Happiness is grand-child shaped

What a joy grandchildren can be! Over the last few days France and I have spent time with both our two small grandchildren. I was surprised by an immense sense of privilege in looking after them, and joy in seeing how they are growing. That wasn't due to any specially warm response to my presence - it was pure enjoyment of who they were. (Nappies etc. were more Frances' department, I admit.)

It struck me at the time that such a sense of privilege and joy might not only be God-given, but also a reflection of his image: he too enjoys his creation and new creation, and takes pleasure in our development. Even mine!

Tolerance

Is there a limit to what we should tolerate? Obviously, yes - but what
should those limits be and who decides? That's a debate that affects us
all, whether we're bringing up teenagers or teaching in schools about
relationships or deciding whether women should be bishops or gay
marriages be encouraged. The limits of toleration have moved over the
years, and I find that as life goes on my own limits change, and I am
probably more tolerant in some ways and more intolerant in others than I
used to be.

My position is that God decides what I should or should not put up with.
There are many things in life that I can do nothing about and have to
put up with. However, there are many things that I should do something
about. The first priority must be in my own life. This was strongly
impressed upon me in my reading of Pauls letter to the Romans. In the
second half of chapter 1 he tells how God's judgement has been revealed
against all godlessness and wickedness, and lists such evil activities
as homosexual activity, envy, gossiping, and disobeying parents - all of
which deserve death, he says. But then he goes on to say, 'You,
therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else,
for... you are doing the same things.' (Romans 2:1.) The list of wicked
things he's been making was not designed to help us condemn others, but
to make all of us realise our own sinfulness! (The rest of the letter
explains how in fact God is seeking to reconcile us to himself, and to
renew his creation, through Jesus Christ.) And the way Paul tells us to
deal with the rubbish in our own lives is not by trying to live up to a
set of rules or ideals but by trusting Jesus for reconciliation and
trusting the Holy Spirit to lead us into good and acceptable ways of
life - and doing what he tells us.

How can I know what God wants me to tolerate or not? I may have a sense
of what is right and wrong, but ultimately I have to check it out with
what God has said in the Bible - and this is where I find I am changing
my position, as I get more and more into what the Bible is saying, taken
as a whole. The life and teaching of Jesus has to colour my view of
everything else in the Bible, for Jesus reveals what God is like most
fully - he and the Father are one. As I wrestle with different issues, I
sometimes feel I am still in the dark, and I cannot predict what my
limits of toleration will be in the future.

In all this, I know I am called to love my neighbour as myself,
whatever he or she does, whether I approve of it or not.

Love and wrath

Can a loving God be a God of wrath? Can love punish? As parents we know that we have to punish sometimes, even though we hate doing so. Sometimes we have to let a beloved son or daughter go their own way and take the consequences. 'If I never loved I never would have cried.' But when God punishes or lets evil happen, it is all too easy to cry 'Foul!'

In Exodus 34:6-7 God reveals himself to Moses as a God of tremendous love and a God who punishes. (A similar passage occurs in the ten commandments.) The description of his love is very strong: he is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands (or even to thousands of generations), and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. What could be better than that? But then comes the next part: 'Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' How unfair is that? We don't mind the guilty being punished; but why the children and their descendants? Surely that is wrong! And so we forget all the first part because we stumble at the second. At least, that is my tendency.

I need to keep reminding myself to give due weight to the whole of Scripture, and not to let the difficult bits overshadow those I understand. These verses are a case in point. In the 'nice' first part God tells us that he is a forgiving God. Only then does he talk about punishing the guilty. And when he talks about punishing the children, I need to remember Ezekiel's diatribe against those who wanted children to be punished for their fathers' sins - his message from God was that if a sinner repented they would be forgiven, whatever their father had done or not done. But if that is the case, how should I understand the last verse of the Exodus passage?

Two principles may apply here. The first is that of connectedness: no-one is an island, each persons actions have consequences not only for themselves but also for those around them. If a person leaves Britain and becomes a citizen of France any children born there will automatically be French, not British, whether they like it or not. Likewise if we are citizens of God's kingdom and choose to emigrate, our actions will have consequences for our family - they  will be brought up outside the kingdom of God. We cannot turn to God and say, 'I am the one who sinned, my family should not suffer.' We are connected. But, according to these verses, after a few generations my family will not be suffering for my sin, only for their own - unless they repent. Which brings me to the second principle.

