Santa is not real!


Every Christmas I'm reminded that so many parents think it's ok to lie to their kids and make them believe in someone they know doesn't really exist. It's fun to pretend but if the parents are the only ones who know the truth - it's lying.

In my family, we do Santa stuff but it's fun because the kids are in on it. We want our kids to know the truth, especially because the truth is way more exciting than the lie anyway. Why shouldn't kids know that at Christmas their families buy them things because they love them and the Santa thing is just a pretend thing people do for fun?

Our kids know that Santa is pretend.  They also know that most kids don't know he's pretend and that it's up to their parents to choose to tell them the truth. It's a minefield though. Just because we don't want to lie to our kids. 

Christmas was started by Christians who decided to hijack a pagan festival that hurt people and celebrate Jesus instead. "Christmas" means "Celebrating Jesus".  A friend of mine used to say, "Christians stole Christmas from the world and today the world has stolen it back." He's right.

Even Santa started out as a Christian - a generous Christian called Nick (who IS real). Now Santa is fat from pies, red thanks to Coca-Cola ads and brings us all the stuff we want! If we really wanted to venerate jolly old Saint Nick, how about giving generously to the poor and asking nothing for ourselves?


And for Christians who get their kids believing Santa is real - What do you say when they find out the truth and ask, "What about Jesus? Did you make him up too?" Why should they believe us?

I know it might all sound very "humbug" because it's a bit of a rant. I just think the truth is way more exciting and if we're parents, we really miss an opportunity to love our kids if we let them actually believe in Santa. It's fun to pretend but only if the kids are in on the fun.

And don't worry - If your kids know our kids and your kids believe in Santa, your secret is safe with us!

Merry Christmas, however you celebrate it!
 

Exodus 3:1-15 - The Great I AM

Have you ever been starstruck?  Met a celebrity or something and been disappointed that it wasn't as special as you had made it out to be in your head?  In today's passage, Moses encounters the one true God and is more than starstruck.  He is filled with awe and fear.  Nothing else matters. God has his his undivided attention now.  What will God say?

Exodus 3:1-15

God gets to do whatever he wants.  This is important.  Just when we think we've got him all figured out, he has a habit of surprising us.  On this occasion, he surprises Moses by turning up... disguised as a bush!  God knows exactly what he's doing and knew that this was the best way to get Moses' attention on that day.

When Moses realises who it is, 'he hid his face because he was afraid to look at God' (v6).  This is such a good example of how people ought to react to God or the idea of coming face-to-face with him.  If only more people today would acknowledge how scared they would actually be if they met the Creator of the Universe.  Several famous atheists in our media reckon they'd have a right old go at God if they ever met him.  They think if God is real, that he's their equal.  They're wrong.  If God is real and they meet him face-to-face, they'll be scared.  God is God.  He is not scared of tiny atheist scientists, comedians or panel show hosts.  Moses' fear is a good example to us of humility in the face of God. We should be humble too.

In this passage we see God's concern for the suffering of his people who are slaves in Egypt.  In the Bible we see that God is often concerned but never worried.  There's a difference.  Worry has to do with fear and not knowing what will happen.  That's why God never worries and that's why he commands us never to worry (Matthew 6:25).  But God is concerned.  He cares.  He hurts.  He is not immune to our pain.  He is not indifferent.  Just because he knows his perfect plan, doesn't mean he's unaffected by the parts of it that include our suffering.  When we hurt, God hurts.  He knows (and so do we if we know the story) exactly what he will do to rescue the Israelites from slavery.  He is concerned but never worried.  That's why he can and must be trusted.
 
God says in v8 "I have come down".  God is the God who comes down.  His concern for the state of his people means he comes down to rescue.  The stories of the Old Testament show this idea again and again and they all point us to the ultimate "coming down" when God becomes a human being himself - Jesus. This 'coming down' of God to visit Moses and save Israel shows us God's incredible love, humility and commitment to his people and should remind us of Jesus and why he came.

