Quiet times

Quiet times, devotions, personal bible study - all the same name for spending time reading the word of God and reflecting on the particular passage. New Year resolutions for many Christians (myself included) is to try and read the bible daily. I came across this article - " how not to read your bible ". I found it useful - especially the last point, as I have quoted below...

5. Don't Turn a Means of Grace into a Means of Merit

Your Father's love for you doesn't rise and fall with your quiet times. If you are united to Jesus by faith, the verdict is out, and the court is dismissed. You're as accepted and embraced as the Son himself. Period.

To be sure, you'll desire to hear and follow his voice if you're truly one of his sheep (John 10:1-30; cf. 8:47; 18:37). Not always and not perfectly, of course, but sincerely and increasingly.

So as another year dawns, commit yourself anew to becoming a man or woman of the Word. But don't overextend, do it alone, just do it whenever, live as if Paul lied, or treat means of grace like means of merit.

Your Bible is one of God's chief gifts to you in 2013. Open, read, ruminate, and obey. May you be ever transformed into the image of our incarnate King, and may he alone receive the acclaim.

here is the link to the rest of the article...

Hadrian's Wall

A beautiful day walking in the northumberland countryside. A great reminder of history and also of God's creation.

An experiment

I used to blog. This started when studying for A Levels at school but was more of an online diary attributed to the woes of teenage life and my thoughts of the many changes that were occurring such as moving to a new city to study at university. I continued this for a couple of years (I think) chatting away to the internet about thoughts and feelings about nothing in particular. 

I thought about restarting but am still unsure of what I would blog about - especially something that has a significance and would interest others. There are many hobbies I could write about - baking, music, the outdoors and books for example, and also my faith - following Jesus. I guess I have written this post for two reasons, the first to see what it looks like aesthetically (and alter accordingly!) and also to perhaps inspire me to write something else of some interest to myself and others. We'll see!