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Are We Getting Holiness Wrong?
We can have the right doctrine of holiness; one that takes it as seriously as Scripture does. But in relation to its practical outworking and in our assumptions concerning it, we may have got it wrong. No doubt there could be many ways in which we could do this. We may fall into the error that we can contribute something, that there is a place for our personal merit. Or perhaps we subtly divorce holiness from happiness and find ourselves in a constant conflict between the two. This is a serious mistake because holiness is the only way to true...
read moreWhy Doesn’t God Show Himself More?
Sometimes in our personal experience and in the world around us we are tempted with the feeling that God is absent. Why doesn’t God show Himself more? Are our prayers being heard? Why doesn’t God step in and arrest the moral rebellion that is destroying western societies? These concerns are not new in one sense. The Psalms and other books of Scripture wrestle with such thoughts. Yet it can seem different in a society where God is excluded to such a great extent. Sometimes we treat the temptation and pressure to unbelief as an...
read moreCan You Get More Than Heaven?
Perhaps this question doesn’t even make sense to you. You couldn’t get anything greater and more desirable than heaven. It is everlasting blessing. But we don’t mean something better than heaven but something in addition to heaven. In fact something before we get there. There is a common assumption amongst believers that if we are saved then we can relax and nothing more is required. It’s sometimes expressed like this. “Why do you need to bother about anything (in spiritual things) unless it contributes to your...
read moreSpiritual Summer Time
Who would not welcome the warmth and light of summer? It provides opportunities that we may not have at other times of the year. Its life, growth and fruitfulness should encourage thoughts of the things we long for spiritually. Perhaps we feel that we are in the very opposite condition but spiritual summer is still what we desire. It is good for our growth to have a variety of spiritual seasons. The important matter is to make best use of our current condition. Samuel Rutherford often compared the changes in our spiritual experience to the...
read moreBible Verses Have Consequences
Ideas have consequences. Those consequences may be traced in history, culture and the lives of individuals. How we think and what we assume shapes our view of the world and life in it. Consciously or unconsciously, people live under the influence of ideas formulated by others. To think biblically we need to know how to handle God’s Word. For the Bible to have a consequential influence on our faith and life we must know how to apply the implications of what we read. By consequences we don’t just mean practical influence....
read moreThe Highest Wish of a Holy Heart
We can monitor the pulse of our soul by considering what we long for most frequently and in the strongest way. Our hearts naturally go out to that which we value most. We may wish for and aspire to many things that are not only worthwhile but necessary. The farmer wishes for the right weather and the businessman favourable market conditions. Yet above all these are the highest wishes of the soul for our eternal good and the good of others. We desire that others would prosper in outward things but the prosperity of their souls comes first (3...
read moreThe Worst Kind of Offence in an “I’m Offended” Culture
“I’m offended” rhetoric seems to have great power in our culture. Never perhaps was a generation more concerned about offence. From speakers on university campuses to boycotts to cultural appropriation – being offended is very prominent. It goes beyond offended feelings and displeasure. Rightly or wrongly, there is evidently something akin to moral outrage behind it. Certain politically correct values are being elevated as the standard to which people must conform. Of course this is a mere human standard. But do we...
read moreThe Complete Remedy For Overcoming Spiritual Discouragements
Many things around us seem to conspire to bring us down to the depths of discouragement. We can see plainly that things are not as they ought to be. Perhaps we look for fruit from our patient efforts to sow seed with others and it doesn’t appear even promising. So we become weary in well-doing. Ministers are easily tempted to discouragement in the midst of their labours. It’s also not difficult to become discouraged due to things within, especially our spiritual state and progress. How do we get out of being sucked into the spiral...
read moreWhat Should We Do When the State Invades the Church?
According to senior figures in the Church of England in recent weeks, the Church should lose its exemptions from prosecution under equalities legislation. Dr Ison the Dean of St Paul’s said: “My view is that if there is a price to be paid for what you believe in conscience then you should pay that; you should not make other people pay the price for your conscience. That applies to abortion, to issues of sexuality and gender and right across the piste. If it is legal, decent and honest but you don’t believe it is right, then...
read moreToo Busy to Read the Bible?
“Busy” is something of a status symbol for success currently. Everyone is busy, it’s a stock response. But is it the best way to measure importance and productivity? We feel overwhelmed but the research tells us that on average we actually have more free time. It’s a case of how we use our time. It seems like many are chasing ever-inflating expectations from society and themselves that they will never achieve. Are we trying to do everything in order to project an image of a perfect life? Wouldn’t it be more...
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