This is not going to be a seasonally appropriate blog. It’s
not very Christmassy at all– instead it’s about what was probably the most
profound and beautiful thing I’ve witnessed this term. Anyway, you’ll see what
I mean later, and in the meantime I implore you to bear with my unseasonality.
A guy called Bill Hybels tells a true story about a dad he knew. This dad’s son was going to prison, for a crime that he did in fact commit. He was guilty and he was going to prison for seven years. And this dad didn’t really know what to do, but he remembered reading Psalm 34 – and the bit in that psalm which says this:
“GOD is close to the broken-hearted,
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
And he stitched this verse into a piece of fabric so that his son would be allowed to hang it in his cell and read it every day. And the son did it, and he saw this verse every day. And over time he really started to think about it. He had a huge weight of guilt and shame about what he had done. But as he read the verse over and over again he realised that it didn’t mention anything at all about how a person comes to be broken-hearted. It doesn’t say that God is close to “the broken-hearted who have come to this point through no fault of their own” – it just says he is close to the broken-hearted. Full stop. Whatever the pain is – if it’s innocent and inescapable, or self-inflicted and wrapped up in guilt, if it’s coming from one devastating event, or if it’s been around forever and it feels like it’s never going to end, if it’s diagnosable or impossible to explain or both, or if it seems like it’s just a silly thing and it shouldn’t hurt this much – God is close to you. It might not feel like it and you might not even like the idea very much, but he is close to you. And this truth grabbed hold of this son in prison, and he knew it was about him - even him. And he came through those seven years and he was transformed; something melted and something was born inside of him; and he came out of prison devoted to the God who - he knew now - was devoted to him.
God is devoted to you. That’s quite a strange sentence to write, but I believe, and the bible says, and Jesus proves, that it’s true. Whoever you are and however much you feel like a mess, or however much you think you’re a legend: God is devoted to you. And when you are broken-hearted, he is right there with you.
And more than that, he really likes you. A guy called Don Miller writes about the time his friend first read one of the accounts of Jesus’ life, and when she’d finished it, this was what she said to him:
“I found Jesus very disturbing, very straightforward. He wasn't diplomatic, and yet I felt like if I met Him, He would really like me. Don, I can't explain how freeing that was, to realize that if I met Jesus, He would like me.”
One of the bits of the bible that I really love, that slaps me on the shoulder and says hello, is Mark 10 verse 21. This guy has come to Jesus, and he’s asking all the wrong questions and saying all the wrong things; he’s arrogant and in fact he ends up walking away and rejecting Jesus. But there’s this moment, where Mark just writes this:
“Jesus looked at him, and loved him.”
This love is, to be frank, completely unprovoked. There’s no good reason for it. Jesus just looks at him, and he loves him. And what you get from reading about what Jesus did and said, and how he died, is that actually, if you met him, he would like you. When he looks at you, he loves you.
A guy called Bill Hybels tells a true story about a dad he knew. This dad’s son was going to prison, for a crime that he did in fact commit. He was guilty and he was going to prison for seven years. And this dad didn’t really know what to do, but he remembered reading Psalm 34 – and the bit in that psalm which says this:
“GOD is close to the broken-hearted,
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
And he stitched this verse into a piece of fabric so that his son would be allowed to hang it in his cell and read it every day. And the son did it, and he saw this verse every day. And over time he really started to think about it. He had a huge weight of guilt and shame about what he had done. But as he read the verse over and over again he realised that it didn’t mention anything at all about how a person comes to be broken-hearted. It doesn’t say that God is close to “the broken-hearted who have come to this point through no fault of their own” – it just says he is close to the broken-hearted. Full stop. Whatever the pain is – if it’s innocent and inescapable, or self-inflicted and wrapped up in guilt, if it’s coming from one devastating event, or if it’s been around forever and it feels like it’s never going to end, if it’s diagnosable or impossible to explain or both, or if it seems like it’s just a silly thing and it shouldn’t hurt this much – God is close to you. It might not feel like it and you might not even like the idea very much, but he is close to you. And this truth grabbed hold of this son in prison, and he knew it was about him - even him. And he came through those seven years and he was transformed; something melted and something was born inside of him; and he came out of prison devoted to the God who - he knew now - was devoted to him.
God is devoted to you. That’s quite a strange sentence to write, but I believe, and the bible says, and Jesus proves, that it’s true. Whoever you are and however much you feel like a mess, or however much you think you’re a legend: God is devoted to you. And when you are broken-hearted, he is right there with you.
And more than that, he really likes you. A guy called Don Miller writes about the time his friend first read one of the accounts of Jesus’ life, and when she’d finished it, this was what she said to him:
“I found Jesus very disturbing, very straightforward. He wasn't diplomatic, and yet I felt like if I met Him, He would really like me. Don, I can't explain how freeing that was, to realize that if I met Jesus, He would like me.”
