Ogmore by Sea Church

04/09/2026

Coffee & Cake is back 11.00am Monday 7th September

YOBS is back from 3.30pm Monday 7th September

Tiddlers is back 9.30am - 11.00am Tuesday 8th September

Check out our website for more details:

Church activites: Sunday Services, Coffee and Cake, YOBS (Youth - Ogmore By Sea), Tiddlers (Toddler Group), Bible Study & Prayer Meeting, Lighthouse (children's group), Alpha and 321 course.

29/08/2026

OVERCOMING OFFENSE

2 Timothy 2:23-24:
"Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the LORD's servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful."

Like many of us, I was shocked and upset on hearing the terrible tragedy at the Big Church Festival in West Sussex, and I made the mistake of scrolling and reading the responses and comments on social media.

Many of the comments I read from non believers expressed ridicule, contempt and mocking for the Christian faith, but I was equally saddened to read some of the responses from believers, which were derisory and angry.

What was obvious, in amongst all of this war of words was that people had lost sight that a 41 year old family man had lost his life and several people were injured. Instead of compassion, empathy and support for these families, I saw fellow humans making jokes, puns and cruel comments because this was a Christian festival, and believers hitting back on the keyboard retaliating in anger and defensiveness.

Did I feel like responding and defending my faith?
Yes I did!

But instead I prayed for the families and read the Bible, and the passage of scripture from Matthew 27: 27-44 struck me on how Jesus was judged, mocked, taunted, spat on and beaten. What stands out in this whole ugly scene is the response from Jesus, the control and restraint he displayed. The only time Jesus even speaks during His trial and torture was when they asked Him the condemning question:
"Are you the King of the Jews? (Matthew 27:11)
And Jesus answered simply: "You have said so."

Jesus did not answer every accusation made against Him. Peter tells us, “When they hurled insults at Him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.” (1 Peter 2:23) Jesus was not silent because He did not know the truth, He was secure enough not to respond to everything being said about Him "He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly."

So when we look at Jesus' control and restraint, it teaches us that we don’t need to argue with everyone who disagrees with us. We don’t have to defend ourselves every time someone misunderstands us or correct every opinion we believe is wrong, or prove that we know more than someone else.

I have learned that knowing Jesus gives me something much better than winning arguments. He gives me peace.

There are conversations worth having, but there are also moments when love matters more than proving a point. We can know what we believe without needing everyone around us to agree with us.

The Apostle Paul gives us incredibly practical wisdom when he says:
“Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.” (2 Timothy 2:23)

Not every disagreement deserves our participation, not every comment deserves our response, not every person challenging us is actually looking for understanding.
Sometimes continuing the conversation will produce nothing except frustration, pride, and division. Walking away does not always mean we have lost, sometimes it means we have enough wisdom to recognise where the conversation was going.

This is especially important when we talk about Jesus, we can become so determined to defend our theology that we forget the person standing in front of us. Jesus does not need us to insult someone into believing the gospel, we can explain what we believe, we can open Scripture and answer questions. We can disagree clearly but we can do all of that, while remembering that the person we are speaking with is someone Jesus loves. Truth does not become more true because we said it louder.

Paul continues:
“And the LORD’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.” (2 Timothy 2:24)

Notice that kindness and teaching are placed together, we don’t have to choose between love and truth. We can know Scripture deeply and still be gentle, we can correct something we believe is wrong without humiliating the person who believes it, we can disagree without becoming disrespectful. Being right about a biblical doctrine while treating someone terribly does not represent Jesus well.

The finished work of Jesus also gives us freedom from constantly defending ourselves; our identity is not established by whether people think we are right, our righteousness is not determined by comments, opinions, criticism, or accusations, Jesus has already justified us before the Father; He died for us, rose again, and is seated at the Father’s right hand. When we know where we stand with God, we don’t have to spend our lives trying to control where we stand with everybody else.

There is tremendous strength in knowing when to speak and when to remain quiet; silence is not always weakness. Sometimes silence reveals that we no longer need another person’s agreement to have peace.

