A Different Perspective Official Podcast

Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me. Not much.  In fact the things people say can leave lifelong scars. People say – just get over it?  But can we?
"Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me." So the saying goes. But in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. When people call us names. When they hurt us. Or reject us. Or abuse us. Or talk behind our backs. Those things can really hurt us. And for many people, they carry those old injuries around with them. Often not really knowing it. And it robs them of the life that God always intended.
If your Dad didn't encourage you, chances are you'll have low self esteem. If you were abused as a child, chances are you'll feel like a victim for much of your life. So is it possible to be set free from the hurts of the past?
There's something really important that we need to know about the past. It's past. It's gone. There are lots of things out of our control. The past is one of the biggest ones of all. Doesn't matter what we do. How much we wish we could change it. How much we try. What's done is done. We can't change the past. We can only change from hereon forward.
Well why is this so important? I mean it's blindingly, glimpsingly obvious. Yet so many people live in the past. They live today constrained by the hurts of yesterday. "I didn't have a happy childhood. I was abused. I was hurt. The kids at school weren't nice to me. The teacher …"
I mean, recently I was overseas with my wife. We were in Canada and we were talking with our daughter who was staying with a friend for the couple of weeks while we were gone. Our daughter Melissa is 14. And there was one particular teacher who said something really hurtful to her. And so, of course, I rang the principal and I talked to the principal and dealt with it. But just one harsh word from an adult when we're growing up as teenagers, just one, can leave a mental scar.
It can happen from parents. It happened to me when I was growing up. It's just the way I am. And we look back and we lament. We wish it was different but it's not. And we turn it over and over in our mind. Like a cow chewing its cud.
Here's this crazy idea that I have. When Jesus died on the cross for me, He purchased for me a new future. If anyone believes in Him, they are a new creation. Everything old is passed away. Have a look. Everything else is new. And Jesus said,
If I set you free then you are actually free. (John 8:36)
You listen to the apostle Paul:
We are more than conquerors if we believe in Jesus.
I can do anything through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.
Okay, so there are some words on a page in a book called The Bible, that tell us some things but what do they really mean for life? Well, here's the crunch. And if you are someone who is struggling with the hurts of the past you may not like what I have to say. But I have to say it to you anyway.
Here is the crunch. You can live your life with the hurts of the past and believe that you can't change it. Or you can decide to believe what God says about you. You've got a choice.
I often joke. I mean I would not make a good counsellor, you know. It's not my gift to sit with people. One of the people who helps me on this program, Max Harding, who is a great guy and as well as being a fantastic producer, he also works in a counselling ministry. And he has a wonderful job at that but that is not what I do. And I often joke that my form of counselling is to listen to people for 30 seconds then say, 'that is great, just get over it'.
In a sense that doesn't help. And of course when we have issues and hurts and problems from the past we do have to bring them out and talk about them and deal with them. But some people talk about them and talk about them and talk about them and talk about them for the rest of their lives.
They whinge and complain about some bad things that happened to them when they were children. Even people, let me say, who have said, "look I've seen what God did for me through Jesus Christ. I believe in Him." And yet somehow, these same people still want to live in the hurts of the past.
The past is past. It's over. It's gone. Can't change it. Can't undo it. Can only come to grips with it and leave it behind. If it's past, shouldn't we leave it behind?
Do you have some hurts? Let me ask you really kindly but yet very directly, are you still wallowing in those hurts? If that's you, I have a word from God for you today. And that word is this: get over it! It is time to move on. I don't say that lightly, I don't say that with a smile on my face. It is time to move on. Let it go.
Jesus bought you and me an eternal future. And it doesn't matter where you go in the Old Testament or the New Testament, what you see is a God who wants to bless us. Now, a lot of Christians in the New Testament went through a whole bunch of persecution, and you could say that they were victims in a sense. But when you look at Paul, locked up in jail, singing and praising God, writing letters of encouragement to his friends in Philippi, you think, I don't think Paul was really a victim here.
Would he have preferred to be doing something else? Probably, Paul would probably have rather not been in jail. But there was no way that the Apostle Paul was living his life as a victim. He'd come to grips with what was happening to him very, very quickly. And quickly he got over it.
