33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 (NIV)

What things did Jesus tell them? Well, he basically told them that soon their grief would be turned into joy. Jesus had come from the father and was going back to him. ‘In a little while’ says Jesus ‘you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.’
The disciples quizzed Jesus and wanted to know what he was saying, of course now we get the full picture. Jesus was alluding to his death on the cross, and then his resurrection and ascension back to his Father in heaven. Jesus is telling his disciples this and explains that he is doing so (telling them about it) to fill them with peace because trouble is coming but Jesus has overcome the world. What does that mean? We know that trouble did come in the form of horrendous persecution and death for so many of these young disciples, Jesus wasn’t giving them a guarantee of ultimate safe passage without harm and conflict. So what was he saying then? He has overcome the world?
This ‘overcoming the world’ is like a victory that is assured, and something that has been accomplished already. Something then that stands outside of time in certain aspects because it hasn’t lost it’s impact and victory today for any and all who discover it. It was still just as relevant then for those early disciples.
So what does that really mean to you and me today? Well, I think the truth that Jesus has overcome the world means that not only in the moments of victory and the joys of this life can we know his true peace, but experience it also in the midst of pain, uncertainty and chaos.
This world would suggest that this is it, what you have now and can put around you is it, but Jesus has somehow overcome this idea. The world tells us that it’s ok to hate those that hate you and to get revenge when you’re wronged. Jesus has overcome this idea. The world tells us that money will be your security, better job, new car and cash in the bank will be all you need for a good life, Jesus has overcome this.
For me, there seems to be a sense here that even though difficulties come along, loneliness, separation, death, debt, health scares and well whatever, we can have an anchor or grounding in the fact that Jesus has overcome this stuff. He has achieved a victory that grants us peace during these storms that surge into our lives. That’s a massive comfort actually, because at times, (if we are really honest) we won’t always feel that gushing sense of peace, maybe it will just be a strong conviction that guides us and keeps us rooted. A peace that knows deep down Jesus has overcome this stuff, and we can know that freedom and peace even as this storm rages around us.

Image Credit: Matej Rieciciar

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Matthew 5:43-44 (NIV)

Personally this verse is one of the hardest ones for me to wrestle with. Firstly, who is my neighbour? Is it literally 1 house either side of mine? Or is it the street, any one in Essex? Britain, Europe? Does it reach further? Could it be the 7 billion + human beings that populate the earth? Are we really neighbours? Does there need to be some sort of relationship here to be neighbours, some sort of connection or is it a generic term to just mean everyone?
For Israel, it was the children of their people, as a nation that was perhaps a bit easier at the time to quantify and be able to work out. ‘Are you from any of the tribes of Israel? No? Great then you’re not my neighbour, goodbye.
The term ‘neighbour’ in today’s definitions seems to mean ‘someone who is very close in proximity.’ Ok, so that sort of works then, its people who I come into contact with or who I could easily be in contact with that are living and functioning close to where I live and work etc. What about social media?
I live in a new build house and our fences are 6-foot-high and solid timber, so I can’t actually see my neighbours in the garden anymore. I remember growing up and our family home had 3-foot high wire mesh fences. I would sit in the garden playing and listen to my mum and dad chatting away over the fence to our next-door neighbours, the Davis Family. We knew their children, if both families were out in the garden on a summers day you couldn’t ignore them or pretend they couldn’t see you and vice versa, you ‘did’ neighbours stuff. You talked and were interested in each other.
The fences on social media don’t really exist either, you can reach across the sea in a second and have a chat with someone thousands of miles away. Share videos and live feeds. So who is your neighbour? How do you define it? Then maybe the next question to ask is to do with the Jesus statement; how do you love them?
This bit is a challenge! So we need to define who are neighbours are and love them but we are reading here that Jesus expects us to love our enemies too, and pray for the ones who actively and purposefully hurt us. Er…what?
This has been explored and debated so much – I would love to see what your thoughts are in the comments to loving our enemies. What does this look like? Who are these people and what does it really mean to love them? Invite them over for tea? Or is it about not seeking revenge but speaking well of them, doing ‘loving’ things as opposed to ‘hateful’ things?
As always if Jesus said it you can be sure he lived it, and guess what, he did.
‘Forgive them father for they know not what they do!’
Jesus is at the worst moment in his life, he can see his own murder unfolding before him. Having already been ridiculed and savagely flogged and now hanging there, nailed to the cross, he shows love to those who the world would say are his clear enemies. He doesn’t call down fire and lightening from heaven to strike them, he calls out no curse from the cross upon them, he shouts from his lungs a cry of love for his enemies.
I don’t know how you read these words of Jesus but for me, Jesus backed them up in the way he lived and the way he died. I find that incredibly moving.

