Cheer Up, It Could be a Brain Tumor

Ever since I announced that I and several members of our family had been tested for COVID last week, I have received daily inquiries about how we are feeling and whether we are symptomatic. I am grateful for the concern and completely flummoxed as to how to respond. After all, all of us felt fine when we were tested and in the days immediately afterwards. But over the weekend I had a mildly sore throat for a couple of days, for the last couple of days I have had a moderate headache, and several times I have felt a little winded, usually near the end of my daily run of 3-5 miles. Obviously, I must have COVID and should expect any day now to check into the ICU. Or maybe it is allergy season, maybe I had a mild cold, maybe my voice is strained from reading aloud to my kids for a couple of hours on the Lord’s Day, maybe it is hard to run 5 miles when the temperature outside has already hit 100 degrees. Then there was that monkey bite. He assured me he had not been out of the country recently, but when have you ever known a monkey to tell the truth?

How am I feeling? I’m feeling fine! Does that mean I am well? Of course not. Some of you were feeling fine just before you were diagnosed with cancer. Maybe the sore throat and headache are a sign of something very serious. Maybe I do have COVID and my symptoms will grow worse. If you are feeling unwell at all, it must be COVID. There can be no other explanation. Don’t bother me with statistics and declining mortality associated with the virus. Don’t tell me that hospitals are not overrun and that the vast majority of people, more than 99% of those under the age of elderly, are in no serious danger from this virus. Don’t bother me with facts because I have seen the news and received expert epidemiological insights from my friends on Instabook and Facegram. I know better than you that we are all going to die.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

(Psalm 139:16)

Being born is a terminal condition. Unless Jesus returns first or you prove to be another Enoch or Elijah, every one of us is going to die someday. It may be sooner than we expect, or much later. It may be in circumstances that we will be able to anticipate, or it may catch us completely by surprise. It may result from factors we might have seemed to be able to avoid, or it might be the consequence of factors entirely out of our control. But you are going to die someday, and so am I. God already wrote every day of our lives in his book before the first day of our life began. He did not tell me how many days there will be in my story, and I don’t need to know. I only need to focus on being faithful today in view of that day when I stand before him, knowing that one day today will be that day.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:28-29)

What exactly are you afraid of? “I’m not afraid of death, Pastor, I’m just afraid of dying.” If I had a dollar for every time someone has said that to me, I’d have a lot of dollars. Three times in my life I have been laid in a hospital bed and thought seriously I would not leave it alive. Three times in my life I have prayed what I thought would be my last prayer before seeing Christ face-to-face. Those moments are clarifying. I decided after the first time I would rather not die in a hospital bed. But I don’t have much control over that, and neither do you. I can eat my plant-based diet and avoid heart disease and diabetes, only to choke to death on a brussel sprout. I can run and exercise five or six days a week and control my weight and blood pressure, only to be hit by a car or keel over from heat stroke. Or I can become sick or injured again through circumstances outside of my control and end up, once again, in that hospital bed, praying what I think may be my last prayer, only next time maybe it will be.

It is easy to live in fear. This world is a scary place, and I have a very fragile body. God could have made us gorillas, but the man hasn’t been made who would not be torn limb from limb in hand to hand combat with a great ape. We each have a large brain with extraordinary cognitive capacity and also an easily cracked skull. God made our bodies to heal and repair themselves in ways that defy scientific understanding, but those same bodies grow weaker and more susceptible to injury and disease as long as we live. I don’t know if I have COVID or not, but I have been dying for more than 41 years. Some conditions might kill me more quickly, but being born on this side of the Fall will get the job done. Man is born to trouble, and thus man is subject to fear. But the Bible calls us away from fear, to walk by faith in God’s sovereign and saving purpose.