When we have hurts from the past sometimes it's time to take the garbage out and let it go. If the past is past maybe we need to get over it! If Jesus bought us a future.
Of course the devil, well he's happy for us to live wallowing in the pains of the past. He's only come to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus said
I have come that you would have an abundantly blessed life. (John 10:10)
So which one will it be? Will we continue to wallow in the pain and the hurts of the past or will we decide to believe what God says about us and get over it? But hang on Berni, you don't understand my past. You don't understand how much it hurts, you just don't understand. Well maybe I don't, but here are the things that I do understand.
You are an incredibly beautiful person in God's eyes. And when he sent Jesus to die, he had you in mind. He had me in mind. He had his love focused on us. And maybe some tough things have happened in our lives, but listen, show me just one person, just one person, who's had a perfect life. Without any hurts, without any disappointments, without anything to look back on and regret. I don't know anyone like that do you?
Now look at this Jesus on the cross. The price that he paid to purchase a future for you and me, and tell me that there is something to be gained by hanging on to the past that he dealt with on the cross for us.
Today I believe you and I are together for one reason, Jesus has an invitation for you to live this abundant life. We all have decisions to make, and today I challenge you to make a decision. Either choose to wallow in the past and let it rob you of your future, or choose to accept once and for all the abundant blessed life that He came to give us.
The decision is yours. Which one will it be? And if you're tempted to hang on to those past hurts, if they're hard to let go, give me just one good reason for you to hang on to them. I believe we've each been made to live an incredible life. Maybe today you can take that simple step of faith, and say that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Ever compared yourself to other people and come to the conclusion – you just don't stack up? We all have.  And when you're carrying that around inside – it's so hard to have strong relationships.
So many diseases seem to be on the rise in our society – heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia. The list goes on. But deep inside many, many people is a quiet killer. An emotional disease that's robbing so many people of the life that God intended for them.
Yesterday, on A Different Perspective, we began looking at the whole issue of insecurity. The symptoms are clear. People who are insecure are touchy you have to walk on eggshells. They have a deep sense of inadequacy, a string of broken relationships often. They can't give credit to other people. They can't enjoy other people's successes. It's a debilitating, lonely disease.
But so many people have lived with this disease for so long, they can't see it let alone admit it. But before an alcoholic can receive help. First they have to take that big step of admitting they're an alcoholic. Turns out that the same is true in dealing with insecurity and low self-esteem.
Do you know anyone with low self-esteem? Someone who's suffering from insecurity? It used to be me. I couldn't enjoy my life. I couldn't laugh at myself. I couldn't lose at a card game. I couldn't experience the rich pleasure of delighting in someone else's success.
The great author and playwright Gore Vadal said, "Every time a friend of mine succeeds, a small part of me dies." Well I know exactly what he was talking about. I needed to be in the limelight. I needed to be the best. I needed to be recognised. I needed to be the centre of attention.
And when I didn't get those things. When those things weren't there to feed my deep, inner emptiness and insecurity, it hurt, it really hurt. It was so real. Outwardly I was a very confident, articulate, apparently smart person. But inwardly I was like a drug addict who needed a fix. And when you're in that state, when you're a heroin addict, when you're an addict of recognition (which is what insecurity is all about) you can't collaborate. You can't love. You can't enjoy.
And I thought it was only the sharpest observers who knew what was going on. But actually, I was driving people nuts.
When you're insecure it's like not having enough food. If you know ten other people who need food and you don't even have enough for yourself, even though you may be good enough to share that food, they'll still all be hungry. It's not until you have enough food and you can share with them out of your abundance and your overflow that you can all have enough food to go around.
And insecurity is like that. We just have to keep feeding it. It's never satisfied. It goes on and on and on and on. And because we're never satisfied, there's no overflow of our satisfaction of our joy, of our peace, of our excitement at living a great life that can bless the people that are around us.
Today I don't really like the limelight. In fact radio suits me just fine because people can't see who I am. I love it when other people succeed. I'm not touchy anymore. I'm not bothered by people talking behind my back. In fact, to tell you the truth, by and large, I don't really care what people think about me.
