Be reconciled to God!

I'm sitting in my bedroom, enjoying the exquisite Cape Town summer weather coming through my window. Everything seems to have slowed down today, even the southeasterly wind which is my nemesis every time I set out on a bicycle. It's December 16, the Day of Reconciliation.

Now I realize I'm getting a little predictable in marking these high days and holidays, but 'tis the season to do that, and we often let these days go by without thinking of their beautiful meanings. Among other things, today is my parents' wedding anniversary. Back when they were married, it was the Day of the Vow, and they joked that theirs was the Vow of the Day. The fact that it's the Day of Reconciliation doesn't mean that there is too much reconciliation needed between them, thank the Lord.

But a much bigger reconciliation is needed, I've been realizing recently: a reconciliation between the people of South Africa and God. Anyone with a head for the news can see the many ways we've rebelled against him. God gave us a peaceful transition to democracy which was nothing short of miraculous (anyone doubting that should pick up A Witness For Ever by Michael Cassidy for a good read of the incredible things that happened behind the scenes in the negotiations leading up to 1994). Yet since then we've turned our backs on him in just about every way possible. I was watching a documentary yesterday called Behind the Rainbow, tracing the history of the ANC from the 1950s up to the divisive Polokwane conference last year, and the overwhelming sense one got was of a nation that, in the words of the narrator, had "lost its innocence".

One thing that shows this incredibly starkly is our collective attitude towards our neighbour, Zimbabwe. Last week I was reading the obscure minor prophet Obadiah, who prophesied doom over Edom because of their actions towards their neighbours Israel, and I was mortified to see how many of God's judgments against them could be levelled at us:

"You deserted your relatives in Israel [Zimbabwe] during their time of greatest need. You stood aloof, refusing to lift a finger to help when foreign invaders [or a tyrannical government] carried off their wealth and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem [or their farmland]... You shouldn't have done this! You shouldn't have gloated when they exiled your relatives [from Zimbabwe] to distant lands... You shouldn't have stood at the crossroads, killing those who tried to escape. You shouldn't have captured the survivors, handing them over to their enemies [the Zimbabwean authorities] in that terrible time of trouble." (Obadiah 11-14)

It's scandalous. South Africans have done all these things. I can only conclude that we're under God's judgment in a terrible way unless we repent and reconcile with God.

But there's hope. In Ezekiel 22:30, God speaks about looking for someone who would rebuild a symbolic wall of righteousness guarding Israel, someone who would stand in the gap in the wall so he would not have to destroy the land. I know that God has many people in this country who are willing to stand in the gaps of our wall of righteousness.

I'm glad to report that many South Africans are doing that, working against all that's been done to Zim. We've heard the calls from various important people for the government to step up pressure on the Zanu-PF rulers of Zim, and the even more strident calls for Mugabe to be removed entirely. And on the ground, I've just personally collected over R3 200 in donations to take up to a needy orphanage and clinic in the country when I go up there this week for the wedding of Jono and Kath, two of my friends. Add that to the over R6 000 and 51kg of goods my friend Ros has collected, and we're going to be bringing some significant help to those who need it. People have been amazingly generous. And this tide of Christmas goodwill is catching on across the country, as the body of Christ finds ways to channel supplies to people in Zim.

According to 2 Corinthians 5:20, we are Christ's ambassadors in this country. We need to be urging people to be reconciled to him after all the sins we've done, against God, our neighbours and our compatriots. May God please show us how to do this.
Please pray for my friends and me as we make our way over to Zimbabwe, for favour with the border officials and safety. But even more importantly, pray for our country, that the hope of "God and sinners reconciled" would prove true for all of us this Christmas.

Beating the Holiday Burden

It's been a chilled, but challenging past two weeks. You see, every time I'm on holiday, God seems to turn the screws on me a little tighter when it comes to reminding me of the people out there who I could be sharing his love with. Or maybe it's just that when I'm on holiday, I'm not spending my time working to the same extent and so have one less excuse not to spend my time loving others. Either way, it all adds up to a syndrome I'd like to label the Holiday Burden: I get the feeling I should be using my time for God's Kingdom, then out of fear I make a few excuses, try to put it on hold for a while, with the result that nothing gets done and I just feel more guilty and out of touch with God, disqualifying me from reaching out. Anyone else ever feel like that?

This holiday, I've managed to get myself into the first stages of this dangerous slide, but I might just have found the way to pull out of it too. Here's what God's been teaching me lately:

Step 1: Get rid of the guilt
If this sounds like a strange place to start, I thought so too. God's got a good reason to be angry with me, so why should I stop feeling guilty? Because, of course, God isn't angry with me. It's one of the most basic truths of Christianity, but I still needed to be reminded of it the other day.

On Saturday, my Mom held a Quiet Garden at her house, a time when people from various churches get together just to spend some alone-time with God in the peace and quiet of a garden. I was keen to listen to God and realised I needed the discipline of just sitting and being quiet for a morning to do that, so I joined in. In the garden, I read one of the set passages in my daily quiet time notes, Hebrews 9:11-28. Here the Holy Spirit stresses again and again the once-and-for-all-ness of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. This means that the dreadful act of rebellion I've just committed has already been forgiven and paid for! The only right response is to turn around, repent, get rid of the guilt and begin living like I'm supposed to.

