Cheslie Kryst was a Division I athlete. She earned a law degree and an MBA at Wake Forest University, then became a civil litigation attorney doing pro bono work to reduce sentences for inmates. She won the Miss USA pageant in 2019 and earned a spot in the top ten at the Miss Universe competition. She then became a correspondent for the entertainment news program Extra.

Last Sunday, according to police, she jumped from a Manhattan building and was pronounced dead at the scene. Yesterday, the medical examiner said she died by suicide. She was thirty years old.

Before she jumped, Cheslie posted a cryptic message on her Instagram page: “May this day bring you rest and peace.” However, in March 2021 she wrote a transparent and lengthy essay in which she said, “I discovered that the world’s most important question, especially when asked repeatedly and answered frankly, is: why?” She added: “Why work so hard to capture the dreams I’ve been taught by society to want when I continue to only find emptiness?”

“Do not work for the food that perishes”

I could not find information online about Cheslie Kryst’s faith or whether she suffered from depression. I do understand that many people who trust in Jesus suffer from this debilitating disease. And I also know from personal and pastoral experience that followers of Jesus sometimes die by suicide.

At the same time, it seems that Cheslie’s article spoke for people across our society today when she described finding only “emptiness” in her life.

According to new data from the General Social Survey, Americans are more unhappy than we’ve been in half a century. In 1972, people who said they were “very happy” outnumbered those who said they were “not too happy” by about three-to-one. In 2021, that all changed: now the latter outnumber the former by 5 percent.

One of the keys to finding fulfillment in a society that produces emptiness is to look to its one true source. Jesus urged us: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27). This is a binary choice. He then identified this “food”: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (v. 35).

What Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in his diary

Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote in his journal as if recording an unusual event, “I have been to church today, and am not depressed.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., a member of the US Supreme Court for thirty years, once explained his career choice: “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.”

If Jesus came to give us “life in all its fullness” (John 10:10 NCV), why are more Christians not more known for our joy?

As I noted in yesterday’s Daily Article, the Bible describes the “fruit of the Spirit” as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). It calls us to “walk by the Spirit” (v. 16) so that we might experience and manifest his “fruit,” including his “joy.”

In describing ways we can do this, I wrote that we must “refuse all temptations to stray from him even if Christian leaders and churches do so” and added, “This is such an important point that we will devote tomorrow’s article to it.”

I believe that one of the reasons more Christians do not experience more of the joy of the Spirit lies here. As Yuval Levin notes in his brilliant book, A Time to Build, institutions that once molded the character of their members in line with their mission and values have now become platforms for personal advancement and status. Many political, business, educational, and media leaders leverage the institutions they serve to advance their personal “brands.”

Pastors and other religious leaders are not immune.

“For me it is good to be near God”

In a day filled with historic challenges and rising opposition to the Christian faith, as confidence in our governmental leaders continues to erode, we are looking for people we can trust. This is especially alluring with faith leaders since they are presumably people of high character who are committed to serving our Lord and his people.

In addition, such leaders typically have educational and life experience most do not. It is natural to turn to them to help us interpret and apply the Bible, seek and follow God’s direction for our lives, and otherwise navigate the whitewater rapids of our rapidly changing culture.

However, people—even faith leaders—cannot give us lasting joy. Neither can possessions or popularity. You and I were created by God for intimacy with God. He designed us in such a way that we can be ultimately satisfied with nothing less than such intimacy with him.

The psalmist testified, “For me it is good to be near God” (Psalm 73:28a). Consequently, he continued, “I have made the Lord Gᴏᴅ my refuge” (v. 28b). With the result “that I may tell of all your works” (v. 28c). Knowledge led to experience led to proclamation, not the reverse.

“God always has more to reveal to us”

Two results follow.

One: Decide which faith leaders to trust based on the degree to which they follow Jesus and lead you to him. Seek to discern whether they are “near God” in their personal lives and whether he is their “refuge” and the source of what they say and do.

Two: Depend on the Spirit to do what no human can. Meet daily with your Lord in worship and his word. Ask his Spirit to “fill” and control your mind and life (Ephesians 5:18). Focus less on the “milk” (digested food) available to you through others and more on the “meat” of meeting personally and directly with your Father (1 Corinthians 3:2).

Br. Curtis Almquist of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston writes: “God always has more to reveal to us, and this will be in harmony with what God has already revealed. Pay attention to life. The greatness, glory, and wonder of God’s essence is beyond description, because God is always more: more than we can describe, understand, and experience.”

Will you seek “more” of God today than ever before?

NOTE: If you are having thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or click here. If you know someone who is battling severe depression, you might consult this advice from experts on ways to help.

