Strength in weakness

Jeg velsigner din kropp og din sjel
Med rettferdighet, glede og fred
Gud er så nådig, ja, han er nådig
Jesus er Herren som bøyde seg ned

Jeg velsigner din kropp og din sjel
Med helbredende kjærlighet
Du er så elsket, ja, du er elsket
Ånden er liv som gir kraft og gjør hel

Guds kjærlighet gjør noe nytt, kan du se?
I ham er vi fri til å gråte og le
For nåden er lyset som viser oss vei
Så jeg gjør slik som Jesus

Jeg velsigner deg

Stillheten mellom to slitne tanker
Avstanden mellom et ord og det neste
Tiden mellom en bønn og svaret på den
Hvilen mellom livets høylytte begivenheter

Enda en gang
vil vi minnes den lille
som naken og fattig
ble født her på jord
Gutten i krybben
er oss i en verden
der livet er sårbart
og smerten så stor

Enda en gang
kan vi strekke ut hånden
lik sønnen som søker
foreldrenes trøst
Gud er den samme
for barnet og hver den
som tar imot Ånden
og hører hans røst

Enda en gang
vil vi vente på Jesus
vårt håp er at livet
tar smerten vår bort
Takk, kjære Gud
at du vant over døden
ja, takk for din frihet
og alt du har gjort!

My wife and I differ in taste when it comes to films and TV shows. One thing we have in common (we certainly have more than one thing in common), and that is the joy of watching a good crime drama on TV. Over the last couple of years, we have been watching Bosch. In a somewhat realistic way, it depicts crime investigation in LA. We follow Bosch, an unorthodox police investigator and divorced father of a teenager, as he is chasing criminals and at the same time trying his best to be involved in his daughter’s life. I realize, of course, that it’s just fiction. The reality is probably way tougher and more brutal than what is shown on TV. Bad things happen all around us, and maybe even with us.

The last episode of season six of Bosch, after solving another difficult case, ends with a beautiful version of Louis Armstrong’s classic; What A Wonderful World: 

I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom, for me and you. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world!

What a wonderful world! Is it, really? Is that what we see? When society has been shut down and we feel uncertain about the future. When we sense that pain and suffering is getting closer, and maybe even stronger.

What do you see? In Genesis chapter one we read about when God created the world. After each event, each day if you may, he concluded that it was good! Seven times in the creation account, Moses renders: “And God saw that it was good.” Number seven in the Bible represents something complete. Throughout God’s word, we see the number seven used that way. So, God says that everything he created is good. 

The Fall happened, and sin entered the world. Everything that was created came under a curse because of the sin of one person. Now, did the fall change the origin of creation, God’s purposes with his creation, and did it alter the attributes of God’s creation? Also, there is the question of total depravity. These are probably questions for the systematic theologians. However, even if Calvinistic theology is right about our total lostness, does that change what God said about everything he created? I believe not. I believe that what God created is still good. We are definitely lost without God and in need of salvation. I know, because I once was lost. Jesus came and he carried the curse that belonged to us, and he took it on his own shoulders, on to the cross. He took our guilt and all our sin with him into the grave, and he rose again to give us life – a new creation, which is also good! Everything God creates is good.

What do you see? In Matthew 6:25-27 we are asked to recognize that God gives us everything we need. Jesus reminds us that we should consider and take into account that God is a good, good Father who cares for us, always. Right after Easter this year I felt pretty discouraged, almost to the point of being depressed. I talked to my wife about it, and she prayed for me. I told a friend as we went for a walk. I shared it in a small group when we prayed together on zoom, and they prayed for me and blessed me. It changed something in me. Again I was able to see God’s goodness in the midst of it all, and the melancholy was lifted from me. I felt that God was saying: “It is going to be okay, it’s going to be okay.”

