Colossians 2:1-23

In the New Testament, John tried to tell us about God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1). "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (1:14). John the Mystic tried to tell us how great God is. The Apostle Paul also gave us insight on who God is. . . . And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made public spectacle...

For Reading and Meditation:     Romans 8:28-39

What is God's great goal in the universe to which His energies are devoted? We have it in our text for today.The Living Bible puts this best and I have no hesitation in saying that although it is not regarded as a true translation (it is rather a paraphrase), its rendering of

For Reading and Meditation:     Colossians 2:1-15

We are seeing the suffering and persecution we experience can be due to our own tactlessness and folly. Today I want to go a stage further, and suggest that in relation to this matter of suffering and persecution, some Christians have developed a "martyr complex". A "martyr complex" is an attitude of mind that finds...

For Reading and Meditation:     John 2:12-25

Yesterday we touched on the statement of a psychiatrist, Dr James Fisher, who said that when searching for the positive attitudes which made for good mental health, he came across the Beatitudes and realised that he need search no longer. After nearly fifty years' experience of helping people with mental, emotional and...

For Reading and Meditation:     Galatians 6:1-18

Whenever I hear a person saying that all religions are the same, my mind runs immediately to the cross. If what is found here is true (and I believe it is), and represents the meaning of life, then clearly all religions are not the same. No authentic note of divine self-sacrifice comes from other faiths. The cross...

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 10:1-18

We talked two days ago of humanity's efforts to try to reach God through philosophy and moralism or the law. The inadequacy, even bankruptcy, of trying to find God through the law is brought out most clearly in the passage before us today. The law, we are told, contains no true image, merely a shadow. It was the Word...

LOOK not to much at thyself, there is nothing but vanity, weakness, sin, and misery there; but thy God hath united thee to His beloved Son. Jesus is one with thee, and all that He has is thine. Thou art unholy, but He is made unto thee sanctification; and He will sanctify thee wholly, body, soul, and spirit. Thou art foolish, but He is made unto thee wisdom; and He will make thee wise unto salvation. Thou art weak, but He is thy strength; and thou canst do all things through His...

The Lord Jesus is in the midst of his church; he walketh among the golden candlesticks; his promise is, "Lo, I am with you alway." He is as surely with us now as he was with the disciples at the lake, when they saw coals of fire, and fish laid thereon and bread. Not carnally, but still in real truth, Jesus is with us. And a blessed truth it is, for where Jesus is, love becomes inflamed. Of all the things in the world that can set the heart burning, there is nothing like the presence of...

If we have received Christ himself in our inmost hearts, our new life will manifest its intimate acquaintance with him by a walk of faith in him. Walking implies action. Our religion is not to be confined to our closet; we must carry out into practical effect that which we believe. If a man walks in Christ, then he so acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in him, his hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflex of the image of Jesus; and men say of that man, "He is like his...

The life of faith is represented as receiving-an act which implies the very opposite of anything like merit. It is simply the acceptance of a gift. As the earth drinks in the rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night accepts light from the stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or streams, they are but cisterns into which the living water flows; they are empty vessels into which God pours his salvation. The idea of...