When Moses worries and isn't sure about God using him, God's gives him a sign (v12).  The sign is that Moses and the Israelites will worship God on this mountain when they are free.  There's just one problem with this sign.  Moses can't see it yet!  Later in the chapter, God does give Moses other signs that are more immediate but we should notice that his first answer here is for Moses to trust him and expect that everything will happen just as he says.  He wants Moses to be able to say, "Really?  That's how it's going to turn out?  That's great!  Let's go!"  But Moses is a long way from being able to trust God that much!

Moses asks two questions: "Who am I...?" and "Who are you...?"  Moses thinks first of all about himself and his own lack of power and then about the power of the one who is speaking to him.  God tells Moses, "I AM WHO I AM".  God is God.  No equal.  No-one beside him (1 Samuel 2:2).  He is perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4) and unchanging (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8). This is who Moses is meeting! 

And if you know and love Jesus, you've met him too!

John 8:58
‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’

Exodus 2:11-25 - Not for now

This week I heard that I was unsuccessful in an interview for a job I had.  It made sense in some ways that I hadn't got it but it was something I felt called to and so it was a big disappointment.  Serving full-time in the strategic leadership of a local church is something God has put on my heart to pursue but there's a slight snag - right now no-one wants me to do it!

In this section of the story we see Moses has justice on his heart and a desire to defend the Israelite slaves but the time just isn't right for him to do the big thing yet and he has a long wait in store before any of that stuff happens...

Exodus 2:11-25

When Moses killed the Egyptian slavedriver, he was doing the wrong thing for the right reason.  His motive was good - he wanted justice for God's people, but sin was right there too and he went about it totally the wrong way.  He needed patience to seek God's will for how to channel the passion he had.

"Who made you ruler and judge over us?"  It's an interesting question because the answer in a lot of ways is, "God actually." It's just not the right time and Moses only has a slight hint of what God really wants him to do.  No clue really.

So Moses ends up having to run away from home because his dad wants to kill him (so not the best home!) and he decides to live in Midian.  How would Moses have felt as he set up a new life there?  He must have been fuming about the injustice God's people were facing and the limitations on him to do anything about it.  But he is able to defend a group of girls against some shepherds.  Moses hasn't lost his strong sense of justice.  And this event leads to him getting married, having kids and settling down in Midian.

The passage tells us it was a "long period".  Moses no doubt still had a desire for God's people to be free but he knew he was powerless to do anything about it.  So instead he settles down in Midian and learns to faithfully obey God as a husband, dad and shepherd.  God has so much more for Moses to do but it's not yet.

What do you long to do for God in the future?  What does it mean for you to be faithful in the things God has you doing now? 


Exodus 2:1-10 - Names and beginnings

The way children are treated in their early childhood can have a powerful impact on them for good or bad, sometimes for the rest of their lives. Names are important too, especially if there is a clear meaning attached. A strong name can inform and influence a person's identity as they grow up. It can hold them back or it can be a reminder to them of who they are and what they're called to.  Moses' messed up childhood and the name he was given are an insight for us into how God was preparing him for all that was to come...

Exodus 2:1-10

Many Christians would agree that Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible, mostly because of verses like Exodus 24:4, Deuteronomy 31:24, Joshua 23:6 and John 5:46, and many others which refer to the written work of Moses.

If that's the case, we should imagine Moses as a grown man writing these words about the beginning of his life. They would have been supernaturally revealed to him by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), probably through his mum and sister's stories of it to him in his first few years or perhaps as brand new information.  Either way, the knowledge of how he began life would have been a powerful reminder to Moses of who he was and what he was called to do by God: lead the Israelite slaves out of Egypt.

Moses name, given to him by his Egyptian mother, sounds like the Hebrew for "Drawn out".  It was a reminder of how he was 'drawn out' of the Nile as a baby but also a sign of all that God was going to do through him to 'draw his people out' of slavery in Egypt.  Moses' name is rich with meaning and significance and he must have had a growing awareness of this as he grew older and realised more of what God was calling him to do.  It's certainly easy for us to see it with the benefit of hindsight and I fully expect that Moses reflected on it with gratitude as he wrote this section.

What does your name mean or what does it mean to you?  What do you think God might want to say about your name and who he has made you to be for him?

In what ways can you see that God is beautifully redeeming the mess in your own life as you reflect back?  What can you praise him for?  What can you trust him for?

