Deriving purpose from the problems of life

Sometimes our greatest dangers are the ones we cannot see: an Indiana man has admitted that he tried to kill his wife by poisoning her Coca-Cola with cocaine and other drugs so he could marry her daughter.

Other examples:

• A rare but deadly mosquito-borne virus is forcing a Massachusetts town to shut its parks, playgrounds, and fields from dusk to dawn. A New Hampshire man died from the disease yesterday.
• Walmart is recalling their apple juice due to potentially harmful levels of arsenic.
• A cyberattack disrupted service at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport over the weekend.
• Subsea fiber-optic cables carry more than 95 percent of international data, but they are vulnerable to tampering, damage, and disruptions.

If stories like these cause you anxiety, you might consider this unusual solution: people in Lagos, Nigeria, are paying to smash electronics and furniture with a sledgehammer in a so-called “rage room.” For $5, you are given protective gear and a sledgehammer or a bat for a thirty-minute session with the items, which are later recycled.

One woman who used the room admitted it is not a cure but said, “Right now, I feel very light.”

Allow me to suggest a different approach today.

Our five crowns in heaven

God’s word reminds us, “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). David similarly prayed, “I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers” (Psalm 39:12).

How are these facts relevant to the anxiety of our day?

The Bible describes five crowns given to believers in heaven:

1. The “crown of rejoicing” (1 Thessalonians 2:19–20 NKJV) is awarded to those who lead people to Jesus.
2. The “crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8) is given to those who “fought the good fight” of faith (v. 7).
3. The “crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:1–4) is for Christian leaders who serve with integrity and compassion as “examples to the flock” (v. 3).
4. The “crown of life” (James 1:12) is given to the one who “remains steadfast under trial.”
5. The “imperishable” crown (1 Corinthians 9:24–25) is awarded to the one who “exercises self-control in all things.”

Here’s my point: Crowns are awarded in heaven for doing what benefits others on earth.

1. Winning souls is obviously to their eternal good.
2. Fighting the “good fight” of faith encourages others to do the same.
3. Serving with integrity benefits those we serve and invites them to follow our example.
4. Remaining steadfast under trial demonstrates the relevance and power of our faith to those who need to know our Lord.
5. Exercising “self-control in all things” displays the character that honors Jesus and serves others with integrity.

As a result:

Doing what is rewarded in heaven is the best way to live with purpose on earth.

And, as psychologists note, living with purpose is significantly associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety.

“Hasten where eternal joy abideth”

In The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis warned us:

It is vanity to desire a long life, and to have little care for a good life. It is vanity to take thought only for the life which now is, and not to look forward to the things which shall be hereafter. It is vanity to love that which quickly passeth away, and not to hasten where eternal joy abideth.

By contrast, in The Strangest Secret, motivational speaker Earl Nightingale observed:

Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. If a man is working towards a predetermined goal and knows where he is going, that man is a success. If he’s not doing that, he’s a failure.

What ideal could be more worthy than living for heaven on earth in a way that leads others from earth to heaven?

Walking past a historic cemetery

My wife and I enjoy walking together early in the morning. Our path takes us past a cemetery with the remains of some of the early pioneers of our area, reminding us that “you do not know what tomorrow will bring” (James 4:14).

Commenting on this fact, Billy Graham observed: “Every cemetery testifies that our days on this planet are indeed numbered.”

In light of this truth, the apostle John prayed, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

Can you say the same today?

Wednesday news to know:

• Hostage rescued by IDF from tunnel in south Gaza after 10 months of Hamas captivity
• Jack Smith files superseding indictment against Trump in Jan. 6 case
• Iran’s supreme leader opens door to negotiations with United States over Tehran’s nuclear program
• Ohio bill would allow parents to claim “conceived children” on income taxes
• On this day in 1963: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Jesus Christ, by coming into this world, has changed the sunsets of time into the sunrises of eternity.” —Clement of Alexandria

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX is delaying its Polaris Dawn launch, scheduled for today, until tomorrow morning due to a helium leak. The mission will send four people into orbit for five days. On day three, two of them will perform the first spacewalk ever conducted on a commercial mission. In related news, NASA announced Saturday that it will use SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to bring two astronauts home from the International Space Station. They have been stuck there since June because the Boeing Starliner spacecraft that carried them to the station has been plagued by thruster problems and helium leaks.

However, the next Dragon return flight is not scheduled until February. As a result, their stay, originally intended to last eight days, will extend to about eight months. The Starliner capsule will return to Earth, likely in September, without anyone on board.

The Starliner project cost more than $5 billion. When the empty capsule travels back to Earth, I doubt many people outside of Boeing and NASA will be watching. If astronauts were on board the troubled craft, millions of us would travel vicariously with them.

In other words, the Starliner capsule’s true value is based not on what it is but on whom it contains.

Let’s learn today to see ourselves in the same way.

Elon Musk believes in “the principles of Christianity”

Sociologist Philip Rieff observed: “No culture has ever preserved itself where it is not a registration of sacred order.” He then made an important statement our secularized society needs to hear: “The notion of a culture that persists independent of all sacred orders is unprecedented in human history.”

However, for a culture to flourish, it needs the right “sacred order.” The Taliban recently codified morality laws requiring Afghan women to cover their faces and men to grow beards. I doubt this will help with the escalating humanitarian crisis raging in that country, with poverty afflicting more than 90 percent of the population.

We see a similar story in the Old Testament, where we read that “the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lᴏʀᴅ” (1 Samuel 2:12). And so these sons of the high priest, while externally religious, committed grave sins leading to their demise (1 Samuel 4:17).

Elon Musk recently made headlines with his statement, “I believe in the principles of Christianity like love thy neighbor as thyself (have empathy for all) and turn the other cheek (end the cycle of retribution).” But even the “principles of Christianity” were not intended by themselves to effect the change we need.

Jesus testified: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5, my emphasis). We need the indwelling power of Christ to obey the teachings of Christ, and so accomplish the purpose of Christ, in our lives and our world.

“Not good doing, but God-likeness”

Tragically, many prefer self-sufficiency over Spirit-dependence. Even religion can become transactional as we pray and act so that God will bless us in return. But this is far from the abundant life Jesus came to give (John 10:10).

1. S. Lewis lamented, “Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” According to Lewis, here is why this doesn’t work:

“God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

Conversely, “God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ” (Romans 3:22 NCV). Consider the difference an encounter with the living Lord Jesus can make:

• Peter was transformed from cowardice before a servant to courage before the Sanhedrin.
• Saul of Tarsus was changed from a persecutor of Christians to our greatest theologian, missionary, and evangelist.
• John, on the prison island of Patmos, was given the Revelation.

So it can be for any of us. Oswald Chambers noted:

The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly.

“In Christ, I am already victorious”

How can we experience such transformation today?

1. Settle for nothing less than an intimate, daily communion with the living Christ. This is his intention for every one of us (Philippians 3:10).
2. Position yourself to experience his presence by submitting to his Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), speaking with him in prayer, and listening to his voice through his word and Spirit.
3. Expect the Enemy to attack your relationship with Jesus through temptation, distraction, and discouragement. Turn each attack over to your Lord, thus using Satan’s tactics to advance God’s purpose and power in your life (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:11).
4. Live as if you were in close proximity to Jesus, because you are (Matthew 28:20).

Watchman Nee wrote:

Outside of Christ, I am only a sinner, but in Christ, I am saved. Outside of Christ, I am empty; in Christ, I am full. Outside of Christ, I am weak; in Christ, I am strong. Outside of Christ, I cannot; in Christ, I am more than able. Outside of Christ, I have been defeated; in Christ, I am already victorious. How meaningful are the words, “in Christ.”

Are you “in Christ” today?

Tuesday news to know:

• After Hezbollah–Israel exchange, Lebanese wary conflict could drag on
• Russia strikes Ukraine’s power grid in “most massive” attack of war
• Harris and Trump squabble over muted mics at upcoming debate
• Telegram CEO arrested over probe into child porn, drug trafficking on app
• On this day in 1908: Lyndon B. Johnson is born

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“With complete consecration comes perfect peace.” —Watchman Nee

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The Democratic National Convention meeting in Chicago continues to dominate the news cycle this morning. Bill Clinton, Pete Buttigieg, and Tim Walz were the highlighted speakers, while Oprah Winfrey gave a surprise speech and Stevie Wonder, John Legend, and other celebrities appeared as well.

As the November 5 election draws ever closer, voters will obviously need to choose between the parties and their candidates. However, we will also choose between two electoral philosophies. Understanding them can help us frame the partisan vitriol of our day in a way that encourages our souls and empowers our witness.

Political “rights” and moral wrongs

One approach is to vote for candidates we believe will best serve our nation, irrespective of our personal needs and wishes. However, Americans obviously disagree as to what is best for America. For example, as an evangelical Christian, I support biblical morality with regard to abortion, euthanasia, and LGBTQ issues. Many in our nation clearly disagree with me.

A second approach is to vote for candidates we believe will most benefit us personally—those who promise to lower our taxes, raise our income, protect our rights, solve our problems, and so on. However, what benefits us may not benefit others. Raising your taxes to provide more governmental services for me is better for me than for you. Lowering my taxes may hamstring the government’s ability to provide such services to you.

And what some consider to be “rights,” others consider to be moral wrongs. For example, employing governmental means to advance elective abortion or LGBTQ agendas using my taxes for purposes with which I strongly disagree.

All this to say, the outcome of our election this fall will inevitably disappoint us. Even if the leaders we elect never fall into personal immorality, never lie to us, and never make decisions based on personal agendas rather than the common good, they will inevitably lead in ways with which some of us disagree. This is simply the way democracy in a pluralistic society works.

How should you and I respond to this fact?

An election is not a coronation

We are to pay our taxes and respect those in authority—by virtue of their position, if not their person (Romans 13:7). Some of us are called to run for public office as well.

And we are to pray for our leaders, whether we voted for them or not (1 Timothy 2:12). As Dr. Mark Turman and Kaitlyn Schiess discussed on a recent Denison Forum Podcast, praying for our leaders reminds us not to idolize them and helps us fight against the temptation to confuse our president for our King.

The former is as finite and fallen, as prone to sin and failure, as the rest of us. The latter is “the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Timothy 1:17).

As my wife notes in her latest blog, an election is not a coronation.

David testified, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ our God” (Psalm 20:7). This was his personal commitment as well: “The king trusts in the Lᴏʀᴅ” (Psalm 21:7).

His example invites us to do the same today.

The key to helping our divided and divisive nation know the hope and grace of Christ is for us to experience and then model that hope and grace personally. Br. David Vryhof of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston asks:

Why would we choose to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us? Because that is the way of God. That is how God responds to those who resist God and choose evil over good. God never stops loving, never stops caring, never stops blessing—even when the creatures whom God has made respond to this love with indifference or opposition…

Only God’s love abiding in us can love in this way. Only God’s strength at work in our weakness can make us God-like in our words and actions…

Love as God loves, give as God gives, be merciful as God is merciful, surprise people by your generosity and kindness—and everyone will know that you are “children of the Most High.”

His wise words apply especially to the way we engage the political issues of our day amid the deepest partisan divisions since the Civil War. When we “surprise people by [our] generosity and kindness,” we serve a cause that will endure long after the election is over.

“Victory, Sir! Victory!”

The Duke of Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, ended a war that had waged for twenty-three years, stopped French attempts to dominate Europe, and helped advance the British Empire. However, historian Brian Cathcart reports that no one in London had any idea on that Sunday that the battle had commenced, much less that it had been won.

Monday’s papers carried reports that fighting had begun in Belgium. Tuesday brought news of victory, but the report mistakenly distorted an indecisive encounter two days before Waterloo, plunging the city into confusion.

