Every Day with Jesus

Traditionally, the end of September is a season of celebration in the UK. Known as Harvest Festival, it’s a season of thanksgiving for the successful crop harvest. In a rural economy, harvests guaranteed feed for livestock through the winter, as well as provision of seed for the following spring’s planting.

Our time in this world is short lived and our activities impermanent. Ecclesiastes’ message is first to reflect and then to set some good priorities. In our striving for success, we may waste an opportunity to deepen our appreciation of God, who alone is eternal.

Knowledge represents all the acts, information and skills acquired through education and experience. It is our theoretical and practical understanding of something. Scripture teaches us that our great teacher is God. The Bible provides the source for knowledge of ourselves and how we can live full and complete lives on earth (John 10:10).

Jesus tells us to live in the moment (Matt. 6:34). Learning to do so is a skill that takes time to develop. Too often we can miss the present moment because we’re consumed with past regrets or future worries.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.’ (vv17–18) It is interesting to note that God speaks as the still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12–13). Too often, it is the noisy soundtrack that accompanies so much of life that provokes our instinctive responses. God invites us to pause and discern God’s voice, wisdom itself.

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 bet...

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,...

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.

Every time I carry rubbish out to the dustbin I consider the love and grace of God. For I have continually to place my life’s garbage into the hands of the eternal rubbish collector. Just as I accumulate rubbish throughout my week ahead of the bin collection, so too I create a constant stream of waste from which I need God’s cleansing grace. We can all give thanks that in the activities of daily l...

Everyone praying and working at Waverley Abbey is encouraged to know we are not alone. Our global Every Day With Jesus readership is praying and working with us, which puts a spring in our step as we present the gospel. Together we serve as ambassadors of hope to a vulnerable, and often troubled, world.

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.’ These lyrics were penned by Johnson Oatman Jr, and perhaps offer the inspiration behind what has grown into gratitude journalling.

One of the great insights I have drawn from the Gospels is Jesus’ commitment to ‘truth telling’. Some years ago, the media adopted a phrase regarding political pronouncements. They described politicians as being, ‘economical with the truth’. In other words, carefully constructing words to reveal only so much of the reality that they wanted the public to know.

This appears to be a strange greeting and not something for which we might consider giving thanks. After all, who amongst us wants to pass through the suffering of affliction? Yet, it seems, even as Christians, we cannot avoid pain in life.

I am grateful we live in an age in which we have at our fingertips a vast resource of Christian wisdom. Where once I had a large library of books, I have been pleased to pass on the majority for the benefit of others because I now enjoy access to the internet.

It was always something of a trial writing thank you letters after Christmas. My parents insisted. I was grateful for my presents, but had little desire to sit down and put pen to paper. I only wanted to play with my gifts, with little appreciation for the love and sacrifice of those who’d supplied my presents. My enjoyment had been conceived by them long before I enjoyed the pleasure myself. Some...

Steadfast love is something we yearn for deep within. It offers complete acceptance and affirmation. It does not excuse our bad behaviour or mistakes, but offers a precious moment to address their consequences. It’s a place of safety, where wounds are licked, lessons learned, and a fresh start made.

In all honesty, it’s taken a while for me to find delight in God’s Word. Indeed, early on in my Christian life, my quiet time was endurance more than enjoyment. Instructed as a new Christian to read my Bible and pray, I dutifully did so. Bible notes, then the Salvation Army’s The Soldier’s Armoury, were my essential diet. I was learning to grasp my need for God’s bread of life.

The word ‘acclaim’ actually means ‘to cry out to’. We are people who have hopefully become familiar with crying out to God. In joy or despondency, we are invited to direct our first words towards God, for God is both the source and the solution in our delight and in our desolation.