© 2020 Kenneth Crane
DOXA ("glory") + LOGIA ("expression of")
July 26, 2020
You’ve no doubt heard of a Hound of heaven who hunts down the hearts of men and women, but have you heard of a hound of earth who in return relentlessly pursues the heart of God? Too often we freely talk of the unconditional love OF God but hesitate to pledge an unconditional love FOR God. Has our heart grown so callous as to not reciprocate that love to God in return? For the price of comfort, we’ve surrendered the heights of devotion and commitment in loving God. I dare ask, is not the very purpose of God’s unconditional love to spark a reciprocal love for Him in us?
A love unconditional can only imply we are to love God when it is especially unpopular and inconvenient. Otherwise it would be anything but unconditional. When the world pushes its brand of reality, a hound of earth will choose to follow the scent of God’s reality. When the world declares homosexuality, abortion, tyranny, racism, evolution in vogue, an unconditional love for God clings to the Truth of His Word which rejects such theories.
This is the vein of the prophets of old—Samuel, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, Simeon, Anna. The highest purpose of mankind is to hunt down and search the heart of God unconditionally. To surrender under the Hound of heaven is to become a hound of earth. Now is the time to begin hounding the heart of God.
[D]
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
“We may be content to rermain what we call 'ordinary people': but [God] is determined to carry out a quite different plan. To shrink back from that plan is not humility: it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania; it is obedience.”
June 29, 2020
In answer to his question, "Wither is God?" Friedrich Nietzsche claimed, “I will tell you, we have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers.” And thus dawned the postmodernist era. But whether by a move of earth or heaven, a day will come when society wakes up to a postmodernist hangover and must grapple with its unavoidable need for God.
Today, God may be dead in the eyes of our culture as Nietzsche prophesied, but just as 2,000 years ago a tomb of stone could not hold Him back, no heart of stone can suppress His moral, ideological and cultural resurrection. Just as Jesus had a bodily revival, so I am convinced His Church will have a spiritual revival.
Once society has been drained of the thrills of its postmodern experiment, it will inevitably emerge empty-handed with questions of direction, purpose, life and truth. And only the Church will rise to meet it with the overwhelming all-sufficiency of God. In place of the popular mantra “I am enough”, a new anthem will surface as “Christ is enough”—the source for all direction, purpose, life and truth. Like a modern road to Emmaus, God will again reveal Himself as resurrected, but this time to those who witnessed His cultural crucifixion. This is the blinding potential we face at the dawn of a post-postmodern era.
[D]
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”
“On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand”
“From ethics to economics to ecology, the truth is found only in relationship to God and his revelation.”
June 22, 2020
The great illusion of our time is thinking we can fabricate that which only comes naturally from a life hidden in Christ. Justice, love, unity, peace, security—all the social virtues the world longs for—are simply outflows of the greater pursuit of God Himself. Therefore, it is no surprise that when God is defenestrated from society we find ourselves robbed of any resemblence of these virtues.
Make social change your chief ambition and you run the risk of losing the heart of God altogether, but secure an obsession for God and all these cultural symptoms will fall in your lap. Only a worldview fixated on intimacy with God will produce qualities necessary for human flourishing.
Understand this is not a call for separatism, but a call for priority. One can only effectuate social change by remaining singularly focused on God Almighty. Obsess over God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; then and only then will you find the inspiration to love your neighbor as yourself. The question facing the Church today is What is the ultimate prize: the symptoms of Christianity or its Cause? Why chase a stream of blessings when Christ offers you the Fount of every blessing?
[D]
“I have been praying that we might have a spiritual awakening, but I think that becomes possible only as individuals surrender their lives afresh and anew to Christ.”
“If you want to pray strategically, in a way which would please God, pray that God might raise up men who would see the beauty of the Lord our God and would begin to preach it and hold it out to people, instead of offering peace of mind, deliverance from cigarettes, a better job and a nicer cottage . . .”
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
“All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.”
June 8, 2020
If behavior betrays belief, then I am beginning to wonder if we actually believe God is worth our time. We believe social media is worth our time. We believe activism is worth our time. We believe protests are worth our time. But is God worth our time? We call ourselves a “Christian nation” but we must stop deceiving ourselves. God is simply no longer the priority He once was. We have relegated God to a spiritual band-aid for social dysfunction or a line item on our spiritual resume. I am convinced few people actually spend hours praying and worshiping God because even fewer believe He actually holds the dynamic power and influence capable of affecting our world. Our actions speak for themselves.
