How good are you at complaining. One man who was interviewed recently on television reminded us that whinging is different to complaining. Whinging is apparently just moaning but not doing anything about it. Formal complaining means that you are holding the service provider responsible for what they do or do not do and making sure that you get what you are paying for.
Once when coming back from a trip to Africa. En-route our cases stayed in Dubai while we flew to Lusaka. They caught up with us eventually, but we have a claim to lodge for extra expenses incurred because of an extra night that we stayed in Lusaka. Have I submitted it yet? I think you probably can guess the answer.
Most of us feel that we deserve to get what we pay for. This is only fair, and it is our right but how many of us get round to complaining when things go wrong. The purpose for writing this article is not actually to encourage you to complain (not that it would be a bad thing) but to point out that most of us don’t get round to it very often. We mean to but we don’t quite get round to it. That’s true about a lot of things.
Think about this for example. How many of us have joined a gym and never used it? How often do we think about slimming but never quite get there? Or your mortgage – you know the rate could be lower but because of the hassle of changing provider we never get round to it. All these examples are about things that could improve our lives but we put off doing anything about. I want to ask you to consider another area of your life which we all tend to ignore and pretend that it’s too much hassle – that is your relationship or lack of one with God. We can all argue why we don’t think God is real but in our hearts, we know that God is there. Most of us live life as if it will never end and accuse people of being morbid who raise the issues of life after death. But we all know that we will die one day and to ignore the afterlife is fatal. You say if I’m wrong, I’m wrong but the reality is if you’re wrong you will be lost forever in a place you don’t want to be.
The Scout Motto of the Scout movement, in various languages, has been used by millions of Scouts around the world since 1907. Most of the member organizations of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) share this same motto.
In English, the Scout Motto is most commonly Be Prepared. In the first part of Scouting for Boys, Robert Baden-Powell explains the meaning of the phrase:
The scouts' motto is founded on my initials; it is:
BE PREPARED,
which means you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your DUTY;
Be Prepared in Mind by having disciplined yourself to be obedient to every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident or situation that might occur so that you know the right thing to do at the right moment and are willing to do it.
Be Prepared in Body by making yourself strong and active and able to do the right thing at the right moment, and do it.
— Lieut. Gen. Baden Powell C.B., Scouting for Boys (1908), "Camp Fire Yarn.—No. 4. Scout Law." (Part I, p. 48)
If you’ve ever wondered what Christianity is really about — rules or rescue, effort or grace — the book of Galatians answers it plainly. Paul writes like a man on fire because the very heart of the Gospel was under attack. Some were teaching that you needed Jesus plus good works, Jesus plus the law, Jesus plus human effort to be saved.
Paul says absolutely not.
The Gospel is Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone — or it is not the Gospel at all.
1. The Problem: People Adding to the Gospel
Some teachers had slipped into the churches of Galatia, saying:
“You need to keep the Jewish law to be saved.”
“You need to do certain works to stay saved.”
“You need to earn God’s acceptance.”
Paul responds with the force of a man defending the cross:
“If righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” — Galatians 2:21
In other words, if you could save yourself by being good, Jesus didn’t need to die.
All photos are courtesy of Unsplash.
We know that life is constantly changing and that nothing lasts forever. In many ways, this is a harsh and sad reality. Most of us find it hard to accept that we will grow old, that loved ones will pass on, and that children will grow up and leave home. You know the types of things that I am talking about. Sad but true!
Please read on, as I have good news for you. The Bible teaches that God made us with an eternal soul. The soul is the real person, the real you. Although the body stops living upon our physical death, the soul lives on. Many people don't believe this anymore. The late Stephen Hawking, a British Physicist and author, dismissed the notion of an afterlife. He once said 'I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers. That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark'.
This argument sounds very feasible, especially when proposed by such an intelligent man. However, it ignores that we are not just biological computers. It ignores man's consciousness, which the best of brains have grappled with but have to admit is beyond their explanation. Consciousness cannot be defined in purely physiological terms. Add to this the evidence for the supernatural and the spiritual, and you have many questions that we will struggle to answer unaided.
Let me remind you of the book, which has for generations provided answers that could not find their source solely in the mind of a human being - the Bible. It is easy to dismiss the Bible as purely the writings of men, but that would not be doing justice to its information, origins and the consistency of its message. The Bible has an inbuilt prediction and fulfilment testing system, which either stands or falls on the substantive evidence of archaeology, science, history, geography and social development. There have been no developments to date in any of these disciplines which have produced evidence that undermines the truthfulness and integrity of the Bible.
If all of this is true, may I suggest we pay more attention to what the Bible teaches about life, death, the afterlife, God, etc.? For example, one of the books of the Bible (John's gospel) explicitly states that it was written 'that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you might have life through his name'.
I pray that this will be the outcome if you read the Bible for yourself.
I invite you to read more articles about how to have peace with God.
Nahum: The God Who Judges, The God Who Saves
There are parts of the Bible we rarely visit, and Nahum is often one of them. Yet this short prophecy is very relevant for our generation. It reminds us that God is not only the Saviour who delights in mercy—as Jonah discovered—but also the Judge who acts in righteousness, as Nahum boldly announced.
