GETTING STARTED…ON THE CHRISTIAN JOURNEY

Disillusionment with the way things are is the only real way to get a person started on a pilgrim path of wholeness in God. Submerged in a culture swarming with lies, fed up with the world with all its deceitfulness. A deep dissatisfaction, coupled with a longing for peace and truth is the motivation to set us on the Christian way. As long as we think that the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment, or another pay rise will eliminate anxiety and bring us a life of tranquility we are not likely to long for the world of grace. Ps 120 is a song of such a person. Doubled up with pain, sick of the lies, his cry penetrates through despair and stimulates a new beginning – a journey to God which becomes a life of peace. This Psalm is like the prod which gets us going.

A PAINFUL REALISATION…WE HAVE BELIEVED A LIE.

Deliver me Lord from lying lips; deceitful tongues. The lie…“everything is ok”. The distress that begins and ends the song is the painful awakening to the fact that we have believed lies. The world is in the hands of the Devil, and he is a master liar. Slanderous lies are like arrows in the heart. They burn like the flames of a fire. The lies of politicians; entertainers; advertisers; religionists; psychologists; even pastors.

THE CROSSROAD…REPENTANCE

The word Lord, changes everything. It is a “no” that is a “yes”. The first step towards God is a step away from the lies of the world, about ourselves, our neighbours and our universe. In my distress I cry to the Lord. The moment the Lord enters the stage, the lies are exposed. Woe is me, that I live among the tents of, Meshech, – far off tribe in southern Russia. Kedar – a wondering Bedouin tribe of barbaric reputation along Israel’s borders. They represent the strange and the hostile. The cry is “I live in the midst of hoodlums and wild savages; this world is not my home I want out”. We don’t have to live there any longer. Repentance, the first word in Christian immigration. Repentance is not an emotion. It is to decide you have been wrong in supposing you could be your own god, and manage your own life. It is deciding that you have been told a pack of lies about yourself, your neighbours and your world. It is deciding that God in Jesus is telling the truth. It is to realize that God is for you, and wants the best for you.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• Discuss the implications of believing a lie. Think of how lies have affected your life.
• James Ch 3 uses a number of metaphors to describe the power of the tongue. Try to identify some of them.
• Think of the ways that the world lies to us.
• Give some personal accounts of your own journey to repentance.