Detox Your Spiritual Life in 40 Days. Peter Graystone

put it like this: ‘In all things God works for the good of those who love him.’

      Paul uses four key words to describe what God is doing. ‘Predestined’ tells us that the relationship we have with God is outside time altogether. Forever has he known what his good plan is for humankind, and forever has he been able to see the unimaginable future in which we will be with him. ‘Called’ speaks of what God has done in our past, taking an astonishing initiative to invite us to be with him on his progress towards victory. ‘Justified’ tells us where we are at present. It means being accepted by God, with our sins forgiven and our friendship with him restored, all because of what Jesus has done on our behalf. ‘Glorified’ points to the place where we shall be in the future, alongside God and sharing the justice, joy and peace of a perfect heaven.

God walks slowly because he is love. If he is not love he would have gone much faster. Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed . . . It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice it or not, whether we are currently hit by a storm or not, at three miles per hour. It is the speed we walk, and therefore it is the speed the love of God walks. Kosuke Koyama, theologian, born 1929

      Future, present, past and an eternity outside time altogether. That’s the timescale God is working on. No wonder we can’t keep up with him. It’s not because we can’t go fast enough; it’s because we can’t go slow enough. In this life we will never be able to. It is only in death that we will finally slow down to God’s own pace and understand perfectly.

      Nothing, least of all death, will be able to separate us from God’s love. How? ‘Through him who loved us.’ It is all down to Jesus. Obviously we are not good enough; but Jesus is good enough. Obviously we are not powerful enough; but Jesus is infinitely strong. Obviously the mess we get ourselves into is anything but triumphant; but Jesus has already triumphed. When you put yourself on Jesus’ side, you are putting yourself on the side of love and goodness. You are putting yourself on the winning side. Unstoppable!

The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small. Friedrich von Logau, poet, 1604–55

      Sadness, hunger, poverty, war – we see these things all too readily, and it is understandable that we lose sight of the loving God who, on a different timescale from ours, has all these things in his grip. Living at a pace which allows you to see him at work requires practice. It involves allowing God to refocus your eyes from our human timescale to the eternity in which he is working to put right all that humans have put wrong. Practise living in the love of Jesus, the love from which nothing can separate you now and for all eternity, and get ready for all things to be swept up in the inevitable triumph of good.

Detox: Set aside an hour this week to go at a different pace. (A whole day would be better, but an hour is more realistic.) Go through it slowly and relish every moment. Eat some food and taste it properly. Take a bath and enjoy it to the full. Notice colours. Go at the speed of a three-toed sloth. If you meet anyone you know, smile serenely as if you’re in the Brazilian rain forest, and hang around. Dwell on all that God has done. If there are troubles in your mind, stop and pray about them. Slowly get ready for eternity.

      Lord God, until I am sure enough to trust, until I am quiet enough to listen, until I am still enough to understand, slow me down and teach me patience. Amen.

      Day 7 Break a habit

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! . . . When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Romans 6.15–22

      Freedom! Everyone wants it. The trouble is that someone else’s freedom always seems more appealing than your own. Teenagers tell you they are longing for the day when they are liberated from school. Professionals tell you they wish they could reclaim the freedom of their schooldays. Last week somebody said to me, ‘It must be wonderful for you not to have children. It makes you free to do whatever you want with your life.’ I felt a searing urge to reach out my hand and enthusiastically shake the woman by the throat.

      Experience has made me adept at dealing with the stupid things people say. At a wedding last summer someone I hadn’t seen for 20 years said to me, ‘Have you managed to find yourself a woman yet?’ I was really cross, so I pretended to look forlorn and said, ‘Well, to be honest, I gave up hope after the amputation.’ The shock on her face as she tried to work out the politically correct response was a treat, but I had to limp through the entire reception to keep up the pretence.

      As Christians God has set us free. But it’s an awkward freedom, because it brings with it a huge list of things one is not supposed to do. I have been involved in an exchange of e-mails with Saint Paul recently, which went like this:

      Me: I feel trapped.

      Saint Paul: Push off! I’m busy writing Romans.

      Me: But it’s urgent.

      Paul: They’re throwing me to the lions next week. Don’t talk to me about urgent!

      Me: That’s just what I need to talk about. You’re under arrest because you worship Jesus, but you say you’re freer than you ever were before.

      Paul: It’s not that kind of freedom. I’m free because we have a God who is loving and merciful when we have done things wrong, and there is nothing that he enjoys more than to forgive our sins.

      Me: Right then! I have a fantastic idea about freedom. Let’s sin as often as we can, so that God will enjoy being loving and forgiving even more.

      Paul: That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!

      Me: Don’t disappoint me! I’m hoping for orgies on a Saturday night followed by forgiveness on a Sunday morning.

      Paul: Hard luck, mate! Nice try! (We’ve got a right one here!) Look up what I wrote in Romans. You can find it on the internet.

      In Romans, Paul explains that people who are not Christians think they can do whatever they please, but in fact they haven’t got the freedom they imagine. It’s as if they were slaves to sin and forced to do what God declares to be wrong. Forced to accept the world systems that keep poor people poor while rich people get the best deal. Forced to go along with society’s standards that anything is acceptable in sex as long as no one gets distressed. Forced to accept that the person who pushes their weight around is going to get their way. These things have enticing names: free market, free love, free-for-all. But there’s nothing free about them; they are part of a world that is enslaved.

You were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. Galatians 5.13

      When you become a Christian, you don’t stop being the slave and start being the boss; you stop being the slave to one thing and become a slave to another. You become God’s slave. Why is that appealing? It is hard to grasp, because slavery is not a daily reality in this country as it was in Paul’s day. But low-grade addiction is – to nicotine, caffeine, chocolate or any one of a thousand habits. And since Paul seems to have mastered e-mail he can probably understand tobacco as well!

If you notice something evil in yourself, correct it. If something good, take care of it. If something beautiful, cherish it. If something sound, preserve it. If something unhealthy, heal it. Do not weary of reading the ways of the Lord, and you will be adequately instructed by them so as to know what to avoid and what to go after. Bernard of Clairvaux, founder of the Cistercian order of monks, 1091–1153

      Saint