Day 6 Change pace
| We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8.28–31 |
Let’s hear it for the ai! This magnificent creature, which is also known as the three-toed sloth, is not only a lifesaver in the closing stages of a game of Scrabble, but is indisputably the most lethargic mammal in God’s creation. It spends much of its life upside down in a Brazilian tree, where it passes about 20 hours per day dozing. It has a peaceful, vegetarian life completely in harmony with its environment. Fully motivated the ai can reach a maximum speed of 250 metres per hour – 400 times slower than a jaguar. But that is in an emergency. The speed at which it likes to travel is about five metres per hour. It is the laziest living thing that ever boasted a backbone.
However, going through life at such a slow pace doesn’t seem to do the ai any harm. In fact the reverse! The sloth is one of the most successful mammals in evolutionary history. At such a slow pace it evades the attention of all its natural predators and triumphs over jaguars and eagles with a serene smile.
| Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8.34–37 |
I am the reverse. That’s my problem! I need everything to happen now. I never want to be reading a book; I want to have read a book! It is no good telling me that everything will be all right in the end; I want it all to be right now! I want poverty to end today. I want men of violence to put down their weapons this instant. It is agony having to wait patiently for God to act. He is making his way through the whole of eternity to bring about his plan for humankind, but I only have a few moments between birth and death to be human. I am speeding through life like a jaguar, and God is working out his plan like an ai. Just as the jaguar moves so fast that he doesn’t even see the sloth edging onwards, so we operate at such speed that we miss God’s relentless progress towards an utter triumph.
The creator of the world is greater than anything he created and will rise to defeat all that challenges his goodness. It is a truth that is easy to accept on lazy, sunny days; harder to hang on to in times of darkness and injustice. But the message of the Bible is that we are destined to share in God’s triumph, and that the bad things which distract us are merely part of a plan that is unshakeably good. Saint Paul put it like this: ‘In all things God works for the good of those who love him.’
Paul uses four key words to describe what God is doing. ‘Predestined’ tells us that the relationship we have with God is outside time altogether. Forever has he known what his good plan is for humankind, and forever has he been able to see the unimaginable future in which we will be with him. ‘Called’ speaks of what God has done in our past, taking an astonishing initiative to invite us to be with him on his progress towards victory. ‘Justified’ tells us where we are at present. It means being accepted by God, with our sins forgiven and our friendship with him restored, all because of what Jesus has done on our behalf. ‘Glorified’ points to the place where we shall be in the future, alongside God and sharing the justice, joy and peace of a perfect heaven.
| God walks slowly because he is love. If he is not love he would have gone much faster. Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed . . . It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice it or not, whether we are currently hit by a storm or not, at three miles per hour. It is the speed we walk, and therefore it is the speed the love of God walks. Kosuke Koyama, theologian, born 1929 |
Future, present, past and an eternity outside time altogether. That’s the timescale God is working on. No wonder we can’t keep up with him. It’s not because we can’t go fast enough; it’s because we can’t go slow enough. In this life we will never be able to. It is only in death that we will finally slow down to God’s own pace and understand perfectly.
Nothing, least of all death, will be able to separate us from God’s love. How? ‘Through him who loved us.’ It is all down to Jesus. Obviously we are not good enough; but Jesus is good enough. Obviously we are not powerful enough; but Jesus is infinitely strong. Obviously the mess we get ourselves into is anything but triumphant; but Jesus has already triumphed. When you put yourself on Jesus’ side, you are putting yourself on the side of love and goodness. You are putting yourself on the winning side. Unstoppable!
| The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small. Friedrich von Logau, poet, 1604–55 |
Sadness, hunger, poverty, war – we see these things all too readily, and it is understandable that we lose sight of the loving God who, on a different timescale from ours, has all these things in his grip. Living at a pace which allows you to see him at work requires practice. It involves allowing God to refocus your eyes from our human timescale to the eternity in which he is working to put right all that humans have put wrong. Practise living in the love of Jesus, the love from which nothing can separate you now and for all eternity, and get ready for all things to be swept up in the inevitable triumph of good.
| Detox: Set aside an hour this week to go at a different pace. (A whole day would be better, but an hour is more realistic.) Go through it slowly and relish every moment. Eat some food and taste it properly. Take a bath and enjoy it to the full. Notice colours. Go at the speed of a three-toed sloth. If you meet anyone you know, smile serenely as if you’re in the Brazilian rain forest, and hang around. Dwell on all that God has done. If there are troubles in your mind, stop and pray about them. Slowly get ready for eternity. |
Lord God, until I am sure enough to trust, until I am quiet enough to listen, until I am still enough to understand, slow me down and teach me patience. Amen.
Day 7 Break a habit
| What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! . . . When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Romans 6.15–22 |
Freedom! Everyone wants it. The trouble is that someone else’s freedom always seems more appealing than your own. Teenagers tell you they are longing for the day when they are liberated from school. Professionals tell you they wish they could reclaim the freedom of their schooldays. Last week somebody said to me, ‘It must be wonderful for you not to have children. It makes you free to do whatever you want with your life.’ I felt a searing urge to reach out my hand and enthusiastically shake the woman by the throat.
Experience has made me adept at dealing with the stupid things people say. At a wedding last summer someone I hadn’t seen for 20 years said to me, ‘Have you managed to find yourself a woman yet?’ I was really cross, so I pretended to look forlorn and said, ‘Well, to be honest, I gave up hope after the amputation.’ The shock on her face as she tried to work out the politically correct response was a treat, but I had to limp through the entire
