Isaiah 55:1-2 Much of Isaiah’s prophecy is dominated by the theme of judgement. The people had wandered away from God and lived lives that were a complete disappointment to him. They had worshipped other gods and had neglected to care for the poo...
Proverbs 12:15 There is all the difference in the world between hearing and listening. Hearing is a physical process, and it happens all the time whether we like it or not. Listening however is a matter of choice. When we listen we deliberately t...
Proverbs 12:10 I need to be honest with you. I have read this chapter many times but I have never stopped and thought about this verse before now. The writer seems to be saying that a person who follows God will show a caring attitude in every pa...
Proverbs 11:28 We hear a lot about money in the book of Proverbs. In many ways the writer speaks very positively about it. The acquisition of money is often seen as a sign of God’s blessing and he encourages his readers to work hard so that they...
1 Corinthians 14:1 1 Corinthians 13 is a really famous chapter and rightly so. But Paul didn’t write in chapters. Chapter divisions arrived about 1,200 years later! So, whenever we see a chapter division, we need to, at least, peer at what happen...
1 Corinthians 13:8,13 I don’t know about you, but I don’t like throwing things away. I am writing this on a new laptop, but I hung on to the last one for as long as possible. It was starting to run very slowly, and sometimes didn’t want to start...
1 Corinthians 13:11-12 When I was about four years old I can recall being very confused when I met new people. I presumed that they had just been made, because I had never seen them before! I had recently realised that people die – probably becau...
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 I am sure that you have often heard these famous words. They give us the most beautiful description of love and, understandably, they are often read at weddings. Love sounds incredibly attractive doesn’t it? We all long to be...
1 Corinthians 13:1 I will never forget Sheila. She was in her early 70s when I first met her and, every Friday evening without fail, she helped out with her church’s youth club. The church was on a rough estate and the evenings were full of actio...
1 Corinthians 12:14,16-17 I love Paul’s sense of humour! He imagines a conversation going on within the body that is plainly ridiculous. It would be crazy if the ear were to complain that it wasn’t a proper part of the body because it wasn’t an e...
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 I often hear people being described as gifted. They may be a particularly able pianist, flower arranger or speaker. I understand what is being said, but it could be misleading. It seems to suggest that there are two types of...
1 Corinthians 11:27-28 If you are employed, you probably have the delight of an annual appraisal. The intention is to stand back from how things are going in order to acknowledge what went well and what went not so well, and to reflect on how thi...
1 Corinthians 10:31 Life throws up many challenges for us in the 21st century, and it was no different in Paul’s day. One of the issues that he faced was meat taken to pagan temples as an act of worship before being sold by the butchers. Paul was...
1 Corinthians 9:19,22-23 I love meeting people who are passionate about something. It may be their love of horses, a particular football club or their devotion to gardening. You sense that their whole life is tuned into their passion and I find i...
1 Corinthians 4:16-17 The disciples learned how to follow Jesus by looking at his example. They saw the way in which he responded to the constant demands of his ministry. They saw his kindness and patience and the way in which he welcomed every k...