Then there are situations and circumstances that cannot merely be vented, and suddenly everything feels good again. Sometimes life hits us with real challenges: crises, long-term conflicts or illnesses, and maybe even death. What do we see when things like that happen? During the last few years, I’ve had to deal with a chronic fatigue syndrome. I was living in the fast lane, but when I became sick, I was forced to find meaning in other things than responsibilities and positions. It has definitely been a painful process. However, something good has come out of it. I can see that now. It has changed my perspectives, my values ​​and my priorities – but in a good way. It has been hard, for sure, and at times quite brutal, but it has also been good to experience God’s provision and goodness through it all. I see more clearly that God is faithful, and I see that God does not give up on us. I see that God can use us to bless others, regardless of our own strength, position and platform. I see that I can lean on his strength. Because when I am weak, he makes me strong. 

What do you see? In Isaiah 43:19 we read: 

“Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

In Revelation 21:5, at the end of all things, God says:

“Behold, I make all things new!”

God has made something new (past), and one day all things will be new (future). Jesus came, and he established a new kingdom on earth, which is the kingdom of God. One day he will come again, and everything will be new! This is our eternal hope. In this tension between something new and all things new, in the now and the not yet, this is where we live, where we breathe, where we hope. I pray that this is what you see.

The creation account in the Old Testament can be read literally or not, but the message of an active God who created humanity is communicated clearly. We are his idea, not the result of random chemistry in the universe a few billion years ago. This understanding is the starting point of the rest of this post.

In Genesis chapter 1 we read that humans were created in the image of God. Not that we are as God. We are rather an image of his nature, a shadow of his character, bearers of his DNA. Chapter 2 describes how God gave us a physical body (formed by dust from the ground), and he breathed his breath of life into it. The breath of life, neshâmâh in Hebrew, can be translated soul and spirit. Thus we are both spirit, soul and body. We are placed in this world, which is an important part of God’s creation. The New Testament describes that all things were made by Christ (John 1:3), “for by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, the things visible and things invisible” (Col. 1:16a), both the earth and our body (the visible), and our soul and our spirit (the invisible). We are therefore whole human beings, created in the image of God.

When sin entered the world by one person’s disobedience, Adam, all of creation were condemned to bear the consequences, through pain, striving and death (something we can read about in Gen 3:17-19 and Rom 5:12). Chapters 3-11 in Genesis describe a spiral of broken relationships. All of creation suffered because of humanity’s broken relationship with God and with one another. The grace of God prevented him from destroying us completely, and the temporary solution was banishment from his presence (Gen 3:23).

An important (and perhaps ingenious) question to ask, is this: Did humanity lose the image of God after Adam’s fall? Was it completely lost? Those who believe in predestination will argue that God’s image in people was completely lost after the fall, ergo only those God have chosen can recognize the call to repentance – and consequently receive eternal life. However, God revealed himself and spoke to people also after the fall. He anointed priests, prophets and kings with his Spirit, so that they could represent him and be his messengers to the people. This means that something in a person was still able to connect with God and relate to him. Instead of thinking that the image of God in us was lost when sin came, it is more appropriate to see it as broken.

The eternal solution to our broken relationship with God came with Jesus Christ, who is the visible image of the invisible God (Col 1:15). God became human so that humanity can once again have close communion with its Creator. It is a miracle, just like creation itself! An example in the Bible which explains what happens in this miracle, is when Jesus talked with Nicodemus the Pharisee about the need to be born again. Jesus said that “the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6). That is, the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God) breathes new life into our spirit. The prophet Ezekiel foresaw this several hundred years in advance: “I will give you a new heart and let you have a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your body and give you a heart of flesh instead” (Ez 36:26). Paul calls it the new creation, and he states that the purpose of this restoration is that people can be reconciled with God (2 Cor 5:17-18).

Paul also speaks about Christians “being transformed into his [God’s] image” (2 Cor 3:18). The Greek word for image is eikon, meaning icon, and it comes from a root that means similarity or likeness. When we follow Jesus and let His Spirit transform us, the image of Jesus in us becomes more and more visible. Being transformed into His image thus involves a process: The image is restored through the Atonement (faith in Christ), it is transformed through sanctification (by the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit), and it will be made perfect through the glorification (when Christ return).