The Lord wrote every day of my life in his book before my life began. He wrote about the fall from a tree as a young child that wounded my pride but did not seriously hurt me. He wrote about the car crash sometime later that cracked my sister’s skull and sent several members of our family to the hospital but did not kill any of us. He wrote about the childhood illness that became a defining feature of my life and altered my path and career plans forever. He wrote about the miscarriage, about my son’s near-death experience with the same condition that afflicted me, and about the three times I lay in a hospital bed and thought I had seen my wife and children for the last time. He wrote about each of those experiences--and only he knows how many more--and he wrote them into the story so that in some way his glory would be more fully displayed and I would become more like Christ. We know, not we think, not we hope, not maybe if everything works out, we know that all things, not some things, not just good things, not most things, we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are the called according to his purpose. Even my sickness, even my suffering, even my sin, even my sorrow? Especially my sorrow. “Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart” (Ecc. 7:2).

What if everything you fear is part of God’s plan and good purpose to draw you closer to him? Because it is. What if every experience in every moment of every hour throughout every day of your life was planned by God and ordered so that nothing can ever happen that is truly, ultimately, eternally to your harm but only, always, and ultimately for your everlasting good? Because it is. What if the fear you have, which is perfectly natural, is an unspiritual, untrusting, and unnecessary response to circumstances which are completely in the control and under the oversight of the God who loves you more than you know and better than anyone in this world ever could? Because it is.

And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”

Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”

(Acts 21:10-14)

I am not suggesting we should be indifferent to the dangers around us. I am not suggesting it is possible to be completely without worry and care. If it were possible, God would not have to command us so often in Scripture, “Do not worry; Do not be afraid,” and then continue to forgive us for disregarding what he told us not to do. I believe in taking reasonable precautions. I eat a healthy diet, exercise, lock my doors at night, and wear my seatbelt when I drive. I even wear a mask outside when the government tells me too. And none of these things will make any difference on the day God has appointed for me to die. I am not a fatalist. I believe that God works through means, and our choices are part of how he works, secondary causes that make a difference in daily outcomes. But it is his plan that governs the outcome. It is his will that guides my life, not my own.

Christians should not be reckless people, but we should live with reverent abandon. Reverent abandon recognizes that God is in control, and we can trust him with our wellbeing, our lives, our children, and our future. Reverent abandon recognizes that worry and fear are sinful, even if natural, and are responses of unbelief, not of faith. Reverent abandon recognizes that until God calls me home, I am bullet-proof, and at the hour he calls me home, no amount of preparation or protection can thwart his summons. Reverent abandon recognizes that nothing can happen to me except what he will use for the greater manifestation of his glory and the greater good of conforming me more fully to the image of his Son. He will use even the worst of experiences of my life, the most painful, the most harrowing, and the last experience that will end my life, to draw me closer to himself and more fully prepare me for glory. So what are you afraid of? COVID? Seriously?

Sing, pray, rejoice. Jesus is risen, death has been broken, and the saints of God have been justified once and forever. Love your wife, enjoy your kids, celebrate your grandkids, and pray for the great-grandkids (and great-great-grandkids) you will never know but who are already known to our Lord. Live your life with gratitude and gusto. Stop moping around like someone who has nothing to hope for beyond this life. You were not weaned on a dill pickle. You were re-created, cleansed, consecrated, adopted, and called to everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, but he did not make it because he needed a world--he made it for you. Enjoy God’s gifts and graces. Live fully, die faithfully, and then rejoice eternally. Maybe that headache is COVID, or maybe it is a brain tumor. Who knows? As a matter of fact, God does. If he is not worried about it, why should I? --JME

Cultivating Indifference

These really are remarkable times in our nation, remarkable for their immaturity, insanity, incivility, and idiocy. The reports of continuing protests over the weekend include the perimeter of a courthouse being breached by violent protesters in Portland, courthouses in Oakland and Aurora being set on fire, and another courthouse in Los Angeles being vandalized with graffiti and broken windows. Protesters used an explosive to blow a hole in the wall of a Seattle police precinct. More than twenty cops in the same city were hit by bricks, rocks, and other projectiles. Across the country cars were smashed, fires were set, and businesses were vandalized in various ways. A Starbucks in Seattle was destroyed, though who knows if this was a protest against racial injustice and police brutality or against overcharging for cups of burned coffee? At least one person was killed. (It is unwise to approach an occupied parked car in Texas with a rifle in your hands. The occupant of the car may shoot you.) Spray paint, bricks, fires, and obscenities are the symbols of the resistance. America is branded as a fascist state by those too young, too illiterate, and too indoctrinated to know what real fascism is. (Read a book. There were many examples in the last hundred years. Most of them were socialists. They bathed the twentieth century in blood.)

