NOTE: I want to thank Shane Bennett, Ryan Denison, and Mark Legg for their outstanding work in writing the Daily Article last week while I was traveling with my wife. I am honored to share this ministry with them and excited to return to writing this week.

We might not expect a typical garage sale to make the Washington Post. But what happened recently in Arlington, Virginia, was anything but typical.

Susan Thompson-Gaines recently staged her third annual “Kindness Yard Sale” outside her home. The two-day event was a “kindness” sale in two ways. One: You could pay whatever you chose for any item; if you wanted to hand over $5 for twenty dresses or $10 for a bike, she simply thanked you. Two: She will spend the money not on herself but to help others.

After last year’s sale, she and her husband threw a virtual beach party for a group of people living with Alzheimer’s disease, kept an outdoor pantry filled with food, and added coffee pods to a teacher’s lounge. They also helped 111 neighborhood children write letters to Santa; Thompson-Gaines then wrote each child a personalized letter from Santa and gave them a wrapped present under a tree adorned with ornaments from people across the neighborhood.

This year’s sale raised more than $11,000. People across the next year will be helped by her remarkable kindness as a result.

My recent travels in Vermont

What Susan Thompson-Gaines does with her “Kindness Yard Sale” is both extraordinary and ordinary. She touches hundreds if not thousands of lives with her unusual generosity, but her yard sale is something nearly anyone with a yard could do. It requires no advanced degrees, special skills, political influence, or financial wealth.

She typifies the best of humanity. And that’s my paradoxical point today.

I am writing after spending last week with Janet in Vermont. We had always wanted to see this beautiful state in the fall, and our experiences exceeded our expectations. The mountains are majestic, the changing leaves are magical, the small towns (many are called “villages”) are quaint and picturesque, and the people are hardworking and welcoming.

And yet, surrounded by such reminders of God’s creative genius and grace, the vast majority are apparently oblivious to his presence and power. World Population Review ranks Vermont as the third-least religious state in the US, one percentage point ahead of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. According to Baptist leaders, 97 percent of the state’s population is unreached with the gospel.

The people we met appear to be doing the best they can to be the best they can. So far as many seem to know, that’s the best anyone can do.

But that’s not good enough.

Funeral services for Gabby Petito

Funeral services were held yesterday afternoon for Gabby Petito as the manhunt for her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, continues this morning. (For more on this tragic story, see Mark Legg’s excellent article, “Gabby Petito and the search for perfect justice.”)

In other news, investigators arrived last night at the scene of Sunday’s deadly Amtrak derailment in Montana that killed three people and left seven hospitalized. A mother and her two-year-old son died Saturday after falling from the upper deck at Petco Park before the San Diego Padres’ baseball game. The day before, a school bus driver was fatally stabbed in front of students after picking them up from a Washington state elementary school; more information is expected to be released today.

A study published today by Oxford University shows that the life expectancy of American men decreased by two years during the pandemic. A recent salmonella outbreak has more than doubled in infections in over a week. And the US in 2020 experienced the biggest rise in murder since the start of national record-keeping in 1960, according to previews of a report to be issued later today by the FBI.

Here’s what these stories obviously have in common: they illustrate our undeniable mortality. Whether we hold kindness yard sales or commit homicides, the Greek playwright Euripides (died 406 BC) was right: “Death is a debt all mortals must pay, and no man knows for certain whether he will still be living on the morrow” (Alcestis 1:783–4).

Meeting a man who is spiritual but not religious

One reason Christians know everyone needs Christ is that we know everyone needs a Savior. We remember what Jesus said of himself: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). And we know that “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life [through saving faith in Christ], he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

However, most of the unreached people in Vermont, Texas, or anywhere else in our secular culture apparently do not know or believe these biblical facts. If they believe in heaven at all, they believe that their good works are good enough to earn their place in it.

Last week, Janet and I were on a history tour where our speaker confidently told our group that he is “spiritual” and highly committed to living with integrity but has no personal religious commitment. He was apparently untroubled by any concern that he would spend eternity separated from God in hell as a result.

How can we help such people see their need for Jesus?

“They had been with Jesus”

We’ll continue this conversation tomorrow. For today, let’s close with this fact: all people are created by God with a “Christ-shaped emptiness” (paraphrasing Pascal), whether they know it or not. When lost people meet Christians in whose lives Christ is active, empowering, gracious, and compelling, what they are missing draws them to the only One who can satisfy the deep hunger of their souls.

When the religious authorities “saw the boldness of Peter and John . . . they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

Will the people you meet today say the same of you?

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NOTE: Thank you to Denison Forum staff writer Mark Legg for writing today’s Daily Article. Mark has written twenty articles for Denison Forum and has provided research for many others.

True crime shows seem to have an undeniable draw. Netflix’s show Tiger King was watched by 64 million households over the first month of its release, and Tiger King 2 was just announced. True crime podcasts often land in the top twenty in ratings. Sometimes, the public will become caught up in a high-profile case as it plays out, perhaps most infamously in the O. J. Simpson trial.

The disappearance and death of twenty-two-year-old Gabby Petito has similarly captured the nation’s attention. The story was swept up by social media and national news sites alike, fueled primarily by TikTok.

Petito and her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, gathered a social media following with their minimalist van life and adventures across the country. But their purportedly pristine life covered up increasing tension between the couple, reports of Laundrie’s temper flaring, and Petito’s eventual disappearance.

The investigation is ongoing, but what do we know for sure?

A timeline for the disappearance of Gabby Petito

Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie set out on a several-month-long cross-country trip in their van at the beginning of July. Petito documented the “van life” with her fiancé on social media, appearing to experience beatific bliss camping together. In August, they uploaded their first YouTube video to document the trip. Nothing seemed amiss.

In late August, the couple traveled to Grand Teton National Park. Suddenly, Petito stopped posting to social media, and her parents were unable to reach her. They received one last suspicious text from her phone on August 30 which read “No service in Yosemite.”

On September 1, Brian Laundrie returned to his house in Florida in their van without Petito. Laundrie refused to give Peitito’s whereabouts or even talk about what happened.

On September 11, Petito’s family reported her as missing. Laundrie’s lawyer told police that he advised Laundrie not to speak with authorities, and Laundrie “plead the Fifth.”

On September 15, the police described Laundrie as a person of interest.

On September 17, Laundrie’s parents told police they had not seen him since September 14, when he supposedly went hiking.

The FBI found Petito’s body on September 19.

On September 22, they publicly ruled her death a homicide.

As of this writing, the police haven’t found Laundrie. As of Thursday evening, the FBI placed a warrant out for his arrest because he used Petito’s debit card, though they are still investigating his involvement in her homicide. Laundrie’s large head start makes the manhunt incredibly difficult. Though they are searching in the swamps of a Florida national park, many suspect that this is a false lead.

The good and bad of social media and “web sleuthing”

Underneath the facts lurks the involvement of social media, both apparently for ill and as a tool for good.

Gabby Petito and her fiancé’s lives were public, but social media hid their domestic disputes that arose in the days leading to her death. The police released bodycam footage of when they stopped the couple on August 12 because of a 911 call that reported Laundrie hitting Petito. They stayed in separate places for the night, per the recommendation of the officers, but the next day the couple reunited and continued their road trip. This presents a tragic reminder showing how social media can whitewash people’s broken lives.

The difference between previous crimes that garnered nationwide attention is that, with TikTok, this case unfolded in almost real time to millions of people and allowed them to “investigate” themselves. The involvement of interested but ordinary people trying to uncover crimes is called “web sleuthing.” With so much attention, video clips and eyewitness testimonies were discovered that aided the investigation, narrowing their search for Petito. These testimonies may become critical evidence in an upcoming trial.

Due to the Laundrie family’s perceived reluctance to cooperate with the police, a protest gathered outside their house on September 17, demanding that he and the family speak up. At that point, unbeknownst to the crowd, Laundrie had already gone on the run.

As of September 22, #GabbyPetito received more than 794 million views on TikTok. The family used the platform to garner support and raise awareness of her case, but many are criticizing the sensationalizing effect of TikTok.

So, while amateur investigators on social media and the public’s attention did aid the investigation, it also led to confusion and, in the opinion of some, it made a tragedy into a public spectacle. Countless theories cropped up in the days where Gabby was still missing. Some were conspiratorial, some were reasonable, but everyone seemed to have an opinion.

Now the Petito family seeks justice and mourns the loss of the young woman. Undoubtedly, the court case will draw similar national attention when it comes to trial.

Imperfect justice and “missing white woman syndrome”

Some are using this case to bring another issue of justice and human imperfection into focus. On most news sites covering the Petito case, they are drawing attention to a trend in public attention called “missing white woman syndrome.”

This observation claims that missing persons cases usually gain nationwide attention only if the subject is a woman and white. One study at least tentatively supports this conclusion, and anecdotal evidence seems to confirm this correlation. (For more, read what the Bible says about racism and look through the resources we’ve compiled on the subject.)

I have two simple observations: most news sites reported on the “missing white woman syndrome,” and most of those same news sites extensively reported on the Gabby Petito case anyway.

Gabby Petito’s bright life was cut short through homicide. Turning her death into a political point seems inconsiderate at best. How do we honor her family while still redressing the racialized tendency of the public eye?

It all becomes a tangled mess. I certainly have no answers, but thankfully someone does.

Perfect justice for Gabby Petito

Governments must carry out justice. That is part of their purpose according to Scripture (1 Peter 2:13–14). However, human institutions will always fail to mete out perfect justice. The power and knowledge of human institutions will remain limited, yet they are not in the case of God.

May God reveal tainted hearts and eyes to us; only he alone knows true justice untainted by prejudice.

Convicting each of us, Christ teaches that anger itself reveals a heart of murder. Sin, though varying in its severity, is common to all people. Christ both deals out justice and, praise God, forgives us our own sins and our own anger, which infects our hearts and which Christ says is akin to murder (Matthew 5:21–23). In our own relationships, we should pray for healing from malice and “not let the sun go down on our anger” (Ephesians 4:26).

Though officials will likely find Laundrie—and hopefully justice will prevail—ultimate justice will be dealt from God’s perfect throne of judgment.

Pray for the Petito family and that they will find justice and peace. Empathize and mourn with them. Join me in praying that they will be blessed and comforted (Matthew 5:4).

Then, consider others in your lives who are mourning and mourn alongside them. Though we cannot directly show love to the Petito family, tragedy will strike at friends and family close to us.

When it does, let us draw near to them with compassion.

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NOTE: Today is North Texas Giving Day, the single biggest day of giving to this ministry every year.

We’ve set an $850,000 one-day goal so that together, we can extend Christ’s presence in our world in the year ahead.

Please give by midnight tonight, knowing that a $120,000 Matching Grant will double the amount and impact of any donation you give.

And please note: you don’t have to live in North Texas to give. Thank you for your support on this most important of days.

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NOTE: Thank you to Ryan Denison for writing today’s Daily Article. He is the Denison Forum Senior Fellow for Theology and has written more than four hundred articles for Denison Forum.

The United Nations General Assembly began this week in New York City and it didn’t take long to start making waves. But while a number of issues—ranging from climate change to Covid—have dominated the discussion, the storyline I’ll be watching most closely revolves around the Taliban seeking to replace Afghanistan’s current representative with one from the new regime.

Currently, the former Afghan government is the only authority from the country credentialed by the UN, meaning that the Taliban is currently locked out even though they are clearly in control of the country. As such, the people representing Afghanistan to the world have been largely forced to flee their own nation.

The UN has said that they are unlikely to make a decision during the current session, though it’s possible something could happen later this year. However, recognizing a representative from the Taliban would, in the eyes of many, be akin to recognizing and legitimizing their government—and that has left many nations more than a little wary.

As such, the UN is using the status as a carrot of sorts to try and entice the terrorist organization turned ruling government to make some changes on how they operate. Chief among those changes is addressing what remains a concerning record of human rights violations, both before taking power and in the weeks since.

Amnesty International, for example, outlined earlier this week how the “Taliban are steadily dismantling the human rights gains of the last twenty years . . . including targeted killings of civilians and surrendered soldiers and the blocking of humanitarian supplies in the Panhshir Valley, which constitute crimes under international law.” Moreover, they warn that “restrictions have also been reimposed on women, freedom of expression, and civil society.”

In short, the Taliban has yet to show a genuine interest in governing according to the standards by which most nations are judged. And while other countries that have UN representation are also guilty of similar crimes—China among the most prominent—the new leaders of Afghanistan are being held to an understandably high standard (at least for now).

“Dialogue could be fruitful”

That the Taliban is encountering resistance in their quest to be recognized as the official government of Afghanistan should not come as a surprise. That they want to be legitimized on the global level, however, is an even more important development.

Such a desire demonstrates that their goals are not necessarily the same as we often think about when it comes to radical Islam and terrorist activity. While certain groups, such as al-Qaeda, are often focused on attacking western countries in defense of Islam—or at least that’s what they claim—the Taliban have long had a different objective in mind. For them, Afghanistan is not just a launching pad for jihad. It’s home, and it has been for centuries.

While many of their ideals are aligned with other terrorist organizations, they legitimately desire to be seen by the world as the ones in charge of their homeland. It’s why they can state with all sincerity that they believe “It is the responsibility of the United Nations to recognize our government (and) for other countries, including European, Asian, and Islamic countries, to have diplomatic relations with us.”

That the world doesn’t seem to agree is of lesser importance than that they see themselves as worthy of that level of legitimacy.

And there is, perhaps, some logic behind the idea that they should be treated as more than usurpers. As the leadership from Qatar noted, “Boycotting them would only lead to polarization and reactions, whereas dialogue could be fruitful.”

