There is a common saying in English: ‘stop and smell the roses’. It is an encouragement to slow down and enjoy life a little. It remains good advice. All of us have a tendency to get too busy and stressed, and it is good for us to slow down and enjoy the good things in …
There is an old chorus called “Tell me the old, old story” which revels in the wonder of being told about the gospel once more. From the perspective of someone who has been a believer for many years, the song expresses that we love to hear it again and again. I love this song, but …
After hearing a sermon, a common response is to mark it in our heads. We might think that it was enjoyable, or interesting, or faithful to the passage (or not), or useful, or well presented. The temptation is to compare it to the one last week or others we have heard. In a sense, this …
When your world falls apart, where do you look for comfort and advice? The answer will differ depending on who you are. Some just cannot cope and don’t look anywhere. Some will seek the advice of friends, look to experts in the field, read self-help books, or even watch daytime television or listen to talk-back …
We are encouraged to reach our potential, to be what we want to be, to make it in life. Our picture of the perfect life before us often includes comfort, a family situation we’re happy with, a nice place to live and enough money to do what we want to do. Ideally, we want to …
Every now and again, a newspaper will remind us that Australians are very poor at saving. Compared to the rest of the world, Australians tend to spend what they earn, with very little set apart for later. Younger people, in particular, don’t want to invest money for the future but would prefer to make the …
In our church, the entire congregation is in the main hall together for the first half of the service. This means that we sing and pray together with older people, young children, and everyone in between all together. There is something wonderfully encouraging about this! And then, when the time for the Bible reading and …
In many passages in the Bible, God warns his people not to follow other gods instead of him. The word for this is ‘idolatry’, which means to worship an idol. In traditional religions, idols often took the form of little statues or carvings which were bowed down to and sacrificed to. That’s not normally how …
The title of this blog post might seem a little odd. After all, you might think, I bought my Bible for $9.99. Or perhaps it was free – it came with an app on your phone. Most people don’t own old Bibles or illuminated ones worth millions; the paper or the software is pretty inexpensive. …
When was the last time you heard a sermon where the preacher warned you of the dangers of hell? That God is angry with sin, ‘furious’ is a better way of putting it, and would one day bring such terrible judgement that we can hardly imagine it? I would guess that in many Christian circles, …