Life + Faith

Hey, I’m Jon.
And this is where I write about life and faith, no niche included. Just an honest attempt to be faithful and fruitful for Jesus. If that’s something you want more of, subscribe.

  • Weaknesses in Our Praying (Part 2)

    Weaknesses in Our Praying (Part 2)

    Part of our Christian culture has absorbed an idea from the nineteenth century Romantic movement, that only spontaneous prayer is authentic prayer. Only the unscripted, in the moment work of the Spirit counts as real, while anything prepared or written is somehow second best. I want to push back on that, and on a few other habits we’ve fallen into along the way.

    Prepared Prayers Aren’t Cheating

    One of the best habits I’ve built into my own rhythm is praying prayers that others have written. They give me words I wouldn’t naturally reach for myself. In one particularly difficult season, it was often just a Psalm or two that got me through, prayers already written for exactly that kind of day or week or month. Prayers composed by Christians from earlier centuries can do the same, putting good theology and honest feeling into words when I can’t find my own.

    It’s a little amusing, really. Peter Adam makes the point that we’re perfectly happy singing prepared songs when we praise God together, yet we can treat a written prayer as somehow less spiritual than praying off the cuff. 

    I’m fairly sure nobody wants to hear me sing off the cuff!

    Colossians 3:16 reminds us that the message of Christ is to dwell in us richly. As he does the overflow of our hearts will come out in prayer and praise to God, and it doesn’t matter if it’s resonating with a written prayer or one that is extemporaneous. 

    Pray the Bible Back to God

    It was a long way into my Christian life before anyone taught me that praying the Bible was even an option. By that I mean taking the actual words of scripture, a Psalm, a passage Paul wrote, a prayer of Hannah, Mary or Zechariah, and praying them back to God as our own. Who would have thought that praying the Bible is simply returning to God the very words he has revealed to us in his Word?

    When we do this, our prayer life is shaped and enriched by scripture at the same time. We recover the old habit of turning our Bible reading straight into prayer, letting its phrases become our own.

    This might be something you’ve never thought of too. It’s worth having a go. I’d encourage trying a Psalm first, since they were written to be prayed as much as read, and see how you find it. As we train ourselves in this our prayers become soaked in scripture and are helpful not only in our prayers but our knowledge and experience of God. 

    Don’t Get Tunnel Vision

    Detectives can fall into what’s called tunnel vision, narrowing in on one suspect so tightly they stop considering other evidence or other people altogether. It’s something good investigators are trained to guard against.

    Our prayer life can suffer the same problem. In time our prayers can shrink down to a narrow band of familiar concerns, and lose the imagination and breadth the Bible calls us to. Many of us rarely pray for rulers, politicians, and nations, especially those we don’t relate to. Other countries and peoples can go entirely missing from our prayers too, along with thanksgiving for what God is doing in places we’ll never see or influence. We need prayers that reach further than our own circle. We need prayer that asks the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field (Matthew 9:38).

    We’ve Stopped Praying Together

    Public and private prayer are both a weakness in our contemporary church culture. There was a time when Christians expected each other to turn up to the regular prayer meeting. That’s largely gone from Western church life now. I once heard of an African pastor visiting a church in the UK whose first question was where the prayer meeting was, and how many people came. If someone asked us the same thing, what would we say?

    Praying together as a church matters. It’s one of the clearest ways we express our shared life with God as we walk this journey with others. But the gap isn’t only in the prayer meeting. Some churches have dropped pastoral prayer from their Sunday gathering, couples stop praying together, parents stop praying with their children, and close Christian friendships can drift along without much prayer at all.

    It’s a stark contrast to our forebears, and something worth considering in our own practice of prayer today.

  • Weaknesses in Our Praying (Part 1)

    Weaknesses in Our Praying (Part 1)

    Most of us know we should pray more than we do, and most of us have never really stopped to ask why we don’t.

