God Is for Us

This principle of normative versus regulative may be applied not ust to how we worship, but also to issues of ethics in the church, Paul appears to take the normative principle approach here regarding food: whatever Scripture commands us to do we do; whatever it prohibits, we do not do; however, if an issue is neither clearly prohibited nor clearly permitted, Paul allows the individual to use their sanctified common sense and freedom of conscience.

In AD 251 plague ravaged the Roman empire, and a staggering 5,000 people per day died in Rome alone. So many were dying that families sought quarantine by abandoning their loved ones to the streets. The authorities were overwhelmed and powerless to help; the pagan priests fled their temples where people had flocked for comfort and explanation. Yet following the plague, the church's reputation soared and her congregations increased. How so? Christians were not supernaturally protected from sharing in their fellow humans' suffering. Many fell to the plague. They did not have compelling intellectual answers to the very present problem of evil. But they did have water and food and their presence. And this meant that, if Romans knew a Christian, they were statistically more likely to live! Social and political theologian Dr Stephen Backhouse observes: It was not clever apologetics, strategic political organisation or the witness of martyrdom which converted an Empire, so much as the simple conviction by normal Christians that what they did for the least of their neighbours they did for Christ.

Often folk ask: “how much should I give?" That's the wrong question, especially if it is short hand for the reluctant "What is the minimum I can get away with giving?" Perhaps the question we should ask is, "How much can I keep?" People make much of giving 10 per cent, and debate whether it should be gross or net of tax. But a tithe is generally what we give as a tip in restaurants! Tithing is like tipping God. We cannot be satisfied with giving God our bare minimum. We need to cultivate the spiritual grace where it "pleases" us to give back to God.

Often we want God to bless the appetites of our "flesh", But God is not a genie in a lamp who gives us our wishes; he is God who gives us his wishes, And his wish list is often very different from ours, God's measure of a successful life looks very different from the world's measure. He is more concerned with our character than our comfort. God is more interested with who we are than what we have.

Jesus promised his disciples three things - they would be entirely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble. - W. Russell Maltby