Chalmers' Blog

Intimacy With God

Intimacy with God, what does or what should that look like? If you spend any time at all around Christians you’ve probably heard the prayer request “pray that I would be/feel closer to God”. What exactly do we mean by that? How can Christians grow in their relationship with God? The temptation is to think that simply doing stuff will work, or that there is a secret formula somewhere that will sweep you into a new spiritual level. But our spiritual life isn’t like a computer game.

Saturday Snippets (November 28)

As well as reading a lot of books, I also read a ton of articles every week. Here are some of the articles that I’ve read recently and have found interesting, helpful, challenging and encouraging. I hope that they will be the same for you, my dear readers…

Listen To Various Voices

The last few weeks and months have been a very interesting time to be alive. It’s been a very strange time with people on two sides of an issue slinging mud at each other. We’ve had different approaches to the Coronavirus, to lockdown and church services, to BLM, social justice and to the President of the US. Some of the discussions I’ve seen have been good and helpful whilst others haven’t been. In all of this it’s tempting to simply listen to those we agree with. But I don’t think that’s wise.

Bible Books For You

I don’t often review commentaries, I read them all the time, but they’re not always the most thrilling of reads that would interest the ‘average Christian’. However, one of the series that you’ll see me review every now and then is the ‘For You’ series, a set of books that help you understand books of the Bible. They’re books that you can read through like any other, or books that you can use in your own devotional life or books that you can use to help you prepare to lead Bible studies or write sermons. Here are two new additions to the series…

Saturday Snippets (November 21)

Don’t Pass Your Duties to Others

Time, busy, effort, sacrifice and capacity, all words that we probably use on a regular basis, is not a daily basis. There are plenty of times where we have valid excuses and reasons to then pass on our duties. In fact there are times where it is the wisest thing. But there are times when it is not.

Parenting and Manhood

There are a ton of books being published every year for new parents. Some of the books focus on the practicalities of becoming a parent, whilst other focus more on the spiritual side of it all. Every parent is, or at least should be, a disciple maker. A Christian parents job is to bring up their children in the way of the Lord, to both speak and demonstrate to them what a God glorifying life looks like. Tall order? Absolutely! But there are great resources out there to help…

Saturday Snippets (November 14)

Tell me what you’re looking for…

This blog started off as a little bit of fun, I didn’t expect it to turn into what it is today. Initially I just wanted to write reviews of the books I read to help people get a feel for some of the good books out there. I started posting once a month. Then it grew and eventually I started adding weekly reviews and monthly posts. Long story short I’ve now been posting every week for 3 years. But I need your help, how can I make this blog most beneficial to you?

Scripture Journal…

Over the years my attitude to note taking, underlining and scribbling in books has changed. Looking at books I read 3 years ago the spines are not bent, the pages are clean and it looks like I haven’t turned a page. Looking at my books now is a different story. Dog ears, highlights, underlines, notes and scribbles adorn most of my books. But one of the things I’ve always struggled with is that when I study a passage of the Bible, I’ve not found a Bible with enough space for all the comments and notes… until now…