If the Taliban show signs that global recognition is more important than re-establishing their old ways of governance, then perhaps there is hope that the situation for the Afghani people could begin to improve. However, it is uncertain what that would mean for their relationship with other radical Islamic groups—most of whom do not tend to look kindly upon compromising what they perceive to be the only way to correctly live out their faith. Stranger things have happened, though, and we can (and should) be praying that they are willing to make those changes.

But it’s hard to pray about what we’re not thinking about, and therein lies the problem for many of us.

What to do when you lose spiritual focus

I suspect that for most Americans, the situation in Afghanistan has already begun to work its way to the periphery of our collective awareness. We know it’s not good, but unless something abnormally bad happens—a high bar to clear for that region at the moment—then we’re probably not going to give it much thought.

And the same is true for other areas of our lives as well. That’s just part of what it means to be fallen, finite humans.

Fortunately, we serve a perfect, infinite God and, if we’ll take the time to stay in touch with him, he will direct our focus where it needs to go. And when it comes to praying in a way that aligns our hearts and minds with his, giving him that authority is essential.

So take some time right now to ask God to help you see the world around you through his eyes today. Ask him to make the things he wants you to be praying about stand out in a way that’s hard to ignore. Ask him to bring to mind people and places that need to go to the top of your prayer list. Then stand back and silently give him room to work.

When giving God the authority to direct your thoughts becomes a way of life, you’ll start to notice a real difference in how you pray and how you perceive the world around you:

• Seemingly innocuous Facebook posts will start to look like requests for prayer.
• Conversations will take on an added layer of depth.
• People you haven’t thought about for years will pop into your mind without any explanation other than that God wanted you to think about them.
• And your interactions with coworkers, neighbors, family members, and anyone else the Lord brings across your path will seem like opportunities rather than obligations.

In short, when God is the one in charge of how you experience and interpret life throughout the course of your day, then every day takes on a new level of purpose and meaning.

It won’t happen unless we are intentional about asking God to make it happen, though.

Have you made that request today?

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A recent report out of England found that the country’s forty-two Anglican cathedrals contributed £235 million (roughly $321 million) to their local economies in 2019. Among that value included more than six thousand jobs and volunteer posts, accruing more than nine hundred thousand hours of service through food banks, support groups, and various outreach ministries to help their respective communities.

And such contributions are not unique to Great Britain.

In America, faith-based groups contribute more than $316 billion in savings to the US economy every year. In addition, congregations, religious institutions, and faith-based businesses contribute roughly $1.2 trillion of socio-economic value to the country, which is the equivalent of the world’s fifteenth largest national economy.

I bring these statistics up, however, not as an opportunity to congratulate ourselves for a job well done but rather to show just a small taste of the potential we have to bless our country and our community by serving others in the name of Jesus.

Why the global awakening is missing America

There is a Great Awakening going on in our world, and hundreds of thousands are being adopted into the family of God every day as a result. Muslims are coming to Christ in numbers never before seen in history. Similar stories are found in South Korea and China, where within the next ten years, their combined Christian populations are projected to pass America’s.

But we’re not seeing it here, and there is little to indicate that will change on its own.

Matthew 8 could give us a hint as to why that is.

The chapter starts with Jesus coming down the hillside after delivering the Sermon on the Mount to encounter a leper and then a centurion. Both were in desperate need of his help and, because of the faith they demonstrated, both received the healing for which they asked (8:1–13). He then proceeded to do the same for the mass of people that followed him to Peter’s house (8:14–17).

Later on in the chapter, he and the disciples leave that area and encounter two demon-possessed men. Jesus heals them both, granting the demons’ request to instead inhabit a herd of pigs who are then driven off a cliff and die. The herdsmen fled and came back with a town’s worth of people who “begged him to leave their region” (8:28–34).

In both instances, people experienced the miraculous power of God. But while the first group responded with gratitude and faith, the townspeople at the end of the chapter asked Jesus to leave and wanted nothing to do with him. The difference is that those he healed were aware of how much they needed him. Those who sent him away were not.

That same pattern is at the heart of why some parts of the world are encountering Christ in powerful and transformative ways while, for most of the West, that’s simply not the case. Our culture just doesn’t understand why we need what Jesus has to offer.

So what can we do to help them take that step?

A different path to revival

In previous centuries, the Great Awakenings that helped shape so much of western culture—especially in America—began because a large segment of the population became increasingly aware of their need for God.

At times, as with the ministry of Jonathan Edwards, that happened through preaching and emphasizing the depravity of humanity. Far more often, though, it happened because people who thought God just didn’t care about them or that Christianity was just for the wealthy—one of the primary fallacies the First Great Awakening tried to correct—encountered the good news of Jesus from people who cared about them enough to share it.

Given the state of our culture today—where morality is largely subjective and the church is often seen as a barrier to progress—we are not going to convince many people that they need Jesus by just praying that God would change their hearts while criticizing all the ways in which their lives run counter to his teachings.

To be sure, prayer still has a very large role to play in helping our culture come to Christ, but if it essentially amounts to “God, please let them know how awful they are,” then we’re not going to see things improve very much.

I’d like to propose a different approach.

Revival starts with you

Instead of looking at the world around us and lamenting at how lost they seem to be, what if we shifted our focus instead to asking God how we can best bless the lives of those around us?

What if our prayers were less about what’s wrong with the world and more about what we can do to make it better?

In Genesis 12, God blesses Abraham so that, through Abraham, he might bless the world (Genesis 12:2). As Christians, we are heirs of that purpose.

What would it look like if we devoted a substantial amount of our time in prayer to asking the Lord how he wants to use us to bless the people we meet?

What kind of an impact could we make on our community if, instead of trying to figure out ways to get them into our churches, we chose instead to figure out ways to meet their needs where they are?

As mentioned at the start, the numbers don’t lie. A lot of Christians are already doing that, and it’s awesome. But if we want to see the Great Awakening that’s creating new believers across the globe come to our borders, then it’s going to take a level of intentionality and Spirit-driven focus that is often lacking in our communities of faith.

We may not change the narrative about our faith on a national level, but every person we meet is a chance to change it on a personal one. If we want to see revival, then it has to start there.

God has a plan to use each and every one of us to be a blessing in his name to the lost around us.

We just have to ask and then obey.

Will you?

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NOTE: Thank you to Ryan Denison for writing today’s Daily Article. He is the Denison Forum Senior Fellow for Theology and has written more than four hundred articles for Denison Forum.

It should not come as a surprise that social media companies like Facebook have an outsized influence on the way their users see the world. But the degree to which that’s the case—and the extent of the issues it’s now causing—are starting to become more widely known.

Recent reports from the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, and others warn that from amplifying body issues, eating disorders, and depression among teenage girls to driving people into extremist groups on their website, Facebook and its subsidiaries are increasingly hurting their users.

Before we launch into efforts to break them up or lay blame for all the world’s wrongs at their feet, though, we need to understand that we are the reason they have that power. We’re wired to seek out the self-destruction they offer—and that’s our fault more than theirs.

Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t steps Facebook and others could take to help mitigate some of those issues. And they do hold some responsibility for the fact that cries to do just that have largely fallen on deaf ears. After all, countless books, articles, and studies have pointed out the way that their approach to creating communities of people around the world place a higher priority on generating traffic than on responsibly moderating their services.

But a big part of the crisis—and one of the reasons why we need to be careful about asking them to fix our problem—is found in this question: Who should we really trust in this day and age to serve as that censor, determining when and where a conversation or group crosses the line?

Some restrictions should be obvious, and largely are. Instances of pornography (especially when involving children) and sex trafficking, for example, are rightly censored. That said, even then Facebook has often struggled to crack down on those using its services to perpetrate such evil.

But what about political misinformation and issues surrounding public health topics like Covid and vaccination? How about what is defined as hate speech?

And the waters get even murkier from there.

The reality is that what exactly constitutes misinformation or speech that deserves to be removed can often be difficult to know before it has already spread to the point that containment becomes a largely fruitless endeavor. And making the call too quickly, before all the information is known, can mean shutting down important conversations and censoring the truth rather than lies.

There are practical steps Facebook can, and should, take to help the problem—such as reducing the importance of comments in determining which posts are pushed by their algorithms. However, at the end of the day, they really can’t make a large enough difference to solve the problem.

So what can?

3 ways to use social media wisely

As mentioned above, the reason social media outlets like Facebook are prone to fostering the kind of destructive content for which they are often maligned is that we are wired to gravitate toward the kinds of silos that confirm rather than challenge our views. So when Facebook’s algorithms suggest content based on our previous usage, it just sends us deeper down the same lines of thinking. Their entire system is built around that strategy, and expecting them to change now is simply not going to happen (and probably wouldn’t help much if they tried).

Ultimately, we’re left with two options: cut off all social media or become more intentional about how we use it (e.g., take a social media fast). To be honest, there is some merit to both.

But let’s go forward under the assumption that you do not plan to delete your profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any of the others. What steps can you take to help mitigate some of the dangers and make greater use of the benefits they offer?

1. Admit that you are not immune to being deceived.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering there are several warnings throughout Scripture regarding how our Enemy thrives on lies and deceit (John 8:44) and that there will always be those who try to tempt us away from the truth with false teachings we might prefer to hear (2 Timothy 4:3).

Far too often, though, we can fool ourselves into thinking that because we profess to serve the God who is truth and believe in objective truth, we will always be able to tell the difference between truth and lies. However, apart from a constant reliance upon the Holy Spirit’s guidance and on a community of believers in which everything is tested against the teachings of Scripture (Acts 17:11), our pride can actually make us among the most prone to believing what isn’t true.

That, in turn, is why the second step is so important.

2. Surround yourself with people who care more about knowing the truth than about being right.

If you wonder if that’s you, then ask yourself this simple question: When was the last time you can remember being wrong about something?

If nothing comes to mind, then it’s worth at least entertaining the notion that the reason is not that you are always correct, but rather that there aren’t enough people or other influences in your life to help you see when you’re wrong.

Do you have friends or family that challenge your way of thinking? Are you open to being challenged? If the answer to either question is no, then spend some time today praying that God would help you improve in that regard and expand your circle to include people that can help you grow rather than just feel good about where you are.

It may not—and likely will not—be a pleasant change at first. But as you come to see the fruit it bears in your walk with God and his ability to use your life to expand his kingdom, you’ll come to appreciate it.

And that brings us to the final step.

3. Hold everything but your relationship with God loosely enough that if he shows you something needs to change, you’re willing to do it.

Set higher standards for the groups you follow and participate in on social media. Be willing to set boundaries around the relationships in your life. That doesn’t necessarily mean cutting off friendships or ignoring family members, but if you know that there are some people who bring out the worst in you, just be careful. Ask the Lord what a healthy version of that relationship would look like and then make whatever changes are necessary to get there.

How will you use social media going forward?

At the end of the day, we could lament everything wrong with Facebook and other forms of social media, but if we’re waiting on them to fix the toxic culture that they foster, then things are just going to keep getting worse.

So take responsibility for your own life and your own influences. Surrender them to God and give him free rein to make whatever changes he deems necessary.

Facebook can be a wonderful place where the Lord uses you to expand his kingdom in ways that, to this point in history, were simply unimaginable. But that’s not going to happen unless you take the necessary steps to ensure it can be a tool for God rather than the Enemy.

Which is more true in your life today?

Denison Forum

NOTE: Thank you to Shane Bennett for penning today’s Daily Article. He has previously written for Denison Forum, and we appreciate his knowledge and insight on reaching Muslims with the gospel.

According to the New York Times, “As of September 14, about 64,000 evacuees from Afghanistan had arrived in the United States. . . . Nearly 49,000 are living on eight domestic military bases, waiting to be resettled in the United States.”

By this time next year, a total of ninety-five thousand is expected.

We haven’t seen anything like this since the end of the Vietnam War. While government agencies work around the clock and refugee care organizations rapidly retool, many American Christians may be asking “What in the world?!” and “How can we help?”

My friend Ginny related, “I was heartbroken as I watched what was happening to Afghans, but I didn’t want to just sit in a place of brokenness. I asked myself, ‘What can I do as a mom, a normal person, to provide a warm welcome for some of those who’ve suffered so much?’ So I googled ‘helping Afghan refugees,’ picked an organization that popped up, and arranged a visit. My whole family went. We were told several ways to help, then we went out and let the kids spend their ‘giving’ money to buy the basic set-up stuff for one Afghan refugee apartment.”

I expect stories like Ginny’s to multiply across the country in the coming weeks, in part because Americans tend toward generosity and a willingness to help. We’ll also see stories grow as Christians like us obey the clear teaching of Scripture for situations like this.

What does the Bible say about refugees?

Leviticus 19:34 says, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lᴏʀᴅ your God” (NIV).

This is not lightweight instruction.

“Love them like yourself, remembering where you came from.” Few of us have experienced what Afghan refugees are going through, but core to our theology is the truth that we were lost and have been found. We were outsiders who experienced the amazing kindness of God.

So, we share God’s kindness.

In case we’re tempted to say, “Well, that is the Old Testament,” Jesus gets all up in our grill in his debate with the lawyer in Luke 10. The principle is this: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus’s response to “Who is my neighbor” came in the form of the story of the Good Samaritan. It ends with Jesus effectively telling the lawyer (and you and me): “Go act like the Samaritan. Show mercy to the one in need. Do this regardless of ethnicity and cultural suspicion.”

This Afghan migration to our shores may be the greatest opportunity in years for us to obey Jesus’ instruction to act like the good Samaritan.

How can I help Afghan refugees?

If you feel a little angst about so many people coming to the US from somewhere like Afghanistan, you’re not alone.

With respect, may I remind you what Jesus told us about worrying in Matthew 6:33? “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (NIV).

Some of the Afghans coming to the US right now will commit crimes. I pray none will give themselves to terrorism, but some bad things will happen both through them and to them. Nonetheless, we’re called to the kingdom work of Jesus, and that means loving Afghans as they arrive in our country.

