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FEATURE Connected to the vine by Colin Renfrew DON’T EVER FORGET WHAT YOU WERE LIKE! I want to remind you of the transformations that have taken place in your life. You need to remember what you were and how incredibly different you are now! Remember how we were just a pack of fools, raging against all the rules and regulations? What about how we lived totally self-referenced lives pursuing every earthy lust and pleasure we could find? We were so wild, unformed and rebellious.” These words aren’t from an email sent to a friend or from my Facebook status, although they easily could have been. Rather, they are sentiments echoed by Paul writing to Titus on the Island of Crete. Paul instructs Titus to remind the believers to remember what God has done in their lives—don’t forget the changes! “We have all been changed Titus—don’t let them forget this” (see Titus 3:1-8). The rate and pace of change in our world today is phenomenal. It doesn’t matter where you live or even if you are aware of it—change is relentless! It is all around us and even taking place within us. The truth about Christian living and the forming of our spiritual lives can be expressed by the word—change! God’s work of shaping our lives is never complete (see Philippians 1:6). Some people wrestle with change daily, while others reject it and run from it all their lives. Spiritually speaking we should not be the same tomorrow as we are today—we are continually being shaped and formed anew. If you are alive to God in Christ and His Spirit is being poured out into your life then you can expect changes—changes of heart, changes in habits and practices, changes in relationships, changes in thought patterns, changes everywhere. As a potter to the clay our Father through His Spirit forms our lives into a shape never before seen. Lives that are beautifully formed, gently worked, and patiently and lovingly crafted. The same God who called the earth into existence is at work in us. He has already accomplished significant change, yet there remains more creative forming to accomplish. Edges need rounding, rough places need smoothing, some areas need complete renovation. I don’t mind when change happens to someone else and doesn’t directly affect me. But when it intrudes upon my existence—I rebel. I like familiar paths, they’re well known, safe, easy to walk and don’t require too much of me. Any change that confronts and challenges the self-referenced life is resisted, wrestled against because the human spirit wants to travel the familiar paths of self-reference. How then do we become open to the change God is seeking to perform in us? It’s simple really. Just be willing to posture your life toward His, to take steps in His direction, to drop everything we’re holding and come to Him empty, seeking and needy. Deep within is a longing only Christ can quench. We tend to forget it needs quenching every day. We know that unless we surrender our lives, our time, our will and our intent to Him each new day, we will die just like a grape removed from the vine. Each day separated from the vine seems to produce another, until we find ourselves shrivelled up, resistant to change, disconnected from the source of life. Posturing toward God involves the time-honoured disciplines of the Christian life. To the Spirit-filled Christian these disciplines are like breathing and are an indispensible part of each day. Prayer, Bible contemplation and study, fasting, solitude, submission, service, worship and celebration are just some of the disciplines practiced in turning toward the life in our great God and Father. Remember these disciplines are not the end in themselves. They are more like an expression of will that says, “Here I am Father! I’m here today in prayer because I want to be with You . . . I’m here today in solitude because I need to hear You . . . I’m turning my life toward Yours today because without You I’m dead!” So where are you today on the spiritual growth continuum? Do you run from it or embrace it? Is your life soft and malleable or rigid and resistant in His hands? Are you still connected to the vine or shrivelled with selfreferenced comfort? If you would like to know the answer to these questions just check your posture! Pastor Colin Renfrew is discipleship and spiritual development director for South Queensland Conference. 11
YOUR SIGNS OF THE TIMES Signs witnesses to more than 100,000 people every month. Join the Signs outreach team, subscribe to Signs. Have Signs in your home for just $2.50 a month. Or give it away for even less! Lifestyle, not a ritual OPINION Marissa Grove Many friends and family of mine have left the Adventist church over time. And it seems that there are almost as many reasons given for leaving as there are people. It may be disillusionment with the institution, congregational in-fighting or a personal spiritual crisis, that motivates someone to leave. However, it seems many individuals simply slip into indifference over time, and before they know it they haven’t been to church for weeks, months, even years. Then there’s that bristly issue of relevance. And it’s not just young people or ‘Gen Y’ who are citing this as grounds for divorce from church. I’ve heard individuals, of all ages, verbalising their disenchantment with the church by labelling it “out of touch” and “hypocritical”. Many (and there have been times that I’ve agreed) have come to see church as an outdated ritual or an inessential element to their lives. This has been a huge challenge for me personally, to take a look at my own spiritual health and my attitude towards church. When I look at the life of Jesus and the life abundant He promised in John 10:10, I can find no shred of irrelevance. Jesus’ life and message (which were one and the same) exuded truth, genuine concern for those around Him and love; a whole lot of love. It’s become clear to me that without a personal relationship with God, church is dead. If I’m not meeting with my Creator, church does become a mere stale social club. And that’s not what Christ called us as a body to. As our supreme example, Jesus was uncompromisingly connected to the Father and relentlessly reaching out to others. It’s a lifestyle, not just a ritual. For those who have friends and family who have left church, pray for them—and keep praying for them; at no time have they left God’s infinite love. It’s amazing what can happen when we give up those we love to our all-powerful Father. Marissa Grove is Hope Channel radio producer at Adventist Media Network. For outreach information contact Lee Dunstan Phone +61 2 9847 2222 Email LeeDunstan@adventistmedia.org.au To subscribe, phone Jacinta (freecall) 1800 035 542 (Aus) 0800 770 565 (NZ) Order online at www.signsofthetimes.org.au
Page 1 and 2: July 3 ISSN 0819-5633 2010 DELEGATE
Page 3 and 4: SOUTH PACIFIC EDITORIAL Responding
Page 5 and 6: NEWS Avondale students challenged t
Page 7 and 8: NEWS IN BRIEF Hand in your guns Pol
Page 9: OPENING HIS WORD Gary Webster How t
Page 13 and 14: South Pacific inno THERE ARE MORE T
Page 15 and 16: FLASHPOINT Weet-Bix kid scores Sani
Page 17: Birth of Avondale The Avondale Scho
Page 20 and 21: NOTICE BOARD Ben Arnold; 30 grandch
Page 22: LETTERS LETTERS Note: Views in lett

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