One of the bits of the bible that I really love, that slaps me on the shoulder and says hello, is Mark 10 verse 21. This guy has come to Jesus, and he’s asking all the wrong questions and saying all the wrong things; he’s arrogant and in fact he ends up walking away and rejecting Jesus. But there’s this moment, where Mark just writes this:
“Jesus looked at him, and loved him.”
This love is, to be frank, completely unprovoked. There’s no good reason for it. Jesus just looks at him, and he loves him. And what you get from reading about what Jesus did and said, and how he died, is that actually, if you met him, he would like you. When he looks at you, he loves you.
And this brings us to the reason I’m writing this. This
term, I have been privileged to see a friend of mine gradually get hold of this
truth. This friend has received the reality of it bit by bit – like the bud of
a flower slowly, slowly opening up as the frost thaws - but I’m telling you: it
is a glorious thing to realise that God is close to you, that he likes you.
But now, here’s the thing that makes my heart ache as I type: I can see somebody reading this, and thinking ‘Yeah that’s really beautiful, it’s lovely that Mike believes that God loves me’ and then just leaving it at that. And what I’ve seen this term has made it more obvious to me than ever that that’s like someone telling you you’ve won the lottery and you just saying ‘Oh thanks mate that’s epic!’ and then never bothering to claim your prize. The second line of that bit in Psalm 34 is just as true as the first: “GOD is close to the broken-hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” He saves us, rescues us from our brokenness. If you don’t feel like you are in any way broken, if you look in the mirror and look right into yourself and everything you think and do and feel and don’t think that there’s anything you would like to be changed, to be restored or renewed – well then I’ll write a blog for you another day. But if you do see something, if you do feel like there are bits that are broken, however big or small, then I’m writing for you, I’m telling you that God wants to rescue you.
***
A little boy is trapped. He was taken hostage years and years ago – so long ago he can’t even remember what the world outside the compound is like. The men with the guns killed his mother a long time ago. It’s been so long it feels normal even though it doesn’t feel right. And he’s terrified every time another person comes into his little room. And it’s never going to end. Until one day the CIA get a lead, and discover that he’s being held in this compound. And in the dead of night navy SEALs storm the compound and he can hear guns and shouts and he is very scared. And then men, men he’s never seen before, come into his little room, holding guns, wearing body armour.
One man shouts: “OK let’s get you out of here, come on, let’s go!”
But the little boy just curls up, shaking with fear in the corner of the room. He doesn’t understand. He knows that the men with guns hurt him.
And the SEALs don’t know what to do. And then one man slowly puts his gun on the floor. And then he takes off his body armour. And then his shirt. Until, like the little boy, he is half naked and shivering slightly from the cold. And then he walks to where the little boy is curled up, and slowly lies down beside him. The other men watch, mesmerized. He comes close to the boy, curling around him and warming him. The other men would never do this. The boy realises this man is different. He thinks that he is kind. And the SEAL speaks softly to him:
“We are Americans like you. We’ve come to rescue you. Will you follow us?”
And then he stood up, and offered the boy his hand.
***
The point is this: beautiful as it is that God is close to us, incredible as it is that in Jesus he became like us so we could know him and learn to trust him; a good rescuer doesn’t stay lying down in the dark and the cold. He stands up and offers us his hand. And some of the most amazing moments of my life are the ones when I have seen people take his hand, and start to get up and get out. Maybe it looks like being able to talk about things that were always too dark and too heavy to get off their chest. Maybe it looks like not being afraid anymore. Maybe it looks like laughing more. Maybe it looks like breaking up with someone who was not good to them but they thought they could not live without. Maybe it looks like breaking the habit that controls them. Maybe it looks like giving stuff away and discovering the different joy of that. I could keep going because it changes everything – it turns the world upside down and inside out and breathes a delightful and difficult new life into every little corner of everyday existence - but I’ll stop for now. All I can say is that in my own experience everything that’s changed, especially the things that seemed a massive sacrifice, turned out to be a road into a deeper joy.
All I’m saying is that He is close to you. And He’s offering you his hand. And right now, through these words as you read them, He’s speaking softly to you and saying, “Will you follow me?”
So now it’s time for the Christmassy part of this blog. PRESENTS! I borrowed that story of the navy SEAL and the quote earlier from a brilliant, brilliant book by Donald Miller, called ‘Blue Like Jazz’. It’s full name is ‘Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality’ and it’s great because it’s just this normal guy writing wittily and creatively about how he’s bumped into and wrapped his head around the love of God. I love it – and if you like this blog at all you probably will too, because basically I’m just trying to write like Don Miller. And I have decided that if you would like to think more about what Jesus is actually like, and what it would be like to take his hand and follow him, then this book would be an interesting, enjoyable place to start with that. So I’d like to get it for you. Feel free to use it as a present idea for your Granny or whatever, but if not, just send me a message or an email (mikehood1994@gmail.com) that says “I would like to read ‘Blue Like Jazz’ and this is my address...” and I would love to get it for you. I’m not joking about this, I’m definitely up for it – whether I don’t really know you at all or you are my own actual mother (although Mum, I think we have a copy at home). So go for it. Or if you don’t have time for a whole book, just message me anyway with what you’re thinking or if you’ve got questions about stuff. Who knows, maybe I’ll write a blog about it...
