Month: June 2016

It’s been a momentous week for Great Britain. By a relatively small margin, Britain voted to leave the European Union. No one can be sure exactly how this will work out. At the moment, the only thing that we can be certain of, is that nothing is certain.

Having children (one in utero) has made us feel all the more keenly this sense of uncertainty and insecurity. We simply don’t know what the future holds for them. But as Christians there are some comforts we cling to at times like these.

We thought we’d post a few encouraging thoughts of how the gospel can give us hope and confidence for our children’s future when all seems unsettling. It’s not exhaustive and it isn’t filled with caveats and political musings – that’s intentional. Please do feel free to comment and we could start some interesting and edifying discussions. Cathy studied international politics and modern history at uni, so this sort of debate is right up her street. But simply a political debate about Brexit is not the purpose of this post.

So, onto the encouragements…

• God is sovereign

Throughout time and history God has been in control of all things. He has seen nations and empires rise and fall. He has seen rulers come and go. Nothing surprises him and nothing happens outside of his purposes. There have been many moments like this in history – where the future seems uncertain and scary, oftentimes for God’s people themselves. But God’s unfailing character, his steadfast love, his faithful rule and his purposes in human history remain the same. What a comfort!

“O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations?“

2 Chronicles 20:6

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

Romans 13:1

• God is good and he does all things in our best interest

God is kind and generous. He loves to give us good gifts and he works in the midst of our circumstances. His working for our good doesn’t always mean we get the easy route – quite often the opposite is true! But in all things he does work for our good. He’s demonstrated that he is good  in countless ways: through creating an amazing universe for us to inhabit; by revealing himself to people throughout history through prophets, miracles, the bible and ultimately Jesus; by giving Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins – making relationship with God and forgiveness possible; and by promising that he will recreate the universe in perfection in the future. If he’s got the masterplan covered, then we can trust he’s got this covered too. He is good and can be trusted.

^“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28

• God cares

God is not some cosmic watchmaker who winds up the clock of the universe and then steps back and is uninvolved. God is relational. He is intimately involved in what is going on in the world. He hears and answers the prayers of his people, and he wants us to live peaceful and quiet lives in the nations where he’s put us. He wants us to seek the good of the places that we live. He wants our political environments to be conducive to religious freedom and civil liberties. He wants this to be the case so that everyone will have an opportunity to hear the message of Jesus.

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 

1 Timothy 2:1-4

How encouraging is this!

So whatever the future holds for our children in the changes to come for Great Britain, for the European Union, and for the world we can live with hope, trusting our heavenly father with the future. Because in the end he’s sovereign, he’s good and he cares. And ultimately he loves our children far more than we do.

Our baby boy turned two last weekend – how did that happen?

These days are so precious. So often we wish we could put these smiles, these giggles, these slobbery kisses, these first clumsy sentences, these wide-eyed looks of wonder, these “firsts” in a little box for safe keeping. Our boy is so trusting, so cuddly, so affectionate, so dependent, so cute – so childlike. We’ve lost count of the number of times people have told us to “enjoy him” now before he grows up, because the time flies and they don’t stay tiny for very long.

Already he’s grown up so much, and there’s so much that we’ve forgotten. If it wasn’t for video clips, photos and blog posts of milestones then we would have forgotten even more. As we sort out his old clothes ready for baby number two, we think “how was he ever that small?” And as we watch him sleep in his cot, face crunched-up on the mattress and breathing deeply, we think “I don’t ever want you to grow up, I wish you could stay this small forever.”

But let’s face it, the days where our children can fit their entire body on our laps, or have dimples in their chubby hands, or squeal with excitement when they see us come through the front door are limited. It’s sad, but c’est la vie!  The natural thing is for children to grow up into adulthood and to perhaps one day have babies of their own – and then we get the joy all over again! But this time with grandchildren.

But as Christians we can have even more of a consolation than just hoping for grandchildren one day. We believe that all people are immortal, that we have eternal souls, and that we all live forever – how mind boggling is that!

As C.S. Lewis once wisely said in his book, ‘The Weight of Glory’:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

How extraordinary! Our little blonde toddler will not just hopefully one day be a man; able to structure nuanced arguments, develop a career and shepherd his own family – but he is immortal! Our consolation and our hope is that our little boy’s heavenly glory will exceed any worldly ambitions that we can have for him – for God willing, if he trusts in Jesus, one day he will be transformed into the very image of Christ.

^“I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

1 Corinthians 15:50-52

Wow – how that changes our perspective! It gives our son (and us all) immeasurable dignity and purpose. And it helps us to remember that as we go about life doing ordinary human things, we are either helping or hindering our boy to get to his heavenly destination. What a responsibility, but what an amazing privilege too! It radically redefines our view of parenting. (Though let’s not forget – it’s all ultimately down to God’s grace, not us!)

But this gospel truth that we are eternal beings works deeply in our own hearts too. So, as we watch our little boy sleep in his cot, face crunched-up on the mattress and breathing deeply, we may be tempted to think “I don’t ever want you to grow up, I wish you could stay this small forever.” But then we remember that while this is a lovely stage, staying like this forever is not truly want we want for him. Thanks to Jesus, what is to come is immeasurably better.