Most of us have heard the phrase “Jesus loves you”. It sounds ‘nice’, non-judgemental and kind, but what does it actually mean? If God loves everyone, no matter how you behave or what you believe then does it matter how we behave or what we believe? “Jesus loves you” is a phrase that does not actually appear in the Bible and, although it is true and seemingly simple to understand, the word “love” has been so diluted and redefined by our culture that saying “Jesus loves you” is often either meaningless to people or misunderstood.
Continue readingCategory: About God
Scary power
I recently watched a series on Netflix (Marvel Comic’s Jessica Jones) where the villain had the most terrifying superpower I could imagine: to be able to mind-control people and make them do anything he tells them to.Continue reading
Grace and Jeffery Dahmer
Grace. You might know it as a girl’s name or a prayer at meal times, but that is not the amazing kind of grace I want to talk about here.
Grace is a Biblical concept that basically means getting something we don’t deserve (sometimes paired with the term mercy, which means not getting what we do deserve). For instance, getting a promotion when we deserve to be fired, or getting a prize when we deserve a fine.
Christians talk about the grace of God in terms of us receiving His undeserved, free forgiveness which is not earned by moral living, but accepted as a gift, through faith.Continue reading
If I were king
Do you sometimes wish you could be in charge of the universe and make all the rules? I think many of us believe we know best how others should live and wish we could tell them!
Continue readingYou’re in the army now
Published in the African Military edition
When one joins the armed forces one is required to wear a uniform, to obey orders unquestioningly, to work in close co-operation with others, to focus on a common goal and to subordinate one’s own identity and desires to those of the organisation.
Each member of an army, navy or air force uses his or her abilities and training, which are often acquired in the military, to promote and serve their country through that corps.Continue reading
Heaven
When someone says “heaven”, what do you think of?
Wings, harps and clouds? Doing your favourite thing all day? A bland place with lots of singing?
Many people define heaven by the things that make them feel happy and fulfilled on Earth, but what if I were to tell you that in heaven there is no sex, no marriage, no Wi-fi, no computer games, no Netflix, no sport and probably no sleep. Would you still want to go?
Harry Potter meets Jesus
If you are someone who generally finds church a bit boring but loves the Harry Potter books and movies, then Leverington Church in Philadelphia has an unusual sermon series that might just pique your interest.
Entitled Harry Potter meets Jesus this set of seven short talks by Pastor Langdon remains true to both the Bible and the novels and brings out some fascinating parallels that are sure to make both more interesting to a generation of readers that have been influenced what is arguably ‘the most popular cultural phenomenon of our time’.Continue reading
The answer to everything
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
That which connects us all
Recently I watched the movie Collateral Beauty, starring Will Smith as a man dealing with the death of his young daughter. Two years have elapsed and Smith’s character Howard Inlet is still not coping very well, his marriage is over and he is reduced to writing hate mail to Time, Death and Love.
As Howard explains right at the beginning of the movie, “Now these three things connect every single human being on earth. We long for love. We wish we had more time. And we fear death.”Continue reading
Disrupting 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.
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