Denison Forum

With his victory yesterday at the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal has now won more Grand Slam titles than any man in tennis history. By any measure, he is one of the “Greatest Of All Time” and thus by acronym a “GOAT.”

Of course, when sports fans speak of GOATs these days, they’re most likely referring to Tom Brady. By virtue of his seven Super Bowl rings, he is widely considered the GOAT of his sport.

As a result, the internet was abuzz over the weekend with reports that Brady is going to retire, counterclaims that he has not made up his mind, and assertions that he is “expected” to retire but has not made his decision known, perhaps for financial reasons.

While scores of recent headlines have been devoted to Brady and his future, my wife and I have been especially following a story that deserves more attention than it has received. New York City police officer Jason Rivera was gunned down with his partner last week when they responded to a family dispute. Rivera, age twenty-two, was memorialized in St. Patrick’s Cathedral last Friday.

As ABC News reports, police filled the pews and “a sea of blue uniforms stretched for blocks as snow drifted outside the city’s iconic church.” Mayor Eric Adams, a retired NYPD captain, told the assembled crowds, “He did it for the right reasons—he wanted to make a difference.”

What makes someone great?

Greatness in our culture is typically measured by personal achievement and public acclaim.

An athlete who wins Grand Slams or Super Bowls is “great.” CEOs and politicians are measured by the “Three P’s”: performance, popularity, and possessions. For pastors, the standards are similarly alliterated: buildings, budgets, and baptisms.

Sacrificial service is seldom considered. I know pastors who are serving in smaller congregations and towns but whose ministries are remarkably effective. Police officers risk their lives for us every day, but we seem not to recognize their service unless one of them makes the sacrifice all are willing to make.

In our confused and broken culture, it is as if we must decide between public excellence and personal service. This is a choice Jesus did not need to make.

“No man ever spoke like this man”

Our Lord achieved astounding popularity during his public ministry. The gospels report that “great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan” (Matthew 4:25). They were “astonished at his teaching” (Matthew 7:28) and said of his ministry, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel” (Matthew 9:33).

When the authorities sent soldiers to arrest him, they reported, “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46). His private character was as exemplary as his public ministry (cf. Hebrews 4:15).

Near the end of his life, Napoleon Bonaparte stated, “There is between Christianity and other religions the distance of infinity.” He then explained: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon sheer force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men will die for him.”

Now Jesus is ready to inspire and empower us to achieve the kind of public excellence and personal character that empowers our witness and transforms our culture. But there is a simple yet transforming decision we must make first.

A binary choice that changes everything

Galatians 5 exhorts us: “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (v. 16–17).

This is a binary choice. As fallen human beings, if we are not submitted to the Spirit, we are by default submitted to the “flesh.” If we are not empowered by the Spirit, we are empowered by the “flesh.” How can we tell the difference?

“The works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (vv. 19–21). Do you see any of these in your life? Does the world see any of these in your life?

By contrast, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (vv. 22–23). Do you see any of these in your life? Does the world see any of these in your life?

Four steps to true greatness

How do we “walk by the Spirit”? The same way we walk with anyone else.

1. Decide that we want to walk with him. I urge you to make this choice right now.
2. Begin to walk with him. You can do so at this moment. Stop reading this article and turn to God in prayer. Ask the Spirit to take control of your mind and life (Ephesians 5:18). Pray through your day, submitting it to his authority. Trust that he is answering your prayer and will lead if you follow and bless as you trust.
3. Stay close to him, listening to him and speaking with him. Oswald Chambers offers some simple but profound advice: “Get into the habit of saying, ‘Speak, Lord,’ and life will become a romance. Every time circumstances press, say, ‘Speak, Lord’; make time to listen.” He assures us, “As we listen, our ear gets acute, and, like Jesus, we shall hear God all the time.”
4. Refuse all temptations to stray from him even if Christian leaders and churches do so. This is such an important point that we will devote tomorrow’s article to it.

“Be sure to taste the moment to the full”

If we “walk by the Spirit,” Jesus will make our lives great in every way that truly matters. He will mold our character to be more like his every day (Romans 8:29). He will lead us to places and people where we can serve eternity most fully and effectively. He will use us in ways the world may or may not recognize but that his Father will reward forever (Matthew 25:21).

Let’s begin or renew our journey to true excellence today. Henri Nouwen wrote: “Be sure to taste the moment to the full. The Lord always reveals himself to you where you are most fully present. In your prayer, try to present your anxieties, struggles, and fears to him, and let him show you the way to follow him.

“More important than anything else is to follow the Lord. The rest is secondary. If you follow him, you can follow him as a priest, a lay minister, as a single person, or as a married person, but what really counts is that he is the center.”

Who or what is your “center” today?

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