Superstition may seem a harmless addition to our Christian lives, often fuelled by pragmatic reasons (‘don’t walk under a ladder because you might get drenched from the window cleaner’s water’, for example). But when we are superstitious, we are actually ascribing to something else the power that only belongs to God.

Some Christians are content to live with this duality, but in Leviticus 19, the ‘holiness chapter’ in the Old Testament which points to the absolute purity of God and the implications this has for us all, we are warned against superstition which involves the occult. Lev 19:31 warns us against reading horoscopes (do we really believe the stars guide our paths or our loving heavenly Father?), consulting psychics, fortune-telling, palm reading, tarot cards and every other kind of occult activity. The only way to live a holy life which pleases God is to get rid of these things (Acts 19:19) and repent, asking God to forgive us and enable us to trust Him alone.

Superstition can often worm its ways into our lives in other forms, however. Anything which keeps our attention on foolish things rather than on Christ needs to go. He deserves our whole-hearted commitment and undivided devotion.

Ps 103:6 says, ‘The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.‘ The concept of righteousness and justice – whether in a local situation, a national or international situation – is well established these days, but it is worth reflecting that Israel’s God gave rules and laws to protect the weak, needy and oppressed in ways that were completely counter-cultural to the nations around them. In David’s day, as in some countries today, might was right and the king often had absolute authority over the people. As far as God was concerned, however, the king was subject to His authority (see 1 Sam 12:13-14) and God’s rule was absolute. Far from leading to oppression, however, God’s laws showed His mercy, compassion and care for those in need.

In England, the Magna Carta in 1215 established the rule of law and we now take this for granted. Nonetheless, we need to understand God’s heart for the oppressed and recognise that good laws are based on God’s laws. God made known His ways to Moses and His deeds to the people of Israel, and from this, we see not only what God does, but how He works. His blessings and favour are available to us, but our response to God’s mercy, compassion, forgiveness, redemption and love means we fear Him and seek to obey Him. If He is so interested in the downtrodden, our focus needs to be in the same place as His.

Garry continued looking at psalms of thanksgiving tonight, focussing on Psalm 103. Like so many psalms, this begins and ends with an exhortation to praise the Lord. This time, however, it begins with self-encouragement: ‘praise the Lord, O my soul’. Sometimes we have to exhort ourselves to praise God (see 1 Sam 30, where David, when faced with loss and an army of followers who now wanted to stone him, found strength in God as he encouraged himself in the Lord.)

Psalms give us reasons to praise God, reasons which focus on the nature and actions of God. This gives us stability, for even when our personal circumstances may be tragic and difficult, God’s unchanging nature gives us reasons for praise. All of us have a tendency to be short-sighted when it comes to troubles: the troubles loom larger in our vision than God! We have to make a conscious effort and choice to focus on God who is forgiving (Ps 103:3, 11-12), compassionate (Ps 103:4, 13-14), healing (Ps 103:3), slow to anger and rich in love (Ps 103:8, 17). The past illuminates an insecure, uncertain future for us, because God does not change.

God’s love and compassion literally encircle our lives and we are ‘stuffed full’ by a God of abundance who satisfies our desires with good things. Just as an eagle’s feathers are continually renewed to enable the eagle to fly well, so too God renews and refreshes us. His laws are good and we can have hope in justice and righteousness becuase of His just and righteous nature. As we dwell on these many things, David encourages us all to praise God – angels, heavenly hosts, all God’s works, as well as his own soul.

Heb 12:14 says ‘Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.’ Holiness is a much misunderstood concept, but being holy is at the heart of the Christian faith because it is at the heart of God. We are urged to be holy because God is holy (1 Pet 1:16), and this has the idea of being set apart for God, whole and reflecting the divine image within us. Holiness is God’s nature and character and people and things are said to be holy by their relation to God, as they are offered by Him or to Him or before Him. We often have a negative view of holiness as dourness, a ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude of recrimination and blame, but true holiness, whilst awe-inspiring and daunting, is not something which is dull; as C. S. Lewis says, it is irresistible, for it draws us to the otherness of God.

Holiness speaks of purity and single-minded pursuit of God, and as such, we all need to grow in holiness. There has to be a difference between how we live and how the world lives. The Christian message is counter-cultural. It transforms our ways of thinking, our attitudes, our behaviour… and if the world does not see this transformation, it will accuse us of hypocrisy and lose interest in the words we speak.

I have a bad habit of making a cup of coffee and then starting to do something else, only realising when the coffee is lukewarm that I’ve not had my drink. I hate lukewarm coffee, so I have the choice then of abandoning the drink and making another or reheating it.

It’s very easy for us in our Christian lives to ‘go off the boil.’ The passion of our first love gets dulled with time. The cares of the world and the anxieties and sorrows of everyday life can easily diminish our zeal and passion, reducing faith to the fairly ordinary and inconsequential, to a duty rather than a delight.

Jesus had stern words to the church at Ephesus, rebuking them for the loss of their first love (Rev 2:4-5) and even sterner words to the church at Laodicea, whom He accused of being lukewarm (Rev 3:14-22) Being lukewarm may be undesirable in a cup of coffee; it’s certainly undesirable in God’s eyes in a life of faith.

I usually solve my coffee problem by reheating it in a microwave oven. To reignite faith, I need to seek God and ask Him to rekindle the fire that once burned bright within me. Tepid followers of Christ won’t change the world. We need the fire of God in our lives to be effective witnesses.

‘Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life  on your altar and watch for fire to descend.’ (Ps 5:3, The Message)

Closely linked to showing appreciation is the need to encourage others. To encourage is to give support, hope, confidence (even courage!) to someone. Encouragement also fortifies people against doubt and worry. In the Bible, we read about a man called Joseph, who was given the name Barnabas because he was so good at encouraging others! (Acts 4:36) Barnabas, the ‘son of encouragement’, was one of the first people to accept Saul as a brother in the faith. (Acts 9:27) He went to Antioch to encourage the Christians there (Acts 11:19-24) and worked with Mark when Paul felt he had blown his chances. (Acts 15:36-40) He must have been a great inspiration to many.

Encouragement doesn’t require any special training, and people who are encouragers often don’t think of that as a calling or ministry. Yet we’re all called to encourage each other and build each other up (1 Thess 5:11) and encouragement is listed as a spiritual gift in Rom 12:8. God is a God of endurance and encouragement (Rom 15:5) and encouragement is one of the ways we can really help others who are struggling and disheartened. (1 Thess 5:14)

When we encourage others, we bring a different perspective to their lives. ‘I can’t do much for God. I’m stuck in my house through illness, unable to go out. What good am I?’ the housebound elderly may say. We can encourage them to persevere in their ministry of prayer, which fuels and undergirds those who may be more visibly active in Christian service and remind them that their wisdom and practical experience in the past helps us in the present. ‘I’m no good at preaching or playing music,’ another may lament, but their help in making teas and coffees and washing up is just as needed as preaching or playing music! ‘I’m not sure what God is doing in my life‘, we cry, but an encourager gives us clarity to see the bigger picture. It’s very hard for us to be objective about ourselves and there is often a tendency to see our negatives more clearly than our positives. When we encourage people, we restore a balanced perspective to their vision and perhaps also help them to discover positives they failed to recognise themselves (because ‘that’s just the way I am’…)

Make it your goal to encourage someone today!