Jonah's ministry resulted in the repentance of Nineveh. Nahum's ministry, about a century later, announced the judgment of God upon the same people. One hundred (or perhaps 150) years separate these two books. Still, the lesson is timeless: when you forget what God has done for you, you set yourself up for trouble, i.e. God's judgment.
1. The Core Message of Nahum
G. Campbell Morgan summarised Nahum's message like this:
"The core of the predictive message of Nahum was the utter destruction of a great city and a great people by the will and act of God."
R. K. Harrison adds: "In this small prophecy of doom, the author demonstrated… that the God of the nation whom the Assyrians had despised was in fact the artificer and controller of all human destiny."
This is not merely history. It is a reality for us in our current world. It is gospel truth.
The New Testament affirms the same truth:
• God rules over nations — "He has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17:31).
• God's justice is perfect — "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right" (Genesis 18:25, echoed in the NT principle of divine justice).
Nahum reminds us that God is not passive. He acts, He intervenes, and He judges.
The Book of Ezra is a story of return, restoration, and renewal. This story begins with broken people in a foreign land and ends with a restored people gathered again around the Word of God. But more than that, it is a story that whispers the gospel. It shows us that God does not abandon His people, even when they have wandered far. He moves history, stirs hearts, and rebuilds lives. Ezra is not simply ancient history; it is a portrait of the God who still saves.
The book opens with a remarkable declaration from Cyrus, king of Persia. After seventy years of exile, God moves the heart of a pagan ruler to send His people home. Ezra wants us to see that this is not a political coincidence but divine compassion. The Lord “stirred up the spirit of Cyrus” (Ezra 1:1). The gospel begins here: salvation is always God’s initiative. As Paul writes, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God acts first. God moves first. God rescues first.
The returning exiles are a small, fragile remnant. They are not impressive. They are not powerful. They are simply people who have been shown mercy. And that is the gospel again. God does not save the strong; He saves the needy. He does not gather the self‑sufficient; He gathers the broken. The returning Jews remind us of the words of the Lord Jesus: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
When the people return to Jerusalem, the first thing they rebuild is not the city walls, nor their homes, nor their economy. They rebuild the altar (Ezra 3:2). Before anything else, they restore worship. They know that their greatest need is not safety or prosperity but reconciliation with God. The gospel tells the same story. Our deepest need is not a better life but a new life. Not self‑improvement but forgiveness. Not a fresh start but a new heart. And that comes only through the sacrifice of Christ, the true altar. Hebrews reminds us that “we have an altar” (Hebrews 13:10)—a place where the perfect sacrifice of Jesus brings us near to God.
After the altar comes the temple foundation. When it is laid, the younger generation shouts for joy, but the older generation weeps (Ezra 3:12). They remember the former glory. They see how far they have fallen. Yet God accepts their mixed emotions. He is patient with their weakness. The gospel shines through again: God meets us where we are, not where we wish we were. Christ does not wait for us to be strong; He comes to us in our frailty. “A bruised reed shall he not break” (Matthew 12:20).
But as soon as the work begins, opposition arises. Enemies discourage, accuse, and intimidate the builders. For years, the work stops. Ezra wants us to understand that God’s work is always contested. The gospel is not a smooth path; it is a narrow one. Yet God is faithful. In His time, He raises up prophets—Haggai and Zechariah—to speak His Word and strengthen His people. And the work begins again. This is the gospel pattern: God sustains what He starts. “He who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
It is estimated that there are between 5,000 and 7,000 languages throughout the world. Each language has its own alphabet, the majority of them have 26 letters in their alphabet but there are some that differ for example, Hebrew has 22, Arabic has 28, Scandinavian languages have 29, Russian has 33 and so on. As children in primary school we were taught the alphabet of our native tongue but most children have the ability to speak their native language before they go to school.
At the United Nations the representatives for each nation sit at their desks in the debating chamber. There is a room overlooking the chamber that houses the interpreters who can translate what is being said into the language of their representative country. This reveals to us the importance of having the correct understanding of any communication being made, accuracy is of prime importance. The two main languages spoken in the United Nations building are English and French. Most notices around the building are written in these two languages.
I read the following comment in the ‘The Guardian’ newspaper quite a while ago - ‘The dilemma, I’m 22 years old and going into my fourth year in medical school. I have been using study to escape loneliness, insecurity and anxiety that arose from the stress of the course and my failure to establish friends’.
Another person wrote in The Telegraph “‘Life looks good on the surface - so why are we all so lonely? ‘But you can’t be lonely,’ a friend tells me crossly. ‘You’re out every night.’ The backhanded compliment makes me laugh. But it also makes me sad. On paper my life sounds glamorous. Denying you feel lonely makes no more sense than denying you feel hunger’” These are the comments of a high profile journalist who looks as if she is living the high life but most certainly doesn’t feel as if she is.
A new national commission investigating loneliness in the UK, launched in January 2020, shows that a fifth of the population privately admits they are ‘always or often lonely’. But two-thirds of those people would never confess to having a problem in public. Here is the problem - loneliness is the devastating unseen result of the pressures and emptiness of modern life when people live devoid of real purpose and meaning.
