Forgiven Forget

02 March 2009

It reveals God. It's written by him in order to show us what he's like.

It's like a mirror. It shows us what we're really like as humans.

It's a warning. It shows the danger we're in. It shows us how we've made God angry.

It's a lifeline. It points us to Jesus, God's rescuer, the only one who can sort us out and sort out our messed up world.

It's a love letter. It's easy to feel lonely, or isolated. The Bible is written by a God who loves us deeply and wants us to love him in return.

It shows the best way to live life. It shows what's worth paying attention to in life, and what's not worth the time. It's like an instructions manual for living in God's world.

It's true. True things are worth studying. True things allow you to focus on what really matters in life, and what's just a distraction.

You can't risk ignoring it. Jesus says the only way to have real life, is by listening to, and believing in his words. The Bible both records those words, and shows us Jesus, so we can believe in him. If you don't believe, you'll die and never know the God who loves you.

28 February 2009

There's no easy one-size-fits-all answer to the question. And people will ask it for many different reasons - some from merely an academic point of view, others out of their own personal experiences of deep grief or pain.

One reason God has allowed situations of suffering is so that he could demonstrate his power to change them. And as we look at Jesus' life and see the many ways in which he healed people on a physical level, we see a clear anchor upon which to base our faith for how he is working at a heart level.

27 February 2009

Theological study, the study of God, is a wonderful thing. But it's a signpost pointing to Jesus, and not following that signpost to its final, wonderful destination is the fatal mistake that Pharisees made.

Our Lord is and must be the leading theme of our ministry. We must continue to exalt him rather than Calvinism or any other system of theology... Much as we love the masters throne, we still love the master better. And dearly as we love battling for the walls of his vineyard, yet the clusters of his Eshcol [valley with delicious grapes - see Numbers 13:23,24] are sweeter to our taste. We love Christ better than creed, and we think we would rather magnify our master than any set of truths, however important they may be... Let us preach the doctrines with Christ as their sum and substance - a full Christ for empty sinners.

C H Spurgeon