A different reality

"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." - Morpheus. The Matrix

2009 got off to a slow start. The good intentions of Christmas and New Year pushed gently to one side by the cares and concerns of daily living. Discouragement and uncertainty abound. I see it in the news. I hear it in the stories of people I meet. I feel it within me. Omissions, recurring failures, doubts and fears that drive me away from God.

Last week heavy snowfall broke my plans and left me with a free weekend. On Sunday I decided to exploit my freedom and visit a different church. There I was brought face to face with Gideon interpreted in the light of Paul's letter to the Romans. The underlying message was simple. God sees our world very differently to the way that we see it. In God's eyes frightened, subdued Gideon is a mighty warrior. In God's eyes our discouragment and uncertainty still work together for good.

My minor failures are no obstactle to God. Any distance from him is of my own making. In the The Message I see now - striped right through the letter to the Romans - a subtle truth. God sets me in right-standing with himself. I knew this before of course. In theory. But whilst this reality is all-pervasive somehow, all too often, I choose not to live in it.

But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:21-24 (The Message)