Nothing is Wasted

This summer, our family enjoyed a holiday in Brittany, France, for a few weeks. Amidst the copious amounts of oysters, baguettes and butter we consumed, the sandy beaches and shaded forests we ambled through, and the historic towns we visited, one of my favourite pastimes happened at the end of the day. After we had dinner each evening, I would take a jug of banana peels and eggshells, chicken carcass and carrot shavings and transport it from the kitchen to the compost bin in the middle of a field near the house we were renting. It was a most satisfying trek, knowing that all this rubbish was going to make a new thing.

Nothing is wasted in God’s kitchen. 

You see this in John 6.12 - "And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, 'Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.'" 

You see this in Romans 8.28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose". 

I’ve seen this in my own life, where I stand witness to God taking the broken pieces of my heart, the seemingly useless hours of pursuit on a passion project and my bruised and battered relationships and transforming it all into the fertile soil of learning experience, growth opportunity and a way to walk with others going through similar experiences.

If you are in a season of life where you are questioning ‘why’, take heart to remember that one of the biggest ‘whys’ was asked on the cross and answered when that gravestone rolled over three days later. Jesus’ death was not wasted, and neither will your suffering, you who love Him and have been called according to His purpose.

For days, I wondered what the owners of our guest house did with the compost. I got my answer one morning when, after a jog, he ushered me over to his front door and asked me whether I’d like some offerings from his garden. He went inside and came back out with a buxom bounty of yellow and green courgettes. A gift I didn’t know I needed. Talk about the story of our Christian lives.

These articles are written without the use of generative AI.

God’s Invitation to the Anxious Heart

Anxiety is familiar to us all. It is a universal human experience. For some, it involves mild worries that come and go; for others, full-blown, relentless fears; and for still others, something in between. Anxiety reveals that we live in a broken world and points to realities about life in this world.

It reminds us of our limitations and lack of control, and of our frailty as we try time and again to fix our troubles on our own. It reveals our desires: what we want, what we love, and what matters most to us. Ultimately, our anxieties and fears point to something more than life in this world can give, and to what only God can provide.

In the swirling storm of anxiety, the God who knows us intimately and loves us deeply invites us to come to him. He calls to us in the storm to cast our worries and fears about our past, present, and future onto him because he cares for us (1 Peter 5.7).

God invites the anxious heart tethered to past regrets to come to him and receive his forgiveness. “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103.12). He offers complete forgiveness for every regretful thought, word, and deed. In Christ, we look at our past through the lens of God’s abundant mercy and lavish grace. “In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us” (Ephesians 1.7-8).

God invites the one overwhelmed by present concerns to find rest in the promise of his presence and power. We often act as if we are on our own, trying to control what is beyond our control. God calls us to live within our limits and turn to him, trusting that he is infinitely powerful and always near. “Where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139.7-9). Our all-powerful, all-wise God is an ever-present help in every trouble we face.

God invites the anxious heart weighed down with concerns about the future to entrust tomorrow's worries to him. Worries about our health, relationships, money, and accomplishments can consume our thoughts. Jesus knows the weight of those worries and teaches us to turn our gaze to our Father who provides. “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6.26).

The Lord knows your limitations. He cares about the anxieties that you carry and calls you to keep casting your worries onto him. He is more than able to strengthen you, help you, and uphold you (Isaiah 41.10).

These articles are written without the use of generative AI.

On the Death of Christ

I remember preparing for my first ever Sunday sermon. It was Easter Sunday and I chose to preach from Isaiah 53, the most vivid Old Testament prophecy of Christ’s death and its meaning. As I studied the text, I found myself fixated on verse 10 which starts with these words, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief”. Isaiah was saying in no uncertain terms that Jesus would suffer a brutal death according to the Father’s will and plan.

I believed this truth but wrestled with how to communicate it. It is hard to wrap our heads around the idea that God, our good Father, would orchestrate the suffering and death of his beloved Son. It is so counterintuitive that some theologians have tried very hard to deny it. Their arguments might pull on our heartstrings but they flatly contradict the teaching of Jesus himself and his apostles¹. Scripture is clear, God the Father was the architect behind the death of Christ.

So, what are we to make of this? What does Christ’s death show us about God the Father? Much can and has been said on this but as I reflect on it, I see at least three encouragements it gives us.

See his great love for you. Scripture tells us why God orchestrated the death of Christ. He did it out of love for sinful humans like you and me. The cross reflects not the smallness of the Father’s love for Jesus but the greatness of his love for us. John 3.16 famously says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”. In saying “he gave” Christ, it speaks of giving him to die in our place. To settle the debt we could never repay. To reconcile us to himself. If you ever doubt God’s love for you, remember he gave Christ for you while you were his enemy (Romans 5.6–10). If he did not spare his own Son but gave him for you, you can trust his commitment to doing you good (Romans 8.32).

See his full pardon of you. Christ’s death displays not only God’s love but also his righteousness (see Romans 3.23–26). We struggle to comprehend the gravity of sinning against our holy God and the wrath it deserves. If God simply forgave us because we said sorry or did more good than bad, that would be unjust as he would be simply ignoring our sins. However, God does justice to the believer in Christ because all their sins are punished in Christ’s death and God is “faithful and just to forgive” (1 John 1.9). If you ever worry that God still counts sins against you or are tempted to work for forgiveness, remember God gave Christ to be a more than sufficient payment for all your sin.

See his ability to turn evil into good. The death of Christ is simultaneously the most heinous injustice and most loving act in history. In it we see the highest fulfilment of the words Joseph spoke to his brothers, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive” (Genesis 50.20). God often shines the brightest light out of the deepest darkness. And this is reason for us to hope. If your situation looks hopeless and bleak, remember the death of Christ and see that God can and will still turn even this for good.

¹ Isaiah 53.10, Luke 24.42, John 3.16, Acts 2.23, Acts 4.27–28, Romans 3.25, Romans 8.32

These articles are written without the use of generative AI.

Introducing some new staff members

Jesus told us to ‘pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’ (Matthew 9.38). And so, it feels like an answer to prayer that I have the pleasure of introducing a few new staff members who have joined during the course of this month. This is a wonderful answer to prayer as we seek to become a church that helps mobilise and release people into their calling in ministry. Here’s a very brief introduction to each of the new team members.

