Thinking and Laughing

Paul Windsor has blogged recently on the split of head and heart in the lives of NZ Christians - it's got me thinking about the impact of this great divide and the Biblical call to live undivided lives.


At TSCF's Student Leadership Conference last week we thought about constructive leadership and what it looks like in today's world. We studied Nehemiah in small groups and Nigel Pollock spoke from the book in the evenings. Mornings were spent in leadership training 'streams' for newbies, returnees and soon-to-be leavers.

The gathered throng at SLC

The call to Undivided Life is at the core of constructive leadership - not only did we see that Nehemiah saw no differentiation between his public position, private devotion and his part in God's plan but we pondered how living for God today (in Jesus Christ) makes the call and challenge of living an integrated life all the more acute and attractive. ANY division in the heart of the Christian individual or community belies the reconcilation wrought by the Lord Jesus;

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:17-20

And so, as the academic year draws to a close in NZ and as the students plan and prepare for a new year (starting March 08) and go to the workplaces and family homes in New Zealand and further afield they go charged with the call to live under the transforming grace of God.

It is no less an appeal and challenge for TSCF's staff team and I feel it all the more acutely as Ines, the kids and I prepare for our first stint of 'home leave' in Dec and January. There have been many lessons learned in the last two and a bit years for us as a family, as individuals and as part of the TSCF team. Our prayer is that the appeal to be 'reconciled to God' will go out from our lives and lips as we seek to live unidivded lives through the coming months.

I've also been laughing out loud at some posts from Nathan Burley - it's a bit of an 'in joke' but I thought I'd share his posts with you, in an attempt at writing an unidivided blog: thinking and laughing in equal measure...