I don't mean that in an arrogant way. I don't mean it in a wrong way. When I have criticism come towards me, (which I do sometimes) I listen to it, I evaluate it, I think, 'Hmm, they've got a point. I've got to change something here.' But it doesn't worry me. It doesn't eat away at me. There is this deep, deep sense of security in my heart. And when I look in the mirror, I'm happy with who I am. With a deep contentment with my strengths and my limitations. I just don't need to impress anyone. Nothing to prove.
Are there things that I'd like to improve in my life? Absolutely. So what happened?
When Jesus was crucified there were two criminals crucified with him. And they were hurling insults at Jesus and taunting Him. And then one of those criminals, something got to him. He must have looked in Jesus eyes and he said, "Lord, Lord remember me."
And Jesus looked at him. Remember this criminal could do nothing for Jesus. This criminal couldn't even pray a prayer. And Jesus looked at him when no-one else would have given him a prayer and said:
Before the day is out you'll be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)
Jesus accepted this nobody, who could do nothing for Him. Without an eloquent prayer. Without a life of doing good. Without any benefit that he could have given Jesus at that point in time. Jesus accepted this criminal just as he was.
And when I got my mind around that story, it was as though some steel bands around my heart were burst open. I was set free.
Something happens when we get our hearts around Jesus dying for us. It's so deep and profound because it is an unconditional acceptance and forgiveness. No matter what we've done. No matter who we are. And when I look in the mirror and I see some black spots and I think, "Something has to happen with that. I have to deal with that issue. That problem. That sin in my life." I can do it from a sense of, "I'm accepted by God. I don't have to scrub this sin off my skin myself. I don't have to get it out myself."
The reason I see it so clearly is because I'm safe and secure in a relationship with Jesus. And this Jesus who sends His Holy Spirit to live in anyone who'll accept Him, who'll believe in Him, who'll put their trust in Him. Jesus is the guy that points this stuff out to me. He's the one that helps me to deal with it and scrubs me clean.
We are adopted as children into His family when we believe in Him. We become co-heirs with Jesus Himself. And when that sunk in I realised something. If God accepts me as I am maybe it's time for me to accept me as I am. In one sense, when we realise that, there's an instant release. And in another, as we live in it, day after day, week after week, we live in that love and acceptance. Over months and years, it changes us.
All that time in my life I tried every self-improvement program and I never succeeded because any self-improvement program can never really deal with that sense of insecurity. It was Jesus. His acceptance and His love that set me free from the insecurity of my limitations. Free to let Him change me by His love.
That's what happened and it's still happening, on and on and on and on. It's a deep work. It's a work that God sticks with. When He begins something good in us He sees it through. He never leaves us half way along. He never pulls back and says, "You are just hopeless. I've had enough of you. I can't help you anymore."
No, no. Not when He sent His Son. This Jesus who created all that there is – the whole universe. He's the King of kings. He's the Lord of lords. He became a man. To His friends He became a guy.
Someone wrote in recently after a program where I referred to Jesus as a guy and said, "You can't refer to Jesus like that. He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords." He is. But He was also a man. He was also a mate – a friend to those 12 disciples who travelled around with Him. He was human. He cried for people. He laughed. He loved. He made wine at the wedding. He healed. He gave people security when no one else would.
Maybe it's time for you today. To admit that there is a deep insecurity that we can't do anything about on our own. And accept the solution. The solution of a deep love. And to live in that love and let Him change us.
If God is God, He made us the way we are. And He's come to set us free.
Love your neighbour as yourself. (Mark 12:31)
That love that Jesus was talking about there was unconditional love.
What do you think?

Insecurity is a social disease running at plague proportions.  And like every other plague – it has dire consequences.  Hmmm.  What if you have the disease? Is there a cure?
Probably one of the things that we'd all like to do is to grow as people. Hopefully today, we're a bit more mature and balanced than we were, say 5 years ago. And in 5 years time, we'd hope that we've learned a bit more. That the years have brought some wisdom and some insight compared to who we are and how we behave today.
That's what we'd like to think. But it's not always the case. The reality is that there are some things in us, sometimes, that hold us back. That constrain us from being all that we can be. They stop us from living life to the full.
One of the things that many of us struggle with and I certainly have in my life, is a deep sense of inadequacy and insecurity. So is it possible to deal with this personal and social disability?
