Today’s question addresses the hard topic of whether we have made Christian discipleship an option because we prefer a customizable relationship with God that is less demanding on our commitment of time, interest and reciprocity. We are happy if we could just be tagged as ‘followers’ with the occasional catchup with God without being accused of neglecting Him.

There is moral panic in today’s society about the power and peril of artificial intelligence (AI). While we love the benefits of AI in healthcare, transport and manufacturing, we are also wary of the unpredictability of its output in many other applications.

Living with a high degree of predictability and routine may be beneficial in some settings and for a season of life. But for Christian growth, we must leave the door open to some degree of spontaneity, change and even disruptions in life.

Christians today live in a post-truth world where we prefer to emphasize our emotions and opinions over our obedience to the Word of God. Many of us let our friendships run primarily on the basis of amiability and reciprocal goodwill. We are guided by cultural norms to leave many things unsaid to avoid embarrassing our friends, or making them feel uncomfortable.

If we don’t live out the realities and redemption of Easter in our Christian life, we will always people walking around in ‘funeral clothes’ doing what people do during mourning – relying on self-soothing habits to cope with hopelessness, constantly seeking activities to divert our attention from feeling gloomy, and staying in echo chambers with other ‘mourners’ constantly crying over spilt milk.

Chess is an adversarial game played between two opponents who are each serving a king on opposing sides. The goal of each player is to checkmate their opponent’s king by consistently making maneuvers to thwart or increase the difficulty of the opponent’s every move

To military personnel, proper body armour is a critical component of warfare to ensure that they will survive wounds that might otherwise incapacitate or kill them. Christians, too, are instructed to armour up because overcoming the Enemy is not something that just happens without our consciousness of who God is.

UNLESS WE ARE LIVING IN CHRONIC DENIAL, we’ll have to admit that we are constantly facing battles in life. Whether we are battling financial struggles, chronic sickness, challenging relationships, painful disappointments, or discouraging outcomes, unwelcome surprises have a way of throwing our lives off-kilter and our emotions into chaos. 

Have you ever opened your home to a visitor, offered your guest a comfortable seat with a commanding view of your life, and then promptly excused yourself to get busy with the exigencies of life, returning only to ask your guest for more time, more resources and greater patience with you? If this sounds preposterous, consider Christians who, after inviting Jesus to make their hearts His home, prefer Him to sit quietly as a sponsor and spectator. Instead of paying attention to the things He nudges us towards, we go on with life pretty much our own way – with little change inside.

People spend an inordinate amount of time sitting. Once out of bed, we sit to have breakfast, sit on the commute to work, sit in the office, sit for lunch, sit for dinner, sit to watch TV and then it’s bedtime again.

Few of us pay attention to how we sit and what we sit on. During the lockdowns of COVID-19, many worked while sitting in bed, on couches and dining chairs which are not designed for adequate support of our bodies for prolonged sitting. However, over time, our preferred chair becomes second nature to us, and we conclude that living with aches and pain is the new normal without examining what we are relying on for support.

What sparks joy in you? Do you find yourself endlessly pursuing one self-gratifying activity after another only to find short-lived joy that is soon replaced by a feeling of emptiness in your soul? Or are you more inclined to invest your time and attention to things that are more sustainable though they demand, on your part, a continual reliance on God as He reveals a deeper and deeper aspect of His heart with you? In other words, are you happy just to catch natural phenomena like sunrise or rhythmic springs, or do you seek the pleasure of being in the company of the God who creates such wonders of nature?

According to psychologists, we rely on stereotypes or mental shortcuts about people to draw conclusions about their motives, character or behaviour. Thus, we may conclude that people with body tattoos are dangerous, or that older singles and divorcees are difficult people. At the same time, our behaviour is shaped by our imagination of how we appear in people’s minds and the reaction we think they have to their mental image of us (Cooley’s looking glass self). So, among Christian friends, we want to appear godly and austere. To people at work, we want to appear competent and hardworking. Empty-nesters want to be seen as rekindling their marriages when their children fly the coop. Those in leadership position want to be seen as powerful and important.

We all know that it takes more than the main actors and the movie director to get a movie from an idea to a finished product. Do you belong to the group of people who stay behind after a movie ends to read the credit roll and see the names of all the people involved? Or do you make a quick exit, thinking and talking only about what you see on the big screen?

An avatar is a graphic representation of our persona – real or fantasized. They invoke our imaginations about our realities and maybe even some super-power we would like to have to help us overcome our weaknesses. Some pick dog avatars for the unconditional loyalty they are known for; birds for the freedom they represent; snails for their ability to retreat into their shells and hide when they are uncomfortable; chameleons for their adaptability in the face of threats; butterflies for symbolizing transformation; or tortoises for being slow and steady in enduring long distances.

To say that something lasts a lifetime only describes the duration of a condition. Many things are seen to be beneficial if they last a lifetime such as product and service warranty, marriage, wealth or a passion for learning. But how about a lifetime of regrets, illnesses, relational deficits, loneliness, and broken dreams? How about the eternity that all of us will step into at the end of our human life? What kind of eternity are you preparing yourself for?

How do I live life? You may think that this question is reserved for people who struggle to see that tomorrow will be a better day, but it is really a question for all believers. Whether we are cruising along safe shores or hurled into the stormy seas, we can be just as distracted by life itself and forget how to truly live.

Counterfeits are fake impressions, things or identities that are like real. The trick is to be believable. Cybercriminals operate on making people believe that the text message or email they send asking for cash is from a legitimate source. Illegal businesses produce and sell knock-offs of branded products at knock-down prices. But do you know that there are also counterfeit Christians? It’s hard to spot them because they act and sound so much like true believers that even they are convinced that they are authentic!

Think of the last time you told people you were embarking on a new life direction, or starting a new job, or relocating to a different country. You likely received all kinds of well wishes - Godspeed, all the best, good luck, bon voyage – as you stepped into a future full of promises, confident that you could sidestep any problems and perils that might remotely emerge. Or so you thought.

With Christmas round the corner, a question returns each year: so what’s new about it? The usual biblical plot will be replayed with characters that both Christians and non-Christians are familiar with - Mary, Joseph, the Magi (the group of wise men), the shepherds and the owner of the barn where Jesus was born. Apart from living in the same epoch and appearing in the same bible story, what else did they have in common?

IT’S HARD TO FOCUS when we have difficulty keeping still. We’re not talking about personalities here but about our attitude – the ability to keep our anxieties in check in order to find God in times of uncertainty. To be sure, modern technology and smart devices today have become both a boon and a bane: while they allow us to access information at our fingertips, they also condition us with an unhealthy fear of missing out (FOMO) that underlie an obsession with the need for certainty.