Image Credit: Matej Rieciciar

“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

Mark 8:34-37 (NIV)

Lets set the scene. Jesus has been moving around the area and saying incredible things, he has drawn a massive crowd and they are in awe of him. In addition to this Jesus is directly speaking away illness and sickness in people’s lives! Imagine it, you go to see Jesus speak and your uncle Bert goes forward, he has not been able to hear since birth and within in a moment he can hear your voice for the first time and he’s leaping around like a firework thanking Jesus.
Or you go to a gathering where Jesus is and it’s a long hot day, the kids are fighting because they’re hungry and you forgot to bring any lunch. Suddenly you can see Jesus collecting the lunch of a lad up the front and then within a few minutes, baskets of bread and fish are going around and feeding everyone. Maybe even your kids are filling their pockets for the journey home, mine would!
Or imagine the guy who nobody can go near, violently demonised and shunned from the community. This guy has an encounter with Jesus and suddenly he is dressed, focused and walking about as clear as day, restored back into community and family.
Is it any wonder Jesus had a crowd following him? He would have been hounded at every town and village, there was no shortage of people needing this sort of help.
But what amazes me, is that Jesus could have maintained a wonderful life and ministry touring the big cities are working the show stopping miracles. He could have gone everywhere with this stuff and built a real name for himself, but with the crowd following behind he stops and says this:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
This bothers me, why would he do this? People began to turn away, people stopped in their tracks, men, women and children just walked away from Jesus. This was difficult teaching, this wasn’t comfortable anymore, ‘keep doing the healing miracle Jesus, we like that stuff!’
Jesus hits this lot with something so profound that I am not sure we really discover it until we discover the shape of our own cross, often through life’s adversities.
When everything is wonderful the idea of thinking about what our own ‘crosses’ are and how we carry them, is tucked away and hidden in the ‘not required’ drawer. Our Christian faith is nice, sweet, tidy, ordered and well groomed. Trouble is, its not until we come unstuck in life, hit a wave of chaos that threatens to drown us or are attacked and beaten up by life that we start to gain some deeper clarity on this.
Denying ourselves, in my opinion, is so tough to do with authenticity. What about my rights? What about my feelings, my dreams, my money or my time? What about me! Why should I forgive when that person hurt me? Why should I seek reconciliation when it wasn’t me that caused the division? This wasn’t fair, why should I trust again?
For each of us our cross will be different, wrapped in a set of ‘things’ that we can identify in our lives, but there is, in my opinion, a unifying element to all the crosses. They all have resurrection DNA coded into their very fabric. They all have the victory of Christ nailed onto them.
We are not doing this cross carrying, trusting and hoping alone, we are not stumbling and struggling whilst God sits light years away watching it all pan out for his amusement. We are accompanied by the Holy Spirit who reminds us minute by minute, hour by hour that Jesus has defeated this world and has given us victory.
My prayer is this; why not make it yours ?
Jesus, this is all about you and all about your strength, presence and life in me, I might not always feel your presence and the valleys can be deep and dark but lead me on, minute by minute, hour by hour.

