Seasonal
How to access God’s resources (Psalm 23)
Ps 23:1-6 Spending a week near a sheep farm a few summers ago, I noticed one evening a sheep that scrambled up the hillside and refused to budge from there when the rest of the flock was brought into the…
The Law and Jesus: from grace to grace
John 1:14-18 I always enjoy hearing how people ended up in a relationship and once asked an elderly couple I met in the UK, who shared their story. He was from England learning Spanish at university and wanted a penfriend,…
The Word became flesh and God’s extraordinary gift
John 1:14-18; Exod 33:1-3, 12-23; 34:1-10 Secular people in the West can feel resentful about the seemingly arbitrary Christian rule that only those who believe in Jesus can enter ‘heaven’. How can a loving God exclude even good people from…
What makes God’s Word life-giving?
John 1:11-13; 6:26-58; Deut 8:3 My uncle once filled up a rental car at a petrol station, but when he started the ignition, he heard clunking noises and despite pushing down on the pedal to accelerate, the vehicle moved sluggishly.…
God’s Word as Light
John 1:4-13; Ps 119:105 A woman I know shared in a Facebook group her struggles with stress and the physical effects this has on her body. Her request for advice, opened a floodgate of confessions from others who were similarly…
God’s Word: Lessons in wisdom and faithful giving
John 1:1-3; Prov 8:22-31 Imagine if everything we said came into existence! ‘Coffee’, we say, and hey presto, it materialises on our desk; ‘House’, we say, and the mansion we dreamed of is waiting for us with open doors. ‘Make…
The Word that makes things happen
John 1:1-3; Isa 55:10-12 In my early days of studying theology in the UK, I had to apply for a visa on entering the country. Once, there was a delay, so that two weeks before Christmas I still had no…
How can we know God’s power in us? (Eph 1:18-23; Psalm 110)
Eph 1:18-23; Ps 110:1-7 A common greeting at Easter is the jubilant little exchange of ‘He is risen!’ answered with ‘He is risen indeed!’. But why does the resurrection matter at all? Is not the cross and atonement for sin…
The need for cleansing: Healing our blind spots
Matt 21:12-17 Some years ago, Transport for London put out a short ad for their awareness test, a humorous whodunnit, to alert drivers to the dangers of not noticing what they do not expect to see. I won’t give the…
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem: The unexpected way of salvation
Matt 21:1-11 As I mentioned elsewhere on this blog, my father was barred from entering university by the Communist regime back in 1950s’ Hungary. Every year for fifteen years, he sat the entrance exam with success but failed in the…