Posts from March 2023 (Page 2)

Long before the advent of Online church services I found myself in the homes of brethren known as “shut-ins.” I had just preached at a church in Missouri and a deacon invited me to “Take the Lord’s Supper” to the homes of the elderly and infirm of the congregation. It was a beautiful sight to behold as he “communed around the table” with each one of them. He was bringing them a worship experience that they might never have had…

One-stop shops have become commonplace. But I must admit that my very first visit to a Walmart in the USA was an eyeopener. In no place that I had ever been could a customer get his car serviced while he shopped for anything from groceries to guns. Add to this the Online Amazon empire, and the customer has come to expect what he wants…when he wants it. God too has a Mega-store. In it we can find every possible variety…

“Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse” (Proverbs 1:14) I once went to the funeral of a good lady who had left behind four children. I knew her oldest son, but I hadn’t seen him for at least ten years. I remember his exuberance as a child and the pride his mother felt when seeing the good example he was to his younger siblings. Dad had broken up their home, and he had suddenly become…

“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life” (2 Timothy 2:4). I like to know what is going on in the world, so I enjoy keeping up with the News. I have lived long enough to know that I have my own ideas and that most of them, due to my faith, do not align with most of the major News outlets; I don’t expect them to! Although News outlets can be powerful forces for…

#1. “Better than gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” “How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver” (Proverbs 16:16). “Why were the Magi called, “The Three Wise Men?”” the teacher asked her class. One little boy called out, “Because they were all rich.” At which point the teacher said, “No, the Wise Men were wise because they went to find the greatest teacher in the world.” How true that little…

In the early 1970s our solitary TV channel regularly screened old Swashbuckler films. Few things brought more delight than to see two sailing ships come side-by-side and engage in a pitched cannon-to-cannon battle. Of course, all of this inevitably led to frenzied hand-to-hand deck combat and the rescue of a damsel in destress—Errol Flynn never looked better. There was one thing that was ever present in those films: You knew your friends and enemies by the colours of the flags…

Gaining the whole world is something that none of us will achieve, but many will die trying. Bargaining your soul for the things of this world is casting the only thing you have of value to the wind. Since time immemorial one man has looked to the wealth of another and believed himself to be inferior without it. You would think that a wander through a cemetery would bring him to his senses. For it is there, in a strange…

Have you ever warned someone to stay away from a person or group? There are indeed people who are best avoided, not necessarily because they are irredeemable (though some are), but because of the weakness of those they will influence if given opportunity. The evil person knows that his ways are a stench to good people, so the chances of him developing a sanitised exterior are high. Though many may come to consider him harmless, it is when they become…

Remember that good feeling that you got when you finally found the words to affirm your impatience with that person who was prone to upsetting you? Well, it did not come from the Lord. In fact, Jesus operates in a realm where such weakness is soon expected to be seen in your rear vision mirror. Instead, it is the attribute known as “longsuffering” that our Lord wants to fill you with.” To be longsuffering is to be “long-tempered,” or as…

I was once told that someone had sent me a letter criticising me for failing to encourage the church to be more evangelistic. Apparently, it was my fault and I needed to be told. I have, to date, not received such a letter. But assuming that pen was actually put to paper and that the missive was posted, I guess there is a letter slowly making its way to me. Naturally, I have since given much thought to how I…