From left: Benjamin, Seyoon, Jae-Mo & Josh

Josh Brennan – Intern
Josh showed up at Grace last summer (2025) after meeting Jeremy Moses on an airplane, and spent a couple of months with us while he was doing a summer internship. He then went back to Bath to complete his degree, and during that time he contacted us about the possibility of giving the church a year of his time after graduation and before taking up his graduate job. As a result of those conversations, Josh is doing a one year voluntary internship. He’ll be seeking to raise some more financial support for this year, so if you have a heart to help, please do contact Josh to find out how.

Benjamin Bloch – Pastoral Associate
I first met Benjamin back in February after he applied for our pastoral residency. At the time, he was working in his first ministry role at Grace Church, Greenwich, straight after graduating from Durham University. We are are really happy to announce that Benjamin has come on board as a Pastoral Associate in order to gain a wide range of ministry experience, whilst continuing his course of biblical studies at Cornhill.

Jae-Mo Park – Pastoral Resident
Jae-Mo has arrived from Seoul with his wife, Seyoon, just this week. He has been involved for some years in a ministry at his home church praying for Europe and supporting church planting, and that led him to begin studying remotely with Union School of Theology. During a trip to the UK, he met Felix Aremo (one of our deacons) at a London City Mission conference, and ended up applying for our pastoral residency. We were very happy to offer Jae-Mo a training role here at Grace as he takes the enormous step of leaving his previous career in marketing in order to pursue God’s call. Seyoon has worked as a biblical counsellor back home in Seoul. Together they are taking a huge step by moving to a new city, a new country, and joining a new church.

I am thanking God that he is growing our team by calling people to his service. As a church family, let’s do everything we can to welcome them, encourage them, and support them as they serve the Lord at Grace.

These articles are made without the use of generative AI.

Why Do You Live in London?

London can feel like two different cities at times. There's the London of Borough Market, astonishing period architecture, amazing food and world-class museums. And then there's the London of soaring rents, packed commutes, and a loneliness that can leave you feeling invisible and desperate for physical connection. When we’ve reached the later stage of this London experience, it’s important to remember God’s heart for this city and your place in it - and we do that by holding a theology of the city.


A Theology of the City

God tells his people in Jeremiah 29:7 to "Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you... for in its welfare you will find your welfare."

This passage was written to exiles who wanted nothing more than to leave Babylon, a pagan, oppressive city that represented everything opposed to their way of life, culture and faith. Yet, God's word through Jeremiah is to stay and to "seek the welfare of the city... and pray to the Lord on its behalf.” 

Now this is significant because it grounds caring for the city not in the city's own merits, but in God's placement of his people there for its good. Therefore, the foundation for us caring for the city is the conviction that God sends his people into hostile and spiritually compromised places as agents of blessing, tying their flourishing to the flourishing of the place they didn't choose and might not love.

Without this theological framework, it’s easy to drift toward one of two postures. Either we withdraw from the city, seeing it as dangerous, immoral, and financially unsustainable. Or we embrace it uncritically, assuming that everything about modern, cosmopolitan London must be good.

A theology of the city corrects both instincts. It teaches us that we can love the city without conforming to it, and critique the city without despising it. And because it holds these two realities in tension (love and critique), it compels us in two further directions. First, it drives us towards prayer because prayer opens our eyes to see that behind the city's visible brokenness lie spiritual realities that only prayer can address (prayer walks are a great way to practice this). Second, it moves us toward compassion, so that our hearts don't harden into indifference toward the suffering and brokenness around us - including our own.


A Missional Presence

In the providence of God, you are here in this city to seek its welfare and to pray to the Lord on its behalf. To be a consistent presence, to pursue meaningful relationships, and to courageously and creatively proclaim the gospel in both word and witness. 

So whether you're in the office or rubbing shoulders with people of power and influence, unwinding with friends at the pub after work, or simply sharing a home with unbelieving housemates, you are here as a missionary to seek the good of this city and the people in it. So don't let the loneliness, the struggles, or the sheer dazzle of city life distract you from living on mission.

Pray: God, give me a heart for this city. Give me grace for this city. Empower me by your Spirit to help bring beauty, goodness, and renewal to this place that you love. In Jesus' name, amen.

These articles are written without the use of generative AI.

First Impressions

One of my favourite icebreakers whenever I’m chatting to a group of Grace London newbies is asking them what their first impression of the church was. You get a delicious buffet of interesting answers. 
 

The coffee is good and strong. 
People look like they actually enjoy worship.
Strangers came over and said hi.
The church building smelled like an airport. (See, interesting answer!)

Most first impressions are good (that is, if you like airports), but there are definitely bad first impressions of Grace London from those who’ve decided not to return. First impressions matter because they pave the way to a second visit, which then hopefully paves the way to regular attendance where they can meet Jesus and discover what it means to be a follower of Christ amongst brothers and sisters.

Many are involved in the making of a good first impression.

The captain of the team is the Holy Spirit, who’s always at work doing his thing. VIP players include Grace’s excellent staff and pastoral team (tooting my own horn here), who plan, prep, order and lead. 

But a Sunday is not a Sunday without you behind the tech desk, strumming the guitar, or setting up the chairs. Grace London cannot provide a welcoming atmosphere or a good first impression if you don’t come on time, set aside your own week’s worries and stresses to look out for the nervous visitor standing to the side, peering out with eyes that say, “please someone come and say hi to me” and “please nobody notice me” both at the same time.

If you’d consider Grace London your church, do consider how you can help us make a good first impression.

Every September, we have the privilege of welcoming many new visitors to the church. Some have just moved to the city, some are looking for a new church to call home, some are coming back after a season of church hurt, some are tagging along with friends to hear who this Jesus guy is. All are looking to feel welcomed, to experience God’s love for them expressed in our love for them.

You don’t have to join the welcome team to help make Grace London a welcoming church. You don’t even need to join any volunteer team (although we would love you to). But coming each Sunday with a prayer uttered not only for how God will speak to you but also for how He will use you to reach others is a good start.

Doing this might open your eyes to that wayward sign out the front, so that a newcomer doesn't get confused entering the church building. Doing this could nudge you to continue your chat with your best friend over the season finale of Pluribus later in the week, and instead focus your time on getting to know someone new. Doing this may pop an interesting question into your head to ask the person sitting behind you, leading to a fruitful conversation.