So what can normal Christians do?

1. Pray

Believe God knows this situation way better than we do and has the power to open doors, comfort hearts, and bring people to himself. Let’s ask him to do so!

Download this simple, half-page prayer guide and see if you can get it in your church bulletin this week. Also, the amazing talent at PrayerCast.com produces stunning videos that will help you pray for Afghans.

2. Give

Imagine you only had the clothes you’re wearing and the cash (not cards!) currently in your pocket. Your wife is gripping your hand in a way that communicates her fear. And your kids are asking, “When will we get there?”, but this time you don’t even know where you’re going! Such is the reality for many Afghans as they make their way to the US.

If you have more than the clothes on your back and the cash in your pocket, you can probably help them. Check out Welcome.US, a growing clearinghouse of opportunities, or be like Ginny and google something local.

If you feel like swinging for the fence, do what I just did and sign up through AirBnB.org to open your guest room (or RV!) to Afghan refugees. It only took about five minutes.

3. Befriend

This current crisis will fade from the news as they all do, but upwards of one hundred thousand possible new Americans will still need help. Long-term friendships cost more than money. They take time, attention, and energy. But, as people of Jesus, we have received grace and the mandate to connect. This isn’t for all of us, but it may be for you.

If you’re down to take action that’s a little bigger than a baby step, figure out a way to invite an Afghan family to their very first American Thanksgiving dinner! If you’re a guy, here are some manly ways to build friendships with Muslims.

4. Advocate

Lobby your church to make strategic contributions of attention, prayer, money, and friendship.

Mike Bell, a pastor and the director of Healing Nations, says, “You don’t have to wait for your church to figure this out. Look for a great opportunity, then you can potentially bring your church along.”

I just recently got a thumbs-up from my pastor for our church to provide the start-up needs for one Afghan apartment in Denver.

5. Connect

If the incoming Afghans don’t land near you, how about extending kindness to whatever Muslims are nearby?

There are several million in the US—at work, down the street, in the next town over. Some have been here for generations. Many are successful, with children and communities they’re proud of. Most would be willing to chat with us. We’d likely learn something, and they would too.

May the God who opened doors for this blessed influx of Afghans open up opportunities for each of us, as he sees fit, to extend the love, grace, present peace, and hope of Jesus to both newly arriving Afghans and Muslims all over.

A note from Shane Bennett: If I can help you in your or your church’s efforts to connect with Muslims, please let me know. If you’d like a fun, weekly reminder of how much God loves Muslims, sign up for Muslim Connect, my 300-word weekly email.

Denison Forum

The Washington Football Team defeated the New York Giants last night in stunning fashion: they missed a field goal that would have won the game, but a Giants player drew an offsides penalty. Given a second chance, Dustin Hopkins made the kick as time expired that won the game 30–29.

However, the game’s unusual outcome is not why I’m starting today’s Daily Article with it. Headline news was made beforehand when the Washington, DC, franchise held its first “Pride Night Out.”

It hosted a pregame party for guests and reserved blocks of tickets for attendees to watch the game together. The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and the LGBTQ marching band DC’s Different Drummers performed as well.

LGBTQ activists are continuing their decades-old strategy to normalize and legalize LGBTQ relations and to stigmatize those who disagree. The so-called Equality Act is a recent example of the second and third tactics; last night’s game in Washington was another example of the first.

We can expect many more. For example, NPR is celebrating Wednesday’s marriage between Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and his partner, Marlon Reis. The article notes that this marks the first same-sex marriage of a sitting United States governor. The US averages 3,473 weddings per day (based on 2020’s total number of weddings), but NPR made sure we didn’t miss this one.

“You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down”

My purpose this morning is not to defend biblical marriage, a subject I have discussed often over the years (here, here, and here, for example). Rather, it is to commiserate with evangelical Christians who are ready to give up on the “culture wars” this ongoing issue represents.

It is one thing to face a crisis with a plausible end such as an economic recession or even a military conflict. But when a problem has no end in sight, such as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, fatigue sets in. Despite the biblical warning, “Let us not grow weary of doing good” (Galatians 6:9), that’s exactly what can easily happen to us.

When a pandemic turns endemic, we need resources beyond ourselves. As Tish Harrison Warren notes in a brilliant New York Times article, this is just what we find in our faith. “We have been given the gift of knowing how the story ends,” she writes. She explains that through Jesus’ resurrection, “we were rescued from the oppression of sin and the power of death. The end of the story is that Jesus makes, as the Book of Revelation says, ‘all things new.’”

As a result, she testifies: “The church proclaims that in the resurrection, we have glimpsed the Promised Land. We cannot know the path ahead for any of our individual lives, but we can read the big story of redemption back into our particular life and our particular moment.”

But there’s a catch.

This week we have been exploring ways to experience empowering intimacy with Jesus. Yesterday, we noted that pride is “the devil’s most destructive tool” and a powerful weapon against spiritual intimacy. When we are deluded into self-reliance, we won’t choose Spirit-dependence or pay the price to know Jesus better than we already do. Rather than embracing “the big story of redemption,” we seek to redeem ourselves.

However, you and I were made to need intimacy with our Maker. In our anti-Christian culture, we need the power of God to embrace and defend the truth of God. As Charlie Chaplin wisely observed, “You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down.”

“With the humble is wisdom”

How do we find the “rainbow” waiting for those who turn from pride to humility and self to the Spirit?

Wise king Solomon observed, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2). He also offered us “wisdom” that leads to such humility. Let’s take three steps with him today.

1: Learn from the past.

Solomon noted: “Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor” (Proverbs 18:12). Where have you failed in the past to be the person you wish to be? Would you let these painful memories humble you before the God who forgives and heals?

2: Seek God in the present.

Perhaps Solomon’s most famous words are these: “Trust in the Lᴏʀᴅ with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6). What problems in the present seem too great for you to handle alone? Would you let these challenges humble you before the God who guides and empowers?

3: Trust God for the future.

Solomon observed: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lᴏʀᴅ establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). What about the future worries you this morning? The very fact that you are troubled by tomorrow shows that you cannot solve its problems today. But God can: “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lᴏʀᴅ that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21). Will you let your fears of the future humble you before the God of eternity?

How a 9/11 widow discovered the “most beautiful blessings” of God

If we allow past pain, present problems, and future fears to humble us before the Lord, how will he respond?

Shelley Genovese Calhoun lost her husband and the father of her little girl on 9/11. In the decades since, she has made this discovery: “There is nothing that can compare to [God’s] word and his promises. Only he can make the painful things of the past the most beautiful blessings of our future.”

She testifies, “I have seen God’s glory show up in the midst of my pain and his inexplainable peace cover me in the midst of my suffering.” She adds: “In my darkest days, as I drew near to Christ, he drew near to me. I have never felt a closeness to the living God like I felt when my pain was so heavy that I could not bear to carry it on my own.”

However, Shelley admits that there have been times when “I didn’t have the strength to pray or even words to say.” In those moments, “The presence of God met me right where I was, comforting me in a way I’ve never been comforted before.”

She also learned through her heartbreak that “nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.” And she found that she can comfort others with the comfort she has received, which is why she wrote her book, Twice Blessed: A Journey of Hope Through 9/11.

God loves you just as much as he loves Shelley. The intimacy with Jesus she experienced is available to you today.

Will you admit that you need what only your Father can supply?

If so, what steps into intimacy with him will you take today?

Denison Forum

I have traveled through Vancouver, Canada, occasionally over the years and always enjoyed my time in this beautiful city. However, what people are calling a “freak accident” occurred there recently; as you’ll see, what happened in Vancouver could happen where you and I live as well.

A man was driving through a McDonald’s restaurant takeout lane when he opened his door to get something he dropped from his window while paying. As he leaned out, the car rolled forward. The door hit part of the restaurant, pinning him between the door and the frame. A police official said, “Efforts were made by first responders to revive the man, but tragically, he died on scene.”

Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker cites compelling research to show that by almost every metric of human wellbeing, the world is getting better—from war, violence, and poverty (all declining) to health, wealth, happiness, and equality (all improving). But it doesn’t take long for the news to remind us of our mortality as well.

Some more examples: CNN reported yesterday that “1 in every 500 US residents have died of Covid-19.” An American intelligence official estimated Tuesday that al Qaeda could begin to threaten the US within one to two years. I noted earlier this week that the next terrorist assault on our country is likely to be a cyberattack. I also noted that a solar storm could cause an “internet apocalypse,” affecting much of society for weeks or months at a time.

Now we’re seeing the gravity of such threats in real time: Apple issued emergency software updates this week after finding a flaw that allows highly invasive spyware to infect anyone’s iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac computer without so much as a click.

“The devil’s most destructive tool”

We are focusing this week on ways to experience transforming intimacy with Jesus. Yesterday we discussed the temptation of so-called private sin and its danger to our spiritual health. Today, let’s focus on a second enemy of spiritual intimacy.

I often state that God redeems all he allows. One way I believe he would redeem the demonstrations of human finitude and fallenness we encounter each day is to show us our constant need for resources only he can supply.

Here’s the reason we need such reminders: as C. S. Lewis noted, “It is pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.” Thomas A. Tarrants of the C. S. Lewis Institute adds: “Lewis is not simply giving us his private opinion but summarizing the thinking of great saints through the ages. Augustine and Aquinas both taught that pride was the root of sin. Likewise, Calvin, Luther, and many others.

“Make no mistake about it: pride is the great sin. It is the devil’s most effective and destructive tool.”

Consider three ways pride manifests itself in our lives today.

1: Time

In Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life, Tish Harrison Warren quotes Dorothy Bass, who warns us of “a false theology: we come to believe that we, not God, are the masters of time. We come to believe that our worth must be proved by the way we spend our hours and that our ultimate safety depends on our own good management.”

Warren confesses that Bass described her “with stinging accuracy.” I must make the same confession today. That’s why we should proclaim, “This is the day the Lᴏʀᴅ has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24, my emphasis).

2: Prosperity

In 2013, Margaret Loughrey won $37 million in Ireland’s EuroMillions lottery. However, she said in 2019, “Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life. I have had six years of this. I don’t believe in religion, but if there is a hell, I have been in it. It has been that bad.” She was recently found dead in her home.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche claimed that the “will to power” is the basic drive in human nature. He was especially right with regard to prosperity. The more we have, the more we want. If money is a means to power, we can never have enough. That’s why “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (1 Timothy 6:10).

3: Adversity

Conversely, adversity can promote pride. We think we can solve our problems, so we double down on ourselves by trying harder to do better.

Artist Winslow Homer spoke for many in our self-reliant culture when he stated, “There’s no such thing as talent. What they call talent is nothing but the capacity for doing continuous work in the right way.” Psychologist Carl Rogers added: “What I am is good enough if I would only be it openly.”

To the contrary, when Paul faced a “thorn in the flesh” he could not remove in his strength, he heard God say, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

“I have calmed and quieted my soul”

Tomorrow I plan to close our week with practical ways to defeat pride and to experience transforming intimacy with Jesus each day. For today, let’s make David’s prayer ours:

“O Lᴏʀᴅ, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lᴏʀᴅ
From this time forth and forevermore” (Psalm 131).

Is your heart “lifted up” in self-reliant pride, or would God say you are as dependent on him as a child on its mother?

There is not a third option.

Denison Forum

In late August, the Pentagon discussed declassifying a space weapon. As Commander-in-chief, President Biden will have to give the go-ahead to declassify the information. If he chooses to reveal the specifics of this space weapon, global knowledge of its existence could act as a deterrent to any hostile development of space weapons.

Though no one except for a handful of officials with the highest level of clearance knows what the secret space weapon is, speculation abounds. Some think it could refer to a satellite-to-satellite laser or a satellite-to-ground weapon, though these seem unlikely. 

The most popular guess is that US military satellites already possess the capability to block enemy satellites’ communications. In other words, the “space weapon” may refer to our capability to effectively disable other satellites without destroying them. A mysterious space plane called X-37B also exists, which apparently deployed small satellites in 2020. These satellites may pertain to the Pentagon’s upcoming declassification. 

Such a secret space weapon won’t be the sci-fi spaceship with green lasers that the child in us may desperately want, but it does open an interesting discussion about something we rarely think about: satellites. 

How we depend on satellites

Though the moon is also technically a satellite (it orbits the earth), as is the earth (it orbits the sun), we generally think of artificial satellites when we use the term satellite. Over four thousand operational, artificial satellites orbit the earth.

In our everyday lives, what depends on satellites? 

• GPS (including services like Google Maps)
• Weather forecasting 
• Satellite TV 
• Internet service in rural areas 

As someone who tends to get lost in their own living room, I’m grateful for GPS. Naturally, satellites progress scientific research, such as in astronomy, physics, and even geology. A satellite can help pinpoint valuable mineral deposits and even enable companies to identify oil deposits. 

Consider the profound impact of the International Space Station. The ISS unites nations around science in a unique way. It became a unifying, global project after the Cold War and space race. President Ronald Reagan instructed NASA to create the station in 1984, and its $150 billion construction has required collaboration between multiple nations. Currently, the International Space Station crew includes three Americans, two Russians, one Japanese, and one Frenchman. 

The wonders of space are marvelous and provide countless opportunities for advancement, but the nature of space travel itself threatens those opportunities. 

Will space debris create a prison?

The Department of Defense’s global Space Surveillance Network sensors help track dangerous objects floating in orbit and relay that information to private space programs and NASA. Even with these high-tech sensors, several satellites are destroyed every year. If they don’t fall into the atmosphere, such destroyed satellites become orbiting space debris.  

Because of this, many predict that earth’s orbit will become a prison of space junk that satellites won’t be able to avoid. For instance, when a traditional rocket enters space, it releases fuel tanks that then become orbiting space trash. 

