Blog

Posted on

Teach us to want

Let’s start with a bit of a drill. Set the timer on your phone (or table clock), and see how long it takes you to come up with a fitting ending to this statement: ready, set,… go! “I do what I do because___.

If you’re anything like me, you probably just ignored that exercise, carried on reading, and thought to yourself “I’ll come back to it after I’ve got the gist of the post”.  And to you who managed to complete the exercise, well done! I bet it wasn’t an easy one, and you’ve probably gone back to review your answer multiple times.

Continue reading “Teach us to want”

Posted on

A call to discipleship


Ray Hennessy

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deut. 6:6-9.

Were I to come up with a term that best captures the instructions above, it would be the idea of ‘life discipleship’. It would seem that Christian parents and guardians have their work cut out for them. Yet there are ordinary ways to incorporate this commandment into our daily routines, better still, weave our routines into the commandment. Continue reading “A call to discipleship”

Posted on

A taste worth acquiring

I wonder if for the psalmist, relishing God’s Word was an acquired taste. For me, it certainly is! I have not always been one to make much of the Bible. It served very well on Sunday mornings, but not really beyond that. Not until when I began to vaguely understand that this was no ordinary book – from its origin to its centrality in the unfolding of history.

The Psalmist’s choice of descriptive terms in Psalm 19 is very telling indeed, inviting the reader to an experience like no other. I have yet to come across a book that offers such reassuring promises, and ultimately – a transformed life, in exchange for a conscience bound by its teaching. Continue reading “A taste worth acquiring”

Posted on

All or nothing

In a previous post, we saw a supposed sage fail at the ‘one job’ he had, something a bit more worrying, but no less amusing than a misplaced tile. It is probably worthwhile following up with a practical example of how the who, what, when, where and why questions (5Ws) may serve a modern day Bible reader.

Consider one of Apostle Paul’s sayings – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. Arguably one verse that is sure to make it to the top ten of favourite Bible verses in many a Christian circle. Understandably so, who has time for nay-sayers? Continue reading “All or nothing”

Posted on

Life in the wild

Judging a book by its cover can be hit-and-miss, little wonder an old English idiom warns against doing so – ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ it goes. Looking at the front cover of Life in the wild, I wondered what the average reader would think of it. Personally, I was curious to know why fierce looking thorns were closing in on the book title; in no time, I spotted the subtitle – fighting for faith in a fallen world, and then it made sense. Given the book’s main thesis, it is indeed an apt choice of cover page.

Continue reading “Life in the wild”

Posted on

Getting your bearings

I stumbled on this rather interesting conversation between an anonymous inquirer and a supposed sage.

“Anonymous: Hi! I’m a lady aged 26, married with one kid. Last week, my husband was off duty, and I had to drive alone to work. I left my husband with the maid and my baby at home. I drove for just about two miles from home and my car engine started to overheat, so I had to turn back to get the other car. When I got home, I found my husband in bed with our maid. I don’t know what to do now. Please help!

Sage: Dear Anonymous, overheating of engine after such short distance can be caused by problems associated with the carburettor. You need to check your oil and water level in your engine before you start your journey. You must also make sure your car is serviced regularly to avoid problems in future. Hope this helps.”

Continue reading “Getting your bearings”

Posted on

Keeping in step

Photo by Jon Flobrant on Unsplash

What’s the implication of a story wrongly retold?

You’ve probably heard the motivational story of Einstein, aimed often at inspiring ‘underachievers’. Despite the German’s earnest efforts, we’re told he did not do well in his Mathematics exams and that he struggled desperately with Physics. Turns out Einstein was mathematically astute and was better at arithmetic and calculus at age 12 than most undergraduates. Einstein was so smart that he believed school was constraining him, and so his parents obliged him by buying him advanced textbooks for his personal study. Not only did he pass Mathematics in flying colours, he was actually known to be teaching his colleagues after regular teaching sessions. If Einstein was poor at a subject, it was in languages and other non-science subjects! Continue reading “Keeping in step”

Posted on

Mind the gap

By WillMcC (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
I haven’t taken a poll, but I imagine that if one asks around what objections people have to the Bible, a sure one to come up would be the question of  how a book written thousands of years ago has any bearing on our lives here and now. Continue reading “Mind the gap”

Posted on

Taking God at His Word

It’s not very often that you read a book that starts out with its conclusion, or ‘finishes at the start’, as this author puts it. The ideal scenario would be for an author to start building an argument from the bottom up, in the hope that by the time (s)he is finished, readers would nod in agreement to a job well done. Not so Kevin DeYoung in this particular book! He starts out with his point of application, which is to help readers believe, feel and act rightly in relation to the word of God. This point of application is one he derives from Psalm 119, a finely crafted and single-minded poem that reveals the Psalmist’s passion and love for God’s word. Continue reading “Taking God at His Word”

Privacy Policy Proudly powered by WordPress