It was not until Wednesday evening that messenger Major Henry Percy was able to bring the news to the governmental Cabinet. He then rushed to the Prince, dropped to one knee, and pronounced the words “Victory, Sir! Victory!” And all of England celebrated.

You carry news of the greatest victory since time began: the triumph of Jesus over sin, death, and the grave. Ten thousand millennia after the last election in human history is over, he will still be “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16).

When last did you thank him for this victory?

With whom will you share it today?

Thursday news to know:

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

• US economy created 818,000 fewer jobs than previously reported
• Italian divers find 5 more bodies, 1 still missing after superyacht disaster survivor’s ominous text message
• Gaza cease-fire talks put Iran attack on hold
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to end his presidential campaign
• On this day in 1911: Theft of “Mona Lisa” is discovered

Quote for the day:

“The church is not meant to call men and women out of the world into a safe religious enclave but to call them out in order to send them back as agents of God’s kingship.” —Lesslie Newbigin

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If you watched the Republican National Convention last month and are now watching the Democrats as they meet in Chicago, you could be forgiven for thinking the parties are living in separate countries.

According to Republicans, Kamala Harris and the Democrats would lead our nation to ruin at home and chaos abroad. According to Democrats, including Barack and Michelle Obama in their Democratic National Convention speeches last night, the opposite is the case. Both eviscerated Donald Trump while lauding Ms. Harris as someone who will fight for Americans.

Partisan politics are just one way that “reality” has become whatever we consider it to be. Here are more examples:

• The Church of England is dropping the word church in a quest for relevance. According to a new study, “modern-sounding” words such as community are now in favor.
• A major medical organization in the US has expressed skepticism about the long-term effects of sex-change procedures on minors. However, others continue to claim that they are safe and effective despite clear evidence to the contrary.
• The Arizona Supreme Court says a fetus can be referred to as an “unborn human being”; abortion advocates called the ruling “deeply disappointing.”
• Witchcraft has become a wellness fad.
• The word morals has been replaced by boundaries in our therapeutic society. According to one therapist, the latter “can be anything, include anything, and change depending on the person/situation/time. All that matters is that they feel good to you.”

Yesterday, we looked at ways our secularized culture commodifies people. Today, let’s consider ways it commodifies truth.

John Adams noted: “Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” Nonetheless, Satan loves to tempt us to conflate opinion with reality for two reasons.

We are unprepared for eternity

A luxury yacht sank off the coast of Sicily this week, killing leading figures in tech, banking, and law along with members of their families. This is just one example of the fact that all humans, whatever our cultural status, are mortal. Ignoring this fact leaves us unprepared for death when it arrives and eternity beckons.

This is one of Satan’s most subtle strategies in leading as many as possible away from heaven and into hell. If you don’t believe in either, you won’t seek to experience the former and thus will be consigned to the latter.

Nonetheless, George Clooney speaks for many when he says, “I don’t believe in heaven and hell,” as though his disbelief changes their reality. Imagine saying, “I don’t believe in Canada,” and assuming Canada therefore does not exist.

A cancer patient who denies they have the disease is only more likely to die from it as a result. Skeptics who deny that they need to be saved from hell will go there when they die (John 3:18). Perhaps today.

We are susceptible to damaging deception

Satan is “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44) who comes to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). The former is one way he accomplishes the latter.

Historian Jon Meacham observed,

While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago.

Wall Street Journal columnist Lance Morrow describes some consequences of our opinion-based ideology. In what he calls an “inversion” of “previous biology, custom, and human nature”, he says,

Boys may be girls and girls may be boys, according to impulse or whim. Criminals are victims. Civilization is barbaric. The ambition of the progressive left has been to dismantle the previous America as being racist, oppressive, sexist, and excessively white. … The 21st century is an unusually dislocated time.

By contrast, “All the paths of the Lᴏʀᴅ are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:10).

Do we need more “steadfast love and faithfulness” today?

What was Jesus’ “primary concern”?

Bank tellers learn to detect counterfeit currency by spending time with the real thing. In the same way, spending time with Jesus in his Word enables us to know the truth that sets us free (John 8:31–32).

Our Savior modeled this principle in his personal life, beginning his mornings (Mark 1:35) and ending his evenings (Luke 6:12) with his Father. He prayed before he ate (Matthew 14:19), before decisions (Luke 6:12–13; Matthew 26:36), and in the midst of great suffering (Luke 23:46). The busier he became, the more he prayed (cf. Luke 5:15–16). And it was through this lifestyle of communion with his Father (Hebrews 5:7) that he was led and empowered to change the world.

Henri Nouwen noted:

“Jesus’ primary concern was to be obedient to his Father, to live constantly in his presence. Only then did it become clear to him what his task was in his relationships with people.”

What is your “primary concern” today?

Wednesday news to know:

• Israel military recovers bodies of 6 hostages in Gaza operation
• After yacht sinks, experts say Mediterranean growing more dangerous
• US birth rate hits new low

• • (For more on this topic, see How can God redeem America’s declining birth rates?)
• Fed officials uneasy about job market as they get ready for Jackson Hole
• On this day in 1959: Hawaii becomes 50th state

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The most vital question to ask about all who claim to be Christian is this: Have they a soul thirst for God?” —Martyn Lloyd-Jones

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If Joe Biden were his party’s nominee for president this fall, he would be speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. Instead, that honor goes to Vice President Kamala Harris, while Mr. Biden addressed the gathering last night instead. Frequently interrupted by chants of “We love Joe,” he pointed to his joint accomplishments with Ms. Harris as he passed the torch to her.

Have Democrats been unfair to the president? Joe Biden won his party’s nomination through its primary process, then resigned from the race on July 21. According to Robert Draper’s in-depth New York Times profile, he still feels anger and hurt toward party leaders who discouraged him from seeking reelection.

Said negatively: his political allies supported him so long as he was a means to the end of keeping the White House, then turned on him when they felt he could no longer serve this purpose.

Said positively: politicians must be elected if they are to serve. If, as Democratic Party leaders believe, their platform best meets the needs of the nation, it needs to gain power to do so. Running candidates who are most likely to win is a necessary means to this end.

Lest you think I’m being partisan, the same is true on the Republican side. Donald Trump was widely disliked in his party until it became clear that he would win the nomination in 2016. Over the years since, many of his political opponents have become his supporters. The same negative/positive calculus is in play.

“The arc of history bends toward justice”

I often cite the work of sociologist James Davison Hunter, whom I consider the leading evangelical interpreter of culture today. In his new book, Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of America’s Political Crisis, he argues that America was formed within the tension between Enlightenment values—a belief in individual reason, deliberation, and neutral social institutions—and religious faith.

As New York Times columnist David Brooks notes in his response to Hunter’s work:

The Bible gave generations of Americans a bedrock set of moral values, the conviction that we live within an objective moral order, the faith that the arc of history bends toward justice. Religious fervor drove many of our social movements, like abolitionism.

However, as Hunter reports, America began growing less religious in the 1960s and started privatizing religious beliefs as a result. In response, American public life grew largely secular, especially among the highly educated classes. Moral relativism then supplanted religious doctrine.

How is this working for us?

“Loving things and using people”

The so-called sexual revolution of the era, coupled with the advent of birth control, soon spawned the normalization of no-fault divorce, pornography, homosexuality, and abortion. Same-sex marriage and society-wide LGBTQ advocacy followed, along with growing support for polygamy and euthanasia.

What these issues have in common is that they commodify people:

• Birth control enables unmarried people to have sex even with strangers with less fear of pregnancy, even though God created sex as a celebration of marital intimacy and childbearing (Genesis 2:23–25).
• No-fault divorce and polygamy undermine the relational unconditionality that God intends to characterize marriage (cf. Genesis 2:24).
• Pornography obviously objectifies the bodies of others for selfish pleasure.
• LGBTQ advocacy labels people by perceived gender and sexual orientation rather than calling them to celebrate their identity within biblical truth and morality.
• Abortion treats preborn children as objects to be killed and removed from their mother’s body as she wishes, even though God considers them sacred from the moment of their conception (cf. Psalm 139:16; Jeremiah 1:5).
• Euthanasia values life only to the degree that it serves utilitarian purposes to the individual or to society at large.

As you can see, making people a means to our ends is not limited to political parties. From Cain and Abel to today, it is a symptom of our fallen nature and drive to be our own god (Genesis 3:5).

And as the old gospel song says, “Loving things and using people only leads to misery.”

Why “God will make us good”

If our society is ever to move past the commodification and transactionalism that dominates our relationships, we will need a source beyond ourselves. We will need the power to choose love over lust, sacrifice over selfishness, forgiveness over revenge.

The good news is that Jesus, the one Person in all of human history who most exemplified such attributes, can recreate us in his “image” (Romans 8:29). His Spirit can manifest the “fruit” of his character in us: his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23).

How?

1. Settle for nothing less than Christlikeness: “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:15).
2. Practice the presence of Christ through your day. Read and memorize Scripture; express gratitude for his gifts; pray for your needs. Imagine yourself in his presence, since you are (Matthew 28:20).
3. Submit each day to the Spirit, asking him to make you more like your Lord than you have ever been (Ephesians 5:18).

1. S. Lewis noted:

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because he loves us.”

How deeply do you want God to “make you good” today?

NOTE: Do you ever lie awake at night, racing through the day’s events and tomorrow’s to-do list? If so, you’re not alone. Sleep issues impact millions of Americans. That’s why we want to provide you with a better way to end your nights: Janet Denison’s new 365-evening devotional, Wisdom Matters. Get your copy today.

Tuesday news to know:

• In a full-circle moment, former nominee Hillary Clinton speaks in support of Harris
• Blinken says Israel agrees to a US-backed proposal for a cease-fire and calls on Hamas to do the same
• 2 killed and about 100 evacuated by rescue crews as flash flooding hit parts of Connecticut and New York
• When and where to see August’s rare supermoon blue moon
• On this day in 1619: First enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown, setting the stage for slavery in North America

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Character is what a man is in the dark.” —D. L. Moody

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Note: As a nonpartisan ministry, Denison Forum does not endorse political parties or candidates. I would offer the same observations if today’s news related more to Republicans than to Democrats.

The Democratic National Convention begins today in Chicago. Amid concerns that pro-Palestinian protesters will disrupt proceedings, many will be watching to see how Democrats frame Kamala Harris as their presidential nominee in an election season unlike any other.

She became their nominee two weeks ago through an unprecedented process. Her remarkable rise in popularity is bringing swing states into contention that were thought to be safe for Mr. Trump. She is also energizing her party: Kamala Harris’s 83 percent support among Democrats is 22 points higher than Joe Biden’s on the eve of his withdrawal from the race.

What explains her greater popularity with Democrats?

It’s not due primarily to policy, since both hold positions that largely align with their party and she has held no press conferences and given no formal interviews thus far. The explanation is simple: Many Democrats, fearing that Mr. Biden is too old to campaign or lead effectively, think she has a better chance of defeating Mr. Trump.

Mrs. Harris is obviously younger than Mr. Biden. And she would be the first female to become president. While she is only beginning to lay out her policy proposals and says she’ll do a full interview by the end of August, her rising popularity to this point is based more on who she is than on what she might do.

Mr. Trump’s popularity with his supporters is similarly based in large part on his personal story and courage in the face of political opponents and an attempted assassination. As one analyst noted, “Personality matters more than policy in presidential races.”

What does this say about our culture?

What comprises 82% of internet traffic?

You and I live in a capitalistic society. And capitalism makes us all consumers. Our spending accounts for roughly 70 percent of America’s GDP. Most companies make their money by convincing us to buy their products.

There was a day when they did so primarily through word-centric appeals in print ads and radio commercials. Then came television, followed by the internet, followed by online video, which comprises 82 percent of all internet traffic today.