 

When Kirstie and I counsel the parents of young children, we often advise them to cultivate indifference. We do not mean they should be indifferent to the welfare of their children or to their ungodly behavior that may endanger said welfare. On the contrary, parents must learn a particular form of indifference in order to rightly prioritize and pursue their children’s welfare. Unfortunately, parents get upset about the wrong things. They are hurt by how their child’s behavior impacts them, the parents. They view temper tantrums--which ought never to be tolerated--as a personal offense, disobedience as disrespect, and whining as an inconvenience and annoyance. Of course, such behavior is all of those things. Disobedience is disrespect, and a child’s whining demands are inconvenient and annoying. But that is not why parents must correct that behavior, and it certainly is not a proper or helpful frame of mind for correction. If you rebuke and punish your child’s disobedience because they have disrespected you, then you have simply taught them that it is appropriate to use force to compel others to respect them. If a parent becomes angry because he is annoyed by his child, he is not parenting properly. He is reacting selfishly. Parents should act, never react to provocation.

 

Therefore, a wise parent will cultivate indifference, not to their child’s behavior or welfare but to how that behavior affects them as his parent. Parents are not allowed to have hurt feelings, and if your feelings are hurt, your child should never know it. It will only get in the way of good parenting. A parent who disciplines a child when he is angry is unwise; a parent who disciplines a child because he is angry is acting like an abuser. Should a parent be angry because of a child’s sin? Of course he should, in a holy and righteous way. But that holy and righteous anger is dispassionate. Remember, God is “without body, parts, or passions.” He does not discipline his children because he lost his temper. He disciplines his children with perfect calm and wisdom, in keeping with his love and their best interests. If you are getting upset, your head is not in the right place. Take a step back or a step away. Take a breath. Refocus. What are your priorities? What is the goal? I am not trying to win my child’s submission to me. I am trying to train my child to submit to Christ. I am not seeking compliant behavior. I am seeking a submissive heart. If when the child is corrected and sent to his room he stomps down the hall and slams the door, you are not done. You have not won the child’s heart. You are only hardening a rebel. But why is he reacting that way? Might it be because he learned to huff and puff and stomp and slam from you? Too often both parties in the parenting process are way too thin skinned and emotionally invested. It is understandable when a two year old is offended that his demands are not being met. It is inexcusable when a thirty-two year old parent is similarly offended.

 

Get over yourself. You have a child to raise for God, and you will not have him for long. Stop taking everything so personally. Are you really so hurt by what a pre-kindergartener said to you? And if it is your teenager popping off, then they learned it was acceptable to do so long ago, but it is never too late to repent and start doing your job. You cannot fix them, but you can ask the Lord to help you work on you. Keep your eye on the ball. The goal is not in this room or this moment. The goal is glory, and as God’s parental minister, your job is to preach Christ to your offspring, “warning every [child] and teaching every [child] in all wisdom, that we may present every [child] perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:28). But you can only do this while you are “striving according to his working which works in [you] mightily” (Col. 1:29). You will not form your child in Christ while you are wearing your emotions on your sleeve, and you certainly will not succeed so long as you are primarily worried about what they think of you.

 

It may seem that we have gotten a bit off-track. After all, we started with the violent breakdown of civil society in cities across the country, and now we are talking about how to dispassionately parent. But there is a connection, at least, in my mind. It is easy to look at the headlines and to take away the wrong message. “The country is going to Hell in a handbasket!” That’s not entirely true. There are not any handbaskets to be seen. The country is simply going to Hell. “This nation will no longer be a safe place for us and our children to live!” That may be true, but that only means the insulated bubble inside which we have lived most of our lives is now disintegrating. If you remain in that cocoon you will be safe. You will also have the moral and spiritual constitution of a slug, and that’s probably unfair to slugs. Creatures in cocoons do not need skeletons, muscles, teeth, or claws. The good news is that once removed from the cocoon you will begin to grow a backbone, build muscles, and learn how to properly defend yourself--though the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (cf. 2Cor. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:10-18)--or you will die. “We are obviously living in the last days!” Of course we are, and I am glad you finally noticed. We might have already learned from the New Testament that these days began almost two thousands years ago (Acts 2:17-22; Heb. 1:1-4; Jas. 5:3; 2Tim 3:1-5; 2Pet. 3:1-7), but better to learn it late than never. “No, Pastor, I mean the last days, like the very last ones there will be!” Well, I suppose we might hope that is the case. But Christians in almost every generation since the time of the apostles thought the same thing. I suppose one of these days some generation will be right. Actually, whether any of these reactions to current events are true, none of them are the lesson we need to take away.

