Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

As the son of God, there were many things Jesus could have been doing at any one time. Yet he kept His focus on the ministry He was there to do. The temptation to get sidetracked would have been incredible, since He was around other people all the time who asked Him to do things.  He did always find time to help people on the way to what He was doing. But he never lost his focus of the main thing. Here is an example in the book of Mark: In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout all Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. Mark 1: 35-39 As you can see, His priority was to first pray, in solitude. He needed th...

Each year, I read the Bible all the way through. Each year, I always find it almost surprising how much of the Bible is the Old Testament. In fact, the New Testament is only about a quarter of the Bible.  This means if we want to learn as much as we can about Jesus, it will still be a fraction of what is written in the Bible. But it makes sense, if we think about it. There are many signposts in the Old Testament pointing to Jesus. We can't just ignore the signposts and focus purely on Jesus, even if we kind of want to. The signpost are part of the journey. We can't just say "let's skip ahead to the good stuff" - because all of it hangs together. It's a history - that points to Jesus. Indeed, right now, we are living a part of time where the Bible has shown that in the future are signposts to the end of the days. It is fairly specific about some of these. For example, take a look at these 2 very specific events which are in our future . Just as the Old Testamen...

I was reading the passage of Mary and Martha again. While I have talked before about it , an additional angle on it was revealed during the most recent reading. This is the Bible passage where Jesus visits Mary and Martha: Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’ Luke 10: 38-42 It is clear from the message that if we have a choice between ministering to Jesus or hearing what he has to say, we should pick hearing what he has to say (which I covered in...

It's easy to get caught up in the busy day to day things that we need to do and forget what is literally the most valuable thing in the universe. It's the Kingdom of Heaven. Its value is spelled out clearly in the Bible, and we will take a look at this passage below.  The Kingdom of Heaven not just a nice-to-have; it's a must-have. It's to the point that we should be willing to trade anything else for it. As a reminder, if God exists and is the ruler of the Universe, and if He guided the writing of the Bible, then the writings of the Bible should be more significant than any other writing in this world. Let's take a look at what Jesus himself told people about the value of Heaven: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls;  on finding one pearl of great value, he went and so...

It is clear from the Bible that Jesus came to save all people. In Revelation it says there will be people from all nations, tongues and tribes in heaven.  Far right ideology is not compatible with the Bible and with Christianity. Here I'm talking about the far right ideology of white supremacy where its adherents believe that white people are superior to other races. This belief is clearly shown to be wrong in the Bible. After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. Revelation 7:9 We can see from the verse above that people from all nations, tribes and languages will know God.  Furthermore, if there was to be one race that is deemed special in God's eyes, it would be the Jewish people. They are God's chosen people. Jesus still came for all people - first for the Jews, then for the ...

In Isaiah 19, there is a reference to the "language of Canaan" being spoken in Egypt in the future. From what Bible scholars say, the language of Canaan is a type of Hebrew language (see reference 1). It's the language that the Hebrews spoke in the land of Canaan. Let's take a look at what is actually said in Isaiah. In it, there is a clear prophecy of a time in the future where the Nile is dried up: The waters of the Nile will be dried up, and the river will be parched and dry; its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up; reeds and rushes will rot away. There will be bare places by the Nile, on the brink of the Nile; and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up, be driven away, and be no more. Those who fish will mourn; all who cast hooks in the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets on the water will languish. The workers in flax will be in despair, and the carders and those at the loom ...

It's clear when Solomon asked God for wisdom, that this was pleasing to God.  The book of Proverbs covers a lot about the importance of wisdom. Solomon was the wisest man in the world. Because the wisest man in the world was clear about the importance of wisdom, it should be even more important to us (who are in more need of it than Solomon). All wisdom comes from God. Therefore, praying for more wisdom will always be a good prayer and is in keeping with what God wants for us anyway. Then it occurred to me - why not ask for the same for our bodies? We should not automatically assume that our bodies have to only go in one direction: downhill, as we age. Even though this happens a lot, we shouldn't just assume it's inevitable.  Of course, we needn't be foolhardy either and refuse to make useful changes as we age! If sometime in the future I get to the point that I'm struggling to mow the lawns, I'm hoping that I'll realize it's time to either hire a lawn ...

