We can fight for our beliefs without demonizing each other.

Not everyone knows this, apparently.

I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I love being able to reconnect with friends that I haven’t heard from in years. It’s pretty wonderful to find a former student from one of the youth groups I led 30 years ago and hear how they’re doing Kingdom work and loving Jesus.

That’s the love side of things. What I hate, though, is when I run across some political or social screed and just shake my head. Or, worse, when I let myself get suckered and drawn into a no-win discussion, i.e., argument. It devalues my soul.

In a world bursting with diverse opinions and beliefs, it’s easy to find ourselves at odds with others. Do we live in a divided country or what? But as Christians, we’re called to a different standard — one of love, understanding, and peace.

The Apostle Paul reminds us inRomans 12:18, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” This isn’t just a lofty ideal; it’s a practical guide for navigating our interactions, even when we disagree.

Understanding Over Judgment

One of the first steps in bridging differences is striving to understand rather than rush to judgment. Remember James 1:19, which encourages us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Understanding doesn’t mean we have to agree with every point of view, but it does mean acknowledging the sincerity and humanity in others’ perspectives.

That’s hard. I’ll read something from a friend or acquaintance and think, “Dude, you must be possessed. How can you believe such nonsense? Who are you listening to? What are you reading? What are your sources?”

Then I remember: Everyone has a story. Their story isn’t my story. They came to their beliefs based on their worldview, their upbringing, their environment, and a whole host of other factors. Just like you and I did.

I’d like to think I work hard at this. I once found myself in a heated debate with a friend over a social issue. As we talked, I made a conscious effort to listen, not just to respond but to understand. It didn’t change my viewpoint, but it certainly softened my heart towards my friend’s experience and reasoning.

Love as Our Guiding Principle

In every interaction, love should be our guiding principle. Jesus couldn’t have been clearer when he said, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). This love isn’t just a warm feeling; it’s patient, kind, and self-controlled, as detailed in1 Corinthians 13:4-7. It’s choosing to respond with gentleness even when we’re tempted to be harsh, showing kindness when it’s easier to be indifferent.

Just be kind.

The Strength in Diversity

Our differences can be a source of strength, not division. Proverbs 27:17 tells us, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Engaging with diverse viewpoints can challenge us to think deeper, understand more broadly, and grow stronger in our own beliefs. It’s like a community garden with a variety of plants; each contributes something unique to the overall beauty and health of the garden.

When I talk about diversity, I’m simply saying that we aren’t all alike. I’m not talking about a union of light and darkness, of sin and holiness. What I am saying is that just listening to others, even if you find their stances repellant and even wicked, can’t hurt. Just make sure you are secure in you own beliefs, and stand firm on biblical truths.

Bridging the Gap with Grace

Finally, grace is the bridge that spans the gap between differing viewpoints. Ephesians 4:2-3 encourages us to “be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Grace involves listening, forgiving, and sometimes agreeing to disagree, all while maintaining respect and dignity. It’s recognizing that we’re all works in progress, journeying together towards understanding and truth.

As followers of Christ, we’re called to stand firm in our beliefs while also extending love and respect to those who differ from us. This balance isn’t just a nice idea; it’s a scriptural mandate and a practical pathway to peace and unity in a diverse world.

Let’s embrace our differences, not as barriers, but as opportunities to demonstrate the love, understanding, and grace that are at the heart of our faith.

I was sitting at my desk the other day, sipping some sweet tea (really), and listening to a recording of Earl Nightingale. If you aren’t familiar with Mr. Nightingale, his Wikipedia bio states that he was an American radio speaker and author, dealing mostly with the subjects of human character development, motivation, and meaningful existence.  I’ve found him everlastingly listenable. Among the gazillion or so books he wrote, his best known was The Strangest Secret. In it, he amplifies a single thought that captivates me: “You become what you think about.” Now, don’t go thinking I’ve turned all philosophical on you; I’m just trying to chew on something that’s a bit more profound than my usual thought patterns. 

