Posts

Showing posts from February, 2015

On holiness

The Jesus Fellowship "Forward" blog published an article of mine on Holiness: forward.jesus.org.uk/2015/02/09/holiness-love-hardly-believe/ "As Christians we are called to be holy (as God is holy), but we also know that we can never match up to God’s standard. We can never be holy in our own right, we can only be made holy by Him. This is another manifestation of the paradox at the heart of the gospel[...]" As Christians we are called to be holy (as God is holy), but we also know that we can never match up to God’s standard. We can never be holy in our own right, we can only be made holy by Him. This is another manifestation of the paradox at the heart of the gospel: we are to be like Jesus, to be perfect in love, but we can’t do it. Only He can! So what is holiness?  Proverbs 9:10  (but read the whole chapter, not just verse ten) contains a wonderful mystery:  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.  For some people “the fear of the Lord” is a

Where's the life?

Our God is a burning fire, an infinite heart of love. Capable of more than we can dream or imagine. We can be filled with life abundant, know rivers of life pouring from us. We sing all these things but do we see them happen? And if not, why not - how do we get there, where's the life? The biggest barrier to us finding the incredible life we *know* is available to us is thinking we've already found it. Those who think they've found stop searching. But we *know* there's so much more. God feeds the hungry, he satisfies the thirsty. Let's be desperate for God's life, desperate and hungry and thirsty for his life and power in the church. And then we'll find it, gradually. Do you ever do anything that takes every fibre of your being? I jog for a short distance, a couple of kilometres most days. I like to finish with a sprint and give it everything I've got. Every part of me glows and aches afterwards, I put everything I've got and everything I am in

Doctrine

Does your idea of God conform to your doctrine, and your understanding of the bible, or is your doctrine conformed to your knowledge of God? Because if you claim to be a Christian it really better be the latter. For too many Christians God is constrained by their understanding of the bible. And that leaves room for only a very small God. This is a theme I'll return to, because the deep tragedy is that the bible can become what keeps you from God rather than pointing you to God.