Reconciliation and resolution in America does not begin with race or politics. It begins with humility before the Lord. It begins with wholehearted obsession for God’s character first and foremost. There is a reason loving God is the first commandment in both the Old and the New Testament, for it sets the foundation for every other form of human flourishing.
Racial and political tensions simply speak of a greater disparity between the heart of this nation and the heart of God. How can we fight for people to have a seat at the table when God does not have a seat at the table? How can we expect to rebuild America without first rebuilding the church, or much less opening her doors? We have a dangerous priority issue. God’s nature, not human nature, is the missing piece to this puzzle. Simply fighting the symptoms of racism and corruption does no good against the root of disease in our hearts.
Haggai’s charge to the Israelites echoes this sentiment: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while [God’s] house remains a ruin?” The same question applies today. We have built up our robust houses of social justice and political power with all the amenities, but have we built up the house of the Lord? It would seem we have idolized our activism to the extent we have devalued God’s effectual power. The equality, unity, love, peace, and goodness we desire are symptoms not precursors of intimacy with God.
Perhaps we must forget there is a world that ever needs us. Because it doesn’t need us. It needs Him. This is the essence of humility. Return the proverbial cart behind the horse and love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Then will you find inspiration to love your neighbor as yourself. Reconciliation with God is the doorway to reconciliation with people. We must stop worshiping people and personas and begin worshiping God Almighty again. We will find He is well worth our time.
[D]
“Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 'Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?'
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.'
This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,' says the Lord.”
“He must become greater; I must become less.”
“Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.”
“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.”
“Only the nation that puts God first can ask and expect Him to do something about their problems.”
May 25, 2020
It is one thing to need God and another entirely to want Him. While an honest faith freely admits a necessity for God, only a pure faith freely admits a desire for God. From the pagan to the theologian, the most important question anyone can ask is do I want God?
It is too often an unfortunate reality that the human heart can both realize its need for God yet simultaneously not want Him. To want God is to weigh the pleasure of life with Him against the disparity of life without Him. It is to chase after His heart and affection despite inconvenience and unpopularity.
If answered in the affirmative, this most important question must inevitably lead to the most important prayer: Father, empower me to love you with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength. For all Christians soon discover that a desire for God invariably sparks a holistic obsession with His glory and fame.
Whether these are dark days or not, the desperate longing for more of God from a handful of thirsty sinners fills me with more hope than a sea of Christians content with mediocrity ever could. The hope of revival in our time lies not in eloquent theologians or relevant sermons, but in the humble men and women who join David in saying, “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in his temple.”
[D]
“As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?”
“Oh! sinner let thy desires go after Christ. Remember, if thou wouldest have him, thou hast not to earn him, fight for him, or win him—but he is to be had for the asking.”
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he shall give you the desire of your heart.”
“In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct “interpretations” of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.”
May 18, 2020
We are often warned not to put God in a box. But I wonder if those who make such a claim truly understand God, because in reality I am convinced God does indeed belong in a box—not our small box of human experience and intellect, but in a divine box of His own crafting. And while boxing-up God seems limiting, the human heart will find that there is more freedom to roam in the boundaries of a revealed true God than an unfounded and completely foreign abstract thought it might call God. It is precisely because God puts Himself in a box that we are able to even comprehend His being. He is perfect, sovereign, holy, immutable, fearless and so on, and we know this because He reveals Himself as such through Creation, Scripture, and ultimately Jesus Christ.
Post-modernism is eager to eliminate all limits to God, inviting a spirit of universalism, redefining Him by our standards of relativism. But God is very clear in Scripture who He reveals Himself to be and who He reveals Himself not to be. He confirms certain attributes of His nature while dismissing others, inevitably creating self-imposed boundaries. For instance, He is faithful and true and pure and holy. He cannot retract a promise. He cannot deceive. He cannot contemplate evil. He cannot forsake. These are limits He has set in place Himself. He has definition. He has form. Yes, he is incomprehensible beyond our mental capability, but He is still searchable and understandable. It is a glorious conundrum of infinite confines.
Only God’s infinite nature can match our unquenchable curiosity. It was why we were made—to discover Him continually. And the more we discover the truth of His character, the more we uncover the mystery of life around us. All things good, true, and beautiful are mere extensions of God. He gives us these hooks of virtue on which to hang our affections for Him. The quest for virtue is ultimately the quest to trace the lines of His infinite box. Praise God we have our work cut out for us.
