Manipulation is very closely associated with revenge (though we may not think so), for it’s based on the false premise that we are required to sort everything out in life for ourselves. People who manipulate like to be in control. They like to engineer situations and people so that they are treated well and things work out for them. The root of manipulation lies in our belief that we are all-important, at the centre of the universe, with everything revolving around us. It’s a skill we learn early on in life as any parent of a toddler knows well (they are able to turn the tears on and off with consummate ease according to where they are and what they want!)

God does not want us to live like this. Manipulating people to make them serve us is the very opposite of how God acts. He who could rightly command our service gave us free will and offers us the choice to serve Him because we love Him, not out of fear or terror. We need to allow others the same free will and learn to let go of our need to be in control. This is terrifying at first, for the beloved may well choose a path that leads away from truth and trust, but it is the only way ultimately that leads to freedom. Those who seek to manipulate people and are in relationships where coercive control rules will not find the love they crave, for Jesus pointed us to love which denies itself and seeks the highest good always. Stop trying to make people do what you want and focus on loving God and doing what He wants!

I have many misgivings about the edicts and behaviour being manifested at the present time. The most frequent thought I have as I listen to portentous pronouncements curtailing freedom and watch hysterical behaviour in shops is ‘the whole world’s gone mad!‘ The panic, hysteria, fear and frenzy all around, so blithely adopted by hordes of people, beggars belief. I can’t see how these responses achieve anything positive, but the domino effect causes stability and normality to topple over all too quickly. Rational thought, reasoned arguments and quiet faith seem to be abandoned at the door of life in 2020.

I don’t pretend to know anything about Covid-19 or to have any expert advice on what should, could, or will be done. I do, however, know that God has not changed, and have no desire to abandon a faith that has survived plagues, pestilences, disasters and wars. The adage ‘God’s on the throne: all’s well with the world’ may seem trite and simplistic, but that fact is that God is still God, no matter what’s wrong with the world. He hasn’t changed, no matter what disasters lurk beside us to trip us up and shatter our lives.

This present climate reminds us of our hatred of uncertainty, our desperate need to feel in control of our lives (even if that’s down to how many toilet rolls we own) and our insecurity when we face a troubled future. I see a loss of control as something to be embraced, not shunned. It’s actually how we’re supposed to live anyway: one day at a time, trusting God for our daily bread, our daily needs, ‘care-free in the care of God’, as the Message version puts Luke 12:24.

Similarly, our hatred of uncertainty can be channelled into the things that remain certain: the unchanging nature of God, the truths that form the bedrock of our lives. All other ground is sinking sand.

Facing a troubled future is no new thing for the Christian, but we take heart from Jesus’s encouragement that He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Ultimately, we have an eternally secure future in the hands of a God who has conquered sin and death. There really is nothing for the Christian to fear.

So how do we respond to the uncertainty, fear and panic that are gripping our world (and which may prove to be even deadlier than the virus itself)? We need to respond with faith and love and live with hope.

Faith looks beyond the visible to the One who reigns over all. Love takes us beyond our desperate need to control, fix and manage our own lives and allows us to see beyond the present situation. Living with hope means we do not have to embrace paranoia or panic; instead, we can wait for the Lord in quietness and trust.

J. John speaks of our faith giving us sanity, stability and serenity. We serve the God of reality who provides respite and refuge in times of trouble. In Him, we find all we need. In Him, we find the grace and strength to carry on, no matter what.

Let’s be light and salt to our world now – showing people the grace and love of God and always being prepared to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ. Maybe that way others too can be led to know Christ and can find freedom from fear and set foot on the path to eternal life.

Stephen spoke tonight on the question of effectiveness. God’s intention is for each one of us to be effective – an intention which goes back to the beginning of time (Gen 2:15). He gave Adam the task of caring for the world, but sin distorted that purpose (rather like an SLR lens which has to be manually adjusted to work properly not being adjusted correctly – resulting in an out-of-focus photograph which lacks clarity), and as a result, God has had to remind mankind repeatedly of His plans and purposes (for example, starting afresh with Noah or promising to bless Abram).

In the New Testament, Jesus taught us how to be effective for God through the Beatitudes (see Matt 5:1-16). This topsy-turvy way of living shows us the values God wants us to display and reminds us that we are salt and light in the world. Later, Jesus taught us that the key to effectiveness lies in our prayer life, learning to ask, seek and knock (Matt 7:7).

