At the present time, we see much suffering, sadness and fear spreading across the world due to the Corona virus. It has taken the world by storm and seems relentless in its destruction of health, economies and all we thought to be stable. You may well be asking, “Where is God in the midst of all this?" Is God to blame? The Bible teaches that when God created the world, He chose to give human beings freedom of choice and not to make us like robots. Unfortunately, right from the very beginning humankind has used that freedom to ignore God’s good advice – over and over again. As a result we are witnessing broken relationships, widespread greed, an increase in violence and the effects of our selfish over-exploitation of the earth itself. Sickness and disease is one of the terrible consequences of our turning away from God, and a world separated from His love. It was not part of His plan. There are a great many things we do not understand fully but we can be sure of one thing: God is here right in the middle of all the suffering. You see, He has always wanted to enjoy a beautiful relationship with us. When we choose to ignore Him and we experience pain and suffering, His heart breaks just as ours does.

There certainly is! Some people might think of it as discovering the missing dimension. God’s intention is for us to enjoy “fullness of life”. To do that, we need to put our relationship with Him in order. When we do, we find a fresh purpose in life, a new way of viewing life on earth and in the world to come – as well as a constant companion and a very real help in every situation in life.

YES! In fact, God loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die for all the things you have ever done wrong. What greater love could there be than someone dying instead of you?

The Bible describes Jesus as God come down to earth. Because Jesus lived here as an ordinary human being, He knows exactly what it is like and can therefore fully identify with everything we go through. There is just one big difference – He never did anything wrong. Although many people found real friendship with the man Jesus, there were plenty of others who did not like what He was doing. They thought their authority was threatened so they decided to get rid of Him and killed Him by means of crucifixion as if He were a criminal. The thing is that although Jesus died on a cross, He came back to life and is still alive today. We cannot see Him but we can know His presence.

Because God is God and not a human being, we can never fully understand Him. Yet the good news is that we can indeed know Him. You just need to realise that unless you have already committed your life to Him, you are living as if there were a huge wall separating you and Him. That is the state of every human being, good or bad. The only way to tear down that wall is to say sorry that you have so far chosen to ignore Him, acknowledge that Jesus Christ died for all the things you have done wrong, and tell Him that you want Him to be in charge of your life. God will be overjoyed! If possible, then contact someone who is already following Jesus to tell them what you have done. That person will help you to take the next steps in your new life as a Christian.