Image Credit: Matej Rieciciar

Maybe you saw this in the news or even went and had a look for yourself, but earlier this year ITV HQ supported a charity called CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) by having an art installation on their buildings roof.
The installation was the work of sculptor Mark Jenkins and featured 84 full size male figures, dressed and set on the rooftop edge of ITV HQ. The reason is to raise awareness of the 84 men a week that take their own lives in the UK. Male suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK.
For over a decade CVM have been speaking about the issues facing men and in particular men in church, and have been supporting the church to respond with a long-term evangelistic strategy. We have seen thousands of men respond, lives dramatically transformed and taken from the very point of despair to an abundant new life.
Part of the work of CVM has been to emphasise the importance of enabling the right conditions for men to be real, honest, open and share with other men what life is really like. The embarrassment of a dodgy prostrate, a marriage failure or redundancy that brought in the black clouds of depression.
This stuff is real, and what we have seen is that as we enable men to build friendships, to share their faith and lives whilst doing stuff they actually want to do (like eating, sport or burning stuff, did I miss anything? That’s a joke!) men will talk, share and deal with things, and (I can speak from experience), it helps.
For me, this is part of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. This is rolling up our sleeves and being willing to not just invite a bloke to church one Sunday, but journey right through the chaos, and invest in a long term plan to see a culture shifting amount of men discover real life in Jesus!
The sculpture at ITV is an incredibly powerful reminder that we mustn’t look away or allow ourselves to become numb to these statistics, they represent lives of men in their prime who need a rescue. Who will help?
During this week we will be sharing information and experiences around this issue of mental health and men.
If you need to reach out and begin the journey away from the precipice the starting point is to tell someone. Talk to someone you trust, let family or friends know what’s going on for you, they may be able to offer help and support. If you find it difficult to talk to someone you know these free helplines are there to help.

• Samaritans – Available 24hr for everyone – Call 116 123
• Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) – Available 5pm to Midnight for men – Call 0800 58 58 58

Help and support is available right now if you need it. You don’t have to struggle with difficult feelings alone.
If you’re worried about someone, try to get them to talk to you. Ask open-ended questions like: “How do you feel about…?” Don’t worry about having the answers. Just listening to what someone has to say and taking it seriously can be more helpful. See Samaritans’ tips on how to start a difficult conversation.
Image Credit: Alex Iby

01. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32

We made it, finally at the end of my (unofficial) top ten bible memory verses. Thank you for journeying with me on this, I hope it hasn’t been too bad, and who knows, you might have a few of these committed to memory now!
I remember sharing a meal with a few people and one couple had just published a book about marriage, particularly about kindness in marriages. It was such a simple thing and a quick conversation, but I kept thinking about it, and how perhaps something seemingly insignificant could make such a difference.
Being kind and compassionate is perhaps not something we find easy to do all the time, I don’t. When I am tired, grumpy and fed up I can be unkind, and compassion doesn’t really surface. When you add in forgiveness it takes it to a whole new level.
I often want forgiveness, and I am always looking to be treated with kindness and compassion but giving it back seems to be more of a decision and conscious choice than the normal behaviour I usually default too.
Once you have that introspective (maybe this is just me here, but I hope you can see some of this in your life too!) the bible then tells you something else! It ramps the whole thing up even further! Not only are we to be kind and compassionate but we are also told to forgive. Forgive set against the scales of Jesus complete and forgiveness of us.
I am done with my confessions here, but let’s just say that if that’s the way we approach this, I can go on forgiving people until the day I die because of the work Jesus has done for me. Jesus has forgiven me, for everything and that is a bit of an astounding thing to be honest.
So if Jesus has really done that for me, I can in turn forgive others, and love everyone with kindness and compassion and I should want to show that more and more. But what does that look like?
Well in the simplest terms (the ones I understand) it is this; be kind to people, think about others and their needs, see people in need and help, be there, show up, stand with others, speak for them, encourage, support, congratulate and celebrate others even when they do better than I could. Show mercy, patience and compassion and really love people even if they don’t like my Christian views or agree with how I choose to live.
I am feeling a bit challenged, time to stop.

