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In these times of lockdown and social distancing, there is an unfortunate side effect that is particularly hard on single people. I’m talking about a loving touch or a friendly hug. A handshake or a high-five. A person to person contact that somehow communicates our feelings beyond what can be achieved through words. Sadly, even when we’re out and about, face masks obscure that part of the face that we rely on so much for feedback and spoken words. So the sense of isolation for people who live on their own must be very real and debilitating. 

We have a kind and loving God who delights in touching people. Jesus went through the communities in Palestine always willing and ready to touch those people desperate for healing. For example, in Matthew 8 we read of the occasion when Jesus touched a man with leprosy. Jesus was out and about and, “Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. Jesus committed a hugely significant act – in those days you kept well away from people with leprosy because it was such a contagious and horrible disease. He could have just said the word, and the man would have been healed. But He touched him, demonstrating love as well as healing. What a loving Saviour!

In these Covid times we may be restricted from touching those around us, but God isn’t. If we know a lonely person today, let’s pick up the phone or pay a socially distanced visit, doing whatever it takes to connect. And if you are a lonely person reading this today please contact us and we’ll introduce you to the wonderful Saviour who delights in touching people. You’ll never regret it.

Can I ask you a personal question this morning? During the lockdown, did you add a few pounds to your weight? Or kilos if you think it sounds better? I must confess to a 3 kilo extra burden, and the despatch of three pairs of jeans to the local recycling point – I just can’t understand why they shrank so much in the wash! I changed the battery in the scales just in case, but to no avail. Someone I know reckons that the average lockdown weight increase has been about a pound per person per lockdown week. Why is it that the pounds go on quickly and easily but take forever to remove?

In the Book of Hebrews, chapter 12 it says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” 

Every athlete knows that to win a physical race he has to achieve a peak level of fitness, which includes being just the right weight. And it is the same with our spiritual race. Are we carrying too much baggage? What will weigh us down through our walk with God? What sin is tripping us  up? What about all the anxieties and cares that are clamouring for attention from our thoughts? Are we being weighed down by religiosity, denying the freedom of the Holy Spirit in our lives? There are many hindrances and weights that can creep into our lives and any one of them will hold us back in our Christian walk. 

One weight that holds back many a Christian is the habit of looking backwards, to the “good old days” when everything seemed to be so much better than today. But the Apostle Paul encourages us in Philippians 4 to, “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”. Athletes don’t look back – they fix their eyes on the finishing post. And so must we. So Christian, don’t give up! Start a diet and get rid of those extra pounds.

I don’t know what we should make of it all. One minute we’re told to stay 2 meters apart, and the next only if you can. One minute we’re told face masks don’t do any good, and the next we have to wear them in shops. And not just any old face covering; it has to have three layers of fabric (I’m not quite sure how we can breathe through that without steaming up our glasses!). And pubs are allowed to open with no restrictions on customer numbers, but in Scotland churches are restricted to no more than 50 people at a time regardless of size, with no singing, and the wearing of face masks. All very confusing.

The Bible says we should pray for our government. They certainly need our prayers at the moment! What does the Bible say about praying for our governments? Let’s look at 1 Timothy 2; it says, “First of all, I ask you to pray much for all men and to give thanks for them.Pray for kings and all others who are in power over us so we might live quiet God-like lives in peace.It is good when you pray like this. It pleases God Who is the One Who saves. He wants all people to be saved from the punishment of sin. He wants them to come to know the truth.”

So, when we pray for our governments, God is pleased. And we pray for a reason – so that we can live “quiet God-like lives in peace”. And I’m sure that, in answer to our prayers, and through His grace, He will lead and guide our rulers in what they should do. But this same passage points out that God wants everyone to be saved from the consequences of their sin. And, believe me, there are consequences. If we reject God and His moral laws in this life, we are committing ourselves to an eternity without God in the next. His moral universe gives us the right to choose how we live in the current world, and that choice extends into how we will live in the next world. 

So, I would appeal to everyone reading this blog – if you are a Christian, pray for our governments like you have never prayed before. They need your prayers. And if you are not a Christian and would like to know more about how to become one, please get in touch. It will be the most important decision you have ever made.

