is terribly, depressingly hard. Because we know we cannot even before we try. Because we don't even like the thought of such a life - hungry yet content, beaten yet enduring. You ask too much and make us picture things happening to us that we'd rather think of as impossible. And then you ask still more of us and we feel that there's too much degradation, too much meek self-abasement, no fighting, no striving to improve our plight, no recourse to justice.

But, Lord, they treated you this way so that all might go well for us. So that whatever we might suffer in this life, you are ever by our side and on our side, and we never need fear the reckoning that comes after death. Justice has been resolved strangely, but it has been resolved and one day will reach its consummation. It's because of this that we can endure and not give way to hate or envy. Help me do it! Help me ever look to the joys and recompense of heaven! Help me remember what joys and blessed things I have now! Help me even to love! Help me help others do this! Amen.

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 10

What does God require in the fourth and fifth commandments?
Fourth, that on the Sabbath day we spend time in public and private worship of God, rest from routine employment, serve the Lord and others, and so anticipate the eternal Sabbath. Fifth, that we love and honor our father and our mother, submitting to their godly discipline and direction. (Leviticus 19:3) (from here)

With you is our rest, our home, and our family. We have some of these now, and when they are good it makes us happy and whole. But when they are not, we still have hope - in the greater rest we will enjoy on that eternal Sabbath day, and in the perfect relationship and belonging we will know as we eat and walk with you.

Let us respond to these blessings with glad obedience. Let us rest from our work and find spiritual and physical refreshment together with the brothers and sisters we have in you. And as in giving life to us and caring for us, our parents reflect something of who you are, let us play the lovely part of showing them love, honour and respect.

Amen. May it be so.

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 9

What does God require in the first, second, and third commandments?
First, that we know and trust God as the only true and living God. Second, that we avoid all idolatry and do not worship God improperly. Third, that we treat God’s name with fear and reverence, honoring also his Word and works. (Deuteronomy 6:13-14) (from here)

We are to live according to reality - to worship you, the One God who exists, and to worship you as you are. We are not to strive or long for or delight in anything else, be it real or of our imagining, as if it were better or more mighty that the One God, almighty in power, goodness, and perfection. We are not to speak or act as if you are something other than what you have revealed yourself to be.

Lord, it is somehow strange for us that what is good and what is real should so exactly adhere. We are so steeped in postmodernism that we forget how key is truth, that at the heart of it all you really exist and you really are the one, good, perfect, mighty God, and that it is because of the true reality of this that we are to worship you and you alone. You are not some Wizard of Oz, posturing and cravenly demanding obsequience, but Almighty God who made us and before whom we would die, were we to see you face-to-face. And it is because you exist and are such a God that it is so monumentally stupid and perverse of us to speak or act as if there were many gods, or as if we looked to the sky and found you no bigger than our imaginings, no different than our desires.

And it was while we railed against you or quietly dismissed you that you stooped low to have mercy on us, and yet still as your children, we struggle to trust you and wholly give you our allegience. Instead of enjoying the good with which you bless us and praising you for it, we slyly give it our true love. Forgive us again, Lord. We praise you for who you are and want to know you better, for this knowledge is what we need to fill our hearts and make good our deeds. Help me, help my people, with this.

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 8

What is the law of God stated in the Ten Commandments?
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below—you shall not bow down to them or worship them. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not covet. (Exodus 20:3 & Deuteronomy 5:7) (from here)

Lord God Almighty, thank you for giving us these basic details of how we are to live, for making it sufficiently practical that we can figure out what it looks like in our different contexts and times. We must love you and not worship idols, nor use your name irreverently, and we are to pass a day each week intimately with you. We must love our neighbour by not doing to him things that we would hate - dishonouring our parents, murdering, cheating on our spouse, stealing, lying and slandering, envying what belongs to another. By these self-centered, self-serving deeds our society is undone. But by giving honour where it is due, by not reacting to misfortune or illtreatment with rage, by keeping the vows and covenants we have made, by being content with what we have, and by speaking what is true - trusting in the Lord's protection - with these deeds all is well with our soul and well between us and our fellow man.

Lord, thank you for this. Thank you for the realism of it, for the call to not add to the world's evil and injustice, for the possibility of individual, mass good. Were we like this Lord - cheerfully, humbly, unshakeably devoted to you, and living with upright, tender-hearted, generous consideration of others. How pitiful and rank that we prefer to be other.