The theologian Emil Brunner claimed that there is no secular world, only a created world that has been secularized. When we believe that every human being is a bearer of the image of God, whether it is broken or about to be restored, it does not matter whether a person is a believer or not. The image of God is planted in everyone. Each individual can therefore look through eyes that God created, think with creativity that God put in them, and work with skills that God gave them. A person may not recognize or acknowledge it, but the consequence is that each person reflects something of God. The fact that no one looks exactly alike, and that everyone has different talents and personalities, speaks about God’s constant breath of life in every person born into this world. Jesus Christ died and rose again, so that his image could be restored to all people.

The restored image of God in a believer is only the result of grace, and no one can ever do anything to deserve it (Rom 3:23-24). When we recognize that each individual is created in the image of God, it tells us how we should relate to other people in a practical way: with mutual respect we allow each other to be who God created us to be. It precludes any attempt to control and oppress another person, whether in a relationship or through a regime. And since life is a gift from God, our understanding will make us want to protect and preserve the life we have been given.

When our self-understanding is based on the fact that we have a God-given nature that is broken and in need of restoration, it should make us humble. When we look at every individual as created in the image of God, and thus are equally valuable, it should fill us with love. When we look at Christ as the perfect image of God, dwelling in everyone who believes in him, by his Spirit, it should give us hope.

What is leadership in the kingdom of God? This is a question I think about quite often. There are so many ways we can describe leadership, and numerous different sources we can use to define leadership. We can read books, go to seminars, receive mentorship from other leaders, and so on. There’s a lot of good stuff we can do, which are most of the time both necessary and profitable.

One of the main sources we have as believers when it comes to understanding leadership, is to look at the life of Jesus Christ: How did he lead his disciples, and how did he meet people surrounding him? When we study the Gospels, we will discover how Jesus laid down his life to minister to people – and this was his leadership! He is definitely our greatest leadership model, one we should look to for inspiration, and also correction. He shows us how to be a servant leader, one who loves people and at the same time challenges and rebukes religious leaders who mainly try to protect their positions and level of influence. Have you ever thought about that? Jesus served people and he turned tables, and he was never afraid to do both. What a great example.

We can also read the epistles in the New Testament, and there we see how the first Christian communities were organized and structured. There definitely were appointed leaders in the first church, and they had different names attached to them and responsibilities to carry. Paul also talks about the qualities of a leader, how a leader should conduct him or herself. These are good sources to look at for understanding Christian leadership. 

Also, we can learn about leadership by looking at the Old Testament. However, when we try to understand leaders in the Old Testament, we should read through the lenses of the new covenant, as many of the events described are there to teach how not to do it, more than being great examples of biblical leadership to follow. 

Sometimes I think it’s about looking at old concepts with a new outlook, and to be willing to describe what we already know with different words than we have been used to. I am constantly looking for frameworks for understanding leadership, and concepts that cannot be linked merely to what we know about authority, structure or areas of responsibility.

One morning not so long ago I woke up with this thought in my head: “Leadership is access!”

What on earth could that mean? I thought about it for quite a while, and after some time it made some kind of sense to me. Leadership is about access! I will try to explain, now, what I came up with as I have pondered this short statement, and I believe it’s about having and giving access in at least three different directions. First let me read from John 10:9, where it says: 

“I am the gate. He who enters through me will be saved and free to go in and out and find pasture.”

First of all, we have access to the kingdom of God. Period. As believers and leaders we need to know and understand this. We have access to His presence, all of His resources, His gifts of grace, peace, joy and righteousness, His salvation and healing, all because of what Jesus has done!

Secondly, as followers of Christ and leaders in the kingdom, we give God access to our hearts, so that He can transform us,more and more into His image. We do this by being humble, authentic, honest and willing to submit to Him. We pray: your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We confess our sins and try not to hide them. 

Thirdly, we give other people access into our lives. We don’t keep people on a distance so that they don’t see what’s really going on. We live transparent lives and project our faith in a way that makes people around us curious on who God is. Through this they may be able to discover how they can access the kingdom of God for themselves. It’s about pointing to the door.