Image Credit: Ben White

02. But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

So this is one of my favourite sections of the bible, the book of Jeremiah contains some incredible stuff. The first part of this chapter talks about how a man is cursed when his life is focused and firmly centred on drawing value and strength from our own efforts along with the capabilities of those around us. There is a stark contrast though when we get to verse 7, which tells us that there is blessing in our lives when we trust not in the flesh but in the Lord.
Trouble is, this can sometimes be rather difficult to do. When the heat is on and life gets challenging I tend to default to a few things, my own ability to sort stuff or to chase after those I know that can help.
This isn’t in itself a bad thing, but the trouble comes when we put our confidence and hope in only ourselves and other people and not God. What happens, for me anyway, is that instead of running to God through the relationship I have with Him, I lurch to my own resources, abilities and efforts to fix or sort, to repair or build etc. What I have seen is that time and time again my efforts come up short and leave me, and others even, feeling worse off!
This verse suggests to me that when the heat comes, the man who has learnt to not trust that default gut reaction to build or sort it himself (without God) but has discovered a root of confidence in God, he is a man getting blessed.
The bible tells us that even when the heat is on this life will be fruitful! I don’t know about you but there have been so many times in my life when the heat is up and I have withered and retreated after having watched my energy, resources and confidence ebb away in the heat of battle.
So, what does this actually look like then? Well, for me this is about a relationship not a quick fix or emergency hotline in the storm. Roots grow stronger over time, leaves that are always green indicates seasons when this shouldn’t be the case, and years of drought suggest a longer journey. For me, this is about a continual pattern in our lives of saying ‘God, I trust you and only you, I am not putting my hope and confidence in me and my strength, or even those around me, it’s you, and only you.’

Image Credit: Ben White

03. In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. Psalm 5:3

Welcome back, how are you getting on with getting these bible verses forged into your memory? I have to be honest I think I have lost my edge when it comes to impressive memory recall but let’s keep going.
In my household, the chances of getting up before my children and finding a quiet place to reflect and read my bible is rare, not impossible but rare. But, there have been seasons in my life where I have set an alarm and found time alone in the morning to pray and seek God with a bit more enthusiasm and focus, and it has transformed my life.
With the bible verse for memory this week I want to suggest we go for it literally, and pull out 3 things:

• the morning
• lay my requests
• wait expectantly.

Firstly, lets look at this thing of ‘in the morning.’ As I said, normally this just doesn’t happen, the alarm gets hit or ignored. However when it has happened and I get up early to pray, I have found that my life as a Christian has grown. I have heard from God in these morning prayer times, found a new passion for the bible and even prayed for other people! Does it need to be in the morning? I can honestly say it does work so you can make up your own mind, but I am taking this one literally.
Secondly, ‘lay my requests.’ I like this. So often we might have read that God knows your thoughts before you have even prayed so what’s the point in praying? Well, even though he knows your every thought the invite is still to come to him and speak to him, talk and tell him what’s on your heart. I like that. So often my son comes to me and I know exactly what he is thinking just by looking at him. However I don’t stop him, hearing him pour it all out and look to me is part of this father and son deal.
Lastly, we are told to wait expectantly, not to forget that we laid all this stuff in front of God or busy ourselves trying to fix the stuff we have just asked for help on. Waiting isn’t easy, waiting expectantly is even harder as it requires faith and hope that stuff will change or be answered.

Image Credit: Ben White

04: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8,9

I was away on a CVM sports week recently in Lanzarote, unsurprisingly it’s called the CVM Lanzarote Sports Week. We had an amazing time doing sports and in the evening discovering more about the Christian faith together.
One of the questions that came up was a really good one and one which I think a lot of people wrestle with, grace and the free gift.
The question asked was simply this; ‘So then this grace thing, if I decide to live my life as a sinful man hurting others and living for myself, I can still jump in on the grace ticket just before I die and get saved?’
The guy leading the sessions was amazing and he offered some answers around the relationship that was being missed out on between you and God, the fact that you might die in some horrific accident and miss the moment to say the ‘give me your grace Jesus’ prayer etc. But he also said this and I think he nailed it with this one:
‘To be honest guys’ he said ‘this is probably the most offensive thing about the Christian faith, that Jesus would be willing to forgive someone like that who lived a life of deliberate separation from him for so many years but then decided to trust Jesus right at the end of their lives, it is wonderfully offensive.’
I liked that, because I think he was right, it is offensive but amazing and almost too much to comprehend for me.
Jesus loved us humans that much that not only did he die for us whilst we were lost as a human race in sin and rejecting him, but he would even forgive and welcome home a person who did the death bed repentance bit.
I need to be honest here, if I was in Jesus’ shoes I wouldn’t allow that death bed bit! I would be inclined to let them know the line was busy, or they are on hold and I would get back to them in a day or so..
Jesus’ grace is offensive because we want justice and a good measure given out to the unjust but so long as we are safe and in that’s fine. I think that when my daughter gave her life to Jesus and decided to follow him there was a party in heaven and she is now exploring what that decision really means each day. The same happens when a bloke on his death bed admits the chaos his life has been and calls on the grace of Jesus as he breathes his last. There is a party in heaven, even though it was a life set on destruction, the grace and free gift of life is available to all; it doesn’t matter if we like it or not. That’s incredible and takes the idea of grace to a whole new level for me.
Jesus is amazing!

