The ultimate solution to the existential alienation that plagues us is to seek healing not from ourselves, others, or our broken culture, but from the God who loves us. To be sure, he uses counselors and therapists as agents of healing, but our greatest need is for intimacy with him.
Yesterday we discussed the crisis of Christian leadership in our day and identified four temptations of the enemy. Let’s respond to each of these deceptive ideas with the truth of God’s word. I see these four steps as a blueprint for engaging our anti-Christian culture with biblical truth.
In recent days, I’ve been asking myself why the crisis of Christian leadership is so acute in our day. Is it that our 24/7 news and social media platforms make it easier to report and read about clergy abuse? Is it that a hostile culture and media amplify every story of clergy failure to reinforce their agenda for replacing Christianity with their secular ideology? Undoubtedly these are part of the answer. But I’m convinced that there’s a deeper story at work in our day, one that affects and can infect every Christian in our culture, myself included.
In a world full of adversity, we must refrain from being anxious. If we follow the call of Philippians 4:6-7, Jesus will protect our “hearts,” referring to our emotions, and our “minds,” referring to our thoughts. So long as we stay connected with our Lord, trusting every problem to him with gratitude for his grace, we can claim his promise in return.
If you’re like many white Americans, you knew little (if anything) about the Tulsa Race Massacre before recent days and weeks. We can therefore speak and act in ways that communicate racist messages and deepen racist divisions without knowing we are doing so. Here we see the wisdom of the early Christians in selecting believers from the Greek-speaking part of the church to lead in responding to the needs of Greek-speaking members. These leaders could speak for those they represented and help the church minister holistically with greater effectiveness. I am convinced that every church, ministry, and organization in America should follow their example. Here’s how.
This week, I hope to persuade us to take two biblical steps in response to the racial divisions, discrimination, and violence that persist in our nation. We will explore the first step today and the second step tomorrow.
In days of anxiety and stress, how do we open our hearts to God’s Spirit? I have been meditating on Psalm 121 recently in my personal Bible study and suggest that we take three steps prescribed by the psalmist.
While many evangelicals have been living as though the world would always be what it has been, those advocating for LGBTQ advancement and other progressive agendas have been working systematically and strategically to bring about the changes we are witnessing today. It is time for Christians to respond in kind.
