There are several places in the Bible where God promises to go ahead of His people or a chosen person into a particular reality. One of the more famous verses is Jesus promising to go and prepare a place for us in His Father’s kingdom [John 14:2-3]. I rarely paid attention to this promise until …
Hang around Christians long enough, and some well-meaning person is going to tell you to “just have faith” when you’re in a quandary. Is it just me, or are there others who find that a little vague? Faith in what? That what I want to happen will happen? I know we’re meant to walk by …
I’ve been thinking of the lyrics of Be Magnified recently. The song begins with the lines: “I have made You too small in my eyes, o Lord, forgive me. I have believed in a lie, that You were unable to help me. But now, o Lord, I see my wrong”. I find those words convicting …
One of the many blessings in my life is having a workstation that looks out onto a field. During the winter months at the beginning of the year, the land was barren. It turned green in the autumn, shortly after the farmer planted wheat. By the middle of the summer, the field was golden. The …
Sometimes, we Christians are terrible at acknowledging reality. We act as though we’re exempt from the consequences of living in a fallen world, something Jesus categorically refutes [John 16:33]. The truth is that we live in dual realities, often at odds with each other. That’s the tension we must acknowledge and deal with. God is …
The longer I remain a Christian, the clearer it becomes that no one can fake following God. Life doesn’t give any of us that option. While becoming a Christian is easy, living out an authentic Christian life is certainly not. Life will test our commitment to the hilt and how we respond is ultimately the …
If you have kids and they are anything like mine, you’ve probably had to deal with one or two big questions. I’ve been asked; “if God has all the power, why doesn’t He stop bad things from happening?” and “why did God put that tree in the garden if He knew that Adam and Eve …
As Christians, we claim to trust God but often, we have a plan B and even a plan C, if God doesn’t come through on plan A. However, there are those situations where if God doesn’t come through on plan A, then there are no good alternatives. I think of two such situations in the …
My posts for the last few weeks have been about surviving hard times. As a friend said recently, when you’re experiencing hard times, you’re in no mood for intellectual stimulation. You need something tangible to anchor your faith, not just information that makes sense. Such an anchor requires convictions which can withstand the hard times. …
As I wrote last week, I have been reflecting about surviving seasons of hardship. As such, I’ve been taking a closer look at the story of the Israelites who experienced hard times after they left Egypt. God intentionally led them into a desert when they left Egypt, even though there was at least one other …