Image Credit: Ben White

05: Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. Psalm 24:3-4

I have been reading this verse a lot recently, well to be honest the whole Psalm. I love not only the format of this Psalm and it’s question and answer bit at the end, but that it makes me think about the reverence of God.
I think ‘reverence’ or fear of God is something that is documented well in the bible and for me personally it isn’t something I really grew up understanding as a Christian.
Often the idea of us ‘fearing’ God can sort of translate in a weird way as this father figure in heaven who wags his finger at our sin and is disappointed in us. ‘Tut tut you sinner, you’re back again’ …and so on.
But that doesn’t fit when you also have this picture of God welcoming us into his presence as Abba father! Compare this then to my relationship with my children, it’s the best reference point I have and perhaps you can resonate with it.
It’s like me letting my kids call me daddy and me being willing to make supreme sacrifices for them because I love them so much, but then in an instant the wagging finger comes out and they suddenly feel condemned in my presence. ‘You shall fear me!’ Doesn’t seem to work does it.
For me then it is better captured in the life of someone like Elijah. When he came out of his cave in 1 Kings, the presence of God was there. Elijah covered his face as he felt just a fraction of the sheer magnitude and awe of God’s presence. If he had seen more of Gods face and splendour it would have dissolved him where he stood! But, the key thing for me here is that Elijah, face covered, had a pinnacle moment here, not a feeling of condemnation and shame but of repurposing and reenergising in the awe and reverence of God.
So then, who can ascend the mountain of God? Well, we can. The mountain top experience with God will change us. When our lives come into connection with even a sliver of his holiness we are changed, but he does welcome us. How? Because Jesus has opened the way, only then can we climb that mountain, only then can we be in that place. We stand with clean hands and heart because the life and blood of Jesus has put the record straight, and opened a way for us. I don’t know about you but that fills me with awe and reverence, fear even, but I also feel bold to approach. Thank you Jesus!

Image Credit: Ben White

“Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” John 20:25

I have recently spent some time reflecting on various art works that capture the resurrection of Jesus. There have been many interpretations of this incredible moment in history where Jesus is resurrected from the grave and is seen over a period of 11 weeks by about 500 people. Alive again, walking, talking, eating and spending time with those he had journeyed with before his crucifixion. Amazing!
Throughout history different generations of artists have tried to capture this moment using their incredible skill and creative minds. However, much of their work pictures Jesus floating out of the tomb with a halo surrounded by a bright radiant light. Whilst this is stunning to look at it left me with a couple of thoughts 1. I don’t really think like that when I consider Jesus coming back from the dead. 2. I don’t think that was how it actually looked in reality either.
Mary, who had journeyed with him for years, thought he was just the gardener and completely overlooked him. And of course there was Thomas. I want to touch on the Incredulity of Thomas, as depicted in the painting Doubting Thomas by Caravaggio.
In this painting you’ve got a dark scene, three fellas crowding around Jesus with one of the men, Thomas, being taken by the hand by Jesus so he can jab his finger into his side. The painting is raw and in some way it captures the grain and grit of the moment. There is no radiant sunlight or halo, it’s an open and deep wound being probed by Thomas’ doubting finger. It is actually a bit graphic, but there is something here that amazes me.
The expression on all the faces is capturing a moment that is almost a hush, a great secret about to explode into the world. Thomas’s eyes are full of doubt but like a blind man discovering sight, he is finding that his heart really can trust and the hope he had is returning.
Jesus didn’t condemn Thomas to the waste lands and kick him out of the close group because he doubted. No, Jesus did the opposite, he invited him closer to really see for himself. Maybe Easter Sunday for you is amazing but also at times too much to really comprehend. Don’t worry, I think Jesus invites us closer to really see him and know him. He has risen, have a look for yourself.