Great quote in Tim Keller's new book, King's Cross, on the judgmentalism of not judging:
"The self-discovery person says 'The progressive, open-minded people are in and the judgmental bigots are out—and of course we're the open-minded ones.'
"In Western cosmopolitan culture there's an enormous amount of self-righteousness about self-righteousness. We progressive urbanites are so much better than people who think they're better than other people. We disdain those religious, moralistic types who look down on others…
"[This attitude] leads to as much superiority and self-righteousness as religion does."
It’s so frustrating, isn’t it?
You wake in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep. Instead you toss and turn for hours. Or you can’t get to sleep in the first place. You just lie there worrying that you’ll be exhausted in the morning.
A long-term illness means I spend many night-time hours wide awake, my mind racing and my body aching. It’s infuriating!
Those small hours of the morning focus the mind—but the focus is you. Introspection reigns.
DON'T WASTE THE TIME
So what do you do if you’re awake when you don’t want to be? Naturally, I find my mind focuses on me. My worries, my busy-ness, my need to sleep! But that just makes things worse.
For me, the answer is to pray. Now that sounds dreadfully “holy” – but it grew from a pragmatic start. I needed to find a way to keep those night-time hours under control.
So now I ask my friends to tell me things I can pray for them. Nothing complicated—I don’t want to turn on a light to read a list. Short, simple requests that I can remember easily, and bring to mind when I’m awake.
All I do is think of a friend or colleague, and start to pray for them.
It’s a very simple idea (I’m ashamed it took me so long to think of it) but it’s made a huge difference. My focus is moved away from myself and towards others. I’m reminded that God, who also doesn’t sleep(!), is with me and hearing my prayers.
TIME WELL SPENT
And instead of those waking hours feeling like a waste of time, they become time well spent. That in turn reduces the frustration, which is sometimes enough to lull me back to sleep.
It’s a very simple idea, but for me it works. Next time you’re awake when you don’t want to be—why not try it?
And, if you’ve found times that can be well-spent praying for others instead of thinking about yourself—please put them in a comment below, so I can learn from them!
Happy Valentine's Day… and here's a Valentine-ish stat.
Of all the songs with the word "love" in the title, the most-played in public (radio, shops and so on) is…
Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis.
Of course, her song (which I have to confess I have on my iPod) is all about her bleeding love. But maybe on this, the day when love is most commercialised and soppy-fied, it's worth remembering that in her title, she's right.
Real love bleeds.
Real love, as Leona puts it, really does "wear these scars for everyone to see."
The BBC is running a fascinating analysis of wealth on its website (go here), and log in to do it.
It shows you how you're doing compared to everyone else in the UK. We did it as a family: cue predictable howls about how much richer our children's friends are, how we never go anywhere "special" on holiday, etc etc… And even I thought I didn't feel particularly wealthy. Wouldn't it be nice to have that bit more, like those other people. If only, if only…
But actually, we were well over half way up the lucre ladder. And of course, when we think in world terms—as you can here—that green-eyed perception-distorting monster lurking within us, the one which only ever compares us with those who seem to have so much more, goes a little quiet.
It reminded me of some free downloadable resources on our site, which look at the whole question of contentment.
Because actually, I need to remember that it's not about looking up or looking down: it's about looking at Christ, and seeing how far short I fall of deserving anything at all, and yet still seeing that in him, we will enjoy all the riches of God's grace for all eternity.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a little booklet to give to a non-Christian friend with answers to the big questions people have about the Christian faith?
It would?! We know—which is why our little I’m Glad You Asked That booklet has proved such a big seller.
But it’s nearly 20 years old now, and has been retired for a few years: so after two decades it’s time (like a Hollywood actress) it had a facelift and a comeback.
So we’re asking ourselves:
This is where we’d love you to come in. The current questions are listed below: please leave a comment, telling us one (or more of):
We’d really, really love your help with this, so that the new version won’t only look better, it’ll also be able to work better and in more situations (just like a facelifted Hollywood actress…)
Here are the current questions:
Christians should get angry. But we need to get angry about the right things.