Ever find yourself stuck in a loop of negative thoughts? Oh boy, I have. You start thinking you’re not good enough, not smart enough, or whatever “enough” you want to add to the list, and soon enough, you begin to feel that way. It’s like you’ve become a magnet attracting all the things you DON’T want.

There is some scripture that resonates with this idea, and Mr. Nightingale references this several times. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Simple, right? What’s in our minds can shape who we are.

Imagine your thoughts are seeds. You plant them, water them, and eventually, they’ll grow into something. Now, if you plant tomatoes, don’t expect to harvest watermelons. Same goes for our thoughts. Plant positive seeds, and you’ll see a garden full of hope, joy, and love. Plant negative seeds, and, well, you’ll get the prickly weeds.

But it’s not just about thinking happy thoughts and hoping for the best. It’s about aligning those thoughts with actions. James 2:17 tells us, “Faith without works is dead.” It’s like wanting a bountiful harvest without getting your hands dirty. You’ve got to roll up your sleeves and work that garden.

So, let’s say you want to be more loving, more generous, or more patient. Start by thinking it, believing it, and then doing it. Be intentional about your thoughts, and let them guide your steps. Trust in the Lord, lean on His wisdom, and watch how your life blossoms.

I suppose this idea of “you become what you think about” is more than a nifty slogan on a bumper sticker. It’s a truth we can apply to our everyday lives, one that’s rooted in the Word and can help us grow into the person we’re meant to be.

So we’ve chewed on the idea that our thoughts shape us, and I bet some of you are thinking, “Well, that sounds great, but how do I actually do that?” Let’s think about some action points – some down-to-earth ways to turn your thinking around and grow a garden of positivity:

• Plant the Right Seeds: If you want to think positively, you’ve got to start by planting the right thoughts. Dive into scripture, find verses that resonate with you, and keep them close. Write them down, stick them on your fridge, whatever it takes. These are your positive seeds.
• Water with Prayer: Ever found yourself stuck in a storm of negative thoughts? It’s like a garden overrun with weeds. Pray about it! Talk to God, share what’s on your mind, and ask for guidance. Prayer’s like water for the soul, nourishing those positive thoughts.
• Tend Your Garden with Friends: Surround yourself with folks who’ll encourage you and help you grow. You wouldn’t leave your garden all alone, would you? Fellowship with friends and family who uplift you is like having a gardening buddy.
• Use the Right Tools: Just like in gardening, you need the right tools. Listen to uplifting music, read inspiring books, attend church gatherings, and be part of a community that helps you think positively.
• Prune the Weeds: Sometimes, negative thoughts creep in like stubborn weeds. Recognize them and pluck them out. Replace them with the promises of God. It’s a process, but it’s worth it.
• Harvest with Gratitude: When you see positive changes in your life, celebrate them! Thank the Lord for His guidance, and don’t forget to be grateful for the little things too. A thankful heart is a joyful heart.

This isn’t about pretending that life’s all sunshine and roses. It’s about choosing to focus on the good, leaning on our faith, and letting God guide our thoughts. And hey, if you stumble and find a weed or two, don’t fret. Just get back to tending that garden, knowing that the Master Gardener’s got your back.

Happy gardening, and may your thoughts be as bountiful and beautiful as a springtime bloom!

I love the Bible. Some folks struggle to read it. Me, I eat it up.

It hasn’t always been that way. I’d say, “Okay, Tony, you’re gonna read the Bible all the way through this year.” Out of a sense of obligation – sort of like taking a daily dose of cholesterol medicine or something – I’d start reading.

Genesis was great. There are so many good stories and colorful characters in that book! So I’d breeze through Genesis, feeling pretty good about myself.

Exodus was next and, again, there were plenty of compelling stories to engage me.

Next – Leviticus. This is where I’d finally miss a couple of days reading, then maybe a week, and ultimately – I’d gradually cave and forget about my plan. Leviticus, right? Whew.

Later in life, though, the Bible took on a life of its own. I’m sitting here trying to remember the progression, what brought me to a point of being utterly dependent on my reading, but something triggered my passion. Part of it might’ve been finding a good reading plan (or more.) It may have been looking at my reading as a joy instead of an obligation. Who knows?

