It’s hard to comprehend how civilisation functioned before the internet. So much of life is lived on the web. It has become the main mode of communicating with loved ones, navigating our cities, entertaining ourselves, finding work, finding life advice and even finding life partners. As Christians, it plays an ever-growing role in our devotional lives, from sermon podcasts to worship playlists, guided prayers and more.
The internet has done us much good. It has enabled us to know and do far more at lower cost and greater speed than our ancestors could have dreamed. But it hasn’t only done us good.
Earlier this year, I read a book called The Shallows by Nicholas Carr. In it, he presents research linking our internet use to a reduced ability for focus and sustained mental exertion, reduced ability for critical thinking, reduced empathy and increased anxiety. Since the book’s release in 2010, much more scientific research has confirmed those insights. But I suspect most of us don’t need a scientific study to tell us this. We can feel the toll our screen time is taking on us.
That the internet impacts us cognitively probably doesn’t surprise you but have you considered its spiritual impact? Reading Carr’s book, I couldn’t help thinking how our internet habits might be affecting our growth in Christian maturity. As I reflected on this, I concluded that how we use the internet could be the deciding factor in this age between a life of spiritual flourishing or one of spiritual withering, between spiritual maturity and spiritual stagnation.
That is a big claim but you might agree with me if you consider how our internet habits affect our engagement with the three central ways God nourishes us spiritually.
Scripture
The Bible paints a picture of the flourishing life as one where you are immersed in God’s word (Psalm 1) and God’s word is immersed in you (Colossians 3.16). We grow in love, trust and faithfulness to God as we dwell on his word, understand it and build our lives on it. But how can we feast on God’s word when our internet use impairs our ability to focus, to read deeply and to memorise?
Prayer
In prayer, we experience intimate communication with God. We are called to pour out our hearts to him (Psalm 62.8) and wait on him (Psalm 27.14) and we are promised his comfort, strength and intervention. But as our internet habits disciple us into impatience and distraction, we need a vast amount of mental exertion to just hold a train of thought in prayer and waiting on the Lord feels like a near impossible ask.
Church
The Lord Jesus uses his body, the church, to build us up and sustain us through life’s trials. But our internet habits can hinder our enjoyment of the blessing of spiritual family. Impaired empathy makes it hard to “bear one another's burdens” (Galatians 6.2). Anxiety and comparison cripple relationships and our steady stream of internet distractions make it hard to provide the presence that love demands.
The internet can help or hinder the flourishing of your soul and your joy in God. It is a mixed blessing and requires wisdom if we would use it well. Do you feel spiritually dry? Lacking in affection for Christ? Perhaps the best next step is to evaluate your internet habits.
This Is Why We Feast
It is a surprising fact that the law of God commands his people to feast.
It is surprising for at least two reasons. First, because it was a great expense, involving lavish and time-consuming festivities that must have felt indulgent and unnecessary for the more frugal types. Second, because we often think of the Old Testament law as negative – don’t do this; don’t do that – but feasting was emphatically positive. It was mandatory fun. Get your best meat and your best wine, and have a party. And sometimes it lasted for days on end.
Yet, the Old Testament prescribes six feasts for the people of God. This meant that feasting was one of the major expenses for a faithful family in the course of the year, alongside tithing to the temple, and giving to the poor.
Why was feasting so prominent and so important? There are three compelling reasons for feasting as part of a rich spirituality in the Scriptures.
First, it was about the spiritual discipline of remembering. It was a way of looking back at the goodness of God. The feasts were tied up with extraordinary moments in the history of God’s people (like the Passover feast remembering the Exodus from Egypt), or a recognition of God’s ongoing goodness to date (as in the Feast of Firstfruits, marking the harvest). The beginning of soul-rot always stemmed from forgetfulness and the absence of gratitude, when the hearts of God’s people were disconnected from the story of God’s goodness in their own lives, and over many generations. The same is true today: if we forget, we die a spiritual death. But feasting was a way of deliberately remembering God’s great acts and his faithfulness, retelling the stories from one generation to the next.