 

What we are witnessing in the violent breakdown of our society is the frantic, desperate, ultimately futile temper tantrum of spoiled children who have more than a little of the Devil in them. It is dangerous, yes, undeniably destructive, and has the potential to radically and permanently alter this nation as we know it. So what? Is maintaining the status quo our highest priority? Are we most concerned to keep America quiet, prosperous, complacent, and politely wicked for the sake of our comfort and convenience? Our nation has been slaughtering children in the womb with the government’s blessing since 1973, but at least we said “please” and “thank you.” We have sanctioned sodomy and renamed it marriage. We have opened women’s sports to men with mental illness and gave those same mentally ill perverts access to the women’s restroom. We have decided marijuana dispensaries are essential services for the community, but churches are not. We have a President who thinks it is presidential to be crass on Twitter, and an opposition party that openly plots to completely transform the United States. They may succeed. If they do, it will simply be the next stage of God’s judgment upon us. But what is our priority?

 

Believers must learn to cultivate indifference, not to the violence of the mob, not to the wicked schemes of ungodly persons, but to the immediate and inconvenient impact this behavior has on me. We know how to deal with temperamental two year olds, and it is not by having a temper tantrum ourselves. Cultivate indifference, not to their rage, but to the fear and offense and discomfort it creates in you. Think globally, not just locally. Jesus came to save the world. If the Devil burns down a few Starbucks, remember there will be better coffee in the new heavens and earth anyway. Think about the kingdom, not about individual castles. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we are not the first Christians to live in the midst of violence. I do not want to live in a violent, socialist state. I also do not want to have to wear glasses or have joint pain or cope with an ileostomy every day of my life. We do not always get what we want. But we are supposed to be the adults in this house. We are supposed to be able to see the big picture. It’s understandable the angry children outside cannot see it. They were probably raised by easily offended parents. But you and I do not have to be unsettled by their temper tantrums.

 

We can be dispassionate because we know the rest of the story. The goal is not saving the nation; it is redeeming the world. And on the last day, whenever it comes, that is exactly what Jesus will do. He will deal with the temperamental totalitarians who never received the discipline they so evidently needed. He will wash the world, not merely of graffiti stains but of the blood of innocents, both born and unborn. He will silence the mob, subjugate oppressors, and save his Church and this world from all enemies. I have never understood a parent who lived in fear of the outbursts of a toddler terrorist. He has no more power than you choose to give him. The mob cannot make you afraid. You choose to be. Revolutionaries cannot rob you of peace. You surrender it to them. Current events cannot unsettle your soul. You simply take your eyes off Jesus and start looking at the waves. But you know better. You are the adult in the room. Act like it. --JME

The Nakedness of a Movement

The Nakedness of a Whore, Harlot, … Advocate for Social Justice

Many of you will have seen, hopefully with the images appropriately blurred, news reports, photos, or video of a female protester in Portland who stripped naked earlier this week and performed various ballet poses, defiant gestures, and sexually erotic and perverse postures in the middle of the street opposite police, who were modestly attired in riot gear, the evening fashion wear preferred by all stylish law enforcement officers this season. I say she was naked, but that’s not entirely true. She was wearing a face mask and a stocking cap. It’s a good thing too. If she hadn’t been wearing a mask, she might have been arrested for public indecency. I hope I am not causing any offense by referring to her as a female protester. Perhaps I should not assume her gender. I’m operating on the assumption that she identifies as a female because if a man had done what she did he would be in jail and registered as a sex offender by now.

