Monthly Archives: September 2026

Rich meats!!

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Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

(Rom 1.1-6, 16&17:3.21-26)

I firmly believe that one of the most useful things which any church leadership can do for their flock is to teach them not to be afraid to read and learn from every part of the bible. That may sound a bit obvious, but not every congregation of believers has regular teaching from books of prophecy, Old Testament history or law, the wisdom books like Ecclesiastes – and many will not know much beyond the gospels in the New Testament! This can leave us fearful of the reputation of a book which we have never studied – we hear it described as “challenging” and decide to skip it.. thereby missing out on things which God has designed and provided for our blessing as the Spirit works through the word in our minds and hearts.

I have much to be thankful for when I recall the congregations in which I grew up, not least the commitment of the ministers in each one to the systematic exposition of the bible, a deliberate investing of teaching time in every kind of biblical writing, which has set me free from fear arising from ignorance. In particular at this time, I am grateful to James Philip, under whose ministry in Edinburgh I was raised, and who had a great passion for the letter of Paul to the Romans – he preached through it several times over the course of his decades-long ministry. I am so thankful that I can approach a current bible study in Romans with confidence, and anticipation, because I recall Mr Philip’s deep enthusiasm for it as treasure worth mining!

I do not intend – nor am I equipped – to embark on a succinct and helpful summary of that immense, deep, closely reasoned and forensically accurate argument which Paul presents in his letter, I only want to encourage others to get hold of a decent commentary, and start reading and mining its depths for themselves! Yes, Paul can get very intense, and his paragraphs are breathless in their flow of thought, but I love that! I get the feeling of being in the room with the great apostle, hearing the joy and thrill in his voice as he pours out the truth which has transformed his life, and which he sees transforming lives and communities everywhere he goes. Paul, in his former life a highly trained Pharisee, was God’s perfect instrument for this articulate and detailed exposition of the problem of human sin, the place of the law and the old covenant, the promise of salvation, and the glorious reality which is God’s gift of grace – the story of the rescue which humanity so desperately needs, and which must come from the One against whom we have so completely and consistently rebelled.

I know that I could go on revisiting this great text for years and never fully master its arguments and realise the breadth and depth which Paul is revealing to us. And how wonderful is that?! What a treasure to have with us, what satisfying rations for the journey of faith we find in this book..

Heavenly Father, I praise and worship you today for the great and glorious gospel which is revealed to us in Jesus; I rejoice to know myself the object of your grace and to rest by faith in the complete saving work of your appointed sacrificial lamb.

Let the studying of your word nourish and strengthen the faith which you have gifted to me; let me feast on the rich and strong meats which are in Paul’s letter to the Roman church, and be able to say with him, that I am not ashamed of the gospel, but rather exult in it, and exalt the One who revealed and delivered it! In His Name and for His glory I pray, Amen!

Daily grace…. a constant miracle!

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The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

(Rom 16.20)

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfil every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

(2Thess 1.11-12)

The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms…. So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, because,

”God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Be self -controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

(1 Pet 4.7-11: 5.5-11)

It’s been one of those days, you know, when my good intentions go out the window, and I lose all self-respect as my worst habits and weaknesses take hold – yet again! And when that happens, the accuser of our souls, the enemy of our Lord Jesus, is right at my shoulder and ready to drag me down into all sorts of misery and inward-looking torments… And at this point, even though nothing very bad has happened, and no one else is suffering for my failures, yet still I need to recognise that I am in danger from an enemy, and that I have a choice over what happens next!

Peter exhorts his readers to humble themselves, casting their anxiety upon God in full expectation that His care for them is sufficient to deal with whatever the issues may be. Does this apply in my own private messes too? Indeed, I believe that it does! I have this window, this moment in which to recognise my danger, and to humble myself before God – to admit that I have messed up again, and that I cannot make anything good of my days without God’s aid and strength. AND I admit that I need his transforming Spirit’s work in my heart and mind to continue – so that I learn to be more self-controlled, and able to resist my own weaknesses better next time!

Above all, I remember and cling to grace – because it is there that my hope lies. I can face my own failures, repetitive and pathetic as they are, because God’s grace is sufficient to deal with them over and over again. Indeed, my Saviour delights to exchange his beauty and peace and righteousness for my daily messes – it is his desire to give, and my immeasurable privilege to receive. I exchange guilt for grace; remorseful self-reproach for humble praise and thanksgiving; I turn from myself, to look upon my Saviour, and hope is restored because he remains faithful, ever living to intercede for me and to keep me close to my Father. How marvellous is this daily miracle?! How much we have cause to rejoice as believers in this sustaining flow of hope, peace and love, which we receive in Jesus Christ.

Surely, this has to be part of the reason that almost all the letters included in our New Testament end with the prayer that the readers might know and receive grace? It is as necessary to us every day as is our daily bread, as the air we breathe. Grace not only – as John Newton’s great hymn puts it – “taught my heart to fear, and … my fears relieved”, but it will also “lead me home.” The key to faithful and persevering Christian living, is depending on grace, not on our own graft. Thus we are free every day to serve, to love and live in fellowship with our Lord, and to the praise of his name – just as Paul prayed for the Thessalonian church.

O Father, how good it is to know grace! What freedom you have brought us into as we receive all your riches through Christ, and are delivered from the tyranny of sin and death, to know joy and peace and hope in you.

