Monday Message

Genesis literally means 'beginning'. It's fitting that it is the first book of the Bible. Over the next couple of Monday Messages, I want to take a look at some aspects of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 that have piqued my interest and will, I'm hoping, pique yours too. Today I want to look at the following passage: Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. The key part i'd like to focus on is the word 'image'. To me an image gives the sense of a photo or a painting; Something that shows a scene, person or object, but isn't in itself any of those things. The apitome of this ideal is the Rene Magritte painting ' Ceci n'est pas une pipe ' (This is not a pipe). The point of the words is to remind the viewer that the painting is an image of a pipe, no the pipe itself. And so, I believe, it is with ourselves. We are not God,but we are an image of Him on earth. This has a twofold responsibility: To re...

Gelotogy is the study of laughter and its effects on the human body. Sounds like a fun line of work. The saying that laughter is the best medicine is quite accurate;  By laughing we burn 20 calories each minute, we increase levels of cortisol which reduces stress and we can add up to 2 days to our lifespan by laughing for 15 minutes. I know that when I'm stressed I tend to laugh or giggle a lot. This seems to be an odd thing to do, but it helps me. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one though. In the same vain, laughter can be used to distract others from what is happening to us. Proverbs 14:13 Laughter can conceal a heavy heart,     but when the laughter ends, the grief remains. So many people are able to put on the 'everything is awesome' mask and not let the world see the real them behind it. Sure they may laugh; They may even make others laugh, but in the end the underlying hurts will still be there and, without letting others in, they...

Last week I, very messily, looked at Genesis 1, and explored the possibility that in the beginning, along with everything we know and see, God created time. This week I look at the second "In the beginning" John 1:1-2 In the beginning the Word already existed.     The Word was with God,     and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. Here we see that there was more in the beginning than meets the eye. Jesus, the very work of salvation; The Way, the Truth and the Life was with God in the beginning. In fact, not just with God, but God! A part of the Trinity and the very person from which Christians take their name. Jesus was sent for our salvation and took our sins on the cross. But that's not all He did. Jesus is vital to our very existence: John 1:3-5 God created everything through him,     and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, ...

Once upon a time... Call me Ishmael... It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen... All children, except one, grow up... All great books start with memorable lines that pass down through the ages. And so it is with the Bible. Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. As opening lines go, it's a pretty good one. Sets the position in time, introduces the main character and show them achieving a great feat. Genesis, as you probably know, means beginning and it's the first book of the Bible; The story of creation. The high points for the rest of the chapter, in my opinion, are: Genesis 1:3,6,9,11,14,20,24,26-30 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.”...