Other people around us, well they seem so confident of themselves and their own abilities. Have you noticed? Especially young people these days. Look at them. They're so talented. They're so confident. While everybody else is busy putting their best foot forward, sometimes we're dying a quiet death inside. "Somehow, I don't feel as good. I'm not as articulate. I'm not as talented. I'm not as bright. I'm not as good-looking. I'm not as fit. I'm not as significant as they are. I don't make as much difference in the world as they do."
We can often have that sort of a view of ourselves. And the worst bit about it is you can't easily admit that to someone. You look at a photo of yourself and you think, "I look ugly". Or maybe you see yourself on a video and you think, "surely I don't look like that." Or you hear your voice recorded and you think, "I don't sound like that. That can't be me can it?"
It's a quiet, lonely hell. Is this something you might relate to? Over 50% of all women in western society chronically suffer from low self-esteem. And it happens to men too. But in a sense it's almost worse for men because the whole macho image thing, well you can't admit that to someone.
So what are the symptoms? What does somebody look like who's suffering from insecurity? Well the first thing is they're really, really touchy. When you're around them it's like walking on eggshells. You have to be careful where you tread. Because you don't know when they're going to go off like a cracker. Someone who's insecure worries about what other people think about me. What will they think when they know this? What are they saying behind my back? What are they doing to me? How does this impact on me?
Somebody who's really insecure sees themselves at the centre of the universe. And they're really hard people to be around. But what if that someone is you or me?
As we sit here talking about deep insecurity, I wonder how many people would love to be healed? To be set free. This week on A Different Perspective, I've called this little series of five programs – Time to Get Over It. Because I'd like to look at this subject of insecurity from a different perspective. Dealing with hurts from the past. Getting a right and balanced attitude towards ourselves.
Let me tell you something. I have a crazy notion. I have this crazy notion that Jesus died on the cross for me and for you, to set us free. And Jesus said:
If I set you free, you'll be free indeed. You'll be really free
Well … let me ask you a question. Do you like yourself? I mean, you strip off your clothes and you stand naked in front of the mirror and you look at yourself. And you think, "do I fundamentally like this person?" And there's an emotional equivalent too. You strip off all the pretence and all the faces we put on when we go out in front of other people. And we look at ourselves as a package. Me inc or you inc. This package of physical; his package of emotional; this package of spiritual; of talents and strengths and weaknesses and limitations. You look at this package and let me ask you to give yourself an honest answer. Do you really like you? Are you happy with you?
Sadly, the answer for a lot of people is "no". Sadly, the answer for me used to be "no". Now I'm not asking any of us to have a swelled head. But Jesus said, "Love your neighbour as yourself."
Now that's great. We always focus on that first bit, of loving your neighbour. And there's probably none of us that would say that's a bad idea. I mean, to love, to be good to the people around us. Friends, family, work colleagues, people at church, people at the club, whatever we're involved in. To love our neighbour seems to be a really good thing to do.
But just let's think about this because it's a two-part sentence. "Love your neighbour as yourself."
Love yourself – now that's an interesting thing. We don't expect Jesus to say that. We think it's all about loving your neighbour. But He's saying:
Love your neighbour as yourself. (Mark 12:31)
Question: what if we don't have a right attitude towards ourselves? What if we don't like ourselves? What if we don't love ourselves? Well in this two-part sentence Jesus is saying, "Well if you can't love yourself properly, you probably won't be able to love other people properly."
Look around. Look at insecure people. They're always feeding their insecurity. They're never content with who they are. They're never content with their lot in life. Me, I used to hate when other people succeeded. Others were in the lime light. When you're in that space, how can you love other people? How can you be good to other people when the only thing that you really can deal with is this deep, nagging, painful, insecurity thing?
And then one day God switched a light on in my heart. I came to the understanding that this Jesus whom He sent, His Son, who died on the cross, died for me while I was still all those rotten things I knew I was. Just as I am, naked in front of that mirror, complete package – good and bad, beautiful and ugly, with all that rotten stuff in me. The naturally consequences of which are shame and insecurity.
Jesus said, "Give me all that bad stuff. All that stuff about you that you don't like. Give me that black box full of all that rubbish. And I will take it and I will take it on me."