    A few years ago I signed up for prayer training, six sessions with an experienced pastor and mentor who led a group of us through the breadth of praying available to us in scripture, then walked with us as we prayed together and grew in it. It was as much experience as it was knowledge. Like most things in the Christian life, it turns out we need someone to teach us how to do this well. Jesus himself taught his disciples to pray through the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. Evidently being trained in prayer is something we need as his followers. 

    In his recent book, Prayerfulness, Peter Adam outlines weaknesses that can creep into our praying or view of prayer. Using these weaknesses as a basis for this post and the next, I think it is a helpful corrective and challenge to us. 

    We Don’t Trust God Enough

    One of the deepest weaknesses for many of us is that we lack real trust in God. In practice, many of us are practical deists. We believe in God, but we don’t quite trust his constant, sustaining rule over the universe. We assume he isn’t especially active in the world, or that even if we pray, he might not act. Without meaning to, we undermine his sovereign involvement in what happens around us, and end up trusting ourselves instead, as though everything depends on us.

    How often do we go about our day without prayer, not even considering that it might change something? Anything!? We end up working for God rather than with his grace, praying to him out of duty rather than with his enabling. We forget that nothing happens apart from him. It’s a good reminder that when we pray we trust, and when we trust we pray. It’s like the man who comes to Jesus in Mark 9:24, we believe, but we need help to overcome our unbelief! 

    We Don’t Think It’s Productive

    We swim in cultural waters that prize making the most of every minute. The technology we use trains us to move faster, work more efficiently, and produce more, whether that’s quicker meals, a fuller inbox cleared, or another project ticked off the list. Prayer runs against all of this.

    It asks for intentional time away from what the world calls a good use of time. In fact, it flips our usual measure of time on its head. Prayer requires us to stop, to be attentive, and to take up a posture of worship before God rather than productivity. We might not see an immediate benefit in the hour after we’ve prayed, but that is never the point. The point is the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father, and there’s no more productive use of time than that.

    Martin Luther once quipped that he had so much to do in a day that he needed to pray for three hours first just to get through it. I wonder if we’ve ever thought of praying with that attitude in mind? 

    We Make It Too Narrow

    How often do we pray for the things going on in our own life, and neglect prayer for God, for the world, and for the many other ingredients prayer can hold? A good meal usually needs a variety of ingredients working together, and the same is true of a rich prayer life.

    One of our weaknesses is how much weight we give to intercession alone, praying on behalf of others and ourselves. That matters, of course, but on its own it can become transactional, a running list of requests rather than a relationship. What about the other ingredients of prayer: praise, thanks, worship, confession, lament, trust and love? When our prayers stay narrow and close to home, so does our emotional engagement with God. Paul writes to Timothy at one point reminding him to bring petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving for all people to God (1 Timothy 2:1). Paul clearly has more than just intercession in mind here. 

    I know I’m certainly prone to this. Missing in my prayers is often adoration, praise for God and his character, and certainly lament and confession are harder to find as well. 

    This is a great reminder to widen the range of our prayers and see how God might work.

  • Am I Called To My Work? (Part 2)

    Am I Called To My Work? (Part 2)

    This is Part 2 of a two-part series. If you haven’t read Part 1, start there.

    While we may not be uniquely called to a specific task or work, what we have been given by God is a tremendous amount of freedom. Rather than moping about, devoid of hope or identity or purpose, we find this truth can bring freedom. 

    When we misunderstand God’s call on our lives we trap ourselves. When we believe God will give us a direct, unmistakable command to take up a particular task, job, or type of work then we can (1) fear we are missing out on what God has for us if we’re unsure about what we’re doing, and (2) we can find ourselves expecting our work to satisfy and fulfil us.

    But, because of Jesus we have been called into relationship with him and find ourselves called into a new and unending identity and purpose. Through Christ we not only find freedom from sin, but this recalibrates our lives, and our work. 

    Through Christ we are set free. 

    Freedom From FOMO

    The fear of missing out can cripple us. The amount of choice we have in our career, travel, work, and relationships is nothing like has ever been seen before. Unfortunately, rather than making us happier and healthier, it can be a major cause of anxiety, stress, and indecisiveness. There is a tendency to get stuck when there is so much choice.