Video persuades primarily through images and stories that appeal to our emotions. And these appeals work: it is estimated that viewers retain 95 percent of a message when watching it on video vs. 10 percent through text.

All this to say, we have become conditioned to make our decisions—from what to buy to whom to vote for—based primarily on emotions. And as David Brooks explains in his latest New York Times article, our emotions condition and direct our reasoning.

They always have.

“More crafty than any other beast”

Genesis 3 reports that “the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lᴏʀᴅ God had made” (v. 1a). Crafty translates a Hebrew word meaning “shrewd” or “cunning.”

He began his attack on rational grounds by calling God’s word into question: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” (v. 1b). But when the woman responded rationally by repeating and even enlarging on God’s command (vv. 2–3), the enemy shifted tactics: “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (vv. 4–5).

This was a direct appeal to pride and ego, what Nietzsche called the “will to power.”

With this appeal in mind, “the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise” (v. 6a). As a result, “she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (v. 6b).

And the world has never recovered from the Fall that resulted (cf. Romans 8:22).

“My treasure Thou art”

Today’s conversation is about far more than partisan politics. In fact, it goes to the heart of what it means to follow Jesus today. In an emotionally driven culture that defines truth by what feels right to us, it is vital that we “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5), seeking to think biblically about the decisions we face.

To do this, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to “guide [us] into all the truth” (John 16:13) and then submit to his authority (Ephesians 5:18). When we surrender our lives to Christ as our Lord (Romans 12:1) so fully that we are not “conformed to this world,” we can be “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind” (v. 2a). Then we will “discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (v. 2b).

God wants us to know his “perfect” will even more than we do. He will lead all who will follow him as Lord. The decision to experience his best is not with him but with us.

One of my favorite hymns is the eighth-century Irish poem, “Be Thou My Vision.” It includes this prayer:

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

Would the “High King of heaven” say he is “first in your heart” today?

Monday news to know:

• Thousands of activists expected in Chicago for Democratic convention to call for Gaza ceasefire
• National Public Data confirms massive data breach included Social Security numbers
• Now that mpox is a global health emergency, will it trigger another pandemic?
• Venezuelans around the world demonstrate to defend opposition’s victory claim
• On this day in 1953: CIA-assisted coup overthrows government of Iran

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Truth is the agreement of our ideas with the ideas of God.” —Jonathan Edwards

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The troubling reason America might not be far behind

While a number of stories, both at home and abroad, have taken their turn leading headlines, one of the more important and potentially troubling trends in recent months has been the continued downturn of China’s economy. I call it troubling less for what it means for the world economically—which is where much of the attention has focused—than for what it could mean for the world politically and militarily.

You see, China’s designs on becoming the world’s leading superpower, taking back Taiwan, and seeing their global influence spread while the West’s declines have not changed. To this point, however, those plans had the benefit of patience. Given the level of control President Xi exerts over the nation, they have had the freedom to choose their spots and wait for the best opportunities to act. Yet, as their economy continues to slide and the day-to-day lives of their people become increasingly difficult, that margin will begin to fade.

And, ultimately, a China that has to act could end up being a far greater threat than a China that believes time is on its side.

To that end, let’s examine why their economy has struggled and what those struggles could mean for China and the larger world.

China’s bursting bubble

Most of the global economy has had trouble bouncing back from COVID, and, in that regard, China is no different. While the nature of their top-down governance meant they could mask much of that struggle during the pandemic’s initial years,  doing so simply pushed the problem down the road and exacerbated it once the bubble burst.

As such, the latest data demonstrates a decline in the world’s second largest economy that has many around the globe worried. In their most recent report, the National Bureau of Statistics found that:

• Unemployment rose for the first time since February
• Growth in industrial production has slowed despite attempts to prop it up
• Investment in real estate has fallen by 10.2 percent so far this year when compared to 2023’s already-declining market

This is despite the government announcing plans to spend 150 billion yuan—roughly $20.9 billion—in government debt to buy back older versions of appliances, cars, and other consumer goods to stimulate new spending. Even attempts to subsidize lending by providing Chinese banks with $42 billion to help state-owned firms buy excess homes and buildings have failed to make a difference.

And there is little to indicate that the situation will improve anytime soon.

A population in decline

While China’s strict COVID restrictions played a large part in changing the nation’s economic forecast, many of the trends at the heart of its decline have been around for far longer. And perhaps none will play a larger role going forward than its declining population.

While China’s one-child policy technically ended in 2015, they have continued to see a dearth of births, with 2023 marking the second straight year that the general population has declined. That two-year stretch—one likely to continue for the foreseeable future—marks the first time China’s population has fallen since the Great Famine of the early 1960s. As such, the country’s population is expected to be nearly cut by half—roughly 732 million people—by the end of this century.

Yet, the pain of that decline will not be felt equally. The impact of the low birth rate is compounded by a population that will continue to live far longer than they can work.

China’s retirement-age population—those 60 and older—is expected to grow to 400 million by 2035, which, for comparison, is substantially more than the entire population of the United States. That means even more of the stress and burden of maintaining their society will fall on those still able to be part of the labor force. Many of them cite such burdens as one of the chief reasons they simply can’t afford to have kids, thereby perpetuating the cycle.

And, unfortunately, what’s happening in China may be coming to our shores soon.

America is not immune

While America’s economic struggles may not mirror those in China, we share a similar issue regarding our declining birth rate and the problems it has already started to create. And we’re not alone.

I wrote more about the dangers of our decreasing population in a recent article, but fertility rates are currently below replacement level in more than half of all countries and territories around the world. Moreover, higher-income and more developed countries typically experience the greatest rate of decline while simultaneously also experiencing the longest lifespans for their people.

For a time, it appeared that the United States would remain an outlier in this regard. While Europe and many parts of Asia saw their birth rates plummet, America maintained a level that left some room for optimism. However, that began to change around 2007, and the decline has been fairly steady in the years since.

Most attempts to convince people to have more babies—whether through tax breaks, longer maternity leave, or a host of other initiatives—have proved either insufficient or unsuccessful regardless of the country in which they’ve been tried. As such, many of the world’s most powerful nations are waking up to the reality that, in order to survive, they’ll need a fairly large influx of people from outside their borders.

As we’ve seen and discussed in recent months, however, that solution is not without issues of its own.

Consequently, governments across the developed world are left without a clear solution to an increasingly desperate problem. That’s a scary place to be, as countries like China, Russia, and even the US will grow increasingly tempted to distract their populace from the crisis rather than try to solve it. And, as we’ve seen with Russia and Ukraine in recent years, that distraction often takes the form of war.

A better place to focus

Only time will tell if history repeats itself once again, but, until we know one way or the other, our time and energy will be better spent praying for God to intervene and bring peace than worrying over the prospect of war.

After all, Jesus was clear that this world is far from perfect and will remain that way until he returns to establish a new heaven and a new earth to take its place. As such, our job is to help as many people as we can to place their faith in him between now and when his kingdom finally comes in all its glory.

How can you do that job today?

Friday news to know:

• New Zealand charity accidentally gave away meth disguised as candy
• Cease-fire talks in Sudan started this week amidst continued civil war and famine
• Russia plans to evacuate 20,000 more citizens from Kursk region
• Arizona Supreme Court rules fetus can be referred to as “unborn human being” in leadup to November vote on abortion
• On this day in 1954: Sports Illustrated debuts

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote of the day:

“Faith is measured by your feet, not your feelings … if your feet are not walking in faith, then there is no faith regardless of your emotions.” —Tony Evans

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What is the path to personal meaning?

Vanessa Chaput, age twenty-four, was jogging recently on a paved trail near a highway and residential homes in Yukon, Canada. Her German Shepard Luna was with her. Suddenly, she was attacked by three grizzly bears. She said later that the largest one “took my head in its mouth, and I ended up on the ground.” In that moment she thought, “I’m not ready to leave my daughter and my husband,” so she just “went into survival mode,” refusing to give in to the massive animal. The bear suddenly let go of her head, perhaps because her hair clip exploded in its mouth. Luna’s barking may also have scared the bear away.

She was hospitalized for ten days, receiving more than thirty stitches on her head, back, arm, and ear. She has a broken arm as well. “I am very shocked at how lucky I am,” she says. “I’m extremely thankful that God was watching over me that day.”

“Man cannot live without meaning”

Vanessa’s refusal to die and leave her daughter and husband powerfully illustrates Nietzsche’s reflection I quoted earlier this week: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Ideas change the world, for good or for bad.

As examples of the latter:

• The Paris Olympics were successful in large part because 45,000 police, 10,000 soldiers, and 22,000 private security guards protected the games from terrorists driven by jihadist ideology.
• The teenage terrorists who allegedly targeted as many as twenty thousand Taylor Swift fans in Austria were motivated by the same resurgent ISIS ideology now threatening the West.
• China’s autocratic leader, Xi Jinping, is enabling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in order to vindicate Marxist doctrine.
• Israel’s jihadist opponents are motivated by an ideology that paints the Jewish state as the enemy of Islam.

On the positive side, Arthur Brooks writes in the Atlantic that we can find meaning in life through coherence (how the events of our lives fit together), purpose (having goals and direction), and significance (a sense of our inherent value).

As the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius advised:

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

Pastor and author Paul Powell likewise noted:

If we are the illegitimate offspring of thoughtless order, then we have no identity and life has no meaning. However, if we have been created by God, then we have little problem with knowing who we are. Here is a person created in the image of God and for fellowship with God.

He then quoted Albert Camus: “Here is what frightens me: to see the sense of this life dissipated. To see our reason for existence disappear. That is what is intolerable. Man cannot live without meaning.”

How do we find it?

Three paths to finding personal meaning

One: Acknowledge our need for divine wisdom

David reported: “God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God” (Psalm 53:2). What was the result? “They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (v. 3). Paul echoed the same: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

This means that you and I need wisdom beyond our fallen minds. The first step to finding it is seeking it no matter our circumstances. Consider this resolution: “On my best day, may I remember that I still need God as desperately as I did on my worst day.”

Two: Submit to the Spirit

My wife framed this promise for me years ago, and I have it on my desk where I can see it today: “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). When we submit to the Spirit, we can be led by the Spirit (John 16:13).

Consequently, I invite you to join me in praying these words from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer: “Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will.”

Three: Live by biblical truth

Charles Spurgeon said, “The word of God is the anvil upon which the opinions of men are smashed.” As British philosopher J. V. Langmead Casserley observed, we do not break God’s commandments—we break ourselves on them.

Part of living by Scripture is persuading others to do the same (1 Peter 3:15). George Orwell noted, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.” Athanasius (died AD 373) resolved: “If the world is against truth, then I am against the world.”

In No God But God, Os Guinness writes:

“As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has reminded us, just as a shout in the mountain can start an avalanche, so a word or stand for truth that does God’s work in God’s way in God’s time can have an incalculable effect.”

How will you “stand for truth” today?

NOTE: Every night before we sleep, we face a choice: replay the day’s stress or embrace God’s wisdom. . . and the peace that comes with it. With Wisdom Matters, the new 365-evening devotional by Janet Denison, you can end your day focusing on God’s word and a verse of Scripture that will guide you the next day. Get your copy of Wisdom Matters today.

Wednesday news to know:

• Only Gaza ceasefire will delay retaliation, say Iranian officials
• FBI probes claim Iran hacked Trump campaign
• Russia strikes back at Ukrainian forces in Kursk region
• Starbucks ousts CEO, names Chipotle boss as replacement
• On this day in 1935: FDR signs Social Security Act

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The Christian truth is attractive and persuasive because it responds to humanity’s deepest needs.” —Pope Francis

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An encouraging path to empowering life purpose

I need to begin with a confession: the Paris Olympics began without me.

