Past, Present and Future

One of the reasons people flocked to hear Jesus speak was because he gave them the hope and the dream that their future did not have to be defined by their past. Even the present need not define the future. Things don't need to go on being the way they are now.

In Joshua 5 God is preparing the people of Israel to go in and take the Promised Land. And in doing so He deals with their past, 'Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you'. It wasn't that they were to forget their past - for they were about to go on and celebrate the Passover, the annual reminder that they were slaves in Egypt and that God has rescued them. But because of what God had done they were no longer to allow themselves to be held back by the past. God had dealt with that past, and now they were on the brink of moving into something new.

God can deal with our past so that it no longer defines our future. Sometimes we get into destructive cycles of behaviour that are driven by past experiences and it seems that we are just unable to escape. We keep on making the same bad choices. We get into patterns of repeated failure. But it doesn't need to be that way.

How were the people of Israel about to leave their past behind and embrace a new future?

1. They re-dedicated themselves to God, so that He was reflected in their lives.
2. They remembered what God had done for them in the past, without allowing their past to hold them back.
3. They got on board with what God was doing rather than imagining that God was at their beck and call.

Remember, Remember

Have you ever forgotten anything important - like a birthday or other anniversary, or an important meeting or appointment? If I don't write things down in my diary as soon as they are fixed there is always the chance that I will forget. Then a few weeks down the road I will have the vague feeling that I should probably be somewhere - but no idea where I should be or what I should be doing. Thankfully with modern technology, between my PDA, my computer and my mobile phone along with a wall calendar most things get remembered - even if sometimes it isn't until the last minute.

So if we need to write things down in order to remember why is it that we often assume we will remember God's deeds in our lives with no written or other form of physical and visible reminder? In Joshua 4 the people were instructed by God to build a stone memorial which would act as a permanent reminder to them and their children, and to all other people, that God had dried up the Jordan allowing them to cross over on dry ground. So the stones would either act as a reminder to those who had forgotten the story, or would be a prompt for a quick history lesson for those who had never heard it in the first place.

As Christians we have the communion service (eucharist, mass, breaking of bread...) which acts as a physical and visible and regular reminder of Jesus' death on the cross for us and of his love for us. But are there things we could be doing to help us remember God's goodness in our lives?

We could keep a prayer diary - where we record our prayers and God's answers. As we look back through the pages, the weeks, and months we will see how God has answered our prayers.

We could keep photographs and combine them with verses of Scripture that remind us of significant events in our lives, where God has done something for us.

I have a small cross next to my bed, made out of a spent bullet cartridge, a reminder that the sacrificial love of Jesus conquers all, that love is greater than hate.

Maybe you have other creative, physical and visible reminders of God's love for you that you would like to share with us here.

Harvest 2008

Even if you're not responsible for paying for the food you eat then I'm sure you're aware that food prices are going up, along with energy bills, petrol ... all making the cost of living more expensive than it was a year ago. But even with the effects of the credit crunch and the downward turn in the housing market, if you are reading this (i.e. you have access to a computer and electricity) it is unlikely that you are doing so with an empty stomach. For many of us in 'the west' increased food bills probably means little more than less luxury items it the weekly shop - and maybe we look out for the odd bargain more than we did before.

But for many people living in countries like Bangladesh failed harvests simply mean that there is no food. In a good year a farmer might sell a proportion of his rice to the government and keep some back for his family, therefore providing valuable income with which to buy essentials, such as medicines, and also having enough to eat, and seed to plant the following year. But when turmoil in the earth's weather systems causes disastrous flooding which wipes out your crop then you have nothing. And when you have nothing - you die.

Today is our harvest service, in which we thank God for His provision, but also recognise that we who have much have a responsibility to those who don't. Once again this year we are supporting the ongoing work of BMS World Mission. If you were not at one of our services you can download the video, filmed in Bangladesh, and the meditation (based on Matthew 25:31:46) at www.bmsworldmission.org/harvest2008.

Theme tune to your life

If there was a theme tune to your life, what would it be? How many of us could choose 'My Way' as sung here by Robbie Williams?

The people of Israel had tried to do things their way before - and they'd learnt the hard way that it is better to do things God's way. And as they stand on the banks of the Jordan river, which is in full flood, as they look across into the Promised Land, they are not going to make the mistakes of the past. This time they are going to do it God's way (Joshua 3).

God, in this story, not just shows the people the way (because they have not been this way before), but God makes the way by stopping the river so that the people can cross on dry ground (as their parents and grandparents had experienced in crossing the Red Sea). Joshua's eyes are not on the barrier, the river, but they remain firmly on God. He doesn't focus on the barrier to the promise, he focuses on the one who made the promise.

I wonder what the first guy at the river thought as he put his foot into the water. I wonder what he thought a moment later as the water stopped and he started to walk through on dry ground (not sticky mud). There are times when God wants us to step out in faith. God will do amazing things but not until we put our foot into the water.

Joshua told the people that tomorrow God would do amazing thing among them. They had been waiting for this moment for hundreds of years. But the wait was almost over. When you hear talk of the promises of God does your experience say to you - "yes, that's OK for you, but for me tomorrow never comes". There are no easy answers. There were no easy answers for all those who lived as slaves in Egypt throughout the previous 400 years and more. But God is about to fulfil His promise. Tomorrow does come.