Nicky Gumbel, in his ‘Bible In One Year‘ commentary, talks about how the Titanic, that flagship of cruise liners, sank in 1912 despite its compartmentalised infrastructure:

Its builders boasted that it had 16 watertight compartments and that up to four of these could be damaged or even flooded and still the ship would float; it was, in their words, ‘unsinkable.’ However, sink it did (on 15th April 1912), after hitting an iceberg, and when the wreck was found, it was discovered that damage to just one compartment had affected all the rest.

When we divide our lives into different compartments, we run the risk of sinking, just as the Titanic did. Psychiatrists talk of the dangers of fractured lives, how our attempts to deal with pain and trauma by boxing off our feelings or emotions, forcing them out of our consciousness, lead to problems in the long run. Repression and denial leave us looking good on the surface, but the pressure within these locked compartments of our psyche causes untold damage to our souls, like water flooding in to the Titanic’s compartments. Eventually, the force of those things comes crashing out, leading to depression, anger, breakdowns, as we cannot cope with holding all the separate pieces together. In extreme cases, schizophrenia results as our personality fragments.

In order to live lives of integrity, we have to root out sin, being aware that its pervasive influence seeps into every area of our lives. Attitudes to money, relationships, work, leisure and God are critical. Prov 23:7 reminds us that as we think, so we are.

We need to allow God’s ways of handling life to become our ways. Most of all, we need to receive God’s help, allowing His Spirit free reign, allowing Him access to every compartment, every room, in our lives. As He does this, He guides us day by day. Life is too daunting, too painful, too stressful to be lived on our own. Wholeness and healing are found in God; an undivided heart is the key to successful living. David’s success in life wasn’t because he was sin-free or his life trouble-free, but because he was a man after God’s heart who shepherded his people with integrity of heart. (Ps 78:72)

When I was at school, one of the desserts served was rice pudding, served with a dollop of strawberry jam:

Most children mixed the jam into the rice pudding and ate the subsequent pink dessert which they dubbed the ‘pink panther.’ The jam sweetened the pudding and changed its colouring completely.

Nowadays, I eat porridge for breakfast, usually with raspberries. Garry treats this breakfast like the children at school treated the rice pudding: he crushes the raspberries and eats a pink gloop for breakfast. I eat a spoonful of porridge with an individual raspberry.

I suspect that the pink panther approach works better in life, however, than my method, for (as Rick Warren says) ‘a life of integrity is one that is not divided into compartments.’

We think that the life works well when it’s divided into compartments (work, home, church, God, money, leisure, friends and so on.) It doesn’t. Life is messy; each area spills into another and can’t be divided up neatly. One area overflows into another and it actually becomes dangerous to try to keep these compartments separate, for it leads to fragmentation and disharmony.

Matt Redman’s song ‘King of My Soul’ has the line ‘so let my life be undivided, God.’ Jesus reminded us that we need to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others as ourselves. (Matt 22:37-38) Only when there is integrity within, the ‘undivided heart‘ for which David prayed (Ps 86:11), can there be wholeness and strength. ‘A house divided against itself will not stand.’ (Matt 12:25) This applies to individuals, families, churches, even nations. Integration and integrity lead to health and strength.

When things go well for us, our reaction is usually favourable: we enjoy celebrating; we may even remember to praise God for the good things and good times! When something bad happens, however, we are usually full of questions: ‘why has this happened to me? Whose fault is it? Does God even care?’

Life will inevitably bring us a combination of good times and bad times and how we react is vitally important, for these incidents become pivotal points for us, with our reactions reflecting who we are. Job 7:20 reminds us that Job struggled at times, feeling that he had become ‘God’s target.’ He felt that he was a burden to God and tha he had been thrown into the clutch of the wicked (Job 16:11), just as Naomi felt the Lord’s hand had turned against her when her husband and sons died in Moab (Ruth 1:12-13).

Jesus reminded His disciples that the Holy Spirit will never leave us and is our comforter (see Luke 11:9-13). In good times and bad times, God does not leave us and in all circumstances, the best response is to praise God. There is power in praise (see Rev 4:8-11) and as we praise, we find that we can cope with the unexpected and that God picks us up and carries us through the trials.

We also had a belated birthday to celebrate:

Throughout April we’ll be praying especially for families: our own families and families of people we know. There is so much pressure on families these days: financial pressure, emotional pressure, time pressure, to name but a few. The family is God’s idea and we so need God’s love to guide us and help us in the reality of living alongside others. Forgiveness, communication, appreciation and kindness are the essential ingredients that make a successful family: Virginia Satir says “Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible — the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.” 

Pray this month for:

• stability and healing of relationships within families – so many families are estranged and there are often complicated relationships throughout extended families, but God can help us to be stable and to demonstrate faithfulness and love in all our relationships and bring reconciliation and hope to painful situations
• children and young people in our families and in families associated with church to be saved
• new parents as they adjust to the pressures of parenthood and cope with the demands of sleepless nights and adjustments to their relationships
• grandparents to have wisdom and insight in helping each generation
• God’s transforming power to be seen in our families and in local families
• for people to be saved and welcomed into the wider family of God

There are many organisations seeking to work with the family. Check out the following resources:

• http://www.careforthefamily.org.uk/family-life/parent-support
• http://www.crosswalk.com/family/
• http://www.focusonthefamily.com/
• http://www1.cbn.com/family
• http://www.todayschristianwoman.com/topics/relationships/parenting/

Mark spoke about living in God’s presence this morning at Cherry Tree Court. If you want to meet someone famous, you usually have to wait for an invitation or go to a particular place where you may meet that person. God extends an open invitation to each one of us, however, to draw near to Him.

