Taking every thought captive

Recently I heard someone say that our God was the God the second chance. In fact, they said he was the God the the second, third, fourth and fifth chance.

I’ve heard such things said before, but this time I wondered if it were true. Somehow I didn’t feel it was.

My problem is this. If I think God is like that, might I not come to presume on him being a soft touch? I know I fail him, and I don’t like it, but it is a fact.  I’ve repented many times of failure, and I know I’ve been forgiven for my sins (1 John 1:9). But is that the same as saying God gives me another chance?

Gos is a God of grace — dealing with me not as I deserve, but in mercy, and totally undeserved favour. To my mind that’s in a whole different league from chances. Chances are finite. Chances keep a tally. Chances keep the score. Grace is abundant, immeasurable and unfathomable. It’s more than a matter of semantics. I think it is a totally different mind set. Somehow grace breeds responsibility for my actions, which thinking of chances could generate a carelessness.

Peter’s questions about forgiveness (Mat 18:21) and Jesus’ answer (Mat 18:22-35) illustrates the difference in mindset. Peter’s question came from the mindset of chances — how often? how many times? Jesus’ answer, though initially couched in terms of times clearly moves us beyond keeping score. His parable shows mercy and grace in operation. And it also shows the necessity of responsibility on the part of the forgiven. The first debtor had not grasped the implications of his master’s grace and mercy.

Yes, grace may be abused, as Romans 6 also implies. But I will only abuse it if I do not understand it. “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (v 2) When I have grasped grace I will relinquish my grip on sin as surely as a toddler releases the dangerous knife when his mother proffers a favourite toy.

I think I am more likely to be misled by chances. Accepting and understanding grace will make my expectations more realistic. Chance is such a worldly concept. There is great danger I will let the world shape my concept of God. Grace is divine and unworldly. I’d prefer to have my concept of God shaped by him and his grace.

I only heard about the Boeing 777 crash landing at Heathrow last last night. Undoubtedly the pilot’s skill in landing the plane so safely is to be commended. The lack of serious casualties stands in stark contrast to many plane crashes in recent years. One ITN reported concluded his news report with words like, “tonight the passengers have much to be thankful for.” Indeed they do, but to whom?

Perhaps comments like, “Thank God we’re down safely,” were made by some of the passengers. But I wonder if they were mere expressions of relief rather than genuine thankfulness to the living God.

To be thankful must imply someone to be thankful to. It is not possible to be truly thankful without someone to whom that thanks is addressed. There is a world of difference between exclaiming, “Thank God!” and “Thank you, God!”

As the news report ended, my wife noticed her mother sitting with eyes closed. Thinking she had dozed off in her chair, my wife thought she would waken her as it was time for bed, only to be told she was thanking God for the safety of the passengers and crew. That is the difference between “Thank God!” and “Thank you, God!”

Before I went to bed myself, I read another few pages from G. K. Chesterson’s Orthodoxy, where I came across these words:

The test of all happiness is gratitude; and I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom. Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts or toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Clause when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth? (p. 52, Image Books 1959 reprint)

It’s a common Irish expression, “Buíochas le Dia,” or “Thanks be to God!” When we say it, may we direct it intentionally to the one who deserves it.

It struck me this morning as I read Genesis 1 that it bears witness clearly to the principle of government in God’s creation. In day 4 the two great lights are created specifically to govern day and night (the triple repetition of the word makes a clear emphasis). And in day 6, of course, human beings are given delegated authority from the Creator himself to subdue and rule over the various other animals (again with a triple repetition of the terms). There is perhaps a distinction in that the lights are somewhat passive in their government, while humanity has a much more active task, made all the more difficult by our current sinful condition that prevents us from carrying out the creation mandate as originally intended.

This same theme of government in the universe is also evident in the Book of Revelation, with its constant reference to God’s throne.

Though we humans often despise, or at least complain about, our earthly governments, it is noteworthy that the principle of government is built-in to our world. Government is not required by the Fall, but predates it, and is to be exercised “under authority”, as a delegated function. The failures and flaws of human governments are but a reflection of their failure to recognise that they exercise authority only under delegated orders. Genesis 1 gives us hope, and Revelation comfort, that God is still on the throne. Every time we see the sun and the moon we have a physical reminder that this is so.

Colin Adams has written from a pastor’s perspective in ‘20 Reasons to Read (Good Christian Books)’ (Unashamed Workman, 8 Jan 2008). However, it is not just for pastors to read, as there are many good reasons that apply to all Christians.

At the moment I’m reading How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortmer J. Adler and Charles van Doren. Amazing how little I knew about it, though I’ve been reading all my life. I’ve seen it recommended many times, but only finally got round to getting a copy and reading it. I can add my voice to the recommendations. I’m definitely looking forward to getting more out of what I read. I may share a little later as I go through it. On a similar vein is a short article I’ve just read. Ryan Holiday has written ‘Read to Lead: How to Digest Books Above Your “Level”‘ (RyanHoliday.net, 17 Dec 2007), which probably covers some ground in Adler.

Finally, I’ve noticed that Stephen Altrogge has also put together a short, but useful blog entry called ’7 Tips for Better Book Reading’ (The Blazing Center, 23 Aug 2007) that is specifically aimed at encouraging Christians in their reading. I’ve been reminded of some really good principles that are worth revisiting from time to time.

Last night we learned the cure for the Norovirus that is doing the round of the British population, especially in our hospitals. A member of the RCGP told us how to take over the counter remedies, stay of work and out of contact with others, and watch television! How could such a debilitating device help with the returning one to health?

Perhaps the doctor was under the illusion that there might be something worth watching in the current broadcast schedules. If so, he either does not watch it himself, or worse, he does and genuinely believes there are many worthwhile programs to be seen.

Coincidentally there was one program worth watching last night — a superb documentary about the Snow Leopard in remote Northern Pakistan. For once, David Attenborough didn’t regale us with patent nonsense about the imaginary age of the planet. The scenery was spectacular and the animal footage truly delightful.

The most worrying thing about the doctor’s advice was that coming from an apparently educated expert, it simply feeds the popular idea that tv is good for you. If family doctors are now prescribing tv viewing, what can be wrong with it?

Sadly Postman, McLuhan, Ellul and Groothius are not widely read nor accepted. If only they were, we would not be given such harmful advice. I had coincidently revisted Douglas Groothius’s article ‘How the Bombarding Images of TV Culture Undermine the Power of Words‘, Modern Reformation, 10.1, Jan-Feb 2001.

If your family doctor prescribes tv viewing, you could always let him read the article. It might just help in the fight against truth decay. It’s definitely a worthwhile article to read at the start of a new year, and resolve to cut back on tv viewing, prescribed or otherwise.