Howard Writes

"Life according to Kingdom Values"

It's that time of year when we make resolutions and determine to keep up new standards within our lives.

I remember that when I was a child, I made a New Year’s resolution to keep a diary. At first I kept my resolution diligently, but when the new school term started and my daily routine changed, the dairy gradually fell into disuse.

Some people don’t make New Year’s resolutions at all, perhaps cynically believing that there is no point, as they always appear to break them.

Someone once said that to make a new daily habit, we have to continue it for at least 21 days before it becomes part of our daily routine.  Even then, unforeseen circumstances can soon put paid to our new resolve.

It can be a bit like this in the Christian life. It is precisely because we are human and are therefore weak that we fail to keep so many of our resolutions. We are indeed built upon crooked timbers. We do not have the necessary resources to enter into the Kingdom of God through our own efforts.

St Paul (we celebrate his Conversion on the 25th of January) knew this only too well. He recognized that we have two natures, “with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but in my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.” (Romans 7:25b)  Furthermore these two natures are “at war” with each other, each trying to gain superiority over the other.

Nevertheless he knew that his salvation came through believing and trusting in Jesus. Paul speaks very personally about his struggles and this has often been misinterpreted.

There are many critics of the Church who say, “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.”  People who take this line have lost sight of what Paul experienced and have lost sight of Paul’s thoughts about how Christians should be-have towards each other.  One of the reasons that Christians gather together is to help and care for each other through the crises of faith and the difficulties that we experience in our personal struggles with sin. It is when we care for each other that we begin to live according to Kingdom values and it is through our love for each other that we are actually worshipping God.

John tells us that we cannot love God and hate our brother. “Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

When Jesus quoted the Law, he said that “we must worship God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That means that we must worship him with our whole being. The strange thing about this is that it is a two-way process. We experience the love of God through those who love Him, the actions of other people, and we find his presence in those who we meet. We in our turn offer Him our love by the way in which we love our neighbour.

As Christians we can and should make resolutions all the time. Every time we confess, either personally or corporally we resolve to live life in God’s light, knowing that, through Jesus, we have been forgiven.

Paul exclaimed, “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

May we resolve to show the love of Christ in our lives in 2023 and always.