    Add this to believing we are called to something specific and soon enough we are worried about whether we are doing the exact thing God wants of us. 

    This can lead us to procrastination, waiting around and hoping that God will send us a lightning bolt of wisdom and tell us exactly what we’re to do. When we fall into this trap our view of God is skewed. We start believing God is hiding something from us and we’ve got to spend months and years and maybe even decades finding exactly what God has for us. It is the proverbial needle in a haystack, our life’s purpose is to find that needle and if we don’t then we may well have missed out on the calling God has for us. 

    What a terrible way of thinking. 

    What a terrible way of thinking about God. 

    Remember, God is a God who gives good gifts to his children. Matthew 7:9-11, Jesus says, 

    “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

    Next, if we think we’ve got to go out and find our purpose and calling, then we are saying that God has purposely hidden his will from us. And if we are saying that God is hiding his will or his call from us then we are worshipping a pretty mean and untruthful God. Remember these words from 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 

    “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.”

    God has already revealed to us his call and will for our lives. He has done this through the scriptures, and continues to do so through his scriptures. He has given us all we need to be equipped for every good work; every good work that centres our identity and purpose in him. 

    When we know that God has called us to follow him and become more like him, then we don’t miss his call. It’s not even a category of thought. There’s no fear to be had. 

    Over 20 years ago I lived in a small village that only sold one type of milk, bread, butter, jam, yogurt, and the like. The choice was limited. On coming back to Melbourne I found myself paralysed when out shopping because there was so much to choose from. I remember standing in front of the pasta sauces taking as much time deciding which type I should grab as it would’ve taken to cook the meal!

    We have a lot of choice in our world regarding our work, jobs, and careers. When our identity is in Christ and our call to follow him is priority then we are set free from this debilitating choice. We recognise we have been created by God with our own passions, desires, gifts, abilities, and skills and can pursue those things we believe we are fit for. 

    Freedom From Expectation

    Another reason why making decisions and knowing God’s call for our lives can be so hard is because we expect so much. 

    We expect to find happiness and fulfilment in almost everything we do, including our work. As we seek to consume everything in life, not missing out on a thing, we lean toward having unrealistic expectations. Like a curated social media profile, our expectations on what work will achieve for us is unrealistic. 

    But the freedom of the gospel, and in the freedom that we have in our calling to Christ, our expectations are in God. Our perspective about what work will achieve for us changes. Work is not, as The Atlantic article suggests, “the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose”. Rather, the centrepiece and identity of our life is in Christ. In the words of Jesus, he has “come to give us life and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

    I do understand the book of Ecclesiastes affirms work giving us a certain satisfaction. While more famously known for comments about being meaningless, the Teacher in Ecclesiastes provides us with wisdom about work and how to view it in light of our relationship with God. In Ecclesiastes 2:24-25, after complaining about the emptiness of work, he writes, 

    “There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy their work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him?”

    As we are called to different responsibilities in life we find meaning in them because of God. As God gives and takes, as God provides and guides, we can find a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment in life and our work. Apart from God these things become meaningless; but with God, life and work is more than some fruitless exercise. 

    Essentially, this leads me to suggest that rather than being overly concerned about God’s plan for your life, particularly the work, job, and career aspect of that, recognise the freedom that comes from knowing him and following his way and rule. 

    God has called you to follow him, become more like him, and has given you everything you need to serve him.

    As Kevin DeYoung puts it in his book, Just Do Something, 

    “So the end of the matter is this: Love God. Obey the Scriptures. Think of others before yourself. Be Holy. Love Jesus. And as you do these things, do whatever else you like, to whomever you like, wherever you like, and you are walking in the will of God.” 

  • Am I Called To My Work? (Part 1)

    Am I Called To My Work? (Part 1)

    The majority of our week involves some form of work, whether it is paid or unpaid. You would think, then, that the intersection of our faith and work would be important and helpful to understand. 

