Weekly Article (Page 21)

God is Good (part 2) Last week we noted Eric Alexander’s understanding of God’s goodness highlighted in Romans 8:28, showing that God is personally at work for us, God is ceaselessly at work for us, and God is universally at work for us and in us. But that leaves us with a question. What type of person is able to say that God is working in all things for my…

God is Good (part I) Eric Alexander writes of telling a friend who was hurriedly leaving, “Do remember that Romans 8:28 will always be true.” He then reflects on this. I hope our friend did read Romans 8:28 before that day was done. We lost contact, but I do want to tell you what he might have discovered from that verse. It reads, “We know that for those…

Seeing Glory through suffering “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16–17) The Bible teaches about different kinds of suffering. • There is suffering…

The difference between Morality and Holiness Morality is principally a negative concept in that it almost always defines itself by what refrains from doing, more often than not its preoccupation is with externals. Holiness is a much more positive concept and like its related term it is holistic. It too embraces the externals but doesn’t stop there, it is far more…

Six Considerations of the Evil of Sin Matthew Henry’s A Way to Pray has a wonderful section instructing us how to pray biblically-informed prayers, specifically, how to plead with the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin’s cancerous nature, and the constant havoc it works in our lives. Consider the sinfulness of sin. Meditate on Romans 7:13; 1 John 3:4; Luke…

THE CALL TO HOLINESS But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16) I think holiness needs to be seen in a Trinitarian framework where we think of imitating the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When God says “be holy for I am holy” I think He wants us to imitate…

Where is our focus? I read an amazing quote from Joni Eareckson Tada. What she says transcends her own personal struggle with quadriplegia and chronic pain, and applies to every circumstance in our lives – whether painful or joyful. She said, “I realised that the stakes were far greater, far more immense and cosmic than merely my satisfaction with a wheelchair and its…

Pursuing greatness in the kingdom of Christ “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” (Mark 10:37) James and John requested to sit at the left and right hands of Jesus, places of honour in the glory of the kingdom of God. Their question reflects their failure at that point to understand one of the key points of Jesus…

Give us grace, Almighty Father, so to pray, as to deserve to be heard, to address thee with our hearts, as with our lips. Thou art every where present, from thee no secret can be hid. May the knowledge of this, teach us to fix our thoughts on thee, with reverence and devotion that we pray not in vain.

Have you ever wondered why Christians sing so much? Think about it: every week we sing several psalms and hymns to the Lord. What other setting in life do we gather together weekly with people of different ages and backgrounds and sing songs.