Have you ever considered how those who represent Jesus Christ should speak in every interaction, day by day? Paul provides the answer in Colossians 4: “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (v. 6).

What does authentic gospel ministry look like? What are the marks of a ministry that is shaped by God’s Word and faithful to Jesus? What are the characteristics of a ministry that you would be willing to sit under? These are vital questions that every Christian believer needs to grapple with. And they are the very questions the Apostle Paul tackles head-on in the book of Colossians.

I wonder if you have ever suffered from the “impostor syndrome”—the sense that, although you occupy a role within a community of some kind, you’re not the real deal and you don’t really belong. Others are genuine and others fit in. But you’re just faking it—and soon enough everyone will find out. The feeling is common enough.

Approximately 360,000 babies are born each day around the world. The birth of a child is always a joyful thing. But the arrival of most babies won’t become headline news.

We live today in a world short on hope and amply supplied with despair. For many, this has been a rather bleak year. We are all looking for hope in the midst of seemingly out of control world news. As Christmas approaches, we hear music in the background reminding us that comfort is on offer.