The media is in a congratulatory dither over the protester. Evidently they’ve never seen a naked woman acting like a pervert before, or the newsrooms of our major media outlets are largely staffed by persons still in junior high, mentally if not academically. The latter possibility is easier to believe than the former. The adulation of the news reports praised her fearlessness and vulnerability and favorably compared her to the goddess Athena and Lady Godiva, whose infamy has nothing to do with chocolate. Maybe when some of the villains outed by the #MeToo movement took off their clothes and sent nude pictures unsolicited, they were only intending to protest racial injustice and police brutality too. They had the indecency to do it in hotel rooms. Perhaps they should have done it in the middle of Times Square instead.

Now some of you are thinking right about now that it’s inappropriate for a pastor to be talking about such things, especially on a G-rated church mailing list. Clearly you’ve never read the Old Testament prophets or the Book of Revelation. If you have not, it may surprise you to learn that sexual perversity and shamelessness was not invented in the twentieth century. It did not even reach new heights, or depths, depending on your perspective. Those who know their history might be uncertain whether to feel disgust and scorn over the depravity being praised or at how poorly it is being done. Nero’s indecencies were so wretched and vile that later translators left portions of the record in Seutonius’s The Twelve Caesars untranslated. Evidently there is some perversity you are simply unprepared to read about until you know how to read Latin. But neither Seutonius nor any of his twenty-first century counterparts will be writing about the Portland Athena, not because she is not perverse but because she is pathetic. Her resemblance to the ancient goddess is roughly comparable to the similarity between Puzzle the donkey in his soggy, stitched together lion suit and the great Lion Aslan whom he sought to portray. In other words, there is no resemblance at all. The Portland Poser may have made headlines in the LA Times, but any pervert nowadays can do that, and the LA Times is certainly not The Twelve Caesars. The paper might be worth reading, if it were written in Latin.

It’s hardly worth noting that a woman stripped naked and posed in front of a bunch of men in Portland earlier this week. After all, that kind of thing happens every day in countless cities around the world, and no one calls it courage. They call it commerce. But in this case, I point out what ought to have been obvious for weeks, months, and years but evidently was not. That is that Black Lives Matter, the social justice movement, and the current agitation for transforming America has nothing to do with black lives, social justice, or a better America. It is a movement to destroy the foundations of moral and civil society. It is rooted in perversity, sensuality, and rebellion. It is unashamed, unrestrained, and unfettered by conscience or moral values. It relies for its continued existence on a double standard and the cowardice of public magistrates too enlightened to admit the Emperor is naked, and a pervert. The mask is off, or in this case, everything except the mask was taken off. But this is exactly what the Lord said he would do.

To Assyria:

“Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of hosts;

“I will lift your skirts over your face, I will show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame.

I will cast abominable filth upon you, Make you vile, And make you a spectacle.

(Nahum 3:5-6)

To Babylon: 

Remove your veil, Take off the skirt, Uncover the thigh, Pass through the rivers.

Your nakedness shall be uncovered, Yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance.

(Isaiah 47:2-3)

To Jerusalem:

For the greatness of your iniquity Your skirts have been uncovered, Your heels made bare.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?

Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

(Jer. 13:22-23)

To Rome (or whoever you take the Harlot in Revelation to be):

And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 17:16-18)

We human beings are slow learners. This is not a debate between good-hearted, moral people over best practices for policing, advancing economic opportunities for underprivileged minorities, or encouraging greater awareness of injustice and compassion for victims. This is the earthly manifestation of an unseen, but no less real, cosmic war, a battle between good and evil, between angels and demons, between the Creator and Rightful King of the universe and the fallen creature who aspired to greatness, fell into darkness, and was broken beyond recovery. Satan knows he has lost. He has known it since the resurrection of Christ (cf. Rev. 12). His only plan now is to create violence, chaos, anxiety, and fear. He cannot defeat the Church. He cannot change God’s work in Christ. He cannot cause even one person whom God chose to save to be lost. Satan knows that he is as naked as the pervert in Portland, and just as defenseless. He is hoping you will not notice. But I trust you will not be fooled.

“Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy,

Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.

The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow;

Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread.