First impressions matter. Will you make Grace London’s a good one for all those seeking a new church to call home?

These articles are written without the use of generative AI.

Christ the Sinner’s Friend

I glanced up from a plate of bacon and eggs to see a world-renowned British actor only a table away. I peered again, unsure if I’d imagined it - perhaps this was just a regular bloke arriving for Saturday brunch - but after a minute or two, I was sure it was him. Having watched him perform alongside movie stars, I thought he might have opted for somewhere a little more high-brow than a greasy spoon cafe. Clearly even the celebs love a fry-up.

But while these ‘Why are you here?’ moments are a rarity in everyday life, they happen all the time in the gospels. In fact, Jesus often seems to be in the places you’d least expect. He never dined with kings or governors, but instead, regularly frequented the homes of tax collectors, sinners and the despised riffraff.

It’s no accident either - Jesus’ dining habits speak of his heart towards the outcast and the broken. And spending time with them over a meal was more than a nicety; it was an expression of companionship. To eat with someone was to say, ‘I count you as a friend.’


The Friend

Jesus’ heart towards sinners is the same today. He doesn’t only desire to be our king and master - these things are vital and true - but our friend too. As Jesus says to the disciples in John 15.15, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Just like the tax-collectors and disciples, Jesus invites you to dine with him, to spend time enjoying his presence and to speak to him with the openness of a sibling or closest friend. In short, Jesus asks you - even you - if you’ll accept the joy of friendship with him.


…of Sinners

Yet when we hear this invitation, our minds often jump to objection after objection - mistakes, flaws, regrets. We discount ourselves with memories of past failures. ‘Jesus would never want to be a friend of mine’, we tell ourselves, ‘not if he really knew me’.

Except, the scandalous message of the gospel is that the sin we think exempts us from Jesus’ presence is exactly that which qualifies us to come to him as saviour. When the Pharisees confronted Jesus for eating with sinners, he highlighted this, saying: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2.17) 

The message is clear: Jesus came to save those who don’t have their lives nicely ‘put together’. Christ came for those who know that they fall short, who know that their soul is fatally sick and who know they can never attain perfection.

Perhaps you feel this too. Perhaps you’re racked with guilt and condemnation, aware of your brokenness and sin. Jesus came for people exactly like you. He entered the lowly places in search of you, eating around tables you’d never expect him. And now, just like back then, he invites you to call him friend.

Our new single, Christ the Sinner’s Friend, is out today and explores these themes. Listen here.
These articles are written without the use of generative AI.

A Workaholic’s Guide to Sabbath

I’ve always had a love/ignore relationship with the Sabbath. Graduating into the 2008 recession, London was closed to us, and without ChatGPT to guide us towards a brighter future, we ended up working in Salisbury, a sleepy medieval cathedral town. I soon got used to being labelled a workaholic. It wasn’t unfair - I really do enjoy my work, and I spent every waking minute scheming how to make money out of my limited resources. But when we eventually moved back to London, I discovered the city loves a workaholic. And no-one here called me that anymore.

The OG Sabbath was a command, part of the law. As the Israelites left Egypt for the promised land, it foreshadowed the rest that God’s people would ultimately truly find in Jesus. Now we’re on the other side of the resurrection, we see it through a new lens - a gift that helps us to restfully resist the seductions of work: worship of money, ego, and taking the time we are given for granted.

There’s no requirement, obligation or rule to follow here, but it’s an opportunity to untangle from the world once a week. So here’s a few practical thoughts from one over-worker who’s always struggled to Sabbath, just like you.


Be intentional.

Prep: In the classic Sabbath you weren’t supposed to leave the house, build a fire, or cause anyone else to work. If you wanted to eat or stay warm, you’d have to think ahead. These are good principles for today. Resist Deliveroo and order ingredients to cook up a feast ahead of time. Mark the start of the Sabbath with a slow evening walk or a glass of wine. Shout “Shabbat Shalom” at your neighbour for bonus points.

Be mindful: Pro tip - rest isn’t actually achieved by switching your mind off. Binging and doomscrolling isn’t restorative. But cramming your Sabbath full of activities won’t work either. So, at the risk of this Grace Londoner sounding a little Buddhist, there truly is a benefit to only doing one thing at a time. Eating? Just eat. Thinking? Just think. Reading? Just read. Don’t ask Chat for advice, don’t Google unknown vocab. In the 21st century, it’s surprisingly hard to do just one thing, but the Sabbath is a good time to try.

Keep at it: Couples often have regular date nights. Sabbath is a bit like a date with God (stick with me…) A marriage won’t necessarily fall apart without a weekly date night. But you’ll find the relationship a whole lot more enjoyable if you don’t only hang out while ironing your pants.


Look up.

Practice saying no: Sabbath rest is partly about resisting the urge to please people, and seeking to please God instead. Becoming unavailable for even a few hours might feel unpleasant or even risky - what if you miss an important email? What if your boss needs you? What if you miss out on an impromptu trip to the Thirsty Bear? But whose opinion really matters? Just as regular tithing loosens the grip of money on your heart, the Sabbath loosens the grip of performative work and people-pleasing; whether it’s your boss, your parents, or your mates.

Reconnect with God: [Insert obligatory super-holy-Bible-quiet-time point] - just kidding - but remembering God and spending time with him is a Biblically approved route to rest, as Psalm 19 says: ‘The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul.’

Remember it’s a gift: The way you receive something changes your attitude to it. Jesus tells us that the Sabbath is “made for man” (Mark 2.27). It’s for our benefit, so trust God’s creative judgement and see what happens.


Have fun.

Hobbies: That hobby you love - the one you’ve enjoyed since childhood? Did you know you don’t have to turn it into a side hustle? In fact - did you know you’re allowed to enjoy it without anyone giving you validation at all? Sabbath is a great time to put the gifts that God has put in you into action - simply for the joy of it.

Look for beauty: Spending the Sabbath seeking out beauty is one way to ensure you lift your eyes from the graft and remember that you’re not a machine, but a created, living being, inhabiting an amazing world. This could be finding time in nature, or taking a trip to the British Museum.

Nap: Finally - sleep is God’s way of reminding us that we’re finite. As an overachieving Londoner you probably don’t sleep enough, ever. So go on, take a nap - you have my permission.