In Revelation 3:20, we read God’s word to the church in Laodicea: 

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in to him and hold-meal, I with him and he with me.”

This access requires us to be available and open, with ourselves, to God and to other people. It’s another way of saying that we know what we have and what we can give. It’s not about us. It’s all about the access we have, as sons and daughters of God the almighty. We lead from a position of belonging and trust, and we understand that giving access does not lead to a weak testimony about God’s kingdom, it rather points to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. It can help people to open up their hearts so that they can receive faith to walk through the door and get to know God.

We are leaders who manage the access God has given us. It requires that we manage and take good care of our hearts, so that God will have access to us, to speak to us, to guide us, to use us for His glory. Through this access we manage a good way of pointing others to the door which is Christ. 

Leadership is a lot of stuff. But if leadership is also access, it means that we are all leaders. And so are you. 

Når var det egentlig
At tiden
Fikk en sånn klemme på seg?
Kanskje på tide å ta den av nå
Og gi tiden en klem?

Every now and then something new is being established in us. This could be such a time. It may even be a time to build foundation again. That surely takes time, and we cannot stay passive and just wait for it to happen. It’s very much about turning down the noise around and in us, and letting God go deeper in our lives.

A few years ago I kept myself busy doing a lot of stuff all at once. I had a job with a lot of responsibility, I was in church leadership, and I had a new-born child and a toddler. Something happened all the time, and I was always leaning forward, always focused on the future and asking myself: how can we improve and do things better? In the middle of it all I forgot the most important thing: to seek God and spend quality time with him. My focus was to make things work, and driven by schedule and performance I hoped that God would bless everything I did.

Then I got sick. It started with infections in my body; throat infections, bronchitis and pneumonia. It lasted for weeks. Still I continued to push hard and work as much as I could. I couldn’t stop until my body said no. From then on, I was empty. I could do nothing. For more than five years now I have been fighting Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or ME. 

This new situation triggered a long-lasting test of my identity. Where was my security? In what I do and achieve, or in fact that I am created in the image of God. Where did I find my strength? In my own effort and ambition, or in the power of God and the equipping presence of his Spirit? Did I see myself as less important in the kingdom of God when I couldn’t refer to a position or a platform? I kept coming back to the feeling that I wasn’t that significant anymore.

In the beginning of this challenging and somewhat confusing season, I often prayed: “God, please fix this, make me strong now, so that I can get back to work and do the things I used to do.” During that time I listened to a song, it was a Christian song, and the lyrics said: “Your season will come!” It made me feel that I was supposed to wait for that time to come, and then everything would be alright. One day something inside of me protested, and whispered: “Your season is now!” I sensed that it was God speaking. 

Your time is now! Not yesterday, not tomorrow. Not when your health improves, not when all the things you worry about aren’t there anymore. Not when the economy is better, or the challenges you face in your family, in church or at work have been resolved. 

This experience made me think differently about my situation. I managed to focus more on what I have now, instead of what is going to happen later. In this moment I have my family; a lovely wife and two beautiful children. I have my friends, my dreams, my life, and I have this day. 

“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!”

I’m learning to lean more on God’s grace than my lack of energy. I am aiming to ask Jesus more often: What do you want me to focus on today? Who do you want me to bless today? What am I going to do today? Jesus has some thoughts about these things, and he has the power I need to do what he wants.

In 2 Cor 12:8-9, Paul says: 

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

I grew up being performance-driven, when it was all about what I did.

Then I became a Christian and purpose-driven, and it became more about why I did it.

Now I’m leaning towards being presence-oriented, when it’s about what Jesus does.

I want to do what Jesus does, empowered and led by the Holy Spirit, here and now, today, not when everything is good some time in the future.

Our time is now.

I have read Psalm 23 hundreds of times. It is definitely one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. I read it to my kids. I read it when I wake up in the middle of the night, and it helps me go back to sleep. I have made a melody to it and sing it. However, until recently I have never noticed how the psalmist shifts the way he addresses the Lord as the hymn unfolds.

