Ps 107:2 says ‘Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.’ It is so important for each one of us to realise we have a story to tell and to be involved in telling that story. We often think of evangelism as something difficult, something best left to the ‘professionals’, but at its heart, evangelism (good news!) is simply telling others what God has done for us. It is a personal testimony or witness to what God has done in our lives and what He means to us.

I grew up not giving God much thought at all. My parents had had a religious upbringing and been part of the Methodist Church at Furlong Road, but church was not a regular part of my childhood. God was a vague presence to me; a personal relationship with Him was not mentioned, and reading the Bible and praying did not form part of my daily experience. When I was in my early teens, God began to work wonderfuly in my family as my youngest aunt became a Christian when she left home to begin teacher- training in Leeds. My mother, grandmother, uncle and his wife all became Christians and started attending a local church, but still I was only vaguely aware of what God could do or why it was important to know Him.

Through their prayers, however, I began to consider this God who had clearly made a visible difference in their lives. I wanted God’s help – to do well at school, for example – but on my terms. I didn’t really understand anything about sin or salvation, but I was curious.

I read biographies and testimonies of people like Nicky Cruz and Joni (paralysed in a diving accident at eighteen), but it was only when a friend’s sister went to university and started attending Christian meetings there that I began to wonder if God was relevant to younger people as well. My friend’s sister and her friends were intelligent, educated people who were articulate in defending the historical credibility of their faith and passionate about living out what they believed. I started corresponding with one of them to debate many issues, only to discover that for Christians, the true launchpad for everything was God and His revelation in the Bible.

I visited this group in 1983 and continued to see how real their faith was. By this time, I was acutely aware that I did not have the same personal relationship with God that they had, and so it was on my return that, convicted and uncomfortable, I cried out to God for myself in the lounge of my house one Thursday morning and my Mum had the privilege of leading me to know the Lord for myself.

That’s my story. What’s yours? And how can we share this with other people?

Two years ago we celebrated September birthdays at a wedding. Last night, we celebrated the birthdays with an extra member of the family…!

William Cowper’s hymn contains some very pertinent and still relevant truths:

God’s love, Garry reminded us, goes much further than our love. We may not fully understand why He created us with free will; we certainly do not understand how He can use even evil, pain and suffering for good (as John Dickson remarks, ‘But here we arrive at the heart of the issue… God’s reasons for permitting evil are indeed loving and, what’s more… he is able to achieve his aims and, (even) more… it shouldn’t surprise us that limited beings (like us) might not be able to imagine the divine reasons (for it all).’ See ‘Religion And Ethics’) We see in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins, however, the extent of God’s love: how He came to our world, took on human flesh, lived a perfect life and offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

The gospel never ends at that point, however. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrate to us the extent and depth of God’s love, but He calls us then to be imitators and love in the same way! Matt 5:43-48 shows us how we too are called to love our enemies. In the Old Testament, the book of Hosea acts as a parable, showing us God’s love for the wayward and unfaithful (see Hos 1, Hos 3:1). In the New Testament, we are constantly urged to use our free will to love as God loves (see also Rom 12:19-21). God gave Himself for those who hated Him and rejected Him; He calls us to do the same, to overcome evil with good. God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, with no thought for God, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8); Jesus reminds us that if we love Him, we will obey His commandments (Jn 14:15). He does not compel us or coerce us to do this, but again gives us free choice.

If we are to live wisely, we will choose wisely and will love as He loves. The choice, however, is ours.

Many people struggle with the idea of God and His love, simply imagining God to be a ‘bigger version’ of humans and His love to be a little bit bigger than ours. The truth is that we are made in God’s image (not the other way round!) and His love is vastly different to ours in scope, depth and continuity.

The Bible tells us that God is love (1 Jn 4:8) and that He is motivated by love in everything He does; it affirms His love as everlasting, never-ending and persevering. Yet so often, we harbour nagging doubts about God’s love and goodness and must wrestle with the question ‘If God is loving, why does He allow…?’ Stephen Fry believes God is cruel and mean because bone cancer in children exists; many people feel uncomfortable with the idea that if God is all-powerful, why does He not intervene to stop terrorists or prevent murders or natural disasters? They affirm that God is either all-powerful and ‘capricious, mean-minded’ or downright cruel, or loving and weak, unable to prevent disasters in the same way we often feel powerless to intervene.

These difficult questions are not without answers. The Bible affirms that God made a wonderful creation, perfect in every way, and made man in His image, which included the capacity for choice. Free will means that we can choose to obey or disobey, and so often, we choose to go our own way. This capacity for choice has huge impact not only on our own lives, but on the lives of other people as well, and included in love is this freedom which so often leads to trouble (see this clip from ‘Bruce Almighty’). It is also at the heart of what is wrong with the world (and why natural disasters, disease, injustice and death abound in our world), since all problems can be traced back to the choice of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to go their own way, rather than God’s.

Stephen Fry asked the question of God, ‘How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault?’ We may never know why God chose to give us free will (though a creature without free will would simply be a robot), but we have to come to terms with the effects of our choices, and then we also discover that God Himself loves us so much He gave Himself to provide a way back to Him. Our choices are crucial. Will we choose God’s way over our own?

It’s very easy in life to get distracted. We are seeing this all the time at the moment with our first grandchild who has just learned to crawl and who is desperate to learn to walk. She is, as a consequence, having to cope with falling down on a regular basis, and distraction is a major weapon in our armoury when that happens and the tears flow. Most of the time, it’s her pride which hurt and she is thus easily distracted by something else that is interesting, shiny and which will soon become her new goal. The tears of frustration cease and the journey to a new destination begins all over again – hundreds of times within an hour!

Distraction is not quite so useful as we get older, however, though it is just as prevalent. We are easily distracted from our pursuit of God. Trials come, and we focus on them, being knocked off course by hardship and suffering. Shiny, new pastimes pull at us, often not wrong in themselves, but how easily they distract us from prayer, worship and service. All around us, distractions tug at us, luring us from single-minded devotion to God. As I watch my granddaughter flit from one object to another, purposefully pursuing a goal only to stop en route because something else has grabbed her attention, I am reminded that I am not so very different.

Isaiah 26 contains many of the most wonderful verses in the whole Bible. It reminds us God provides salvation for us, likening this to a strong city, fortified by walls and ramparts. (Is 26:1) It promises God ‘will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.’ (Is 26:3) The key to this peace, however, established by God for us (Is 26:12), is steadfastness of mind. Trusting in God is not easy when there are so many distractions around, but God’s name and renown must be the desire of our hearts. (Is 26:8)

We cannot afford to be immature, allowing ourselves to be distracted by either trial or triumph, not to mention the trivial. We have to walk in the ways of God’s laws and wait for Him, yearning for Him in the night and longing for Him in the morning. (Is 26:8-9) The world holds many distractions and much allure, but we are urged to keep ourselves from idols. (1 Jn 5:21) As I get older, I often walk into a room and wonder why I have gone there, forgetting the reason for my trip! We must not be like this in our walk with God, but need to press on with perseverance, fixing our eyes on Jesus and defeating weariness and lack of confidence as we persist through all distractions. (Heb 12:1-3)