This article was taken from our termly Family Newsletter, posted to all our members. If you'd like to become a member of Grace London, please attend our upcoming DNA Sessions.

These articles are written without the use of generative AI.

Reaching the End of Your Rope

I boarded the plane to Ethiopia feeling anxious and afraid. That summer, I was leading a small team of women to serve alongside a missionary in a remote Muslim city, and nothing seemed to be going as planned. I could see the concern on the faces of those who organised the trip as they dropped us off at the airport.

We had been unable to reach the missionary for some time, and our travel plans had changed. This was before smartphones - WhatsApp didn’t exist - so we had no idea what we were flying into. I felt helpless and feared making foolish decisions that would put these women at risk. So, I prayed, desperately asking God for help.

Isn’t that how God often works in our lives? We reach the end of our rope, unable to control the circumstances around us, and cry out to him. In those moments, he is at work doing far more than “all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20), revealing truths about himself that anchor our anxious hearts in him. In the same way, God mercifully heard my cry on that plane and answered my prayer in ways that sustained me through the hardships of that summer.

I learned many things in Ethiopia, but above all, I learned about prayer.

Prayer humbles our self-reliant hearts and teaches us to depend on God. The world around us places a high value on self-sufficiency, as if all we need to conquer any challenge is found within ourselves. But Scripture tells a very different story of our helplessness. We were lost in our sin, and Christ came to save us from ourselves. When we pray, we rest in that reality and express our dependence on God. Prayer teaches us to rely on the promises of God's all-sufficient grace to supply every need of ours in Christ Jesus (Phil 4.19).

Prayer must be grounded in God’s Word. In his book on prayer, Tim Keller writes of the tragedy of untethered prayer. “Without immersion in God’s Word, our prayers may not be merely limited and shallow, but also untethered from reality. We may be responding not to the real God but to what we wish God and life to be like.” What we believe about God shapes the way we pray. Immersing ourselves in the greatness and glory of God in Scripture tethers our prayers to soul-steadying truth.

Prayer is the great privilege of the children of God. One staggering reality of our new life in Christ is that we have been adopted into the family of God (Eph 1.5). As children of God, we can approach our heavenly Father with confidence and bring every cry of our heart to him, because he loves and cares for us. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3.1).

In times of uncertainty, when we reach the end of ourselves, we can run into the arms of our heavenly Father in prayer, knowing that he delights to do us good with all of his heart and soul (Jer 32.41) and to quiet our fearful hearts with his unshakable love (Zeph 3.17).

These articles are written without the use of generative AI.

A Love Letter

One summer afternoon nearly 20 years ago, I was stuck in standstill traffic along the 605 freeway in Los Angeles, California, when I glanced up from the steering wheel to an incredible view of the San Gabriel Mountains, triangular peaks peeking out from swirls of cotton-candy pink and tangerine orange clouds. It was a glorious sight. As I was struck with wonder at the beauty of it all, I was also hit with the realisation that such a landscape could not have been a random accident. This had to be the act of a Creator.

But more than recognising this for the first time, I also surmised that there was a Creator who loved me. The sky didn’t have to be cotton-candy pink and tangerine orange. The whole picture didn’t have to be such a feast for my eyes. In fact, why would God create any kind of feast?* Why did He create food that was delicious to eat? 

The answer I arrived at was love.

In creating things not only for practical use but as objects of beauty, God is acting out of love. Boyfriends do the same when gifting a shiny necklace to their love, knowing there is no practical value to the trinket beyond its beauty and the adorner’s delight. Tourists do the same, snapping photos of Big Ben on their iPhones for nothing other than to flick through them later.

That task, to create and share beauty as an act of love, falls to us too. In Edith Schaeffer’s highly practical (and perhaps a little unfortunately named) book The Hidden Art of Homemaking, she recounts a story of practising creativity when feeding a homeless man who had come knocking at her door one rainy day. Instead of simply tossing a loaf of bread at him, Schaeffer details the intricate way she crafted two different styles of sandwich, a big steaming bowl of corn chowder and even had her children help her arrange a tiny bouquet of flowers on the meal tray. 

One of Schaeffer’s daughters asked, “What’ll he think of all that, Mummy?” Schaeffer replied, “Well, perhaps he’ll remember something in his past - perhaps he had a very nice home once, where he had meals prepared for him. Anyway, he’ll stop and think, and we’ll give him this little Gospel of John to read while he is eating. He can take it away with him and, who knows, perhaps he’ll do a lot of thinking, and some day, believe. Anyway, he may realise we care something about him as a person, and that’s important.”

For those uncertain about where they can start dabbling in creativity, try giving Schaeffer’s book a read. You may receive a creative jolt, even for all the everyday things of life - jobs, taxes, dishes, laundry. Or you may find yourself offering a similar sentiment as this Psalmist in Psalm 45.1 - “My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.” 

Amongst the millions of seemingly more important, pressing things to do in life, the creative act can feel a bit frivolous and a waste of time. But it has the potential to remind people of the beauty that exists in this world otherwise filled with much darkness. It can offer dignity to the unworthy and call them home. 

At its core, creativity is a love letter to and about God. So, will you pick up the pen?

*Andrew addresses the question of why we feast here.

These articles are written without the use of generative AI.

On Hell

Of all Christian teachings, perhaps none is tougher to stomach than hell. Our culture mocks it as medieval fear-mongering, many professing Christians deny its existence, and others treat it as a skeleton in Christianity’s closet. However, rightly understood, the doctrine of hell can strengthen the believer, helping us better grasp God, sin and the gospel.

So first, what is hell? A simple Christian definition is: a place of eternal conscious punishment for the wicked¹. “The wicked” are not the worst of humanity but all of us², and hell is where we receive the judgment our rebellion against God deserves. We escape from hell not by living mostly good lives but through faith in Jesus who was punished in our place³.

Okay, you believe in Jesus, but why believe in hell? Many dismiss hell as incompatible with God’s love. They see it as reminiscent of “fire and brimstone” revivalists, not our “gentle and lowly” Saviour. This view, however, is woefully inaccurate because no one in the New Testament speaks about hell as frequently or terrifyingly as Jesus himself. He calls it a fiery furnace where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place of unquenchable fire and undying worms, outer darkness, eternal punishment⁴. We must believe in hell for the simple reason that Jesus taught it. 

