The power of Christian character to change the culture
Let’s meet a couple whose commitment to Christ and to godliness is making headlines. Rebekah Hurford and Kirk Peter plan to get married one day, but they’ve never shared a passionate kiss and are waiting until marriage to do so. When the Christian couple began dating, they chose not to become intimate. They never sleep at the same place. They have had sexual relationships with others in the past which led to “broken trust” and “a lot of wounds,” so this time they’re choosing to live biblically.
How’s this working for them?
“The result of strong boundaries and saving ourselves until marriage has been the most joyful and stress-free relationship of my thirty-one years,” Hurford says. She added: “Don’t compromise in dating, ladies, the man who will honor you is out there.”
You might think I read their story in a Christian publication, but it’s actually a headline in the New York Post. So was this: “Scottie Scheffler has become golf’s unassuming megastar.” The article was published even before Scheffler won the Masters and then won again yesterday.
Though he is always quick to give the glory to God, as I noted after his triumph at Augusta, the secular world doesn’t seem to make the connection. One golf commentator went on and on Saturday describing what a “good person” Scheffler is with no mention of the real reason why.
It’s a fact: The darker the room, the more obvious and attractive the light.
A quick way to improve your health
Yesterday we focused on research indicating that perhaps as few as 5 percent of Americans attend religious services weekly. What are they missing?
A friend recently pointed out this article: “Why public health should attend to the spiritual side of life.” The subheading answers the question: “Research suggests weekly service attendance is associated with better health.”
The writer points to extensive evidence that “weekly religious service attendance is longitudinally associated with lower mortality risk, lower depression, less suicide, better cardiovascular disease survival, better health behaviors, and greater marital stability, happiness, and purpose in life,” linking to research for each outcome.
He also notes that about 40 percent of the increasing suicide rate in the United States from 1999 to 2014 could be attributed to declines in attendance at religious services during this period. According to another study, declining attendance from 1991 to 2019 accounted for 28 percent of the increase in depression among adolescents.
Again, you might think I’m quoting from Christianity Today or a similar publication, but this article was written by Tyler VanderWeele, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and published by Harvard.
The darker the room, the more obvious and attractive the light.
Benjamin Franklin on the power of faith
Our spiritual enemy has a strategy for combatting stories like the ones we’re discussing today. If he cannot get us to reject Christ, he’ll tempt us to adopt religion. That’s because he knows that religion cannot save anyone’s soul—only a personal relationship with Jesus can do that. Religion cannot transform the human heart—only the indwelling Holy Spirit can do that.
St. Basil the Great (AD 330–379) observed:
Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the status of adopted sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory—in a word, our being brought into a state of all fullness of blessing both in this world and in the world to come, of all the good gifts that are in store for us.
When you and I experience the risen Christ each day, our lives cannot be same. Nor can our culture. Even Benjamin Franklin, not known for evangelical piety, recognized this fact:
“He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.”
“Christ in you” is “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), not just for your soul but for everyone you influence.
The darker the room, the more obvious and attractive the light.
“Long eagerly for what heaven has in store”
Pope St. Gregory the Great (AD 540–604) encouraged us:
Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith, and long eagerly for what heaven has in store for us. To love thus is to be already on our way. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination is not deterred by the roughness of the road that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveler who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he forgets where he is going.
Are you “determined” to reach your “destination” today?
Tuesday news to know:
Quote for the day:
“In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.” —Francis Bacon
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