We see that Jesus became sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us. He took all that rubbish that makes me feel embarrassed and ashamed and paid for it. Full payment. No more payment required. No more need for justice. He paid for it. So I became white, pure. A slate wiped clean. And it doesn't matter where we are in our walk in life.
You may have been walking with Jesus for 40 years. You may never have accepted Jesus as yours and put your trust in Him. But let's just contemplate that deeply. Just for a long time, try and wrap our hearts and our minds around that. And my prayer for you is, that as you do and as I do still in my life too, as we live our lives trying to come to grips with His grace, that it changes us. That it takes away our need to feel insecure.
I can honestly say today that I don't have insecurity in my life. And it used to be such a cancer. I remember visiting a school friend just a few years after we had left school. And she was telling me how Bill, a friend of ours, was doing really well in his business and they were going well and it was like something inside me died. I couldn't cope with someone else doing better than I was doing.
That's gone. God's healed that. And the whole source, the whole root of the healing is right there on that rough wooden cross on that hill, just outside Jerusalem, called Calvary. Where Jesus made a statement to you and me. Where He said, "I love you this much." And if anyone loves me that much, if God loves me that much, it's not a glib, trite thing. It's not a "oh well, God loves you." This is a profound statement meant to strike at the heart of my insecurity and yours.

Yep, yep.  I believe in miracles.  I believe that God will do a miracle for me.  But – well, what happens when He says no.  What happens when I have a heart for this or for that – but He closes the door.  Slams it in our face.
This week on the program, we've been talking about miracles. This series is called "I Need a Miracle Please". How many times have you and I been caught in a tight spot and thought to ourselves – nothing short of a miracle is going to save me from this one.
Or, or there's something on our hearts. We have this desire. A good desire. A desire perhaps to serve God and yet things just don't seem to be working out.
We can't talk about miracles without talking about the fact that sometimes, sometimes, we go to God and ask Him for a miracle and that miracle seems to be denied by God. How can that be? Jesus Himself said:
If you love me and my word abides in you and you abide in me, you can ask anything that you wish in my name and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)
How can it be that God would deny me miracle that opens the door to me doing some good work for Him? How can it be that God denies me a miracle of healing – healing a sick child, or healing a loved one. How can it be? I've heard people preach that the only circumstance in which we miss out on something that we ask for, is if we don't have enough faith. Frankly – I'd love to ring their necks. Because that just isn't true. You may think that's pretty strong language but I get really angry with people who twist the truth.
Now a lack of faith, that sometimes is the reason we miss out on things from God. Yes. It is. Listen to what James writes when he talks about going to God and asking for wisdom. James chapter 1 beginning at verse 6. He says:
But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
See, God rewards faith, that's what we've been talking about over these last few days. But He doesn't demand complete faith, or perfect faith. In fact, the last time that I checked, faith the size of a tiny little mustard seed was enough to tell a mountain to go jump into the lake.
It's not the size of our faith that matters. Not the perfection of our faith. See sometimes, my heart is deeply troubled. Sometimes, I'm afraid to stand in a place that God's called me to stand. Sometimes I'm afraid to step forward and do the things that God's called me to do.
How do I know that I have faith? I'll tell you. If I stay in that place, and do the things that God's called me to do, if I'm prepared to fail unless God shows up, no matter how much my emotions are on that roller coaster ride, if I hang on to that tiny little seed of faith somewhere in my heart then I know I have faith. But if I run and hide to protect myself then I don't.
Sure, faith is important but sometimes we get it wrong. Sometimes we don't hear God properly. And sometimes we ask God for something that isn't in His sovereign will. I've written a book recently called 'Unlocking the Power of Prayer' and I've devoted a whole chapter to this question.
You know, when my children were little, I wouldn't give them a sharp knife to play with. It's only when they grew up into young adults that they got to use the carving knife. Sometimes we ask God for things that we're not mature enough to use or to do or to cope with.
And so the reason I get so upset by people that somehow seem to preach that we can expect God to deliver on any outrageous request that we make and that if He doesn't it's because we lack enough faith. That's not only a lie, but it condemns those who listen. It blames them for something that's not their fault.
And I just feel today that we need to deal with this decisively because when we ask something of God and His loving, perfect answer is no, then we naturally feel condemned. We do and that's not what we're meant to feel.