I didn’t watch the opening ceremonies live (though I had to respond later to their awful parody of The Last Supper). I ignored the first few days of competition since I didn’t know much about the athletes or their events.

But over time, I was drawn in. By last Saturday, I was cheering as Steph Curry flung long-range daggers to lead the US men’s basketball team to gold. I was a proud American as our women’s national teams won nail-biters to secure gold in soccer and basketball.

US gymnast Simone Biles cemented her Greatest Of All Time status. Divers contorted their bodies in ways that seemed impossible; runners trained for years, only to win or lose by thousandths of a second; athletes exhibited selfless and inspiring sportsmanship.

Yesterday’s closing ceremonies included the traditional handoff to the next Olympic host city, in this case Los Angeles in 2028. But in true Hollywood fashion, Tom Cruise performed a “jaw-dropping stunt” by diving from the top of Stade de France to the stage, drove the Olympic flag via motorcycle into a waiting airplane, went skydiving with it into Los Angeles, and transformed the “HOLLYWOOD” sign to include the Olympic rings.

More than ten thousand athletes came to the Paris Olympics from 206 delegations. Each of them had a purpose that motivated the rigorous training and sacrificial discipline that brought them there.

As Friedrich Nietzsche observed, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”

How far would your DNA stretch?

According to scientists, the annual Perseid meteor shower peaked early this morning. Here’s the problem: I went outside around 4:20 am, spent sixty seconds staring into the night sky, and saw no meteors flashing by. Now I am free to conclude that the whole thing is a hoax, or I can admit that astronomers know more about the universe than I do and assume that I simply needed more patience. My presuppositions will determine the way I interpret my experience.

From bodies in the heavens to ours on earth: I was shocked to read that if the DNA in my body could be unwound and linked together, it would stretch for 110 billion miles. Having no way to verify personally what seems a ludicrous assertion, once again I am forced to make a presuppositional decision.

Here’s how these stories relate to today’s theme: finding your “why to live” is directly connected to your beliefs regarding life itself. If you think you are the intended creation of a Father who loves you, you’ll see yourself through a prism of purposeful significance. If, however, you think you are the unintended descendent of ancient microbes and that humans developed without God (a belief more popular than ever before), you’ll likely agree with a statement I saw graffitied on an overpass recently: “Live Love Die.”

A society as secularized as ours should not be shocked by the mental health crisis our teenagers are experiencing, a worsening epidemic of distress tied to political turmoil and social isolation. Or by our declining birth rate due in large part to a loss of meaning, prompting many young adults to forego childbearing.

Sir Richard Steele (1672–1729) diagnosed our culture as well as his own:

“People spend their lives in the service of their passions instead of employing their passions in the service of their lives.”

The latter illumines a path to purpose that enlivens our spirits and empowers our cultural influence.

“The joy and peace of the divine life”

I was reading through Jeremiah recently and was stopped by God’s statement to his people: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3). Likewise, as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane for his followers, he noted that his Father “loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:23). “Even as” could be translated “to the same degree.”

Think of it: the God of the universe loves you as much as he loves his own Son.

Is this because you and I are worthy of such love? To the contrary, it is because “God is love” (1 John 4:8, my emphasis). He loves us because he must love us. His unchanging character demands it (Malachi 3:6).

Such love empowers us to live with transcendent purpose. We are free to serve others, however they respond to us, because we have no need to be served. We are free to love others, whether they love us or not, because we know that we are loved unconditionally by our Father.

Henri Nouwen observed:

The state of the world suggests to me the urgent need for a spirituality that takes the end things very seriously, not a spirituality of withdrawal, nor of blindness to the powers of the world, but a spirituality that allows us to live in this world without belonging to it, a spirituality that allows us to take the joy and peace of the divine life even when we are surrounded by the powers and principalities of evil, death, and destruction.

Such “spirituality” is available to you right now.

“In a week where my faith was tried”

US track and field superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone regularly writes on Instagram about her faith in Christ. Apfter she broke her own world record in winning her second Olympic gold medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, she testified: “In a week where my faith was tried, my peace wavered, and the weight of the world began to descend, God was beyond gracious.”

Then she quoted Psalm 115:1: “Not to us, O Lᴏʀᴅ, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”

Why do you need to claim this “steadfast love” today?

Monday news to know:

• Zelensky confirms Ukrainian troops are fighting inside Russian territory
• Trump campaign says it was hacked, blames Iran
• Israel orders more Gaza evacuations after school shelter attack kills scores
• Thousands flee wildfires raging near Athens as children’s hospital evacuated
• On this day in 1990: skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex discovered

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“What gives me the most hope every day is God’s grace; knowing that his grace is going to give me the strength for whatever I face, knowing that nothing is a surprise to God.” —Rick Warren

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Former President Donald Trump did a live interview last night with Elon Musk on X. Though the event was plagued with technical difficulties, more than one million people listened to their wide-ranging conversation on immigration, inflation, education, and the attempt on Mr. Trump’s life. The interview was part of Musk’s $160 million push to win eight hundred thousand voters in battleground states for Mr. Trump.

Amid the political fervor of our day, here’s a different approach: Omena, a small town in northern Michigan, just elected a horse as their mayor. This is news because the office has only been held by a dog in the past, except for one time when a cat won the election.

One resident explained their political culture: “All politics are stupid. But at least we’re having fun with it, and we’re still friends at the end of the day.”

“The equal of every one of you”

Omena’s political disclaimer notwithstanding, America was birthed by a brilliant political process that declared our independence and forged our republic. And it was nearly destroyed by a subversive political process that failed our ideals and threatened our nation.

In The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, acclaimed historian Erik Larson tells the gripping story of events and people that led to our nation’s bloodiest conflict. In brief, the South saw the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln as the end of slavery and resolved to secede from the Union in response. For example, the Charlotte Mercury urged that if Mr. Lincoln won, every slaveholding state should secede immediately.

It’s hard for us to understand today how fervently some in the South defended the institution of slavery. Going back to our beginnings, some tragically viewed Africans and indigenous Americans as inherently inferior races. With regard to the latter, the settlement of their land by Europeans was seen as a step toward their education and cultural advancement. With regard to the former, many claimed that they were better off enslaved to Europeans and white colonists.

For example, James Clement Furman, a prominent Baptist minister and first president of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, published an open paper on November 22, 1860, that encapsulated the South’s great fear if slavery were to be abolished: “Then every negro in South Carolina and every other Southern State will be his own master; nay, more than that, will be the equal of every one of you.”

Larson quotes an Atlanta newspaper that similarly warned before the Civil War: “We regard every man in our midst an enemy to the institutions of the South who does not boldly declare that he or she believes African slavery to be a social, moral, and political blessing.”

“Hope to the world for all future time”

By contrast, many in the North saw Mr. Lincoln’s election over more strident abolitionists as a step toward moderation and away from civil war. As Larson writes, “At no time had he threatened to abolish slavery or emancipate the millions of enslaved men and women who populated the plantations of the South.”

However, many secession advocates in the South claimed just the opposite. As a result, in the few Southern states where his name was included on the ballot, he garnered few votes. In Virginia, he received just over 1 percent; Kentucky, the state of his birth, gave him less than 1 percent.

Nonetheless, Mr. Lincoln was elected our sixteenth president and soon began making his way to Washington, DC, for his inauguration. Along the way, he stopped in Philadelphia, where our Declaration of Independence was signed.

There he identified the promise that “all should have an equal chance” (his emphasis) as “the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence.” According to Mr. Lincoln, this sentiment “gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time.”

Less than six weeks after his inauguration, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Civil War was on.

“Sojourners and exiles”

The declaration that “all men are created equal” does indeed give “hope to the world for all future time.” It sounds the death knell to communism, monarchy, autocracy, theocracy, and all other forms of political oppression. But the underlying forces that threatened it in the run-up to the Civil War are still with us.

What Nietzsche called the “will to power” is still the foundational drive of fallen humanity. We seek to be our own god (Genesis 3:5) by asserting our superiority and authority over others on the basis of their race, gender, economic status, or a multitude of other factors.

This “will” does not die when we trust in Christ. On the contrary, we must choose every day to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). If we do not, it’s because we still seek to be our own god, to use God and others as a means to our ends.

Here’s the way forward:

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11).

Let’s take these steps today:

• Claim the fact that we are God’s “beloved,” loved unconditionally by our Father. We are free to serve others whether or not they serve us because our personal worth is guaranteed by our Lord.
• Live as “sojourners and exiles” passing through this temporary world on the way to our heavenly home. Use temporal means to serve eternal souls.
• Choose to “abstain from the passions of the flesh” by remembering that they “wage war against [our] soul” and always cost us more than they pay.

When we make these steps our lifestyle, we defeat the “will to power” and point the way to a politics of commonality, community, and unity.

Is there a greater imperative in our broken culture today?

Tuesday news to know:

• 4-magnitude earthquake strikes near Los Angeles
• Russia widens evacuations to second border region after Ukraine offensive
• Defense secretary orders submarine to Middle East, accelerates arrival of strike group ahead of anticipated Iran attack
• US officials to visit China for economic talks as trade tensions rise
• On this day in 1961: Berlin is divided

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The measure of love is to love without measuring.” —St. Augustine

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Why Kamala Harris’s pick for VP may not be the safe choice many expected

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will have their first debate on ABC next month, with two more potentially following on NBC and Fox—though Harris has not yet agreed to the other two. But while the debates between Trump and Harris appear set, a meeting between their respective running mates is still up in the air. Both Senator JD Vance and Governor Tim Walz have expressed an interest in such a debate, but will likely have to wait until after the Democratic Convention in a couple of weeks to set a date.

In the meantime, we’ll have to settle for continuing to hear each candidate talk about one another rather than to one another. And, if the past few days are any indication of what’s to come, that back and forth is unlikely to prove overly cordial. As such, our time is better spent learning more about the candidates than on paying attention to what they say about one another.

Dr. Jim Denison wrote about Vance’s story after he was named Trump’s running mate and, today, I’d like to do the same with Walz.

Who is Tim Walz?

While distilling anyone’s life into a few bullet points promises to fall short of giving the full picture, what follows are some of the more pertinent parts of Walz’s story to date:

• Walz was born and raised in West Point, Nebraska—a community of 3,500 people roughly an hour outside of Omaha—before joining the National Guard at seventeen.
• He and his wife moved to Mankato, Minnesota in the 1990s. While there, he taught social studies and coached football at the local high school, winning a state championship in 1999.
• He served in the Army National Guard for twenty-four years before retiring to pursue a career in politics.
• While in the National Guard, he achieved the rank of command sergeant major before retiring with the rank of master sergeant. The demotion was due to leaving before he completed the necessary coursework to keep the higher rank. The circumstances surrounding his departure have resurfaced as a point of heated debate in recent days and will be addressed a bit later in this article.
• After leaving the National Guard, he spent twelve years in the House of Representatives before becoming governor of Minnesota in 2018. He is currently in the middle of his second term in that role.

Walz’s story as a small-town military veteran who went on to serve in contested districts and lead an often-divided state government is, perhaps, the chief reason that Harris selected him to be her running mate in the upcoming election.

However, his selection was not without some controversy, and it remains to be seen if the initial buzz he’s brought to the campaign will last until November.

Was Walz the right choice?

One of the chief reasons some are unhappy with—or, at least, skeptical of—Walz’s selection is that it came in place of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

Allegations of antisemitism were at the heart of the discussion early on—Shapiro is a practicing Jew who has been vocal about the war in Israel, though Walz has echoed many of the same positions. However, the focus has shifted more to the selection’s impact on the electoral map since the announcement was first made.