[D]
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”
May 11, 2020
The nature of God is that of the purest being that can ever be fathomed, and even further still. Chronicling the attributes of God is no more simple than recording the vast array of colors visible to the eye—a task not only endless in nuance but completely dependent upon a full spectrum. For example, one does not simply comprehend the Love of God without relation to His Holiness or His Omnipotence. We’d be better off defining the color orange without mention of red or yellow.
That is why Paul in his letter to the Galatians, describes the multiple attributes of the Spirit as a singular entity: “The fruit of the Spirit IS. . .” as opposed to “the works of the flesh ARE. . .” He finds the character of God to be self-uniting, each attribute informing the rest in an irreducible framework of virtue: joy informs love informs goodness, etc. And conversely, the character of the flesh is divisive, each vice self-destructive at the expense of the others: impurity betrays pride betrays gossip, etc. It’s tower crumbles under its own weight, but the character of the Lord is self-reinforcing.
The attributes of God are literally perfect in every way. If there is any room for limitation in the attributes of God, the very definition of God is undermined. To ascribe God one trait of His character but deny Him another is to compromise His nature and thus follow in the footsteps of pagans. An idol of the mind is just as treacherous as an idol of the hand. But if the goal is to seek out the most good, most true, most beautiful notion ever conceived, then like a hound you have caught the scent of God.
So it should come as no shock to us that we must think rightly of God to worship Him. And in order to think rightly we must continually familiarize and acquaint ourselves with Him through His Word—how His goodness intersects His power; how His mercy upholds His purity; how His truthfulness colors His beauty. His complexity is endless. Ruminate on it. Like the Psalmist, let your imagination run wild within the truth of God’s character, and in return you will find revival stirring within your heart.
[D]
“Oh my friend, we are just beginning. God’s personality is so infinitely rich and manifold that it will take 1,000 years of close search and intimate communion to know even the outer edges of His glorious nature.”
“O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.”
“Theology means ‘the science of God’, and I think any man who wants to think about God at all would like to have the clearest and most accurate ideas about Him which are available.”
May 7, 2020
For revival to sweep a nation, it must first catch fire in the human heart. Authentic revival is not birthed through church reformation. It is birthed through hearts obsessed with God. We don’t need a movement of the church. We need a movement of the Holy Spirit. It’s time we abandon our striving and return to Him, who alone exchanges hearts of stone for hearts of flesh.
The prophet Ezekiel lays it out. The miracle of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 actually begins back in Ezekiel 36 with the revelation of God’s holiness. The Lord says, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name” (v. 22). Only when individual hearts of men and women become obsessed with God’s holiness will revival begin to swell, for in response to such obsession God declares, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God” (v. 26–28).
To set our affections on revivalism is to fall short of God. But to set our affections on God is to hit the mark of revival every time. Make God your obsession and He will give you a heart of flesh, soft, malleable and teachable. Like Ezekiel, you’ll see dry bones raised to life before your eyes. This world does not need more warmed-over churches bent around cultural movements. It needs zealous, beating hearts of flesh shipwrecked by God's holiness, given over to an obsession of Him. God is ready to reveal Himself as holy. He is poised for revival in your heart.
[D]
“Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?”
“To desire revival and at the same to neglect personal prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another.”
May 6, 2020
Much of church literature was wrought in isolation: David composed his psalms in the Israeli wilderness. Paul wrote his epistles from a Roman prison. John recorded his Revelation in exile on Patmos. Martin Luther translated the New Testament sequestered in the Wartburg castle. Dietrich Bonhoeffer penned his magnum opus “Ethics” from cell 92 in Tegel prison.
While it is true that solitude affords the time and margin required to strip away distraction and record moral clarity with pen and paper, it is not the end goal. A deeper prize awaits the stilled heart in isolation: Revelation of God, Himself. It is safe to say these great authors of Christianity could not have written such powerful truths if they weren’t first inspired by an uninterrupted visit from God.
Perhaps the purpose of a forced quarantine such as this doubles as an act of God’s mercy to return, like the saints before us, to a deeper revelation of God, rooted in Truth rather than feeling, wisdom rather than intelligence, and understanding rather than assumption. God does His best work in the quietude of our lives. He is loudest when we are quietest. This season is your Wartburg, your Patmos, your wilderness. Make it a habit now to seek God’s face daily through scripture, prayer and worship. God is ready to reveal Himself to you. He is poised for revival in your heart.
[D]
“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
“Blessed are the Pure in Heart
For they shall see God”
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”
May 4, 2020
Religion and Politics: the two guests notoriously excommunicated at dinner parties. And yet the two that perhaps deserve our greatest attention. Undeniably linked, these disciplines bear the most weight upon our lives. The entire American experiment of freedom hinges upon this relationship between religion and politics.