On saying all that, it does not mean we should never defend someone, confront harmful behaviour, correct false teaching or have difficult conversations. There are times when love requires us to speak clearly; but even then our goal does not have to be winning, but helping. When believers focus on secondary issues above the gospel, we fail to point people to the most important news in the history of the world!
How often do we get caught up in arguments that detract from the gospel?

The Apostle Paul would challenge us to think before we speak. He would also say that loving others is often more important than being right about an issue that probably does not matter as much as we think it does. So before responding, we can ask ourselves:

"Am I trying to help this person understand, or am I trying to prove that I am right?"

Believe me, that question has saved me from conversations that would have accomplished absolutely nothing!

We are already accepted by the Father because of Jesus, we do not need an argument to validate us.
We do not need the final word to establish our worth or for everybody to understand us before we can have peace. Sometimes one of the greatest demonstrations of grace is realising we do not need to win the argument at all.

So let us speak truth when love requires it, listen when wisdom requires it, and walk away when peace requires it.

God bless
Sue ❤🙏

11/08/2026

Something AMAZING is happening tomorrow...

09/08/2026

COME NEAR TO GOD

James 4:8a:
"Come near to God and He will come near to you."

The days I intentionally make time to sit with the LORD,
to open His Word, quiet my heart, and simply listen are the days I walk with greater peace, clearer direction, and deeper confidence. The days I neglect that time, are almost always the days I begin relying on my own strength. Then what normally happens is before long striving replaces surrender, anxiety replaces peace and the noise of the world becomes louder than the voice of God!

Is this your experience too?

We have a tendency to search for peace in better circumstances, better habits, better relationships or better answers; yet peace has never been found in any of those things.
Peace is found in the presence of the Prince of Peace.

I’ve rushed into busy days convincing myself I would spend time with the LORD later. Every single time that decision became the beginning of my unravelling! My thoughts became louder, my peace became weaker and my heart became more anxious; I find myself striving instead of trusting.

Yet, I’ve also experienced mornings where I simply showed up before our Heavenly Father with no agenda other than to be with Him. I find on those mornings they have become the foundation for everything else in my life.

We can look for answers in yet another book, another podcast, another plan, or another breakthrough; we have more of these than any generation before us! Yet in today's world burn out is rife, discernment is low and the gap between what we know and how we actually feel is wider than ever.

But what if the answer has always been God’s presence?

There was a time in my life when guilt motivated me and shame was always waiting if I fell short, and eventually I have ended up carrying both, but that is not how God invites us to Him. Our relationship with Jesus is not built on guilt, it’s built on grace.

There is no secret formula, or a perfect amount of time and there is not a checklist that earns God’s love, we simply just show up; we draw near to Him and He keeps His promise.

“Come near to God, and he will come near to you.”
James 4:8a

Gradually day after day, conversation after conversation, prayer after prayer, we begin recognising His voice. His conviction comes without condemnation, His encouragement comes without striving and His direction becomes clearer than the confusion surrounding us. We grow by yielding, not by striving.

Then something beautiful begins to happen, we stop trying to carry life on our own and we begin receiving it.

Jesus declared in John 6:35:
"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

His Word becomes nourishment and it is then the place where we find rest. The more time we spend with Him, the more His voice became louder than our fears, His peace became stronger than our anxieties and His truth became greater than our pain.

Then we start to understand what David meant when he wrote in Psalm 119:105:
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

Jesus never promised us an easy life, but He did promise His presence. He is our Shepherd, He is our King and He is our Lord and Saviour!

His presence is where fear begins to lose its grip, where anxiety starts to loosen its chains, where weary souls finally find rest and where surrendered hearts are transformed.

So today, can I urge you not to worry about saying the perfect prayer or about spending the perfect amount of time. Just come and open His Word and pour out your heart, then be still and listen.

Then return to that place tomorrow, and the next day and the next......
Until one day you will realise something beautiful has happened, you no longer spend time with Him because you feel obligated; you spend time with Him because you have tasted the Bread of Life, you’ve been refreshed by the Living Water, and you cannot imagine walking another day without His presence.

If your heart feels tired, if your mind feels overwhelmed, if anxiety has become a constant companion, don’t run faster come closer, His presence is still the safest place on earth.

