Does your sin bother you? I think it is very easy to get into sinful habits and not be all that concerned about it. After all, we might reason, Jesus has forgiven all of my sins. I don’t need to worry that my sin will separate me from God if I trust in Jesus! Yes, …
Have you ever tried to convince a sceptic that God is real and that Christianity is true? You can end up with all kinds of deep philosophical points. You can look at the complexity of the world, our internal need for purpose, or natural law. Yet there is one piece of evidence that has been …
How much information do you receive every day? If you are anything like me, it is a lot. Much of it is kind of incidental; we learn things from speaking with people and going about our day. We absorb information from social media and the news; far more information than people of most previous generations …
All people are made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27). All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). The offer of salvation through Jesus is available to everyone (John 3:16-17). All people in the church family are also seen as equal, regardless of their gender or social status (Gal …
2 Kings 5 introduces us to a Syrian general named Naaman. He travelled to Israel to be healed of his leprosy after hearing that a prophet named Elisha could heal him. After his remarkable healing, this powerful man was changed in deep ways. He showed humility that wasn’t evident before and he confessed that the …
When Elisha healed the foreign army general Naaman from leprosy, he left to return home a changed man. That is where we might expect the story to finish, but the writer of 2 Kings includes the actions of Naaman’s servant Gehazi as well. Gehazi was upset that Naaman had brought such a lot of money …
Whenever I ask someone with no experience of church what they think a Christian is, they usually tell me that they think a Christian is someone who tries to be good. Someone who follows a complex set of rules to try and obey their God. It is easy to see why people get that impression. …
It is easy to be impressed by the giants of the Christian faith. We read in the Bible of people like Elijah who stood up to evil kings, of Moses who stood before Pharaoh, and of Paul who testified before rulers and hostile Jewish governments. We know of people like Martin Luther and John Knox …
Many Christians are terrified of evangelism. It is the kind of thing we know we should be doing but we don’t get around to, like flossing or exercise. It is easy to come up with all kinds of excuses not to tell other people about Jesus. Maybe they will reject me or be mean to …
I often come across a complaint non-Christians have about the church: it brainwashes people. Many see the church as being the same as a cult, forcing people to believe things. For those who see themselves as enlightened and free thinkers, equating the church to a cult explains why so many people would hold to views …