I have never felt more conflicted as a sports fan than I was last night as I watched Luka Dončić demolish my Dallas Mavericks. On one hand, I wanted the Mavs to win as they continue their quest to make the 2025 playoffs. On the other, I wanted “Luka magic” to show up at the American Airlines Center as it has over the years since the Slovenian teenager was drafted by the team.

I was so shocked by his trade to the Lakers two months ago that I assumed it must be “fake news” even after reports were confirmed. Watching last night’s pregame video tribute to him, I was moved by the way he was moved to tears. When the game began, it didn’t take long for Dallas fans to see in person what we are now missing.

Luke scored forty-five points in a Lakers win, becoming only the second player (after Wilt Chamberlain) to score that many both for and against the same team in the same season.

In other news, The Great Gatsby turns one hundred today. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel tells the story of its title character through the eyes of his neighbor, Nick Carraway, described by the New York Times as “a Yale grad with a philosophical streak.” The Times summarizes the plot: “Gatsby winds up dead, shot by the wrong jealous husband, and Nick is left to ruminate on the meaning of his friend’s sad, perplexing, and somehow quintessentially American life.”

Centennial celebrations will include a Library of Congress reading and the Empire State Building being illuminated in green (Gatsby’s symbol of hope).

“Americans Want to Be Rich”

By now you’re wondering what these stories have in common and why a cultural apologist would choose to write about them. Here’s a point they both make, one I need to remember: this world is not enough because it cannot be enough.

But Jesus is.

My thoughts are inspired by an Atlantic article published yesterday that helps explain the recent furor over tariffs and stock market volatility. Titled “Americans Want to Be Rich,” it reports:

• Roughly 79 percent of Americans describe money as “extremely” or “very” important to them.
• Eighty-four percent say there’s “nothing wrong” with trying to make as much money as they can.
• Sixty percent believe that “most rich people earned their wealth.”
• American parents put much more weight on their children being “financially independent” and having an enjoyable career than they do on those children getting married or having children themselves.

As a result, when Washington or anyone else threatens our finances, we react with predictable anger and angst.

However, our wealth (or lack thereof) is as impermanent as a basketball game. Whether our team (or favorite player) wins or loses, the game is soon over and there’s always another one to play, this season or the next. All wealthy people eventually go the way of the “great Gatsby,” whatever the means of their demise, along with the rest of us mortals.

This world cannot be enough because it was never intended to fill the God-shaped emptiness with which we are all made. As I noted in today’s Daily Article, trying to understand and use the creation apart from the perspective and purpose of the Creator is a “category mistake” fallacy akin to asking the weight of a circle or the color of the number 7. Using the material to replace the spiritual negates both.

How to “take hold of that which is truly life”

Paul counseled young Timothy:

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life (1 Timothy 6:17–19).

The key is to use our material means as the tools they are intended to be. A screwdriver works for driving screws better than for hammering nails. This temporal world is intended to be enjoyed in the moment (v. 17) but employed as a means to eternal ends (v. 19).

The best way I know to do this is to live as “vertically” as possible, walking through each day in conversation and communion with the living Lord Jesus. Whatever I do and wherever I go, he wants me to consciously and intentionally practice his presence. Separating life into the “secular” and the “sacred” does violence to both.

I am obviously (and gratefully) married to my wife every moment of every day. If I were to segment my life into “Janet” days and “non-Janet” days, how strong would my marriage be? The Bible likens my relationship with Jesus to my relationship with my wife, calling the church the “Bride” of Christ (Revelation 19:7; cf. 21:2).

During this Easter season, remembering all that Jesus did to secure my salvation and union with himself especially moves me to respond in gratitude for such grace.

“Crowned with victory at thy feet”

To this end, I’ll close with three readings I discovered recently that are helping me draw closer to my living Lord. The first comes from the Patristic theologian Tertullian (AD 160–240) in his treatise On Prayer:

Prayer is an offering that belongs to God and is acceptable to him: it is the offering he has asked for, the offering he planned as his own.

We must dedicate this offering with our whole heart, we must fatten it on faith, tend it by truth, keep it unblemished through innocence and clean through chastity, and crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it will gain for us all that we ask of God. . . .

Prayer cleanses from sin, drives away temptations, stamps out persecutions, comforts the fainthearted, gives new strength to the courageous, brings travelers safely home, calms the waves, confounds robbers, feeds the poor, overrules the rich, lifts up the fallen, supports those who are falling, sustains those who stand firm.

In this light, the biblical command to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) takes on new meaning as a way to redeem the challenges of this fallen world.

The second comes from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners. Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

When God helps me “love what you command and desire what you promise,” my heart is united with him in “true joy” and I use this world for the next.

The third comes from the English minister Philip Doddridge (1702–51), who wrote a hymn that inspires us to eternal purpose:

Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve,
And press with vigor on;
A heavenly race demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.
A cloud of witnesses around,
Hold thee in full survey;
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way.
‘Tis God’s all-animating voice
That calls thee from on high;
‘Tis his own hand presents the prize
To thine aspiring eye. . . .
Blest Savior, introduced by thee,
Have I my race begun;
And crowned with victory at thy feet
I’ll lay my honors down.

