Perhaps the most important lesson we can take from the embrace of Marxism is that when it comes to the ideas that populate our worldviews, it’s not enough that they sound nice and feel right. Ideas wouldn’t matter if they stayed in slogans and manifestos. But they don’t. They grow feet and hands, drive armies and policy, and have consequences for real people in the real world.
Paul celebrated “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). From the Garden of Eden to today, you and I were made for intimacy with our Maker. We were created in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:27) so we could know him and make him known to others.
According to one Cambridge academic, permissive attitudes about sex, marriage, drugs, and religion are “luxury beliefs; more status symbols for cultural elites than blueprints for the way they live. Rob Henderson first floated the idea of “luxury beliefs” in an essay in the New York Post, later at Quillette, and most recently in a podcast. He argues that beliefs that tend to be disastrous for poor and middle-class communities have become the modern equivalent of buying expensive clothes or hiring servants. It’s a way of showing off your wealth and signaling your status to fellow members of the upper class.
When we yield to temptation, we don’t want others to know it. We want to maintain the façade of external godliness. It's like we are living under a false identity, projecting an image to the world that is untrue to our real selves. And we think we are getting away with our “private” sin. So long as no one sees our hidden sins, no one needs to know. But Someone does.
If we will pray for boldness to stand courageously and compassionately for biblical morality, our Lord will always answer our prayers (cf. Acts 4:29-31). If we will ask the Spirit to help us use our influence to lead others to truth and transformation in Christ, he will empower and employ us in ways we may not fully understand on this side of eternity (1 Corinthians 13:12).
The COVID-induced liminal space in which we now live is inviting us to create gospel beauty and hope even as we walk the long corridor toward the door that will lead us to a post-pandemic world. Here are just two things I have noticed in this space and how I believe we can refashion it into opportunities for evangelism, deeper discipleship, and community.
According to a new survey, three-quarters of millennials said they are struggling to find direction in life.
A few weeks ago, the billionaire founder of Facebook announced the company’s new venture, “Meta.” The idea is to create a world of simulations in which people can, broadly, live their lives. Zuckerberg imagines that, using VR technology, people would be able to “go to the office” or “visit family and friends” or do almost anything in simulated or half-simulated places. One glaring problem with the metaverse idea is that it encourages us, at least implicitly, to forget our bodies.
Yesterday we looked at our nation through the prism of Hosea 4, identifying ways the sins of ancient Israel are being practiced and even celebrated in our secularized culture today. As a result, I noted, the divine judgment Israel experienced is one we are presumptuous not to fear for our country. America’s Christians therefore have a vital and urgent task. We are watchmen on the wall, warning those inside the city of impending danger (Ezekiel 3:17-21).
Last week, at 34-years-old, baseball great Buster Posey retired to spend more time with his family.
