A Free Press article published this week by geopolitical analysts Matt Pottinger and Roy Eakin begins:
If its first days are anything to go by, 2026 may end up the most pivotal year in geopolitics since 1989, a hinge point that began in a moment of geopolitical calm but ended with the collapse of the Iron Curtain.
Within a few years, the Soviet Union had fallen, the European Union had been born, and an era of hyper-globalized trade took off on the wings of NAFTA and the WTO (World Trade Organization). This year could be equally pivotal—only this time with a vaster range of possible outcomes for world order.
According to the article, a positive reading of such “outcomes” would include the fall of the Iranian regime, which “would deal a major setback to Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin’s geostrategic ambitions.” Since Iran is “the de facto proxy for Beijing and Moscow in the Middle East,” they have provided significant support to it as well as several of Iran’s proxies following the start of the war on Israel. Iran, in turn, has supplied drones that Russia uses against Ukraine and oil imports to China. The article suggests that the fall of Tehran could even trigger the destabilization of Beijing itself.
However, the writers state that a negative reading would include the destabilization of NATO over the Trump administration’s designs for Greenland, which could invite Moscow to take military action beyond Ukraine. And the article points to China’s escalating pressure against Taiwan, warning that “if Taiwan does fall, the economic and geopolitical shock to world order would be immense.”
The island nation is tied to American power in the region supporting Japan, South Korea, Australia, and much of Southeast Asia. And since “nearly all the world’s most advanced chips are made in Taiwan,” if China seized control of this supply chain, it would “effectively hold a ‘kill switch’ on American ambitions to lead the AI revolution as well as its ability to compete economically and militarily.”
“I prefer to be true to myself”
How are we to manage our emotional and relational health in a world that seems to whipsaw daily between cataclysmic crises?
According to journalist Sasha Chapin, “congruence” is essential here. Citing the famed psychologist Carl Rogers, he describes it “roughly” as “a state of unity between your experience, your self-concept, and your outward behavior.” In such a state, you “agree with what you’re doing with your time,” refuse falsehoods you attempt to project to others and yourself, and live at peace with who and what you are.
Frederick Douglass offered an example, stating: “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others.” Living in this way elevates us above the maelstrom of media alarmism and political fervor. According to Chapin, we center on our “inner authority” with integrity and integration.
But aspiring to such holistic health is one thing; achieving it is another.
“We must obey God rather than men”
Simon Peter of the Gospels might be the least congruent person in the New Testament.
On his good days, he is walking on the stormy sea to Jesus (Matthew 14:28–29), proclaiming him “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), and promising that he will “never fall away” from following his Lord (Matthew 26:33). On his bad days, he is speaking when he should be silent (Matthew 17:4–5), sleeping when he should be praying (Matthew 26:40), and denying Jesus to a “servant girl” (Matthew 26:69–72).
Then came Pentecost and the gift by which Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). The next thing we know, the fearful fisherman is preaching the gospel and leading thousands to Christ (vv. 14–41). He is being used to heal the lame (Acts 3:1–10) and giving the glory to Jesus (vv. 11–26). He is proclaiming the necessity of faith in Christ to the very rulers who crucified his Lord (Acts 4:12) and boldly testifying, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
He ends up pastoring the church in Rome (cf. 1 Peter 5:13) and writing two letters of the New Testament. The largest cathedral of the largest church in the world stands over his traditional gravesite. His faith and life were so congruent that he chose execution over denying Jesus but asked that he be crucified upside down since he was not worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord (cf. 1 Clement and Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History).
Now the same Spirit who transformed Peter stands ready to do the same in us.
“The instrument through which you see God”
A dear friend recently suggested that I read Living Fearless: Exchanging the Lies of the World for the Liberating Truth of God. The author, Jamie Winship, is a former police officer who spent nearly thirty years serving Christ in the Muslim world. His practical guide invites us to experience God’s best for our lives by asking our Lord to:
- Show us where we are not living in truth.
- Expose the false identity that enslaves us.
- Reveal to us our true identity in his eyes and grace.
- Ask him what he wants us to do today in relation to this identity, then pay attention as he speaks through his Spirit, his word, our circumstances, and the people around us.
His inspiring book is filled with examples of God’s miraculous responses to these prayers. As Winship shows, our Father wants to speak to his children. He wants us to walk with him as Enoch “walked” with him before God “took him” home (Genesis 5:24).
When we say to God, “With my whole heart I seek you” (Psalm 119:10), we can pray, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (v. 18).
Oswald Chambers noted, “Whether or not I hear God’s call depends upon the state of my ears; and what I hear depends upon my disposition.” C. S. Lewis similarly explained that God “shows himself” to us as we are able to receive his revelation:
In other sciences, the instruments you use are things external to yourself (things like microscopes and telescopes), [but] the instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man’s self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred—like the Moon seen through a dirty telescope.
How “clean and bright” is your soul today?
Quote for the day:
“God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.” —Mother Teresa
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