Take heart from this if you are praying for an unbelieving spouse, or have lost that same spouse in tragic circumstances. Be encouraged if you have wondered whether you can invite people to your midweek house group, or whether God can give you the words to speak into a culture and a people that knows nothing of the ways of the living God, whether they are your own peers or not...
The great Oswald Chambers may be on to something of the answer when he says...
If what we call love doesn’t take us beyond ourselves, it is not really love. If we have the idea that love is characterized as cautious, wise, sensible, shrewd, and never taken to extremes, we have missed the true meaning. This may describe affection and it may bring us a warm feeling, but it is not a true and accurate description of love.
Have you ever been driven to do something for God not because you felt that it was useful or your duty to do so, or that there was anything in it for you, but simply because you love Him? Have you ever realized that you can give things to God that are of value to Him? Or are you just sitting around daydreaming about the greatness of His redemption, while neglecting all the things you could be doing for Him? I’m not referring to works which could be regarded as divine and miraculous, but ordinary, simple human things— things which would be evidence to God that you are totally surrendered to Him. Have you ever created what Mary of Bethany created in the heart of the Lord Jesus? "She has done a good work for Me."
There are times when it seems as if God watches to see if we will give Him even small gifts of surrender, just to show how genuine our love is for Him. To be surrendered to God is of more value than our personal holiness. Concern over our personal holiness causes us to focus our eyes on ourselves, and we become overly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, out of fear of offending God. ". . . but perfect love casts out fear . . ." once we are surrendered to God ( 1 John 4:18 ). We should quit asking ourselves, "Am I of any use?" and accept the truth that we really are not of much use to Him. The issue is never of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time.
In the not too distant past, a good friend of mine goaded some of the students in our church to write limericks about me. Here is the un-airbrushed take on what they came up with... ;-)
Altars in the Old Testament had to be constructed from naturally occurring, uncut stone. It was a work of craftsmanship unlike any we get to see today.
Dry stone walling is probably the closest equivalent we have to this all but lost skill, where rocks and stones of contrary shapes and sizes are all skilfully placed together by a master builder.
Something like this, perhaps...
What holds this wall together is not some synthetic artificial foreign agent like cement, but the wisdom of the craftsman who knows exactly the right kind of stone needed and where to put that stone so that it perfectly contributes to the form and stability of the whole.
Modern red brick constructions can be built in a matter of hours, but dry stone constructions are a much longer, and with it painstaking, proposition. In the same way, the rhythms and ways of Man are not like the rhythms and ways of the Living God.
Man, in the lust of his eyes, throws out all things that do not conform to his agenda. Red bricks are his philosophy. Whether he be World Leader or Everyday Joe; in building the empire to his own glory, man seeks (by force if necessary):
a flattened and passive uniformity, (one size of brick), so that he can build rapidly.
When it comes to building spiritual spaces (altar / temple / house), then in the eyes of these Divine Craftsmen, there's no such thing as a useless rock. There are simply those rocks that have been called into sync with the divine purpose and those that refuse to be.
I've just finished working through the sacrifices that Moses gives to the people in the first half of Leviticus. I found the video below helpful in drawing all the sacrifices and their symbolism together.
WARNING: You'll notice that it was put together by the Mormons. Mormonism is a cult (see here). Do NOT become one. (To avoid any misunderstanding/misrepresentation: whilst I believe in fairness and showing compassion to all persons, I have no time for the strange belief that all ideas are created equal.)
Whilst I shudder at the mention of the name Joseph Smith and would personally want to say that Jesus, and not just some random angel taught Adam and Eve about the nature of sacrifice, I nevertheless find much helpful stuff in this video. Watch it with discernment and enjoy how much it points you to Christ. (It's not what you might have expected).
It's interesting that the altar was raised up from the earth, and Exodus 20:26 tells us that they were not allowed to build steps up to it, lest they exposed themselves. Which leads me to the not unfair conclusion that the altar was set in the middle of a cross shaped mound (see right).
We had our first Hungarian (sister) come into membership at church today. Hungary is a country I know little about although I have been there once.
Here are some top tips, sent in by Kinga, on how you can spot a Hungarian.
You know you are a true Hungarian:
When you use sour cream more than ketchup.
When feeding your guests is your main priority even if they claim they’re not hungry, in which case you get slightly offended/upset because they don’t want your hospitality.
When Paprika on the table is just as important as salt & pepper.
When you tell to somebody that you are Hungarian and they ask “Are you hungry?” Then you congratulate them on being the millionth person to say that to you.
When you know that the “goulash” you see in many restaurants has little/nothing to do with the “gulyás leves” we really eat.
When meeting another Hungarian in a foreign country is a truly amazing experience.
When a pancake is extremely flat in your country and you roll it up instead of folding it.
When do you not speak with your mouth full.
When you go into a Chinese restaurant and order your Sechuan chicken with French fries, cucumber salad and a few slice of bread as well.
When you NEVER leave home with wet hair because you can get a cold and you ALWAYS take your hair dryer with you when going abroad and are astonished when people do not have one in their own homes!
When your language has two words for love.
When you have a "name day" and no foreigner understands what that day is good for.
When you use fruit to make soup.
When you smuggle food and drink into the cinema to save money.
When you have guests and you make at least 2 kinds of soup, 4 different main courses and at least 2 kinds of cake even though you know it’s way too much.
When you think it’s perfectly reasonable to take small kids for a walk when it's -1 outside just so they get some fresh air.
When you have to stand out in the rain to grow tall.
When you eat bread with just about everything, even potatoes.
When your childhood fairytales didn’t end as “they lived happily ever after” but “they lived happily until death”.
When you have the largest collection of plastic bags in the world but will still take loads from Tesco because they are free.
When you go to a restaurant and put your bread from the table into your bag so you can eat it at home.
When you keep an old black and white TV and other useless objects because maybe one day you'll find a use for them.
When your friends or family think you are crazy and yell at you because you don’t wear “papucs” (slippers) around the house all the time to prevent yourself from catching a cold.
When you refuse more food and you automatically have an eating disorder.
When what you are eating for dinner tonight actually started out as a “pörkölt” three days ago, then morphed into a “rizses hús” and tonight is a“székely káposzta”.
I don't know what those last three dishes are. Kinga, if you are reading this can you tell us?
Ronny Heyboer is a missionary who, with his wife and kids, has given his life to church planting, and the care and education of orphans among the Dayaks of Borneo. I had the privilege of meeting him on one of his trips to the UK 6 years ago and hung off his every word!