You see, Shapiro is the popular leader of, perhaps, the election’s most important state. The latest polling suggests that whoever wins Pennsylvania has a 34 percent chance of winning the election, with Wisconsin as the next most significant state at 17 percent. Minnesota, by contrast, has a less than 1 percent chance of tipping the scales toward either candidate.

Such data is why many Democrats winced—and Republicans rejoiced—when Harris chose Walz over Shapiro.

However, Walz’s proponents argue that, while his state is not nearly as contested as others, his story, personality, and other attributes will help them solidify their base and appeal to undecided voters.

But while aspects of Walz’s story may appeal to many not currently planning to vote for Harris this fall, his politics—particularly in recent years—may not.

Walz’s “signature accomplishments”

In describing his “signature accomplishments” as governor, Walz lists a number of issues that could be bipartisan in nature, or at least were in Minnesota. Topics like providing free breakfast and lunch in schools, adding benefits and protections for veterans, rebuilding roads and bridges, and making it easier for people to get government jobs without a college degree were all popular measures across party lines in his state.

However, those measures are paired with points that are a good bit more controversial in nature.

Under his leadership, Minnesota instituted some of the nation’s most progressive protections to trans individuals—including minors—while also being to the left of most when it comes to gun laws and voter registration. In addition, he signed laws protecting abortion at any point during pregnancy and granting illegal immigrants many of the rights typically reserved for citizens, such as the ability to get a driver’s license.

In addition, Walz has been criticized for his delayed response to the 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd—though then-President Trump praised the steps Walz took once he sent in the National Guard.

His military record, while decorated, has also resurfaced as a source of controversy for how it ended. Walz retired two months before his unit was sent to Iraq in 2005, though it’s unclear when he put in his retirement papers.

The subject has also been raised in previous elections, and Walz’s motivations for his decision remain unclear. However, JD Vance—a Marine veteran—was the latest to raise the issue, accusing Walz of “stolen valor” for the way the governor has spoken of his time in the military throughout his political career.

Choosing purpose over politics

Ultimately, whether you agree, disagree, or simply don’t care about the extent to which Walz was the correct choice to join Harris on the Democratic ticket, what will matter far more over the next few months is how you choose to engage with the discussion.

Regardless of whether your side wins or loses, God will still be on his throne, America will most likely continue to exist, and chances are good that the day-to-day experience of your life will be impacted far less than you expect. Most importantly, your highest calling—to share God’s good news in service to God’s kingdom—will not change.

However, fulfilling that calling will be far more difficult if you’ve burned bridges and spoken or acted in ways that diminish your witness between now and November.

So the next time you’re tempted to prioritize politics over your higher purpose in Christ, remember that this world—as important as it may be—is not our home, and our ultimate allegiance belongs to God.

How can you serve him today?

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The paradoxical solution to our loneliness epidemic

The news of the week has been monumental, to say the least, from unprecedented political developments to weather-related disasters to the specter of an escalating war in the Middle East. So, for a day, let’s take a break from all of that to consider a whimsical headline that may be a sign of our times: “AI-Powered Necklace Will Be Your Friend for $99.”

“Friend” is a pendant about the size of an Apple AirTag. Avi Schiffman, the twenty-one-year-old Harvard dropout who invented it, told Wired that he created the device at a time when he had “never felt more lonely in my entire life.”

The onboard microphone listens to everything happening around you. Powered by AI, it will answer questions but also send unprompted messages to engage in conversation and offer encouragement.

In other words, it’s a technological companion to make up for the real thing.

It should not surprise us that Schiffman is in search of friends: his Gen Z cohort reports the poorest mental health of any generation in America as they struggle with alarming rates of loneliness, depression, and suicidal thoughts. They are also our nation’s least religious generation.

Perhaps there is correlation, if not causation, here?

By contrast, actively religious people are:

• More likely to describe themselves as “very happy.”
• Healthier, with greater longevity, better coping skills, and less anxiety, depression, and suicide.
• More psychologically resilient with a higher quality of life.
• Better able to handle economic uncertainty and downturns.

Why, then, aren’t more Americans more religious?

When I tried to defy the law of gravity

When I was a small boy, I wanted to fly more than anything. I used to lay in the grass, look up into the clouds, and imagine soaring among them like Superman. So, one day I took some bedsheets and used them to make myself wings. I then climbed up on the roof of our house and jumped off.

My childhood mind truly believed that I would be able to fly when I did so, that the reality of gravity would submit to the reality of my newfound ability. But I was wrong (and lucky I didn’t break a leg).

Now consider the One who truly can supersede the laws of the world he created: “God is the King of all the earth . . . God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne” (Psalm 47:7–8). This is a present-tense fact, no matter what circumstances might seem to say.

Our problem is that we judge objective reality by our subjective experience rather than the other way around. As a result, we are “breaking bones” right and left.

According to recent Gallup polling:

• 54 percent of Americans consider abortion to be morally acceptable.
• 53 percent support doctor-assisted suicide, a higher number than those who agree with medical testing on animals, at 48 percent.
• 69 percent find sex between an unmarried man and woman to be morally acceptable.
• 64 percent support gay or lesbian relations.
• 23 percent support polygamy (up from 7 percent twenty years ago).

Are we surprised that only 5 percent of us are “very satisfied” with the moral climate of our nation?

“When your child swallows poison”

How does our weeklong focus on God’s transforming love relate to today’s conversation? In a way we might not expect.

In Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments, Joy Davidman (the wife of C. S. Lewis) asked: “Mustn’t the churches adapt Christianity to suit the ideas of our time?” Then she answered her question:

No, they must not. Our ideas are killing us spiritually. When your child swallows poison, you don’t sit around thinking of ways to adapt his constitution to a poisonous diet. You give him an emetic [medicine that induces vomiting].

God wants to do the same for us.

It is because our Father loves his children so fervently that he hates everything that is not best for us. When our oldest son and our youngest grandson were diagnosed with cancer, I hated the disease with a passion beyond words. This is how our Lord feels about the sins that tempt us.

Of course, our spiritual enemy feels just the opposite. According to Jesus, Satan “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). So the next time temptation arises, ask yourself:

• What will this steal?
• Whom will it kill?
• How will it destroy?

If the answers are not apparent, ask the Spirit to reveal them to you. And remember that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). If his word forbids something, it must be because it is harmful for you. If he commands something, it must be because it is best for you. His unchanging character requires it.

Now ask his Spirit to empower you to think, speak, and act biblically in response to your temptations and all through your day. When you do, you will experience the transforming love and abiding presence of your Lord in ways no technology (or human) could ever match.

How Michelangelo sculpted David

I will always remember seeing Michelangelo’s massive statue of David for the first time. Standing seventeen feet tall in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy, it towers over those who come to view it. It took the famed Renaissance artist nearly three years to complete it, chipping away at a large block of marble until the masterpiece was completed.

When the pope asked the sculptor the secret of his genius, Michelangelo responded: “It’s simple. I just removed everything that was not David.”

If you were to resemble Jesus, the “son of David” (Matthew 1:1), more fully than ever before, what would your divine sculptor change today?

NOTE: “Meditating on God’s wisdom can transform our nights and ultimately, our lives,” says Janet Denison, author of the new 365-evening devotional, Wisdom Matters. We want to send you this powerful new resource to thank you for your donation to support the Christ-centered, culture-changing content at Denison Forum. Get your copy of Wisdom Matters today.

Thursday news to know:

• Israel’s bomb shelters are last line of defense as Iran strike looms
• How Kamala Harris trusted her gut and picked Tim Walz
• Taylor Swift Austria concerts canceled after terror plot arrests
• Tropical storm Debby flood threat to spread from Carolinas to Northeast, including New England
• On this day in 1974: Nixon resigns

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” —John Owen

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Amid unprecedented challenges, a transforming antidote to fear

Karl Rove is a political consultant and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff. In a recent Wall Street Journal commentary, he writes: “No presidential election has been remotely like this one.”

Let’s list some ways he’s right:

• Kamala Harris formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination on Monday, becoming the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket.
• She selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate yesterday, introducing him at a rally in Philadelphia. If elected, he would be the first practicing Lutheran to serve as vice president. (Hubert Humphrey was raised Lutheran but attended a Methodist church.)
• This after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race closer to the election than any incumbent seeking reelection in US history.
• The Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump, if successful, would be only the second president to be elected, defeated for reelection, and then reelected. (Grover Cleveland was the first.)
• His running mate, J. D. Vance, is the first millennial on a major party ticket.

And the list goes on.

While the candidates are unprecedented in many ways, many of the challenges the winners will face are unprecedented as well.

Are there terrorists among us?

Israel has not faced an existential threat like the present conflict since its founding in 1948. Iran, considered by Congress to be the “largest terrorist network in the world today,” is threatening to attack Israel directly and is using its proxies in the region to mount a sustained, multi-pronged offensive against the Jewish state.

US military assets focused on China are now being reassigned to support Israel. Underscoring the threat to American forces in the region, seven US personnel were wounded Monday in a rocket attack by Iran-backed militias on a base in Iraq.

This at a time when the future of war looks very little like the past. For example, drones operated by AI systems are already being deployed by Ukraine against Russia and in conflicts across Africa. A Foreign Affairs analysis warns that the US is unprepared for this new world: our jets, ships, and tanks are not equipped to defend against an onslaught of drones, nor has our military fully embraced artificial intelligence.

In related news: Russia announced recently that it will train its troops to use nuclear weapons on the battlefield. Our mainland remains highly vulnerable to Chinese and Russian hybrid attacks utilizing long-range conventional-strike capabilities along with cyber espionage, disruptive cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, and disinformation campaigns. And we are vulnerable to attacks from within: the House Judiciary Committee issued a report this week stating that at least ninety-nine illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist have been released into the country since January 2021.

It’s enough to make our week-long question especially urgent: How does the transformative love of Christ relate to a chaotic and fearful time like this?

“Honest but reluctant taxpayers”

The Anglican Book of Common Prayer includes this eloquent entreaty (my emphasis):

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal.

In his sermon titled “A Slip of the Tongue,” C. S. Lewis confesses that he had been praying these words recently and found that he had misspoken: “I had meant to pray that I might so pass through things temporal that I finally lost not the things eternal; I found I had prayed so to pass through things eternal that I finally lost not the things temporal.”

Upon reflection, Lewis realizes that “what I had inadvertently said very nearly expressed something I had really wished.” He explains his wish: to be religious enough to curry God’s favor without requiring inconvenient concessions on his part.

This wish is ours as well. In one of his most famous analogies, Lewis observes that in our response to the lordship of Christ,

We are in fact very like honest but reluctant taxpayers. We approve of an income tax in principle. We make our returns truthfully. But we dread a rise in the tax. We are very careful to pay no more than is necessary. And we hope—we very ardently hope—that after we have paid it there will still be enough left to live on.

Here’s the problem: God can only lead those who will follow and can only give what we will receive. Our spiritual compartmentalization into sacred and secular, religion and the “real world,” keeps us from experiencing his omnipotent, omniscient best. We reduce the King of the universe to a genie we consult when necessary.

And this he will not honor. As Lewis states, “It is not so much of our time and so much of our attention that God demands; it is not even all our time and all our attention; it is ourselves.”

“There’s no bargaining with him”

Here’s how this fact relates to the conflicts we’ve described today: When we respond to the transforming love of Christ by making him our master and ourselves his subject, the consequences in our lives are then his responsibility. When we are our own master, the consequences are ours.

Which approach is the better antidote to fear of the future and anxiety in the present?

In his sermon, Lewis declares:

“He claims all, because he is love and must bless. He cannot bless us unless he has us. When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death. Therefore, in love, he claims all. There’s no bargaining with him.”

How fully would your Father say he “has” you today?

