A paradox is “a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a truth.” There is always the element of contradiction in a paradox, something that just doesn’t seem to make sense. I’ve always been fascinated by paradox. That is possibly because of the linguistic teasing involved in it. Yesterday’s song on love (‘What Matters Most’ by Wes King) was full of paradox and my favourite song on the theme is ‘God’s Own Fool’ by Michael Card, as you’re all doubtless aware, given the number of times I mention it!
’God’s Own Fool’, Michael Card

When I was at university, I studied the writings of Blaise Pascal, a 16th century mathematician and Christian philosopher. He was a Christian who wrote a work intended to be a sustained and coherent examination and defence of the Christian faith, but this work (known as ‘Pensées’, ‘Thoughts’) was never completed in his lifetime. Much of the work is like the book of Proverbs: short, pithy sayings containing truth, often expressed in paradoxical forms that tease meaning out of brief thoughts. He discusses with great wonder and beauty the human condition, the incarnation, God, the meaning of life, revelation, and the paradoxes of Christianity. He passionately argues for the Christian faith, using both argumentation and his famous “Wager”. His ideas and arguments are sometimes developed and intricate, at other times, abrupt and mysterious. My very favourite ‘thought’ said ‘The heart has its reasons which reason does not know.’

I enjoyed studying Pascal because what he wrote about fitted so well with what I was reading in the Bible: how the first would be last, how the least would be the greatest, how life comes through surrender and death, how God’s foolishness is wiser than man’s wisdom and His weakness stronger than man’s strength (see Matt 19:30 TNIV, Mark 8:35 TNIV, 1 Cor 1:25 TNIV) I also enjoyed being at a place where learning was so admired and venerated and yet I saw clearly that that was not the sum total of what life was all about: it felt like life at Oxford was living my own paradox! (I have to say that Pascal also made a lot more sense than the despairing nihilism of 19th century philosophers like Nietzsche or 20th century existentialists such as Sartre, which formed part of the rest of my studies!)

Paradox, I think, is at the heart of Christianity because we live in a topsy-turvy world. Sin has messed things up so that we are not living in the world the right way up. We think we are seeing clearly, when in fact, we need God to open our eyes (see 2 Kings 6:8-23 TNIV).

C. S. Lewis wrote, ‘The Christian way is simply (I say simply because though the idea is easy, it is very difficult indeed) to continually get out of the way so that we can be a conduit of God’s power and love and glory. The same applies for growth as a Christian. The harder we try to grow, the less we are growing. We need to allow growth to happen to us.’ I think paradox is at the heart of our daily walk with God. Every time we think we’ve got it all sussed out, God opens our eyes afresh and we realise it’s not quite how we thought it was going to be. Paradox actually paves the way to perception, for us to perceive reality as it really is, not as it looks without God.

I have a tendency to make lists. In fact, I love making lists. That’s a part of my personality, I suppose: the part that likes order and control and making sense of the chaotic! It’s quite easy to know what should be at the top of our lists in life, because God has made it abundantly clear: “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31 TNIV)

Paul obviously took that to heart, for in 1 Corinthians 13 TNIV, he reiterates the supreme, total, overriding importance of love.

Now I’ve spent the past thirty years trying to understand the love of God and trying to unpack that simple English word and invest in it all the meaning that the numerous Hebrew and Greek words translated by ‘love’ contain. It’s a long struggle to strip the word of its mushy 21st century connotations and all the other wrong meanings that have become attached to it over the years, but at the heart of Christian discipleship, we can’t escape from the fact that loving God and loving people is what it’s all about. A long list of other achievements might look good on a C.V. or read well in the obituary column of a newspaper, but when we stand before God in eternity, I suspect what He really wants to see is a life of love. We’ll soon be starting a Bible study on the epistles of John, and the importance of love is one of the key things we find in 1 John. Love really does matter the most.

“Inhabit the trembling, yet be brave.
Embrace your weakness, yet be strong.
Say what you have to say
But always admit when you’re wrong.
Accept what you are, yet keep striving
To become that which you’ve been declared.
Be strong, yet bend with the wind.
Mourn, yet never despair.

Dwell in the moment, yet keep moving,
Knowing you’re just passing through.
Give all that you are, yet receive
All that is worthy and true.
Be at peace but never run from the battle,
For the battle is where peace is found.
And remember if you don’t have love,
You have nothing, no matter how profound.” (‘What Matters Most’, Wes King)
‘What Matters Most’, Wes King

In a recent blog post, I summarised all I’ve learned in 30 years of being a Christian via a song by Ishmael, and this idea is key! Many people think there is something esoteric about being a Christian, some grandiose rare knowledge that only a special few can possess. Cliques and cults have grown up over the years telling us that there is a secret pathway to God that only the initiated, the ones with special knowledge (the ‘gnostics’), can truly know Him.

I’ve found – sometimes with regret, sometimes with relief – that it’s really not that hard to be a Christian. There are some absolutely essential basics we need to survive, but the Pharisaical laws (by the time Christ came, the Pharisees had developed 613 laws, 365 negative commands and 248 positive laws), you’ll be glad to know, aren’t for us anymore! It’s not a question of secret codes and clever words, but the basic requirements are a believing heart for God, a willingness to listen and a readiness to obey.

We develop these things by spending time with God. Prayer – that posh word for the ongoing communication and conversation between God and people – is our lifeline to God. I was advised early on in my Christian life to begin and end each day with prayer and I’ve found that to be a useful thing to do. But I’ve also discovered that prayer doesn’t just happen at set times in set places. It’s an ongoing dialogue of the heart that can take place at any time, in any place, in a whole plethora of different formats. For me, song has always been one of the most useful forms of prayer I’ve known. Song gets to my spirit faster than words alone!