What “honors” will you lay at the feet of your Lord today?

Denison Forum

President Trump announced yesterday a ninety-day pause on higher tariffs for dozens of countries while hiking levies on China to 125 percent. The Dow Jones surged nearly three thousand points on the news for its largest rally in five years. The Nasdaq Composite jumped more than 12 percent as well, its second-best day ever. The S&P 500 had its biggest one-day gain in seventeen years.

About thirty billion shares traded hands, comprising the heaviest volume day on Wall Street in history. World markets soared this morning as well, with Japan’s benchmark jumping more than 9 percent.

If the world made your life an island

The recent volatility of an economy most of us have no way to influence highlights the degree to which you and I are “catching and not pitching” in the modern world. Think about it: How much of your life is under your direct control? Do you personally determine your income? Do you grow your own food and chop your own firewood for heat? Can you fix your car if it breaks down? Can you treat yourself if you get really sick?

If the world made your life an island, how long and how well would you live on it?

We all want to believe we are in charge of our lives, a “will to power” impulse that goes back to the garden of Eden and the temptation to be our own god (Genesis 3:5). Advertisers know this, which is why they pitch us products and services that claim to help us control our finances, circumstances, health, and happiness. But the next downturn, disaster, illness, or disappointment will pull back the curtain on our illusion.

The roof collapse at a Dominican Republic nightclub that killed at least 184 people, including two former major league baseball players, is a tragic metaphor for our times. None of us knows when we will be next.

This is where you’d expect me to recommend faith as an antidote to our fears. A sign I recently saw comes to mind: “Accept what is, let go of what was, have faith in what will be.”

But in a broken and chaotic world, having faith is not enough.

It can make things worse rather than better, in fact.

What Einstein got wrong about the universe

You and I have a binary choice today: We can define our identity with reference to ourselves and/or other people, or we can do so with reference to God. If we decide that our secularist society is right in rejecting God from consideration, we are left with some version of humanity defining humanity and the cosmos.

Even Albert Einstein fell prey to this “category mistake” fallacy by claiming that physical laws are the universe’s own form of self-expression. If we refuse to interpret creation through the lens of the Creator and his revealed truth, we are forced to interpret it through itself. This is what we do with our own quest for identity as well when we eliminate God from the equation.

How did this work for Einstein? The great scientist was known for being unfaithful to both his wives and for his failures as a father. How is it working for our broken society today?

By contrast, David could testify: “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (Psalm 18:2 NKJV). Why should we do the same?

It is a fact that “the Lᴏʀᴅ reigns” and “is exalted over all the peoples” (Psalm 99:1, 2), whether “all the peoples” acknowledge this fact or not. Charles III is king of the United Kingdom whether every person in his kingdom recognizes his rule or not. Those who reject his authority only exempt themselves from what he could do in and for their lives.

In the same way, sacrificial obedience to the King of the universe positions us to experience his transforming and sanctifying power (cf. Romans 12:1–2). Being our own king limits us to our finite, fallen capacities.

Bonhoeffer on “the wisest course for the disciple”

So, having faith helps us respond to our challenges only if the object of that faith is able to respond to our challenges. Otherwise, misplaced faith does more harm than good. We can take the wrong medicine in sincere faith, but it can still poison and kill us.

Having faith in ourselves, others, or our world builds our house on sand. When the inevitable storms strike, our house will inevitably fall (Matthew 7:26–27). Building the same house on the rock of Jesus’ word, by contrast, enables it to stand firm (vv. 24–25). Our Lord was adamant: “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

Yesterday was the anniversary of the 1945 martyrdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In a website paper I wrote for the occasion, I quoted the great theologian’s statement in The Cost of Discipleship: “It will always be true that the wisest course for the disciple” is “to abide solely by the Word of God in all simplicity.”

Bonhoeffer staked his life and his eternity on this fact. When he was led away to his death just a week before the Allies liberated his prison camp, he told another prisoner, “This is the end—but for me, the beginning—of life.”

How can we make his empowering faith in God our own?

How to be “powerful in his power”

The English poet Ralph Hodgson noted, “Some things have to be believed to be seen.” St. Augustine similarly observed, “Faith is to believe what we do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”

So, name the reason you need faith in God today. Decide that you want to trust in his power and wisdom over your own. Now ask him to help you “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:17), and he will (Mark 9:24).

The British essayist Joseph Addison (1672–1719) assured us:

“The person who has a firm trust in the Supreme Being is powerful in his power, wise by his wisdom, happy by his happiness.”

How firm is your trust in your Father today?