I for one, am so thankful for that!

God bless
Sue ❤🙏

02/08/2026

PRIDE - THE ROOT OF ALL SIN

PROVERBS 8:13:
"To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour and perverse speech."

There are some sins that people talk about all the time. They are easy to point out, easy to preach about, and easy to notice in someone else's life.

But have you ever thought about the sin that is rarely mentioned?
The one that often stays hidden because it does not always show on the outside?

It can live inside someone who looks faithful, serves in church, and even seems to be doing everything right. Yet it is one of the sins that can quietly pull a person farther away from God. That sin is pride.

God says pride is enemy number one, He doesn't just dislike it, He despises it. (Proverbs 8:13); and as Tim Keller puts it:
"Pride is the carbon monoxide of sin. It silently and slowly kills you without you even knowing."

The difficult thing about pride is that it does not usually shout, it's the subtle dangerous whisper that says to God, "I am more important than you," "My plans are better," "My comfort is paramount. " At its core, pride is a declaration of self-service sovereignty. The root of this price is often not an inflated view of ourselves, but a view of God that is far too small. We shrink Him down to a manageable size, making Him a consultant for our plans rather than the Sovereign King of the universe.

Maybe we have all had moments like that. I know I have.

Have you ever caught yourself depending more on your own strength than on God?

That is why pride is so dangerous, it feels normal until we realize how far our hearts have drifted.

The Bible reminds us what pride leads to, Proverbs 16:18 says:
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

At first, pride can look like confidence, but it slowly leads us toward a fall. A proud heart stops feeling its need for God, and when we begin to believe we can live without Him, we have already started walking away from Him.

James 4:6 gives us another powerful reminder:
"But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'"

Think about those words for a moment. God does not simply overlook pride, He opposes it because pride tries to take the place that belongs only to Him.

Pride is not always easy to recognize, but it always gets in the way. Sometimes it appears when we refuse correction, or it shows up when we cannot admit we were wrong. It grows when we always defend ourselves, look down on others, or believe our way is the only right way.

Have you ever seen those attitudes in yourself?

Proverbs 13:10 says:
"Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice."

Wherever pride grows, conflict usually follows, both with God and with people and the Bible shows us that many great falls began with pride.

Isaiah 14:13 -15 tells the story of the Babylon king who wanted to lift himself up to God's place, only to be brought down and thrown into a common shameful grave in the earth.

The remedy for pride is humility - which Jesus modelled for us through the incarnation, washing His disciples' feet and accepting death on a cross; and what He taught so often was made true to himself:
"He who humbles himself will be exalted." (Matthew 23:12)

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus told the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The Pharisee boasted about his own achievements, praying loudly so everyone might notice; but the tax collector, a man that was judged and marginalised stood in the shadows, pounding his chest in honest repentance:
"God have mercy on me, a sinner."

Which one went home right with God?
The humble man, the tax collector did!

Jesus made it clear that God welcomes the heart that is honest and broken before Him, not the heart that is full of itself. God doesn't pour His grace into cups that are already full, He looks for the humble, the ones who show up with an empty cup ready to be filled.

Pride also keeps us from asking for help and receiving forgiveness. A proud person often struggles to say, "I was wrong." Not because forgiveness is unavailable, but because admitting the need for it feels too hard. Yet God forgives those who humble themselves instead of trying to justify themselves.

1 John 1:9 gives this wonderful promise:
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

But if we refuse to confess, we continue carrying what God wants to take away. Pride does not make us stronger, it makes us more distant from the One who gives us true strength.

Humility brings us closer to God. Humility is not about thinking less of ourselves, it's being honest about our strengths and weaknesses and it's about knowing who God is and remembering who we are before Him. It is realizing that without Him we cannot stand, but with Him we can walk in peace.

Micah 6:8 says, "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Walking humbly is simply choosing to stay in the place where God can lead us.

The beautiful truth is that the way back to God always begins with humility. Sometimes we can wonder why God can feel distant; but could it be that pride has quietly closed the door of our hearts?