One article examines the threat of space debris: “Debris in low Earth orbit travels 30 times faster than a commercial jet aircraft. At these speeds, pieces of debris larger than 1 cm (half an inch) can severely damage or destroy a satellite, and it is not possible to shield effectively against debris of this size.” NASA even reported that “flecks of paint” can cause serious damage to satellites. 

The more we travel to space, the more junk accumulates. Avoiding space junk becomes more difficult, and the more likely it is that this chain reaction will create the dreaded prison. If one satellite gets destroyed in orbit by space debris, it can become thousands of tiny pieces of space debris, which leads to another satellite’s destruction, potentially leading to a chain reaction that would make space travel nearly impossible for the near future. This phenomenon is called the “Kessler Syndrome.”

NASA and others have brainstormed ways to overcome this problem. This informational video suggests space magnets, lasers, or nets to start clearing away the debris. 

Though thousands of satellites fly over our heads, we normally don’t give them a second thought. 

Do you think of God like a satellite? 

I am often guilty of thinking about God like a satellite. 

Satellites are impersonal objects floating through space that we vaguely depend on. We know they’re looking down, but we don’t think much about them, and we leave contemplating them up to the “experts.”

If we don’t guard our minds against a shallow connection to our Father, this attitude reflects how we treat God day-to-day. We know he looks down on us, but we leave God up to pastors and may rarely personally engage with his presence. 

In The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning reflects on the passionate love of Christ.He discovered that in the 1800s, Christians often used the identifying phrase “seized by the power of a great affection.” The fact that while we were sinners Christ loved us is a radical reality (Romans 5:8). 

The phrase “seized by the power of a great affection” communicates how deeply Christ’s love takes hold of us as we decide to follow him. 

We shouldn’t think of God as an impersonal being in the sky who sometimes gives us something we want because we’re good Christians. God is both relational and faithful in his sovereignty, drawing us with his affections. 

God is personal and involved, and he orchestrates things for our good (Romans 8:28). Sometimes our good includes discipline (Hebrews 12:11), and often that good will be impossible to see, but, as Dr. Denison profoundly writes: “God redeems all he allows.” 

He is both an impartial judge and a merciful savior. 

We can trust him. Even the most marvelous human invention of the space station will eventually fall out of orbit or become a $150 billion shell of metal hurling around the earth. While humans may fail, and so may our most incredible inventions, God certainly will not. 

Join me in striving to trust God’s sovereignty and renewing our minds to draw closer to Christ in a personal, daily way. 

Denison Forum

On this day twenty years ago, the church I pastored in Dallas held a community service in response to the 9/11 attacks. We invited ministers from across the denominational spectrum to lead in prayer, worship, and proclamation. Our sanctuary, which seats 2,200 people, was filled to overflowing.

There was something in us that knew we needed each other.

Many of the retrospectives I saw on the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 made the same point. One person wrote: “I miss 9/12. I would never want another 9/11, but I miss the America of 9/12. Stores ran out of flags to sell because they were being flown everywhere. People were Americans before they were upper/lower class, Jewish/Christian, Republican/Democrat. . . . On 9/12, what mattered more to us was what united us, not divided us.”

In times of crisis, we discover that we cannot do life on our own. We were made for community. A coal taken out of the fire goes out.

What was true twenty years ago is just as true today.

“A gnawing sense of being unfulfilled”

We find unity when we admit that we are facing challenges greater than our individual capacities and respond by turning to a transforming power we trust and serve together.

Are we facing challenges greater than our capacities today?

People in New York City exposed to toxic pollutants from 9/11 are still getting sick. More than 111,000 people are enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, which gives free medical care to people whose health problems are potentially linked to the dust from the attacks.

More people will die of COVID-19 in the next two days than died on 9/11. Officials in India are racing to contain an outbreak of Nipah virus that is deadlier than COVID-19.

President Biden’s plan requiring vaccinations for up to one hundred million Americans is being embraced by many and opposed by many. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said recently that al-Qaeda may seek a comeback from within Afghanistan.

Some experts are predicting that the next major international terrorist assault on the US is likely to take the form of a cyberattack. New research warns that a solar storm could cause an “Internet apocalypse” that would keep much of society offline for weeks or months at a time.

Unsurprisingly, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the US, affecting forty million adults in our country. In Making All Things New, Henri Nouwen spoke for many of us:

“Beneath our worrying lives . . . something else is going on. While our minds and hearts are filled with many things, we wonder how we can live up to the expectations imposed upon us by ourselves and others. We have a deep sense of unfulfillment. While busy with and worried about many things, we seldom feel truly satisfied, at peace, or at home. A gnawing sense of being unfulfilled underlies our filled lives.”

A chair in the center of the room

Does a transforming power exist we can trust and serve together?

The first-century Roman world was as divided and divisive as our culture is today. Relational walls between Jews and Gentiles, men and women, and slaves and masters dominated their society (cf. Galatians 3:28). The only source of true unity for early Christians was found in their shared commitment to Christ.

This is why we find Paul urging his fellow believers in Corinth: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). He made the same appeal in Philippi: “Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2).

And in Colossae: “Put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14). And in Ephesus: “Maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). And in Rome: “Live in harmony with one another” (Romans 12:16).

Peter made a similar appeal: “All of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” (1 Peter 3:8).

We find unity when we admit we cannot do life on our own and we turn to the Author of life together. Put a chair in the center of the room and its inhabitants along the walls. The closer they come to the chair, the closer they come to each other.

“Seeing the face of God”

I wish this 9/13 were more like the 9/13 I experienced twenty years ago. But wishing isn’t enough. We must admit that we are not sufficient to meet the challenges we face and seek the help of our Father and our faith family. When we do, we will be catalysts for the spiritual renewal our culture needs so desperately.

Twenty years ago, Jim Jenkins was a Navy chaplain serving with the Coast Guard as part of the Chaplains’ Emergency Response Team. He traveled to Ground Zero days after 9/11. Over the next two weeks, he ministered to rescue and recovery workers as they searched for bodies, comforted those at a makeshift morgue, and accompanied families as they watched remains of loved ones removed from the rubble.

Jenkins learned that he needed help beyond himself. As a result of the two weeks he spent at Ground Zero, he developed a precancerous condition in his sinuses and esophagus due to breathing in toxic chemicals. He was diagnosed with PTSD and has recurring nightmares to this day.

But he has also learned that the One he serves is sufficient for us all. Even in his darkest moments, he feels God’s hand comforting him: “Something happens when you pray, when you cry out to God with groanings too deep for words. Wherever we are, the Lord will meet us right in the midst of our brokenness.”

And Jenkins learned that when we share our hope with others, God uses us to draw them to himself. “I talked a lot about the promises of God and of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,” he reflected. “I really felt that, when I was ministering to people, they weren’t seeing my face. I believe they were seeing the face of God and experiencing his favor.”

Will you ask God to meet you in the midst of your brokenness?

With whom will you share his favor?

Denison Forum

Mark Cuban is known for being many things: billionaire entrepreneur, maverick owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Shark Tank “shark.” Now we can add 9/11 benefactor.

Cuban recently purchased what Axios describes as a “stunning set of drawings of the World Trade Center.” They were made in 1963, ten years before the buildings’ 1973 dedication, and they capture the majestic and monumental nature of those iconic structures. Cuban is not keeping the drawings in Dallas, however—he is donating them to the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. He made his gift ahead of Saturday’s 9/11 anniversary.

Cuban explained that the tragedy “strikes an emotional chord with every American” and added, “I wanted the actual drawings to be where any American can see them, and the Smithsonian was the right home.”

Where were you on 9/11?

Any American old enough to remember September 11, 2001, is grieving its upcoming twenty-year anniversary.

We are remembering where we were on that Tuesday morning as we watched the news: airplanes flying through a cloudless sky into skyscrapers, the fire and billowing smoke, the collapse of the twin towers into rubble. Images of people jumping to their deaths rather than burning to death are especially imprinted on our minds and hearts.

Twenty years later, we can find retrospectives on nearly every dimension of the tragedy: its impact on our culture, our unity, our politics, our military, our economy, and our spiritual lives. No aspect of American life has been untouched.

9/11 truly “strikes an emotional chord with every American.”

When horrific events happen to us, it’s human nature to seek ways to make good from bad. We don’t want to feel that our suffering is wasted, that our pain has no purpose.

This desire reflects our Creator’s heart.

From the prison to the palace

All through Scripture and human history, we find God using evil for good and problems for his purposes. Joseph’s prison led to Pharaoh’s palace; Moses’ exile led to the Exodus; the threat of Goliath led to the enthronement of David; the persecution of the early church led to the spread of the gospel (cf. Acts 8:1).

I often state that God redeems all he allows. People sometimes respond by asking if this is true even for 9/11, or the Holocaust, or other horrifying tragedies. I believe that it is. And I believe that God wants to redeem even this heartbreaking anniversary for his glory and our good.

We are focusing this week on Jesus’ invitation to “take my yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29) by submitting our lives to his leadership, purpose, and power. We have learned that our omniscient Master sees a future better than we can possibly imagine and will guide all who will follow. His Spirit will speak to us in the present and empower us to impact our culture where we live today.

Today, let’s claim the fact that he knows our past better than any historian and is working to redeem even our greatest tragedies for his eternal purposes.

Should we fear radical Islam?

You have gifts, abilities, and experiences which are uniquely yours and which God wants to use for his purposes today. You have also experienced pain and disappointment that God wants to use in making you a “wounded healer” for others.

If you will submit to Jesus’ “yoke” today, asking his Spirit to empower, control, and use your life, he will answer your prayer (Ephesians 5:18). And you will prove the axiom that changed people change the world.

This fact relates to issues raised by 9/11 that continue to affect us today. Denison Forum writer Mark Legg has produced an outstanding article explaining the need and opportunity for Christians to engage the Muslim world. Mark has also written an article documenting miraculous ways God is reaching Muslims today and calling us to join him at work.

What about terrorists like those who attacked us on 9/11? Ryan Denison has written an excellent overview of contemporary radical groups such as ISIS, al Qaeda, and the Taliban; he also identifies practical ways we can join God in reaching even them with the gospel.

God wants to use our past, both good and bad, as he equips and leads us to engage Muslims where we live and around the world. And he wants to use the grief we feel over 9/11 as motivation to reach as many people as we can in the knowledge that tomorrow is promised to none.

“He didn’t hesitate a single second”

Dr. W. L. Steiger was on a World War II ship in a submarine zone. Their ship was carrying ten thousand soldiers. One morning, he and the captain were looking at the sunrise through their binoculars. Here is what he says happened next:

“Suddenly each of us saw the white wake of a torpedo headed straight for our ship. . . . We could not dodge it; we had no room or time to move our ship out of its path. The captain turned to me, thinking of those boys still asleep in the ship, and said, ‘This is it!’

“There was no way out—this was the end. Then suddenly something happened which none on our ship had considered. There was a destroyer riding to our port, battling the waves. Suddenly, the skipper of that small ship saw the same thing that we saw from our bridge—that torpedo headed straight for our midships. That young skipper shouted down the tube to his engine room, ‘All engines ahead flank!’ and headed his destroyer straight into the path of that torpedo.

“She took its full impact and sank in ten minutes with most of her officers and crew. He was my best friend, that young skipper. He knew when he gave that order that he and his crew would be lost, but he didn’t hesitate a single second.”

Dr. Steiger never forgot that sacrifice. He told the story everywhere he could, to everyone he could—the story of the man who died for him.

Like W. L. Steiger, you have a story to tell of the Man who died for you. His crucified past is the pathway to our glorious future.

Who will hear his story from you today?

Denison Forum

Predictions about the future are making headlines today. For example, CNET tells us that “the next Apple event could be just around the corner.” However, if you read the article, you learn that “there hasn’t been any word, official or otherwise, on the exact date and time” for the event, much less what new technology the company will reveal.

With the NFL season set to kick off Thursday night, you can find predictions like these for every team in the league. (Don’t bother with this prognosticator, however: he says my Dallas Cowboys will finish 8–9 and miss the playoffs, so he’s clearly not to be trusted.)

Other stories in the news also demonstrate the clear unpredictability of the future. For instance, the pandemic caused a shortage of drivers in the UK, which led to a shortage of supplies to McDonald’s restaurants, which led to the headline, “McDonald’s runs out of milkshakes in England, Scotland, and Wales.” Who saw that coming a year ago?

An Apple II manual signed by Steve Jobs in 1980 recently sold at auction for $787,484. 3D-printed houses are gaining in popularity. Robots have been developed that can work cooperatively to move a couch in your home. Who would have predicted these stories a year ago?

An update on Tim Keller’s health

Some stories in the news illustrate not just the unpredictability of the future but give cause for great concern as we face it. For example, parents in California have sued to stop chants to Aztec gods in their children’s ethnic studies curriculum. What is next in our post-Christian, even anti-Christian, culture?

The Taliban are claiming victory over the last opposition forces in Afghanistan. Now that they are consolidating control of the country, what’s next for al-Qaeda? ISIS? Terrorism against America and the West?

At least eighty churches in Louisiana were damaged by Hurricane Ida; what will the next natural disaster bring? New COVID-19 infections are up 316 percent from last Labor Day; what will happen with future variants?

New York City pastor Tim Keller shared an update last Sunday on his battle with pancreatic cancer. On August 23, doctors discovered a cancerous lump underneath a previous surgical scar and have increased his chemotherapy to previous levels. Keller notes: “Pancreatic cancer is able to learn how to evade medication, so it is only God’s power that we look to for complete healing.”

He then asks: “Please do pray that I will be able to fulfill my teaching and other obligations, and that the neuropathy and other side effects will be minimal while the medication will be effective against the cancer, and that we will run the race God has set before us with joy.”