Wednesday news to know:

• Tropical Storm Debby unleashes widespread flooding across Southeast
• US to invest $2.2 billion to overhaul national power grid
• Market volatility raises questions about the staying power of the US economy
• Nobel laureate tapped to lead interim government in Bangladesh
• On this day in 1782: George Washington creates the Purple Heart

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“A day must come in our lives, as definite as the day of our conversion, when we give up all right to ourselves and submit to the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ.” —Watchman Nee

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Why the threat is even worse than it appears

Tropical Storm Debby is posing what Axios calls a “nightmare scenario” for flooding across Georgia and South Carolina this week. Some seven thousand miles to our east, another nightmare scenario is unfolding for Israel. According to the Israeli news outlet Haaretz, Western diplomats expect Iran’s attack response to the Israeli-attributed assassination of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh to come within the next day or so. In related news:

• Iran sent a notice alerting pilots about GPS jamming in its airspace, similar to the warning it issued before its April 13 attack on Israel.
• Lufthansa canceled all flights to Israel until August 12.
• President Biden convened a national security meeting yesterday to discuss these developments. He also spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah.
• Several countries have urged their nationals to leave Lebanon amid fears of a wider conflict in the region.
• Many Israelis displaced by Hezbollah bombing in the north are pressuring their government to make that part of the country safe, even if this means a full-blown war.

However, things are even worse for Israel than they appear.

“The ground is changing beneath our feet”

Writing in Foreign Affairs, international relations expert Dalia Dassa Kaye reports that, on a recent trip to Israel, she found a fundamental change in the “spirit” of the Middle East: many Israelis now believe that their adversaries think destroying their country is actually a realistic goal.

The October 7 invasion shattered Israeli assumptions that their military and technological superiority could deter their enemies and that they could live securely behind walls and fortified borders. Now analysts express a sense of existential dread they describe as different from any they have felt since their country’s independence in 1948.

Israel is hemorrhaging international support because of the enormous death toll and destruction in Gaza. In legal forums in The Hague, Israel faces heightened scrutiny for their West Bank occupation and their conduct of the war.

In addition, Iran’s April attack on Israel alarms authorities who worry that the next assault may not be so easily repelled. This while conflicts with Hezbollah to the north, Hamas to the west, jihadists to the east, and Houthis to the south continue with no end in sight. As the nation faces multi-pronged aggression unprecedented in its history, its reservists are exhausted, constraining Israel’s ability to sustain—much less heighten—its war effort.

As one former government official told Kaye, “The ground is changing beneath our feet.”

“The terrorism warning lights are blinking red again”

To respond to the crisis in the Middle East most effectively, we must engage with it most empathetically. But this is hard for many Americans.

We are deeply worried about yesterday’s further drops in the stock market and focused on a presidential election that is truly unprecedented. Our expansive oceans and vast military superiority have led us to feel protected from wars abroad.

But this sense of complacency is ill-founded.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu arrived in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iran’s leadership. Given Iran’s recent military and economic partnership with Russia and China, we are left to wonder what role Russia might play in any escalation between Iran and Israel. And what role the US might have to play in response.

Meanwhile, ISIS-K is escalating into a terror threat against our homeland. Analysts warn that “the terrorism warning lights are blinking red again,” echoing the run-up to 9/11. Undersea cables that conduct 99 percent of the world’s internet traffic are especially susceptible to sabotage. And AI-made bioweapons can be easily smuggled across borders and deployed with devastating consequences.

I report all of that to ask this: If the threats against Israel were threats against the US, how empathetically would you respond?

“When you know how much God is in love with you”

The biblical command to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6) has not been this urgent since the modern state of Israel was founded in 1948. “Peace,” in Hebrew, translates shalom, meaning a deep sense of well-being with God, others, and ourselves. For Israel to have such shalom, it must be at peace with God and at peace with its neighbors.

Accordingly, let us pray fervently for peace to come to all peoples in this war-torn region. And let us pray for Jews and Muslims alike to turn to the one Messiah who can bring such peace to their nations and to their hearts.

Let us pray for them as empathetically as if they were our family because, in God’s eyes, they are. Jesus loves each of them as much as he loves each of us. He died for them just as fully as he died for us. Now it’s our turn to pay forward his compassion with ours.

Mother Teresa was right:

“When you know how much God is in love with you, then you can only live your life radiating that love.”

To this end, let’s close by making Henri Nouwen’s prayer ours today:

Dear God,

As you draw me ever deeper into your heart, I discover that my companions on the journey are women and men loved by you as fully and as intimately as I am. In your compassionate heart, there is a place for all of them. No one is excluded.

Give me a share in your compassion, dear God, so that your unlimited love may become visible in the way I love my brothers and sisters.

Amen.

Tuesday news to know:

• Kamala Harris is now Democratic presidential nominee, will face off against Donald Trump this fall
• Stocks bounce back in whiplash reversal
• Google loses antitrust case over search dominance
• Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasini resigns and flees country
• On this day in 1965: President Johnson signs Voting Rights Act

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“God carries your picture in his wallet.” —Tony Campolo

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How the Christian faith is relevant to financial fears

There were some massive news stories over the weekend:

• Debby strengthened into a hurricane overnight and may bring “catastrophic flooding” to Florida.
• Kamala Harris earned enough votes to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
• The US sent jets and warships to the Middle East as Israel prepares for severe and perhaps imminent Iranian retaliation.
• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked a plea deal for the accused September 11 plotters.

But I would guess that none of these feel as personally relevant to you (unless you live in Florida) as the financial news of recent days that is causing many to wonder if a recession is imminent:

• The Dow closed down more than 600 points on Friday.
• The Nasdaq fell 10 percent below its record high on disappointing earnings from Amazon and Intel.
• US hiring unexpectedly declined sharply in July.
• Unemployment rose in the month as well.
• Investors fear that the Federal Reserve made a mistake by keeping interest rates at current levels.

The cacophony of bad news is sparking a global sell-off. Earlier today, Japanese stocks suffered their biggest one-day drop in history. European stocks have fallen more than 2 percent in early trading this morning.

Many have been struggling financially for some time. In a new CNN poll, 39 percent of US adults said they worry they won’t be able to make ends meet. The percentage of past due credit cards is at its highest level since 2012. Young adults are discouraged, and sixty-year-olds are “staring at financial peril.”

How is the Christian faith relevant to times like these?

Humans have four fundamental needs

New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof writes that the Chinese term for “crisis” (weiji) is composed of the characters for “danger” (wei) and for “opportunity” (ji). Accordingly, he notes, “We’re in a period of great danger but also one pregnant with opportunity for a new path—if we can seize it.”

The path we have been on for generations isn’t working. Secularism by definition values only this world and thus measures success by materialistic means. But this is what philosophers call a “category mistake,” akin to asking how much the number 7 weighs or the color of a C scale. In this case, we are using creation as if it were the Creator, valuing the means as the ends.

And this does not work because it cannot work.

Humans have four fundamental needs: belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. None can be met fully by material possessions. No matter what we have, it isn’t enough. There’s always more to own, more people to impress, more races to win.

In a consumption-based economy, we are conditioned to be consumers who choose what we want now over what we want most. In a post-Christian culture, we are conditioned to be existentialists who choose what we want in this world over what we will want in the next.

However, the financial anxiety of these days offers us, in Kristof’s terms, an “opportunity for a new path.”

“He bestowed on us at once every good grace”

St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696–1797) described God’s love for man:

He gave him a soul, made in his likeness, and endowed with memory, intellect, and will; he gave him a body equipped with the senses; it was for him that he created heaven and earth and such an abundance of things. He made all these things out of love for man, so that all creation might serve man, and man in turn might love God out of gratitude for so many gifts.

But he did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that to win for himself our love, he went so far as to bestow upon us the fullness of himself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. When he saw that we were all dead through sin and deprived of his grace, what did he do? Compelled . . . by the superabundance of his love for us, he sent his beloved Son to make reparation for us and to call us back to a sinless life.

By giving us his Son, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might spare us, he bestowed on us at once every good: grace, love, and heaven; for all these goods are certainly inferior to the Son (my emphasis).

The God who “is” love (1 John 4:8) loves us more than any human can. He loved us before he made us. He created our race knowing that we would cost him the life of his Son. He loves us despite sins we do not know we have committed and those we do not yet know we will.

To prove this love, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Billy Graham commented: “We cannot save ourselves; even one sin, the Bible teaches, would be enough to keep us out of heaven. Nor can a Savior who is less than God save us, for only God can forgive sin and make us part of his family forever.”

And this is just what Jesus has done. He would do it all over again, just for you.

“We are of such value to God”

We’ll say more across the week about the transforming relevance of God’s love for us. For today, let’s close with this reflection by St. Catherine of Siena (1347–1380):

“We are of such value to God that he came to live among us and to guide us home. He will go to any length to seek us, even to being lifted high upon the cross to draw us back to himself.”

In her view, “We can only respond by loving God for his love.”

Do you agree?

NOTE: You have a choice every night before you turn off the lights: Will you replay the day’s stress or embrace the peace that comes from God’s wisdom? We imagine you’d like to choose the second option more often! This is why we want to send you a unique and powerful new 365-evening devotional book by Janet Denison called Wisdom Matters. Get your copy today.

Monday news to know:

• Strikes on Gaza kill 12 and stabbing in Israel kills 2 as fears of wider war spike
• Who are the US citizens still being held abroad?
• Seven EU countries call on Venezuela to publish electoral rolls quickly
• Don’t miss: meteor shower peak, star forge, Mars and Jupiter converge
• On this day in 1914: German assault on Liege begins first battle of World War I

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“God’s love is like an ocean. You can see its beginning, but not its end.” —Rick Warren

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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan were among twenty-four prisoners from seven countries who were released from Russian captivity yesterday in one of the largest prisoner swaps between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. While the government has been working to free Gershkovich for more than a year and Whelan for far longer than that, news of the exchange still came as a surprise to most.

Clues that something was going on began to emerge late Wednesday as a number of high-value prisoners and dissidents began to disappear from the prisons where they had been confined. As Reuters reported, at least six special government planes were confirmed to have traveled across the country to regions known to house political prisoners. Russian law requires that they receive an official pardon from President Vladimir Putin prior to any exchange, a process that began on Tuesday when he signed a number of “secret decrees” in Moscow.

Similar steps were taken to gather prisoners in the United States, Germany, and a host of other countries before the exchange took place at an airport in Ankara, Turkey. In total, sixteen people were released from Russian custody, while eight were freed by Western nations.

Prisoners released from Russia

The most high-profile prisoner was Evan Gershkovich. He was arrested on charges of espionage in March of 2023 while reporting from Yekaterinburg, Russia. While both the American government and the Wall Street Journal—where he was employed at the time—denied the charges, he was detained and then convicted last month. Prior to the exchange, he faced sixteen years in prison. He was the first American journalist to be charged with espionage in Russia since the Cold War. Given the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, most viewed him as a hostage rather than a criminal.

Whelan’s tale is much the same. A citizen of the US, Canada, Britain, and Ireland, he was in Russia to attend a wedding when it’s claimed that a Russian citizen gave him a flash drive with classified information on it. He denied any knowledge of the drive’s contents and the US government has long held that he is innocent of the charges. Still, he was tried and sentenced to sixteen years in prison back in June of 2020. Despite attempts to include him in previous prisoner exchanges since then, he had remained a Russian prisoner until yesterday.

Among the others set free were Alsu Kurmasheva—a Russian-American editor for Radio Free Europe—and several Russian opposition leaders, such as Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Oleg Orlov.

But while the return of those wrongfully imprisoned is a source of joy and worthy of celebration, it is important to remember that their freedom came at a cost.