It is no secret the Church birthed this American experiment. At the onset, George Washington aptly noted, “Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports." This 250 year old insight is inexhaustibly true: strip God from politics and in the end morality will fall taking any prosperous civilization with it. The onus of political decency is on the Church, as it is the strength of the Church that bears men and women morally fit for the stability of our politics.
So the question is will the Church rise to the occasion taking her rightful place as an “indispensable support” as Washington foresaw? Or will she render herself indifferent under the convenience of separatism?
For a free, prosperous society to exist, America needs a Church of moral conviction. This much is true. But as to whether or not we provide such a Church, the choice is ours. This is perhaps the most decisive point in American Christianity. It is time we reacquaint ourselves and invite these two guests, Politics and Religion, to our dinner table once again.
[D]
“Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
“I have always said, and always will say, that the studious perusal of the [Bible] will make better citizens, better fathers, and better husbands.”
“Reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
April 27, 2020
The danger of sitting the fence is that there is no fence at all, really. To have one foot in Christianity and one foot in secularism is to have both feet firmly planted in secularism. There is no halfway in Christianity. Just as dabbling is not an option, tolerance is not a virtue. God does not come to move in next door. He comes to take over.
In answer to God’s call, Elisha in the Old Testament literally burned his plow and sacrificed his oxen on the fire. With his livelihood in ashes, there was no returning to his former way of life. Even if he wanted to go back, he couldn't. He had burned his fall-back option.
That was over 2,000 years ago, and yet does not God require the same level of conviction today? There is no following Christ while staying attached to the world’s safety net. His call demands from you an act of faith to cut ties and burn all temptations of retreating back to your old pattern of life. You will not experience the fullness of God until He has the fullness of you.
Like Elisha, the serious Christian escapes half-hearted Christianity when he stops asking what can God offer me? and begins asking what can I offer God? You will undoubtably find the answer is your worship, your life, your everything—heart, soul, mind and strength. This is not a works-based faith. This is an obsession-based faith. It's time to stop playing both sides of the fence. It’s time to take God seriously. It's time to be a serious Christian; for there is no other kind.
[D]
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
“So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.”
You are worthy of it all
You are worthy of it all
For from you are all things
And to You are all things
You deserve the glory
April 20, 2020
Where does courage come from? From a resolution to face our fear? A natural resilience to overcome? A lifestyle of grit and determination? But what if those aren’t enough? What if you have no control over your fear—the collapse of the economy, mass hysteria, the spread of disease? No matter how determined you are, your inner resolve holds no sway over these factors. Do you forsake courage then? When all your last resort options and reserves for courage are bled dry, what then?
Our culture has no answer. Courage crumbles when the object of our confidence begins to fall apart: the stock-market, the health system, our trust in humanity. For true courage to exist, it must be founded in something outside our situation, untouched by the threat of fear. Perhaps that is why so many are afraid in times like these; our fears have transcended the objects of our confidence, and so in turn we fail to imagine anything transcending them.
May I suggest an object of confidence that is just that? That will forever be transcendent, unshakable, stronger than granite? The very character and nature of God, Almighty. He alone is sovereign over any fear. He is the only object of courage that will not disappoint. Because He is above every fear, every obstacle. But you must get to know Him in order to find this confidence in Him. If you don’t know Him as sovereign you will fear the chaos. If you don’t know Him as triumphant, you will fear evil. If you don’t know Him as eternal, you will fear death.
Courage is not a virtue we can muster up. Courage is a symptom of faith. And like courage, faith is a symptom of knowing the Nature of God. Just as A. W. Tozer said, “a scared world needs a fearless church,” he also claimed, “No religion anywhere has risen above its conception of God. Even Christianity is strong or weak depending upon her conception of God.” If we are to be a fearless Church in a scared world, we must strengthen our understanding of God. We must return to humble study and not mere assumption of His nature.
If you try to work up courage, you’re going to disappoint yourself because you only look inward to your own powerlessness. But ditch your prospects of courage altogether and devote yourself to the obsession of God and His nature, then you can’t help but be courageous. There is no reason to fear the world when you are caught in the almighty glory of His presence. This is not a time to be courageous. This is a time to press in to God.
[D]
“Peace of heart does not come from denying that there is trouble, but comes from rolling your trouble on God. By faith you have the right to call on One who is your brother, the Son of Man who was also the Son of God. And if He's going to look after you, why should you worry at all!"