Please join me in praying as Dr. Keller asks today.

What Jesus knows that we don’t

Tim Keller is right, and not just about his pancreatic cancer: “It is only God’s power that we look to for complete healing.” In yesterday’s Daily Article, we explored Jesus’ invitation to “take my yoke upon you” (Matthew 11:29a). We discovered that we should submit our lives and challenges to Jesus’ “yoke” and direction because he is “gentle and lowly in heart,” meaning that he always does the right thing with and through our lives (v. 29b). In addition, his yoke is “easy” (it fits perfectly), so that his “burden is light” (v. 30).

Today let’s add another reason to wear Jesus’ yoke: he can always be trusted to lead us into our best future.

Because Jesus is divinely omniscient, he knows the past more perfectly than any historian; he sees the present more fully than any reporter; and he comprehends the future more completely than any futurist.

Now let’s apply this fact to our personal lives.

Jesus knows your past better than you do, so he knows your education and experiences as well as your sins and failures. As a result, he can be trusted to utilize your life in ways that take the greatest advantage of your past experiences for his glory and our good.

Jesus also knows your present better than you do, so he knows your gifts, skills, and resources as well as your shortcomings and challenges. As a result, he can be trusted to utilize your life in ways that take the greatest advantage of your present opportunities for his glory and our good.

And Jesus knows your future better than you do, so he knows the people he is already preparing for your ministry. He knows the doors he is opening and closing, the opportunities tomorrow for which he is equipping you today. As a result, he can be trusted to utilize your life in ways that take the greatest advantage of your future service for his glory and our good.

A prayer I invite you to offer with me today

Joseph’s past visions and present circumstances prepared him to interpret Pharaoh’s visions and build a future no one foresaw but God. Moses’ past in Pharaoh’s household and present circumstances in the wilderness prepared him to lead Israel into a future no one could have predicted but our Lord. Peter’s past education in Judaism and present experiences as a successful businessman prepared him to lead the Christian movement into a future no one could have imagined but Jesus.

Now our Lord is ready to redeem your past and use your present to lead you into a future only he can foresee. Here’s the key: If you will wear Jesus’ yoke today, he will guide you today. If you will not, he cannot.

These words from Kate B. Wilkinson form a prayer I invite you to join me in offering to our Master:

May the mind of Christ my Savior
Live in me from day to day,
By his love and power controlling
All I do and say.

May the word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through his power.

May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.

May his beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only him.

Whose yoke are you wearing today?

Denison Forum

This Saturday, I watched OU defeat Tulane in NCAA football (barely), UT defeat Louisiana (handily), Georgia defeat Clemson (suspensefully), and Alabama defeat Miami (of course). Along the way, I monitored the third round of the PGA Tour Championship and watched the Texas Rangers play baseball (sort of).

In other words, it was a typical Labor Day holiday. Watching sports has become synonymous with the symbolic last weekend of summer, as have barbecues, family outings, blockbuster movies, and anything else we can do to create a few days of rest and retreat.

But the world is waiting for our return tomorrow, of course.

As the death toll from flooding in the Northeast climbs above fifty people, the Washington Post reports that nearly one in three Americans experienced a weather disaster this summer. Meanwhile, the hiring slowdown in August shows Delta’s impact as the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect every part of our lives. Here’s a surprising consequence of the pandemic: auto thefts have spiked as people have left their cars unattended for longer than usual.

The Labor Day holiday offers us a respite from all of this. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to find a source of rest and peace that sustains and empowers us not just for a weekend, but for every day of the year?

An amazing invitation

In Matthew 11, Jesus issues this amazing and encouraging invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (vv. 28–30). Each word repays study and reflection.

Let’s begin with verse 28:

• “Come” is better translated as hurry or come hither.
• “To me” is Jesus’ invitation to hurry to him—not to the church, or religion, or other people, or ourselves. Go to Jesus now. Don’t wait until tomorrow or the end of this day.
• “All” means all. No person on our planet is excluded, including you.
• “Labor” translates the Greek word for working. This is active—those who are working hard to advance their careers, help their families, and serve God and his church.
• “Heavy laden,” by contrast, is passive, referring to burdens placed on us by other people. The original context was the Jewish law (cf. Acts 15:10) in which the people were given 613 laws to keep, but it refers to any expectations or requirements placed on us by someone else.
• “I will give you rest” could be translated, “I will rest you.” Note the word will—this is Jesus’ guarantee to us.

Verse 29:

• “Yoke” refers to the typical means of guiding working animals in Jesus’ day. The farmer used the yoke to tell the ox where to go, what to do, and how fast, far, and long to do it. The yoke guided every part of the ox every moment that it was worn.
• “Take my yoke upon you” thus means to submit to Jesus’ will completely. We are to bear no yoke but his. To take his yoke, we refuse the yoke of our own pride and ambitions, the yoke of others’ expectations, the yoke of cultural definitions of success. We can wear only one yoke at a time—we are to wear his.
• “Learn from me” repeats this invitation in a different way. The phrase could be rendered, “Enroll in my school.” In Jesus’ day, a student gave his life to his teacher, following him twenty-four hours a day. Students were not just learners but holistic disciples.
• “I am gentle” shows why we should enroll in Jesus’ school. “Gentle” translates praus, which describes the person who always does the right thing. Because Jesus’ will for us is “perfect” (Romans 12:2), we can trust him with every dimension of our lives and days.
• “Lowly in heart” points to his humility, the fact that he came to serve (Mark 10:45), and that he only and always wants our best.
• “I will give you rest” repeats Jesus’ promise of verse 28 for emphasis.

Verse 30:

• “My yoke is easy”—easy means that his yoke fits well. An ancient tradition says that Jesus the carpenter made the best yokes in all of Galilee, and that over his carpenter’s shop there was the sign, “My yokes fit well.” If the yoke is well-fitted to the animal, it is “easy” to bear. Jesus alone knows what purpose best fits our gifts, abilities, shortcomings, experiences, education, and future. His yoke alone fits well.
• “My burden is light”—if the strap fits well, the backpack is light. If the yoke fits well, the burden attached to it is light. If your burden is heavy today, check your yoke.

What happens when we wear Jesus’ yoke

You are wearing someone’s yoke today. If you are wearing any yoke but the one Jesus intends for you, you can find rest only by taking it off for a while, getting away for a holiday weekend, or finding other ways to distract from your stress and retreat from your pressures. But your yoke is always waiting for your return.

However, Jesus’ yoke will bring you rest every moment of every day. It will bring you rest in the midst of your work and the burdens you bear. It will lead you to a life of eternal significance and present fulfillment. It will produce the “fruit of the Spirit” in your life—the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control you will find nowhere else (Galatians 5:22).

Henri Nouwen expressed well the difference Jesus makes when we wear his yoke by trusting our lives completely to his leadership and care:

“Dear Lord:

“Today I thought of the words of Vincent van Gogh: ‘It is true there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.’ You are the sea. Although I experience many ups and downs in my emotions and often feel great shifts and changes in my inner life, you remain the same. Your sameness is not the sameness of a rock, but the sameness of a faithful lover.

“Out of your love I came to life, by your love I am sustained, and to your love I am always called back. There are days of sadness and days of joy; there are feelings of guilt and feelings of gratitude; there are moments of failure and moments of success; but all of them are embraced by your unwavering love. . . . O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and winds of my daily life, and let me know there is ebb and flow but the sea remains the sea.”

Whose yoke are you wearing today?

Denison Forum

Dozens of people are dead in the Northeast from floods and destruction caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida. A toddler was among the victims. 

In other news, search-and-rescue efforts continued yesterday for five military personnel who went missing Tuesday when a US Navy helicopter crashed off the coast of San Diego. One sailor was pulled from the ocean. And police have been searching this week for a woman who allegedly dumped a bag of suspected human remains in a Virginia store dumpster. 

In an article on a Texas law restricting abortion, why am I beginning with these stories? 

You could say that I’m “burying the lede,” which refers to “hiding the most important and relevant pieces of a story within other distracting information.” 

But I’m actually not. 

Abortion is the leading cause of death in the US 

Our media focuses intensely and understandably on the victims of storms, military tragedies, and alleged crimes. However, since Hurricane Ida swept ashore in Louisiana six days ago, 14,172 babies have been aborted in the US (multiplying the rate of 2,362 per day in the US times six). 

This works out to 862,130 abortions per year in the US, making abortion by far the leading cause of death in our country. (Heart disease ranks second, at 659,041, followed by cancer at 599,601.) 

Here’s a related fact: the CDC reports that over 21,000 infants died in the US in 2018. This works out to fifty-seven per day, which is obviously tragic. But forty-one times more babies die from abortion each day than from all other causes combined. 

If 2,362 babies were to die today from any cause other than abortion, Americans would be appropriately appalled and demand that our elected officials do something to end such a tragedy. 

In Texas, with regard to abortion, they have. 

What a preborn baby cannot say 

Senate Bill 8 was signed by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott last May. The law bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can occur as early as six weeks after conception. 

As a result, the law would block approximately 85 percent of abortions in Texas. According to Texas Health and Human Services data, 53,000 abortions were performed in the state last year. This means Senate Bill 8 could save 45,000 preborn babies a year. 

Texas abortion providers asked the US Supreme Court to freeze the law. However, in a five-to-four vote, the Court formally denied this request late Wednesday night. 

The majority stressed that their ruling did not constitute a conclusion about the constitutionality of the law or limit other challenges to it. Rather, they cited “complex” and “novel” procedural questions that led to their decision. Chief Justice Roberts joined the three liberal justices in dissent. 

Protests have already begun. For example, President Biden announced yesterday that he had directed his Department of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department to launch a “whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi also announced that the House of Representatives would vote later this month on a bill that would “enshrine into law reproductive health care for all women across America.” 

In protests against the Texas law and other pro-life legislation, I have often seen people carrying signs declaring, “My body, my choice.” 

Of course, a preborn baby cannot say the same. 

A case study for effective cultural engagement 

I believe passionately that life is sacred from conception to natural death. (For my arguments based on Scripture, reason, history, and culture, see my paper, “What does the Bible say about abortion?“) As a result, I am deeply grateful for Senate Bill 8 and those who brought it into law. 

But I want to do more than report this historic news: I’d like us to make it a case study for effective cultural engagement. 

Some conservative Christians have become convinced that since our secularized culture has degenerated so far from biblical morality, continued efforts to make a difference are fruitless. We’re wasting our time trying to change society, we’re told. Better to focus all our attention on protecting religious liberty from its enemies while protecting future generations from the rampant sexualization and secularization of our day. 

Undoubtedly, we need to do all we can on both fronts. I praise God for organizations such as First Liberty, the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and others who are defending religious freedom from its enemies. And I completely agree that we should not take for granted our children and grandchildren—many are surrounded each day by radical secularism and must be discipled strategically and effectively in biblical truth and worldview. 

But Senate Bill 8 shows that we can do more. While protecting our families and defending our rights from those seeking to discriminate against Christians, we can also engage our secular culture in ways that make a dramatic difference. 

Why this bill is different 

In the decades since Roe v. Wade tragically legalized abortion, many have abandoned hope that it would ever be overturned. Numerous legal challenges have been attempted, but few have been sustained or made a tangible difference. When abortion advocates have filed suit against pro-life supporters, they have often won the day. 

However, the Texas law we’re discussing is different from other attempts. Instead of having the government enforce the law, the bill authorizes private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone who helps someone get an abortion after a fetal heartbeat has been detected. This person would not have to be connected to a provider or someone who had an abortion to sue. 

Consequently, there is no state official enforcing the law, which means there is no one for abortion providers to sue. This does not mean that Senate Bill 8 will not continue to face legal challenges, as we noted above. But it does show that this unique feature is important to its success thus far. 

Creativity is vital to cultural transformation. For example, a Chicago coffee shop owner who experienced healing from horrific trauma through therapy is using the proceeds from his sales to fund free therapy sessions for people in need. And the IRS caught an alleged dark web drug dealer by tricking him into sending more than $180,000 in cash to the agency in exchange for cryptocurrencies. 

Surprising examples of God’s surprising ways 

Such examples of surprising but effective strategies are found throughout Scripture. 

Joseph interprets his fellow prisoners’ dreams, the Egyptian Pharaoh hears of him, and Joseph interprets the ruler’s dreams, saves the nation from famine, provides for his family, and preserves the Jewish people through whom the Messiah would come. 

God calls Moses, a fugitive from Egyptian justice, to lead his people out of Egyptian slavery. He uses the Red Sea to destroy the Egyptian army. He destroys the fortified city of Jericho after his people march around its walls. He elevates an unknown shepherd to be king of Israel. He saves his servants in Babylon from a fiery furnace and a lions’ den. 

Jesus calls not rabbis or priests in Jerusalem but fishermen in Galilee to lead his movement. He restores a thrice-failed apostle and uses him to preach a Pentecost sermon that brings thousands to faith. He chooses a Jewish Pharisee to be his apostle to the Gentiles. He gives his Revelation to a prisoner on an island of exile. 

When you think about it, it’s hard to find biblical examples that are not surprising and even shocking. 

Here’s the point: if we will be led by the Spirit of God, we will fulfill the purposes of God in the power of God to the glory of God. He has creative plans for us we cannot imagine: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT). 

Our sovereign God will use us to engage and transform our culture for his glory and our good if we will trust him and follow his Spirit. 

An evangelist magician makes the AGT finals 

A putter used by Tiger Woods in 2002 sold at auction last Sunday for $393,300. It is believed to be the most expensive golf club ever sold. I can buy a similar putter for $399.99 today, but no one will consider it to be more collectible because it was mine. The putter sold at auction was valuable not because of what it was but because of whose it was. 