Step 2: Follow your heart
This one sounds completely counter-intuitive as well. Some of the most heinous sins have been committed by people 'following their hearts', and the world tries to brainwash us into doing this all the time: if you want to do something, do it now, because nothing can be wrong if it feels right to you. And now I'm repeating these fiendish lies? Well, not exactly. You see, I'm talking about a different heart. The one God planted in us when we accepted Jesus as our Saviour.

A few weeks ago I led a Bible study on God's promise in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Here God says that he will make a new covenant with Israel, with this as one of God's obligations under it: "I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts." (Jeremiah 31:33). God would put his laws, the commands he wanted the people to obey, in their hearts so that they would want to do what he wanted them to do. Hebrews 8 quotes this passage and explains that it is part of the better covenant that Jesus has now extended to us. So we have been given God's commands on our hearts! This makes sense of what Paul is saying in Philippians 2:13: "For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him." It's all there for us!

Why then do I still chafe against what God is asking me to do so many times? In theory I want to do good, but in practice I shy away from it. It's like the inner war that Paul describes in Romans 7 between our sinful nature and the new nature God has given us. Even though we've got this new nature, we've got to decide to follow it.

On Sunday my Dad preached on Romans 13:8-14. The last verse says, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." In other words, we've got to put away our 'flesh', our sinful nature, like an old set of clothes, and put on our new nature so that we can be Jesus to others. And when we are Jesus to others, we glorify him! And what's more, we have the greatest joy in the world, that of turning people to the love of Jesus. I was struck the other day reading Luke 24:44-53, at how after Jesus had given the disciples the huge task of the Great Commission and ascended to heaven, leaving them to finish the job with the Holy Spirit, they weren't long-faced, contemplating the enormity of what they'd just been told to do (as I am often!) but "filled with great joy" (Luke 24:51).

So I'm still praying that God will help me put on Christ and beat the Holiday Burden. Let's revel in the huge joy of taking God's love to people we know. Let's do it!

Happy World AIDS Day!

I hope that doesn't sound like too much of a contradiction in terms. Who can be happy about a day in which we're supposed to remember that millions of people are dying from an incurable disease way before their time? Is there some way in which I can grasp at joy in a situation like this? Or do I even care?

To me, AIDS is such an invisible disease, even in South Africa, which is one of the countries worst affected by the disease. AIDS is a disease for 'other people', the poor and black. And even when you speak to them, few are open about being HIV-positive. The virus hides behind the countless symptoms and infections that are the surface causes of people's suffering. I had a jolt the other day when a well-off white friend told me she had been for a battery of blood tests and was afraid that the results would come back saying she was HIV-positive. Praise God, when they came back it turned out she was negative!

But what does God have to say to us about AIDS? We Christians often trumpet the fact that we have the ultimate way to prevent AIDS: sexual abstinence before marriage. And that's wonderful! It truly is something to celebrate, proving once again the wisdom of God's laws against sexual immorality. The NIRSA Declaration of Intent reads:

"We resolve to hold faithfulness in marriage and sexual abstinence before marriage as the only effective way to stop the HIV and AIDS genocide of the human race and to terminate sexual violence. We note further that the Bible holds men primarily responsible for upholding these virtues."

The Church has put together some great abstinence-based and abstinence-plus AIDS awareness campaigns teaching these truths and bringing clarity, while the teachings of secular organisations such as LoveLife seem to have confused people about how to prevent HIV from spreading. But so many people do not seem to be sticking to their pledges of abstinence, and far more are stuck with the virus through no fault of their own, due to mother-to-child transmission, rape and unfaithful marriage partners. And even where people have contracted HIV as a consequence of their own sin, God calls us to love them as we've been loved. So what should we be doing for these people?

I'm reminded of Jesus' words about the final judgment: "I was sick and you cared for me... I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!" (Matthew 26:36;40, NLT). Whether or not we cared for sick people will be one of the things that separates us from unbelievers on Judgment Day! They're that important to God.

Obviously, the first thing these people need to know is that they can know the forgiveness and love of Jesus, and that even though their mortal lives may be cut short, they can have eternal life if they believe in him. It's vital that they come to know this before they die. The second thing we should do (even if it scares us and stretches our faith) is pray for their healing. God is powerful, and he may be looking for people like us to do great miracles in his name. But whether or not he chooses to heal people, he wants them to be loved. So what is the Church doing?

It may not look like we are doing a lot. When World AIDS Day rolls around, secular advocacy groups seem to dominate the scene entirely. But if you take a closer look, you'll probably find the Body of Christ quietly at work both within those organisations (in the form of dedicated staff members and volunteers) and in smaller, lower-profile faith-based organisations. I decided to test this out on Google.co.za and found 107 000 pages from South Africa turned up when I searched for '(church OR Christ*) (HIV OR AIDS)'. Many of them are statements from various churches about HIV/AIDS or church ministries dealing with the disease. Try it for yourself! And then let's not forget all the faithful and faith-filled health professionals working in trying conditions every day to fight the disease.

The NIRSA Declaration of Intent says "We resolve to support current and new initiatives out of the church in tackling and eliminating the HIV/Aids pandemic." Let's do that! I must admit that I have done very little to show love to HIV/AIDS-sufferers. But I want to be willing to improve. And the best way I know to start doing this is by praying.

So will you join me in spending a while in prayer about the HIV/AIDS situation in our country and offering yourself to be used by God in some small way to love those caught in it? Maybe if we do, he'll awaken us to his compassion for the sick that can make even this World AIDS Day a happy day.