“Be awake, Christian, and be aware of God's design for the trumpet is sounding and when the trumpet sounds, the Christian must not slumber. Let the presence of God infuse into you a more than ordinary courage and zeal."
April 13, 2020
Behind every fear is the ultimate fear of Death, itself.
But this truth is not cause for despair. On the contrary, this reality offers the marvelous opportunity to be rid of fear altogether. For Jesus Christ conquered Death once and for all on the cross. By His very nature He was uniquely fitted for the task. So faith in Christ is not just a theoretical belief—a framed certificate upon a mantle. It is a living, breathing confidence in His power over Death. The fear of death has lost its hold on you! Which means you, Christian, literally have nothing to fear because Death, the source of all fear, has been defeated for you.
I’ve often thought of the many martyrs in the persecuted church and marveled at their great courage in the face of fear. Stephen before the Sanhedrin, Bonhoeffer before the Nazis, Corrie Ten Boom before the Gestapo. How could these people endure so much terror with such firm resolve? How could I be just as bold, just as courageous, if found in their position? At first, I thought I had to muster my courage. Build it up for the day of trial. But now I realize they didn't work up their courage. Instead, they carried a faith greater than their fear. Their faith was built upon a firm conviction of God's triumph over death. And that simply inspired their courage.
The profundity and gravity of this bears repeating: Because of God's triumph over Death you, Christian, literally have nothing left to fear. It is already settled. Imagine the implications of this. Why spend precious minutes fretting when the world of freedom you sought through a keyhole is suddenly unlocked before your eyes? Rather step through into this bright new world. Spend time daily studying this God of Triumph in His Word, letting your familiarity with Him grow, your faith build, and your courage rise. The confines of Death are only an illusion to the born-again Christian. He has rent the curtain of fear.
[D]
“Dear death, dear sin, how is it that you are alive and terrify me?
Do you not know that you have been overcome? Do you, death, not know that you are quite dead? Do you not know the One who says of you: ‘I have overcome the world?’”
“. . . he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
April 6, 2020
We live amidst a disease more prevalent, more contagious, and perhaps more deadly than the Coronavirus right now. We live in a pandemic of fear. Not just a paranoia of disease spiking in the past few months, but a fear that has gripped the heart of America in subtle and not-so-subtle ways decades before COVID-19 came on the scene. Politics, economics, and social justice have all exposed a culture of fear in us.
But what if you could be rid of this fear? What if fear no longer had to dictate your decisions—what you eat, what you buy, where you live, how you vote or what you post? It is possible.
There is a vaccine to fear but it’s not what you’ve been told. The antidote to fear is not courage, nor is it the infamous placebo of “believing in yourself”. Those only leave us more terrified, knowing deep down we are powerless to answer our fear. Rather, the opposite of fear is faith—faith in God, a confidence in Him who remains dominant over the threat of fear.
It is true, the Coronavirus is a formidable fear. A global health crisis, economic free-fall, and isolation are all legitimate fears at the onset. But I urge you, in this season, dig deep into who God is: His nature, His MO, His tendencies, His likes and dislikes. Let the character of God be your inspiration for overcoming fear.
In chaos God is sovereign.
In scarcity God is sufficient.
In uncertainty God is unchanging.
In isolation God is imminent.
In death God is Life.
This is what Paul means when he calls Jesus the “author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). His character sparks and fulfills faith in us.
I urge you, set aside one full hour each week to familiarize yourself with the character of God. Not out of duty, but out of desire to know Him better. And watch as your fascination with Coronavirus pales in comparison to your new obsession with Him. The sheer glory of His nature is the only source of faith that can and will silence fear.
[D]
“God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea”
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth
will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace”
March 31, 2020
I was awake in a hammock in the middle of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, gazing at a million points of light staring back at me, each one oblivious of my existence. But I was very much aware of theirs. Their magnitude impressed upon my mind. Straining my comprehension, questions and thoughts raced around my head. I lingered in that space for hours transfixed by a ball of fire burning lightyears away, obsessing over the scientific and existential beauty of the night.
Is this not what God desires from us on a personal level? Like an infatuation, He wants His relationship to be our life's greatest obsession—our magnum opus. He wants us losing sleep over His grandeur. He wants 3-hour dinner table conversations about His intelligent design. He wants late night prayers. He wants new songs, books, art depicting His character. He wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
He wants to be our magnificent obsession.
And it simply begins with asking Him. Just a simple prayer every day: Father, give me a greater desire for You. Inspire me to love You with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Give me a greater awareness of You throughout my day. This is where the obsession starts. Why would He say no to a prayer like that?
[D]
“God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.”
