BreakPoint

In our current cultural moment, many see work as frustrating, unrewarding, and not worth it (that is, as toil). So, in our cultural moment, Christians have an incredible, better vision of work to offer the larger world. We’ve also got a history to tell, of how a vision of human dignity and innovation became a blessing across economic and class lines. Just as in the past, the Christian view can move our imaginations about work beyond drudgery, to a renewed and redeemed way of thinking and living.

Increasingly, the term “deconstruction” is being used prescriptively: recommended, especially to those questioning what they’ve grown up with, as a courageous thing to do. To applaud or even recommend deconstruction lands somewhere between unhelpful and dangerous.

The actor who played Captain Kirk from Star Trek recently went to space in real life. The 90-year-old actor was awestricken by the experience, sharing that the journey was almost spiritual. This sensation is often called the “overview effect,” space tends to raise deep longings for significance. But, soon this feel will likely fade. The only thing that can permanently ground our sense of wonder is God Himself.

C.S. Lewis knew that without morality, human beings act less than human. Now more than ever, it’s a message we need to hear.

Today is what some call “the professional sports equinox,” the one night of the year where the NBA, NHL, MLB, and the NFL all have games. For sports fans, it’s like Christmas, Easter, Labor Day, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. And, because of the new culture-wide push for sports gambling, Friday morning may bring quite the hangover.

The appeal of The Chronicles comes back to a single character. Aslan, the Great Lion, who calls the children into Narnia, plays the central role in each adventure. It’s not exactly correct to call Aslan an “allegory” of Jesus. Lewis might prefer that we instead think of Aslan as Christ transposed into a Narnian key, a Creator and Lord fit for a world primarily inhabited by talking animals.

Stripping morals from education—or, more accurately, attempting to strip morals from education—is a dangerous idea with dangerous consequences. Chuck Colson repeatedly highlighted this, especially in light of the financial scandals of the late 1980s and early 2000s. He spoke often of “a crisis of character” and the “inescapable consequence of neglecting moral training.”

Earlier this week, Dr. Ward spoke with my colleague, Shane Morris, about the inconsistencies of modern culture and the similar realities Lewis observed. They talked about the sorts of ideas the world is planting in the cultural soil and what the harvest now looks like. Here’s a segment of that conversation:

Tomorrow, October 16, would have been Chuck Colson’s 90th birthday. His legacy continues, not only in the ongoing work of the Colson Center, but also the continuation of Prison Fellowship, especially the Angel Tree ministry.

Practicing gratitude is extremely good for humans, even those who don’t believe in God. But for Christians, gratitude is no mere mental health strategy. It’s a profound way of telling the truth: to ourselves, to others, and to the whole world.