I know these ways are effective because I have fallen, and still fall, into all of them, and need prayer that I will battle against them every day of 2013.
1. Regularly go away for the weekend and go to a different church
You’re still in church each Sunday. It just happens that no one church family gets to know you well enough to be able to challenge you where and when it’s needed. Being away once a month should do the trick; twice will make sure of it.
2. Be too busy doing ministry to pray or read your Bible daily
This way, you can look busy and godly to everyone around you, while growing more and more self-reliant and self-congratulatory, and never needing to be disciplined in working on your relationship with the Lord.... continue reading
I've always had a strange feeling about New Year's Eve.
As a child we celebrated some curious rituals from a bygone age on New Years' Eve. As the youngest, I was regularly sent out the back door with a lump of coal and a sixpence in my pocket, only to be admitted in the front door after the chimes had struck midnight. It was cold, lonely and a little bit scary being stuck outside on a freezing night.
And I will never forget the time at my Auntie's home in Rochdale, when the "mummers" showed up - with blackened faces, and strange clothes, they dusted the furniture making a humming noise to clean out the old year, and bring in the new. I still have nightmares...... continue reading
It's that day again. The heart-bearing cards, with mushy poetry, have been filling the shelves of shops for weeks. The advertisements on TV have been encouraging us to book that romantic break, organise that sumptuous meal. All to show that special someone how much they're loved.
It's fun. There was certainly a flurry of excitement in my home when an unexpected Valentine's card landed on the doorstep. Intriguing to say the least! But it's fake. Not because couples don't genuinely care about one another - many do. But because, as a BBC article suggested recently, the phenomenon of February 14th capitalises on a fictional notion of romantic love, rather than true love. It fixates on the rush of emotion, the lie that there's a soulmate out there somewhere who will make life simply wonderful with all other problems melting away.... continue reading
It won't come as a surprise that many of us here at The Good Book Company are avid readers. Good books, or not so good books, we dip in to as many as we can! As we approach the end of another year, we thought we'd share with you some of our favourite titles of the past 12 months. Feel free to add your favourites at the end...
Carl (Senior Editor)
Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel. Brings history to life, brings characters to life, and challenges your own easy assumptions... And it means you can say you read a Booker-prize winning novel!... continue reading
Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 19:21
As the New Year approaches, praise God that he will be sovereign over every day of it.
It's a subject that's taboo. A reality that many find shocking. A fact that some would prefer to deny. But the truth is out there: women use porn too.
Accurate statistics are difficult to source but a quick trawl of the web seems to suggest that about a quarter of those who visit internet pornography sites are female. Some pages suggest that up to 60% of women have used porn at some point in their lives. And while we might prefer to think otherwise, it's fairly safe to assume that some of those surfing such sites will be Christians who are confused, ashamed, addicted or desperate. Indeed over the last decade I've had quite a few Christian sisters confide in me - each convinced that they are the only one. Far from being a solely male pastoral issue, porn is something that affects women too and those involved in women's ministry need to be addressing the subject proactively.... continue reading
Prominent Christian leader Steve Chalke has declared himself in favour of accepting homosexual couples who are in committed same-sex relationships. In an article to be published in Christianity magazine Chalke says that after a long struggle, he has decided to announce his support for faithful same sex relationships. What are we to make of this?
If you’re reading this and you’re in (or would like to be in) a gay relationship, we’re so glad you’re here—and you could be forgiven for being a bit confused. Not about your own feelings, but about the church’s feelings towards you, and (much more importantly) God’s feelings towards you? Does He love you, or hate you?
So, before I begin responding to the Steve's announcement, and his article where he states his support of long-term same-sex relationships, here’s what, if you’re gay and if you’re wondering, you need to know about what God thinks.... continue reading
It's now the day when the sales start, and the big "box stores" try to pull in as many of us as possible to grab our post-Christmas bargains and deal with the flurry of returns and exchanges. But what was the original purpose of this day? And why "boxing" day?
As I grew up the youngest of three lively boys, it was inevitably the day when we started fighting each other over the use or breakage of a treasured Christmas present - the fights were never under the Marquis of Queensbury rules, and I usually lost. But it's not that kind of boxing.
Traditionally it is thought to have come from the Victorian practice of wealthy families presenting gifts in boxes to their household servants, and to tradesmen who had served them well during the year. In other words, a day of expressing gratitude to those less well off. An alternative, but related suggestion is that it was the day the church opened its Alms box to feed and bless the poor and needy of the parish.... continue reading
This is going to sound soppy, but I can still remember the first time my wife, then my girlfriend, said: “I love you”. It meant the world to me.
It still does, of course. But in the twelve years since, Lizzie has told me she loves me so many times that in a way, it has less of an impact than it did that first time (or the second, or third).
But (before you start thinking I’m a truly awful husband), her “I love you” also means much more than it did. Because, the more life we’ve spent together, and the more I’ve got to know her, and the more she’s done for me, the more I’ve come to appreciate that love, the more I’ve come to rely on that love.
So there’s this tension; it means more, but can have so much less impact. I need to just stop and appreciate the old truth: She loves me.... continue reading