Let me depend daily upon grace; rejecting the temptation to rest upon my own efforts, and standing firm when the enemy of my soul would tempt me to despair over my failures. Let me stand proudly and resist him, claiming the grace of my Lord Jesus as my protection now and always! In his name I pray this, Amen.

Made in His image….

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Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

(Gen 1.26-27)

The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel, son of Uri… and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills – to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of crafts..

(Ex 31.1-5)

All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you.

They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

(Ps 145.10-13)

For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is for ever praised. Amen.

(Rom 1.20&25)

What is the chief end of man?

Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever

(Westminster shorter catechism, question 1)

The Bible teaches that all creation is formed by God, revealing so much about him – even as every subsequent act of human creation reveals things about its maker – and that includes humanity itself. Our own creative instincts are a part of our likeness to God, the Author of beauty, and as makers, we can share his delight in making.

Before humanity rebelled against God, choosing to disbelieve his love and goodness, and to reach for a role and status that we were never fitted for, we too revealed the truth about God, and because of sin, that revelation is marred – but it is not lost. The human potential for creativity remains, a potent force for good or ill, as are every other aspect of our lives, and when used to glorify God it is used for its highest purpose.

On a recent short visit to Florence, I was struck once again by the astonishing attention to detail which the craftsmen of the Renaissance brought to their labours – there are details in stonework, in mosaic and painting, which for centuries have been invisible to the naked eye of those walking about in the street below. So why bother going to all those lengths to create beauty which remains unseen? Why?! Because the creative instinct was driving an act of worship, and reflecting the truth that all we do is seen by our Father in heaven, and ultimately it is only his favour which matters. I love the idea of those master masons, and all the other trades and crafts pondering how best to create beauty in inaccessible corners, knowing that their delight in what was made would be shared by their Father in heaven!

Consider for a moment how much beauty exists in the world which we never see – how ridiculous it is then to assume that unless the human eye rests upon and approves it, there is no ‘point’ in that glorious moment! All of creation shouts praise to God, and he delights to receive that praise, from animate and inanimate, from the greatest movements of galaxies, down to the still unknown (to humanity) secrets of physics, biology and geology.

Our God-of-abundance has made more than we can imagine, more than we can ever see in our lifetimes, and all is made to speak of his divine nature and glorious power. I am thrilled to know that I can share that revelation as I seek to live with Jesus day-by-day, praying that God’s likeness might be revealed in my making and my loving, in my being, and that – with all creation – I might glorify my Maker, and enjoy knowing and being known by him into eternity.

“I came to see that the human imagination is not paramount in the creative process: that what is paramount is “The Creation” and He who created it and that what the true artist is expressing is not himself but his response to this eternal continuing process of Creation… I believe that, in the humblest way, we are collaborators on earth in God’s continuing act of Creation, and that this is the role of the artist in society.”

(Hew M Lorimer OBE, 1907-1993, Royal Scottish Academician, sculptor)

Travelling light?

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Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children – and with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

(Ps 103 1-5&13-18)

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

(Matt 6.19-21)

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

(1 Tim 6.17-19)

In the last few years, I have moved house twice, and also been involved in clearing out houses belonging to other people. It is a sobering experience to be faced with the quantities of stuff which human beings can accumulate, and the result for me has been a strong desire to reduce my personal quota of earthly treasures, and thus the burden which will fall on someone else when I am gone! As a believer in Jesus, one whose life is already established in the kingdom of God, I have full confidence that I can lack nothing which I need. I also know that I will take nothing with me into glory! How then, will I choose to live in the meantime? What is my attitude to the belongings which I cart about the world with me?

I want to live with open hands, in full and regular acknowledgment that it is from God alone that my security and comfort comes, not from my things. I want to recognise and give thanks for the gifts which I receive from God through the kindness of others, and their care for me.

I am not preaching some severe message of austerity, nor even of total minimalism, just wanting to explore what it means for me to live lightly, gratefully, and expectantly, not continually dragged back into the past or weighed down by possessions and the burdens they present. I think it was the late Mahatma Ghandi who encouraged people to “Live simply so that others may simply live”, and that idea – taken together with William Morris’ dictum, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”, creates a useful base for me as I sort through cupboards, boxes and the forgotten heaps lurking in corners.

Missionary folk who have to move house, across continents, regularly, have learnt this lesson, and know that they can let go of possessions, even precious ones, and yet know joy and peace, and thankfulness! I don’t want to be afraid of letting things go in the future, so I need to practise doing it now.

I have found that the hardest things to dispose of are the personal ones – the birthday cards, the scrawled childhood drawings, the photographs…. They remind me of times and people, which is a good thing; but that doesn’t mean I need to keep them! I am particularly keen to foster in myself an attitude of expectation, not of reluctance. As a child of God, whose future is secure in glory, in a life and realm which is good and beautiful, productive and satisfying beyond my imagination, I want to nurture hope and not to keep harking back to ‘the good old days’, which may indeed have been lovely, but which will not bear comparison to what is in store for me. The best is truly yet to come, why then should I regret the past?

Dear Father, I am so thankful that you know me through and through, and you are full of compassion and love for me and every one of your children. Thank you for all the good things which you have blest me with down the years.

Help me to be grateful, over and over again, and to let go of the stuff which ties us to the past. Stir up in me a hunger for you, and as I grow older, let me become more and not less expectant of the wonderful life which lies ahead, where there will be no partings, no grief, no need to keep things to help me to remember!

Let me carry with me only the deepest gratitude for all your kindness, most of all in the saving work of Jesus my Lord, in whose name I pray, Amen.