thoughts out !oud

a Christian’s news, views, opinions and occasional poetry …

Your love is like a beetroot stain

There are many grand, romantic, humorous and satirical quotes on the topic of love that anyone could find nowadays. It seems that we toss the word ‘love’ around quite freely – perhaps we have even diluted it to an extent – so that it becomes just something that is so abstract as to be almost meaningless or at least devalued. We say things like ‘I love Nutella’, or ‘I love my cat.’ What we really mean, of course, is simply that we really like the object of our ‘love’. Yet scripturally, love means something much, much stronger than for what we give it credit. Truly, there is no greater love, as the Lord Jesus says, than to give up one’s life for another.

CS Lewis wrote… Continue reading Your love is like a beetroot stain

Quote: to love is to be open to hurt

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (1960)… Continue reading Quote: to love is to be open to hurt

Repenting in the face of unforgiveness

How hard is it to forgive? Is there a point where you have hurt someone so much that, despite the deep sincerity of your apology, the humbling act of admitting you were wrong, and the heartfelt plea for another chance, that there is absolutely no room to be forgiven?

I know that God, in his perfect grace, offers his forgiveness - and I take that with gratitude and thankfulness and joy. I know also that, while we are made in the image of God, we’re not perfect - every human is flawed and sinful. We hurt each other - even those we love - sometimes often without realising. And in our sin, perhaps we come to a point where offering forgiveness to another becomes nigh impossible for… Continue reading Repenting in the face of unforgiveness

To God the glory (even when difficult)

After my last post, When God says ‘No’, it seemed an obvious step to share some other learnings on 2 Samuel 12:13-23. To some, this passage can be difficult to accept; to the skeptic, it’s a verse they pull to label the God of the Bible as a cruel and unjust God. Why? Well, because God takes the life of David’s son - seemingly without just cause.

In all our Bible reading we must understand that the wages of sin is death and that this entails justice. We see this requirement met for us by the substitutional death of Jesus on our behalf - Jesus paid the full ransom for our sin by taking the punishment we ourselves deserve. In David’s case, is it that… Continue reading To God the glory (even when difficult)

God’s a real ‘devil’?

We look around us and see all the evil in the world and those incited by the mass injustice (whether personally against them, or against groups of others) brings with it a cursing of God. God’s the real devil of it all, apparently. After all, if He is as good and all benevolent as some believe Him to be, how can he let the things that have ravaged human history and cause pain and suffering to millions to this very day?

I was reading an address on this earlier today, and the following proverb was mentioned:

A man’s own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD. (Prov 19:3)

This goes as much as to say that our own poor choices are the ones that make our life… Continue reading God's a real 'devil'?

5 signs that (and 1 reason why) you’re self-righteous

Many non-Christians will label Christians as being an overtly self-righteous bunch. Is there truth to this claim? Well … yes. A lot of truth, actually.

The dictionary says this about self-righteousness:

convinced of one’s own righteousness especially in contrast with the actions and beliefs of others : narrow-mindedly moralistic.

There’s a common theme going on here. See if you can pick it before you reach the concluding remarks at the bottom of the post. Here’s my brief 5 signs that (and 1 reason why) you’re self-righteous:

#1. Denial
When faced with the charge of being self-righteous, you immediately defend yourself. In your defense, you will typically throw back reasons as to why you are righteous and not self-righteous.

#2. Everyone else is substandard
You’re the king. You are… Continue reading 5 signs that (and 1 reason why) you're self-righteous

Fruit-loops and ding-a-lings

Sometimes the most insightful tidbits you learn about the Christian faith come neither from the church pulpits nor from the myriad of sermons/messages available on the internet. Sometimes they come from estranged conversations with faceless strangers. The one I’m about to extrapolate a little on happened in a Christian channel on an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server. The simple truths just blew me away at the time. Let me try to relate them.

I have long had a feeling that the segregation of the mainstream churches into its various denominations (and non-denominations) has made genuine Christian worship a stale affair. That is, each church community has enmeshed its specific style of worship into its doctrinal beliefs - which serves only to muddy the waters of true and… Continue reading Fruit-loops and ding-a-lings

Christians: not perfect, just forgiven!

For the skeptic, Christians are nothing but a hypocritical community group, bent with the same greed, self-promoting motives and double-standards as that of many individuals out in the secular world. And you know what, the skeptic is right.

There is a small church I drive past almost everyday on my way back from the office. It is situated on the corner of a reasonably busy intersection and is making good use… Continue reading Christians: not perfect, just forgiven!

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