Category: Bible

Living a long life?

January 8, 2024

What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

Another good question to reflect on. I can honestly say I am aiming for a long healthy life, but I know ultimately my life is in God’s hands.

I do my best to eat a healthy vegetarian diet. Studies looking at the Blue Zones show people who eat mostly plant based live on average 10 years longer and are much healthier. Some live to be 100 and still work in their gardens or fields!

I do other things mentioned in the Blue Zone studies like exercise regularly, have a sense of purpose in helping others, I have a strong faith and I have people around me who love and care for me and I them. So from that perspective I am travelling well.

In saying this though, I know my life is 100% completely and totally in God’s hands. He holds my life, my destiny and my breath. When He takes my breath, I will go to be with Him… for eternity.

Knowing this, my life is about God and His Kingdom. I am here because He wants and needs me here. I still have things to do for Him if I still have breath and my heart is beating.

Does this mean I do not think about my life and the things I want to do? Of course not. I want to be here to enjoy this world, love my family, achieve some of my personal goals and look after my body. But this is overshadowed by the eternal realities of life. I am just here for a season and one day it will end.

The key for me is to live my life in light of eternity. I need to set my heart and mind on things above and not on earthy things (Colossians 3:1-2). I need to remember that ultimately I am a citizen of heaven and I need to eagerly await the return of my Lord Jesus (Philippians 3:20). This is the eternal hope we have in Christ.

So yes I want to live a long and healthy life. Maybe even make it to 90 or 100. But this all depends on God and He can call me home at any time. My life is in His hands and I would not want it any other way. He is my life now, and will be my life for all eternity.

Read the New Testament this year

January 8, 2024

If you would like to read the New Testament in 2024 you can download our free reading plan. In this plan you can read one chapter a day and you will finish it in September. If you read one chapter five days a week you will finish it in December.

If you are interested you can download it here. If you do not have a Bible you can find one online at www.biblegateway.com.

Past or future?

January 5, 2024

Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?

I once heard it said that the rear view mirror is tiny compared to the windscreen of your car. This is because we need to look where we are going, more than where we have been.

That resonated with me when I heard it. It just made sense because I cannot change the past. Because of this I tend to review things I have done and then move on. I like to quickly think over what I did during the day, learn from it and then file it away.

I guess as a Christ follower this sits well with my faith too. The Apostle Paul talked about the past in his “pressing on” passage in Philippians 3:12-14 NLT…

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. [13] No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, [14] I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Paul was more interested in knowing Christ, growing in his faith and fulfilling God’s purposes in his life. If that was the Apostle Paul’s focus, it is good enough for me too. I want to know Christ, grow and fulfil my purpose too.

Does this mean I do not look back at all? Definitely not. We all need to reflect on the things we have done. Maybe we can learn something, grow, and maybe do things differently next time.

Ultimately for me though, it goes back to the size of the rear view mirror compared to size of our car windscreens. Looking forward is way more important.

Some great words for 2024

January 2, 2024

Here are some good words from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 NLT. They are great advice for 2024…or for any year!


[16] Always be joyful.

[17] Never stop praying.

[18] Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

[19] Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.

[20] Do not scoff at prophecies, [21] but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.

[22] Stay away from every kind of evil.

This would be a good passage of Scripture to focus on this year. It encourages us to pray, be joyful and thankful. It also warns us to be open to the Holy Spirit and prophetic words and to flee from all kinds of evil.

It is amazing how much is packed in to God’s Word in a few short sentences. Words of life.

Jesus sends out His disciples

December 30, 2023
Image from http://www.LumoProject.com

In Matthew chapter 10 we see that Jesus sent out His disciples in to the world. Verses 5-6 tells us that He sent them to the people of Israel first. But what did Jesus send them out to do? In verses 1, 7 & 8 we see Jesus gave them authority to do a number of things…

1. Preach the Good News that the Kingdom of God is near

2. Heal the sick

3. Raise the dead

4. Cure those with leprosy

5. Caste out demons

This is a pretty amazing list of things that He asked them to do. But if we think about it we see these are the things Jesus did Himself and as His followers they would have seen Him do them first hand.

Right from the start of His ministry we read in Matthew 4:23 that “Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.”

In Matthew chapters 5-7 we see that Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount which is all about the Kingdom life. Then in Matthew chapters 8-9 He healed all types of diseases, raised the dead, calmed the storm and drove out demons.

So before sending the disciples out Jesus had taught and demonstrated what He wanted His new Kingdom to look like. The disciples were in a sense Jesus’ apprentices and now they were being sent out to put into practice all they had seen and heard.

I could not imagine what it would be like to be chosen as one of Jesus’ early followers? It would have been amazing, scary, confusing and world changing all in one.

One thing I know for sure is how amazing it would have been to see Jesus perform incredible miracles and then do the same thing yourself by God’s power. To actually see with your own eyes God’s Kingdom expanding each day!