Principles....

I'm going on vacation over Christmas.... so this is my last post on this site until Monday 8th January. Wherever you are travelling to this Christmas get there safely...

Col. 2:20-23 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: [21] "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? [22] These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. [23] Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Paul is in the middle of a discourse about religious rules and regulations, his premise being that Christ’s grace has freed us from the need to follow them. He says we have died with Christ to the principles of this world….The image is striking, that these ideas no longer give me any life, that it is only through my relationship with Jesus that I am sustained. It talks about sacrifice, of giving something up, of saying that these things have no hold over me, and no use for me anymore! Of course Paul is talkig about the religion versus faith conflict that was in the early Jewish/Gentile church. But I wonder what he would say to our churches today? What conflicts and principles do we need to surrender so that we ‘die with Christ’? Money? Materialism? Self-righteousness? Conformity? Intolerance? Careerism? The list could go on…..

I wonder if there are areas of my life that I still need to die to the world with Jesus in?

Religous....

Col. 2:16-19 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. [17] These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. [18] Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. [19] He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

Here’s the problem with religion: it makes us compare ourselves to other people. We judge ourselves against them. When we feel we are doing worse we feel bad, and when we feel we are doing better we get self-righteous. We judge the actions of others. And this is because religion is about doing. It is about achievement. It is about measurement. It is about following rules, ticking off boxes on a giant religious checklist, and putting your faith in what you can achieve.

But faith in Jesus Christ, putting our trust in him, is different. We are relying not on what we do, but on what Jesus has done for us. This is grace – there is no self-righteousness, no judgementalism, no comparison and nothing to achieve. Because when Christianity becomes these things it is because we are depending on ourselves following the rules, rather than deepening our relationship with Jesus, the true source of our ability to live a life of love.

Spectacle....

Col. 2:6-15 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, [7] rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
[8] See to it that no-one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
[9] For in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form, [10] and you have been given fulness in Christ, who is the Head over every power and authority. [11] In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, [12] having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
[13] When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, [14] having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. [15] And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

When Paul talks about a public spectacle, he has in mind the victory celebrations of the Romans, when they dragged their defeated enemies through the streets of the city, where the populace could pour scorn and derision onto them.

This is the power of the cross in the cosmic realms. It is God’s final and everlasting triumph over evil. It is his demonstration that once and for all, for those who accept the gift of life which is offered up by the cross, there is victory. Death has been conquered and overcome. Hell has been humiliated. As we approach Christmas, it is good for us to refelect on the life mission that Jesus would embark on, and the hope that was to be found in the infant born to us on Christmas day.

Col. 1:24-2:5 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. [25] I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fulness— [26] the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. [27] To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
[28] We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. [29] To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
[2:1] I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. [2] My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, [3] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [4] I tell you this so that no-one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. [5] For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

Again Paul gets over the importance of being united, of being one heart and mind, of being together, and the reason he tells us this is because it is a struggle. We can only do this if we are together is his constant refrain throughout his writing. It is important because the prize is so great – presenting as many people as possible to be seen as perfect by God. This is a struggle worth labouring for. And it is a good job that we are relying not just on our own energy, but as Paul puts, Christ’s energy working through us.

As we identify with Jesus, through our confession of his name, through our baptism and witness, through our willingness to suffer for his name, he will identify with us. We will find, as Paul frequently did, that when we do amazing works will happen because Jesus works in a situation, not us!

Hopeful....

Col. 1:21-23 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. [22] But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— [23] if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Alienated and reconciled – what we once were and what we are now, all as a result of Jesus mission to earth.

Alienation is a word that I like saying, it has rhythmic and poetic vibes, and it slides off the tongue. But what it actually means is quite ugly. We most often use the word to think about little green men from other planets, and if we think along those lines we start to grasp the meaning of the word. To be alienated from someone means to be different, to have nothing in common, to think and desire different things, to consider the other strange and unknown, perhaps even for there to be an undercurrent of hostility. And that describes our relationship with God before we met with Jesus. We didn’t think as he did, we didn’t desire the same goals as him, and many of us were actively hostile towards him. Yet now we are reconciled to him, now there is peace between us, we are aligned towards the same goals and purposes, and the evil of our sin has vanished in God’s sight, so long as we continue in our worship and love of Jesus. Because here we must remember that we are only reconciled to God, because Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves.

