Great is the Lord!

My heart sings.................Great is the Lord!

Every day I will bless you
 and praise your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
    and his greatness is unsearchable.

 

Psalm 145: 2, 3

Living distinctively at work.

Living distinctively – at work.

At our brunch on 21st September, Rachel helped us to look our work area of life in the light of 1 Peter 2.  By this stage, the women had a brunch of fruit, croissants, sausages and juices and probably more that I cannot remember now.  Vivid in the memory is the initial introducing of ourselves around the tables, sharing something of our work-places with one another and then into discussion and sharing, listening, learning.  Once the conversation got going, so many aspects of the Christian in the work-place came to light and to the light of the Word.  Soooooo good!  

But first, Rachel’s talk which I share with you in slightly summarized form with a few bullet points thrown in:

Over to Rachel…

Let's read verses 18-20 of 1 Peter 2.  

“Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh.  For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.  But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.”

“Slaves, submit yourselves , to your masters with all respect…”   

That’s the key theme of Peter’s argument, how we relate to those with authority over us at work.   

Many of us are workers. However, if we are not currently in paid employment don’t stop reading.  We may be employed in the future.  Or we might have a husband, children or friends who are in work.  So maybe our role is to support and guide them to be distinctive at work.    

So how does Peter say we are to live out our distinctiveness in the workplace?  

Firstly, we are to submit to the authority of our employer – “submit yourselves to your masters with all respect”. 

We are to give respect and to show respect to those in authority over us.  Fair enough you might think, that doesn’t seem that distinctive.  But notice how Peter continues, “not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh”. 

Peter is encouraging these Christians to respect those in authority, not only when our boss or employers are good and considerate, but also when they are harsh.  A better translation for the word harsh is ‘crooked’.  

What this is about is an attitude of mind! 

Now,

·      it’s easy to submit to, and respect, authority when it is exercised with integrity and consideration. 

·      It’s easy to work for someone like that – it inspires loyalty! 

·      But……. what about a difficult boss, unreasonable people? 

It’s not easy, but Peter says – show them ‘all respect’ (that’s the phrase he uses). 

Maybe others around us won’t show them respect, but we should! 

Giving respect to those in authority over us is not just something we do face to face. 

What about conversations over lunch when we talk about our boss? 

        

Secondly Peter’s strategy for distinctiveness focuses on how we behave at work.  

Both of his general strategies, 1) resist sin 2) and do good are evident in what Peter says here. 

Look again at verse 20: “But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?  But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.” 

Behind this Peter is exhorting us

1) against doing wrong and

2) commending us to ‘do good’.  

And so, we are to do behave in two ways. 

Firstly in a way that means nothing that could be held against us.  We are be negligent, instead trustworthy Some practical examples of this could be, ‘stealing time’; ‘stealing stationary’; ‘unfairly blaming others for our mistakes’; ‘not pulling our weight’.  

Secondly, do what is expected of you and more.  Do a good job, yes, but add some value, work hard, excel in your job!    

God-willing there will be impact. Those we work with and those we work for will see in us and the way we live something different, something attractive...and they will respond positively.  

But………………………. that’s not the result of our distinctiveness as Christ-followers that Peter is focusing on here!  

Instead the impact Peter is speaking about is unjust suffering!  

When we

1) respect those in authority over us in work and

2) behaving in such a way that goes over and above what is expected of you,

3) doing nothing that could be held against you,

we might not be praised and commended instead we might suffer. 

How could this look? 

·      When we don’t go along with the office gossip about the boss, we might find ourselves shunned from conversations. 

·      When we don’t bend the rules, even a little, we might find ourselves passed over for that promotion.  

·      Or we might suffer as a direct result of our faith. 

·      We might suffer because as Christians we can’t submit to our boss.  Submission is qualified in one respect.  Our fear of God qualifies submission to masters.  There may be occasions when employees have to say ‘no’ to an employer, because they are Christians.  This might lead to suffering.

It doesn’t sound pleasant, does it?  Suffering because we are distinctive as Christ’s followers isn’t the greatest motivator to live distinctively. 