    We live in a culture where work is to be meaningful and fulfilling, with some taking it so far that work borders on idolatry or religion. In his article for The Atlantic, Derek Thompson writes about work as the new religion of our day and times. At one point Thompson says, 

    “The decline of traditional faith…has coincided with an explosion of new atheisms. Some people worship beauty, some worship political identities, and others worship their children. But everybody worships something. And workism is among the most potent of the new religions competing for congregants.”

    Our sense of fulfilment expected through our work can be off the charts. So much so that it impacts how we view ourselves, our worth, and our purpose in living. 

    In Christian culture this is compounded when we believe that the Almighty–the great all-knowing, and all-powerful God in whom we worship–has called us to a particular task, assignment, or work. In other words, we expect to be especially “called” into some particular work. It’s common for us to hear the phrase, “God is calling me to…”, or, “I’m waiting for God’s call”, or “I just don’t know what God is calling me to do”. 

    We need to recognise this is a modern issue. We live in a time where there are more options for work and different kinds of work available to us. In previous generations, the concept of being called to a particular work wasn’t a thing. It was simply to find a job and work diligently at it. 

    Not only is it a modern issue, it’s also a Western issue (and dare I say the word privilege here too?). Millions of people around the world live in contexts where the options to choose what they do is limited. Economic, cultural, geographic, or linguistic factors limit people in the kind of work they do. The choice of what type of work they partake in is not something they can worry about. 

    In the book, The Gospel At Work, it says,

    “For most of human history, work was something you did to survive, and often there were no options to consider. Most of the time you did what your mother or father did, and that was the end of the story.” (Traeger and Gilbert, The Gospel at Work, p75)

    Today, it is more common to seek work that will bring an inner sense of fulfilment and satisfaction. Something that will fulfil life’s purpose and form one’s identity. 

    Calling In The Bible

    It shouldn’t surprise you that I believe the Bible speaks to this question of God’s call and our work. 

    In the Old Testament we find it is God who does the calling and is the instigator of the call. The majority of times God calls it is in relation to being in relationship with him. First and foremost, this call is to the community of God’s people. This is a corporate call to be in relationship with God and given to a people who God has set his love upon (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). 

    In the New Testament we find God’s call continues to be focussed on calling people into a relationship with him. Philippians 3:14 reminds us that all believers have an upward call in Christ to be with Jesus and to be like Jesus. We have been called to freedom, not bondage in Galatians 5:13. And we are reminded in 2 Timothy 1:9 that God has saved us and called us to a holy calling.

    When we read scripture we understand that God does call. And that he calls us. But this is a call centred on relationship. Relationship with him in Christ Jesus. It is a call to come and follow. To come and follow him. 

    What isn’t taught in the Old and New Testaments is to expect a specific call to a particular task, job, or profession. It just doesn’t seem to be taught in scripture.

    Another way of looking at this is how the New Testament uses the word call. It’s there over 300 times and used in 8-9 different ways. However, it’s never used in the sense of being called to a particular work. 

    How then shall we use the term call? 

    A more helpful way of understanding the call, is in the opening nine verses of 1 Corinthians. In this passage the term call is used in two ways, which are helpful for connecting our faith with our work. 

    First, Paul says he is “an apostle of Christ Jesus, called by the will of God”. Here Paul couches this call in the will of God (v1).

    Paul has been called by God to be one of his followers. He realises that it is God who has done this calling. God is the initiator, and this call leads to Paul following him. We can say the same thing. We have been called into God’s family by God himself. It is through God’s hand and initiative that we are followers of Jesus.

    Second, Paul uses the term call when he turns his attention to the church and tells them they are “called to be God’s holy people” (v2).

    This time the focus is who they, as the church in Corinth, are as God’s people. As God’s people they are to be holy. They have been called by God to be holy as individuals and together as a church. This call is a call to Christlikeness. 

    Not only that, but this call to holiness isn’t only for the church in Corinth, but for other believers too, “for those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v2).

    Given this we can certainly say that God does call, but it is a broader call. It is a call that is always about relationship with him. 

    A call to follow him. 

    A call to be more like him. 

    That’s it. 