He will be as a sanctuary,

But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense

To both the houses of Israel,

As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And many among them shall stumble;

They shall fall and be broken, Be snared and taken.”

(Isaiah 8:12-15)

--JME

Believing More Strongly

I once heard an older preacher, who was a friend of mine, say that as he grew older there were fewer things he believed in strongly but that the things he believed he believed more strongly than ever before. You have to think about that one for a minute so as not to misunderstand his point. He was not becoming a relativist. Far from it. But he was observing that many of us are more willing to participate in fights in our youth than when we are mature. When we are young, everything seems desperately important. I don’t know what those issues might have been for you. My list was largely defined by the religious circles I grew up in. If you wanted to debate instrumental music, baptism, whether denominationalists were Christians or not, the use of a headcovering in prayer, or a dozen other topics, I was your man. Admittedly, the sect I grew up in was more contentious than most. We had a lot of hills we were willing to die on. I was a fundamentalist’s fundamentalist. I was not only dismayed if you were wrong on any of these questions, and either believed or strongly suspected you were unsaved, but I would be appalled if you did not consider them first-tier issues. After all, we are supposed to “contend earnestly for the faith,” are we not?

I was an arrogant, contentious, stupid person, but as God is my witness, I thought I was doing what was right. It was the only way I knew to be. I was convinced Scripture taught my convictions on each of those issues. And I was convinced your salvation, and mine, depended on my attempting to convince you I was right. Years later when the Lord graciously broke my spiritual back, knocked me into the dirt, and allowed me to see the harm I had caused by my error, I thought about what my friend had said. I didn’t stop believing in God, Christ, or the authority of the Bible. Far from it. I believed in these things more strongly because I came to understand them in the context of grace.

It does not always work out that way. I have seen men who once had a spiritual backbone seem to lose all their convictions as they aged. They may say they mellowed, but it looked more like unbelief to me. There has to be a balance. To say that not every hill is a hill to die on does not mean there are not any hills we ought to die on. To say that we can live and work in fellowship with brothers and sisters with whom we disagree on many issues does not mean there are not some issues about which we cannot disagree. If a man says, “I trust in Christ but prefer to sing only the psalms,” I say, “Welcome, brother!” If a man says, “I am a Christian but prefer to think of the resurrection as metaphorical and not historical,” I say, “Can we sit down and talk about the gospel?”

We must learn to distinguish primary, secondary, and tertiary issues. Romans, Galatians, and First Corinthians are very helpful in learning this paradigm and helping us practice theological triage in categorizing topics. We should refuse to divide over tertiary disagreements, be slow to separate and quick to love one another despite secondary differences, but be willing to plant our feet and plead for souls when it comes to primary issues. This requires a clear understanding of the gospel, a willingness to sit down with open Bibles, and an unwavering devotion to the Lordship of Christ no matter the cost or consequence.

Some of us start out in life willing to fight about anything. We need to learn humility, wisdom, and which fights are actually important. Some start out unwilling to fight about anything. They need to learn conviction, boldness, and which issues serve as the foundation for faith and life. I hope what my friend said is increasingly true of me and of you: there may be fewer things we believe in strongly, but may we believe more strongly what we ought to believe. --JME

Where Outside Ourselves?

Every person needs a purpose. This is a fact of life, not a dogmatic proposition. This need for purpose lies behind the inevitable and rampant idolatry in our world. If we do not worship and serve the true God, we will make some other god or cause the object of our devotion. Ultimately, the purpose of our life cannot lie within ourselves. Some do attempt this, but it always fails, sometimes in spectacular and catastrophic ways. We must look outside ourselves for a transcendent cause, a purpose greater than ourselves, something worth giving ourselves entirely to advance and uphold. That is what social justice warriors, advocates of Planned Parenthood, transgender rights activists, and those opposed to religious freedom are doing. (Forgive my redundancy, I just gave the same group four different names.) They are looking outside themselves for a cause to serve that is greater than their own lives. It would be commendable if it were not already inevitable. There are no points for unselfishly serving an external purpose. Almost everyone does, sooner or later. It is as virtuous as breathing, eating, and sleeping.

