The Immaculate Conception

This is a continuation of my last post about spiritual fruit.

As a kid I remember thinking that if you kissed a girl in just the right spot you could create a baby! I was obviously too young and uninformed to know that babies are the result of a man and woman engaging in sexual intercourse, and now as an father of 3 kids it kinda makes me laugh at my silly notions of what it takes to create life. As adults we all know (or at least I hope we all know!) that if we hope to birth life it will require us to enage in a transcendant encounter with another human being. There is only one Immaculate Conception in all of human history - the birth of Jesus.

So I had to ask myself this question - "Do I believe that I can experience an Immaculate Conception in my spirit life?"

How can I expect to enjoy the birth of a new life in my spirit unless I have engaged in a transcendent encounter with Jesus? I know that the physical things we encounter everyday are a shadow, a copy, a picture of God's character - so why do I live as if virgin birth is a daily possibility? Can you imagine going to a fertility clinic and telling the doctor you have been trying to have a baby for the past 10 years and then telling her that you are still a virgin!!

The sad part is that I think I live the majority of my life this way. I long to have my life re-born. To live my new life in the power of God's spirit and in doing so produce the wonderous fruit of His Spirit - but I am unwilling to encounter Him in a committed, passionate, surrendered relationship. (Not to mention doing the 'work' it will take to get to that place). I daily rely on my belief that a virgin birth is possible within my spiritual life. I'm taking the fertility drugs. I am checking my temperature daily but I am a spiritual abstenant!

I suppose the church has assumed that as we mature into spiritual adults the whole 'procreation' concept would mysteriously emerge in our own understanding of birthing new life? But maybe it's time we started talking to people about the "Birds and the Bees" of the human spirit! Friendship with Jesus is not enough, I need to become a lover of God. After all we are referred to as the "Bride of Christ"!!

As I'm finishing this thought I can't help but think how much "new life" I would birth in my spirit if I was as eager to engage in a transcenent encounter with God as I am with my wife.

The Pursuit of Wholeness

I was challenged today while preparing a series on sexuality about my philosophy of resource materials.

We are about to embark on a teaching series that addresses sexual addiction and brokeness (among many other great topics relating to our sexuality!). Obviously we wanted to ensure that we didn't just lead people to a revelation of their brokeness without having plenty of resources available to help them as they pursued wholeness and God centred sexuality. But as we talked about how we would resource people I was challenged by what the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians about fruit that comes through living a spirit led life.

To summarize - Paul essentially states that fruit comes through a spirit led life. It can not be attained on it's own. It can not be purchased at a vendor. It is a by-product of a life lived surrendered to God's spirit. So what's my point?

Jesus said:

"Apart from me you can do nothing" John 15:5

"Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father" James 1:17

"No one comes to the Father except through me" John 14:6

"Seek first the kingdom and all these things will be added" Matt 6:33


All things come out of me coming to Christ first. HE is my access to the Father. The Father is the giver of ALL things. So how can I attain anything good unless I first come through Jesus?

I can't become a better person by practicing patience, self-control, love, gentleness etc. That isn't fruit, it's a life that is mimicking fruit - it is plastic fruit! And I won't experience sexual healing by simply avoiding elicit sexual materials or situations. I will experience wholeness only by spending time in Jesus presence and then living out of the direction he gives me. A spirit led life of obedience.

Paul writes that if the law had any power to save us we would have no need for Jesus. I suppose it raised for me one simple question - "Do I truly believe that Jesus is enough?"

So my thought for the day is this: "Wholeness is not a strategy - It is a fruit"

Music - Content or Context?

So what is it that makes a song great? You know that song that touches something deep in you and makes you want to sing at the top of your lungs. Is it the melody? The compelling lyrics? Perhaps it has something to do with the person who is singing! Maybe? But the other day I started to wonder if music was as more about the context in which we experience it?!

How many of us could put in an old CD and feel like we were transported back in time? You know, the kind of thing were people go "That's our song!" or "This album reminds me of the time...". We all have albums like that in our CD tower and we most definitely all have at least one those songs.

How about this classic statement - "The first couple of times I heard the album I didn't like it, but now it's one of my favourites!". (For me that album was Radiohead's 'OK Computer').

So what is it that makes those songs come alive? Did we suddenly get the song? Did we finally read the lyric sheet? Probably not - it was more than likely the fact that we lived a significant part of our lives while we were listening to these songs. For a brief time these songs became the soundtrack to our life. They played as we lived, and now whenever we hear those songs we are brought back to that moment in time to relive those experiences.

For me one of those songs is "Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt Redman.

I have on occasion the privelage of leading worship with a friend of mine who runs short term missions programs. Invariably he will come to me and say "Jon, do you know the song...?". Most of the time I will have heard of the song but a few years ago he came to me and said "Have you heard the song 'Blessed by Your Name'? We have to do it! It's totally awesome!!". I had not heard of it, and quite frankly had no interest in doing it at the time. My friend kept telling me how this song had gone over so well at the last program they had done, and that I really needed to hear it. I loved his enthusiasm for the song but at the time it had no meaning for me - it lacked context!

Fast forward a few weeks - I'm back at home with our 3 month old daughter listening to Matt Redmans album "Where Angels Fear to Tread". I had listened to 'Blessed by your name' a few times and the lyrics were starting to float around in my head. Then, within a matter of days, this song became a 'life' song. The kind of song that I will never hear the same again. What had changed? Two events had taken place while this acted as my daily soundtrack.

The first event was when we received the news that my wife's best friend had delivered a healthy baby girl. We had just had a baby and we could appreciate the joy that they were experiencing. The second event however was what catapulted this song into a different realm. That event was when we heard the news that another couple in our faith community had suffered the loss of their newborn baby. Needless to say it was quite a week and to top it all off I was scheduled to lead worship at the church we all attended that very week. Suddenly the lyrics of that song had found a brand new context, but not only for me, for our entire community of believers. That sunday we sang these words as we encountered God within the diversity of our lives - and it became the soundtrack for our encounter.


"You give and take away, You give and take away
My heart will choose to say, 'Blessed by your name'."


I believe that as a person who leads others in worship my new challenge is this - to not simply rely on the 'greatness' of a song, or my personal experience with that song to draw people into an encounter with the living God, but to do a better job of creating a context for which the song to take on meaning.

Creating a place were our songs become the soundtrack for each new God encounter and not simply a sing-along concert in his honour.