We will see Him

Hi Blogger , A few years ago, when we were still funding the ministry in London ourselves friends of ours asked me to strip, fill, sand down and repaint their home's foyer. It was an awful job. The fine pink dust would clog your nose (!), your arms and shoulder would become so tired as you sanded the higher parts of the wall, and then you had to clean the mess up before they came home every day! One thought kept me going though, and it wasn't the money (although they were very generous). It was the thought that I'm working on a friend's house. This is not some nameless person - but someone I knew and cared for. My work mattered... for me and for them. If you are a Christian, this same logic might help you when you remember that everything in the world belongs to God. In effect - every job you do is as if you are working on a dear friend's house. Psalm 24:1 : The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it ...

Hi Blogger , I probably don't have to tell you that this has been a miserable week for tube travellers. Thousands of people had to find other ways to get to work when one of the rails on the Jubilee line broke. Others were hampered by strikes and others by 'signal failures'. How do we deal with the small but infuriating challenges in life? A car not starting, a phone constantly dropping calls or a broken boiler in the middle of a cold spell...! The Christian response to things like this is supposed to be calmness and patience. I almost laugh at the fact that I just wrote that! We know it but it's just so hard to do it when things go wrong. Perhaps this passage helps us to see things from another perspective: Colossians 1:16,17 For by [Jesus Christ] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all thin...

Hi Blogger, So George Osborne unveiled the cuts yesterday and today all the papers are asking who we are going to blame for it? The coalition government tries to say it's the previous Labour government. According to Jonathan Freedland from the Guardian Labour needs to say it's the banks we have to blame. The Independent are perhaps the closest to the truth when they say the only people we can blame really is all of us! Christianity holds that the problem with the world is not out there but in here, with me. Would you have changed the system if you were a top earning banker? Would you have given up political power to tighten the regulations if you were a politician? I guess not. Not because you are particularly evil but because we are all equally greedy, ready to take as much as we can get if the opportunity allows. The Apostle Paul, after unpacking his own inability to always do what is right summarises his and our situation with these words: Romans 7:...

Goodmorning Blogger, As I'm sure you know today is the day George Osborne will unveil the biggest cuts to the public sector for decades. For many of us this is causing anxiety in one way or another. Added to this Mervin King, the governor of the Bank of England painted a less to rosy outlook for international banking industry where most of the growth comes from. It seems more likely than not that many of us will be asking the following question in the next couple of years: Where is sustainable growth and job opportunities going to come from? A Christian can take a sigh of relief trusting in these words from Christ: Matthew 6:31-33 "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these t...

Hi Blogger, "I might believe in Jesus, I might even consider the Bible to be authentic but it's unlikely that I will ever believe in the church." This statement might in one way or another say what you've been thinking. Some of us use this as a reason for not believing in Jesus Christ at all. On the other hand, some that do believe in him might use this to say why they're not part of a church. But what is the church? It is supposed to be a group of people that are ready do admit their own shortcomings, their own sin, even their own inability to be the church. So, far from being a hypocritical, judgemental, self-righteous clique the church is supposed to be a humble, thankful, careful and dependent group of friends that encourage each other in the battle against their our own sin... Romans 3:23 "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that c...

Hi Blogger, It still amazes me that the Bible - that originated in a culture without libraries or even a developed literary culture - keeps the same central storyline over a period of more that 3500 years. What astonishes me even more is the fact that this same storyline is preserved even though the Bible was written by more that 40 writers (organised into 66 books). That storyline is developed in many different ways but it is essentially this: try hard to do God's law, fail, try again. Try hard, fail, try again. And just as you can't take this rhythm of failure anymore the New Testament comes along and tells us of Jesus Christ that doesn't fail and doesn't need to try again. And then, almost as if without interruption the deadly cycle carries on. So, how does the Bible change people then if the same cycle just carries on? 2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is God‑breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteou...

Hi Blogger, If you wanted to make up a religion, would you portray it's first leaders as "petty, jealous, almost impossibly slow witted" people that eventually proved to be cowards who deserted their leader? For me it's these kinds of questions that debunk many of the arguments that says Christianity is made up legends or stories. Think about the most central event of Christianity - the crucifixion of Christ. He was crucified by the Roman authorities after his own people, the Jews accused him. He was betrayed by a disciple in his own inner circle and then deserted by the rest. There was no group that could claim that he innocently died for them as a 'martyr'... because all of them killed Him! Would you make this stuff up? The only reason it is in the Bible is because that is the way it happened. Not a made up legend, but an incredibly complex and yet super simple account of history that basically says: "God made him who had no sin to...

Hi Blogger, Biblical Christianity has always held that the Bible is the basis of our belief. After Dan Brown popularised the questionability of the Bible's authenticity many people feel that they have finally found the explanation of why they do not believe. There is one problem with this view (there's actually a few problems...). If the historical events around Jesus' life and death were made up or fabricated the creators of these "fictional events" should have waited a few decades longer... You see, most of the eye witnesses to Jesus life and death were still alive when the early Gospels were written and the Gospel writers invite their readers to go and check with them. Here is the beginning of Luke's Gospel: "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have ca...

Hi Blogger , George Osborne is expected to tell the country today how the government proposes to cut the deficit fast and deep to avoid a decade of debt. We all know the basic but difficult rule of financial credit - that the longer you pay the more you pay. It seems that we find it equally hard to apply this rule in our relationships. Forgiving each other "fast and deep" relieves us from a life of debt with each other. God understands this principle supremely. Forgiving us He took decisive action and cleared our debt not over a decade, not over a year but in one painful act. 1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit..." Lord Jesus Christ, I find your act of forgiveness both challenging and comforting at once. On the one hand I can't forgive like you do. I find myself unable to carry the cost necessary to for...