Second, it was about enjoying God’s goodness in the present. A feast was a moment when you had permission to pause from ordinary life, then to taste and savour the goodness of God right now. They were not just saying, God was good to us back then. And they were not hoping for some vague future moment when they could finally rest and enjoy life. But instead, they were tasting his goodness in the very moment that they could smell the roasting joint, and bite into the lamb, and sip the rich wine. Failure to receive the ordinary gifts of life as evidences of God’s goodness is one of our most basic problems and a cause of so much trouble in our lives. But one of the God-given remedies is to embrace feasting, when he gives you full permission to eat until you burst.
Third, it was about looking forward to the promise of a heavenly feast. A celebration here is a mere echo and foretaste of heaven, when our hearts will find rest and happiness in the presence of God. If you want to know what heaven is like, one answer is this: think about the best celebrations and feasts you’ve ever experienced.
Easter is a perfect moment to feast. Whilst the Bible never mandates an Easter feast – no doubt because every Sunday is a celebration of the death and resurrection of our Lord – it makes perfect sense to go to some extra effort and expense at this time of year. By doing so, you are looking back and remembering the moment that changed history and changed you. And you’re enjoying the goodness of God right now, since you’re part of his family through the cross. And you’re fixing your hope on a future for all God’s people at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Therefore, go and feast to the glory of God.
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Should Missions Matter to Me?
I stepped off the plane into the searing heat of Abu Dhabi in 2019, my few possessions in two suitcases. It had been three years since my first conversation with the pastor and his wife about joining them in the UAE, but my journey had actually begun decades prior.
The first time I read John Piper’s Desiring God - now many years back - God stirred something deep in me. He opened my eyes to see that from Genesis to Revelation, His passion and purpose are to reveal His glory among all the peoples of the world. Jesus died and rose again to ransom “people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5.9).
What astonished me most was that God chooses to spread his glory throughout the world through us (Psalm 96.3). As Christ’s ambassadors, he makes his appeal through his people. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 is not a suggestion but a call to take the message of Jesus to all nations, make disciples, and teach them to obey all that he has commanded. His mission is ours.
And it is just as urgent today. There are billions of people who have never met a Christian and live nowhere near a gospel-centered church. There are unreached people in difficult and dangerous parts of the world that have never seen a Bible.
So, whether by praying, sending, or going, God calls you to join His global mission. There is nothing that compares to pouring out our lives for the advancement of the gospel in our city and the world. There is nothing that can fill us with more meaning and joy than joining God’s global mission. J. Campbell White summarises it well:
“Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world he came to redeem. Fame, pleasure, and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfilment of his eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.”
Understanding these realities turned my world upside down. God set me on a path to pursue global missions, leading me first to that sweltering airport in Abu Dhabi and now here in London. And he calls you too. Don’t settle for husks and ashes when there is boundless and abiding joy in joining God’s global mission to reach the nations.
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Come Away With Me
A few years ago, I was reading a Wired magazine article and came across the concept of Karoshi. Karoshi is a Japanese term that literally means "death by overwork." Another interpretation characterises karoshi as "occupational sudden mortality," implying that one's work is literally killing them. Some of the major causes of karoshi include heart attack, stroke due to stress, suicide and starvation. People usually starve themselves to death because they’re too busy to eat.
While we may not use the word karoshi here in the West, we have another term: burnout. The pressure to succeed, to provide, to prove ourselves - it quietly drives many of us to exhaustion. And if we’re honest, some of that pressure doesn’t just come from the outside. It comes from within.
In Mark 6.31, after Jesus’ disciples return from a busy and fruitful season of ministry, Jesus tells them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
This is more than just good advice, it reveals something about the heart of Jesus. It shows a compassionate Shepherd who cares about the well-being of His sheep. He understands the pressures we face, the limits of our humanity, and the demands our work places on us. Jesus is not indifferent to our exhaustion. So he invites us to come away with Him.