Next, I was taught to read the Bible every day and I’ve also found this to be absolutely basic to growth. I read through the Bible using the Cover to Cover reading scheme within the first year of being a Christian and have used a variety of other reading schemes over the years to ensure that I read the whole range of Scripture. ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ (2 Tim 3:16-17 TNIV) I reckoned that if this were true, the best way for me to be equipped to live as God wanted me to live was to make sure I knew the Bible. There are many different ways of reading and studying Scripture, a whole host of versions of the Bible, devotional notes galore to help. But in the end, there is simply no substitute for asking God to speak as we read and allowing His Word to shape our lives.

The third thing on Ishmael’s song list of essential basics is to ‘get some fellowship.’ I don’t quite know how this happened, but I knew instantly on becoming a Christian that church was part of the package. Some people have argued that you can be a Christian without going to church, that it’s all about one’s personal relationship with the Lord. All I can say to that is the church is God’s idea and therefore there is no question as to its importance as far as I’m concerned. I have seen the faults in a variety of churches over the years; no one church could ever be perfect, for it’s made up of imperfect people. But I believe God is doing something special with people that involves working and worshipping together. He has great plans for the church: ‘His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord…’ (Eph 3:10-11 TNIV)

Infuriating though we may find the church, God wants us to be committed to people and the best way I know how to do this is through a local church.

Lastly on my list of ‘basics’ is being willing to testify to what God has done for us and in us. We are to be witnesses. Acts 1:8 TNIV (‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’) is a staple verse of all Pentecostal churches, but we need to be as aware of the purpose of the power of the Holy Spirit as to its presence. Peter says, ‘Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.’ (1 Peter 3:15 TNIV) It’s not always easy to do this and we often feel inadequate to the task. But God has done so much for us that there should be an ‘overflow’.

‘Overflow’, Chris Tomlin & Daniel Carson

Tonight’s prayer meeting started like any other. We worshipped God through songs and prayed for October’s prayer topic of the unity of believers, thinking about the verses from Galatians 3:26-29 TNIV: ‘So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’

After the meeting, however, there were some unusual tasks to be completed, namely the inflation of more Space Hoppers for the children who attend the youth meetings:

Once inflated, they had to be tested!

‘Speak to me, Word of God, speak to me.
I come alive, I’m alive, when You speak to me.’ (‘Awake, my soul’, Chris Tomlin & Lecrae)
‘Awake, my soul’, Chris Tomlin & Lecrae

God’s Word contains all we need for living. Proverbs 1:1-5 in the Message version says,
“These are the wise sayings of Solomon,
David’s son, Israel’s king—
Written down so we’ll know how to live well and right,
to understand what life means and where it’s going;
A manual for living,
for learning what’s right and just and fair;
To teach the inexperienced the ropes
and give our young people a grasp on reality.
There’s something here also for seasoned men and women,
still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—
Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate,
the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.”

In the Bible, I have found ‘a manual for living’: how to live, what God requires from us, what He is like, what we are like. It’s a timeless book with ageless truths to light our paths and guide our steps. As Casting Crowns say,
“The Bible was inscribed over a period of 2000 years
In times of war and in days of peace
By kings, physicians, tax collectors, farmers, fishermen, singers and shepherds.
The marvel is that a library so perfectly cohesive
Could have been produced by such a diverse crowd
Over a period of time which staggers the imagination.
Jesus is its grand subject, our good is designed and the Glory of God is its end.” (‘The Word is Alive’, Casting Crowns)
‘The Word is Alive’, Casting Crowns

Hebrews 4:12 TNIV says ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’ I have found this living word to be the single most important gift God has given me and my ongoing desire is to know it more and live by its truths.

We live in a society where identity is often synonymous with what we do. Who we are doesn’t always seem as important to other people as what we do. When we’re younger, it’s difficult for us to know who we are, for we are discovering ourselves as we grow up and we can be easily influenced by other people. For me, it has taken a long time to learn that our identity in God matters far more than anything else in life other than God Himself and that our identity in Him is the thing that defines us.

I made a notice to go on the wall where I worked for years which read ‘We are children of God. Who we are is more important than what we do.’

If, like me, you were somehow imbued with the Protestant work ethic when young (even though I didn’t know what the term meant and I wasn’t a Christian then!), it can be hard to relax and just be. I always measured who I was in terms of what I did. I felt I had to strive to earn people’s affection and love and no matter what I did, somehow it just wasn’t good enough. I transferred those feelings easily onto God, so that it was hard for me to accept God’s unconditional love. My identity was almost always identified with activity, with doing, with striving. I have a perfectionist streak in me which meant I soon came to realise I was never satisfied with what I was doing (I could always do better) and, if I were honest, I wasn’t satisfied with who I was either. That makes for pretty miserable living.

There’s nothing wrong with activity in itself and nothing wrong with striving to improve. The difficulty comes if our identity becomes so wrapped up in it that we cannot accept ourselves as we are and cannot believe that God accepts us and loves us with no strings attached and with an unconditional love that is not dependent on us. Learning to be secure in who we are in God – children of the King, sons and daughters of the living God, a bride that is cherished and loved by her bridegroom husband (Isaiah 62:3-5 TNIV is one of my favourite passages and if I had to say what my favourite symbolic name in the Bible was, it would indeed be Hephzibah!) Only when we truly know that our identity is secure in God and that this is more important than any other thing we do in life, that this is the thing which will identify us throughout eternity, can we be really free.

“I’ve been looking from the outside, outside
I’ve been walking on a straight line, straight line
Scared to let the world see my failures, who I am, or who I’ve been.

I want to see the world change, see the system cave in
You pull our hearts from the ashes
The cry of the captive is rising.” (‘Identity’, Kutless)
’Identity’, Kutless