And here is the point of the gospel that we should never lose sight of – it is good news. Bad news would be to tell people that they have to try and make themselves right with God, knowing from the start that it is an impossible task. Bad news would be to tell people that day in day out they must struggle to be as good as they can be, trying to avoid the one slip that would make them imperfect and unable to stand before the Holy God of creation. That’s not just hard work, it is hopeless. But good news is telling people that they just need to accept God’s grace, expressed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the task that brought reconciliation to us, the mission that was undertaken to do what we could not do for ourselves. It is an offer that brings us hope – that is good news, and news worth sharing.

Absorb....

Col. 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. [16] For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. [17] He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. [19] For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

This is just one of those incredible passages about the personhood of Jesus. In him is the fullness of God. It is just incredibly hard to come to terms with this, that as Jesus walked the earth he was at once a man and at the same time God.

Theologians think that this isn’t just mind-blowing, but also necessary. Jesus’ mission to die on the cross was so that he could pay the cost of our redemption. He had to be a man to do this, because as a human he represented us as people who needed to be redeemed, because we all deserve to have to pay the penalty for those things that we did wrong. But at the same time only God himself is good enough to be able to pay the full cost of that redemption. So Jesus, our saviour, had to be fully man and fully God.

But Paul also wants to draw our attention to Jesus’ place in the cosmos. He is ruler of it, he sustains it, he created it. There is nothing that ever existed without Jesus having had some part in making it. As well as that when we look at Jesus we see who God is, because the character and nature of the son mirror that of the Father.

Sometimes you come across a passage which just takes your breath away – you have to stop thinking about it and just absorb it. This is one like that….

Worthy....

Col. 1:9-14 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. [10] And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, [11] being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully [12] giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. [13] For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We shouldn’t take for granted the forgiveness of our sins….

We should never forget where we came from. The Bible writers frequently describe our previous condition, how we were before we met with Jesus, of being one of darkness. It speaks of being blind, of not knowing the truth, of being unable to see where we are heading. It speaks of things being hidden so that they cannot be seen. It speaks of gloom and despair – and believe me, living in Scotland and experiencing the bleak early mornings it is easy to comprehend the despair that is possible….

But we are no longer there. We have moved out of darkness and into the Kingdom of the Son, the Kingdom of light. Where Jesus is there cannot be any darkness. First he is glorious beyond comparison and the Bible typically describes his glory as incandescent light. Light floods the darkness and overwhelms it. Being in light we can now see the truth, we are given hope rather than despair, and now nothing is hidden.

We need to live as people of the light, here Paul calls it living a life which is worthy of the Lord. Yet we know we cannot do this by ourselves. We may be on the way to becoming saints, but we are not yet perfect, and we never will be until Jesus calls us to himself when he makes all things new. But we should aim to be worthy. We have been given a second chance, a chance to live a life which pleases God, a chance to now live for him, as Lord and master of our lives, placing ourselves in his service. We can rely and depend on our fellow brothers and sisters, but we also have access to the power and glory of heaven, which through the spirit God pours out on us so that we can resist temptation and selfishness and live lives of love, often in tough places, so that we bring glory to his name.

And we need to live lives which are worthy – because our lives, the forgiveness of our sins was bought at a price. ‘Redemption’ is the word we use to signify the buying back, the purchasing of people out of slavery. We were slaves to darkness, and to release us from that slavery a cost had to be paid. It wasn’t money, but blood, the blood of that which God held most precious, his son Jesus Christ.

We shouldn’t take for granted the forgiveness of our sins – because it came at a cost. Someone was willing to suffer and die for us, to give us a second chance. He didi so willingly, out of love. Out of love for that, we should aim to make our lives worthy of that sacrifice. Not because we need to, but out of love, so as not to cheapen the love which did this for us.

Subvert....

Col. 1:1-8 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

[2] To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

[3] We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, [4] because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— [5] the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel [6] that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth. [7] You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, [8] and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

It is an incredible though that all over the world the Gospel is bearing fruit, yet when you stop to think about it a little it should be obvious.

Take your own life and examine how it has changed since you met with Jesus. The truth is that you may not be happy with how much you’ve changed – I think that if we’re honest all of us would say that we’d like to have seen more change that we would like to be like Jesus more and more. Objectively some of us may say that we have made more progress than others. But this isn’t the point here. The truth is that since meeting Jesus most of us will have changed to be more like him. This is what the Bible calls fruit, it is the evidence that Jesus is living in us, and that we are attached to the vine (John 15).

And this fruit is growing in the hearts of all the believers that you know, and in all the believers that you don’t know too. In fact all across the world there are people who are growing more and more to be like Jesus. And as they grow their influence spreads, their love touches more and more people, the light that shines amongst them grows brighter and brighter.