Exodus blog - Rescue and Redemption

1. Exodus 1 - Unstoppable
2. Exodus 2:1-10 - Names and beginnings
3. Exodus 2:11-25 - Not for now
4. Exodus 3:1-15 - The Great I AM
5. Exodus 3:16-22 - The God of promise
6. Exodus 4:1-17 - Moses is not the hero
7. Exodus 4:18-31 - Moses returns to Egypt 

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Exodus 1 - Unstoppable

Some things are just bound to happen.  Like the athlete who is way more talented and prepared than anyone else at the Olympics and wins gold, breaking all the records, some things are an inevitability.  Exodus is the true story of God's miraculous rescue of his people from slavery in Egypt through Moses and in the first chapter we see God's unstoppable plans and promises...

Exodus 1

Before we dive into the story of Exodus, we should zoom out a bit and remember the big picture of the Bible's story so far.  At the very least, we should whizz back to Genesis 15 where God was repeating his promises to Abraham - the father of the nation of Israel.  God promised that Abraham would have children and that his descendants would be 'as numerous as the stars in the sky' (v5).  He promised that they would have their own land to live in (v7,18-21).  And God spoke to Abraham in a dream that day and filled in some pretty significant blanks in the story (v13-16):

1. Before they had their own land, God's people would be mistreated slaves in a foreign country for 400 years.

2. The nation that held God's people in slavery would be punished by God.

3. God's people would leave that country with great wealth.

4. In the 4th generation, Abraham's descendants would finally get their promised land.

All this is back in genesis 15 and in Exodus 1 and the ensuing chapters, we see Abraham's dream, which is more like a nightmare in some ways, coming true.

So as we start reading the story of Exodus, we already have some pretty big spoilers!  Of course, far from spoiling anything, it makes it all the more exciting that God's plans always succeed and that he keeps all of his promises.  He is unstoppable.

God is unstoppable.  His plans and purposes are unstoppable.  His promises and his power to keep them are unstoppable.  And his plans, purposes, promises and power are for his people, which means his people are unstoppable too!

Just take a look in the chapter we've read at the number of references to how God's people were growing in number:

- In v5 we're told that the descendants of Jacob (Abraham's grandson) 'numbered 70 in all'.

- Then in v7 we're told that 'the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful, they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.'

- In v9 again we have a reference to Israel's unstoppable numerical growth when the king of Egypt says, 'the Israelites have become too numerous for us' and he has a plan to try and stop them from becoming 'even more numerous' by making them slaves.

- But in v12 we're told that 'the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread'.

- And despite Pharoah's best efforts to have Israelite baby boys killed at birth, we're told again in v20 that 'the people increased and became even more numerous'.  Not only that but v21 says that God gave the Hebrew midwives 'families of their own'!

Nothing can stop the promises of God coming true.  That's definitely one thing to notice at the start of this book.  God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation and that his kids would number as many as the stars in the sky or as the grains of sand in the desert... and nothing can stop it coming true - not slavery, not Pharoah, not anyone or anything.  God's promises are unstoppable and his people are unstoppable.

And it's not just true for Moses and God's people then.  These truths go way further than that.  They reach right down to us today through Jesus:

Luke 24:44
[Jesus said] '...everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.'

The story of Moses is really the story of Jesus, which means we can be part of it too.  Through trusting and following Jesus, we get to be part of the unstoppable promises of God.  We get to call ourselves God's children and be unstoppable too!


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A Radical Submission to Authority


I'm working on some new punk songs under the same name as my old band In My Name.  The album will be called A Radical Submission to Authority.  Adding links here as they get done.  Hope to make it available on iTunes when the whole thing's ready.  For the first time, the songs are mine from start to finish and all the vocals and drums are me, so I've only got myself to blame.  Having said that, I do owe massive thanks to brilliant help from Dan Desmond (guitars and bass) and Gareth Hamer (from The Rec House in Bath for mixing and mastering).  It's kind of their fault too. ;)

If anyone would like to do some artwork for the project, I'd be forever grateful.  All I've got at the moment is a red square!

My Bike
Wake Up
Abortion Song
Adoption Song
That's What I'm Here For