How sin empties us out and the choice we face
2 Kings 17:1-23 I have mentioned on this blog C.S. Lewis’ imaginative treatment of heaven and hell in The Great Divorce, as busloads of hell-dwellers get a chance to visit heaven. These people experience heaven as a beautiful but unbearably…
The parting of the sea: God makes a way
Exod 14:5-31; Rom 6:1-7 In the church where I came to faith, the cross loomed so large in the teaching about redemption through Jesus’ death that the resurrection seemed almost an afterthought. It took me a few years to appreciate…
The meaning of the Passover: Christ our Passover Lamb
Exod 12:1-13; Matt 26:17-19, 26-29 Increasingly today, family members no longer eat together but consume their meals in their different corners, watching television or being absorbed by their phones. There is something so sad about this, as gathering around a…
How quick fixes can destroy us
2 Kings 16:1-20 A student at a Bible college where I taught was in his last year before becoming a pastor. He was having trouble submitting his last assignment in time and, in desperation, he copied substantial parts of someone…
Heeding God’s warning signs in time
2 Kings 15:1-38 When I was about twelve, my family spent a week’s holiday by a branch of the River Danube. The first day when we went down to one of the beaches nearby, my brother and I were about…
What to do when others get the grace we hope for?
2 Kings 14:1-29 The funny thing about God’s undeserved grace is that we revel in it when we receive it but can feel resentful when others get it whose behaviour is less than ideal. I remember catching myself in this…
The astonishing mercy of God and why it matters
2 Kings 13:1-25 Many people respond to a near-death experience with a deeper appreciation of the supernatural, and it can create an openness for living differently than before. Some who are miraculously healed or narrowly escape an accident can likewise…
How to be deeply rooted in God?
2 Kings 12:1-21 I read once the reminiscences of a church member in an American mega-church. She describes how as a teenager, it was a wonderful and exciting place to be. Having the support of her friends and the structure…
How to create the potential for lasting change among God’s people
2 Kings 11:1-21 In my previous post, I mentioned the debates around past leadership in Eastern Europe after Communism. However, it is not enough to restrain earlier influences in governance, the thinking of ordinary people on the ground also matters.…
Lessons from a renewal of God’s people gone wrong
2 Kings 10:1-36 During the early years after Communism fell in Hungary, there was a lot of debate as to what should happen to those who played prominent roles in upholding a repressive regime. There were different models followed in…