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
But now, here’s the thing that makes my heart ache as I type: I can see somebody reading this, and thinking ‘Yeah that’s really beautiful, it’s lovely that Mike believes that God loves me’ and then just leaving it at that. And what I’ve seen this term has made it more obvious to me than ever that that’s like someone telling you you’ve won the lottery and you just saying ‘Oh thanks mate that’s epic!’ and then never bothering to claim your prize. The second line of that bit in Psalm 34 is just as true as the first: “GOD is close to the broken-hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” He saves us, rescues us from our brokenness. If you don’t feel like you are in any way broken, if you look in the mirror and look right into yourself and everything you think and do and feel and don’t think that there’s anything you would like to be changed, to be restored or renewed – well then I’ll write a blog for you another day. But if you do see something, if you do feel like there are bits that are broken, however big or small, then I’m writing for you, I’m telling you that God wants to rescue you.
***
A little boy is trapped. He was taken hostage years and years ago – so long ago he can’t even remember what the world outside the compound is like. The men with the guns killed his mother a long time ago. It’s been so long it feels normal even though it doesn’t feel right. And he’s terrified every time another person comes into his little room. And it’s never going to end. Until one day the CIA get a lead, and discover that he’s being held in this compound. And in the dead of night navy SEALs storm the compound and he can hear guns and shouts and he is very scared. And then men, men he’s never seen before, come into his little room, holding guns, wearing body armour.
One man shouts: “OK let’s get you out of here, come on, let’s go!”
But the little boy just curls up, shaking with fear in the corner of the room. He doesn’t understand. He knows that the men with guns hurt him.
And the SEALs don’t know what to do. And then one man slowly puts his gun on the floor. And then he takes off his body armour. And then his shirt. Until, like the little boy, he is half naked and shivering slightly from the cold. And then he walks to where the little boy is curled up, and slowly lies down beside him. The other men watch, mesmerized. He comes close to the boy, curling around him and warming him. The other men would never do this. The boy realises this man is different. He thinks that he is kind. And the SEAL speaks softly to him:
“We are Americans like you. We’ve come to rescue you. Will you follow us?”
And then he stood up, and offered the boy his hand.
***
The point is this: beautiful as it is that God is close to us, incredible as it is that in Jesus he became like us so we could know him and learn to trust him; a good rescuer doesn’t stay lying down in the dark and the cold. He stands up and offers us his hand. And some of the most amazing moments of my life are the ones when I have seen people take his hand, and start to get up and get out. Maybe it looks like being able to talk about things that were always too dark and too heavy to get off their chest. Maybe it looks like not being afraid anymore. Maybe it looks like laughing more. Maybe it looks like breaking up with someone who was not good to them but they thought they could not live without. Maybe it looks like breaking the habit that controls them. Maybe it looks like giving stuff away and discovering the different joy of that. I could keep going because it changes everything – it turns the world upside down and inside out and breathes a delightful and difficult new life into every little corner of everyday existence - but I’ll stop for now. All I can say is that in my own experience everything that’s changed, especially the things that seemed a massive sacrifice, turned out to be a road into a deeper joy.
All I’m saying is that He is close to you. And He’s offering you his hand. And right now, through these words as you read them, He’s speaking softly to you and saying, “Will you follow me?”
So now it’s time for the Christmassy part of this blog. PRESENTS! I borrowed that story of the navy SEAL and the quote earlier from a brilliant, brilliant book by Donald Miller, called ‘Blue Like Jazz’. It’s full name is ‘Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality’ and it’s great because it’s just this normal guy writing wittily and creatively about how he’s bumped into and wrapped his head around the love of God. I love it – and if you like this blog at all you probably will too, because basically I’m just trying to write like Don Miller. And I have decided that if you would like to think more about what Jesus is actually like, and what it would be like to take his hand and follow him, then this book would be an interesting, enjoyable place to start with that. So I’d like to get it for you. Feel free to use it as a present idea for your Granny or whatever, but if not, just send me a message or an email (mikehood1994@gmail.com) that says “I would like to read ‘Blue Like Jazz’ and this is my address...” and I would love to get it for you. I’m not joking about this, I’m definitely up for it – whether I don’t really know you at all or you are my own actual mother (although Mum, I think we have a copy at home). So go for it. Or if you don’t have time for a whole book, just message me anyway with what you’re thinking or if you’ve got questions about stuff. Who knows, maybe I’ll write a blog about it...
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
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