If at all possible

If at all possible love your neighbour as yourself Mark 12:31
If at all possible don't lean on your own understanding Proverbs 3:5
If at all possible be still and know that He is God Psalm 46:10
If at all possible fight the good fight 1 Timothy 6:12
If at all possible finish the race 2 Timothy 4:7
If at all possible don't conform to the ways of this world Romans 12:2
If at all possible turn the world upside down Acts 17:6
If at all possible resist the devil and he will flee from you James 4:7
If at all possible make disciples of all people groups Matthew 28:19
If at all possible don't worry about anything Phillippians 4:6
If at all possible go and sin no more John 8:11
If at all possible be thankful in every circumstance Phillippians 4:11
If at all possible don't be ashamed of the gospel Romans 1:16
If at all possible mature to your full stature in Christ Ephesians 4:13
If at all possible let the Holy Spirit teach and guide you John 16:13
If at all possible gain wisdom and understanding Proverbs 13:3
If at all possible love the Lord your God with everything you have Matthew 22:37
If at all possible enter in His rest Hebrews 4:11
If at all possible don't be under condemnation Romans 8:1
If at all possible know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified 1 Corinthians 2:2
If at all possible be spiritualy minded Romans 8:6
If at all possible run from the Law Romans 6:15

Sounds Impossible? Grace makes it all possible!

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." - Matthew 6:33

" And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” - 2 Corinthians 12:9

Grace Tension

Grace:    Unmerited favour or goodwill towards someone or something.

Work:     Exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something (labour, toil)

Tension:  Two balancing forces causing rigidness and stretching.

If grace is the one end of the tension balance, then what is the other end? Works, of course. Before you stone me, know this: Grace is the biggest part of my Christian walk and is infused into every area of my life (read other posts on this blog).

We are born again by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:9) and we are called to walk our Christian lives in the same way (Colossians 2:6). Grace is His favour extended to us and faith is us taking hold of this favour; believing it and receiving it.

It’s quite clear that there is God’s part and that there is our part. The problem comes in, as we walk out our Christian life, that our part gets reduced to a bunch of activities we perform, in order to try and earn God's favour. Anything that we do to try and earn God's favor is legalism, it's a works-based faith that has fueled religion (not in the good sense) for centuries. Bottom line, we cannot earn God's favour by what we do, it is all about what He has done, through Jesus, on the Cross. However there might still be some work involved, but it's not the kind we immediatly conjure up in our heads; let's take a look.

If grace is just receiving what God has done, how do I receive and understand fully, what God has done for me and apply it to my life? This is where the tension comes in: I like to call it positioning. We need to position ourselves to fully comprehend His grace in and through our lives. It doesn’t just happen, it takes intentionality and purpose. We have to intentionally and purposefully position ourselves in such a manner that we receive everything that God has for us, everything that Jesus made available through the atonement. How do we know if we have access to something if no-one has told us, or if we haven't read it or seen it? We will never know.

Sometimes grace takes work; we have to work at understanding it. This is the tension, the paradox if you will. Two, seemingly opposite, truths and passions, raging alongside one other, both being exceedingly necessary to make sense of what we believe. It is across this tension-bridge that revelation knowledge, relationship and trust can be delivered, flowing from the cross, flowing from Grace, flowing from Jesus to us.

Let’s not underestimate the work it takes to be fully submerged in grace. Organised religion tries to sell us a works based Christianity. But, instead of trying to earn His favour through good works, let’s strive to understand that His grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9) and rest (Hebrews 4:11) in the knowledge that, we labour into Jesus and not for Him.

Sports: Passion or Proffession?

When I was growing up, winning was everything. However, it never came at the cost of losing relationships, belittling the opposition or even speaking badly of them. What happened on the field stayed on the field and after the final whistle everyone was friends again, if you wanted to be.

With the rise of professionalism, sport has taken on a new meaning in the world. What were once considered hobbies, are now seen as professions; what was once done happily for the love of it, is now done happily, for money, whether you love it or not. Money was the game-changer, and rightly so. After all, if someone is good at something, shouldn’t they be paid to do it? I believe so.

Big money comes with strings attached. Sport is driven by sponsors, sponsors have products they want sold and the success of the horse they are backing determines, to a large extent, the success of the we-are-helping-you-to-help-us scenario. Big money demands big results, but at what cost?

For many of us sport is synonymous with professionalism, but it wasn’t always like that. In the past it was about pride, friendship, team-spirit, personal endurance, seeing new places and making new friends. Some would argue that nothing has changed, but I beg to differ. As I look around at the plethora of professional sport around us, professionalism has created a monster and many monsters. Sportsmen and women would happily bad-mouth a team member if it meant gaining more publicity, they’d happily cheat if it means winning; they would do nearly anything to achieve their so-called ‘dream’.

Sportsmanship is a rarity. What was once the back-bone of every amateur sport, camaraderie and friendship; has evolved into a dog-eat-dog world, no different from any corporate, boardroom setting. I am not condemning money in sports, I am merely wondering if it has done more bad than good. The world-trend is always more; but at what cost? People are the most important part of life. If we step on them in order to achieve our dreams, due to our inflated egos, I think we have missed the point, I think it will be very lonely at the top, wherever that is.

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” – Mark 8:36-37 (NLT)

Some stories that made me think of this: Tiger Woods (Golf), Kevin Peterson (Cricket), Marion Jones (Athletics), Lance Armstrong (Cycling) and the list goes on.