Self-determination is critical to psychological wellbeing and personal growth.* Human development requires that we must feel in control of our behaviour, free will. Eve takes control of her environment and approves the fruit which she takes and eats, taking direct action for herself.

In learning how to live the Christian life we’re given two examples – Adam and Jesus, the first and the last Adam. Whilst the first introduced death and decay into humanity, the second illustrated the possibility of heaven on earth.

We’ve observed that God places decision taking squarely in our hands. This free will precedes the Fall, demonstrating God has no interest in micro-managing His creation. In his state of innocence, Adam heard God’s advice with nothing to compare it to or contradict

Making sense of life presents a challenge for us all, one that stretches well beyond our years of anticipated adolescent struggles with meaning and identity. Whilst we seek to manage our life and keep it within the safety of the banks between which it flows, sudden storms can cause a flood and the river is replaced by a borderless lake that drowns everything beneath its waters.

A refuge is a place we run back to. As an injured child turns to a parent for comfort, so we, confused by an unresolved mystery, can run back to God, who offers reassurance and comfort, though the source of our pain remains unresolved. We need to find some comfort when our reaction to such pain is an outburst of emotion.

Afriend once said to me, ‘God’s clock keeps perfect time’, referring to how we often need to wait for God to act. Our temptation is to step in when God appears slow in showing up. Joshua and the Israelites have now safely crossed the Jordan and, like their earlier Red Sea crossing, witnessed a miracle.

Today we’re inundated with valuable resources online, in print, and at conferences. There’s almost too much information and a danger we may try to live a life that is not our own. Consider David, trained as a shepherd to protect sheep from wild animals, then dressed in Saul’s armour which severely restricted his movement and compromised his skills

Friendship with Jesus provokes us into building credible lives of service reflecting His character. All four Gospel accounts present a picture of how Jesus lived, yet we quickly discover we lack the power to live His way without the power of the Holy Spirit, deposited within us by God’s grace when we say yes to Him (Rom. 8:9).

When exploring any educational or training programme we always make a cost-benefit analysis. Is the investment of time, finance, and energy worth the return? We quantify this across a spectrum ranging from practical outcomes to personal achievement. I went back to university part time as a necessary distraction from the intensity of caring for my wife.

How do we evaluate, or find a value for, our learning and subsequent service? Effective measures are hard to find for something not calculated against external criteria. Only God knows the state of our heart and can compute our integrity. Jesus tells us to keep quiet about the apparent good we do so that we don’t congratulate ourselves or allow pride to provoke us into judging others.