Whatever happened?

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind..." Isaiah 65.17

Whatever happened to 'building back better", the mantra which sustained us during lockdown? The question arose during Breakfast Church in Broadford yesterday. it wasn't our main topic of discussion - that was the theodicy dilemma (why do bad things happen to innocent people?) - however it arose in our conversation. Instead of a re-set, society seems to have fled back to our old ways: wars and rumours of war, sleeze and scandal, amassing wealth, burning fossil fuel like there's no tomorrow (and at this rate there won't be)...

It's not that things are the same again, looking around one might conclude that they are worse! Yet other aspects of life are changing. Charities are adapting to developing needs, the renewables industry continues to work hard at producing alternative sources of power and resistance to oppression grinds on, whether overtly on the battle-fields of Ukraine or invisibly through the work of para-church organisations like Open Doors and the International Justice Mission.

We all have a choice: join the rat-race or build the Kingdom. Of course the lines between the two are blurred: we need to work and we depend on public services. So how do we know whether we are living for God or for Satan? The answer lies in our ambition and how we pursue it: are we locked into a desperate grab for self-fulfilment and gratification, or is our focus on living faithfully, loving God and serving others? Whichever path we choose mistakes are guaranteed but, on the one hand, these will compound our misery while, on the other, they will be the making of us.