'God has faith in us' - Weekly Reflection 26th October 2026

On Thursday we made the long trip down to Cornwall to catch up with our ‘Cornish family,’ two of whom celebrating birthdays, our granddaughter Isla (8) and our eldest son.

We arrived and settled in but woke up on Friday amid Storm Austin with the electrics down and Wi-Fi also down, which amongst other things meant no TV. Thankfully the electrics was restored on Friday afternoon, but the Wi-Fi wasn’t restored until Monday. Saturday saw another storm hot on the heels of the previous one and this one presented with persistent rain all day. So, we hunkered down and read, dozed and watched DVDs, only making a trip out up to St Austell for a hot chocolate at Costa just to be somewhere different.

On Saturday throughout the day and on into the evening we watched the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy. Watching it in this way I noticed in a way that I hadn’t before how all three films bleed into each other, repeating scenes and giving you another angle on what you had seen before.

The book I was reading on Saturday was Tom Wright’s, ‘God’s Home-Coming.’ (SPCK 2025)

In this book Tom Wright pulls together various talks, lectures and other papers and essays he has written over the years where he strongly challenges the idea that the goal of the Christian is to go to heaven when we die. That, he argues is a misreading of Scripture common place in much Western Christianity, largely by an enlightenment embrace of Platonism.

Following the logic of Wright and following the Scriptures he presents aligned with an over aching narrative he argues that the Scriptural narrative says little if anything about ‘going to heaven when we die.’ From the opening pages of Genesis and the creation narrative, the story is one of God seeking to live and abide amongst his creation. Much like the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy, the themes criss cross and bleed into each other, telling the same story but from a different angle and seeking the best possible of all outcomes.

Consider these three Scriptures. First from the creation narrative, that speaks of God walking in the Garden.

‘They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Gen 3:8

And then note verse 21, ‘And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife and clothed them.’ (The first animal sacrifice!)

Then flip over to 1 John 2:28, ‘And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.’ 

And into this the story of the king giving a banquet and the man being found without a Wedding Garment. Matthew 22:1-14 (especially verses 11-14)

The ‘law’ was given to enable God to abide amongst his people, argues Tom Wright. Now we have Messiah Jesus, “And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.”  Galatians 3.27(cf. Isaiah 61:10)  

Once you begin to think in this way you find you are unable not to see it.

For me, Tom’s Wright’s book confirms what I had already come to view as being a more consistent reading of the Scriptural narrative. I have long found The Bible Project very insightful.

https://bibleproject.com/videos/temple/.

And a few years I worked my way slowly through G.K. Beal’s ‘The Temple and the Church’s Mission.’

Far more than I could begin to outline in a weekly reflection, but once you begin to sit into the notion of the importance of ‘temple’ several other things also slot into place.

Most importantly is that we, being united (clothed) with Christ, become living temples.

1 Corinthians 3:16, ‘Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst.’

That was always God’s plan as outlined in Genesis. God coming to live amongst his creation in the temple of the Garden of Eden, in the Tabernacle and the Temple, then in Jesus and now in us!

Where this reading of Scripture takes you is far reaching and gives much to mediate upon.

One strand of thought I have been pondering upon is the call for us to have faith and belief in God. What’s happens if we flip that around. Not saying our belief and faith is unimportant, but perhaps of equal and possibly more importance is God’s faith and belief in us, the carriers of God’s image, the Imago Dei.   

I think that works in this way.

Just before we travelled I received a letter as a volunteer with Prison Fellowship Letter Link. I brought the letter with me so that I could get a stamp and post it. Through a secure system run by PF, I am in correspondence with a prisoner who has asked to join the scheme. Now apart from the mention once of going to a Bible study I have no idea if this man has any faith or belief in God. What I do know is that I am child of God, and that I am filled with God’s Spirit (temple).

(On the Letter Writing scheme see - letter writing - Prison Fellowship)

Through this I know that God believes and has faith in me.  Furthermore, God trusts me enough to act as his agent engaging in correspondence with this person as a practical expression of God’s faith and belief in him.

John 15:16 ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.’

What might it mean if we were to live deep into the reality of being God’s temple, a heaven and earth reality, walking, talking, helping and assisting, whenever and wherever we go and what ever we do. Sharing the good news that God has faith in them and believes in them and wants to come and abide in them.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” Revelation 3.20.