Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 1:15-23

Young Christians who have just come into the faith often ask: Why is the resurrection so important? How can an event which took place 2,000 years ago have any relevance for us today? Three very simple statements (not original to me) will bring us to the heart of the matter. First, the resurrection of Christ assures...

For Reading and Meditation:     Acts 1:1-11

Before we conclude our meditations on the uniqueness of Christianity, we must mention our Lord's ascension. I much prefer the word exaltation to ascension to describe Christ's return to the throne of God, for that is what it really was - an exaltation. Paul, in some verses in the passage we looked at yesterday (

For Reading and Meditation:     Ephesians 4:1-16

In his autobiography, A King's Story, the Duke of Windsor told of a strange thing that happened at the funeral of his father, King George V. He described how, as his father's body was being conveyed on a draped gun carriage through the crowded streets of London, a mishap occurred which only those closest to the scene...

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 6:1-20

Out of all the aspects of truth that surround the fact of our Lord's ascension, one of the greatest is surely this - Christ is our Precursor. A precursor is really a forerunner - an advance runner - and that is precisely the term which our text for today applies to the climactic ministry of our ascended Lord. The NIV...

For Reading and Meditation:     2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Now that we have looked at the aspects of our faith which make it unique among all world religions, we must face some other important issues before finally drawing to a close. Being Christians does not mean we therefore have to believe that all other religions are completely wrong. As C. S. Lewis pointed out:...

For Reading and Meditation:     Acts 17:16-34

God is active not only in the Church but in the world and in those belonging to other religions also. Christians believe that God has revealed Himself in Jesus in a unique way, as declared in the Scriptures, and has nothing more to reveal than He has revealed. But does that mean God is interested only in Christians?...

For Reading and Meditation:     Acts 10:23-48

If, as the Scripture declares, Jesus is the only way, what about people in other faiths? First, we must be clear that there is no such thing as self-salvation. Nobody can achieve salvation by his or her religion, sincerity, or good works. Second, Jesus Christ is the only way to God and the only Savior. Our Lord Himself...

For Reading and Meditation:     John 14:1-14

We make the claim once again - Christianity is unique. It is unique in the sense that it is the divinely appointed way to enter into a relationship with the one true and living God. There is only one way, only one Name, only one God, only one Lord, only one Mediator. Our claim that Christianity is unique comes not from...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 1:1-2

We begin now a study of what has been described as "the most dangerous book in the Bible" - Ecclesiastes. Why dangerous? Because in it one comes face to face with the utter futility of trying to find happiness and meaning in the things of time. And that discovery, for some people, could lead to opting out of life...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 1:3-7

Francis Schaeffer wrote that there are times "when a negative message is needed before anything positive can begin." That sums up the Book of Ecclesiastes. It seeks first to silence us with the utter futility of life before turning our gaze to the one and only reality - God. In the passage before us today the author...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 1:8-11

It is surprising how many Christians have never read the Book of Ecclesiastes. One woman told me that Ecclesiastes was the one book in the Bible she could not read. "I am put off by all that pessimism and gloom," she explained. There is, however, a purpose behind this pessimism and gloom. Dr. Cynddylan Jones, a...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

We said yesterday that one of the reasons why Solomon uses so many vivid illustrations is to break through our defensive attempts to avoid reality. It was T. S. Eliot who said that "humankind cannot bear very much reality." Psychologists warn that we should be careful about stripping away people's defenses, as...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

If education, intellectualism and philosophy are not the routes to making life work - then what is? Perhaps life can be found in pleasure. Not so, says Solomon. Pleasure pleases, but it is powerless to quench the ache that exists in the soul. We are provided with a list of the ways in which pleasure can be gained,...

For Reading and Meditation:     Ecclesiastes 2:12-16

There are some who believe that the writer of Ecclesiastes had lost all objectivity when he wrote this book, and his pessimistic mood affected everything he looked at. As if anticipating that very argument, he says in verse 9: "In all this my wisdom stayed with me." Disillusioned though he was with the fact that...