Last weekend I was back at
LM for the
SU Bearsden/
Milngavie schools weekend away. It was a fairly relaxed weekend and I enjoyed it. I had a group of S2 girls so I got to sit in on the senior teaching times which is a nice change since I'm usually in the primary section. Over the weekend we looked at four biblical 'heroes' and what we can learn from the journey they each made with God. More specifically, we looked at the lives of Joseph, Moses, Simon-Peter and Paul. Although the teaching was short I really loved looking at an overview of their lives and the way God used them to change the course of human history. Joseph saved the lives of almost an entire nation, as did Moses. Peter and Paul spread the gospel and helped the beginning of the Christian church as we know it. With each person we looked not only at what God had to say to them in their lives but what
we can learn from them to apply to our own lives. So what did I learn?
First of all, each of the four 'heroes' was a complete and utter sinner. Murder. Lies. Denial. Doubts. Despite these faults God forgave each of them and was willing to use them despite their inherently sinful nature. My group picked up on the concept of forgiveness pretty quickly and asked questions like, "Does God
really forgive you even if you murder someone? Did God
really forgive Saul even though he'd killed loads of Christians?" Even as I explained it to them I began to see more clearly the sheer depth of God's grace that such things are forgivable. I always imagine the Old Testament heroes like Moses and Abraham to be the mighty leaders who never stumbled, never doubted, never strayed. Just looking at these guys I realise how human they were and that there was nothing perfect about them. God used weak and sinful men in mighty and wondrous ways. So it is for us, that despite our failings, our weakness and our sins that God forgives us. Not only does he forgive us but He is willing to use us for His divine purposes. Jesus didn't pick disciples who were perfect either. Each individual had some really obvious flaws: Simon was a zealot, Thomas doubted, Peter denied, Judas betrayed. As Rob Bell points out in his
Nooma DVD 'Dust', not only were guys imperfect but they were unqualified for the job. These were the guys who didn't make the cut for any other Rabbi. They weren't good enough and yet Jesus called them. He called them and used them in incredible ways. So we see that we don't need to be perfect either. Jesus will call us to follow Him and if we have even a little faith we'll go. We don't need to perfect, we don't need to be great: we just need to follow.
Another thing I noticed is that these guys didn't always have it easy. Joseph lived a real roller-coaster life. Just when things were good they took a turn for the worst. Just when things were bad he got a 'Get out of jail free' card. He lived an extremely
unpredictable life. Moses... well he didn't have it easy by a long shot. He gave up a life of royalty and security because he killed a man, then lead an entire nation out of slavery against the will of the very man he called his father. Paul started out by killing Christians. Peter who declared his undeniable love for Jesus denied Him to save his own skin. It's so easy for us to read the bible now and say, "Well yes but you can clearly see that God had a plan and these bad times were a necessary part of it!" Hindsight is a wonderful thing but neither Moses or Joseph knew what lay ahead. Given their circumstances it would have been easy to give it all up and walk away. How often in our own times of trouble do we keep absolute faith that God has a greater purpose and that this is all part of his plan. We like to quote
Jeremiah 29:11 at people but do we believe it ourselves? Very often when we take the time to look back over the journey that we've made so far we will see that God has been in both the bad times and the good and that we are indeed part of His great plans.
I learned a whole lot more besides this but that would make for an incredibly long post! Still, I feel I've been challenged a little and given plenty to think about. Times like this give me a real desire to spend more time in the Old Testament looking at individuals and the way God used their lives. There are so many lessons to be learned.