If Jesus is your Lord, you are the child of God (John 1:12). This is your unchanging identity, a fact no power in this world can change. In addition, you are made by God for a purpose that is distinctively yours. Your spiritual gifts, abilities, education, experience, and opportunities combine in ways that are unique to you. 

For example, Christianity Today recently interviewed Shoaib Ebadi, the founder of SAT-7, a Christian ministry that began broadcasting in Iran in 2002 and is now one of the few ways to reach people in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Ebadi was born in Afghanistan but became a Christian in 1999 as a refugee in Pakistan. Today he heads a company producing Christian media in various languages around the world. His experiences and capacities have prepared him uniquely for this moment in history. 

A magician named Dustin Tavella has advanced to the finals of America’s Got Talent. He is a Christian who uses magic for evangelism: “We want to be a bridge between the church and the not-church—to get the people not in church into the church, and to get the people in the church, outside of the walls.” His unique skills have garnered a national platform few could have imagined a few weeks ago. 

Stefen Wisniewski, an NFL kicker who won Super Bowls with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, is retiring to become a pastor. He explains: “The absolute best part of my life is my relationship with Jesus Christ, and I can’t imagine a better full-time job than teaching people the Bible and sharing the love of Christ with others.” His former career is giving him a platform for his next career. 

David Klingler made the cover of Sports Illustrated as a quarterback at the University of Houston and played several years in the NFL. As the new football season begins, the current edition of Texas Monthly is profiling Klingler—not for his athletic exploits, but because he is now an Old Testament professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. What he did makes what he does more appealing to the larger culture. 

What Fred Rogers said at Dartmouth 

If you and I will abide in Jesus, he assures us that we will bear “much fruit” (John 15:5). That’s because the love that changes hearts and lives will flow through us to touch those we are called to influence. Such love is a “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22), not a product of human effort. 

Frederick Buechner observed: “Love is not really one of man’s powers. Man cannot achieve love, generate love, wield love, as he does his powers of destruction and creation. When I love someone, it is not something that I have achieved, but something that is happening through me, something that is happening to me as well as to him.” 

Are you so yielded to God’s Spirit that God’s love is “happening” through you? 

David testified: “God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes” (2 Samuel 22:25 MSG). Have you “opened the book of your heart” to your Father today? Can he write the next chapter of your story in any way he chooses? 

Asked differently: Is there a place he cannot lead you? A task he cannot assign you? A person you won’t forgive? Someone from whom you won’t seek forgiveness? A person with whom you won’t share your faith? 

In his 2002 commencement address at Dartmouth, Fred Rogers concluded: “When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see, or hear, or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate. Peace that rises triumphant over war. And justice that proves more powerful than greed. 

“So, in all that you do in all of your life, I wish you the strength and the grace to make those choices which will allow you and your neighbor to become the best of whoever you are.” 

Will you ask God for such strength and grace right now?

Denison Forum

I have been writing The Daily Article for twenty-one years, but this is a first: I am reporting on an article in the men’s fashion magazine GQ. I have not read one of their articles before today, but this title caught my eye: “Prayers Up: How God Became the Hottest Thing in Fashion.”

The article tells us about an Instagram platform called “I NEED GOD” now offering a webstore with some interesting merchandise. For example, they are selling a sweatshirt bearing the message, “God loves me and there is nothing I can do about it.” And a shirt with a direct quote from Justin Bieber’s Instagram: “God is obsessed with you!” (Other products are far more ironic or, some might say, inappropriate.)

Here’s another story you might not expect: a church in San Antonio, Texas, recently held a mass wedding. This is not a cult—it’s actually one of the largest churches in the city. Their pastor and staff became concerned about couples who were unable to marry during the pandemic. So they offered to reimburse couples for their marriage licenses ($81 in their county) and gave them $500 in cash to go toward a honeymoon.

Their commitment had a condition, however: the couples had to go through premarital counseling with the church. Fifty-two couples completed counseling and were married in a joint service last month.

Pledging allegiance to the Pride flag

This week we’re discussing ways to fight fear with faith. Each day’s news reinforces the need for such faith.

For example, a California teacher has been removed from her classroom after instructing her students to say the Pledge of Allegiance, not to an American flag, but to a Progress Pride flag.

A dermatology professor at Harvard Medical School reports a spike of patients seeking cosmetic interventions. The reason: they saw their faces on conference calls all day during the pandemic and now want to make improvements to their appearance, a phenomenon being called “Zoom dysphoria.”

Consumer confidence is down; trust in media is cratering; religion is declining in many places around the world.

In days like these, believers need to use every means at our disposal to offer our culture the life-changing good news of God’s love in Christ. The apparel we discussed earlier is correct theologically: because God is love (1 John 4:8), he does indeed love you, and there’s nothing you can do to change his character or the fact that he is “obsessed” with you.

However, there’s another side to the story.

“The sine qua non of spiritual fruitfulness”

Jesus told his followers, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1). According to renowned Bible scholar D. A. Carson, our Lord employed a symbol found throughout the Old Testament describing Israel as a vine (cf. Psalm 80:9–16; Isaiah 51:1–7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:1–8).

However, Carson notes, “whenever historic Israel is referred to under this figure, it is the vine’s failure to produce good fruit that is emphasized.”

By contrast, Jesus calls himself the “true” vine, i.e., the one that produces true and good fruit. His followers are “branches” stemming from him as their source. As a result, he calls us to “abide in me, and I in you” (v. 4a).

Here’s the catch: “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (v. 4b). Consequently, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (v. 5, my emphasis).

Carson asserts: “Continuous dependence on the vine, constant reliance on him, persistent spiritual imbibing of his life—this is the sine qua non of spiritual fruitfulness” (his italics; the Latin phrase means “that without which there is nothing”).

The first time I heard the gospel

So, what does it mean to “abide” in Jesus?

We could take the rest of the year to explore this vital question, but for today we’ll note that it means at least the decision to surrender every dimension of our lives to his lordship. Whatever the cost, whatever he asks, whatever it takes.

Oswald Chambers describes such total surrender as the path to joy that repays its cost and more: when we abandon ourselves to Jesus, “the Holy Spirit gives us a taste of his joy. . . . the thought of self-sacrifice never crosses our minds, because sacrifice is the Holy Spirit’s ultimate expression of love.”

Here’s the problem: there is often a gap between surrender and the joy that repays its cost. A soul-numbing, faith-discouraging, temptation-amplifying gap. A gap between our fear of surrender and God’s transforming response to our faith.

I remember clearly the first time I heard the gospel. I was in the seventh grade; a friend invited me to ride his church’s bus to a Christian event in downtown Houston. The preacher seemed to be looking right at me when he challenged us to confess our sins and give our lives to God.

That night, walking home after getting off the bus, I looked up into the starry night and told God “no.” I remember being afraid that if I gave my life to him, he would make me miserable. He would probably make me a missionary to some distant land and keep me from doing the things I wanted to do.

I was afraid to surrender my life to him that night. I still feel that fear today. I am guessing you do as well.

“I believe; help my unbelief!”

However, here is how abiding in Christ works: we must pay its price before we experience its results.

When we order products online, we are usually required to pay for them before they are delivered. It works in the same way here: we must choose holiness before we want to be made holy. We must choose to abide in Jesus before we want to give up what it takes to abide in Jesus.

This is because Satan is a brilliant tempter, customizing his offerings to what our fallen human nature desires. We should not be surprised that we want what he is tempting us to do. If we wait until we don’t want to sin before we choose not to sin, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.

If alcoholics wait until they don’t want to drink before they start sobriety, most will never get sober. If we wait until we’re not afraid to surrender our lives to Jesus, most of us will never surrender our lives to Jesus.

So, a foundational key to abiding in Jesus is asking his Spirit for the strength to choose to abide in him. It is asking for the faith to have faith, echoing the prayer of the man who prayed my favorite prayer in Scripture: “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

It is asking for the courage to trust Jesus before we see the first results of such trust. It is stepping into the river before God stops the flood, marching around the fortified city before God destroys its walls, choosing the lions’ den before God stops the lions’ mouths.

Are you afraid that if you give your life fully to Jesus, he’ll make you a missionary to some distant land or otherwise keep you from doing what you want to do? The fact is: If he sends you to be a missionary, this is because being a missionary is absolutely what is best for your life. If he keeps you from doing what you want to do, this is because he knows that what you want to do will harm you in ways you cannot yet see.

So, what fears are keeping you from surrendering your life fully to your Savior? Do you need to ask the Spirit to help you choose such surrender today?

Why Satan lets us “get away with” sin

Here’s a second barrier to abiding in Christ: we must surrender every dimension of our lives to experience the transforming power of our Lord.

Our culture so easily separates Sunday from Monday, the spiritual from the secular, religion from the “real world.” From the time we begin attending church or doing anything else spiritual, our fallen society begins urging us to keep such activities to ourselves. God can be your hobby, they assure us, so long as you don’t force your hobby on anyone else.

As a result, we are easily deceived into believing that we can tolerate private sin with the confidence that it will never become public. But, like the sons of Samuel who “took bribes and perverted justice” in their personal dealings, our private sins will inevitably be exposed (1 Samuel 8:3–5).

In fact, if you are “getting away with” unconfessed and unrepented sin today, it’s likely because your enemy is waiting until your sins will do even more damage when they are made public. The further you climb up the cultural ladder, the farther you will fall one day, and the more your fall will injure yourself and others.

The Bible makes following Jesus incessantly and insistently holistic: taking up our “cross daily” (Luke 9:23), being “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), presenting our “bodies as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). Roman crucifixion killed every part of your body, not just your arm or leg; the Jewish sacrificial system required every part of the animal, not just its hoof or tail.

Are you leaving part of your “body” off your altar, separated from your cross? That’s like telling a surgeon there’s part of the cancer in your body you don’t want her to remove. God can heal only what we allow him to touch. He can lead into his perfect will only those who will follow.

Is there a part of your life you are afraid of submitting to Jesus? Once again, you are not yet in position to experience the results of such holistic surrender to your loving Lord, so ask his Spirit for the strength and courage you need.

And know this: the more we abide in Jesus, the more fruit we will bear for his eternal glory and our greatest good.

“You are the Beloved of God”

It comes to this: if we see ourselves as children beloved by our Father, we will see the price of obedience as the privilege of love. We will position ourselves to experience all he can give to those who trust fully in him. And others will see the reality and relevance of our faith and be drawn to its Object and Source.

Henri Nouwen observed:

“The world is only evil when you become its slave. The world has a lot to offer—just as Egypt did for the children of Jacob—as long as you don’t feel bound to obey it. The great struggle facing you is not to leave the world, to reject your ambitions and aspirations, or to despise money, prestige, or success, but to claim your spiritual truth and to live in the world as someone who doesn’t belong to it.”

As a result, Nouwen continues, “All the good things our world has to offer are yours to enjoy. But you can enjoy them truly only when you can acknowledge them as affirmations of the truth that you are the Beloved of God. The truth will set you free to receive the beauty of nature and culture in gratitude, as a sign of your Belovedness. That truth will allow you to receive the gifts you receive from your society and celebrate life.

“But that truth will also allow you to let go of what distracts you, confuses you, and puts in jeopardy the life of the Spirit within you.”

Will you claim your status as God’s Beloved today?

Denison Forum

Tesla unveiled their plan to create a humanoid robot at its AI day conference. It will be able to help around the house with tasks, get groceries, and . . . well, it’s hard to say how useful it would actually be, but it looks sleek (and existentially frightening if we think about the plot of most sci-movies on the subject).  

It’s built around the same AI technology as Tesla’s self-driving cars. They claim a prototype will be available “sometime next year,” though the technology still faces immense hurdles and will probably take longer.  

A company called Boston Dynamics already builds humanoid robots that continue to improve over time. In one video, they show off their prototype robots by having them do preprogrammed parkour. Their incredible routine ends with a backflip.  

At present, Boston Dynamics already mass manufactures robots on four legs, affectionately called “Spot.” The owner can automate Spot to accomplish tasks on its own or control it themselves. Companies in mining, oil and gas, construction, utilities, and even NASA use these robots to perform all kinds of tasks, often ones that are dangerous for humans.  

If all of that sounds terrifying, don’t worry: they’ve made sure that “humans can outrun them.”  

Isn’t that encouraging? 

Some more positive areas of futuristic development include: 

• A cranial surgery was successfully performed on an epileptic child in 2019 with the help of a robot. 
• Some robots being developed are nearly microscopic and help eliminate cancer cells.  
• In New Zealand, a company is testing drone deliveries for things like pizza. 
• Self-driving cars and humanoid delivery robots continue to be developed. 

It seems like technology is catching up to The Jetsons. 

Will humanity be “terminated”?  

The takeover of Schwarzenegger-like Terminator robots is probably not going to happen, but the movie’s AI network known as Skynet may pose a greater danger. To understand why, we need to clarify some terms. Three kinds of technology can get easily confused:  

• Robots: Robots simply do repeatable tasks. These have been used for years to make factory assembly lines more efficient and sometimes entirely automated. They can also be dancing toys for kids.
• Specific or Narrow AI: This is a program that learns and adapts. These kinds of AI can already beat humans in some of the most complex games. An AI defeated the human champion of the notoriously complex Chinese game Go. Such AI is used in self-driving cars, and, more vitally, in social media and Google. One will also find the term “deep learning,” which refers to the depth of layering in the AI’s program. Sometimes people will use the term “algorithm” to avoid confusion with artificial general intelligence.
• Artificial general intelligence (AGI): No one has developed an AGI (at least, not publicly). AGI would perform a wide range of cognitive tasks at the same level or better than humans. AGI could learn, like a child, how to play multiple kinds of games and navigate different problems fluidly. This could conceivably mean that the AGI would experience creativity and even emotions. 