So, if hell really is a place of punishment and an unavoidable part of Jesus’ teaching, how are we to respond? If I had to put it in a word, it would be tremble.

Tremble at sin. Much of Jesus’ teaching on hell is in the context of warning his disciples about the gravity of sin and its consequences. Hell is what our sin against God deserves and will receive, either the sinner themselves or Christ as their substitute. Hell shows the extent of God’s hatred of sin, and it should sober and provoke us to not make peace with the sin it exists to punish.

Tremble for the lost. Warning about hell was normative in New Testament evangelism but is rare today. Many believers lack urgency in evangelism, and unbelievers lack urgency in responding to evangelism because hell is omitted from our gospel conversations. However, the good news of salvation brings sweet relief when we see what we must be saved from. Hell is the dark background against which the light of the gospel shines. It should provoke us to pray for and plead with those who do not know God.

Tremble at God. Hell points to the infinite holiness and justice of God. It comforts us knowing all the evil done in this world will receive just retribution. But it also shows how serious an affront to God our own sin is. We struggle to see how hell could be a proportionate punishment for human sin because our sin-warped minds struggle to grasp how holy God is. However, Scripture tells us we won’t struggle with this in heaven⁵. For now, we must tremble in awe at our God who is both love and a consuming fire⁶.

Tremble at grace. No matter how hard we strain to grasp the horror of hell, we can get only a faint glimpse of the agony Christ endured for us. He took our punishment while we were still God-rejecting, hell-deserving rebels⁷. The contrast between the hell we deserve and the heaven we are promised in Christ should make our jaws drop and make our hearts erupt with praise to our lavishly gracious God.
 

These articles are written without the use of generative AI. For more on this theme, read Dane Ortlund’s article, Is Hell Real?

¹Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 1413
²See Romans 3.10–23, Ephesians 2.1–3
³See Isaiah 53.5, John 5.24, Romans 3.23–26, 2 Corinthians 5.21
⁴In order: Matthew 13.41–42, Mark 9.43–48, Matthew 25.30, Matthew 25.46
⁵Revelation 19.1–5
⁶1 John 4.8 & Hebrews 12.28–29
⁷Romans 5.7–11

The Death of Perfectionism

I was trying to finesse the final section of a song - trying, that is. 

The right melody and harmony just weren’t coming, and the more I tried to force it, the more my frustration grew and the less productive I became. Cue the negative feedback loop. One of my flatmates arrived home, and before he could barely catch his breath, I was in full vent, throwing idea after idea his way, hoping for some helpful steer. But in one off-the-cuff remark, I was completely disarmed: “I can be a bit of a perfectionist too,” he said calmly. It hadn’t occurred to me that this was my problem.

For many creatives - or productive types for that matter - perfectionism can become an enemy in disguise. It creeps up on us, dressed as ‘prudence’ or ‘thoroughness’ and steals our joy before we’ve even realised. We end up paralysed, or perpetually searching for the perfect solution, or note or phrase that might not even exist. As the French philosopher Voltaire famously put it, “the best is the enemy of the good.”

But what does the Bible have to say to the perfectionist?


Who are you trying to please?

“For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1.10

It should be said up-front that prudence, excellence, thoroughness and ambition are not nefarious in themselves - in fact they’re very godly qualities - but they can easily become distorted. For some of us, perfectionism can mask a deep-seated form of people-pleasing. We aim for ‘best’ because we fear being viewed as mediocre or the fallout from making a mistake. We want others to admire, appreciate and respect us, and so we try to prove ourselves and meet their (often imagined) standards. Perhaps for you, it’s less about others and more about proving yourself to yourself. Either way, it comes down to pleasing another human - be it your manager, family, peers or self.

But the Apostle Paul makes it clear from the passage above that it’s impossible to live for the approval of both man and God. Either we choose man and cease to be a servant of Christ, or we make Jesus’ approval everything and inevitably disappoint others in the process. There’s no middle ground.

Our perfectionism is therefore a more serious problem than we might have realised. Every time we choose to obsess over minute details in the hope of inching up the reputational ladder, we’re saying no to God's approval, trading one ‘well done’ for another. It's a subtle but deadly sin, one that leaves us less content and more insecure than before.

So, one helpful way I’ve found to fight this deceptive sin - albeit imperfectly, evidently - is by asking myself, “Who am I trying to please here?” The answer is usually pretty revealing - and helps discern a good course of action. If the answer’s ‘man’, then it’s time to stop the frantic obsessing, trusting that any unforeseen failures or flaws are okay, and can be weathered by God’s grace. And if the answer’s ‘God’, then I can continue with faith - just as the Apostle Paul did - despite others’ criticism or disappointment.

Living like this might not look immediately different on the surface; both the perfectionist and God-pleaser are responsible, thorough and ambitious, but underneath they look and feel very different. While one pursues the approval of others - whipping themselves up into a mess in the process - the other can be at peace, working for the (far more manageable!) audience of One. So, which do you choose?

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Freud's Ideal vs God's Will

A few years ago I was reading The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman, which included this quote from Sigmund Freud: "Man's discovery of sexual love afforded him the strongest experiences of satisfaction and provided him with the prototype of all happiness." According to Freud, eroticism sits at the centre of human life. Trueman argues that this Freudian vision has profoundly shaped the modern West, where gratifying sexual desires is often presented as the pathway to happiness and fulfilment.

In many ways, our culture has embraced Freud's vision of the sexually liberated self. We've been taught that our sexual desires define who we are, that "love is love," and that fulfilling our desires is how we become our truest selves. Restraint is often viewed as repression, and biblical boundaries as harmful.

Sadly, this mindset has also influenced the church. A recent Pew Research study found that 57% of Christians believe sex between unmarried adults in a committed relationship is acceptable. It reflects a dramatic shift in how many Christians have historically thought about sexual ethics, showing how much we’ve been discipled by culture to prioritise personal happiness over God’s will.

God’s Will

But Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4.3, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.”

Sexual immorality covers a broad range of behaviours that violate God's standards - adultery (Exodus 20.14), fornication (1 Corinthians 6.18), homosexuality (Leviticus 18.22), incest (1 Corinthians 5.1), bestiality (Exodus 22.19), and even lustful thoughts (Matthew 5.28). Paul's message is clear: God's will for his people is sexual purity.