In the first three verses David describes God as He — i.e. 3rd person. *He* says something about someone from a distance. We know something about *he*, that he leads us, that he is a source of rest and righteousness. But *he* still refers to someone ’out there’. We may know *he*, and tell others about *he*, but do we have a close relationship with *he*?

In verse 4 David changes how he describes the Lord: 

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil, for you are with me.”

*You* refers to a personal relationship. More than knowing something about God, *you* testifies of an encounter with the Lord. In the valley of the shadow of death, David is in God’s presence. During the rest of the hymn, David speaks of the Lord in 2nd person. Let me propose that it was in the most difficult times and in the presence of his enemies that David more than ever saw the Lord as *you*. Could it be like this for us too?

As a young guy in his early 20s, who had only heard about God, I would think of the Lord as *he*. I had never had an encounter with his loving kindness. Then when I went through a personal crisis, God became real to me and I could give my life to Him. I got to know him as *you*.

These last few years I have struggled with chronic fatigue syndrom. It’s been tough, and my life has changed in many ways because of this sickness. Still, I have experienced that this season has given me an opportunity to know even better that Jesus and the Holy Spirit is God with me, and that he is in control. I have learned even more that I can trust him, that he is my strength in weakness, and that when I rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, I am strong.

Perhaps this season is a time when *you* will reveal himself more and more to us. Perhaps this time is a time when we as the church can point people to Jesus and show others how to go from *he* to *you* in their relationship with him.

Det var en gang en gang
I denne gangen hørtes sang
Og denne sangen var om den gang
Alle sammen hørte sammen

Men den gang da er ikke nå
For nå er mere gått i stå
Det tyder veldig mye på
Vi står her mer alene nå

Hør, lyden av den sangen
Lyder fortsatt borti gangen
Du kan høre hvis du prøver
Prøv og hør med egne ører

Sangen har den samme klangen
Drar oss mot den samme gangen
Da vi alle hørte sammen
På den samme gode stammen

The tablets
Are sets
Of laws
And regulations

The table
Is set
For love
And good relations

Come
To the table!

The president said
I have a pen

The pilot said
I have a plane

The pastor said
I have a church

The prophet said
I have a word

Jesus said
I am

Nåden den strømmer fra korset
Setter oss fri fra vår nød
Lar oss få kjenne din smerte
Livet du ga ved din død

Livet du ga ved din seier
Da du sto opp igjen
Sitter ved Faderens side
En dag skal vi komme hjem

Nåden den strømmer fra himmelen
Ved din allmektige Ånd
Lar oss få kjenne din godhet
Frelserens utstrakte hånd

Livet du ga våre hjerter
Så vi kan kjenne deg
Her i ditt nærvær vi lever
Din nåde er alt for meg

Nåden den strømmer til verden
Lær oss å dele den ut
Sånn som du delte ut brødet
Så alle fikk stille sin sult

Livet du gir deres hjerter
Så de kan kjenne deg
Her i ditt nærvær vi lever
Din nåde er alt for meg

• What is hope? Hope is a gift. In Jer 29:11 God says that he has plans “to give you a future and a hope.” Hope is strength to cling to the gospel no matter what. Hope is to know and experience God’s love, in this moment, and for eternity.

• “Faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Heb 11:1). Hope comes first, and faith brings to reality what we hope for. Thus hope precedes change. Some want to see change in order to get hope, but hope empowers change. Instead of; ‘transformation brings hope’, I’m thinking; ‘hope brings transformation’. Where there is little hope, there is not much going on that brings about change. When hope is stirred, change is just around the corner.

• “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” (Prov 13:12). John in Rev 2:7 says “To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” To be victorious is to stay hopeful. The tree of hope is eternal life (paradise), and a hope not deferred will take us there.

Be pure, don’t pretend
Be confident, don’t confine
Be honest, don’t humiliate
Be committed, don’t copy

Be bold, don’t bully
Be brilliant, don’t boast
Be victorious, don’t violate
Be you, don’t use
Anyone