Though AGI is what most people think of when they hear the acronym AI, companies that use AI are utilizing narrow AI. AGI raises philosophical questions: Would it be self-aware? Would it have a mind? Would it be “alive?” Though interesting, we’ll put off those inquiries for another time. 

Physicist and machine learning expert Max Tegmark argues that humanity will probably not be overtaken by robots. If an AGI were set on gaining power, it wouldn’t need robots. It could just influence people through their phones, control computers, and leverage the economy. That concept is a bit more frightening than skull robots with machine guns if you ask me.  

That said, Tegmark is optimistic about the positives of AGI if we control it well. Some experts doubt whether AGI will ever exist, though surprisingly most think it will be invented in the next century.  

The far more prevalent issue of today is companies’ usage of narrow AI.  

How TikTok employs machine learning to keep you watching  

The key component of AI is “machine learning,” which makes predictions based on large amounts of data. Give it data about how long one hundred million people spent watching a cat on YouTube and it will interpret that data to know who else might like to watch that video.  

The site that probably utilizes this most efficiently is TikTok. In TikTok, people refer to the narrow AI as the algorithm. The ubiquitous algorithm learns the user’s preferences over time so that the content changes to exactly fit each person. Their feed will become dominated by what they spend the most time watching, whether it’s cooking, political, informational, DIY, funny, or even ironic videos making fun of TikTok itself. The variety of TikTok content is astounding; it has something for everyone.  

Endless swiping and millions of creators provide nearly limitless content, and what’s presented is actively personalized by a massive AI network. It’s no wonder that TikTok users spend an average of one hour per day on the app and that 90 percent of TikTok users view it daily.  

This strategy leads to some predictable downfalls. 

If someone watches conspiracy videos from certain creators, the AI will begin showing the user what they want to see—probably more conspiracy videos. Just like in other social media sites, this can lead to inbred thinking. On TikTok, though, the effective AI makes it particularly compounded.  

Additionally, though TikTok technically regulates pornography, the content is nonetheless often heavily sexualized, and loopholes to pornography exist, especially for users who want to see it. Many users won’t see any sexual content on TikTok, but that’s because each individual’s feed is personalized to them.  

TikTok’s explosive growth demonstrates the power of AI.  

AI is everywhere  

Though TikTok is a prevalent example, narrow AI’s influence is not limited to that demographic. Essentially every major media site now uses targeted advertisements with the help of AI. 

• Amazon predicts what purchases their shoppers will want, personalizing the home page to incentivize buying.
• Netflix predicts what shows will keep its users on their site. The AI can also choose a still shot from a movie to show as the cover seen on the homepage and changes it to renew interest in its users. This is why Netflix’s homepage appears differently for different people. 
• Gmail and Google Docs will often predict the next word a writer will type (and is, in fact, doing so as I write this article).
• Facebook identifies people’s faces and interprets the content of posts to target advertisements based on conversations. 
• Google uses AI for translation. The AI learns and improves over time so that Google Translate will improve year over year.
• YouTube uses AI to flag videos, recommend the next videos, and, again, target ads.
• Spotify uses machine learning to customize each listener’s experience. 

The list goes on. I recommend this article for a helpful summary. 

Remember, each of these AIs are narrow and specifically designed for each task. Each company is not using one universal AI and applying it to their goals. That would require AGI.  

Nonetheless, AI is a powerful tool. In certain applications, AI, just like robots, efficiently solves problems and works for everyone’s benefit. At the same time, tools in the hands of sinful people will lead to abuse.  

AI does whatever it is designed to do very, very well. If AI is designed to keep people watching TikTok and YouTube, it will do that. Predictably, the better machine learning has become, the better it keeps people on their phones. The negative effects of high screen times have been written about widely.

Does the Bible speak to this modern invention?  

What does the Bible say about AI?    

The biblical implications of AGI, a conscious artificial mind, would take far longer to cover (though it may become necessary at some point). For now, we’ll just cover narrow AI and two dangers Christians should be aware of.  

AI magnifies temptation

Since AI has the unique ability to magnify what users want, it, therefore, magnifies fleshly desires. Certainly, this is true of sexual temptations. It is also true of countless other sins: jealousy, self-indulgence, etc. AI will follow whatever vice it gets a hold of. It knows to sell alcohol to alcoholics; it knows to peddle sin to sinners.  

The Bible says to flee sexual immorality and the desires of the flesh (1 Corinthians 6:18; Romans 8:5). If certain platforms cause temptation, throw them away or limit them. Know that Satan can use algorithms to magnify temptations. 

Someone I know became addicted to buying unnecessary things from Amazon and had to impose restrictions on his own bank account. 

If the hand causes sin, cut it off (Matthew 5:30).  

AI magnifies time-wasting

Fasting reminds us of God’s provision and leads to thankfulness. Fasting from social media can create the practical effect of detaching us from the grip of its influence. 

This past week, I spent a ludicrous amount of time on YouTube, and so decided to take a break from it for at least a week. In the past year, my mother completely deleted her Facebook account due to having wasted too much time on the site. 

Paul writes, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17). 

Don’t let this become legalism or judgmentalism, and certainly do not fast so that others will see you—social media isn’t evil. Nonetheless, we must be wise with our screen time and remember that algorithms are actively trying to keep us online.  

It’s clear that AI is used for good in many of its applications. As Christians, however, we must be aware of its grip and know that Satan can use it against us. Let us be “crafty as serpents and innocent as doves” and honestly know ourselves and our own sin (Matthew 10:16; Lamentations 3:40).  

Before we turn our eyes to screens, let us turn our eyes to Christ.

Denison Forum

Who are your heroes? Let me nominate a few more today.

An all-volunteer group of American veterans of the Afghanistan war launched a mission last Wednesday to shepherd hundreds of at-risk Afghan elite forces and their families to safety. ABC News reports that the group, dubbed the “Pineapple Express,” launched their rescue “after nightfall in near-pitch black darkness and extremely dangerous conditions.”

Working unofficially in tandem with the US military and American embassy, they moved people inside the wire of the US military-controlled side of Hamid Karzai International Airport. As of Thursday morning, the group said it had brought as many as five hundred Afghan special operators, assets, and enablers along with their families into the Kabul airport, handing each of them over to US military protective custody.

Their operation was an element of “Task Force Pineapple,” an informal group whose mission began August 15 as a frantic effort to rescue a former Afghan commando who had served with them and was being hunted by the Taliban. These current and former US special operators, aid workers, intelligence officers, and others with experience in Afghanistan ended up smuggling more than 130 people over ten days into the airport.

When we face an enemy more powerful than ourselves, we need the help of someone more powerful than our enemy.

This fact is true not only in Afghanistan but where you live as well.

Harvard’s atheist chief chaplain

By now, you’ve probably seen reports that Harvard University’s new chief chaplain is an atheist. Greg Epstein, who has been the university’s humanist chaplain since 2005, is author of the book Good Without God.

In a day of “angry atheists” such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, I expected such vitriol from him. But when I read his book a few years ago, I was impressed with his purpose:

“If this book accomplishes one thing for or on behalf of the billion nonreligious people, let it not be that we learn how better to convince others that there is no God, or that religion is evil. May we encourage more hospital visits by the nonreligious, both literally and metaphorically. May we do more good work together and build something positive in this world—the only world we will ever have. May we focus more on the ‘good’ than on the ‘without God.’”

Epstein is confident that nonreligious people can “build something positive in this world” because of his “informed conviction that humanity has the ability to progress toward its highest ideals.” He adds, “The responsibility for our lives and the kind of world in which we live is ours and ours alone.”

The thesis of his book and his work is simple: “We don’t look to a god for answers. We are each other’s answers.”

However, let’s ask Dr. Phil’s question: How’s that working for us?

A diplomat’s daughter beheaded in Pakistan

Officials in Louisiana have begun surveying the wreckage left by Hurricane Ida. At one point, more than a million people were without power. At least one death so far has been attributed to the storm. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Kate has formed in the Atlantic and constitutes the eleventh named storm in this busy hurricane season.

In Brazil, bank robbers strapped hostages to their getaway cars as human shields, targeting three different banks Monday and tying victims to the roofs and hoods of ten vehicles. The United Nations atomic agency is reporting that North Korea appears to have restarted its main nuclear reactor used to produce weapon fuels, openly threatening to enlarge its nuclear arsenal.

A diplomat’s daughter was beheaded in Pakistan. A man in Uganda who had converted from Islam to Christianity was tied up and murdered by his father after refusing to forsake his faith in Jesus.

And stories of atrocities and violence continue to surface daily from Afghanistan. For example, a former interior minister reported that the Taliban “brutally killed” a popular folk singer days after claiming that “music is forbidden” in Islam. And a human rights group is warning that “an estimated ten thousand Christians, many of whom are ‘guilty’ of converting from Islam,” are at risk of being “targeted with deadly violence” in the country.

“Reproductive Freedom Congregations” in Texas

To repeat: when we face an enemy more powerful than ourselves, we need the help of someone more powerful than our enemy.

Yesterday, we identified ways you and I can help people facing the storms of life. Today, let’s identify the enemy behind these storms and the only One more powerful than he is.

Satan is the original terrorist. Jesus called him “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). Speaking of the devil, our Lord warned us that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). When we see stealing and killing and destroying, we can know that our enemy is at work.

He is the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), the “prince of this world” (John 12:31), and the “deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). Jesus declared: “When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

This verse is especially relevant to the trials we face today: “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

For example, Satan has so “blinded the minds” of ISIS and other jihadist groups that they think they are serving God by killing Christians. He has so blinded the minds of atheists like Greg Epstein that they think they can solve our most intractable problems without the help of an omnipotent God. He has so blinded the minds of postmodern secularists that they think “their truth” is “the truth.”

Satan can deceive those who claim to be Christians as well. For example, Religious News Service reports that “Reproductive Freedom Congregations” in Texas are “publicly declaring their support” for abortion. And stories about clergy accused of sexual abuse tragically make the news seemingly every day.

Four steps to spiritual victory

Satan is very real and very dangerous. For that reason, we’ll close with practical ways to win the spiritual battles we face. Let’s identify four essential principles.

One: Expect to be attacked.

Scripture warns: “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). “Your” is addressed to Christians. If Jesus is your Lord, Satan is your adversary.

Two: Admit that you cannot defeat him in your strength.

The devil is better at tempting than we are at resisting. Just as he “deceived Eve by his cunning” (2 Corinthians 11:3), so he deceives and defeats those who try to withstand his assaults with human capacities.

Three: Surrender to the power of God.

This verse is key: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Note the order: submit and then you can resist.

And note God’s promise: when you submit to God and resist the devil, “he will flee from you.” There is no temptation you cannot defeat in the power of your Lord. His word is clear: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

So begin every day by being “filled” with the Spirit (see this article for practical steps to take each morning). Then surrender your temptations and trials to the One who “is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Four: Turn temptation into immediate prayer.

Scripture warns us: “Do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:27). Here’s how: develop the reflex of taking your temptations instantly to God, submitting them to him and seeking the power of his Spirit.

Erasmus was right: Satan hates nothing so much as for his evil to be used for good. When you use temptations as opportunities for trust, you glorify your Lord and frustrate your enemy.

“Don’t let the storm turn you inward”

I just finished Max Lucado’s encouraging book, You Are Never Alone: Trust in the Miracle of God’s Presence and Power. Let’s close by claiming some of his insights about God’s provision and grace as our Father’s gifts to us today.

Max notes: “You’re stronger than you think because God is nearer than you know.” When we trust our temptations and challenges to our Lord, “Your problem becomes his pathway. The challenge you face becomes a canvas upon which Christ can demonstrate his finest work.”

As a result, he counsels, “Don’t let the storm turn you inward. Let it turn you upward.” But Max also reminds us that we must truly trust our storm to our Savior, warning us that “contingent faith is the faith of sidewalk chalk: it’s beautiful when the sun shines, but it washes away when the rain falls.”

And he also warns us against self-sufficiency that trusts more in ourselves than in our Lord, quoting Charles Spurgeon: “It is not our littleness that hinders Christ, but our bigness. It is not our weakness that hinders Christ; it is our strength. It is not our darkness that hinders Christ; it is our supposed light that holds back his hand.”

By contrast, Jesus is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). This “power at work within us” is the Holy Spirit who already indwells every Christian (1 Corinthians 3:20).

In other words, you already have within you all that you need to trust the God who is for you to defeat the enemy who attacks you.

My youth minister was right

You and I live in a world filled with spiritual conflict: “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

My high school youth minister was right: we are either running into Satan or we are running with him.

There is no third option.

However, be encouraged: when you run into Satan, this means you are running with God.

With whom will you run today?

Denison Forum

Dawn broke yesterday over the Hurricane Katrina memorial on the Louisiana Gulf Coast. The granite cross was erected in 2006 beside a plaque engraved with the names of 163 people who lost their lives to the storm in this area. Each year on August 29, a remembrance ceremony is held here.

I wonder if those who built the memorial and those who made a pilgrimage to it every year thereafter imagined that another monster storm would come ashore in the same place on the same day.

Hurricane Ida swept ashore near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, yesterday afternoon as a devastating Category 4 hurricane. With winds of 150 mph, it tied as the state’s most powerful storm with Laura from last year and the Last Island Hurricane of 1856.

All of New Orleans is without power this morning as the storm continues marching northward through Louisiana. It has weakened to a tropical storm, but life-threatening flash flooding is continuing.

This devastation feels personal to me. I was honored earlier this year to deliver the keynote address for the second time at the Louisiana Governor’s Prayer Breakfast. I have been privileged to pray personally with Gov. John Bel Edwards and know the governor and his wife to be people of deep personal faith. Many of the religious leaders in the state have become personal friends.

