Regardless of how dark it seems around us, our calling is to live differently. It does not have to be out loud, trying to drown out the cacophony of sound in the political space – but we thank God for those who are there! But if we all pay attention to the ‘millions of small and tedious good deeds’ every day, so that those around us can see charity in action, it will make a difference. That is our job, in which we can celebrate with joy. It is also why God chose a ‘peculiar people’– to show how we are made to live.

We appear to live in times that seem to be harder for those of us who wish to live out our Christian faith in public. Although as I reflect back across my over sixty years, the marginalisation started for me in the late 1960’s. The early sixties were fine because in my local government primary school, it was taken for granted that our moral code was based on Biblical principles. It was like we lived by the ‘second tablet’ of the Ten Commandments (about ethical life together) even if not everyone held to the ‘first tablet’ (about putting the Creator God in His rightful place).
But then came high school. I and a friend were the two shortest in a cohort of over 240 students. But I was the only one who would ask ‘God questions’ (now known to me as ‘deep’ or ‘philosophical enquiry’). That was enough to see me picked on in some way, including being hit (normally by a group – bullies need that reassurance to act).
What followed was university. That was in 1974. My first year was a blur because I had no idea what I was doing (being the first one in my family to have that opportunity). By second year, the questions started coming back to me, and I looked forward to asking them in a place of ‘higher learning’. But if I asked in Psychology or Sociology something like, “So professor X, can you please explain what you think are the ‘parts’ that make us humans who we are?”, the response was always the same: “We are not here to discuss that.” Or if I asked in Industrial Relations (in an honour group no less), “So what do you Marxists or Capitalists think drives people deep down, so that your theories will work?”, I got the same answer.
So by the mid-1970s, if my experience is anything to go by, the academic world in Australia had let go of thinking and discussing deeper philosophical aspects of human life – personal and social.
But in discussing this recently with a friend, who has been involved in higher education for a significant time, I came to understand that this tactic of ‘ignoring the question’ had shifted for many of our young people. These days, asking these kinds of questions is more likely to result in them being harassed, or if asked via social media, cancelled. Their teachers are more likely to face the same consequences.
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We, too, were on the path that leads to destruction but now we’ve been saved by Jesus. We’ve found the truth and so out of a love for the lost we need to share the gospel with people, not to win an argument or to be someone special, but because sharing Jesus and making disciples is what every Christian is called to do (Matthew 28:19-20).

In some ways love is easy. Whether it’s loving a friend you grew up with playing together in the park, or a friend that you met at school and you share the same interests so you naturally get along and build a good and close friendship. There are some people you just naturally get along with more and that makes loving them easy. But what about those who we perceive to be different? That’s where it gets a little bit trickier doesn’t it?
Think about loving people who have different political convictions for instance. (Dare I mention the Scottish independence debate?) But more so, think about people who have a completely different worldview, and outlook on life, from you. Rather than asking us to congregate in a holy-huddle who hide away from the world, the Bible instructs us to love those who stand against everything we believe, those who are ‘lost’. There are plenty of reasons why all Christians should love the lost, but let me highlight just three.
1. They’re Lost
First of all, and this might sound obvious, but we should love the lost because they are just that: lost. Sadly, I’ve heard Christians have an attitude whereby they think that they are better than non-Christians because they know Jesus. But the reality is that we only know Jesus because He revealed Himself to us. The Bible uses different metaphors to describe those who don’t know Jesus, here are a few; non-Christians are are in darkness (John 8:12; 2 Corinthians 4:14), blind (2 Corinthians 4:4) and dead in transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1).
Just because this is no longer our reality as Christians, doesn’t mean that we should feel or act superior to non-Christians, but we should recognise the reality of their status before God. They are lost. A bit like a hiker who has wandered off the beaten track; non-Christians are distanced from the God who loves them and has created them. As Christians, we know the path, we know the way that leads to eternal life through Jesus and we should be helping our non-Christian friends, family and colleagues to look for Jesus and not go their own way. They are lost, but we can guide them and help them look for Jesus, the one who calls them to himself.
In addition to that, Jesus tells us to love our neighbour in Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus is saying that in the same way that we love ourselves, so too we should care for those around us and look out for their interests, whether they are believers or not. We’re commanded by Jesus to love our neighbours.
Loving the lost, really loving the lost, leads us to share the gospel with them and to point them to Jesus. God loves the world and so must we, we do that as we build friendships with the lost, as we care for them, but ultimately our love should be expressed in our witnessing to them and telling them about the good news of Jesus.
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The series purports to offer a history of Moses, but it’s a history lacking in scholarly rigor because it grants any source that mentions Moses equal authority regardless of authorship or date of composition.People unfamiliar with the Bible will finish this series confused about who the Moses of Scripture was, but Christians firm in the faith might be interested in watching the show to learn about Jewish and Islamic teachings.

The Unexpected popularity of The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins’ series about the life of Jesus, sparked the entertainment industry’s interest, causing it to pay more attention to faith-based projects over the last few years. Movies and series with religious overtones have improved in quality, and many are finding bigger audiences. But Netflix’s new docudrama Testament: The Story of Moses shows what can happen when religious entertainment is designed for the widest possible audience.
The miniseries comprises three 80-minute episodes. The first episode, “The Prophet,” begins with Moses’ life as a prince in Egypt and takes him into the land of Midian where he fled after killing an Egyptian taskmaster. “The Plagues” recounts Moses’ attempts to convince Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go and the various calamities God unleashed on the stiff-necked ruler. The third episode, “The Promised Land,” feels misnamed, considering Moses never makes it to Canaan. The episode begins with the Israelites’ crossing of the Red Sea and culminates with Moses’ giving of the Ten Commandments.
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