    Rather than it be “what we do” that shapes our identity, it is “who we follow”. In recognising Christ as the identity-shaper in our lives then we will better understand our purpose. A purpose that is on display no matter what particular work, task, or job we perform. 

    Continue on to Part 2.

  • A Spacious Place

    A Spacious Place

    “I just need some space” is a common refrain that rotates in my head when life gets overwhelming, busy, and tiring. It’s a phrase I might say out loud to myself, or a response I might give when someone asks how I am and I’m being honest in reply. As I muse over life with a friend or with my wife, I reflect in such a way that highlights the sense of being crowded in by responsibilities and ‘adulting’. 

    To say this is stating a fact which demands reflection. Yes, I need some space, but is there so little time for me? It’s difficult to get space away from the tasks, demands, challenges, and responsibilities that build up over time. We all need space away from people, particularly those of us who are more introverted than others and enjoy their own company. To that end, this quiet thought said out loud is a wish for a quieter life. A life that is sustainable and slower than what we’ve got now. 

    Whether we’re on our own with a diary filled with tasks, whether we’re in the midst of a busy family life going from one activity to the next, or whether we’re empty-nesters or retirees who are busier than we thought without the paid work, sometimes we just crave the space to breathe. 

    It’s ironic, running about as we do even though we don’t like it and want to keep up with whatever we feel we need to keep up with. We try to make subtle changes in our life, less screen time, have a morning routine, read Atomic Habits and incrementally make changes, habit stack, or put the phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’. Sometimes we just need an overhaul. A forensic examination of all our rushing about and what we might be crowding out. It’s a cycle that hampers our walk with God and our ability to know Jesus deeper and be fruitful in our lives. 

    A Spacious Place in Scripture

    The second half of Psalm 31:8 has stuck with me for some time. I’ve been pleased to find this truth while reading through the Psalms of David. It is a reminder for us in these days of over-activity. 

    This is a psalm that describes one who is trapped and chased by enemies, but in all the struggle this brings there is God. God, who is powerful to rescue, and who plants feet in a spacious place. We read this short phrase at the back end of v8, 

    “You have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Psalm 31:8b)

    There are instances in our lives when we want space. Even every day, as we talk to a colleague, we don’t want to be interacting with a close-talker who speaks to us while in our personal space. We want adequate space between us and others so we can have a helpful conversation. 

    We are people who need space. We need physical space to interact in our world, and it should not surprise us that we need space in our heart, our soul, and our mind. We need space to flourish as people, and as the people of God. 

    Space to Flourish

    A helpful image that comes to mind is that of a garden. For plants and vegetables and trees to flourish, there needs to be space. Space between seedlings, space between trunks, space between fruit trees. When the garden is too full or the plants are cramped together, then they do not grow to their full potential. They don’t develop as they should. They need space between one another to access the right nutrients and sunshine in order to flourish. 

    This is the case for us as faithful followers of Jesus. 

    We need space to be able to grow, expand, and flourish in the things of God and the ways of God. 

    We need our feet to be planted in spacious places, where people, attitudes, stuff, and sin won’t crowd out our faith. Like squashed plants and unattended flowers that weeds grow up and choke, we too need space that the Lord provides. Like the parable of the soils (Mark 4:1-20), we want to not only be planted in healthy soil, but we also want to be planted in spacious soil. Soil that is ripe for depth and growth.

    I’ve come to realise that this teaching in Psalm 31 is connected further to Jesus. Jesus himself is depicted as a gardener after his resurrection (John 20:11-16). As the Lord has come to set us in a spacious place, the Lord Jesus is the gardener who picks the weeds and prunes the branches in order to help us flourish. After all, as we abide in him we will produce fruit and grow into a healthy fruit giving tree (John 15:1-11). 

    See how profound this is!?

    We are planted in a spacious place, and the Lord has given us nutrients for fruitful faith in him. 

    As we reflect on our over-filled lives that hinder us from spaciousness, we must examine what is crowding out our space. As we turn to Jesus, he will guide and help us relax into the spacious place he has for us.