Ps 27:1-6 is a psalm written by King David who, even in the midst of trials and in the presence of enemies, prayed that he would dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. He not only wanted to live in God’s presence, but actively pursued that desire. We are part of God’s family and are therefore granted access to His presence night and day; God is our Father and can come to Him at any time and in any place.

Ps 23:1-6 also looks at the fact that God is our guide throughout life and prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies so that we may dwell in the house of the Lord not only for our lives on earth but forever. God’s blessings are so abundant that our cup overflows and we can be with God for eternity.

 

I’m reading a book on Revelation at the moment, and in it the author is talking about the number of biblical allusions in that book. John is soaked in Scripture and it’s not really possible to read Revelation properly unless we too catch these allusions. There may well be no direct quotations from other parts of the Bible, but the whole of the rest of God’s masterplan as revealed in the Bible is part of the spirit of the book.

For me, good songs are like that too. They may quote Scripture directly, but quite often there is allusion (expressions designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly). The songwriter has a limited number of words available in a song lyric and so often cannot quote directly, but by rephrasing a well-known Scripture or giving us just that jolt in the right direction, our imaginations are stirred and we are ‘hooked’.

Bryn Haworth’s song ‘New ID’ does that for me. Even using the modern abbreviation ‘ID’ in places as well as the word ‘identity’ gives me a new angle from which to explore my identity in Christ. The lyrics contain so many references (direct and indirect) to Scripture that it’s like having a condensed Bible study in 6 minutes! If you have the time to spare, listen here and enjoy!

I’ve got a new identity[1]

Now there’s a friend in me[2]

I’ve found a masterplan[3]

I know just who I am

I’ve got a new ID.

 

I’ve got a new identity

They say salvation’s free,

But when I look at that cross,

I see how much it cost to get my new ID[4].

 

I’m rich, my treasure’s in heaven now.[5]

Old things have passed away.[6]

Can a loser be a winner?[7]

Can a dead man live again?[8]

Can a thief become an honest man?[9]

Would you treat him like a friend?

 

I’ve got a new identity

This life has set me free[10]

I’ve been made one with Him[11]

Who died and rose again[12]

I’ve got a new ID.

 

Dressed up, clothed in His righteousness,[13]

So loved, just as I am[14]

And these prison bars can’t hold me,

There is freedom from the law.[15]

Now I live by faith in the Son of God[16]

Who gave Himself for all.[17]

I no longer have to be just a victim of the past[18]

Does the strongest always win the way?[19]

Can the first be last?[20]

 

I’ve got a new identity

Now there’s a friend in me

And when I look at that man,

I know just who I am

I’ve got a new ID.

 

‘What’s your name? What do you do?’

These are the questions that people ask you.

It doesn’t matter what they think:

I could be famous or the weakest link.[21]

More than a number on a government form

Not just a star sign the day I was born.[22]

I’m dead and buried, been crucified with Christ,[23]

Called out of darkness now I’m living in the light.[24]

I’ve been raised up and seated with Him[25]

Been reconciled, not strangers but friends.[26]

Holy and blameless[27], precious in His sight,[28]

No longer lost in the middle of the night[29]

I’m strong, there’s power in weakness now.[30]

My times are in His hands[31]

And I am a new creation,[32]

A holy work of art[33]

And one day there’ll be perfection,

Now we only see in part.[34]

 

I’ve got a new identity

Now there’s a friend in me

I’ve found a masterplan

I know just who I am

I’ve got a new ID.

 

[1] 2 Cor 5:17

[2] John 15:15, Col 1:27

[3] Jer 29:11

[4] 1 Cor 6:20

[5] 2 Cor 8:9, Matt 6:20, Eph 1:14-18

[6] 2 Cor 5:17

[7] Luke 19:1-10

[8] John 11, 1 Cor 15:20

[9] Matt 9:9, Luke 19:1-10

[10] Gal 5:1

[11] 1 Cor 12:9-20

[12] 1 Thess 4:14

[13] Is 61:10

[14] Rom 5:8

[15] Gal 5:1-6, Gal 2:19

[16] Gal 2:20

[17] 2 Cor 5:14

[18] Rom 6:4

[19] Deut 32:30, 1 Sam 17

[20] Matt 20:16

[21] 1 Cor 1:26-31

[22] Jer 1:5, Ps 139:1-5

[23] Rom 6:4, Gal 2:20

[24] 1 Pet 2:9

[25] Eph 2:6

[26] 2 Cor 5:18-21, John 15:15

[27] Eph 1:4

[28] Eph 1:4, Ps 139:17

[29] Luke 15

[30] 2 Cor 12:9

[31] Ps 31:15

[32] 2 Cor 5:17

[33] Eph 2:10

[34] 1 Cor 13:12