The question is not whether we will find an external purpose or even whether it will ultimately be inside or outside ourselves. The question is where outside of us will we find it? Idolaters find their gods and religion on a horizontal plane. This is why the social justice movement presently captures the affections of so many. It is the largest idol on the horizon since we successfully saved the whales. But true worshipers must inevitably find their purpose by looking up, not around, and certainly not ever within. It is only when we understand our relationship to God as Creator, Redeemer, and King that we can then properly understand our relationship to the world and finally have a proper view even of ourselves. We will seek justice, because we have come into the service of the just One. We will love and serve our neighbor, because we have been loved and served by our Lord. We will even care about the environment and animals, because these were created by our Father, and he made us their caretakers. But we will not make any of these horizontal concerns into gods nor our service to them into a religion. They are duties, not deities. They are our work, not our worship. Only when we are vertically aligned can we properly relate to everyone and everything on the horizontal plane. --JME

Advice for My Younger Self

“Lord, make me to know my end,

And what is the measure of my days,

That I may know how frail I am.

Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,

And my age is as nothing before You;

Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.

(Psalm 39:4-5)

Almost twenty years ago I found a plan for memorizing the entire New Testament in five years. I looked up the author of the plan, a Bible college professor, and called him on the phone, asking for advice and for more information about his experience in recommending it to students and young ministers. He made a comment I have never forgotten: “You have to know what the text says before you can know what it means.” That was a quote worth remembering. I made a lot of headway with that plan for some time and used others I developed myself. Aggressive memorization of Scripture was a major part of my daily routine for a number of years. But I never memorized the entire New Testament. If I had slowed the pace and learned at even one-third the speed, I would have completed that original schedule three or four years ago.

I was asking myself during a walk this morning what advice I would have given to myself as a child if I had known how the first four decades of my life would turn out. What might I have done differently from age ten to twenty or from age twenty to thirty that would have made a difference now between age forty and fifty? These kinds of thought exercises can be helpful in several ways, but they should not be overused. After all, we cannot go back and give advice to our younger selves, but we can learn to use better what time we have remaining, whether it is much or little. The best time to begin those habits of learning, growth, and spiritual development that you want to pursue would have been 25-30 years ago. The second best time to begin them is today. --JME

Watching the World Burn

“Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Over the weekend a statute of Frederick Douglass was vandalized and toppled in New York. Yes, that Frederick Douglass: minister, orator, author, social reformer, statesman, also a former slave, a black man, and an abolitionist. Maybe you thought the only statutes that would be torn down were those honoring Confederate generals and founding fathers who owned slaves. Maybe you felt sympathy for the grief and moral outrage such monuments were said to cause. Your heart was in the right place, but your sympathy was misguided.

The civil unrest, moral outrage, and (not so peaceful) protests we are witnessing around the nation are not about what the agitators, advocates, and apologists in the media claim. This is not about racial injustice, ongoing oppression, or restorative justice and reconciliation. This is about anarchy. The enemy is not white supremacy; we all agree in condemning such evil. The enemy is not police brutality; we all agree in standing against such violence. The enemy is tradition, history, and the present order. That is what must be deconstructed, destabilized, and finally destroyed.

“This is the revolution. Change is coming.” “Now, we transform.” Those are the slogans posted on the homepage of Black Lives Matter. It’s not as though they are hiding the agenda. On the contrary, they are proud to say the quiet part out loud, because they are empowered and protected by those who lack the moral conviction and courage to speak truth.

“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.

“We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual (unless s/he or they disclose otherwise).” --https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/

Tradition is regarded as evil. History must be erased and rewritten. Violent revolution is in order. That is the world in which you live. These are the ideals that a significant number of Americans, and sadly many professing Christians and leaders in the visible Church, are supporting. But there are two things we ought to bear in mind.

First, those who seek to burn the world down and re-make it in their own image will not succeed. They may destroy America. Our society may never recover from recent events. But creation is larger than any one nation. Nations rise and fall. Movements develop and then die. But the purpose of God stands forever. It cannot be thwarted.

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever,

The plans of His heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:10-11)

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD

As the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,

The One who is and who was and who is to come,

Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.

