Choose Life.

Mark 7:7 “These people honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” Jesus reserved his harshest words for those who should have known better – the religious establishment – calling them amongst other things a ‘brood of vipers’. You can’t expect those on the outside to behave any better if they…

James 2:14 “What good is it if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?” The history of individual lives, families and even whole communities often swings on seeing the authentic gospel fleshed out in real life. In 1883, a young clergyman called Joe Roberts went to work with the Indians of Wyoming.…

Watch the video here! Psalm 63:1 “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you.” My six-year-old went to his first football lesson and came back saying: “Daddy, I’ve learnt to play football now. I don’t need any more lessons.” He thought he’d arrived because he could connect his foot to the ball. He…

Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” I’m sure you’ve had times of desperately crying out to God for something, and there’s been nothing but resounding silence. Sometimes we’ve simply asked for the wrong thing, and so the answer’s no. Sometimes we’re asked for the right…

Mark 8:35 “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” More than a millennium ago, the Celtic saint Columbanus pointed out that: “It is the end of the road that travelers look for and desire, and because we are travelers…

Job 19:25 “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” Job was a righteous man, but found all his blessings wrenched away from him – his health, his wealth, and his children. Amidst conflicting accusations from his so-called friends, he knew how to wrestle with ambiguity,…

Psalm 139:6 “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” Before going to university, I spent my year out teaching in a rural school in South Africa. I lived by myself in the middle of nowhere. Zebras and antelope would graze around my thatched rondavel. Baboons tore down my roof.…

Isaiah 6:8 “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” I remember being on a train once and a drunk man urinated in the corner. Everyone kept their eyes down and pretended to ignore it. I was disgusted and challenged him. He got extremely aggressive. It was a difficult situation to deal with,…

Ephesians 5:15,16 “Be very careful, then, how you live… making the most of every opportunity.” One of my life goals is to live such that I don’t have any significant regrets at the end of my life. Two Cornell psychologists called Gilovic and Medvec did some detailed research on the relationship between time as a…

Watch the video here! John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory.” Soren Kierkegaard tells the story of a prince who fell madly in love with a beautiful peasant maiden in his kingdom. He wanted to marry her, but how? He could order her to marry…