So we finally went to the shops on Wednesday, the first time since March. Though it was a bit strange being able to leave lockdown, it was good to wander around a shopping mall. Sadly there were a few shops shuttered and one or two which have obviously closed their doors for good, but the biggest change was that most people were wearing masks. Visibly. A variety of colours, styles, and effectiveness. And we realised how much we rely on seeing a person’s whole face to gauge their reactions, emotions, feelings. The new normal I suppose. 

But don’t we all wear invisible masks? You know, that response we give to the question, “How are you today?”  And we respond, “Fine”. We have our “mask” on. That shutter we raise when we want to hide what is really going on inside of us, hiding the hurts, hiding the anger, hiding what we don’t want others to see.

The Bible says quite a lot about wearing masks. A well-known verse is in 1 Samuel 16, where it says, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” We can’t hide what is within us from God’s penetrating, all-seeing gaze. 

How is your heart today? Are you hurting inside, feeling down, struggling with your thoughts and emotions? But however you feel, you have that assurance that God sees your heart, and He knows what you are going through. Allow His Spirit to flood into your heart today, bringing healing and wholeness, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4). 

During this pandemic lockdown, several people I know are grieving for the loss of a loved one. And in the next village an elderly couple have died from the Covid-19 virus within a day of each other (they had serious lung illnesses). But whatever the circumstances, any death of a loved one is a devastating experience. Whether we know it’s coming or not. In Matthew 5, Jesus made this profound statement, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” However, He wasn’t just referring to the obvious loss of a loved one, He was also referring to any circumstance in life that causes us to experience grief-like symptoms. Such as a financial shock, loss of a job, an unfaithful spouse, the discovery that your children are taking drugs and so on. 

Jesus never said that life would be easy, but He did say that He would be there for us. Bringing comfort and all the spiritual resources we need. In Psalm 46 it says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” He is there for us no matter what we are facing into today, tomorrow, or whenever.

If you are reading this today and need to know that Jesus is there for you please get in touch – I would love to pray for you.

Near where I live there is an area of woodland, that’s largely unspoilt, and neglected, at least until tree cutting back and thinning has to take place. It’s mostly deciduous with some mature members surrounded by growths of new saplings. Recently the local council upgraded some of the paths and made it more accessible to the locals like me. A real blessing!

Every morning early I try and have a two mile walk through the wood, engaging with God in prayer for the issues that are topical at the time. But also thanking Him for the wonders of His creation. This morning a very small bird, a wren I think, flew across my path and landed on a branch close by, looking at me suspiciously. And a butterfly, a Red Admiral, flitted amongst the wild flowers. And I thought again this morning, how can anyone believe that this happened by chance. That a series of chemical reactions could have conspired to produce such wonders. I don’t have enough faith to believe that, but I do have the faith, the certainty, the assurance that there is a master Creator behind it all. And then I thought about how this is a creation blighted by sin. Where God’s wonderful design has become corrupted by the enemy’s schemes. It must have broken His heart.

Just off the path there is a bed of nettles. They are particularly vigorous at this time of year, which is bad news if you unwittingly stumble into them. They are what I call the thugs of plant life. Unfriendly, arrogant, self-centred, decidedly unpleasant to be around. But located in the middle of this patch is a clump of bluebells. And what a contrast – they are beautiful to look at, with a vivid blue hue, delicate bells hanging in a fragile humility, gently swaying in the breeze, just getting on with their purpose in life.

In another place on my walk there are the remains of an old railway platform, crumbling away into obscurity, the remains of an industrial period in the West of Fife, when coal was an important part of the local economy. And growing on what’s left of the platform, in-between some young trees, there are some wild strawberries. I’ve no idea how they found their way there, probably through seeds carried there by birds or the wind, but a growing colony has been established. And like the bluebells, they are getting on with their purpose in life, producing fruit in its season, after which they will die down and wait for another spring to fire them up into fruitfulness once again. Both the bluebells and the strawberries, the wren and the butterfly, are secure in their role within God’s plan for them. They may have aggressive plants growing next to them or predators that want to eat them, but while they can, they do what they do best – being bluebells, or wild strawberries, wrens or butterflies.

One of my favourite passages of Scripture is Psalm 139. The first six verses are:

O Lord, you have examined my heart
 and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
 You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
 You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
 even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!