So……….. Peter finishes chapter 2 with a better motivator. 

Verses 21-25 say, “‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’  When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.  ‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’  For ‘you were like sheep going astray,’ but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

We live this way, we risk suffering, because

·      Christ suffered for us. 

·      He is our example

·      and we should follow in his steps.

The full script of Rachel's talk can be traced here.

Glencoe Mountains and Wisdom for Life

An easy uphill low-level walk in Glencoe, Scotland.

My dear, dear husband is still on crutches and in plaster after ankle surgery.  It was no hard task to find a scenic parking spot from where he could admire the close-up heights while reading his kindle.

Aaaah to be in the mountains, surrounded by the grandeur of God's creation!  Today the peaks just manage to make their presence known in the covering fog.  Atmospheric.....and a most pleasant autumn day.

A day like this lends itself to savour and enjoy God's presence and goodness, to contemplate the multiple blessings to be found in Christ Jesus, to be filled with the Spirit - again and again.

But so does a day in the hustle and bustle of Edinburgh or any other city, too.  Maybe you are house-bound, even bed-bound and you cannot take one step unless you have help at hand.  There too, in your bedroom in your lounge, is God present with anyone who calls upon Him in the Name of Jesus. That Name opens doors that cannot be closed and enables the Father's acceptance, forgiveness, reconciliation and the warmest of welcomes.

Proverbs 3 was explained and powerfully preached to us by Liam this evening.  What riches!  Our natural inclination is to follow our own instincts independently of the living God - how silly and foolish!  We cannot do any better in this life than to rely totally on Him, to welcome wisdom and  to walk in our God's company!  It is possible by His Spirit Who shows us Jesus and shows us how to live He does this by witnessing with our spirits and through His Word:  and abundance of revelation!

Back to His mountains, He gives for our enjoyment, to the praise of His glorious grace!

Please feel free to double-click for an enlarged view, and kindly respect royalties on my images.

A wave from Gordon

The car-park, our car and my husband are all shrinking!

First Ride on the new Steed

We are just back from a couple of days in the Trossachs and the Highlands in Scotland.  Our flexible plans were spun around our two nights in Killin.  Scottish friends gave us the pronunciation and sceninc routes.

Gordon is still on crutches after ankle surgery, so we made sure that every parking place was in a place with a view - not a big deal in this beautiful part of Scotland.

I cycled 18.7 miles/31 km on country roads and along-side Loch Earn, Loch Tay and Loch Katrine.  Hilly!

We took full advantage of the opportunity to turn off the B-road onto alluring minor roads.  The sign to "Pict Stone" lead us to a small village with one post office, one red telephone booth, one church and one grave-yard.  No sign of a school nor a shop.

By the way "The Picts" were present in Scotland North of the Forth since 700AD.  No-one seems to know where they came from.

Making sure that the folding bike doesn't unfold - before taking to the hills.

Gordon and I got better at folding and unfolding the Paratrooper

at each new ride.

This picture speaks for itself.

What it doesn't say is:

"I'm a two-way road not much wider than an average car-width"

Once up on the hill, the pedalling and racing of the heart eased off.

The last of the 2013 wild summer flowers 

A classic combination of Scottish stone wall and South African Wild Flowers.

Psalm 33 contains many a motive for the godly and upright to make melody in our hearts to the Lord - to sing joyfully to Him, to shout for joy, 

Of course, nothing will make much sense if we don't get the meaning of what it means to be righteous.

I'm leaving a gap to come back to this post and insert a link to how we can become right with God and to be in a position where our praises are aceptable to Him.

Of course we praise Him for the things that happen in our lives, like safe driving, pleasant weather, the thrill of flying downhill on a bicycle, team-work, love in marriage, our children, grandchildren, family and friends.

We've spend some time in Psalm 33 over the last couple of days and here are the first small batch of reasons to praise our God as suggested in the first verses:

Psalm 33

Sing joyfully to theLord, you righteous;
    it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
² Praise the Lord with the harp;
    make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
³ Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully, and shout for joy.

⁴ For the word of theLord is right and true;
    he is faithful in all he does.
⁵ The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of his unfailing love.