This is what Jesus meant when he said that we should have faith like a mustard seed, because Jesus understood that it would grow to be something that is huge. The world is full of big problems, sometimes it seems that conflict is inevitable, that force must be met with force. But what if instead of conflict, force met with something even more subversive than violence? What if it was met with love, the true fruit of the Gospel? Imagine that….

Fool....

Psalm 14:1-7
The fool says in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no-one who does good.

[2] The Lord looks down from heaven
on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
[3] All have turned aside,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no-one who does good,
not even one.

[4] Will evildoers never learn—
those who devour my people as men eat bread
and who do not call on the Lord?
[5] There they are, overwhelmed with dread,
for God is present in the company of the righteous.
[6] You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.

[7] Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!


Anyone who does not consider their eternal destiny, who does not think about what next, who pays no attention to their spiritual yearnings or needs, is called a fool in scripture. There is a very simple reason for this – the consequences for getting it wrong here are just too terrible to contemplate, so why risk not considering them.

We believe that God will hold each of us accountable for our actions, the good the bad, the caring and the selfish, and ultimately for our response to the claims of Jesus Christ to be Lord and saviour of our lives. Did we believe him and hold his words dear? Did we then live out a life of love that reflects him?

Or were we foolish? Did we reject or ignore those claims? Many people who act with such disdain for others and pursue their own ends at the expense of those around them do so because they have no fear of judgement. There is no sense that God will hold them to account for what they did here on earth. They are ignoring the great reality of creation, the presence of God. By doing this they are rushing headlong to their eternal destruction – when all they have to do is pause and heed the words of Jesus. What they gain here will be swept aside for eternity.

The Bible is right to call them fools – but by the grace of God they don’t need to stay foolish forever.

Storm....

Psalm 13:1-6

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
[2] How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

[3] Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
[4] my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

[5] But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
[6] I will sing to the Lord,
for he has been good to me.

There are times when God seems silent and distant, and very often they seem to coincide when we seem to need him the most. Life is often messy. There are dark times of the soul. Our emotions can be scarred, circumstance can overwhelm us. And we cry out to God – and then nothing…..

When this happens to the people I love I have no answer, at least no one that they’re looking for. I’d love to offer them words of meaningful comfort, something which goes beyond the trite and unthinking, because I think that they deserve that. But more often than not I have nothing to say. At times like this I too am asking where God is….

Because what we want is hope – we want to have light again in our eyes again, to be animated and feel alive, rather than the dead feeling that we go through when we are suffering.

So what do we have to fall back on at these times? Trust. Trust in God’s unfailing goodness. When times are dark we must remember that what God has promised to us in the light he will remain faithful to us in the dark. And so this Psalm reminds me more of what I should do in the good times than in the bad. I must gather courage where I find it and save it for the storms to come. I must remark on every act of goodness that the Lord bestows on me, saving them in my heart as a store, so that when the bad times come I remember his goodness. It may not be the instant answer that I look for at the time of hardship, but it will remind me that God’s love is unfailing as I grow through the trial I find myself in.

Flatter....

Psalm 12:1-8 Help, Lord, for the godly are no more;
the faithful have vanished from among men.
[2] Everyone lies to his neighbour;
their flattering lips speak with deception.

[3] May the Lord cut off all flattering lips
and every boastful tongue
[4] that says, "We will triumph with our tongues;
we own our lips—who is our master?"

[5] "Because of the oppression of the weak
and the groaning of the needy,
I will now arise," says the Lord.
"I will protect them from those who malign them."
[6] And the words of the Lord are flawless,
like silver refined in a furnace of clay,
purified seven times.

[7] O Lord, you will keep us safe
and protect us from such people for ever.
[8] The wicked freely strut about
when what is vile is honoured among men.


We use words all the time. We use them to ask for things, to state facts, to hide truths. Sometimes we can say words which hurt or harm and we can do so without having thought much about it – there are may throw away comments that I wish I could take back. And there are words which are calculated to hurt, the remark that we’ve been storing up and rehearsing for days, waiting for just the right time to use. There are word which are meant to deceive, and I wonder if in fact most forms of flattery are that.

Here David contrasts the words of our mouths with the word of God. He calls it flawless. There are no errors, no half truths, nothing hidden in God’s words. When he speaks to us he speaks from his character of perfect justice and love. We can trust his words because we know who he is – and God’s character ensures that he keeps his word. It is like silver, a precious metal. So we too should treasure his words to us and hold them in our heart. They have value to us. There is nothing casual or meaningless about anything that God says. At this time of year I’m reminded of Mary, whom the Bible tells us treasured all that happened to her and her family on that first Christmas night. God’s words are refined and purified. It is a deliberate act to turn ore into precious metal. All the impurities and dross have to be sifted out in order to get the valuable metal at the end. God’s words are deliberate. He never utters a sound that he does not mean. They are thought out and worth hearing because of that.

