Matthew 7:7 It’s interesting to hear how often people say things like: “My problems were so great all I could do was pray”, as if prayer is an activity confined to desperate situations. But these words of Jesus make it plain that he is eager for...
Matthew 7:1-2 I wonder whether you have ever lived in an atmosphere of harsh criticism and even condemnation. It’s a horrible place to be and I have known many people whose lives have been disfigured by it. Tragically, the criticism has sometimes...
Proverbs 6:16-19 We spend a lot of time talking and singing about the fact that God is a God of love. That’s absolutely right, but we shouldn’t forget that God also has a list of pet hates. None of the things on this list come as a surprise. God...
Proverbs 6:9-11 Fridge magnets often contain a lot of wisdom, and laziness is quite a popular theme. With pictures of slumbering cats, I enjoyed the following three: “If I won the award for laziness, I would send someone to pick it up for me”; “F...
Proverbs 4:18-19 All parents long for their children to be happy and to have a good life. Here a father gives loads of very practical advice to his children. At the heart of it is the need to make good decisions and to choose the right way. The w...
Proverbs 3:27-28 Mark Twain, the American writer, said: “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well.” I suspect that we can all identify things that we love to put off. It may be an essay, or our tax return o...
1 Corinthians 13:8-10 The church in Corinth had clearly got really excited about the spiritual gifts. The gifts of speaking in tongues and prophecy were being exercised with enthusiasm. We sense that, in their excitement, there was some competiti...
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 I have no doubt that we all aim to be loving people. So I wonder how accurately this list of love’s attributes describes you. I suspect that the truth is that we all find this list somewhat painful. Yes, we would love to be l...
1 Corinthians 12:31 In this chapter, Paul spent a long time carefully describing the spiritual gifts that God has given to his Church. The church in Corinth had become very excited about the gifts but they needed clear guidance as to how they sho...
1 Corinthians 12:18-21 Yesterday we saw how Paul drew attention to the problem of inferiority complexes in the Church. In today’s verses, he centres on the problem of superiority complexes. He points out how absurd it would be for one part of the...
1 Corinthians 12:14-15 Many people struggle in life because of an inferiority complex. They are inclined to spend their lives comparing their attributes and abilities with others and convincing themselves that they are no good. This is incredibly...
1 Corinthians 12:7 I want to continue focusing on the verse that we looked at yesterday because it is so crucial. I have been a church leader for many years and people have told me regularly that they don’t know what their gift is. Nothing could...
1 Corinthians 12:7 This short verse contains three incredibly important messages. First of all, the spiritual abilities that we have are a gift from God. They are an expression of his love and generosity and so when we identify a gift, whether in...
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 These words are incredibly important. Remember, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was written some years before the earliest Gospel. This is, therefore, the first recorded account of any of the words of Jesus. Paul never met...
1 Corinthians 11:17-18 Paul loved the church in Corinth with a passion. He had founded the church and so it is not surprising that he longed for the community to thrive. It must have been particularly painful to him that they managed to get so mu...
