Everyone wants a shortcut. A hack. But the fact is you won’t find one. Shortcuts are a lie. The hack won’t hack it. The easy road won’t get you there[i]. The broad road and wide gate won’t take you to where you want to be[ii]. It won’t take you to heaven. But it also won’t…
I came across this letter recently and found it rather moving. On October 21st of 1942, not long after being called to New Guinea to fight the Japanese forces during World War II, a young Australian soldier named John Byrnes wrote a letter to his daughter, explaining why he would not be attending her 2nd birthday party. His…
Bill McChesney, a missionary in the Congo, was martyred by the rebels in the Stanleyville area in 1964, when he was 28 years old. He had been beaten on a truck and his back was bleeding at the same time as suffering from malaria. Then he was beaten to death by an angry mob which…
This past Friday evening Heritage Baptist was privileged to present a Rap and Poetry evening. It was a wonderful time of artistic expression giving voice to orthodox theology. One of the poems that I particularly enjoyed is called ‘Faithfulness’. Faithfulness Question – “Where shall faithfulness be found?” Some think that they’ve heard its sound, Intermingled with…
Do nice guys finish last? I remember having a conversation with pastor and author Doug van Meter about this topic; at the time the question was formulated in my mind as ‘is there a difference between being a good man and being good at being a man?’ (he reflected on this subject here). One of…
While the Bible doesn’t mention the word procrastination, the wisdom literature is filled with warnings about depending on tomorrow. We are told that it is foolish to speak or act as if tomorrow was our possession. This is really the essence of procrastination. Now we are not talking about strategic planning here, or wisdom in…
Contentment is an ever elusive thing in our modern culture. The more we have the more discontent we feel. Adverts and media are designed to breed discontentment in us. Not only do we have the world seemingly conspiring against us, but often sadness, trials and suffering threaten our contentment. As Christians we know that we…
A few weeks ago I was leading a young adult discussion and this topic came up. I have subsequently been asked for some of my notes so I thought I would share them here. The guidelines are helpful for both men and women in that they show woman what to look for as they look…
Jacob and Esau; few sets of siblings have had such an impact on world history. The three major Monotheistic religions of the worldall own these brothers as part of their own story. It was in a group study on these two characters from Genesis that I realised the most offensive part of their story is…
This past Saturday I did the Soweto Energizer Race. Don’t get too excited, I only did the 5km, although it ended up being 7km. Seeing all the runners and thinking about things I overhear my many super-zealous runner friends say, I can’t help but see parallels to the Christian life. Scripture compares the Christian life…