Prisoners returned to Russia

Perhaps the most controversial of the eight prisoners released back to Russia is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian citizen facing life in prison in Germany after he was convicted in 2019 of assassinating a Chechen separatist fighter in central Berlin. During his trial, German prosecutors indicated that Krasikov was working for the Russian Federal Security Service, while the judge suggested the order to commit the murder came from Putin directly. The Kremlin denied any involvement, but Putin has since praised Krasikov as someone who, “due to patriotic sentiments, eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals.”

Also returned to Russia were a convicted computer hacker, two alleged Russian sleeper agents jailed in Slovenia, an intelligence operative accused of passing American-made electronics and ammunition to the Russian military, and an academic in Norway accused of being a spy.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul spoke for many when he remarked:

I am thrilled Evan, Paul, Alsu, Vladimir, and many others who have been illegally held by Putin’s regime are finally coming home to their families. But I remain concerned that continuing to trade innocent Americans for actual Russian criminals held in the US and elsewhere sends a dangerous message to Putin that only encourages further hostage taking by his regime.

So how can we embrace the joy of seeing the innocent released when it’s accompanied by the fear that the path taken to get there will only lead to more people sharing their fate in the future?

God’s call to see beyond the sin

In an ideal world, governments would only arrest those who have committed a crime, and the kind of political calculus McCaul laments would be unnecessary. However, we don’t live in an ideal world—on this side of heaven, we never will. I doubt that comes as a surprise.

What’s interesting, though, is that despite the general understanding that this world is a fallen place filled with sin and suffering, there’s something in us that recognizes it shouldn’t be that way. William Barclay put it like this:

“The true wonder of human beings is not that we are sinners, but that even in our sin we are haunted by goodness, that even in the mud we can never wholly forget the stars.”

As Christians, that should give us hope.

No matter how much the culture rejects God and embraces a worldview that stands in contrast to his, that spark of his identity with which every one of us was created will never be fully snuffed out in this life (Genesis 1:26). Consequently, every person you meet has the potential to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and the God who loves them enough to send his Son to die to make that salvation possible doesn’t give us the option of giving up on any of them.

That doesn’t mean we naively ignore the evil around us or take an unrealistic view of the world. But a realistic view must leave room for God’s immeasurable capacity to redeem that evil and bring good from it. And when we allow despair and anger to rob us of that hope, we give up on much of our ability to take part in that good.

So, the next time you are tempted to look at the world and focus on all that is wrong, remember God’s call to see beyond the sin that surrounds us and to keep your eyes fixed on him instead.

Let’s start right now.

NOTE: If you have children or grandchildren, I highly encourage you to order A Life of Faith prayer journal today. This best-selling resource from Christian Parenting, a brand of Denison Ministries, runs low on stock each year because it’s been such an encouragement to parents and grandparents. A Life of Faith is a weekly journal that includes a short devotional with relevant and timely topics, scripture verses, a guided prayer, and space for you to write down your specific supplications for your child or grandchild. Copies are selling quickly, so don’t wait to order A Life of Faith prayer journal today.

Friday news to know:

• Paul Dans, the director of Project 2025, steps down amidst increasing criticism
• Kamala Harris to choose running mate before campaign stop on Tuesday
• Three men accused of planning the 9/11 attacks plead guilty at Guantanamo Bay
• On this day in 1934: the German army takes an oath of allegiance to Hitler as their new Fuhrer

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote of the day:

“The fact that our heart yearns for something Earth can’t supply is proof that Heaven must be our home.” — C.S. Lewis

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Why did Israel assassinate Hamas and Hezbollah leaders?

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued an order yesterday for Iran to strike Israel directly in retaliation for the killing in Tehran of Hamas’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh. According to the New York Times, it is unclear how forcefully Iran will respond and whether they will calibrate their attack to avoid escalation. Iranian military commanders are considering a combination attack of drones and missiles on military targets in the vicinity of Haifa and Tel Aviv, but they would reportedly make a point of avoiding civilian targets.

Israel also killed Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander they hold responsible for the Golan Heights massacre. They claim that Shukr had been orchestrating rocket and UAV attacks against Israelis since October 7 and was involved in developing and integrating precision-guided missiles that “have the potential to threaten the lives of millions of Israeli civilians.”

Multiple governments and news outlets warn that these strikes will delay talks over a ceasefire in Gaza and could intensify the regional war.

Why, then, does Israel do this?

“Single points of vulnerability”

Israel said this morning that they killed top Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif in a July airstrike, eliminating a planner of the October 7 atrocities. The IDF has carried out numerous assassinations of enemy leaders over the years, including Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, who was killed by an Israeli missile in 2004.

Danielle Pletka, a distinguished senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, reports in Foreign Policy that “targeting senior leaders critical to an enemy program makes strategic sense from Israel’s perspective.” She explains:

Even among sophisticated democracies, there can be single points of vulnerability—think J. Robert Oppenheimer’s crucial role in the Manhattan Project—and that weakness goes double and triple for nondemocratic governments and terrorist organizations whose power and operational knowledge are concentrated among a select few.

Israeli leaders especially target enemies who cannot be extradited for trial. They believe these actions have caused the number of Israeli deaths from terrorism to decline. In addition, they consider it moral to cause individual deaths that prevent widescale terrorism and mortality. Critics respond that such assassinations generate worldwide condemnation, disrupt diplomatic negotiations, fuel Palestinian anger, and increase the number of terrorists.

Now we are waiting for the response of Iran and Hezbollah to Israel’s latest targeted killings. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised yesterday that his nation would “exact a heavy price for any aggression against us.”

Nazi salutes at the Paris Olympics

As the Israeli national anthem was played recently at the Paris Olympics, individuals holding the Palestinian flag in the stands gave the Nazi salute. Such atrocious antisemitism in support of terrorism against Israel actually makes the case for Zionism by demonstrating that Jews aren’t safe without a homeland.

Ironically, this horrific act took place in the city where Zionism originated.

In 1896, Theodor Herzl, a Viennese journalist, published a manifesto calling for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the biblical land of Israel. He did so after witnessing the trial in Paris of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer falsely accused of betraying France.

Even though Dreyfus was a proud Frenchman, he was treated as a traitor because he was a Jew. Cries of “Death to the Jews” reverberated in the Paris streets, convincing Herzl that Jews needed their own nation to be safe from persecution. His leadership resulted ultimately in the creation of the modern State of Israel in 1948.

“To wish that he were not bad”

I am deeply grateful that Theodor Herzl’s vision came to pass. Having led more than thirty pilgrimages to Israel, I love the Jewish nation and her people. Experiencing for myself Israel’s diminutive size and close proximity to enemies who seek her annihilation, I am convinced that she has the right and responsibility to defend herself.

At the same time, I follow the biblical injunction to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6) every day.

I am convinced that the ultimate answer to peace in this war-torn land will not come through arms but through hearts. Imagine the difference if those on both sides of this perennial conflict obeyed the call of Scripture: “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless” (1 Peter 3:9).

Jesus taught us to “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). As C. S. Lewis explains in Mere Christianity, loving our enemy means “to wish that he were not bad, to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured: in fact, to wish his good.”

You might say that such forgiving love is humanly impossible, and you’d be right. However, as Jesus reminded us, “all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27).

Consider Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who hated Christians before he met Christ and became the church’s greatest missionary and theologian. Or Peter, who considered Gentiles to be “unclean” before a heavenly vision prompted him to lead Cornelius to Christ (Acts 10), opening the door to Gentile evangelism in the early church (Acts 11).

The three-fold gift of salvation

As you “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” in these perilous days, please join me in praying that Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims would turn to the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Pray for Jesus to continue revealing himself to Muslims in visions and dreams. And pray for the messianic Jewish movement to continue and expand in Israel.

Rick Warren was right:

“Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured.”

Will you pray now for every person in the Middle East to experience such transforming grace, to the glory of God?

• Note: For more on the war in Israel, the origins of Hamas and the other groups involved, and a practical guide to praying over and discussing the conflict there, see denisonforum.org/Israel.

Thursday news to know:

• Venezuela’s Maduro moves to silence opposition after disputed election
• Hopes of finding survivors fade in India’s Kerala after landslides kill 167
• Boeing names new CEO after losses more than triple
• Fed clears path for September rate cut
• On this day in 1936: Hitler oversees Berlin Olympics opening ceremony

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation.” —Charles Spurgeon

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Why the Majdal Shams attack could spark a conflict no one wants

“We are nearing the moment in which we face an all-out war.” This is how Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to a missile attack last Saturday in the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams that killed at least twelve boys and girls ranging in age from ten to sixteen. Dozens more were injured and taken to hospitals.

The massacre was the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since Hamas’s invasion last October 7. If it does, in fact, lead to an “all-out war,” it will be a conflict no one wants. It will devastate two nations and could spark a global conflict.

And all over what might be a mistake.

Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist proxy in Lebanon, denied responsibility for the strike, claiming that the tragedy was the result of an Israeli anti-rocket interceptor hitting the soccer field. However, the Israel Defense Forces denied this charge, and a US official said, “There’s no real doubt this was Hezbollah.” Israel’s military chief spokesman added that the rocket used in the attack is “owned exclusively by Hezbollah.”

The Majdal Shams attack came hours after an Israeli airstrike on south Lebanon killed three Hezbollah members. The militants then targeted an Israeli base on the slopes of Mt. Herman about two miles from where the explosion happened, raising the possibility that the missile missed its target. Israeli analysts said Hezbollah most likely did not target the village; US officials are likewise working on the assumption that the strike was an accident. It is also noteworthy that the Majdal Shams victims were Druze Arabs, not Jews.

If this was a tragic accident, why could it lead to “all-out war”?

Why would Hezbollah escalate?

Hezbollah does not want a wider war with Israel because such a conflict would devastate Lebanon. The country’s economy has collapsed in recent years, with 80 percent of the population now estimated to be in poverty.

As geopolitical expert Mohanad Hage Ali reports in Foreign Affairs, the country would be hard-pressed to rebuild after a ground war. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other regional actors aided their reconstruction efforts after the 2006 war, but Saudi Arabia downgraded its diplomatic ties in 2021 in response to Hezbollah’s support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

But here’s the other side of the issue: Hezbollah is unlikely to sign a cease-fire with Israel before Hamas does. Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel the day after the October 7 invasion, both in solidarity with their fellow militants and also to exercise their leading role in Iran’s “axis of resistance” in the region. A cessation of conflict with Israel now would cost them credibility with their Palestinian and other Middle Eastern allies.

If Israel escalates the conflict, it’s hard to see how Hezbollah would not respond in the same way.

Why would Israel escalate?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the site of the attack yesterday and said, “Our response is coming, and it will be severe.” Israel struck Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanon the day before, targeting weapons caches and infrastructure.

However, the Washington Post reports that this attack “fell short of the furious response Israeli officials threatened” after Saturday’s Majdal Shams massacre. And two Israeli officials said yesterday that Israel was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting. Unidentified officials said the response would be “limited but significant.”

Here’s their dilemma: Hezbollah is the most heavily armed group in the Middle East.

They are estimated to have about 150,000 rockets and missiles, which could overwhelm Israel’s sophisticated air defense systems. Their arsenal also includes precision-guided missiles that could strike deep into Israeli territory. As an Israeli friend told me recently, many of these missiles fly below Israel’s detection capacities and thus would not be stopped by the Iron Dome and other defense systems.

In an all-out war, virtually every person and place in Israel could come under attack. A major operation against Hezbollah could also bring other Iranian-backed proxies in the region into a multi-front conflict.

But here’s the other side of the issue: When Hamas invaded on October 7, Israeli officials were alarmed that Hezbollah’s terrorists could do the same to its northern villages. They immediately evacuated sixty thousand of these residents, placing most of them in hotels around the country.

