Everything in the world is about sex except...

...sex. Sex is about power.

So wrote Oscar Wilde. I think he was on to something especially given what we read in Genesis 1 and 2. What about you? What do you think dear reader?

Tackling Dawkins' bad logic

With the help of Donall and Conall. Their genius kicks in at about the 50 sec. mark. Enjoy...

If you want to achieve great things for God...

...start by doing little things well now. So says Jesus Christ when describing the 'reward system' that will be operative on Judgement day:

Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness (Matthew 25:21)

Notice that the servant is not commended for having undertaken a prominent or distinguished role or for even having done lots of things for Christ. The praise comes for being faithful/truthful/reliable with a few things. So if you want to achieve great things for God, first get your to do list and shorten it then do the few things well - turn up when you say you will, following through on the things you commit to doing, pray and read your Bible regularly, speak about Jesus often, forgive those who have hurt and wronged you, walk the dog with joy, change the nappies with cheerfulness, eat your food with thanksgiving. There are probably one or two other things you could add but that's a good start. Faithfulness in the small things will guarantee being praised by the King of Kings.

A good reason to be a better Christian

C.S. Lewis channelling James 5:16 says:

One of the many reasons for wishing to be a better Christian is that if one were, one's prayers for others might be more effectual.

Amen.

– C.S. Lewis, Letters to an American Lady (26^th April 1956), p. 51

The most offensive verse in the Bible...

...is Genesis 1:1, and all that it implies namely, that we have an all-powerful Creator who owns everything in the universe. 

This planet is His, all galaxies, the laws of physics, the rules of ethics, you and me. Everything was made by Him, designed by Him and given its value and meaning by Him. The Triune God of the Bible is the Ultimate One and we are therefore dependent subjects on Him for everything. This means that (at a minimum) we are not free to create meaning or value. Or to put it another way, God is Lord and we are not.

For more from where that came from, see this

When it's right to bash self-esteem

How do we prepare for death, and die, as Christians?

In the end, the whole Christian life may be seen as an extensive preparation for death. We trust Christ to forgive our sins; likewise, we trust him to bring us through the doorway of death safely. We trust Christ with a million things everyday of our lives as we move through this danger-filled world; likewise, we trust him to bring us through the passageway that leads from this world to the next. The way to die as a Christian is to live as Christian: We entrust ourselves into the loving embrace of our Savior, confident that he is with us and will protect us in life and in death, in history and in eternity, in this world and in the world to come. He is our comfort, our joy, our salvation. He is the Resurrection and the Life. His death does not exempt us from the burden of having to die, but it does transform our death. Because he died for us, we shall live in him. Because he died for us, even in the moment of our death we are victorious.

Via Rich Lusk on a post covering death and resurrection before the fall, 'death' and resurrection in the Trinity, how Christians can view death as an friend and the place of anointing the sick in evangelical piety. There is material here to meditate on for a lifetime!

Is this why there are few men as missionaries?

Hudson Taylor, the founder of Overseas Mission Fellowship (formerly of China Inland Mission) once described missionary work as follows:

The work of a true missionary is work indeed, often very monotonous, apparently not very successful, and carried on through great and varied but unceasing difficulties

Is this why there are very few men as missionaries? The 2 mission agencies (British) that I am familiar with have a ratio of about 3 women for each man. I am sure there are many other reasons for that but I wonder if one of the major ones is the male aversion to hard work? Speaking as a man (and from my experience as a pastor) I can say that men sadly are often more willing to let someone else fulfil their spiritual responsibilities, whether it be their wives, their mothers, their children (!) or their government. How very different to the Real and True Man who never shirked back from hard work