We’re currently developing a Good Book Guide for small-group Bible studies looking at the book of Jonah.
The author’s Stephen Witmer, a pastor in Massachusetts. And he makes a great comparison between Jonah, and what makes him angry, and Jesus, and what makes him angry.
Stephen’s put loads of interesting, challenging stuff like that in the Good Book Guide. It should be out this summer.
Half of elite scientists are “religious”, and another fifth consider themselves “spiritual”, according to a recent study.
The US survey, which is based on 1,700 scientists, suggests that Richard Dawkins’ famous claim that elite scientists are atheists is also a rather false claim.
That’s the first interesting point made in an article about the study in today’s Guardian.And Nick Spencer goes on to make a couple more really thought-provoking observations:
“Our conviction that scientists, elite or otherwise, are somehow better qualified to discern the nature of reality is dubious.
“Elite scientists undoubtedly know vastly more about their subject than other people. But to imagine that that makes them somehow better qualified to adjudicate on big-picture questions is like saying because I know my home town like the back of my hand, I am well-equipped to lecture on European geography.”
“Christ often remarked on the inability of the educated elite of his time to get what he was about.
“There is a long-standing theme within Christian thought that sees the Christian message as having a particular appeal to the underclass, not only those socially and politically alienated, but also those the intellectually and educationally excluded.”
My question is: is that true of Bible-teaching churches today in the UK? Does the way we run our churches, and the style of our teaching, have “a particular appeal to the underclass”, both in social and educational terms? Or does it tend to have more of a “particular appeal” to middle-class, university-educated “elites”?
What do you think?
I know, I know, Christmas is well and truly over, and no-one wants to think about it till next November at the earliest (apart from super-organised people who are picking up discounted Christmas cards and decorations for next year).
But in publishing, we have to think ahead (not something I'm known for): and we're starting to develop a short evangelistic book which uses the historical events of the first Christmas to explain the gospel. It's for giving to friends, handing out at carol services, and so on.
Here's my current question: How do you get to the cross and resurrection from the Christmas story?
Obviously, no gospel explanation is complete if it includes only the manger, and not the cross and the tomb. But how to get there without a horrific, crunching gear change?
That's where I'd love your help! If at Christmas-time you've ever chatted to friends, family or colleagues who don't know Christ, how did you get to the cross? How have you heard others do it? How would you like it to be done in a book you could happily give to those contacts?
All ideas very gratefully received! Post a comment below. And then get the book next Christmas to see how we did it…
Here's something truly encouraging.
It's an article in Evangelicals Now, a simple testimony of one man's path to faith. But the really heartwarming thing is the number of different individuals involved, and how God guided this guy's questioning over a number of years.
He was struck both by what Christians said, and also how they lived – from school years onwards.
I would guess that some of those involved never knew whether their words and actions had an impact – maybe they thought he was yet another person they prayed for but who didn’t respond.
It's just really encouraged me to keep reaching out, even though most of the time I won’t know if there’s any fruit until the new creation.
Leading our church service last Sunday, I remarked that church was like a lot of different things:
It was a throwaway line to introduce the confession we said together but, in a way I hadn't planned or foreseen, its real value came after the meeting as we mingled for coffee.
I find it quite awkward sometimes to open up conversations with people at a level deeper than "How was your week?" I usually find myself talking about the kids rather than about Christ.
But on Sunday, I just asked people this simple question: "What did you need most this morning - a school, a family or a hospital?"
It opened up a series of brilliant conversations about the sermon, our human needs, and about some doubts and other issues people were concerned about. It felt like fellowship ought to. Real, natural, open, non-judgmental and caring.
Why not try it this Sunday morning... and why not help me for next time I lead a service, by leaving a comment suggesting another way to prompt some Christ-centred post-church conversations?