There's no better way of tackling this subject than through the Apostle Paul. Now Paul is definitely one of your biblical 'A' List. One of those great characters of the New Testament. In fact, he wrote almost half the books of the New Testament so God entrusted an awful lot to this guy, Paul.
He was a passionate fellow. He had a heart to tell as many people as he could about Jesus. Travelled all over the place for years and years. Right across the known world, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news.
Sometimes, in fact quite a few times, his heart raced out there ahead of God to do this or to do that but he was prevented from doing so. Have a listen to what he writes to the church in Rome, in Romans 1, chapter 13.
I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you but thus far have been prevented, in order that I might reap some harvest among you as I have amongst the rest of the Gentiles.
See, he's writing to them, "I really, really, really have wanted to come to you, to tell you about Jesus, to reap a harvest for God's glory." You can just imagine Paul praying and imploring God, "God let me go to Rome. Let me go to them. God, let me go and tell them about you. Father God, please, please let me go in Jesus name!" Pouring his heart out to God over this.
Now this is a good, honourable thing. This wasn't for Paul's comfort or luxury or glory, far from it. Travelling to Rome in those days was not an easy journey, as he was later to find out when he was shipwrecked along the way. No, this was for God's glory. Paul's intentions were Godly and good in every way. But listen to what he says, "Thus far I have been prevented."
In other words, to that point, God had not answered his prayer. God had not let him pursue the desires of his heart. God had not opened the door. God had not made a way for Paul to go and fulfil his heart's desire. So what, did Paul lack faith? Was Paul double minded? No, he was a great man of God. He gave his life to the service of preaching the Gospel. He was responsible for planting so many churches. He was used mightily of God. God just said no that time. In fact, later in the book of Romans Paul tells us why:
Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build up someone else's foundation, but as it is written, "Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand." This is the reason that I have so often been hindered from coming to you.
That's Romans chapter 15.
In other words, the Romans had already heard about Jesus and there were other people in the world that hadn't. And God had something better for Paul to do right then with his time than go and tell people who'd already heard about Jesus, about Jesus.
Paul had a heart to do one thing, and God had a plan for Him to do something else. Paul wanted to go to Rome but God had other, more important things for him to do and that's okay because Paul did what God had told him to do. Eventually he did get to go to Rome but on God's terms, in chains, on death row. See how plain and simple this is. It's got nothing to do with lack of faith on Paul's part. And again of Timothy, Paul and Silas we read in Acts chapter 16:
They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
Sometimes God just has different plans. And that hurts. That can be confusing. Sometimes we wish it was different. As I've said many times, God isn't some performing poodle that dances to our tune. He's a sovereign and mighty God. And when we pray, "Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name, your will be done, your kingdom come … " What we're saying to Him is this. First and foremost, no matter what the cost to me Dad, I just want you to know that I want your will to be done. And you know something, when we're in that will, there's a peace and a rest and a trust and a joy that happens. Because He is going to get it right.

Sometimes, we expect God to show up with a miracle in our lives, kind of like the pizza delivery man at the front door. But God – well, sometimes He has a different plan.  Sometimes He wants us to grow the sort of faith that's going to blow a hole in the roof.
It never ceases to amaze me how different God's ways are from our own. See when I want something from God – when I go to him and pray and ask Him for something, I kind of expect Him not just to say yes each and every time, but I expect Him to deliver me the answer on a platter.
I kind of imagine that it's like when I ring up to order a Pizza home delivery, and the little man shows up on his motorbike and delivers it to my front door. I mean – isn't that how it should be? Isn't that how we expect that God should operate? Come, putting up on His little motor bike and knock on our doors and say – here it is, just sign here?
Now, I know that sounds a little crazy, but the truth be known, that's how we expect God to operate. I mean why wouldn't He. He's our Dad. He loves us. Surely He wants to bless us.
But then again, I'm a dad too. And there's one thing for certain – I have never delivered breakfast in bed to any of my children. Because (a) I wanted them to learn how to be responsible and to get up out of bed for themselves and get breakfast for themselves and (b) in any case, I'm their father and they should be delivering breakfast for me in bed.