Thank you for your Son, that he was this man, and that, in him, we are too. Thank you for freeing us from sin and Satan, so now we can always chose the good. Help us do it. Give us great love for you and others. May I grow in this, to show it and encourage my sisters in it. May they do this for me too.

Amen and amen.

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 7

What does the law of God require?
Personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience; that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love our neighbor as ourselves.What God forbids should never be done and what God commands should always be done. (Matthew 22:37-40) (from here)

We love because you first loved us. We love because you taught us what love is, because love is who you are and apart from you a thing we would never have imagined. This is your law - to love, to love you, and to love our neighbour. It is from this place of loving you that we act to please you, not because we are coldly enamored with duty or because we are scared. This is amazing. This is what is not understood.

Fill me with this wholehearted, integral love which I have but feebly. Forgive me for when I neither feel nor think nor live this way. Help me help my women to see that this is what you ask, this is what you pardon, it is what you give. May they grow in this love in every fibre of their being, even as I do.

Amen and amen

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 6

How can we glorify God?
We glorify God by enjoying him, loving him, trusting him, and by obeying his will, commands, and law. (Deuteronomy 11:1) (from here)

God, we are quick to proclaim and celebrate, follow and sacrifice ourselves for many things - for bands, technology, careers, children. Our actions say these things are everything, and sometimes we fail to see that they are not. Other times we at last obtain a thing long strived-for - and still we are not satisfied.

How foolish we are not to do this with you. Your perfections so complete, beautiful and majestic that it is fitting to glorify you - there's nothing even slightly unhinged in it. Perhaps we struggle to glorify you as we should because it's hard for you to comprehend your perfections-

May that struggle be cause for more glory and more trust as we see that you are even better and more powerful than we can know. May this knowledge make us quick to trust you, and trusting, to obey. May this glad, eager obedience speak well of you. May our lives bring you glory. If I do nothing else, may I help my women with this - to know you better, and knowing you, cherish and love you more, and loving you, obey you happily and speak of you warmly and with great joy and pride.

Lift the veils from our eyes, soften our brutal hearts, and strengthen our feeble knees that we might see and glorify you.

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 5

What else did God create?
God created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule. (Genesis 1:31) (from here)


Father, Son and Holy Spirit, out of nothing you made all that is. You made it very good. And the pinnacle of all your creation was man. You wished to delight and bless us with all else and grant us the nobility of ruling all under you. Father, the minuteness and vastness and intricacy of what you have made and how all hangs together so finely is too much for me. It is so awesome it burdens my mind. I cannot fathom it and, if I make the attempt, it turns my stomach. So I prefer not to think on it. Yet the knowledge that such splendour, such genius complexity exists goes with me and I am in awe.

How is it that people accuse, mock and dimiss you as if you were like us, as if you were a man, only bigger, and foolish or mean? You are ALMIGHTY GOD, Creator of all that is, of the very sunsets that make us feel spiritual, of all we neither know nor understand.

This world continues each passing day because you sustain it. We breathe and live because you give us what we need and you keep our bodies working. Again, this is too much for me and it frightens me when I should be glad. Forgive me Lord, that before such constant, enduring, lavish examples of your kindness, I doubt that you are good. I ought be humble, but I need not fear. Help me trust that you work all out for my good, that you who are attentive and tender towards sparrows care for me, that the worst that can happen - that I might die and be with you - truely is a better good. Let me not be able to keep from sharing this glad assurance with my people. Let me entrust their lives to you.

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 4

How and why did God create us?
God created us male and female in his own image to know him, love him, live with him, and glorify him.And it is right that we who were created by God should live to his glory. (Genesis 1:27) (from here)


Creator God, you knit me together, from sperm and egg you made me, a new person in the world! And you have repeated this miracle more times over than can be counted. You did it even more strangely with Adam and Eve. You made us, you made each of us, because you wanted to and you could.

You made us different to plants and animals - we have the honour of being made in your image. We are not you - even in that brief time of purity, we were not you - but we are like you. We were more like you then, but we are still like you now, though without Christ every beauteous, godly part of us is battered and perversely thred. But in Christ, we become part of his perfect humanity. Because we are in him, you look at us and see one whose every action and thought was true to you.

