Futile thinking

“You must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.” – Ephesians 4: 17

In this verse, Paul talks about living in the futility of our thinking. The context of this passage is that of immorality. We may be able to convince ourselves that a certain action or way of thinking is fine – but if it does not align to the truth revealed in the Bible, we run the risk of following the futility of our thinking as opposed to the revelation that God brings.

This is not just true in the context of immorality, it is also true in the way that we think about ourselves. The Bible reveals the staggering truth of the love of God – that each of us is loved personally and intimately by him. Our thinking can often collide with that revelation. We may think that we are unloved and unloveable, we may dwell on that and allow that to take root in our hearts. This is though, the futility of our thinking that is at odds with what the Bible reveals. It comes down to a simple choice – which path are we going to follow, where are we going to allow our mind to take us?

I may think I am being humble in wondering if God could ever love me – Paul would probably call that futile thinking!

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I can come to him

“You are my portion, O Lord.” – Psalm 119: 57

To say to God – “You are my portion” is a slightly strange thing to say. We tend to think of the word ‘portion’ as a helping of food. To think of God in that way does seem odd – but actually it is not far off what this word means!

The sense behind this word ‘portion’ is that of something that belongs to us. Really, when the psalmist talks of God being his portion, he is saying that God belongs to him – not in a sense of a possession that we own, but a wonderful privilege to call upon.

The beauty of this is that there are often times when we feel that we have no right to approach God, either because we feel we have done something to disqualify us from being in his presence, or we simply don’t feel as happy or godly as we think we should.

No matter what we feel, God is still our portion – we have the right and the privilege to come to him, to approach him. Actually we have the same right and privilege to do that as anyone else. He is our portion, not just the portion of those who feel good enough, but the portion of everyone who has turned to him.

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God speaks, but through whom?

“One God and Father of all, who is . . . through all.” – Ephesians 4: 6

If it is true that God is through all, then what that is saying is that there is no situation or person through which God cannot work, act or speak.  The Bible has plenty of examples of this.  In the book of Isaiah, God chooses a foreign King to bring about his purposes.  In his ministry, Paul quotes a Greek poet, and illustrates something of God through that.  The encouragement for us is that every day, there are so many opportunities for God to communicate to us.  The reality is that he is probably seeking to communicate far more that we are open to hearing him, but his voice might well come through a person or source that we would rather he did not use!

At the beginning of each day, it is worth reviewing the previous day, and reflecting on how God communicated to us in those hours. what did he communicate?  How was this communicated?  It may well be a verse from the Bible, a casual conversation with a friend, or even the rebuke of someone we would call an enemy.

God our Father is utterly committed to our transformation. It is his wonder that he is able to bring that about through so many different ways.

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Father over all

“One God and Father of all, who is over all.” – Ephesians 4: 6

This very simply line brings us back to the staggering truth that there is not one situation or person that is beyond the reach and power of God. He is over all – he is over us. What is so beautiful about this is that he is the God and Father over all.

The power of God is not a power that destroys those who disobey him, or who wander away from him, it is a power based on his Fatherhood. It is a power that loves people into change.

Sometimes, we would wish it to be different, at least for other people. We would love God to deal gently, lovingly and patiently with us, but slightly quicker and harsher with other people! He is the Father of us all. He has no favourites, and treats all of us the same. The gentleness with which we long for him to transform us, is the gentleness with which he will bring his transformation to all of his creation.

But we hold this truth alongside the truth that as God and Father over all, there is not a person or situation that is beyond his touch or influence. As you seek to walk with him, he is your God and Father. As others may seek to walk in a different direction, he is still their God and Father, the one who is gently seeking to bring them back to him, the one who cares for them with the love that sent Jesus for them.

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His longing is for everyone

“One God and Father of all” – Ephesians 4: 6

We are going to be looking at a verse from Ephesians that says something wonderful about the God we worship.  It begins by speaking about God as being the God and Father of all.  In the next phrases in this verse, Paul will go on to share something of what this means, but let us begin with what it means for us that he is God and Father of all.  Ultimately what this means is that he is the source of everything, everything owes its existence to him.

This can cause us immediate problems – how can God be the source of situations and people that seem to us to be profoundly wrong, or even evil?  One answer, of course, is that although we are God’s creation, we are a spoiled creation, not because God spoilt it in any way, but because the presence of sin has marred the image of God that we bear.

Despite that, he is still the God and Father of all.  As Father, what this means is that he still has a profound love for every person, no matter what they have done, and his longing is that everyone turns to him to find the joy of being his child.

This is what can fuel our prayers for the worst of people – he is still their Father, they may be utterly wayward, but the heart of God aches for them to come back to him.  Perhaps we can take comfort in this for ourselves – no matter what we feel we have done, he is still our Father, and his heart longs for us to return to him.

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The promises of God

“My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” – Psalm 119:50

Suffering takes many forms, what is hardship for one person may be everyday life for someone else.  It probably doesn’t achieve much to compare our suffering with that of other people.  If there is something that is causing us hurt and pain, then it is something about which God is concerned, because “he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

The first touch of rescue from our sufferings is that of comfort.  Comfort begins by knowing that we are not alone in our sufferings, that he is there with us.  This is what the writer of psalm 119 had discovered, that the promises of God brought him comfort, even if the suffering seemed to continue, because when we bring a promise of God into the midst of our sufferings, it is as if we are bringing him there.  Each of his promises contains something of his heart and character.

If you feel that you are going through suffering of some form at the moment, let the Holy Spirit illuminate a promise from the Bible for you.  Ask him to highlight one for you, and rejoice in what comes to you.  The promise that comes is not simply a set of words strung together, these words contain the very heart of God – his heart for you in your moment of trial.  Hold it, rejoice in it, and begin to explore what it means for you in your situation.

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More than we can dream

“To him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us.” – Ephesians 3: 20

This verse can easily be filed in the ‘too-good-to-be-true’ category.  Most of us have problems believing that God is able to do the things that we actually ask of him without considering the things that we imagine in our hearts.  But in this verse, Paul challenges us to take the power of God seriously.

Paul is not just saying that God could, hypothetically, do anything he wants. He actually grounds it in the realms of possibility by talking about what God could do because of his powerful presence at work within us.  It is the reality of his presence in us that lifts this verse out of the dreams we might have, to the hope of what God could do.

As you ponder the circumstances of your life, what could God do to bring about the change that you glimpse as you read the Bible?  The challenge is to recall the truth that the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is alive in us, and if that is true then why could he not bring about the transformation for which we long and dream?  The constant challenge for us is to recall the presence that is within.

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