And this invitation was not only for their sake. Just a few verses earlier, in the midst of a busy season of ministering to people, Jesus received the news that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been killed. Could you imagine the exhaustion Jesus must’ve felt? So this retreat was as much for Him as it was for His disciples.
And this shows us something very important: rest is a rhythm Jesus intends to cultivate in the lives of His followers.
Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus modelling this rhythm of rest. He regularly withdrew to quiet places to pray. Early in the morning and after long days of engaging with people, He made space to be with His Father. For Jesus, rest was not a relinquishing of responsibility, but a recognition that the source of His strength flowed from His relationship with God.
Do you believe that?
My friends, rest is more than just switching off with entertainment, taking a holiday, or catching up on some sleep. These things are great and helpful. But sometimes the rest we truly need is only found in the presence of our compassionate saviour - who wants to restore us, rebuild us and reconsecrate us for the work He has called us to do. He wants to remind us that our value doesn’t come from what we do, but from who we belong to.
I once heard a preacher say, “If you don’t come apart and rest awhile, YOU WILL come apart.” I’ve found that to be true in my own life. So let the grace of God lead you into the presence of God. And what you will discover is that Jesus is not just the one who gives rest - He is rest.
“Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matt 11.28-29)
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Hope for Iran
The war rages on in Iran, and this week was no exception. Each morning arrives with yet more photos of hollowed-out buildings, billowing oil tankers, and anxious faces. Another press conference and news story; yet more speculation on the country’s future and oil prices.
You’ve probably already seen it this morning.
And though it’s far off, the war still impacts us. Not just energy bills, but the slow eroding of hope in the world. ‘When will this end? What can we do but watch?’ we ask ourselves. Numb apathy soon sets in.
But hope is not lost for Iran. As Christians with a mighty Father in heaven, we can trust that God is working good even through the conflict. What others have intended for evil, he will surely use for “the saving of many lives” - as he has countless times before.
Hope
Many may not know, but Iran has experienced something of a revival over recent decades. Despite the totalitarian regime and brutal persecution - beatings, imprisonments, murders - the church has flourished. The number of Christians, at roughly 100,000 in 1994, has grown rapidly, with current estimates ranging between 500,000 and 3 million. 3 million! Some argue that the Iranian church is the fastest-growing in the world. The kingdom of God is advancing with force in this nation (and has been for a while), even amid great suffering. So even now, with fresh waves of upheaval, we can trust that God will continue his work. Hope is not lost.
Pray
Flowing from hope, we pray. For us in London, there’s little else we can do - yet even this small act is a mighty one. In praying, we call upon the limitless power of God, who created the universe with just a word and sustains it every second. So, while our prayers might feel feeble, our God, who loves to answer them, certainly isn’t. As preacher Charles Spurgeon once put it, "Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence."
What should we pray for? Pray for lasting peace in Iran and the Middle East, that the war and its brutalities would cease, but pray too for the church and the kingdom of God. The war in Iran did not start last week - at least spiritually speaking - and the true enemy is not the hard-line clerics but the devil, bent on spreading destruction and death throughout the world.
So, more than anything, pray for our many brothers and sisters in Iran. Pray that they would know the comfort of Christ and hold on to him, whatever the circumstances or cost. And pray that the church would continue to grow and thrive, reaching many more millions with the gospel of Jesus.
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Shocked by Mercy
A few years ago, I was driving with the music blasting when suddenly an ambulance struck my car as it rushed through an intersection on its way to an emergency. I didn’t realise it in that moment, but failing to yield to an emergency vehicle can carry severe consequences: a $10,000 fine and even jail time.
I stood before the judge, knowing I was guilty. He asked, “What were you thinking?” I told him, “Your honour, I wasn’t paying attention, I didn’t hear the sirens, and I’m sorry.” I had no defence. No excuse. The judge looked at me, took a long pause, exhaled and said, “Next time, be more alert. Case dismissed. Next.”
What!
