The Bible Bloke

In Romans chapter 3 verse 23 we read:  “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  It pops up in a section about the law which takes a bit of wading through. Essentially Paul is saying that because of Jesus’ sacrifice we are no longer justified by the law, but rather we are brought into what F.B. Meyer calls the “condition” of Holiness, which is achieved, as we see in the next verse, through “His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”  In many a movie the intrepid hero and his companions fall into quick sand, and slowly sink up to their necks. After an ad break they somehow manage to extricate themselves, to move onto the next calamity, the next dark and sinister challenge.  But what if there was no way to get out? What if you were stuck there forever and ever? Slowly sinking. Sand trickling into your mouth despite all your efforts to prevent it from happening?  And the only way for rescue to happen is to make a faith call....

When I was a boy, a very long time ago, we had a little cottage at the beach. It wasn’t a mansion by any means, a couple of bedrooms, basic kitchen, lounge room, fibro and lino. A wonderful place. It was a very short walk out the back to the quiet waves that lapped up on the sand where I would engage upon massive engineering projects with my yellow Tonka dump truck: My favourite toy at the time. The front law was a different matter. The front lawn was a clover infested nightmare. But it was super sweet dreams for the local bee population, who found it without any hesitation. The problem with small boys is they don’t wear shoes. At least I never did. I can hear my mother’s voice: “Christopher, put some shoes on.” Nah. Out the door in flash and a rattle. Most of the time out the back onto the beach. That was my happy place. But sometimes, it was out the front, through the clover, through the bees. In bare feet. I think there is something in that saying that insanity is doing the same thi...

My devotional reading this morning was from the book of Exodus. Let me set the scene: Moses had gone up the mountain and while he was fully engaged with the Lord, the people were not. Where is this man Moses, who lead us out of Egypt? We do not know what has happened to him. And what of this God? Even in spite of the miracles and wonders they had witnessed they chose to make an idol and we know how that ended. In reading this section something occurred to me that perhaps I had been aware of before but never really clicked to. The wilderness they found themselves in was a wilderness that God had not just created but had also chosen. Generally, when I think of wilderness, I have an image of somewhere remote, somewhere isolated. Wilderness is not something conducive with comfort. It’s not glamping, there is a roughness around its edges. When I hear the term “wilderness experience” I am reminded of a bush walk I undertook, many years ago , in the South Island of New Zealand. I was much yo...

Just as the moon rose tonight The sun will rise tomorrow So many social media friends are sharing A moon that in many ways is behind the clouds of doubt, And the question in our hearts is… What can I be certain of? All those years ago Jesus knew the certainty of His death His sacrifice for many, On the Cross. Even as He was baptised, do this He said, To fulfill all Righteousness. It has to happen like this. A shared meal, the betrayal An anguish that leads to perfect peace. As I sat tonight, fire pit aflame, Moon rising I felt a sense of the real Peace of Jesus Chris This Season, His Season, His Triumph, His Victory So that we can be His. He Claims us. The tomb empty. I am won by Him, for Him. Tomorrow, Good Friday, I celebrate the Victory, Let it rise up And in the words of the hymn raise our voices: “Rise up, O men [and women] of God! Have done with lesser things; Give heart and soul and mind and strength To serve the Ki...

Psalm 2:4 - He who sits in the heavens. THE BIBLE BLOKE · MONDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2019 · READING TIME: 3 MINUTES The voices of men heeding their own counsel give way to the voice of God. His immanence becomes manifest. Seated in heaven, yes, but watching as men go about their business of sin and of disobedience, and indeed, yes, also of righteousness. But we do not find that here. As we move into verse 4 of Psalm 2, we have a change not just in the voice, but in the rule that holds. The kings of the earth must give way to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven. He who has created everything we see cannot be ignored. The lack of acknowledgment of the rulers of the earth leave them blind to God’s True and Awesome majesty. The words of the song sing out: “O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout the universe displayed.“ How then do we view the leaders ...

Psalm 2:3 - Rebellion THE BIBLE BLOKE · MONDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2019 · 4 MINUTES The key idea in these, the first three verses of Psalm 2, is that of rebellion. Reaching for the trusty dictionary reveals that a rebellion is an organised resistance against an established authority. In the first Psalm we saw that the delight of the Lord happens as a result of our contemplation of His Word. This deep meditation is satisfying. We are fulfilled by God and His Love for us. His guidance manifests in those laws and statutes He gave to Moses on Mt Sinai. God’s authority is clear. It has been shown to us. As the second Psalm opens, it becomes plain that not everyone is happy with God’s authority. The contrast between good and evil, between the blessed man and the wicked that formed the basis of the first Psalm, expands to outright conflict between the good of The Lord and His Anointed and the evil of the Nations, and by inference the leaders of those Nations. ...

Have you ever been in on a completely pointless discussion, or a pointless activity? I’m sure if I thought about it I might come up with a personal example, however, I decided to Google it and see what I came up with. Top of the list was pre-peeled bananas in plastic wrappers, followed closely by the goldfish walker, or perhaps even the treadmill bicycle or my favourite “The most annoying box in the world.” (I have give the link to the page below.) The interesting part of the exercise was the realisation that someone somewhere thought it was a good idea. Why? Now, I will be honest and say these things aren’t quite in the same league as the nations raging and planning a pointless thing. I can view these with a certain wry amusement, or laugh at the better ones, but the difference here is that in someway, the person who invented each item thought they were doing something good, something that might be useful. That’s very different from the attitude of the Nations in Psalm 2. Certai...