The second principle is that of forgiveness. No-one who turns to God will be turned away, however seriously their parents or grandparents sinned. And those who do turn to God and sin need not feel they've blown it: God is 'slow to anger', and gives us every chance to come back and be forgiven. It is only if we refuse to repent that we can expect the full force of God's justice.

God will never do anything unfair - except in mercy and love. He longs to forgive, if only we accept his forgiveness and return to him. Yet forgiveness is always costly. God can only forgive because he has already paid the cost; love and justice have met on the cross. He does indeed abound in love and faithfulness.

Our destiny

I often adapt prayers from St Paul in my own private prayer times, and
one of them, from Ephesians 1:15-19, asks that the people he's praying
for may know the hope to which God has called them, the riches of God's
glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparable power for us
who believe. Whatever their circumstances (and Paul's were bad - he was
in prison awaiting trial for his life), these things are worth having
and praying for.

The hope to which God calls us is the hope of resurrection life in the
new creation - the kingdom of God which we're praying for in the Lord's
prayer, where God's will is going to be done perfectly. That is the
destiny God is calling us towards, and what a destiny it is. Although we
can't accurately imagine what it will be like, it is worth trying,
basing our thoughts on the clues Scripture gives us. It will be perfect
- no suffering, no evil, no death, none of the things we hate so much in
this life. It will be a new heaven and a new earth, and we will be
living on that new earth, in perfect harmony with all creation. Above
all, God will live with us, we will 'see' him 'face to face', we will
know even as we are known, and that relationship with Father, Son and
Holy Spirit will bring fulfilment and joy beyond our wildest dreams.
'His servants will serve him', says Revelation 22:3, and the idea of
serving him perfectly is something that fills me with yearning. What
will that service involve? Worship, yes of course; but it will include
tasks and responsibilities in the rest of creation - work with no
drudgery, only utter fulfilment.

I've got as far as Exodus in the Old Testament part of my annual journey
through the Bible, and am reading about the construction of the
tabernacle and how the Spirit inspired people with the ability to work
with metal and wood and fabric and perfume. I thought about how we would
admire someone with talent in only one of those fields, and how God was
the inspiration behind all those varied crafts; and then I thought about
today and the amazing variety of human talent, from artists to science,
agriculture to engineering, politics to counselling - and thinking that
God is the inspiration behind all that is good in every calling. Since
that is so, how could we ever imagine that life with him would be boring!

The riches of God's inheritance is 'in the saints'. When Paul talks
about saints he means all God's faithful people: we are God's
inheritance, God looks upon us as his greatest riches! That is so
important to realise. The value that God puts on each one of us is
greater than anything we could imagine. So how can anyone say they are a
waste of space? And how could we look down on any other Christian?

The incomparable power that is working for us is the same power that
raised Jesus Christ from the dead. That is the power at work in us and
working all things together for our good - not for our comfort or
convenience, but for our ultimate good, which is the realization of our
destiny and our presence with God as his glorious inheritance. Trust him!

Is assisted suicide ever OK?

I can understand the heart-ache of those whose loved ones have an
unbearable and incurable condition, where the only release is death. We
would not let an animal suffer so; how can we be less humane for humans?
If we can pray that God will end their suffering, can we not allow that
God might want us to be the means by which he answers our prayers?
Although we know that human life is sacred, and that only God has the
right to begin and to end a person's life, yet many Christians say it is
OK for soldiers to kill enemies in a battle.

There is one instance in the Bible of assisted suicide that I can
immediately think of, and it is a disturbing one. In 2 Samuel 1 a man
brings David news of his enemy Saul's death in battle. Saul had tried to
commit suicide to avoid being killed by the Philistines, but was still
alive, so he asked this man to finish him off. He did so, and came to
tell David. But David's reaction was to put him to death:"Why were you
not afraid to destroy the Lord's anointed?... Your blood be on your own
head." (2 Samuel 1:14-16). That always strikes me as being so unfair. I
dare say David maybe had a better idea of fairness and justice than I
have, but it still begs the question, why was that assisted suicide so
wrong in David's eyes?

David had an amazing trust in God's sovereignty over events and over
history. Although he had been anointed king, he refused to lift a finger
to bring that to fulfilment by killing Saul, even when Saul was trying
to kill him and circumstances put Saul in his power. He believed that
only God had the authority to end Saul's life.

Authority may be important in the case of assisted suicide. Should
doctors or loved ones be given authority to end the life of a person in
unbearable and hopeless pain? There are practical and theological
objections to this.