That was not what I expected. When he threw my case out, I really understood mercy for the first time. Mercy is God withholding the punishment we deserve. That's what I experienced in that moment, and it left me in shock.
Mercy has a way of doing that—it shocks us. Adam Ramsay, in his book Truth On Fire, says it this way: “Mercy changes us first by startling us with its unexpected presence. It is both jarring and gentle, it's both glorious and scandalous. And that’s because mercy is the very heart of God”.
I love that. Mercy is not a mood God slips into—it is His nature. The Old Testament prophet Micah tells us that God delights in showing mercy (Micah 7.8). Paul calls Him “the Father of mercies” (2 Corinthians 1.3). Mercy flows from Him as light flows from the sun.
But to truly grasp and appreciate God’s mercy, we must first understand the nature of sin. Sin is not a small thing in the eyes of God; it is an egregious offence against a holy God. So no one can ever say God owes them mercy. In the courtroom of divine justice, we all stand guilty. Paul reminds believers in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our trespasses, children of disobedience, by nature children of wrath.
But Paul continues: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us...made us alive together with Christ.” R.C. Sproul once said, “Those two words—But God—change everything.” We were dead, but God made us alive. We were guilty, but God showed mercy. We were condemned, but God gave grace.
What the gospel shows us is that mercy triumphs over judgment. And the implication for believers is that there will never be a day when God looks at us and says, “That’s it. I’m done forgiving you.” There is no future in which sincere repentance is met with divine exhaustion. Instead, each morning, we can expect God to meet us with fresh mercies (Lamentations 3.22–23).
When we grasp the mercy of God, it should cause our hearts to worship! Knowing that God does not give us what our sins deserve ought to lead us to declare with the psalmist, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever” (Psalm 89.1, KJV). As we ponder the mercy of God, let our song be: “Praise the Lord, His mercy is more—Stronger than darkness, new every morn. Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more.”
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Money Does Not Equal Wealth
A few weeks ago, my wife was reading Bobby Jamieson’s book Everything Is Never Enough when she had to pause, grab my attention, and read a section out to me. It was one of those punchy and thought-provoking passages that just has to be shared. And so I’m sharing it with you also.
Jamieson’s book is an introduction to Ecclesiastes, and this comes from the chapter on money. Specifically, he is explaining why money and wealth are not the same thing.
One of money’s cleverest tricks and most dangerous traps is that it masquerades as wealth. The two are so linked in modern minds that we often use one word to mean the other…
Money promises to bring more of the world within reach. Money offers to turn more of this world’s treasures and joys into things you can treasure and enjoy… But the power of money that brings objects near also pushes people away. Byung-Chul Han sees this clearly: ‘Money, by itself, has an individualizing and isolating effect. It increases my freedom by liberating me from any personal bonds with others.’ To hire someone to perform a task for you is to vacuum seal the relationship: Thus far you shall come, and no farther. The more your needs can be met by paying people to meet them, the less you have to need people. The more your money can command other people’s time, the less liable you are to the unpredictable demands of reciprocity. The more money you have, the fewer friends you need – and, as Qohelet [the author of Ecclesiastes] warns, the harder it is to tell who your friends are… Money delivers lonely efficiency because wherever it governs, it replaces and prevents durable dependence on other persons.
I don’t think he’s saying that hiring people for various tasks is automatically isolating or in any way wrong in itself. But clearly the risk he’s describing – of becoming insulated from others because you no longer really need or depend on anyone – is a genuine risk when you have money. And it’s a fair description of so many people’s lives in this great city we live in. But then Jamieson paints a different portrait of the true wealth that comes through relationships.
Our four-year-old daughter, Margaret, has a bad cough. Thankfully, her symptoms signal nothing worse. Last night at 9:40, my wife texted our friend Rebekah to see if she had some medicine for the cough that we didn't have. We live in a church-owned house across from the church’s building on the same city block; Rebekah lives with her husband, Josh, and their three school-aged children in a third-story apartment across the street. At 9:45, I met Rebekah on the steps of her apartment building to get the medicine. Not long after, Margaret was breathing better and cracking jokes.
