One lesson the Covid pandemic has reinforced is that humanity is a long way from being in charge of its own destiny. For all the scientific and technological advances made through reasoned endeavour, there remain factors which lie well beyond our control

I fear living a self-righteous life – living what I believe, but with a superior attitude that others find offensive. Often, when speaking about God’s truth, it’s easy to come across as self-righteous. It’s useful to reflect on the fact that we’re all fractured people. No one can contribute anything to God’s gracious act in setting us free from sin. The time I take criticising another might be better spent considering my own battle with sin and by giving thanks for God’s loving acceptance.

Life is a process and, as one generation ages, it perceives that the good old days were better than what they experience today. History teaches that this assumption isn’t new or true! Plato recorded Socrates saying, ‘The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise’

My many years serving as a mediator gave me the privilege of being brought into diverse disputes. From commercial disagreements to relational breakdown, most people are captured by their past and present, rather than their future.

Setting priorities is an imperative. As a youngster, I saw time endlessly stretching out before me. As I have aged, so the speed with which time passes has increased, and my endgame comes into ever-clearer focus.

As disciples, we accept that all that we have comes from God (1 Chron. 29:14). Each of us is invited to live life with our eyes firmly fixed upon God. However, it’s so easy to be distracted by the appetites that stir within us, from greed to lust. Whilst our inner appetites, as the Church Fathers described them, easily motivate us, it is God’s Spirit who can mobilise us to live at peace with God, ourselves and our neighbours.

Talking is too easy. We have phrases such as ‘stop digging’, indicating the more we speak the more we incriminate ourselves. Chatter, in both verbal and written form, threatens to overwhelm us. From podcasts to tweets, we are surrounded by the free expression of opinions, yet with little time to digest what’s being said.

Grasping God and His ways lies well beyond the capacity of our human understanding. We wrestle too often with the question, ‘Why?’ Certainly, this is the question that most often unsettles us: ‘Why did my relationship end?’ ‘Why did I lose my job?’ ‘Why did I do what I knew was wrong?’

To an external observer, the life of the righteous and unrighteous look much the same. We are not privy to their private thoughts and misdemeanours. Yet, they both navigate their day in a similar way. Rising to go to work and returning home to rest, one day gives way to the next with very little variance.

Knowledge and wisdom are different. Knowledge is the understanding we gain from study and experience; wisdom is learning the skills to put that knowledge to work. It is wisdom that guides us in making good decisions from our knowledge.