But understanding what sexual immortality is is one thing. The question we find ourselves asking more often is why? Why does God care so much about what we do with our bodies? Why would God’s will be for me to deprive myself?

Paul’s message just a few verses later helps us understand: “whoever rejects this instruction isn't rejecting man, but God himself, the very God who gives us his Holy Spirit”. God doesn’t want us to indulge in sexual immorality because doing so means rejecting him and building relational walls between ourselves and Christ. Sexual sin breaks God’s law, dishonours the body he has redeemed and fractures the fellowship we were created to enjoy with Him. When we sin like this, we’re turning our backs on Jesus.

And not only does it grieve the heart of God, but it never brings the happiness we think it will. God created and hardwired us for greater joy than the fleeting satisfaction our culture promises. He made us to know Him, to enjoy Him and to experience the peace that comes from walking in his will. 

So Christian, embrace God's will for you - a life of purity and deep, all-satisfying friendship with Jesus. Don't let the culture define your life; protect your relationship with Christ. Guard that intimacy by filling your mind with what is true, honourable, just, and pure (Philippians 4.8).

And when you fail, deal with your failures biblically. Don't let guilt or shame drive you from God who longs to restore you. Confess your sin and rest in the forgiveness Christ has secured for you. Remember that in a culture where sin abounds, grace abounds even more (Romans 5.20).

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Ditch the Celebs

It’s been a big couple of weeks for the celebs. The Swift and Kelce wedding. Messi, Mbappé and Kane in the limelight. Trump weighing in. And let's not forget Harry Styles and his Guinness World Record run of nights at Wembley. We can’t help but lap up a bit of celebrity culture, myself included.

But these cultural waters can dangerously catch us in their drift. Many of us secretly harbour that same longing for notoriety - for someone to discover us, to finally notice our talent and grit. We work extra late and extra hard. Put a few more hours into that side-hustle. And make sure others take note by sharing it all on social media. Although we may not like to admit it, we want to be famous.

Yet, when we consider the most beautiful and happy life ever lived, we see something entirely different. Living 2000 years on, we can easily overlook it, but Jesus’ life was marked by incredible obscurity.

Out of the Limelight 

Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus began his earthly ministry around the age of 30, but his teens and twenties remain a complete unknown. Many agree that Jesus was probably living a very ordinary life in these intervening years: working, providing, studying the scriptures, eating with his family, praying. He wasn’t in a hurry, pining after success. He wouldn’t have made it into Forbes 30 under 30. Jesus was content to wait in obscurity until the time was right.

And when Jesus' ministry finally began, we see that he never fanned the flame of notoriety. Despite word spreading about the miracles and message he was preaching, he didn't network with the big names - royalty, politicians, warriors, or culture-makers - but sought out the poor, sick, and outcast. The hidden margins of society were his home, ministering to those who could offer nothing in return. This obscurity continued even to his death, the climax of his ministry. Here we witness a dusty hill, torture and mocking - not a stadium of adoring fans. Rather than exalt Jesus as the newest celebrity on our feeds, we crushed and trampled him. As we read in Isaiah 53.3:
 

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

An Audience of One

So what enabled Jesus to live this hidden life, free from the need for fame or human approval? His baptism at the very start of his ministry makes it clear: "and behold, a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.'" (Matthew 3.17). Jesus was secure in the undying love of our Father. He knew that whatever rejection he’d face, the Father accepted him. And he understood that living for the audience of One is far better than living for the crowd.

Today, the Father speaks the same word over you as his adopted child. He invites you to stop living for the acclaim of others - the hope of fame or reputation or legacy -  and to know his wide smile and pride-filled voice that says, “[Your name], with you I am well pleased”.

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On the Horizon

Our three-year-old has recently learned to ride a pedal bike which brings both joy and mild terror as a parent - joy at seeing his delight in learning a new skill and watching him zoom down the path; and terror, when at such high speeds the bike begins to wobble, or he starts inadvertently veering towards a hedge or wall. In these moments, it’s almost always because he’s looking down at his bright green pedals, or his bell. As a result, I find myself saying (or shouting!) over and over, “Look where you’re going!” As he looks up and ahead, the wobble eases, my heart rate relaxes and he races forward blissfully unaware of the narrowly avoided accident. 

There’s something about looking ahead that can bring a steadiness to our journey as Christians. Too often the daily grind, our present circumstances or even the good gifts of life draw our eyes downwards and all too soon, we feel wobbly and unsteady. It’s easy to lose sight of where we’re headed and feel overwhelmed by the brokenness we see around us and within. And while it’s right to reflect and pray about our present lives and world events, we often forget to look ahead.

What do we see when we look at the horizon? 
 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21.1-5)

Friend, a day is coming when Jesus will make all things new. Everything will be made perfect with no deterioration, decline or decay. We will stand before Jesus and see His glory in full. There will be no separation between us and the Lord; rather, we will dwell in God’s presence as his people forever with restored desires, bodies and relationships. 

Considering this promised reality can help us persevere today no matter how our lives look. For those who are in the midst of a hard season or experiencing deep suffering, looking ahead reminds us that a day is coming when there will be no more tears, or death, or loneliness, or anxiety, or darkness, or abuse, or corruption, or cancer. It gives us hope that the brokenness and evil we see around us will not have the final word. 

For those who feel that life is going pretty well, looking ahead to this promised reality reminds us that this world is not our home and that we can hold even the best gifts lightly because our ultimate prize is to be united with God for all eternity.

And for those who feel weary from following Christ and are tempted to quit, the horizon reminds us that every decision and sacrifice made now will be worth it when we stand before King Jesus and see His glory. 

So wherever you find yourself today, may you receive renewed hope, strength and faith as you look to the horizon. The best is yet to come.

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Beyond the Music

Sunday morning is my favourite part of the week, not only because I get to be with the people of God, but because I get to sing with them. There is something deeply stirring about the gathered church lifting their voices together in praise to the Lord Jesus. It awakens the heart to worship.

But as much as I love those moments, worship was never meant to begin and end with a song.

One of the most common misunderstandings about worship is the idea that it starts when the music begins and ends when the final note fades. While music is a wonderful expression of worship, it is not the fullness of worship. Worship was never intended to be confined to a single moment on a Sunday morning. The truest worship is revealed in the way we live.

