Olympic gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the Individual All-Around finals at the Olympics yesterday. Biles shared that she withdrew because of increased stress on her mental health.
We can regulate external behavior but only God can change human nature. We can act in godly ways to impress others and seek God’s blessing. But measure your heart—do you secretly still want to do what you know you should not do?
The disasters our world is facing today should remind us that our lives are no more certain than the lives of early Christians. With all our scientific advances, we cannot stop droughts or prevent wildfires. With all our medical expertise, we cannot yet end the present pandemic or forecast the next one. We may live longer on average, but none of us are guaranteed another day. Nonetheless, I do not sense true urgency among many Christians in America. We may believe theologically that Jesus could return tomorrow or we could die today, but we need to translate this belief into practice. The more urgent our faith, the more earnestly we will share the gospel, stand courageously for our Lord, and live ready to stand before him one day.
A wise mentor once told me, “Stay faithful to the last word you heard from God but open to the next.” Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God, said, “For you to do the will of God, you must adjust your life to him, his purposes, and his ways.”
Many in our secular culture caricature Christians as weak. Friedrich Nietzsche warned that faith in God would keep us from becoming the “overcomers” we could and should be. Karl Marx taught that religion is the “opiate” of the masses subjugating them to their masters. “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,” is the way many people see our Savior.
But those who know Him know better.
If we are going to trust our lives and our eternities to the God of the Bible, how can we know that he keeps these promises? Comparing current Bibles to ancient manuscripts shows that the Bibles we have today are remarkably accurate. Evidence from archaeology and fulfilled prophecy substantiates biblical truth claims. Contemporary stories of lives transformed by God’s presence and power demonstrate his continuing relevance to our world.
Today, let’s think about this pressing subject not for nonbelievers but for Christ-followers. After nearly forty years of pastoral ministry, I can testify that Christians can also be fearful of death. While we know that Jesus is our Savior and that our eternal life is guaranteed by his grace (cf. John 3:16; John 11:26), we can nonetheless fear death for several reasons.
As we have seen, one of Satan’s great deceptions is convincing lost people that they are not lost. A second deception is convincing Christians that lost people are not truly lost.
We must seek personal integrity if we would make a public impact for the gospel. If we are one person in private and another in public, the private will inevitably become public.