Quote for the day:

“Yet, in the maddening maze of things / And tossed by storm and flood / To one fixed trust my spirit clings / I know that God is good!” —John Greenleaf Whittier

Our latest website resources:

• The anniversary of the martyrdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The cost of discipleship and the path to liberating joy
• American tourist arrested for trying to contact lost tribe: Why our motivations matter

• An Israeli’s perspective on the Houthis: Who are the Houthis and why are they the world’s problem?
• What does the Bible say about identity?—Part 2
• Trump’s tariffs, financial anxieties, a Masters preview & hot take, plus more trending news / Ep. 14

Denison Forum

Alex Ovechkin’s record goal and Scottie Scheffler’s third green jacket

I am not much of a hockey fan, but even I was impressed by Alex Ovechkin’s record goal, passing Wayne Gretzky for the all-time record in NHL history last Sunday. Earlier in the day, I watched the Texas Rangers defeat Tampa Bay on a ninth-inning walk-off hit.

The previous day, the Houston Cougars (my hometown team) came from behind to defeat the favored Duke Blue Devils and reach the NCAA men’s final. This weekend, I am looking forward to watching the Masters, where I hope Scottie Scheffler wins his third green jacket.

All told, I have spent numerous hours in recent days watching sports and plan to spend numerous hours this week doing the same.

Why?

I’m not betting on any of this (an activity fraught with danger to finances and health). Nor have I ever participated in a fantasy sports league of any kind. I’ve also never played hockey (of any kind) or baseball, basketball, or golf beyond church leagues and with friends.

Watching sports in person or on television is not a universally human phenomenon. It holds little allure for my wife, for example, who typically joins me to watch a baseball game only if it’s the seventh game of the World Series (and usually only the end of the game at that). She will watch football, but that’s because it’s fast-paced enough to be interesting to her. She is baffled when I watch golf on TV, comparing it to observing someone fishing or watching the grass grow.

She’s such a gracious person that she is happy for me to do what makes me happy. But that’s only so long as my happiness does not require her boredom.

“We won” but “they lost”

One obvious answer to my question is that watching our teams and favorite athletes compete affords us a vicarious opportunity to do the same. I’ll never have the chance to play the Masters, but I can watch Scottie Scheffler and others while imagining myself competing with them.

There is something to this. Psychologists say “team affiliation” can advance social connectedness, leading to lower levels of alienation and loneliness while promoting collective self-esteem and positive emotion. This helps explain why fans like to wear apparel that supports their team—it also connects them with others who do the same.

But the experts tell us this only works if we value belonging over winning.

If we support our teams only when they win, we forfeit social connections with them and other fans when they lose. Here’s a telltale sign: When the Rangers win, I often say, “We won;” if they lose, I sometimes say, “They lost.”

In other words, I enjoy watching them play, but I identify with them far more easily when they are successful than when they are not.

And therein lies my point.

What God’s nature requires him to do

Even the deepest relationships we foster with each other can be broken if we sin against them on a tragic enough level. Our families can hurt us in such horrific ways that they break our bond with them beyond repair. And we can do the same to them.

But there is literally nothing we can do to cause God to respond to us in the same way.

This is not because God is God and therefore more capable of forgiveness than we are, though that is true. It is not because he is so gracious and merciful that he forces his grace and mercy upon us, because this is not true. Grace and mercy must be received to become operative. If we refuse such gifts, he honors the free will he gives us and allows us the consequences of our rejection.

But even this does not change how he feels about us. The reason has nothing to do with us and everything to do with him.

The simple fact is, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The Greek word for “love” means “unconditional commitment to seek the best for another.” This is not just what God does—it is who he is.

As a result, to put it bluntly, God loves us because his nature requires him to do so. There is by logic nothing we can do to make him love us any more or less than he already does.

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God”

Now, I assume you already know this and are wondering why I’m belaboring the point. Here’s the reason: if you’re like me, you often don’t really believe that it’s true, even if you say you do.

If we really believed God loves us without condition or qualification:

• We wouldn’t try to earn his forgiveness by punishing ourselves through guilt. We would believe that our Father forgives all we confess (1 John 1:9), forgets all he forgives (Isaiah 43:25), and then separates our sins from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12) and buries them in the depths of the sea forever (Micah 7:19). As it is, we often punish ourselves for sins God will not punish through the self-inflicted penance of guilt, discouragement, and even self-harm.
• We wouldn’t try to excuse our failures so as to minimize our need for forgiveness. As CS Lewis notes, the better our excuses, the less necessary they are. By contrast, the worse they are, the more they contribute to the problem by adding deceit to our other failures.
• We wouldn’t be tempted by transactional religion that seeks to earn God’s favor through religious activities and good deeds. Rather, we would serve because we are loved, not so we will be loved. We would give because we have received, not so we will.
• We would love and serve others whether they love and serve us or not since we are secure in the fact that we are loved by the omnipotent God of the universe and served unconditionally by his grace.

The result would be solidarity with God and humanity that makes all team affiliations pale by comparison. Rather than living vicariously through the successes of others, we would join them on the field of kingdom endeavor. And what we do in this temporal world would echo in eternity for God’s glory and our inestimable good.

Brennan Manning was right:

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that he would bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at his love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”

Are you astonished at God’s goodness today?

Denison Forum