True worship is not confined to the songs we sing on Sunday; it is the daily expression of a living relationship with Jesus.

Relationship is the key, because it is within that relationship that worship finds its truest expression. Worship is not merely an event we attend each week; it is a moment-by-moment response to the presence of God throughout our lives. The closer we walk with Jesus, the more we learn to trust Him, listen to His voice, and follow His ways.

One of the most beautiful realities of the Christian life is that we can speak with Jesus as we would a friend through prayer. We can bring our joys, burdens, fears, and questions before Him. We can practice stillness by quietly resting in His presence (Psalm 46.10). We can meditate on His Word, delight in His promises, and learn to trust and obey Him in both the ordinary and extraordinary moments of life. The more we invite Him into the ordinary moments of our day, the more He begins to shape our desires, attitudes, and actions until gradually we become more like the One we worship.

As His character is formed in us, worship begins to overflow into every area of our lives. It is seen when mercy is chosen instead of revenge, when humility replaces self-promotion, when love overcomes hate, and when patience triumphs over irritation. Every one of those Spirit-empowered decisions says, “Lord, Your ways are better than mine.”

This is why Paul wrote: "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12.1). The way you speak, the way you treat people, the way you respond under pressure, and even how you live when no one else is watching, all of it becomes worship when your life is laid before God as a living sacrifice.

As we walk with Jesus day by day, worship moves beyond the music and into the ordinary rhythms of life. It becomes evident in our obedience, our trust, our service, and our love for others.

So let’s stay close to Jesus and allow Him to gradually transform us from the inside out into the worshippers He calls us to be - worshippers whose lives are less centred on themselves and more fully surrendered to God.

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The Antidote to Ozempic Christianity

As someone who has struggled with his weight for years, I can entirely see the appeal of Ozempic. Who wouldn’t? A miracle fat jab where you achieve the size and shape you have always longed for, without exercise and without hunger. We live at a time when being able to Ozempic-anything is becoming possible. We write without needing to think deeply, thanks to generative AI. We find love in shallow seas, swiping through curated profiles. We are even conceiving perfect DNA-matched children without the discomfort of pregnancy.

How about if we were to apply Ozempic to Christianity? A religion which gives the appearance of perfect devotion to Jesus, without the deep work of heart change or sanctification. This religion is, of course, nothing new; it’s a form of Legalism and all of us have dabbled in it.

Kathy Keller captures this well in an article she wrote on faking it in ministry, and although she was writing with the Christian pastor in mind, I think anyone will feel challenged by what she describes.
 

The day will come when you have to deliver a sermon, or counsel someone in need, or listen to a heartsick soul, and you will be in no fit condition to do it… And after a while you hardly even admit to yourself that you are faking your interest in the other person, you are faking your enthusiasm for Christ and his Gospel, you are faking your entire Christian life, because you don’t even remember what it was like to have a close relationship to God. You have become hollow. You may still look and sound good on the outside, but inside the reality of God’s presence is gone.

There are many reasons someone might be well-advised by a doctor to take Ozempic for weight loss. I have read some incredible success stories where the patient gets a new lease of life and health. For many, however, something more sinister lurks on the other side. Studies are already showing that many Ozempic patients also experience the crushing disappointment of a rapid weight rebound as soon as they come off it.

Like weight loss injections, the problem with faking it is that the work never stops. Our finest attempt at religious performance and self-righteousness will never be able to earn our salvation, and so we get stuck in a hamster wheel of keeping up appearances. Jesus warns us in stark terms that this amounts to a life of dead bones, filled with every kind of impurity, and ultimately spiritual death (Matthew 23.27).

The good news is that there is plenty of hope for the faker. In John 6, Jesus speaks to a crowd who recently had their stomachs filled by loaves and fishes:
 

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you… I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

The antidote to this type of legalism begins with believing in Jesus and continues with him being our daily bread. This is the simple practice of eating fresh bread daily through Bible study, meditation, and prayer, energised by the work of the Spirit. Perhaps try praying the Lord’s Prayer for a week or follow a short Bible reading plan. How can you keep it regular rather than only feasting on a Sunday? How can you be humbled, satiated, and your law-keeping transformed daily by the grace of God?

Friends, the gospel came for the legalist. Jesus saved Nicodemus from religious piety. Jesus looked at the rich young ruler with love and compassion. Jesus changed Saul entirely. And I too am an Ozempic Christian, and daily I need to repent and remind myself that nothing tastes better than the bread of life.

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Love On the Interwebs

Once upon a time, you didn’t really get to choose who you married. Maybe that decision belonged with mum and dad (shudder), and you were lucky if they even asked your opinion. Or maybe it came down to marrying the only other eligible person in your village who still had most of their teeth.

When it comes to marriage, the world has changed. 

As I see it, the three biggest historic changes are these: (i) A century or more ago, there was the emergence of the romantic ideal as a major factor in the journey towards marriage. Marriage was no longer mainly about a good and wise arrangement for life; it was about finding your true love. (ii) In the 1960s, there was the onset of the sexual revolution, when all traditional boundaries began to give way and sexual desire was untethered from the covenant of marriage. (iii) Now we are living in the wake of the third game-changing development: online dating.

What has online dating done that is actually new? In a sense, nothing at all.

Those who use these apps to find true love are simply expressing the same ideas about romance that were made fashionable by the Victorian novel. And those who use these apps for cheap hookups are living in the wake of the catastrophe of the Sexual Revolution. Either way, the apps haven’t really changed the equation: it’s still just romantic love vs. sexual desire (or a mix of the two).

But in another sense, these apps have changed everything. Anyone who has been trying, and failing, to find a spouse will attest to that. The rules have changed, and it feels harder than ever. Why is that?

I think there are four fundamental reasons that online dating makes life harder, by and large (even if many people successfully meet and marry online). 

First, online dating introducing the paradox of choice. This means that, the more options you have, the less likely you are to settle or to be satisfied with any particular choice. It’s a well known psychological reality, and some people are more befuddled by choice than others. 

I’m not suggesting, of course, that the old method of counting someone’s teeth to see if they meet your standards is necessarily better. A world without choice is bleak in its own way. And standards are a very good thing, especially when it comes to making a life-long covenant with another person in which you become one flesh. But the fact remains that, for all the options, there is a world of confusion awaiting the prospective dater.