We ignore a lot of words as worthless chatter, but we need to learn to treasure God’s words.

Observe....

Psalm 11:1-7 [For the director of music. Of David.]

In the Lord I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
"Flee like a bird to your mountain.
[2] For look, the wicked bend their bows;
they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows
at the upright in heart.
[3] When the foundations are being destroyed,
what can the righteous do?"

[4] The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of men;
his eyes examine them.
[5] The Lord examines the righteous,
but the wicked and those who love violence
his soul hates.
[6] On the wicked he will rain
fiery coals and burning sulphur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.

[7] For the Lord is righteous,
he loves justice;
upright men will see his face.


I think I want to see God’s face, but too much time is spent seeking his hand. Much of my time with God is about my problems and issues in life. It seems that they are my consuming passions and I want Him to engage with me on them. I want to see his hand being an active presence in my life.

But I think that what I should be doing is seeking his face – because then I will be trying to build a proper relationship with him. It’s funny, but I always find it easier to communicate with people who look me in the eye rather than those whose eyes are darting around all over the place. Maybe it is because the eye contact signifies attention and concentration, that for this moment I am the only person that matters and other distractions are to be ignored. So I want to engage with God face to face. And here’s a promise from Jesus – if we don’t pursue things, if we seek God rather than our problems we will find that they fade away as we see them in their proper place.

But Jesus in that same promise (Matthew 6:33) reminds us of the same condition of the ehart that this psalm asks of us too. If we are to see god’s face then we must be righteous and upright in our actions. We must examine our hearts and eliminate wickedness from there. Selfishness, conceit, avarice must be replaced by justice, righteousness and servanthood. Because when we come into God’s presence he will see those things for what they are.

Involved....

Psalm 10:1-18 Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

[2] In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.
[3] He boasts of the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
[4] In his pride the wicked does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
[5] His ways are always prosperous;
he is haughty and your laws are far from him;
he sneers at all his enemies.
[6] He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me;
I'll always be happy and never have trouble."
[7] His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
[8] He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent,
watching in secret for his victims.
[9] He lies in wait like a lion in cover;
he lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
[10] His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.
[11] He says to himself, "God has forgotten;
he covers his face and never sees."

[12] Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
[13] Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
"He won't call me to account"?
[14] But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
[15] Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.

[16] The Lord is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
[17] You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
[18] defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

I cannot deal with the concept of God being distant, of being uncaring and uninvolved. I cannot bear to think of a creator who just has no sense of ownership and responsibility for that which he has made. I think that is why the image of God as Father is so central to my faith. Because Dads, good Dads, really care and are involved….

The psalmist paints a picture for us which is familiar to us – a world of have and have nots, where the poor are oppressed by those who have power, wealth and influence. There is a seeming lack of justice where the powerful act with impunity as there is no one who will bring them to account. Indeed the opening words are a plea to God: in times of trouble where are you……?

But as the song ends we begin to sense God’s heart through the the poetry. God cares for the poor and the needy, he stands up for the oppressed, he becomes a father to the fatherless. It is an appeal to the eternal. The powerful do not fear the consequences of their actions because they see only what is in this world – they do not peer into the eternal. For us our actions on this life will shape our eternal future, and this includes our sense of justice towards those who are without. The powerful may act with impunity – pray that soon they glimpse eternity.

Give....

Philip. 4:10-23 I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. [11] I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. [12] I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. [13] I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
[14] Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. [15] Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; [16] for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. [17] Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. [18] I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. [19] And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
[20] To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

[21] Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. [22] All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household.
[23] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

It’s December 1st as I write this. Downstairs the boys have opened the first doors on their advent calendars and on my desk is a catalogue for a mail order firm called ‘I want one of those!” It’s a time of year when many of us think about receiving.

Paul’s words about himself here are inspiring. He has learned to be content with the circumstances that he finds himself in because of his trust in Jesus. He knows that it is Christ’s grace that he depends on, and since that mean that the riches of heaven will be poured out on him he is grateful.

But here Paul also relates to us a story of giving. This is a church who are used to giving, often at times sacrificially. Paul, amongst others has been the beneficiary of such giving. But it is their value to God that Paul focuses on. Not that God needs our stuff, but that he is pleased when some of his children abandon pursuit of the materialism in this world.

‘Things’ are not bad. They can bring us joy. But pursuing them relentlessly instead of finding contentment in serving God will ultimately damage us and the mission of the church.