Hezbollah then bombed many of these evacuated towns, rendering them uninhabitable. Nine months later, these refugees, along with many of Israel’s military leaders, are pressing for the IDF to force Hezbollah back from the border to create a buffer zone in northern Israel so they can return to their communities.

Saturday’s tragedy could instigate such an offensive and a larger war could result.

Could this become a global war?

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that any Israeli attack on Lebanon would have “serious consequences” for Israel. If the conflict brought Iran into the war, its alliance with Russia and China could make this a world war. If that were to happen, the US and Israel’s other allies in the West could be forced to join the war in defense of the Jewish state.

However, my point is not to predict that such a global war is imminent. Rather, it is to illustrate how the Majdal Shams massacre could be the spark that ignites one.

And to remind us that the only source of true peace in the world cannot be produced by the world.

So long as Jews and Muslims both claim the same land, this regional conflict will continue. So long as Iran, Russia, and China aspire to regional and even global dominance, geopolitical conflict will continue.

Only when people everywhere make Jesus their Lord will they be empowered to forgive and love their enemies (Luke 6:27), treat all people as sacred bearers of the divine Image (Genesis 1:27), and trade the “will to power” for hearts of humility and service (cf. John 13:35).

This is why God’s word links peace with godliness:

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

Will you pray for such peace through holiness right now?

Will you work to answer your prayer today?

NOTE: Can you imagine growing up in today’s culture? Our children and grandchildren must navigate these confusing times while they’re not yet adults, so let’s commit to consistently praying for them. Christian Parenting, a brand of Denison Ministries, has released this year’s best-selling annual A Life of Faith prayer journal. This weekly journal includes a short devotional with relevant and timely topics, scripture verses, guided prayer, and space for you to write down your specific supplications for your child or grandchild. Please join me as I pray for my kids and grandkids this school year that they may know Jesus deeply and change the culture around them with his love. Order your copy of A Life of Faith prayer journal today to pray for your kids and grandkids.

Tuesday news to know:

• US, several Latin American nations doubt Venezuelan strongman’s election claim
• Members of a bipartisan task force to probe Trump assassination attempt unveiled
• 2 children killed and more injured in a knife attack in an English town
• Triple meteor showers set to dazzle the night sky over the next two weeks
• On this day in 1965: President Johnson signs Medicare into law

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” —William E. Gladstone

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A paradoxical response that can change our broken culture

The USA defeated Serbia in Olympic basketball yesterday, while America’s Coco Gauff won her tennis match and Simone Biles dominated in women’s gymnastics despite calf pain. However, many are still talking about the opening ceremony’s depiction of a bacchanalia that was clearly inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. The tableau included drag queens, a transgender model, and a naked singer. Reaction was swift:

• Piers Morgan posted, “Would they have mocked any other religion like this? Appalling decision.”
• Elon Musk called the parody “extremely disrespectful to Christians.”
• House Speaker Mike Johnson agreed, calling it “shocking and insulting to Christian people around the world.”

I was similarly grieved as the parody ridiculed our Lord and denigrated the event which Christians around the world commemorate as the Lord’s Supper. Many include this sacred observance as part of their worship every week.

But there’s more to the story. And the more we learn, the worse it gets.

“We have the right not to be worshippers”

A Paris 2024 spokeswoman said yesterday, “Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,” claiming that the opening ceremony “tried to celebrate community tolerance.” She added, “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

How could they believe that their parody would not “show disrespect to any religious group”?

For an answer, listen to Thomas Jolly, the opening ceremony’s artistic director, defending the production:

Our subject was not to be subversive. We never wanted to be subversive. We wanted to talk about diversity. . . . In France, we are [a] republic, we have the right to love whom we want, we have the right not to be worshippers, we have a lot of rights in France, and this is what I wanted to convey.

In other words, his purpose was to use what he sees as a cultural artifact to make a cultural point. In a country where only about 5 percent of people attend church weekly and less than half the population even believes in God, the ceremony’s producers were surprised that a depiction of what they consider an archaic and irrelevant religious story would offend anyone. His secularized cultural context also explains how Jolly could view The Last Supper as merely a painting and its subjects as objects not to venerate but to use for his personal purposes.

The man who commissioned the painting likely saw it in the same way.

The man who invented secular politics

Ludovico Sforza (1452–1508) was the Duke of Milan and Leonardo’s patron when da Vinci painted his masterpiece. The Sforza coats of arms appear with the family’s initials on the three lunettes above the mural. The painting was part of a series of renovations to the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan, Italy. Sforza intended the location to become his family mausoleum.

He was known for his many mistresses and for his ruthlessness as a prince. He was especially infamous for usurping power from his nephew, Milan’s rightful ruler, through a series of foreign alliances. When these alliances failed him, he lost his throne and died in prison.

Sforza was chided by Niccolo Machiavelli in chapter 24 of The Prince, not for being so ruthless, but for relying on others rather than on defenses he could control personally. Written five years after Sforza’s death, Machiavelli’s famous (or infamous) study of power claims that a ruler must divorce his public behavior from his personal character. In his view, the prince should do whatever is needed to protect his position, such as lying, cheating, cruelty, or even murder.

He applied the same thinking to religion, arguing that an appeal to God can help a ruler convince his people to follow his edicts, but adding that he must choose cunning, strength, and adaptability over humility and compassion. Machiavelli is therefore said to have invented secular politics by “liberating” them from religion, showing us how to save ourselves without depending on God. In his view, religion is merely a means to an end rather than an end in itself.

Thomas Jolly and the drag queens who parodied The Last Supper would obviously agree.

“A journey without as yet a fixed abode”

Here’s my paradoxical point: I actually wish Jolly had intended his parody to persecute Christians. This would signify that he saw our faith as a present reality worth opposing. Instead, he clearly views it as an outdated, irrelevant cultural artifact.

This is precisely how many in our secularized culture view Jesus. To change their minds, we need to show them how Jesus has changed our lives.

For example, Christians should express our hurt and disappointment at the opening ceremony’s depiction mocking our Lord. However, we should then pray for those who created the parody, those who acted in it, and the country whose spiritual lostness explains it.

God’s word is clear:

• “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
• “Whenever you stand praying, forgive” (Mark 11:25).
• “Love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return” (Luke 6:35).

When we forgive in prayer and then in action, we show our lost culture the difference Jesus makes in those who follow him. While secularists use religion to advance themselves in the world, we use the opposition of the world to advance the kingdom of our Lord.

St. Augustine observed:

We are but travelers on a journey without as yet a fixed abode; we are on our way, not yet in our native land; we are in a state of longing, not yet of enjoyment. But let us continue on our way, and continue without sloth or respite, so that we may ultimately arrive at our destination.

What “destination” will you seek today?

News to know:

• Israel, Hezbollah on brink of all-out war after 12 children die in rocket strike
• Three members of family gospel group The Nelons killed in Wyoming plane crash
• Harris raised $200M in first week of White House campaign and signed up 170,000 volunteers
• Government, opposition both claim Venezuela election win, official results questioned
• On this day in 1958: NASA created

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“People are often tempted to take the place of God, to consider themselves the criterion of all things, to control them, to use everything according to their own will. It is so important to remember, however, that our life is a gift from God, and that we must depend on him, confide in him, and turn towards him always.” —Pope Francis

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A lesson in gratitude from athletes running the good race

The 2024 Summer Olympics officially begin today and will continue until the closing ceremonies on August 11. That said, the first round of the games actually started on Wednesday, with preliminary rounds in archery, soccer, handball, and rugby. If that news comes as a surprise, you can find a full schedule here to ensure you don’t miss your favorite events going forward.

As is often the case with the Olympics, though, the spectacle that surrounds the games is often as big of a story as the events themselves.

Canada’s women’s soccer team won gold in the 2020 Olympics but enters this year as the number eight team in the world. Perhaps that pressure to repeat could explain at least part of why one of their staff felt the need to use a drone to spy on an upcoming opponent: 28th-ranked New Zealand. After getting caught, Canada’s coach chose to sit out the game while team officials sent an assistant coach and the drone’s operator home. Canada went on to win the match 2–1.

Outside of the competitions, one of the more interesting parts of the buildup to the games is often seeing who gets the honor of carrying the Olympic torch. While that privilege often goes to former athletes and prominent figures from the host country, American rapper Snoop Dogg will be among those carrying the flame on its final stretch before entering the stadium this year. He will also contribute to NBC’s coverage of the games, and his commentary at previous events has many—myself among them—genuinely excited to see how he adds to the experience.

While the world will be focused on France for the next few weeks, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced this week that Salt Lake City will host the Winter Olympics in 2034. Recent hosts have been chosen through a bidding process, often committing billions of dollars in new construction and event costs. However, the IOC altered its approach with the more recent selections to prioritize cities that are already equipped with most of what they will need to host the games, citing climate change, rising costs, and infrastructure challenges as reasons for the shift.

But though the Olympics will be entertaining—and the chance to root for your country always adds a level of intrigue to even the most obscure events—a recent article by Brad East on the relationship between God and the games is what’s most on my mind as the opening ceremonies draw near.

Why athletes thank God

As East notes, “The opening ceremonies of the Olympics are extravagant celebrations of national glories and global unity. But if you watch past this week’s opener to the Games themselves, you’ll notice an unusual pattern: Athletes are always talking about God.”

He goes on to add, “If you caught last month’s Olympic trials, you’ll have noticed the same thing. Athletes of every kind continuously gave God the credit, often in explicitly Christian terms. It was almost like a competition within the competition to see who could outdo the others in redirecting praise heavenward.”

And while, to some extent, that shouldn’t be surprising given the number of Christians competing, what East described that most caught my attention is the way the chaotic and unpredictable nature of athletic competition lends itself to a religious perspective in ways many other walks of life do not.

For example, if you or I wake up one morning with a stiff back or twist an ankle walking down the stairs, it’s typically little more than an inconvenience. However, if an athlete’s body fails them at the wrong time, it can mean years—or, for many Olympians, a lifetime—of work has gone to waste. As such, the idea that God can bring an element of order to the chaos is appealing to many.

And should all of their training and dedication result in victory, athletes are often quick to remember the Lord and respond with gratitude. And therein lies the lesson for us today.

Giving thanks to glorify God

You see, it would be easy to look at an athlete who has just achieved a lifelong dream and think that they have every reason to be grateful. After all, they do. However, gratitude, properly understood, should not be based on our circumstances or outcomes (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

The truth is that all of us have gifts and a purpose that more than warrants a sense of gratitude toward the one who bestowed both upon us.

As Mark Legg writes in his article on the Olympics, “The Bible speaks of natural gifting and other blessings in terms of stewardship. Whether you were born with wealth, charisma, or athletic ability, God is the ultimate source and rightful ruler of your gifts (Matthew 25:14–30).”

Our job is to use those gifts in ways that bring glory to God, and that gets much easier to do when we understand the absolute privilege it is to partner with the Creator of all things in stewarding his creation.

So, as we finish up for today, take a moment and ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware of any ways in which you’ve taken your gifts for granted. Then show God you’re sorry by thanking him for that gifting and asking him to help you understand how he would have you use your abilities going forward.

While there’s nothing wrong with the joy of victory, the blessing of knowing your life has a purpose and a meaning that extends beyond the present moment is infinitely better.

Have you thanked God for that purpose yet today?

Friday news to know:

• Kamala Harris told Benjamin Netanyahu of the proposed ceasefire with Hamas, “it is time to get this deal done.”
• S. authorities arrest two top leaders in a prominent Mexican cartel.
• Southwest Airlines will soon move away from open seating to begin letting customers pick where they will sit.

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote of the day:

“God gave you a gift of 84,600 seconds today. Have you used one of them to say thank you?” —William Arthur Ward

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