Apart from the wonderful knowledge that wherever or whatever we are in life, God is with us and we cannot escape from His presence. And He knows our thoughts, our struggles, our moods, what we are going to say. In fact there is nothing about us that He doesn’t know about. He even has the hairs of our heads counted. We might feel that life has dealt us a poor hand. We might have made many mistakes, made wrong choices, wish we lived somewhere else, or had better neighbours. We might wish we had done better at school, or married someone different. But we are where we are and we can be secure in the knowledge that God is here with us. He is the God of the second chance. The third chance. The umpteenth chance. While we stay close to Him, we will know His presence. How do I know? Because He says so – read the verses again.

But it’s verse five that drives me to my knees. Every step I take, He’s right there going before me. And just in case I weary of the journey, He’s right there behind me, gently urging me on. The NIV translation says He hems me in. But here’s the thing, He places His hand on my head, bringing all the blessings I’m willing to accept. How do we miss that, when we feel miserable, or depressed? When we think we are unworthy, just rubbish, in a pointless existence? But that’s not how God sees us. 

The bluebells, the wild strawberries, the wren, the butterfly – they are all secure in their existence, doing what God has ordained for them. And in the process they bring blessings to those around them.

So as we reflect on this Psalm, we can be secure in the knowledge that our loving heavenly Father is right there beside us, helping and encouraging us. Our neighbours, like the nettles, may be anti-social and aggressive. But like the bluebells, He helps us to shine with His presence amongst the difficulties of life. We might be feeling down and depressed, but just pause a minute – is that His hand I can feel gently touching my head? It’s definitely there – His Word says it is. Watch out – there’s a blessing coming!

Our church buildings are shut and for some congregations it will be some time before they can return. The “new normal” will involve social distancing, hand gel, no toilets… But wait a minute! The Early Church didn’t have any church buildings but they turned their world upside down for Jesus. How did they do it?

This is the third video in my series “Finding God in a Pandemic” and in it we start with the Day of Pentecost and Peter’s amazing sermon in Acts 2, and then move onto the life of Stephen in Acts 6, and look at what happened next. Be careful though, there’s a challenge for us all.

Our mortality, and the risks we take in living, are linked together. A risk taker, for example one of these young men who go “tombstoning” off a rocky arch located offshore in the popular English beauty spot of Durdle Door, will, most likely, discover what “mortality” means after it is too late. But someone who minimises life’s risks, for example, by only crossing a main road at a pedestrian crossing, will have to wait a bit longer before they cross the great divide.

I have put together a short video entitled, “The Risk of Life”, and uploaded it to YouTube. here’s the link if you have time to watch it. Comments and responses welcome.

My good friend Bill Wyse occasional contributes a daily thought for his church in Whitley Bay. Here’s a recent piece.

“Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens I see that in every way you are very religious—Now what you worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:22-28) 

The Greeks were avid worshippers of non-gods in their gaudy temples. Paul cleverly uses the inscription to tell them about his God and His temple which is a spiritual one, not a man-made one. The Bible talks about living stones, that is temples not made with human hands. 

In this time when we are not meeting together in a physical building, but as living stones (His offspring) we worship a living God whom Paul affirms. “In whom we live and move and have our being.” That is who we are!  

Ruach

There’s a remarkable verse in 2 Timothy 3:16, “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.” I added verse 17 for the sake of completeness.

At a stroke, this verse confounds the liberal theologians who would attempt to undermine inconvenient truths and events in the Bible, and attempt to rationalise Biblical truths to fit their world view and their preferential interpretation of who God is, and what He has said. 

But the thing that has gripped me this morning is the reminder that God breathes. My Bible notes today took me to Ezekiel 37, where a valley full of very dry bones came together. Ezekiel prophesied to them and they started to come together, and flesh and skin formed over them. But they were still without life, that is, until God breathed.

There’s a rather dodgy, in my opinion, principle I have heard preachers use called the “Law of First Mention” for Biblical interpretation. But whatever its merits, or otherwise, we find the first reference in the Bible to God’s breath in Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” God’s breath brings life. It brings physical life to all of us. Through His wonderful creation and design, we have the ability to breath and take in the oxygen we need for life through our lungs. I’m always amazed how a baby very quickly, in a few moments, transitions from getting its oxygen from its mother through the placenta to taking a breath of its own. What a wonderful God we worship! What a glorious design.