The good news is that humility opens it again.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says:
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Our loving heavenly Father is always ready to hear the humble heart.

If God feels far away today, maybe the question is not whether He has moved, maybe something has quietly grown in our hearts that was never meant to stay there. The wonderful news is this, God never turns away the humble; when we come back to Him with honest hearts, we never have to remain far from His presence.

In the words of William Law, 1686-1761:
"Let every day be a day of humility....."

God bless
Sue ❤🙏

26/07/2026

AGING WITH JOY

Psalm 71:23:
"My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed."

As we grow older, stuff happens: we develop more aches, pains and illnesses and our mobility may not be as good as it once was. We can look back on our younger years when we seemed to breeze through activities with ease and without discomfort or pain, and long for those days of our youth again. Sometimes, as we age, we can feel less useful, and for some it can feel like their life has lost meaning and purpose.

If any of this sounds familiar, read on!

Psalm 71 is the song of an aging man (probably David) who cries out in the midst of persecution. He looked to God for help, encouragement and strength. But, even though he is suffering, he trusts that the LORD will protect him because he knows that God has been faithful in the past. Even in the midst of persecution, the Psalmist cannot help but praise God in joy for what He has done to save him.

Who do you look to for help as you get older?

The Psalmist knows he needs God even more as he gets older:
"Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength has gone." (verse 9)

In verse 20, the Psalmist admits that he has been through "many troubles" but God promises to be with us each step of life's journey, He is trustworthy and faithful. Sometimes He allows us to go through trials and tribulations to show us He is there, and to look to Him to help us through them. It is good to bring all our thoughts, worries and cares to God in prayer.

After admitting his troubles the Psalmist goes on to say:
"you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honour and comfort me once more." (verses 20-21)

This is why the psalm ends with praise, he is thankful for how God has redeemed him and cared for him all his life through, so He ends the psalm by saying:

"My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you."

The Bible tells us "Always to be joyful." (1 Thessalonians 5:16)

Here is where you may be thinking:
"How can I be joyful when I have so much pain, discomfort, stress, grief, anxiety in my life?"

Because we think of joy as being happiness or pleasure, but the biblical meaning of joy comes from trusting in Jesus who has redeemed us, trusting in our Saviour who has rescued us from eternal separation from God. Aging in Christ will not remove our pain or sorrows, but it will add to the joys.

Our joy is found in Jesus!

Happiness is never constant, because the pleasures in this world are constantly changing and they will never satisfy us; but we can be confident that Jesus never changes, He is the one who truly satisfies us when we place our hope in Him.

Without Him, there is no joy, but with Him we are made righteous and therefore have the joy of righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5:21:
"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

Jesus' desire for us is that we are made complete in Him and have His joy.
The joy of the LORD is a powerful thing, because it shows the rest of the world we have something that cannot be tarnished by circumstances.

Our joy is consistent, because Jesus is consistent.

We can have joy in the midst of despair and difficulties, because we know God is in control. As we get to know Him even more through reading Scripture and through prayer; we can be confident in the fact that He never changes and He is with us, even if we may not feel it in the moment.

The very fact that Jesus gave His life for us is a cause of joy that will never end!
He loves us and will remain faithful to us all our lives if we trust in Him.

Isn't that a reason for such joy!

God bless
Sue ❤🙏

19/07/2026

DO YOU LOVE GOD ENOUGH?

Ephesians 3:17b-19:
"And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the LORD's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God."

Do you end the day feeling like you failed God?

Have you ever thought "I don't love God enough?"

At the close of a busy day we can replay our thoughts, our emotions, and our actions and wonder if we love God enough. If we feel peace we assume He is near but if we feel empty we assume God has drifted away. Our emotions can become the thermometer of our relationship with Him. Good days make us feel like a strong believer, whereas difficult days can make us question everything! We can think that if only my passion was stronger, my relationship with Him would be stronger.

That kind of thinking creates exhaustion instead of peace. The gospel invites us to stop measuring our love for God and start resting in God’s love for us. The Christian life has never been sustained by our ability to love God every second of every day, it is sustained by the unchanging love that He has already poured out through Jesus. The finished work of Our Saviour remains true whether we feel encouraged or discouraged, His righteousness does not become weaker because our emotions become louder. Our confidence rests in Him, not in ourselves.

The apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:19:
“We love because he first loved us. "

Notice the order, our love is the response not the foundation. The foundation is God’s love revealed in His Son. When you reverse that order, your heart will constantly live under pressure, when you receive it in the proper order your heart begins to rest.

Paul reminds us in Romans 8:1:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

That means even on the days when we wish our love for God felt stronger, condemnation has no place in our lives. The cross has already answered every accusation. Our acceptance is settled because Jesus has already accomplished everything necessary to bring us near.

Isn't it true that love grows best where there is security?

A heart that constantly fears rejection struggles to rest; but we have not been given a relationship built on uncertainty, we have received adoption.

We have received the Spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).

We are not trying to become part of God’s family, through Christ we already belong!

Sometimes we become so focused on our love for God that we stop enjoying His love for us; we spend more time examining ourselves than beholding Christ. Yet Scripture continually points our attention away from ourselves and back to Him. As you become more convinced of His love, your heart responds with greater freedom instead of greater pressure.

The Holy Spirit is not working to make us obsessed with our shortcomings, He is revealing Christ to us.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that as we behold the glory of the Lord, “we are being transformed into the same image." Transformation happens as our attention is captured by Jesus, not by endless self-evaluation.

Think about what that means for us on a daily basis. We do not wake up every morning trying to convince God that we love Him enough, we wake up as someone who is already completely loved. Then from that place of security, our worship becomes joyful and our prayers becomes honest. There will be days when our hearts feel full and days when it will feel weary, neither changes who Jesus is for us. He remains our righteousness, our peace and our lives.

Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:19 that believers would:
“Know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

He did not pray that we would become experts at proving our love to God, he prayed that we would continually discover Jesus' love for us, and that revelation is what strengthens the heart.

So if you have been hard on yourself because you cannot love God with perfect consistency every hour of every day, stop carrying a burden that Jesus never placed on you. Rest in the love that has already been secured through His finished work.

Let His faithfulness become our confidence.
Let His grace become our foundation.

The more convinced we become of how completely He loves us, the more our love for Him will naturally grow, not as an obligation, but as the joyful response of a heart that has found its home in Jesus.

How wonderful is that!

God bless
Sue ❤🙏

13/07/2026

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Dom White leads a packed house in Family Worship as we consi...

12/07/2026

THE HARVEST IS READY BUT ARE YOU?

Luke 10:2:
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the LORD of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."

Have you ever considered the depth of this verse?

Firstly, close your eyes and picture a field full of ripe crops waiting to be gathered in. Now, picture the field as the world and the crops representing people ready to hear the good news of Jesus. Their hearts have been prepared by God but there are too few workers willing to go into the field.

This reality presents an incredible opportunity but also a sobering challenge because Jesus is talking to all believers, not just to pastors or bible teachers, we are all called to gather in the harvest.

You may say to yourself I can't do that!

I haven't got a theology degree, I am not a pastor or bible teacher and I wouldn't know what to say. We can often have thoughts like "What if I say the wrong thing?" or " What if they reject me?" and this can hold us back.

Yet in 2 Timothy 1:7 it reminds us that:
"God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self discipline."

Overcoming this fear doesn't mean we will never feel nervous or unsure, it means choosing to trust God more than our fears. Our fear diminishes as we take small, faithful steps of obedience. As we practice saying yes to God, our confidence will grow and fear loses its grip.

That's all we need is a willing heart and the courage to step out in faith. Think about all the encounters with people we have every day - friends, family, neighbours, coworkers, these people are our mission field. God has placed us uniquely in their lives for a reason.

He has blessed each and every one of us with unique gifts, passions and a personality designed for the specific people in our lives. We don't need to mimic a pastor or memorize a perfect script, we just need to be ourselves and use the gifts God has given us.

Do you love hosting get togethers?
Use that time to build relationships and share your faith.

Are you a good listener?
Be present for friends who are struggling, and gently point them to Jesus.