Undoubtedly you know the frustrating impotence of wanting to help friends and loved ones face suffering beyond our capacity to remedy. The loss of a spouse, parent, or child; a diagnosis of terminal disease; the collapse of a marriage—there are storms we cannot calm and broken hearts we cannot mend.

When the two collide, what are we to do? What are some biblical ways we can help friends in a hurricane?

One: Be prepared.

Because of the Fall, “the whole creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:22). You and I inhabit broken bodies on a broken planet.

As a result, the first step to helping people in storms is to expect and prepare for storms.

My wife’s parents retired from Houston, Texas, to a farm they built in northern Arkansas. When they built their house, they also built a tornado shelter. When they stocked their kitchen, they stocked their shelter. They knew that the only time to prepare for a storm is before it arrives.

If you doubt the urgency of preparing for disaster, just read today’s news.

For example, the remains of thirteen fallen American heroes were brought home from Afghanistan yesterday. Marine Corp Sgt. Nicole L. Gee was one of them. The bombing killed her six days after the Pentagon tweeted a picture of her cradling an Afghan infant in her arms in Kabul. Gee reposted that photo on Instagram with the caption, “I love my job.”

President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden met with a number of family members present at Dover Air Force Base for the transfer. If you were the president, what would you say to them?

The US is projected to see nearly one hundred thousand more COVID-19 deaths between now and December 1. Seventeen-year-old Jo’Keria Graham was one victim, dying of COVID-19 just a few days before she was to start her senior year of high school. Louisiana hospitals anticipating victims of Hurricane Ida are already packed with patients from the latest coronavirus surge.

Physician Mona Amin told a reporter, “Children are getting hospitalized at higher rates than we’ve ever seen.” She added: “As this Delta variant surges, we are also seeing children of vaccinated parents get admitted for hospitalization for COVID.”

What would you say to their parents?

Two: Be empowered.

Christ the Redeemer will soon have a rival: Christ the Protector. The former is an iconic 125-foot statue of Jesus overlooking Rio de Janeiro; the latter is a 140-foot statue under construction seven hundred miles to the south.

The Wall Street Journal describes Christ the Protector as “one of about three dozen giant statues of Jesus that have been constructed around the world during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.” The tallest is a 253-foot statue of Jesus planned in Tamaulipas, Mexico, though so far the project has stalled.

The article explains their popularity: “Even the nonreligious can find solace in a benevolent figure who expresses protection and welcoming.”

Here’s the good news: you can experience such “protection and welcoming” from the real Jesus right now. And you can pray for his compassion for hurting souls to empower your own.

Unlike other religious figures venerated through statues and idols around the world, our Savior has experienced the pain he now redeems. He walked through the same terrifying storm from which he spared Peter (Matthew 14:22–31). He suffered the same hunger, thirst, weariness, and pain he now helps us endure. He faced the temptations he empowers us to defeat (Hebrews 4:15–16).

In God Will Help You, Max Lucado writes: “When we feel lonely, knowing someone understands can make all the difference. You can be surrounded by people but still feel lonely if you don’t feel known. And you can be alone but not lonely if you are known. God became flesh so we would always feel known by him” (his emphasis).

Now we can seek his heart for the hurting people we know.

Our Savior is praying right now for the victims of Hurricane Ida, the crisis in Afghanistan, the coronavirus pandemic, and untold other calamities (Romans 8:34). Join your Savior by asking him for his heart for hurting hearts today.

Three: Be present.

My father suffered a near-fatal heart attack when I was two years old. He was then a heart patient for all the years I knew him before dying ten days before Christmas during my senior year of college.

The events surrounding his death were and are a blur to me. I remember virtually nothing about Dad’s memorial service, burial, and the days before and after.

But I will always remember a friend from college who drove across Houston the day after Dad’s death to spend the day with me. He did not speak a word that I recall. But his unconditional presence felt to me like the presence of Jesus.

That’s because it was. It’s nearly unbelievable but steadfastly true: Christians are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). We are the visible manifestation of Jesus’ continuing ministry in our world. When we are present with people in their suffering, Jesus is present with them in their suffering.

After we pray in the spirit of Christ, we can answer our prayers by being the presence of Christ.

If you’re in crisis, my first inclination as a trained theologian is to theologize with you. If you’ll sit quietly for a while, I’ll explain to you how the Augustinian free-will theodicy relates to the fall of creation and the hurricanes and other disasters that result. I’ll tell you how Irenaeus’ soul-building model is relevant to your pain, then I’ll outline the eschatological and existential approaches favored by some scholars.

My college friend would sit at your side. When you’re in the storm, which approach would you prefer?

Some doctors treat diseases; other doctors treat patients. When your friend is in the storm, be the latter.

Four: Be prayerful.

What about those with whom you cannot be present?

Though I have been to Louisiana many times over the years, I cannot safely go to its devastated cities and towns this morning. But my prayers can.

I have never been to Afghanistan. I am not invited to the military funerals of our heroes killed there last week. I cannot stand alongside those who are risking their lives for us and those who are grieving for the fallen. But my prayers can.

I cannot be with the family and friends of veteran actor Ed Asner after his death yesterday at the age of ninety-one. I cannot safely visit a COVID-19 ward or fight wildfires in the West.

But my prayers can.

What about those whose suffering is largely their fault? Oswald Chambers was right: “Discernment is God’s call to intercession, never to fault finding.”

God’s word counsels us: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6, my emphases). As you read the news, pray the news. And pray for the mind and heart of Christ in the power of the Spirit to guide you as you pray.

Five: Be practical.

Texas Baptist Men is the third-largest voluntary disaster relief organization in the US, after the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Their courageous initiative models the best of Christian benevolence.

When others run from disaster, they run to it.

Today is an example. Volunteers are headed to Louisiana this morning in multiple teams, bringing a large kitchen team and a chainsaw team as part of their relief efforts. My wife and I have already donated to their efforts; you can join us here. You can also support the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, and other organizations as they mobilize to help.

God’s word is clear: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10, my emphasis).

What “gift” have you received?

Whom will you serve with it today?

“Sore must be the storm”

Are you prepared for the storms you will face today? Empowered by Jesus’ compassion? Present? Prayerful? Practical?

Emily Dickinson wrote:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet—never—in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of me.

But it does. Hope asks more than a “crumb” of us—it asks us to give it to everyone in “the Gale” today.

Will someone be glad tomorrow that you read this article today?

Denison Forum

Kanye West filed court documents Tuesday to legally change his name to “Ye.” He wants to get rid of his full name—Kanye Omari West—in favor of his longtime nickname with no middle or last name. His parents gave him the name he has carried for his forty-four years of life, but now he wants to rename himself.

In other news, researchers evaluated more than 5,800 foods and their impact on human health and the environment. Among their discoveries: eating a serving of nuts could add twenty-six minutes to your lifespan. However, eating a single hot dog could cost you thirty-six minutes of life. 

By contrast, prayer has been demonstrated clinically to lower depression and anxiety and reduce anger and aggression. Studies also show that prayer can foster a sense of connection with God and others and strengthen marriages. 

However, to pray in transformative ways, we need to “name” ourselves as our Father sees us. 

As we continue our weeklong series on the Holy Spirit, let’s explore today some practical steps we can take to pray in the Spirit in ways that change our lives and our world. 

A woman has an emotional affair with a chimpanzee 

A woman in Belgium has been banned from the Antwerp Zoo after her four-year-long emotional affair with a chimpanzee. Their relationship through the glass surrounding the ape’s enclosure has become so close that it is adversely affecting the primate’s relationships with the zoo’s other chimpanzees. 

We were created for intimacy with our Creator. When we seek intimacy outside his intention for us, the results can be damaging to us and others. 

Seeking such intimacy with the Almighty is urgent, for tomorrow is promised to no one. 

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts made headlines with his death Tuesday at the age of eighty. A beloved Anglican pastor in Tennessee, the Rev. Thomas McKenzie, was killed with his daughter Charlie in a car crash Monday morning. The wreck occurred just thirty minutes after he announced on social media that he was driving her to her senior year of college. 

The good news is that our Father is as close as our next prayer. We are taught to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) because God listens “without ceasing.” He is not bound by the space-time continuum in which we exist, which means he has all of eternity to hear your next prayer. 

And he wants to: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). 

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is meeting with US President Joe Biden later today. Even though I have been to Israel more than thirty times and am a lifelong citizen of the US, I could not meet with either of them. The heads of some of the world’s biggest tech companies met yesterday with President Biden. I was not invited; nor were you, I suspect. 

But you and I can meet with the King of the universe right now. 

Praying on the Temple Mount 

Israel made headlines this week when it began allowing Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, an area previously reserved for prayer only for Muslims. I have prayed at the Western Wall more than thirty times and have visited the Temple Mount numerous times as well. However, due to coronavirus issues, I have not been back to the Holy Land in nearly two years. 

The good news is that I don’t need to be near the site of the ancient temple to meet God in prayer. He is as close as my knees. 

In fact, he’s even closer. 

Paul asks, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). Not only does the Spirit live in believers—when “we do not know what to pray for as we ought,” the good news is that “the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). What’s more, “the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (v. 27). 

When you and I pray, God’s Spirit prays for us and through us. We don’t need to worry that we don’t know what to pray, because he does. He knows “the will of God” and will always pray effectively as a result. 

In fact, the Spirit’s role in prayer redefines our role. Eugene Peterson observed, “If the Holy Spirit—God’s way of being with us, working through us, and speaking to us—is the way in which continuity is maintained between the life of Jesus and the life of Jesus’ community, prayer is the primary way in which the community actively receives and participates in that presence and working and speaking. Prayer is our way of being attentively present to God who is present to us in the Holy Spirit.” 

In response, Kristen Deede Johnson notes: “Scripture is promising that the Spirit himself is interceding for us all the time! We never fully know what we ought to pray for, and that’s all right. The Spirit will take whatever we offer, however rich or impoverished our words are, however present or distracted we feel, and intercede for us in accordance with God’s will. Thanks be to God!” (her italics). 

“God rebuilt my life of prayer” 

In addition, God’s Son is praying to his Father for us: “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34). Since he “always lives to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25), you can know that Jesus is praying for you right now.

One more factor: God’s word helps us pray. 

Johnson quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s statement in Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible: “God’s speech in Jesus Christ meets us in the Holy Scriptures. If we wish to pray with confidence and gladness, then the words of Holy Scripture will have to be the solid basis of our prayer.” Johnson responds: “Praying with the borrowed words of the Bible was one way God rebuilt my life of prayer on a more solid basis, reminding me that prayer is answering God, not generating my relationship with God.” 

Here’s what we’ve learned so far: 

• God the Father is listening for your next prayer.
• God the Son is praying for you right now.
• God the Spirit is praying through you.
• God’s word will guide your words as you pray its promises and truths.

As a result, prayer is about positioning ourselves to experience the triune God in the guidance of his word. We need not worry about praying correctly—if we truly seek him, we will find him (Jeremiah 29:13; cf. Proverbs 8:17). If we will make time to listen before we speak, we will hear his voice through his word, worship, and world. 

What’s more, through our time of intimacy with our Father, his Spirit will mold us into the character of his Son (Romans 8:29). As a carpenter must touch the wood he shapes and a painter must touch the canvas she paints, so the Lord must “touch” us to sanctify us (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:23). He does this most fully and powerfully through prayer. 

“They end up less than human” 

Here’s our problem and our opportunity: you and I will experience the Spirit’s transforming power to the degree that we are yielded to the Spirit’s transforming power. 

As we have noted all week, we are commanded by God to be “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), surrendering daily to his cleansing, leading, and empowering. Have you taken the steps necessary to be filled by him today? If not, why not? 

One way the Enemy tempts us to resist being filled by the Spirit is to deceive us into believing that we don’t need what the Spirit can do in our lives. He knows that self-sufficiency is the enemy of the Spirit’s power. That’s why self-reliance is trumpeted every day by our fallen culture. 

According to author Thomas B. Smith, “If it is to be, it’s up to me.” Albert Camus claimed, “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” William Ernest Henley testified, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” 

In The Magna Carta of Humanity: Sinai’s Revolutionary Faith and the Future of Freedom, cultural commentatorOs Guinness points to the postmodern “hermeneutics of suspicion” by which generations of college students have been taught that “all relations are negotiated solely by power.” Thus, “the best protection against the unwanted power of others is to approach everyone with suspicion. . . . The outcome is an aging society fueled by pervasive suspicion, mistrust, rumor, conspiracy theories, and cynicism. Nothing is what it appears to be and no one can be trusted, so suspicion is the best insurance against the mounting menace of manipulation by the power of others.” 

While we are taught to be suspicious of the “power motives” of everyone else, we are ironically encouraged to embrace our own. Guinness cites Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus, which claims that humans will become “godlings” due to the fruits of artificial intelligence and biogenetic engineering. 

Guinness responds by quoting Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: “When humans try to be more than human, they end up less than human.” 

“Only God can make a tree” 

By contrast, you and I can experience today the transformational power of the One who made humans and everything else in our remarkable universe. Joyce Kilmer testified:

I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest / Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day, / And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear / A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me, / But only God can make a tree.

Now God is waiting on your next prayer. 

Let’s sum up what we’ve discovered today: 

• You were made for intimacy with our Maker.
• He longs for such intimacy with you.
• God the Father is listening for your next prayer.
• God the Son is praying for you right now.
• God the Spirit is praying through you right now.
• God’s word will guide your words as you pray its promises and truths.
• However, you must reject the culture’s insistence on self-reliance.
• If you submit your mind and life to God’s Spirit right now in prayer, you will experience his transforming presence and grace.

Robert Robinson prayed these now-famous words: 

Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the Lord I love.
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Have you given your heart to Jesus yet today?

Denison Forum