If the tragic Christian school shooting by a transgender assailant last week marks a new chapter in our cultural moment, we’ll need to learn afresh what it means to live by hope, do good to those who persecute us, love our neighbors, and build a better future for the sake of Christ.
I became a Christian because I wanted the Christ I saw in the Christians I met. May someone say the same today because of me—and you—to the glory of God.
As headlines about heavy and, at times, overwhelming world events cross our screens, actress and outspoken Christian Cameron Candace Bure encouraged her fans to participate in a "gratitude challenge."
At a time when everyone is frightened and no one knows what to expect, with many unanswered questions, it is so helpful that we have the unchanging Word of God to share. While we can’t provide answers about the immediate future, we can provide bedrock truth about the hope of eternity. And while we have no guarantees of peace in this lifetime, we can share about the Prince of Peace who will guard our hearts and keep our minds at perfect peace when our thoughts are focused on Him.
In the face of such challenges, my claim across this week that Christians should reframe crises as opportunities for the gospel can seem naïve. We understand theologically that we are called to bring the “light of the world” to the darkness, that we are commissioned to make disciples of all nations, even those at war. But it’s not enough to know we are called to be change agents in a broken culture—we must believe that we can make a transformative difference where we are, as we are. To that end, let’s close our week by focusing on the empowering ways God can change us.
There’s a new genre of literature that most people have never heard of: “hopepunk.” Coined in 2017 by fantasy author Alexandra Rowland, “hopepunk” was a reaction to a different kind of writing dominating the market that year, a genre that Rowland and others refer to as “grimdark.” Grimdark emphasizes the cruelty that so often defines human interaction. Think, for example, of HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones, a show which hit its highwater mark in 2017 and which capitalized on a trifecta of gore, nudity, and nihilism. AMC’s The Walking Dead and the more recent Netflix global hit Squid Game are also examples of shows that attempt to portray the very worst of human nature as graphically as possible.
Because God is love, he loves you where you are, as you are. And because Jesus became one of us, we can be one with him. Philip Yancey observed, “Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part.” Where do you need the grace of Christmas today?
I was privileged to talk with Chris Brooks on his national radio show yesterday. We discussed the tornado outbreak and the recent high school shooting in Michigan that occurred not far from the church where he serves as pastor. Chris made the profound point that God uses suffering to point us beyond this world to the next and to call us from our finitude to his omnipotence.
You and I were created to need what hope offers. Psychologists associate hope with many positive outcomes, including greater happiness, better academic achievement, and even lowered risk of death. It provides resilience against anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. It even offers chemical benefits in the form of endorphins and lowered stress levels. How, then, can we have more hope?
My purpose today is not to relitigate LGBTQ morality or the postmodern relativism of our day, issues I have addressed often in the past. Rather, it is to ask the question: How can Christians live and raise our families in a culture that is forcing its norms on us in unprecedented ways?