Effectiveness does not simply apply to us as individuals but also applies to us as a church (the team leader in ‘Oblivion’ used to act the team each morning ‘are you an effective team?‘) Each individual ‘cog’ is needed for an engine to work effectively and in the same way, each individual member of the church is needed to make an effective team. Js 5:16 gives us a clue as to how God defines effectiveness: the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. We need to be effective in prayer so that we can receive the reward promised to faithfulness: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ (Matt 25:23)

Self-isolation may be the ‘hot topic’ at the moment as a fear of the corona virus spreads over the world, but in our series on ‘Connections’ today, we looked at the subject of marriage and the family – probably our closest horizontal connections on earth.

For centuries, Christian marriage was seen as the bedrock of society, but over the past fifty years or so, that view has been increasingly challenged, and nowadays there is a sense in which equality and diversity are seen as being more important than anything God may have to say about marriage and family. Anything goes as far as family relationships are concerned and the traditional Christian view that marriage should be between a man and a woman, involving vows, as the only sanctified place for sexual activity, is under attack.

Nonetheless, we affirm the Biblical view of marriage, based on an understanding of Genesis 2 and the high place Jesus Himself placed on marriage (see Matt 19). Marriage is not only a physical union but is meant to mirror the love God has for the church; God uses the metaphor of marriage to demonstrate to us something of unconditional, everlasting love. We cannot simply dismiss God’s views of marriage and the family without ending up on a road that does not lead to happiness (see Prov 14:12).

Paul addresses this subject in Eph 5:21-33, reminding us that the advice he gives to us is based on the mystery of the marriage between Christ and the church. Love, submission and obedience are key words to building successful family relationships, but the context for these is the selfless love of Christ, who gave Himself for us (see 1 John 4:8-10). Only as we learn to love others more than ourselves and walk the narrow path of self-denial (see Phil 2:3-4, Mark 8:34-36) can we build relationships that honour God and lead to mutual edification.

There is hope for us when we fail (as we so often do), for God offers us hope and a second chance, but we must move from the ‘blame game’ to accepting our responsibility in all relationships and turning to God in repentance. Only when that vertical connection is fully established and we receive God’s love can we hope to love others as He does. God’s plan was always that our relationship with Him would so influence all our relationships that others would see and know that He is God. May our earthly marriages, families and relationships reflect His love and forgiveness, showing others there’s always hope and always the chance for restoration and a second chance.

Revenge – the desire to get even, to make our own justice, to ensure that right is done – is often seen as a good way to live. Many films are based on this premise and are entertaining and often thought-provoking in how they portray this. It comes as a shock, therefore, to find Jesus urging us to trust in God’s ability to resolve situations rather than our own. His command to love our enemies and to seek God’s blessings for them (see Matt 5:43-48), to forgive those who sin against us (Matt 6:12, 14-15), coupled with the command not to repay anyone evil for evil (see Rom 12:17-21), all go against our cultural and personal desire to vindicate ourselves and sort justice out.

To eschew revenge does not mean that we don’t care about justice or that we are condoning evil. It does not mean we are doormats who can be walked on without fighting for right. It does mean, however, that we live in such a way that we reflect God’s nature and trust Him to wrong the rights. So often, our need for revenge is tied to our need to be validated, to prove that we are right and that we matter. If we are secure in our relationship with God, we can endure misunderstanding and great injustice because we know that God is fighting for us, ‘and if God is for us, who can be against us?’ (Rom 8:31) We can be confident that the Judge of all the earth will do right (Gen 18:25) and therefore we can trust in Him to sort out the present mess. This may take far longer than we like, but we follow the example of one who suffered the ultimate injustice of crucifixion and saw vindication beyond anything we could imagine (see Is 53:9-12, 1 Pet 2:18-25).

Pride is a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, and whilst it is not wrong to be proud of some achievements, problems arise when we put more emphasis on these achievements than on God. It’s easy to put ourselves at the centre and relegate God to the periphery, and when this happens, we are apt to fall into the trap of self-righteousness.

Jesus told a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). The parable was told because some ‘were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.’ (Luke 18:9) The Pharisee was entirely caught up in himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ (Luke 18:11-12) The tax collector simply appealed to God’s mercy, and as a result he, and not the Pharisee, went home justified before God. We need to let go of pride in ourselves and our competence and self-confidence and learn to cultivate humility and an awareness of God. As Jeremiah told us and Paul reiterated, ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’ (Jer 9:24, 1 Cor 1:31)