Josh and Rebekah have not pursued a money-delivered life of lonely efficiency. They have built their life together neither around making as much money as possible nor on gaining all that money can get them. They have three kids and no yard. They live across the street from our church so that they can do things like share medicine with church members in need on short notice at night. Their lives, and ours, and those of dozens of others, are richer for it. Their goal is not abundance without dependence but a better abundance that comes through inter-dependence.
I think Jesus was speaking along similar lines when he said, Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God (Luke 6.20). He was teaching us that there is a wealth available through the gospel that money cannot buy.
And so, here is the constant tension the world will present to you in this great city of opportunity. We can all feel the pull of desiring to get a little richer (even if we can’t quite manage to achieve it!) But the question is whether that will, in itself, make you any more wealthy. Pull those two ideas apart, and hold them in separate places in your head and heart, and suddenly you can see through the mirage.
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Gospel-Shaped Friendships
True friendship is a gift and doesn’t come easily. Forging genuine friendships in a culture marked by division and disposable relationships can be tricky. How does the gospel shape our view of friendship? What is different about a Christian friendship?
Friendship Forged in Christ
At the centre of a gospel-shaped friendship is our union with Christ. We have been saved by grace through faith, and we are made alive in Christ with all the spiritual blessings that flow from that relationship. One astonishing reality of our new life in Christ is that Jesus calls us friends.
“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” (John 15.15).
Jesus is our truest, closest friend who knows the depths of every joy and hurt in our hearts. He knows every flaw, weakness, and sin, and still loves us with an everlasting love. He promises to be a constant refuge in the storms of life and never leave or betray us (Hebrews 13.5).
Knowing that we are in Christ frees us from expecting another person (friend, spouse) to satisfy our deepest desires to be seen, known, and loved. It motivates us to forgive one another because God in Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4.32). It compels us to consider the demands we may place on others to fulfil all of our emotional and relational desires. In short, having Jesus as our truest friend frees us to give and receive love without clutching to it too tightly or expecting something in return.
Friendship is About More Than Friendship
What bonds this kind of friendship together is more than shared interests or a similar life stage. It is a desire to grow in Christlikeness (Romans 8.29) and to be a tool in God’s hand to strengthen one another’s faith.
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27.17).
It also displays God’s love to a lost world. We are united in Christ and on mission for Christ so that the world may believe that God sent his Son (John 17.21). And when a friendship aligns with God’s purpose and design, there is a deep joy experienced together, striving side by side for his glory to reach the ends of the earth (Habakkuk 2.14). Friendship is about far more than friendship.
Pursuing Gospel-Shaped Friendships
Let’s strive to be the kind of friend who loves at all times (Proverbs 17.17) because God first loved us. Let’s pursue friendship that points one another to Christ and displays to the world that Jesus is better than the sweetest relationship we will have on this earth. Let’s push against the self-focused culture around us and forge friendships that are outward-focused on how to “stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10.24), and let’s run hard together the race set before us for the glory of God.
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The Gift of Limitations
Several years ago, when I was in my early thirties, I set a specific goal to do an 8k (five mile) run in under 30 minutes. It was the fall of 2016, and I was lining up for the Portugal Day race in Central Park. That morning, my body felt strong. When the horn sounded and we started running, I settled into a pace that was faster than anything I had practised. But I felt great! I ended up crossing the finish line at thirty-five minutes. A respectable time, but not the goal I had set.
That day, I learned something very important: I would never run like Roger Bannister, no matter how hard I pushed myself. I might beat a personal best, but I would never reach the level of an “elite runner.” That race made me keenly aware of my limitations.
It also taught me something about the reality of life itself. Every one of us lives with limits. Some of those limits are physical. Others are emotional, mental, relational, or spiritual. Some are temporary, others lifelong.
And for many of us, those limits can become a source of frustration or shame especially when we begin comparing ourselves to others. We can find ourselves asking, “Why can’t I be smarter? Why can’t I be stronger? Why can’t I run faster?”
