The Christian life is a life of waiting and working. Advent puts us in mind of the waiting. We look not only to Christ’s first coming, but ahead to His second coming, to judge the living and the dead. Here is how Old Testament saints waited for that first coming: “5 I wait for the […]
It’s the hope you have when there is no hope. Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah 90 when they were promised a miracle child (Isaac). As Genesis 18:11 put it: “Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.” Nonetheless, the […]
“If God came down right now, I’d believe. If He showed up in all His Godness and proved Himself to me, I’d bow down and worship. I won’t believe if I can’t see, hear and touch Him – but if He appears, I’ll believe.” Have you ever said that? Or thought it? Well, that’s Thomas’s […]
Are you a believer or an unbeliever? The Christian answers: “Yes!” Mark 9:24 is the confession of all weak and failing Christians – which means all of us! They are the words of a father seeking deliverance for his son who is oppressed by a spirit. He tells Jesus, “And ofttimes it hath cast him […]
A stammer. An irritating workmate. An infirm parent. A complaining parishioner. An unpleasant duty. A chronic illness. We might be tempted to call these things “my cross to bear.” But we shouldn’t. Jesus means something very different by the phrase. But it’s not just the world-weary grumblers who get it wrong. The zealous do-gooders can […]
It is, perhaps, Thomas Cranmer’s most famous prayer. Known as The Prayer of Humble Access, it is said prior to receiving the Lord’s Supper: “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much […]
At heart God is Giver. We, therefore, are meant to receive – that is, believe. And yet, listen to how Jesus commonly speaks of His followers: “O ye of little faith.” (Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; Luke 12:28) There are two exceptions – the Roman Centurion and the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:28). They have “great faith”, even though […]
Everything is relative. By which I mean that all things correspond to God. Even God corresponds to God and has His existence relative to God. That is the doctrine of the Trinity. Therefore how much more ought the creature to properly relate to its Creator. So the vital question arises, how should we correspond to […]
This is many people’s favourite Scripture. It was the verse written by my mother into my confirmation bible: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:4-5) I wonder what approach you take to the […]
What is faith? Often people think of faith as a special quality that the religious happen to possess. It’s like some magic elixir. Apparently some people have lots of faith coursing through their veins, others have very little. But how does Jesus think of faith? Well when Jesus wanted to explain faith to a bible […]
