“I want to be free.” What could be wrong with that desire? It seems natural enough, and good. Who doesn’t want to be free? But the reality is that freedom is complicated. No-one is absolutely free. For example, however much we may wish differently, we are not free to live for five hundred years or
Read moreA good number of us in church today will be mothers or fathers – and every single one of us will have had fathers and mothers, even if some of them are no longer with us. How many of us parents – if we had a young child – would give that child away… and
Read moreIt was a wonderful moment in family life. I was asking one of my children why they had done something mildly naughty, and they replied, “My bones made me do it.” It was hard not to laugh! (I hasten to add that they were very young at the time!) As a way of shifting the
Read moreWhat is the greatest good? That is, of all the good things in life, which is the greatest? And where do good things come from? Those are fundamental questions for everyone to answer, and yet many seem confused about – or have forgotten – what the answers are. Hosea addressed God’s people in a time
Read moreOur ‘Freedom’ week of events is just 20 days away! I hope you have the dates (9-17 March) and the events themselves in your diary. Can I pass on something I’ve learned about such weeks over the years? I used to think – I don’t know where I got this idea – that I shouldn’t
Read moreIt was a clever advertisement that I saw on the back of a bus – yes, really. There was a picture of, I think, a complicated robotic device. Next to it, the caption read, “If you think this is clever, meet its maker.” The advertisement was for a university (whose name I forget). Isn’t it
Read moreHow would you answer that question? You would have thought that evangelical Christians, at least, would know the answer. We are, after all, gospel people – ‘evangel’ is an old English word for ‘gospel’. But it’s good to be reminded of the fundamentals. Some of us were able to hear that question being answered this
Read moreIn one of the memorable scenes in Les Miserables, the police inspector Javert confronts the former thief and prisoner Jean Valjean, who has now become a respected local mayor. But Javert cannot accept that Valjean has changed, and so sings: “A man like you can never change, a man… such as you… Men like you
Read moreHaving just returned from Myanmar (Burma), I have begun reading the story of Adoniram Judson, one of the first American missionaries, who took the gospel to Burma. His vision and passion are a rebuke to our small-minded and comfort-loving times. Here is what he wrote to John Heseltine, seeking permission to marry his daughter Nancy:
Read moreThat was the question asked by a speaker at a conference I was at last week. It was a question that cut right to my heart! ‘How needy am I?’ We don’t like to think of ourselves as needy, do we? Certainly I don’t. It’s seen as weakness in our culture. I like to think
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