The Bible gives us a surprisingly honest answer to these questions: limitation is part of what it means to be human. From the very beginning, God created us with boundaries. Even before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve were not infinite, not all-knowing, not self-sufficient. They depended on God. They depended on one another. They lived within God-given limits. And those limits were not flaws they were reminders that they were not God.
But when sin entered the world, those limits were compounded by brokenness. Our bodies fail. Minds grow weary. And our limits gently- sometimes painfully- remind us of our frailty.
But here’s the good news, our limitations are no obstacle for God. In fact, God delights in using fragile, limited people to display His power, so that the credit belongs not to human strength, but to His grace.
If life here were always easy, if we had no limits and no struggles, we might never lift our eyes toward heaven. We might never cry out with the songwriter, “Lord, I need you: oh, I need You. Every hour, I need You.”
So embracing our limitations does not mean resigning ourselves to defeat. It means placing our confidence in the One who says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). As my dad used to say, “Son, do the best you can with the grace God has given you.” And that’s the call for every Christian: receive God’s grace, trust His strength, and faithfully run the race He has set before you.
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Is Multiculturalism Working?
It’s a question plaguing British politics. The days of youthful optimism, when most agreed that multiculturalism was a good thing, are behind us. Instead, we are now divided, with some continuing to advocate for it and others declaring it a danger to national unity. As former Home Secretary Suella Braverman put it, “Multiculturalism has ‘failed’ and threatens security. ...It has fostered difference between communities".
The choice appears to be a lose-lose. Either aspire to national solidarity and abandon multiculturalism, or hold to it and face its fracturing consequences. Neither seems ideal.
But while modern debate frames the choice between unity and diversity as a dichotomy, scripture doesn’t. Instead, it presents us with a rich vision of community, offering neither naive optimism nor faithless pragmatism, but something altogether better: unity in diversity, diversity in unity. Not an either-or but a both-and.
Diversity in unity
Scripture is clear that multicultural community is a good thing. It has been God’s vision for the church even from its inception. As the Apostle Paul writes in Galations 3.28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
The church was never meant to follow the dividing lines of society, but thrive as a counter-cultural gathering where those from all backgrounds, cultures, and walks of life are welcomed. Membership does not follow man-made distinctions or hierarchies; receiving the gospel through faith is what counts. The result is a spiritual family that is diverse like none other.
Unity in diversity
Yet to imagine a harmonious multicultural community is one thing. How is it actually possible?
According to scripture, cross-cultural unity is a God-given reality. Consider again the verse from Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Lasting solidarity is not achieved through better national policies or systems - though these have their place - but the gospel. Our forgiveness and adoption as God’s son gives us a new identity marker - in Christ - which is our foundation. I am no longer primarily a caucasian British male, but a son of God, bought with the blood of Jesus. In Christ is what I am first. And if you are too, then you’re a brother or sister.
So, in the fractured life of British politics, we needn’t lose heart. Let’s continue to build a diverse spiritual family, drawn together by a radical gospel and our status as sons. And let’s echo the prayer of Jesus, “make us one as you are one”.
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You Are Not Alone
TikTok Boom?
A mental health crisis is brewing. It has been since the early 2010s. Rates of self-harm, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and suicide have risen sharply over the last decade, and the trend continues amongst Generations Z and Alpha.
All this coincides with the explosion of social media, the defining cultural shift of our time. Modern life is more connected than ever, yet many feel more anxious, distracted, and dissatisfied.
In the age of doomscrolling and brainrot, how can we truly flourish?
Join our speaker, Professor of Psychiatry Glynn Harrison (more below), as he explores the effect of social media on our minds and lives, and whether we can have faith in the future.
Date: 3rd February 2026
Time: 7.30pm
Price: Free
Location: London Nautical School, SE1 9NA
About our speaker
Glynn Harrison is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Bristol UK, where he was a practising consultant psychiatrist and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry.