We don't need to present perfect lives, in fact, being open about our own struggles and imperfections can make us more relatable. People are often drawn to vulnerability and sincerity because it demonstrates how God works in real, messy lives.

When we share God's love and the hope in our hearts, we are helping to bring in the harvest. Every conversation, act of love or prayer is a seed sown for His Kingdom. When we share, it's easy to feel pressure to see immediate results, but God's timeline is often different from ours, sometimes the seeds we plant take months or even years to bear fruit.

Our job isn't to convert anyone - that is down to the Holy Spirit; our job is to share the message faithfully and leave the rest to God; trusting God with the results (that requires patience and faith).

START with prayer! Ask God to open our eyes to the opportunities around us, then step into His field with faith trusting that He has already prepared the way.

Let's step boldly and confidently into the harvest field, knowing that we are sent by God, and trusting that His power and presence will guide us every step of the way.

The harvest is ready, but are you ready?

How can you step into the "field" God has placed you in today?

God bless
Sue ❤🙏

28/06/2026

IMAGE OF GOD CHANGES EVERYTHING

1 John 4:19-21:
"We love because He first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command: anyone who loves God must also love their brother or sister."

Isn't love hard?

I am not talking about the romantic kind of love - the butterflies in the stomach when someone you like or love walks in the room. I am talking about the kind of love that compels you to give up your comforts and your rights for the sake of another - that's hard.

All throughout Scripture we are told to love God and love one another like we love ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40), to use our gifts to serve one another (1 Peter 4:10), and to pursue unity with one another (Philippians 2:1-11).
This is the kind of love Jesus has called us to show others, yet somehow we have lost sight of the biblical understanding and practice of love. Simply put, we do not love each other as we should! We all need to do better at loving others.

The Bible offers us a better way forward because in the book of Genesis we see the foundation for Christian unity and brotherly (and sisterly) love. (Genesis 1:26-27)

Why do we love and serve one another?

Because all people, yes every single one of us are created in the image of God.

Doesn't this truth change everything?

We read in Psalm 139:14, that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." However, our understanding of the image of God becomes a little unclear when it concerns anyone else. Recognising that we have all been made in the image of God should impact on how we treat others.

Genesis 1:27 tells us:
"So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them."

God spoke creation into being but His beloved creation, the only one with His image imprinted on its very being, is humankind. God formed humans with His hands, He carefully formed us from dust and breathed His life into us. The life that sustained each and everyone of us is the life of God.

The image of God is an identity that all humans share. We were created to reflect God's perfect character and righteousness. We get our capacity to love, our desire for justice, our appreciation of beauty and so much more directly from God himself.

The image of God also has to do with how we represent God on earth. Because all people are made in the image of God, it changes everything! It changes the way we treat our neighbours, it impacts the way we talk about that friend with a differing viewpoint. As believers, we acknowledge and know that God's image is stamped on every single human who walks the earth.

This is the foundation of why we should treat all people with honour, dignity and respect. We should love each other well, because in each of us there is something of God.

Our heavenly Father created us and He gave us so much that we don't deserve. He is ever mindful of us, even when we are not mindful of Him. God loves all His people because He made them; and if we love God, we are called to love others too.

It's true, that while the beauty of God resides in all of us, there is also something broken within us. Sin causes us to do awful things to each other; but when we see bad in others, we must recognise that we are not perfect either.

Our heavenly Father cannot bear the sight of sin, but He did not refuse to love us because of our condition, instead He provided a way to set us free from sin.

If God can love us despite our sinful nature, we ought to love others too. As image-bearers, through the power of the cross we choose to reflect His goodness and His holy character whenever we get the chance. It is Christ within us that leads us to show love for others; so the more time we spend with Him, the more His love will be cultivated in our hearts.

So, I want to leave you with a few questions:

Who do you need to love today?
Who do you need to forgive?
Who do you need to spend time praying over?

As David did in Psalm 139, let's ask God to examine our hearts and probe our thoughts. Test us and know our concerns, and see if there is any idolatrous way in us and lead us in the everlasting way.

May the God who made us in His image, equip us to reflect His light and unity within this dark world we live in.

God bless
Sue ❤🙏