Practically, there is a risk that if such authority is given it will
open the door to dubious cases, when love is not the only motive.
Theologically, authority to end life lies with God, and we take that
authority into our own hands at our peril. God has made it very clear
that human life is sacrosanct, and both murder and suicide are sins
against God. It is a moot point whether assisted suicide is the lesser
of two evils. But I do believe it is better to suffer than to sin against God.

That said, I cannot help but feel for anyone in such a position. If I'd
been the young man seeing Saul in his death throes, I would probably
have helped him on his way and would have expected praise from David.

'You wouldn't let a dog suffer like that.' No, and when our dog suffered
we called for the vet to come and put him down, which he did in our
living room. But it nearly broke my heart. I remember thinking then, 'I
couldn't do that for a human.' But I'd be hammering at the gates of
heaven for God to do something, I'm sure.

If ever the time comes (God forbid) that I have to suffering unbearable pain in my last illness, I pray first, that it won't last too long; and I pray that I will be able to endure it, that I will keep trusting in God's love and perfect care for me, that I will not let him down, and that afterwards I will discover the truth of Paul's saying, 'Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.' That is probably easier to pray now than when and if that time comes. And it is not a prayer everyone can pray.

Does God love like this?

Yesterday in our united service we were thinking about love - God's love for us, which hopefully results in love for God, for neighbours and for each other. We were using 1 Corinthians 13 as the basis for our thoughts. The description is of Christian love. But does God love as Paul describes? He is the source of Christian love; is he the pattern, or is his love of a different kind?

• 'Love is patient', 'long suffering' . Yes, God is patient. He doesn't zap us immediately we do anything wrong! And he seems able to put up with a lot more going wrong than we think should be allowed.
• 'Love is kind'. Yes - that is what 'grace' is all about, kindness and favour to those who do not merit it.
• 'Love does not envy'. Well, God does not need to.
• 'Love does not boast, it is not proud' - in the AV, 'vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.' How does that sit with God's refusal to share his glory with anyone else? Easily - love that is not honest is questionable, and God is far above everything he has created. So is his Son. Yet Jesus exemplifies true humility, and was not too proud to wash his disciples' feet, claiming all the while to be doing only what he saw his Father doing.
• 'Love does not dishonour others'. Neither does God dishonour us. He does not ignore us, nor does he ride roughshod over our free will. He honours us as people who are responsible for what they do.
• 'Love is not self seeking.' One version says, 'Love does not insist on its own way.' But doesn't God do exactly that? He seeks praise and glory for himself, he wants us to pray, 'Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.'  Yes and no. He wants us to live in the real world, where he is worthy of all praise and glory, and his kingdom and his will are not just the best goals in life, but the only goals that give lasting harmony and happiness. Love has to seek these things. But God does not insist on his own way, he gives us the choice: we are free to reject his love and to reject his ways and to take the consequences. God's sovereignty and foresight do not cancel out human freedom and responsibility.
  
• 'Love is not easily angered'. No - neither is God. Especially if we are his children.
• 'Love keeps no record of wrongs.' But hold on, doesn't God do just that? On judgement day we will have to account for everything we have said and done and thought. Isn't that keeping a record of wrongs? How can God be a loving God if he is going to be the judge of all? This is a major problem Paul looks at in his letter to the Romans. The way I look at it is this: God is love, and because he loved the world he sent his Son to open the way for our wrongs to be blotted out of his record. He could not stop being just and fair, so the only way to take our wrongs from us was incredibly costly. But God has done it. However, his love needs to be responded to in order to have any effect, otherwise it is as if he is loving at a distance. But when we do respond and believe his love and believe we can live in his presence without guilt, then we experience his forgiveness and can face judgement day without fear. 'Love keeps no record of wrongs' is another way of saying, 'Love forgives'; that's is what God does, and what we must do.
• 'Love does not rejoice in evil but rejoices in the truth.' God hates it when bad things happen - when one member of Christ's body is suffering, Christ is suffering. But God loves it when good things are said and done.
• 'Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.' Certainly God protects and perseveres. Does he need to trust and hope? He knows all about us, he knows exactly what the future holds. Better, perhaps, if we say God is always confident. Yet from our point of view, we can say that God risks putting his affairs into our hands - he is counting on us, and that requires a fair amount of faith and hope!
• 'Love never fails', and God will never fail, nor will he fail us.

'We love, because God first loved us.' Jesus is the one who most clearly reveals God's nature, and his love for us his people is paralleled by our Father's love for us. Our problem is we don't see it as clearly as we might. Lord, open the eyes of our hearts to your love! And may your love constantly fill us and overflow!