Isaiah 56:1-2 Justice is a major theme throughout the book of Isaiah. From the first chapter, God declares his hatred of every form of injustice and his unwillingness to receive the worship of people who refuse to act justly. God is incredibly blunt. He declares that he has had more than enough of the people’s sacrifices and is burdened by their religious festivals. It’s vital that we realise that fighting for justice is not an optional extra for Christians. It is integral to our worship. Or...

Isaiah 55:10-11 There is something about me that you need to know, and that is that I am incredibly excited writing these daily devotionals. Believe me, that’s got nothing to do with my abilities as a writer but everything to do with the fact that God’s word is powerful. So being asked to encourage people to read, enjoy and live by God’s word is as exciting as life can get. Every day, thousands of people read and listen to these words and I have very little idea of what the impact will be....

Isaiah 55:8-9 Life is full of mysteries. Every day, tragedies occur and people scream out to God that life is not fair. As we reach out to others in their times of deepest need we would love to be able to offer an explanation, but we cannot. The problem of suffering has challenged humankind since the dawn of time and will continue to do so. But the mysteries of life are not only at that end of the spectrum, because the beauties and wonders of life are just as mysterious. How can you explain...

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 poor and needy. But, through it all, God’s deep desire was to bring the people back to himself, and so he promised to send his servant to bring them salvation. In today’s reading God’s incredible offer is spelled out. He alone was able to satisfy their...

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 tune in to what others are saying and reflect on it. It is a way in which we show love and respect to other people. It’s a great privilege when someone listens to us. We know we have their full attention and it is as if we are the only person in the...

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 part of their life - including the way in which they care for their animals. Caring for animals is also reflected in Deuteronomy which, on a number of occasions, encourages a kind and generous attitude to animals. In chapter 22 Moses instructs the...

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 will get more of it. But he was also keen to put money in its place. If money shapes our lives, we have missed the point completely. The only one we should trust is the Lord himself. We can lean on him and know that he will always be faithful and...

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 happens next. If you only looked at chapter 13
you might think that love is so important that you can forget about the gifts of the Spirit. After all, they have got a limited shelf life, as Paul has just explained. But at the start of chapter 14 he makes...

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 at all. I was prepared to concede that it had good days and bad days, but, in the end, I had to admit that I was devoting too much of my life to waiting for it to spring into action. Of course, all our possessions have a limited life. Our cars, our...

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 because one of my grandfathers died at around that time. I came up with a theory that God took the bits of dead people and used them to make the new people that I had just met. It was all very logical and, in its way, quite impressive. It just happened to...

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 as loving as this. But the problem is that no amount of human effort will enable us to be. The only way to show perfect love is by enabling God to work through us. Hard as we might try, we will never succeed in being truly loving without God’s daily...

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 action. The young people were rarely appreciative and, at times, violent. The language they used was normally rude and often deeply offensive. And yet, Friday after Friday, Sheila would faithfully go and support the youth club with the hope that it might...

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 eye. But, funny as it is, Paul is making a very serious point. He is talking about inferiority complexes - and they get everywhere. Many people in churches look down on themselves. Some think they don’t count because they are only a Sunday school...

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 people – those who are gifted and those who are, sadly, not gifted at all. This passage makes it clear that every one of us is gifted. Whatever your age, strength, ability or disability, background or temperament you have got a unique gift that God,...

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 things could be strengthened for the year ahead. Conducted well, appraisals can be a great blessing and I have always been grateful for the ones that I have had. Here Paul is suggesting that we need to conduct a self-appraisal on a regular basis before...

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 quite clear that pagan gods were not true gods and so it really didn’t matter if the meat had been waved in front of them. But if someone were to point out that the meat had been presented in the temple, he concluded that it would be better not to...

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 it fascinating to learn how they organise their lives. Paul was clearly passionate about people finding salvation in Jesus and here he lets us see his strategy for spreading this amazing message. His method was to get alongside people whatever their...

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 kind of person. They were often shocked by the things that he said and by the sort of people that he spent time with. Previously, they would have steered well clear of prostitutes, tax collectors and people with leprosy but Jesus always had time for...

1 Corinthians 3:5-6 Think for a moment about the Christian leaders that you have known. I’ve been a Christian a long time and I could easily come up with a list of scores of leaders who have helped me to understand the Christian message. I am so grateful to God for them. I can remember very few words that they have spoken (even though I must have heard thousands of their sermons) but I can easily remember their sincerity, kindness, humour, love, compassion, thoughtfulness and their strength...

1 Corinthians 2:1-3 I once heard about a church that regularly visited the houses nearby. They sent out people two by two. A young girl nervously agreed to join in. She went to one house and a large man came to the door asking in a gruff voice what she wanted. She struggled to speak and then, in a quivering voice, she blurted out: “I’ve come to tell you that Jesus loves you.” The man didn’t know what to say and so slammed the door in her face. He went inside and slumped into a chair weeping...

1 Corinthians 1:18 Paul was absolutely sure that the cross of Jesus stood right at the heart of his life and ministry. It was the lens through which Paul saw everything. For him it was the most wonderful message, communicating God’s love and power and the way in which he longs to bring peace into the world. So, Paul was determined to take every opportunity to speak about it. However, Paul was more than aware that the message of the cross sounded like nonsense to many people. The Greeks were...

1 Corinthians 1:4-5 If you know anything at all about the church in Corinth you will know that it was a disaster area. Everything seemed to be going wrong. They were divided. They had a case of incest in the church and nothing had been done to sort it out. Their times of worship were an embarrassment. They totally misunderstood what the gifts of the Spirit were for, and viewed them competitively. It’s hard to find anything to celebrate. But look how Paul starts this letter. He could have...

Ephesians 6:10-11 Just imagine if someone were to walk on to a battlefield wearing casual clothes. The thought is absurd. If you knew that you were heading into battle, you would go fully equipped. Paul made it absolutely clear to his readers that the resurrection power of God was at work in their lives. But, at the same time, he reminded them that they were involved in a daily struggle with the powers of evil. Paul’s conclusion, as he drew this letter to an end, was that they should go into...

Ephesians 4:22-24 Do you like change? If I’m honest I have a love/hate relationship with change. There is much about life that is comfortable and congenial and I would be happy if it stayed the way it is. There are other things that I would be happy to change in an instant. In these verses Paul tells us we need to get used to the fact that God is looking for revolutionary change in our lives. He wants that because his desire is for our lives to be completely blessed; not merely an...