Change our hearts, Lord, so we become more like that in our selves; so our lives shout great things about you; so people look at us and say we've "got something special going on, something spiritual"; so our big-heartedness and uprightness tell of your beauty and justice. Let us do this as husbands and wives, daughters and fathers, as brothers and sisters in you, because this is how you made us. We reflect your glory as together we live out this life.

Thank you for the honour of being made like you and being given the privilege of representing you, that through our small lives your Name might be glorified. We are ambassadors of a perfect Prime Minister, princes of a perfect King, executives of a perfect CEO, head teachers of a perfect Principal. These examples are strange because we do not experience perfect authority in our life, but we can imagine. May we delight to use the talents, strengths, opportunities and riches you give us to serve you and show your greatness. May this be everything to us. May you be our King. Help us to help one another do this better. Help us to help each other lift our eyes to you, marvel in you, and give our lives to you, our great and gracious King.

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 3

How many persons are there in God?
There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory. (2 Corinthians 13:14) (from here)


Father God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, this world you made is old, but you are older yet. This world is real, it's not of our imagining, but it did not think itself up or create itself out of nothing - you designed and wrought it. You are the Reality at bottom of all this. There are things we have and things we instinctively look to that seem self-evident to us, and that is because of you, who are One Triune God. We are each unique and uniquely precious, and we each have a part to play, if we are male or female, child or adult, married or single, and according to our talents and circumstances. All this because you are Three. And yet we do not each play a solitary, discordant part. We turn to the people around us, we love them, we each contribute what we can, working and playing together in one accord. All this because you are One.

Thank you and praise you, Mighty God. Forgive me for when I take your Nature for granted, as if it were an unremarkable thing. Without you, we would never have imagined such a God - we would have one, or we would have many. Help me to love and worship you as you are, the One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Help me to help my people do the same, and to delight in the love and unity-in-diversity we know because of who you are. Thank you for the reassurance that you are not only in favour of human community and uniqueness to the service of all, to a common end - it is the truest expression of who we are, under you. Help me to play my part in my work and marriage, and help me to encourage and equip my women to play their part too, with great joy, satisfaction, and affection, ever wondering at you, ever bowing before you, ever resting in your care.

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 2

What is God? 
God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will. (Psalm 86:8-10 & 15) (from here)


God, now that I have been reminded a little of who you are - or much, but can only understand a little - it is strange that I may address you. You who are infinite (and eternal and unchangeable) in power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth, why do you trouble yourself with me? Yet you do and have done most incredibly. You have loved, and loved me, as no-one else has ever loved or ever will. Your death for me so ground-breaking that it is now the definition of love. By that one deed we may understand what love is, though we will never understand. You are the one God, perfect and limitless in your goodness and power, the God who troubles himself with every thing and every passing moment under the sun. And you will, and you do, trouble yourself with 'my women', for they are yours. A thousand thousand times better than me, you know their hearts and lives, their ugly failures and beautiful triumphs. Everything is okay. They are in your care.

Be responsible for your people; don't be responsible for your people / 1

I kinda hit a wall there, towards the end of last year (all of seven days ago it would have been "the end of this year"). I think I've nutted out how to stop this happening again going forward. You will see what have been the problems in the solutions I've found - rest well each day, by taking the evening off or the morning if I've got work stuff on in the evening; replenish my (introvert) energies, by having Monday as a thinking-writing-listening, people-free day; have realistic expectations of what I can do when in the Chilean year; remember that God is ultimately responsible for his people and will see them through.

It's the last of these that this post's really about. I've gone back to basics (as we must always!) with the New City Catechism. (If you have kids or find the antique language of the commentary and prayers hard to follow, just click on the settings cog and change to 'Child Mode'.) My memory being what it is, I'm doing no more than having a read and a ponder, then writing my own prayer, which I thought I might share with you.

What is our only hope in life and death? 
That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ. (Romans 14:7-8)


Dear Lord Jesus, I belong to you. I am yours; I am not my own. Thank you for purchasing me, for your willingness to pay with your blood. Thank you that you did this for my brothers and sisters too, that this is what binds us together, what motivates and makes possible our love for each other, and what has made us secure unto heaven. Thank you that in the responsibility I feel as a leader and for these people, I don't need to feel - nor should I feel - even a gram, a milligram of responsibility for their perseverance in the faith. It would be good to encourage and strengthen them and perhaps I am even called to do it, but it is you, O Lord, who will shepherd them safely through, however excellent or poor my efforts be.