My TV news watching has dropped to virtually zero. It seems most reporting is in reality opinion based on the few facts available. My prayer for this world is not improved by these opinion pieces; I have sufficient opinions of my own, often born of cynicism, political bias or grumpiness. Keeping as clear a conscience as possible and praying for God’s glory to be revealed is challenging enough.

In the UK we enjoy free access to excellent medical support. Early diagnosis increases the chances of successful treatment. However, there is the risk that undiagnosed, underlying conditions remain untreated and could cause unexpected death. What’s true of our physical health is true of our spiritual health. Jesus is our spiritual physician, but can only deal with what we bring for His diagnosis and treatment plan.

Jesus enjoyed a charisma that drew the crowds to Him to listen to His wise words. The Gospels contain those wise words, as remembered by those who followed Him. They were being collated within years of Jesus’ death, so with plenty of eyewitnesses to contradict misinformation.

In a time of obvious nervousness about what is acceptable, where carefully thought through perspectives are subject to ‘cancel culture’, it’s perhaps essential we remind ourselves that we all ultimately go before a judge who will separate the wheat from the chaff, the good from the bad (Luke 3:17). In short, ‘cancel culture’ means preventing thought leaders from prominent public platforms or careers and polarising public opinion whilst stage-managing legitimate debate.

Jesus’ death ended any need for a bloody sacrificial system and gave humanity the opportunity to taste and see God’s goodness (Ps. 34:8). Once tasted, our hunger can never be assuaged by something nothing else can satisfy.

What is the gospel? It is the unique and compelling announcement that God has restored the open relationship between Himself and His creation through the death and resurrection of Jesus. For me, this is indeed the heart of the good news that Jesus invited us all as disciples to make known to a world that is described as ‘lost’, which means wasted, ruined and worn out.

We often realise our call in the world through our obedience. We become a physical expression of God’s call. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu is best remembered for the work she led in the slums of Kolkata. However, initially principal of a Loreto Sisters school for girls, she was riding on a train from Kolkata to the Himalayan foothills for a retreat, when Christ called her to abandon teaching and work in the Kolkata slums serving the poorest and sickest.

A call is a summons or an invitation; its object determines which it is. God never overrides free will (Gen 3). We’re often anxious about missing God’s call, but this is unlikely. A call is always dependent on someone listening and responding. We’re familiar with the phrase, ‘There’s none so deaf as those who do not wish to hear’, an idiom taken from Scripture (Jer. 5:21–31). We are often anxious, both not to miss a call, but also about the object of that call; will it appeal to us or not?

At 28 Camus wrote, ‘Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.’* We all search for life’s meaning to define our existence. Selwyn Hughes argued that Significance (the opposite of meaningless) offered one of three pillars offering a purposeful life, along with Security and Self-Worth.**

Isaiah prophesies about a blessed king who doesn’t know Yahweh, the God of Israel, some 150 years before his rule. He speaks of Cyrus who reigned over the Babylonian empire from 539 to 530 BC. He gave the Jewish captives permission to return to Jerusalem. Without acknowledgement from Cyrus, God blesses him even though he never realised the significant role he was playing in God’s plan.