The Bible makes many consistent prophecies about the end of the world. It will not end peacefully with a reverse Adam and Eve, no matter how much I want it to.  By "reverse Adam and Eve", I mean a gradual decline in population until only 1 man and 1 woman are left, both of which do not procreate. I used to wish for this type of ending of the human race because it seemed peaceful. But this wouldn't even be a peaceful ending anyway, because a constant long-term aging population results in all kinds of demographic problems - they're just different problems than a young population would have. So, no matter how good it sounds to have the human race dwindle away until no-one is left, it a) is clear from the Bible this isn't the way the human race ends on Earth, and b) it wouldn't really be a peaceful way for the human race to go anyway because there would be a lot of social problems with such a top-heavy demographic composition. How does the human race on Earth end ...

Most of the book of Proverbs was thought to be written by King Solomon, who was the wisest man who ever was or will be. The rest of its authorship is thought to be from other Jewish people as the accumulated wisdom of the people.  This book is very valuable. Not only does it contain wisdom that is available to all of us today, but also, the more I read it the more I see it as perhaps the most subversive book of the Bible, which I have written about here .  Many people don't always avail themselves of this source of wisdom, even in instances when they are seeking wisdom from other sources (e.g. self-help books, financial savviness books, etc).  The book of Proverbs does not need to be the only book we read to gain wisdom, but it should certainly be one of them! For where else can we get the words of the wisest man who ever lived, in addition to the accumulated wisdom of others? There are several things which are repeated multiple times in Proverbs. Since they are repeate...

Most people are familiar with at least some of the content of the end time prophecies in the books of Daniel, Revelation, and some of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).  Yet Isaiah also had a very specific prophecy about Egypt: 1 An oracle concerning Egypt. See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud      and comes to Egypt; the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,      and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. 2  I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,      and they will fight, one against the other,      neighbour against neighbour,      city against city, kingdom against kingdom; 3  the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,      and I will confound their plans; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead      and the ghosts and the familiar spirits; 4  I will delive...

To say that Jeremiah had a difficult life is no understatement. God tasked him with telling the people of Israel what God had to say. Much of it was warnings. Jeremiah did this, but the people wouldn't listen to him. Instead they persecuted him. None of this stopped Jeremiah though. He remained faithful to the Lord and did everything that was required of him. Indeed, he even went what most people would consider above and beyond - he interceded for the people to the Lord as shown in the Bible: Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look around and take note! Search its squares and see if you can find one person who acts justly and seeks truth— so that I may pardon Jerusalem. Although they say, ‘As the Lord lives’, yet they swear falsely.  O Lord, do your eyes not look for truth? You have struck them, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refus...

This question had puzzled me for a long time. If Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, why did he later stray from God? Surely being so wise, he could see that it was important to be close to God? Luckily, our pastor happened to work this question into a sermon.  Yes, Solomon was wise, but he was human just like the rest of us. All of us are temped to stray away from God. And all of us are able to resist that temptation - when we ask for help from God. In fact, the question of why Solomon strayed from God is not even the right question. In reality, we should be asking ourselves "If Solomon is so wise yet strayed from God, then how do we, as less wise people, avoid straying from God?" It is clear from the Bible that Solomon did not wake up one day and say "OK, from now on I'll disobey God." It wasn't sudden like that. It was a gradual slow ignoring of God, by degrees. He married wives who followed other gods, which influenced his views gradually. This w...

With so much misinformation floating around, it's important not to unwittingly repeat things we may have heard if we don't know they're true. Indeed, much of the advice of Solomon in the book of Proverbs can be readily applied to today's problem of misinformation, which I have mentioned here . But it's not only in Solomon that we can find warnings about lies and misinformation. Take a look at this passage from Jeremiah: They bend their tongues like bows; they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the Lord. Jeremiah 9: 3   The book of James also shows how powerful the tongue is: If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small membe...

Some people might be scared of accepting the free gift of eternal life in Heaven that Jesus offers us. This is in many ways a normal (but not a good) reaction - the fear of the unknown. You might wonder if there is a long list of things you need to do as a Christian, or other constraints upon your life.  To untangle all of these things, the main things you can do (that you maybe didn't do before) are to  read the Bible pray This is so you can get to know God better. But God won't strike you down if you don't do it.  This is for your benefit, not God's! In other words, God isn't improved by getting to know you - YOU are improved by getting to know God. You can find out more about that here . Those 2 things aren't so onerous, especially when you think about the fact that you probably like the idea of getting to know God better. Reading the Bible and praying are the best ways to do that. There's not really a bunch of obligations you need to do. Yes, you should ...