I'll do the things they can't do for themselves, I'll help them and I'll encourage them and I'll discipline them, but they need to learn to do the things that they have to do. And on top of that, I as a dad, will sometimes put them under pressure, or set them tasks that are difficult – because unless I do that, where are they going to learn that stuff from?
So why is it that we would somehow imagine that God would be any different? Why do we imagine that He'd be in the business of delivering breakfast in bed, or pizza to the front door? I'll tell you why. Because we have a consumer mentality. We live in a "me" centred world. God is supposed to dance to my tune. And that's an attitude that we can take into our expectations about miracles.
This week we're doing a series called "I Need a Miracle". But I want us to get realistic about this whole miracle thing. On the one hand sometimes we imagine that God wouldn't ever do a miracle for me, hopefully we've dealt with that earlier in the week. 'Cause that's a load of rubbish. God is a miracle working God. He was 2000 years ago. He still is today and nothing's changed.
But on the other hand, we can get this spiritual couch potato view of the world and expect miracles to be easy. But I have to tell you, my experience is, sure some miracles from God are easy. But some are a long time in coming and take a lot of perseverance and trust through difficult times, before they actually happen. And that bit kind of jars with our sugar daddy view of what God should be and how He should deliver miracles.
So today I want to share with you a story that could well be familiar to you. It's the story of a miracle. And yet it wasn't an easy one. It took quite some effort. Let's take a look. It comes from Mark's Gospel, chapter 2.
When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them.
Then some people came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "why does this fellow speak in this way? What a blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God?" At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and He said to them, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, "Your sins are forgiven," or to say, "Stand up and take your mat and walk?"
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins" – he said to the paralytic – "I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home." And the man stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
Sounds easy to skim over this and say, "oh yeah. This is just Jesus doing another one of His miracles." But here were these people, four of them carrying this one man. Let's take a look at this miracle from their perspective.
This man who couldn't walk, now that was a big deal in those days. Not just that he couldn't walk but he couldn't earn any money. He was a burden on his family. There were no social security cheques arriving in the mail every two weeks. So it was a big deal not being able to walk.
Now they hear that Jesus is coming to town. I remember when I was a kid, when the Beatles came to town. And I was watching them on the old black and white TV. And the crowds were cheering and pushing. Each one of them hoping to get a glimpse. The idea that any one could ever even get close to the Beatles, well that was beyond imagination.
Bit like when Jesus came to town. So these four friends saw an opportunity for a healing. They heard about Jesus and his miracles. So they arrive carrying their friend on a stretcher only to be confronted by crowds. They couldn't move, they couldn't get near Jesus. Their hearts sank. The disappointment would have been overwhelming, they were human. Do you think they're any different to you or to me?
Now how easy would it have been to give up dejected? How easy would it have been to think, "oh well, if Jesus had meant for our friend to be healed, He would have come out or something or He would have been easy to get at or … "
Instead, they stood there and they thought to themselves, "we are going to get this miracle. We are not going to give up this easily. We're here now and we're going for it. Now, what's another way to skin this cat?" "Oh I know", says one of them, "why don't we rip a hole in the roof. Let's climb up there with our friend on the stretcher, lift the tiles off the roof, and then, knock a whacking great hole in Jesus' roof. I mean, He's only the Son of God, why not?
Do you see how audacious their faith was? Not some pizza delivery model – but a faith that went hard after God Himself. A faith that was prepared to claw through clay, baked dry and hard, with their bare hands to get this miracle. A faith that was prepared to blow a hole in the roof.
And Jesus, He didn't care that they'd knocked a hole in the roof, someone could fix that later. He was blown away by their faith. Do you see how different God is to us? And they got their miracle. Not only did they get their miracle but the crowds and the religious leaders received a lesson that day about who Jesus really is.
Wake up! It is time for us to realise that our faith is like a muscle. And God knows that unless we use our muscles they have a way of getting weak and flabby and giving up all together.
God is a great Dad. And see, He's like any Dad, He looks at us and He wants us to grow and to be strong and to develop. And so He is going to let us go through things so that we can learn to use our faith, to strengthen our faith. To look at Jesus and to follow a heart after Him and develop the sort of faith that's prepared to knock a hole in the roof to get to Him.
And then, we know when God's got us in that place, when that muscle of faith is growing, then just watch the miracles start to flow.