He has acted as an advisor to the World Health Organisation, the UK Dept Health and is a past President of the International Federation of Psychiatric Epidemiology. He is interested in the interface between mental health, neuroscience and spirituality and now speaks widely on issues related to faith and human flourishing.
Grace Fuelled Effort
One of the great challenges I’ve found in ministry is helping people to understand the tension between grace and effort in the Christian life. And the tension is real! When we lean too far toward grace without effort, we can drift into what theologians call antinomianism—the belief that how we live no longer matters because it’s all grace. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously described this as “cheap grace,” a gospel that offers forgiveness without transformation.
But if we swing too far in the other direction of effort without grace, then we fall into legalism. We begin to believe that our discipline, resolve, or wisdom can somehow produce spiritual growth. And this is where many Christians live: stuck somewhere in between. Unsure of how grace and effort actually work together. The result is often spiritual stagnation rather than spiritual transformation.
Peter addresses this tension in 2 Peter 1.5-7, when he writes:
“Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” (ESV)
Notice that Peter doesn’t shy away from the language of effort. He uses the phrase “make every effort” to describe a sustained and purposeful diligence in the pursuit of godliness. He then explains why this matters in verse 8:
“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What Peter is saying is that if we do not make a deliberate effort to grow spiritually, our faith risks becoming ineffective and unfruitful. He goes on in verse 9 to warn that those who fail to develop these virtuous qualities are spiritually short-sighted and blind, forgetting the great price Jesus paid for their salvation.
For some, this passage can feel uncomfortable. Words like “make every effort” and “add to your faith” may sound like works-based religion. Isn’t the Christian life about what Christ has done for us, not what we do?
Absolutely! Peter is not describing how we are saved, but how we grow after we have been saved. Our effort is not the cause of our salvation; it is the evidence of it (v.10). This is why Peter can call us to “make every effort” without contradicting the gospel because our ability to grow does not depend on ourselves, but on the grace and power of God.
He makes this clear earlier in verse 3, reminding us that “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” Spiritual growth is possible for every believer because God, in His kindness, has already provided everything we need to grow. In other words, God is committed to your spiritual growth!
So let’s resist the temptation to live in the polarising tension of grace versus effort, as though we must choose one or the other. When it comes to growth in godliness, trusting does not put an end to trying. Instead, let’s be disciplined and purposeful in our spiritual growth, pursuing it with grace-fueled effort, so that our faith will not be stagnant or ineffective, but increasingly fruitful for the glory of God.
Key dates for the spring term
Regular Rhythms
As a church community, we follow regular monthly & termly rhythms. On the first Wednesday of each month, we meet for Upper Room, our prayer and worship gathering (7.30pm, London Nautical School). On the third Sunday of the month, we have a post-service BBQ/lunch together. And each term, we gather all three congregations for a Together Sunday (4.15pm, Westminster Chapel).
Upper Room
Tuesday 6th January
Wednesday 4th February
Wednesday 4th March
Wednesday 1st April
Together Sunday
Sunday 25th January
Sunday BBQ / Lunch
Sunday 15th February
Sunday 15th March
Grace Men & Women
These events are a great opportunity to hear from God’s word, worship together, and connect with others.
Women’s Event
Stay tuned for deets (!)
Men’s Evening
Thursday 26th March, 7-9.30pm @ London Nautical School
Courses/Special Events
Salt Live is a series of talks on today's pressing issues and how the Christian faith speaks into them. Previous events include ‘Screen Fatigue’ & ‘The Crisis of Masculinity’ (7.30-9.30pm @ London Nautical School).
Foundations & Salt Course are two courses running in tandem. Foundations explores the core beliefs and practices of our faith, whereas the Salt Course considers life’s big questions from a Christian perspective. Click on either below for more info.
Salt Live
Tuesday 3rd February
Salt Course
Seven consecutive Tuesday evenings beginning 17th February
Foundations
Seven consecutive Tuesday evenings beginning 17th February
Salt Live last spring