Second, online dating brings in the problem of shallowness. An app is an inherently shallow medium through which to judge another person. Now, I can’t pretend that dating in the pre-internet era wasn’t shallow in its own way. It often came down to he’s hot / she’s hot, at least to begin with. But meeting someone within the context of embodied community is certainly a far richer way of discovering the truth about them.

Third, online dating makes you vulnerable to the forces of capitalism. These apps are designed to make money. They are only profitable if you’re paying for a subscription or staying engaged in some way. As soon as you meet someone, the app loses money because you’re no longer a user of the product. So, how do the app designers make money? By designing the app to be addictive and engaging, but also utterly useless at forming true connections between people. They want their users to become like those sad folk who sit in casinos pulling that lever again and again and again. Kerching.

Fourth, online dating is shrouded in secrecy. It can proceed without any of your real-world friends or family knowing a single thing about your dating life. That means that you are not inherently accountable, unlike when you meet someone in community, like at church. Maybe you can find yourself acting in foolish ways because nobody is there to call you out or tell you to stop. Or, you can become a victim to the kinds of bad actors who are on these platforms. Whereas people with bad intentions are exposed in community and you get warned about them, no such warnings are attached to a user profile.

In saying all this, I want to be clear that I am not against online dating. I know too many people who have had genuine success and are happily married to rule it out.

But at the same time, I lament the ways these apps are changing us. I see an increasing tendency to overlook the gorgeous and godly person within the church community because the apps have messed with brains and made us into endless scrollers who can never really be content. 

What do we do, then? There are no simple solutions. But if you must date online, do it in a way that massively reduces the negative effects of the platforms you’re on. Set limits (instead of endless searching). Make the most of in-person conversations and persevere even if there’s no obvious spark at first. Bring in accountability and community as soon as you can. Walk in the light.

But above all, trust in the Lord. Marriage is his design, and only works when you follow his principles and seek to honour him. 

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The Secret of Contentment

What is the secret to contentment? Last Saturday, our women’s Bible study explored this question as we studied Philippians 4. The Apostle Paul, writing from prison, concluded his letter to the Philippian church with these words:
 

“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4.11-13).

Paul learned the secret of being content in every situation. He wasn’t battered around by the winds of circumstances. Instead, he anchored his heart on soul-steadying truths that carried him through the deepest sorrows and sweetest pleasures of life. In The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs describes this contentment as a “sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.”

With that description in mind, how does Paul encourage us to pursue contentment, even if it feels elusive? Sometimes, searching for contentment can feel like chasing the Golden Snitch in Harry Potter’s Quidditch matches—that tiny, winged ball that is extremely difficult to catch. Yet, Paul learned contentment, which means there is hope that we can learn it too.

In Philippians, Paul teaches that contentment involves:

Resting in God’s sovereign plan, even when we don’t know the details. “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1.6). God is in absolute control of the unfolding story of our lives, and he is always at work for our good.

Trusting that the hardships we endure are not meaningless. “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel” (Philippians 1.12). Paul rejoiced that the pain of his imprisonment had a God-glorifying purpose. While we may not know the reasons for the hardships we endure, we can entrust every sorrow into the hands of our heavenly Father, who promises to be with us always (Philippians 4:9).

Living as a sojourner. “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour” (Philippians 3.20). The discontented heart is short-sighted in its pursuit of pleasure, living as if this life is all there is. Paul reminds us that we are travellers in this world and that we are to fix our eyes on the incomparable joy of our eternal home.

Treasuring Christ as our all-satisfying strength. “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3.8). We often attach our contentment to our circumstances, thinking that if things only get better, we’ll be happy. Yet, the secret that Paul reveals is that we will never be truly content apart from Christ. He is the source and strength of the contented heart.

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This Is Why We Fast

Fasting has fallen on hard times among Christians in the modern West. This practice – abstaining from food for a time to seek God in focused prayer – was prominent in the spiritual rhythms of God’s people in scripture and church history, but not for us. Many of us don’t do it and while some of us rationalise our neglect of it, many just don’t see the point.

Yet, our Lord himself fasted and expected that when he returned to glory his disciples would fast (Matthew 9.15). The witness of scripture and believers through the ages points to fasting as a means ordained by God for his people to seek him. But we might wonder, 'Is it still important today?' We know it does not earn favour with God, so why do it? Why fast? 

I believe we should all, where physically able, make a regular practice of fasting for one primary spiritual reason – to see better. But what does fasting open our spiritual eyes to see?

To see God. In the midst of life’s busyness, we easily lose conscious awareness of God and fasting is a powerful aid in recovering sight of God. Hunger humbles us and reminds us of our dependence on him. It reminds us that it is he who provides our daily bread and his word, more than bread, that truly sustains us (Matthew 4.4). Each hunger pang serves as a signal to direct us to him. Abstaining from food slows us down and creates space to not just glance but gaze at God. Do you feel distant from God? A fast might just be what you need to reset your vision.

To see yourself. You might have seen the popular ads for Snickers with the tagline “You’re not you when you’re hungry”. These ads play on the relatable experience of hunger making us act in ways we’re not proud of. However, contrary to Snickers, Jesus says “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart” (Matthew 15.18). We are very much ourselves when we are hungry. Fasting powerfully reveals heart disorder that is more easily hidden with a full stomach. It shows us what we depend on other than God and what desires have subtly come to dominate us. This is a mercy as seeing gives a chance to repent and depend on God to break the hold of our hearts’ idols. 

To see the way forward. In scripture, fasting is done for various reasons like averting disaster (e.g. Esther), repentance (e.g. the city of Nineveh) and special petitions (e.g. Hannah requesting a child). However, perhaps the most prominent reason people fast is to seek the Lord for direction and power for what he calls them to. Think of Jesus before his public ministry, Ezra before going to Jerusalem, Paul, Barnabas and the Antioch church before the first Christian missionary journey in Acts 13. Like them, let us humble ourselves before God in fasting and prayer that he might provide the clarity we need. 

I write this article as a novice in the discipline of fasting. I have only begun to glimpse its power to clear my foggy spiritual vision but I want to grow in it and I want to invite you to join me. Who knows what the Lord might do if we, his people, humble ourselves and seek him in this way?

Read our other recent article, This Is Why We Feast. These articles are 100% man-made, without the use of generative AI.