Birthing wind series 4: Aim higher

Birthing wind series 3: Pain in vain

Birthing wind series 2: Falling short of our goals

Birthing wind series 1: don't sweat the small stuff

Breakthrough series 9: No double jeopardy

Breakthrough series 8: I can see clearly now

Breakthrough series 7: Believe it or not

Breakthrough series 1: Context

Taking the kingdom part 3 - Tamar makes her righteous stand

Taking the kingdom part 2: The race is not to lucky, but to those who overcome

Practical Christianity 7: James 1 makes it real

The power of sin

God is hardly concerned about the fact that you smoke or drink. Oh wow, I bet that will upset some. Indeed, He is more concerned by the reactions of those who don’t like what I am saying.

The dissenters might feel, “I don’t do any of that and surely that counts for something, so surely God must accept me because of that?” I never did like the word, 'surely'.

The way it works

The socio-political model of biblical Israel, passed through two main phases. There was a time when judges intervened, although they didn’t rule per se, and another time when kings ruled.

Undoubtedly, the latter was worse. Even at their best, the kings were imperfect and they ultimately led the nation to ruin and exile. God warned it would be so.

The upshot of the king model was that it rejected God.

The righteous state

Through the years I often heard somewhat naïve statements about how the world would only be a better place if it had a Christian government. That is unrealistic. In time yes, not now.

It led me to a controversial question: “Could our world or our society carry on indefinitely, if it functioned righteously?” 

No, I am not saying, “if it was Christian”. Our lessons of Jewish and church history disqualify the viability of a theocratic state, per se. Frankly the church needs to get its own house in order.

Thus to argue that only a Christian state is workable is as wrong as saying that any theocratic state would work and endure, which history invalidates. Besides, theocratic states, as in say the Sharia model, tend to be intolerant and repressive, rarely righteous. However, the secular state of Islamic Turkey has historically proven to a moral beacon in our world.

A better refuge

I saw this amazing picture of two hippos fighting. It is a fearsome beast and one of the deadliest animals around, second only to the mosquito.

Aside from being a really angry, territorial beast, the hippo only really feels safe in water, so if you come between it and its watery refuge, it will charge you down. That is especially true if your actions leave it feeling vulnerable or bewildered. It rarely stops to check anyone's motives, just charges. Very few have survived a hippo attack.

Watch me Dad

One of the most primal cries of all children, is "watch me Dad". It is driven by a human instinct for approval.

The symbol of that approval is inevitably our highest known point of reference and it timing in our lives is akin to a pilot setting his gyro compass and altitude before taking off, so he can have a reliable reference system for navigation.

End First

Stephen Covey said that we should always start with the end in mind. The bible does that too. A key example is a verse in Ephesians 4:13, which says "... until we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man".

That my will may be done ...

Psalm 139: 5 says, "You hem me in behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me." Its a familiar feeling for many who have times of contradiction and frustration in their lives.

Surely He will bless ...

Every day I hear speculations that sound so good to the ear but remain so far from God's heart. I think it was A W Tozer who said, "Our thoughts are too worldly for God".

The lifecycle of organisations predicts that uncertainty will precede progress

In business logic we refer to "the lifecycle of organisations". It describes how a firm goes through a startup, restart or revival phase, followed by growth, then maturity or stability, before finally going into decline or a contraction phase.