Have you ever seen a bumper sticker that says “Jesus is the answer” or heard someone say it? And maybe you thought “The answer to what – what was the question?”Continue reading
Tag: Jesus
Why is it so hard to receive?
Christmas article for 2016
Christmas is the time for presents, of giving and receiving. Children, especially, think that’s actually the definition of Christmas! We may fully expect that our spouses, family and friends give us something at this time of year. But what about other people, unexpectedly?
What if our neighbour, who we hardly know, gives us a lovely Christmas hamper? What if an acquaintance gifts us a really expensive item that they know we need? What if a perfect stranger in the supermarket queue offers us the few dollars that we are short?Continue reading
Don’t become a victim of victimhood
Easter article 2021
Have you ever heard someone disparage the Easter story by saying, “Well how could God have done that to His Son – send Him to the cross. It’s child abuse!”? Besides the obvious fact that Jesus was a 33-year-old man by this stage, and not a child; He Himself refutes this argument when He says in John 10:18
No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.
Continue readingEaster surprise
Article for Easter 2020
We know well in advance that Easter is on the way by all the Easter eggs and hot cross buns that the shops start selling around Valentine’s Day. The swiftness with which the year marches towards the holiday may take us by surprise but the long weekend certainly doesn’t.
However, nearly two thousand years ago that first Easter morning came as a complete surprise to those who had watched Jesus arrested, tried and crucified.
Continue readingDisrupting redesigns
I have been watching interior design shows on Netflix recently. I’m inspired by the creativity and cleverness of those who take nice but ordinary rooms and turn them into works of art.
What I have noticed though is that, without fail, those rooms always look worse before they look better. The day before the big reveal, you couldn’t possibly imagine how it is all going to come together.
Continue readingLong-term effects
I read today that doctors suspect a link between Covid-19 and Parkinson’s disease. Apparently the inflammation caused by Covid could have long-term effects on the body and lead to more serious repercussions later in life.
The longer the pandemic progresses, I imagine that may prove to be only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the ripple-effects of the scourge. Who knows what else one might be susceptible to after surviving Covid-19?
Continue readingChristianity is not for cowards
People might think that being a Christian is easy, a crutch that gets you through your traumas, a Father Christmas in the sky to pray to, a list of dos and don’ts that you do your best to follow but get forgiveness for when you fail.
However, as a Christian of several decades, I can tell you Christianity is not for cowards; being a Christian requires you to do some very, very hard stuff. Some of the things I find hardest are: forgiving over and over again, submitting to authority, waiting with patience and coping with suffering.Continue reading
A letter from God to those feeling unloved
Dear Child, I heard when you said today
That your life has no purpose or worth,
And I cried because it’s had meaning
Since before the foundations of earth.
I knit you together in the depth of the womb
And I’ve numbered the hairs on your head.
I’ve cherished each smile, I’ve caught every tear
I’ve heard all the words that you’ve said.Continue reading
Jesus in Jeans – A 21st century parable
If Jesus had chosen to come to earth in modern times, some of His parables may have been a bit different. He used stories and pictures that the people could readily identify with from what they saw around them. For instance, maybe John 15:1-8, instead of being about vinedressing, would have sounded something like this:
Continue readingGod’s character – light
When we try to imagine God, so often we think of some sort of superhuman. That, if God exists, He must be like us but stronger, faster and invincible. Maybe like some sort of Father Christmas or Father Time, old, bearded and benevolent. Or like Zeus, angry and vengeful like a warrior.
However, the Bible tells us that God is not human. We are made in His image – we are like Him in some aspects – and He revealed Himself to us as the man Jesus, but God the Father is not a man, He is a spirit (John 4:24). God does call Himself in the Bible a Father and there is mention of His hands and eyes and hears. But the Bible also uses animal imagery to try to describe God, it talks about God’s wings and Jesus is compared to both a lion and a lamb. And God also uses inanimate things to convey information about His attributes, like God being a pillar of fire and the cloud that the Israelites saw in the wilderness.
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