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God’s Great Alternatives

by    30th January 2011    0 responses
Part of the series

Bible3

Tomorrow, we are beginning a new series of Daily Readings here on Crossring. I have been particularly excited about these Readings, and so while this blog post serves as an introduction to the series, I hope you will find it useful in its own right!

I have often been struck by verses in the Bible which draw a strong contrast of one form or another. (eg. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:7-8) God so often turns the tables on our expectations, saying one thing and then shocking us by showing that his alternative is better.

The more I looked, the more I found these sorts of verses cropping up all through the Bible. Recently I came across Darin Michael Shaw’s Twitter profile: he tweets out one of the “Big Buts of the Bible” every day. You can follow him @Big_Buts. I love the name “Big Buts”! More, though, seeing these big buts in the Bible has helped change my view of God. Once you start looking out for them in your Bible reading, you will be amazed how many there are and how encouraging they are, too!

Because of all this, I have been thinking for some time about running a series of Daily Readings here on Crossring for “Big Buts”. I don’t want to catalogue every time the word “but” is used in the Bible; instead, I want to highlight some of those verses where it is used as a hinge between two alternatives. God is often surprising in how he treats us – and we are often surprising in how we treat him! I want to use this series to see some of God’s great alternatives; some of those occasions where God could do one thing but chooses to do another, for his glory.

So, if you are struck by any “big buts” – or great alternatives – in the Bible, please get in touch with your verse and how God spoke to you through it. If you are keen, you could even write a Reading or two! You can drop us any tips in the comments section below, or Tweet us @Crossring. If you would like to write for Crossring, get in touch through Twitter or by e-mailing me: ali@crossring.com.

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Ali grew up in London, but is currently at university in the North East of England. He helped to re-launch Crossring in 2009, and has acted as Managing Editor of the website since then. He occasionally dabbles in photography and web development - he also designed and maintains the Crossring website.

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