The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,

And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,

And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,

And those who fear Your name, small and great,

And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

(Revelation 11:15-18)

Second, the visible Church must maintain her spiritual, otherworldly, boldly confessing identity in the face of social turmoil and change. We are not a political action group. Our hope is not in the Republican (or Democrat or Libertarian) party. We will not be spared temporal persecution or eternal judgment by capitulating to and compromising with the spirit of the age. If they are willing to tear down statutes of Frederick Douglass, do you suppose they will be content to leave your congregation alone because you agree that black lives matter? Our hope is in Jesus Christ. We must stand upon the Word of God and behind the cross. As history and tradition are attacked all around us, the Church must re-dig her fathers’ wells. There has been far too much of the world in the Church for far too long. We don’t need more pastors in skinny jeans, more praise teams that rival the local rock band, or more worship programs that feel more like a social mixer than an ancient service of prayer in the presence of God. Now is not the time for the Church to forget her history, but rather to remember, learn from, and cherish it. “We are God’s people, the chosen of the Lord.” Let’s not only say and sing it. Let’s be sure we sincerely mean it. --JME

Social Distancing and Spiritual Immunity

I have been healthier in the last four months than almost any period of the same length in the last twenty years. It is odd to say that my daily health and wellness has been measurably improved during a global pandemic, but it is true. I don’t get very sick very often, but I usually have a minor cold or runny nose or sore throat on a fairly regular basis. Twice in the last four months I thought I was getting sick, and on both occasions the feeling passed within 24 hours. I still have seasonal allergies, but I simply have not been sick, not even a cold, and that is quite remarkable.

What might have caused this unexpected season of wellness? I think it is almost entirely attributable to the social distancing and health precautions we are observing due to COVID-19. Before the virus altered our social interaction, I would shake hundreds of hands every week, hug dozens of people, visit nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals, and hold hands and pray with people with all kinds of contagious illness. I tried to remember to wash my hands regularly and use hand sanitizer when I could, but I lived and worked inside a petri dish seven days a week, and contracting minor illnesses and infections was unavoidable.

This experience prompted me to think lately about how often our mental, emotional, and spiritual environment also produces a sort of inner illness and unease. We live in a world of 24-hour news, ubiquitous social media, podcasts, blogs, video games, and the ever-present despot who rules our daily lives: the smartphone. Is it any surprise that anxiety, depression, and anger have risen exponentially in the modern world? With all of our time-saving devices, you might expect we would have more time to relax. But we have less. With near constant access to a wealth of information, you might expect we would be better informed, more articulate, and able to intelligently understand and live responsibly in the world. But we are less informed, more often misinformed, increasingly inarticulate, and less able to exist in and preserve civil society.

Technology is a tremendous blessing, but it is sickening us inside in profound and undeniable ways. Technology is a tool, and like any tool it serves a purpose. But when used contrary to that purpose, it has the potential to cause great harm. We are constantly bombarded by information that is making us unwell: mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The noise can drown out the peace and comfort and joy which God’s Word and Spirit speaks to us.

Sometimes it is not enough simply to wash our hands when we come home at the end of the day. We may need a more radical separation. That’s what we experienced in the last four months in our social relationships, but in many ways the digital media and worldly inputs we have relied on lately may pose an even greater risk to our inner and spiritual well-being. I cannot tell you what boundaries you ought to have in your life and family, but I can tell you that you need healthy boundaries. Consider postponing digital and online interaction until later in the day after you have spent time in Scripture and prayer. Consider putting time limits on how much television, Internet, video gaming, or social media you use. Consider taking digital fasts on a regular basis, whether that be several hours in a day, one or more days a week, or one or more weeks in order to unplug, re-sensitize yourself to quiet contemplation, and strengthen your inner immune system against the fears, frustrations, and fury excited by this world.

I look forward to the day I can once again shake hands, hug friends, visit hospitals, and hold hands with the sick and dying as I pray for them. Some level of risk and exposure to illness is necessary in my line of work, and it is worth it to offer pastoral care to weak and wounded souls. But I hope the lessons of these four months are not forgotten, including the value of spiritual immunity against spiritual and cognitive contamination. May God give us wisdom to know how to navigate the sources of inner disquiet that we constantly encounter in this world. -JME