Who would you like a letter from?
Ian B. Here’s a well-known memory verse from 1 Thessalonians: “Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances.” 1 Thessalonians is a book we perhaps don’t read very…
Opportunities, Attitude, and Father’s Heart – speaking at my daughter’s wedding
I was honoured to be asked to speak at my daughter’s wedding last Saturday. This is the text of what I said, following the reading of 1 Corinthians 13. What…
The original foster care story at the heart of Christmas
This year’s John Lewis Christmas advert shows a family preparing to welcome a teenager into their home as foster carers. The foster father’s attempts to learn to skateboard are part…
1 John 5 – summing up, and one more thing…
Here are a few thoughts on the final chapter of this lovely short letter of 1 John. Like the gospel of John, this letter rewards a fairly quick read with…
1 John 4 – Abiding, loving (and testing)
This letter of 1 John has themes that come around again and again. So in chapter 4 we read again about the opponents of Jesus (which John calls antichrist), the…
1 John 3 – a challenging chapter
Have you been reading 1 John with me the past few weeks? I hope so! And I hope you’ll stick with it through this somewhat confusing central chapter. If you…
1 John 2 – the perfection of the love of God
1 John 2 is much longer than 1 John 1 which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, and it contains a wide range of themes and ideas –…
The genitive love of God
Continuing our thinking about the love of God I was reading Romans 5.5 this week, which says that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit…
Physical reality in 1 John 1
We recently began a new series on Sundays exploring the love of God. I encouraged our church to read the book of 1 John, which is a very short book…
Joseph was a righteous man
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Righteousness I’m getting to the end of my study of Joseph, which I’ve really enjoyed. There are valuable things we can all…