I believe the enemy constantly tries to think up ways to frustrate the plans and designs of God. One of the features of the Coronavirus illness is that it attacks people’s lungs, challenging their breathing function. The enemy knows that if he can stop a person breathing, they will die. So I have no doubts at all as to where this virus originated from.

But back to the Scripture in 2 Timothy. This reference to breath isn’t physical. It is pointing out that everything written in the Scriptures has been influenced by God’s breath, by His Spirit. The Hebrew word for breath is ruach, a word also meaning Spirit or wind. Even the very pronunciation of the word, ruach, implies a breathing function. And you have to breathe out to say it – try saying ruach when you are breathing in! So, we can read the Bible with confidence, feeling God’s breath, feeling His Holy Spirit. As the pages rustle, moved by the ruach of God, the print leaps off the page to grab our attention, and minister to our spirits within us, bringing life to our very souls. The equivalent word in Greek is pneuma, a word from which we get many of our English words – think pneumonia, or pneumatics.

The enemy is not happy about the spiritual breath of God sustaining His people. The enemy does anything he can to disrupt the spiritual flow. If he can stop God’s children from reading their Bible, from meeting with other Christians, from praying or spending time meditating on Him in His presence, then he knows that our spirits will start to shrivel up within us, in the same way as our physical bodies would, if the flow of oxygen was cut off.

To me, an important doctrinal point raised by Jesus was in John 3:5-7, where He said, “‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.”  The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’” Jesus said quite clearly that there is a physical birth and there is a spiritual birth. Sadly, many parts of the Christian Church play down the spiritual birth bit, neglecting or underplaying the fact that the ruach of God provides power that keeps us alive spiritually. And it’s not just a one-off occasion – in the same way that we have to keep breathing physically to keep our bodies alive, we have to keep breathing spiritually to keep our spirits alive. But does the analogy between feeding our physical bodies and feeding our spiritual bodies extend to over-indulgence? Taking our physical food, we can, in fact often do, overeat. And we become bloated with excess fat, heading into obesity and health complications. Physical food has two functions – keeping our bodies alive with all the right nutrients and providing energy to perform physical functions. There is a balance. Get the balance wrong and there are consequences, as we can see in some of our fellow citizens. According to the statistics, 1 in 4 of UK residents are obese, with a further 62% being overweight. And the UK has the second highest rate of obesity in the world. Sadly, such statistics are emerging in our fight against Coronavirus, as obesity appears to be a significant factor in many of the reported deaths.

But what about our spiritual food? Can we breathe in too much of God’s ruach? At first sight, I don’t think we can – after all, one day we will be in that wonderful place, breathing with God in Heaven. In the natural, here on earth, we have a cycle of breathing in and breathing out, to receive oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. In the same way, in the spiritual, we breathe in the Holy Spirit, but we must breathe it out again. If it remains within us it is just wasted and leaks away. We have to perform spiritual functions to bring God and His purposes to the lost in our families, in our communities, while His Spirit is richly present within us. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 is a great place to start. 

There also seems to be a connection between our physical and spiritual foods. Get the balance right and the physical energy we have complements the spiritual energy to maximise the effectiveness we have in doing God’s work. And, amazingly, there is also a connection between depriving our bodies of physical food, undertaking a ‘fast’, to make our spiritual awareness even more effective. Conversely though, undertaking a spiritual ‘fast’ doesn’t have the same benefits.

So, in this time of lockdown, I would encourage us all to get our physical food diets in balance (not too many carbs and fatty foods) and get our spiritual food by reading the Word, praying, and keeping in touch with our Christian friends and family, all in the right balance. And feel that ruach of God flowing through our very souls bringing spiritual life and health that we can then share with those around us with renewed energy and effectiveness. 

There is an old hymn written in 1878 by a man called Edwin Hatch. Back in my early Anglican days we used to sing it to a tune called Trentham. It has stayed with me ever since. 

1 Breathe on me, Breath of God, 
fill me with life anew, 
that I may love the way You love, 
and do what You would do. 

2 Breathe on me, Breath of God, 
until my heart is pure, 
until my will is one with Yours, 
to do and to endure. 

3 Breathe on me, Breath of God, 
so shall I never die, 
but live with You the perfect life 
for all eternity.

The hymnist ably and effectively caught the message about the ruach of God. So must we.