Minister’s Blog September / October 2015

A few weeks ago I received my first letter this year telling me how long it was until Christmas, only 19 weeks to go! I wonder are you someone who has already started counting down to Christmas? You know exactly how many shopping days you have left and you are already looking forward to the big day, or are you waiting for your chocolate advent calendars (which are already available in the shops!) before you start counting down? Even if we are not counting down to Christmas yet, many of us often find ourselves counting down to things like birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, the end of term, special events or even a delivery that we are waiting for.  We count down to things that we are looking forward to as well as things that we are not looking forward to.  When the time finally arrives we might be happy, sad or just glad it is all over.  Then we will often simply find something else to start counting down to.

Christians have often been accused of counting down to the life that is to come, to the fantastic things that God has in store for us in heaven.  Sometimes we are accused of being too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use.  This is not God’s plan. We are to live the life He wants us to live in this life, as well as in the life to come.  While this does not mean that we have an easy life, it does mean that we are to enjoy the many blessings God sends our way, including His amazing love and His presence with us.

Jesus said “I have come that you might have life in all its fullness”. It sounds good doesn’t it? God’s plan isn’t for us to merely survive this life until we move onto something better, but to celebrate, to be fulfilled, to enjoy and appreciate the varied and infinite ways that God chooses to bless us. We need to live in relationship with Him to make sense of what life is all about. It’s the way we are made!

So, what are you waiting for? Do you live life to the full? Are you living this life putting off making a decision for some time in the future? There is no need to countdown, or to wait to know God every day, my prayer is that you would know the truth of God’s love today.

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Rev. Chris Hawley

September 2015

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