Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.1 Peter 4:12-14Have...  Read More

That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your san...  Read More

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.2 Thessalonians 1:3 One of the most encouraging things in life is when people grow in their faith. That’s what I reckon anyway. When people have a ‘light-bulb’ moment in regards to God’s grace. When people make faithful ...  Read More

Q. 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.Westminster Shorter CatechismHave you ever hear...  Read More

Mockers stir up a city, but the wise turn away anger.Proverbs 29:8Are you a stirrer? Do you escalate arguments? Or are you cool as a cucumber? Sometimes it depends on the situation (and the people!) doesn’t it?One thing I am continually encouraging my kids is to not escalate. Someone bites you (metaphorically speaking), you either respond calmly or you walk away until you can.There’s a principle a...  Read More

21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strik...  Read More

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of lightEphesians 5:8Cool Runnings is an old favourite. There’s a bit where the Jamaican Bobsled team were trying to be just like the Swiss. And it wasn’t working. Sanka (dreadlocks), fed up with trying to be something they aren't, says, “I didn't come up here to forget who I am and where I come from.” It’s a great sta...  Read More

Blessed is the one    who does not walk in step with the wickedor stand in the way that sinners take    or sit in the company of mockers,but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,    and who meditates on his law day and night.That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,    which yields its fruit in seasonand whose leaf does not wither—    whatever they do prospers.Psalm 1:1-3There are...  Read More

17 Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”Exodus 5:17-18I try not to read politics into the Bible. We all have a tendency to want to polarise our times into good guys/bad guys but as the American election shows, sometimes i...  Read More

When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.”2 Chronicles 7:3 In the history of Israel every now and then God did something that showed people His glory. That would cause them to look on in wonder a...  Read More

Q.33. What is justification?A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.Westminster Shorter CatechismFor all those that keep track, I did skip a question. Q32 is a summary that is then unpacked over the next few questions. One of the mos...  Read More

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;    I refused my heart no pleasure.My heart took delight in all my labor,    and this was the reward for all my toil.Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done    and what I had toiled to achieve,everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;    nothing was gained under the sun.Ecclesiastes 2:10-11I think all of us deep down suspect that if we had...  Read More