Many are burdened and unable to carry either the great image ‘success and happiness’, or the great sacrifice, ‘being busy’ that are demanded by our culture. It is amazing how hard people work to present this image of everything being OK while in the worst recession of living memory. This unsustainable idolatry is rampant in … Continue reading Unsustainable idolatry
I can feel the burden of ministry and a responsibility to serve. Yet ‘He says, “I removed the burden from their shoulders, their hands were set free from the basket.’ (Psalm 81:6) It is the Lord I serve. If He removes the burden and asks me to walk away from something then why stubbornly refuse? … Continue reading Letting go
We are supposed to be under grace not law, so why is there a de facto legalism? Maybe it is introduced to avoid the displeasure of God? We tend to believe that He is unwilling to act in the presence of sin yet God can do whatever He pleases, even through people I see as … Continue reading Mercy triumphs over law
Are we answering questions people are not asking? The gap between those with theological training, and those without has become so great, and developed so quickly, that the spiritually mature can be unaware that their answers fail to meet the questions of the spiritually unaware. Henry Nouwen’s ‘Reaching Out’ points out that a hospitable teacher … Continue reading Asking questions of society
Our amazing God is faithful where I am unfaithful. Having grown up in a culture concerned about right and wrong, it is easy to become caught up with a list of dos and don’ts. In Psalm 78 Israel’s failure is put differently. Rather than speaking of breaking laws, the psalmist speaks of disloyalty and unfaithfulness; … Continue reading God’s persistent training
“Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out!” There comes a time when we feel fed up with meetings and can’t bear one more. What surprises me is that the Lord can feel the same way! This quote, so commonly the unspoken but lived out sentiment of Christians, is actually … Continue reading Meeting Fatigue
How serious do our friends think we are about God? When they see our pursuit of God, are they encouraged to join the pursuit, or do they roll their eyes and dismiss our foolishness? Song of Songs 5 tells of how the beloved, symbolically a believer or the Church, is in bed when her lover, … Continue reading Complacency
God speaks out, but many who hear protect themselves from His voice. They dismiss what they hear as thunder, and then complain that He never speaks to them. The response of people when they heard the Father speak to Jesus was – “The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered, others … Continue reading Do I hear?
The fact of God’s sovereignty does not require a resigned acceptance of difficulties as being the will of God. Moses begins Psalm 90 saying he is at home with the eternal God who, knowing his secret faults, brings all he does to nothing. Seems fair; who am I before the Holy and Sovereign God? Moses … Continue reading Partnering with the Sovereign God
The great drive of our day is outward and active in order to possess people. It is hard for the driven to stop and wait in order to be possessed by God. The national day of prayer at Wembley stadium was illustrative. The stadium was half full. Is this how God’s people value time with … Continue reading Rejecting the capstone?
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