Couple that with filing a shelf with study Bibles. I’m a seminary graduate, but my degree is in religious education, so I didn’t have to study languages … Greek and Hebrew. While the theology majors were doing their thing, we education students were learning how to divide people into groups and how to use scissors.

I digress. Study Bibles – that’s where I can at least partially make up for my lack of language studies. Plus, a good study Bible makes scripture accessible and easier to understand. A good study Bible inspires and equips.

Recently I was given the opportunity to receive a free copy of the NIV Study Bible, published by Zondervan. I got this as a member of the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid. Bible Gateway is the Internet’s most visited Christian website. Good folks; highly recommended! Check out their store at https://bit.ly/3ZOM2DM. While you’re at it, visit the Amazon page for the Bible at https://amzn.to/3lhifos.

The Bible, according to the cover copy, “is specifically designed to help students understand and navigate the Bible text with tools like a 3-Track Reading Plan, Book Introductions, Highlights and insights into confusing verses, and personal profiles of 100 People You Should know.”

This Bible delivers the goods. It’s geared toward students, but the more I delved into it, the more I realized that restricting it to simply an audience of “students” does the rest of us a disservice. I’ll use this one in my own studies. It’s that helpful.

A few things of note:

The 3-Track Reading Plan is a terrific way to develop a love for scriptures at whatever level you want to invest in. Track 1, for instance, asks for a commitment of two weeks at a time, reading a chapter a day. It’s sort of a “greatest hits” plan. Tracks 2 and 3 get progressively deeper, with Track 3 asking for a commitment to read every word in the Bible over a three-year period. All the tracks do a fine job of battling overwhelm and discouragement.

Other unique features include accessible introductions to each book, insights scattered throughout the text that are written like magazine articles, and notes that parallel the Track 2 reading plan.

Want more? I loved the reference section covering a host of well-known events. If you’re prone to get bogged down in the Old Testament when trying to follow and connect rulers – 38 kings and a queen – there’s a section that breaks this down in one of the most understandable ways I could imagine. There is also a Subject Guide, not really a concordance, but rather a list of major subjects of interest, along with the appropriate Bible passages. This is some good stuff.

There are plenty of other features to delve into, and you can go to the links I shared earlier to get details.

My takeaway? For students – whoever self-identifies as such – I think this is one of the best Bibles out there. I hope they sell a boatload of these. I’d love to see it in as many hands as possible.

Talk soon!

#BibleGatewayPartner

So, conspiracy theories. Do you enjoy them? If you do, you’re probably the happiest you’ve ever been.

I’ve been thinking about the mechanics and mindset of how conspiracy theories work. My conclusion is that conspiracy theorists can often create a world that is much worse than the one they actually live in.

This may seem like an odd topic for a blog that proposes to be encouraging and uplifting. I intend to take this to a virtuous place, and we’ll end up there. Promise.

I’d add, too, that this isn’t about COVID, necessarily. This has been a ripe place to look for conspiracy theories, but it certainly isn’t the only place. I’ll strive mightily not to judge you or your beliefs – I have my own, as do you. Looks like there’s a new variant (yawn.) So, no condemnation.

I’ll make a distinction between conspiracy theories and plots. History is rife with plots – starting wars, planning assassinations, even the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. A conspiracy theory, though, operates in a different realm. I’ll give you an example.

I’m old enough to remember the assassination of President Kennedy. The official final word is that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. But did he? I won’t use my space here to delve into other theories, because there are a gazillion out there. 

Here’s what common sense would say. Kennedy was considered the leader of the free world, right? Isn’t that the traditional title bestowed on the President of the United States? So is it plausible that a “nobody” could pull off such a heinous act? I mean, isn’t it more reasonable to assume that someone or a group equally as powerful as Kennedy had to have been responsible? Because if an Oswald could pull something like this, then none of us are safe.

Well, that’s kinda scary. So the natural human impulse is to seek out what really happened, because the thought that one person, working alone,  could assassinate the President is much more disconcerting than believing there was a worldwide conspiracy in place. 

Who, then, benefits in a conspiracy theory? If you want to use COVID as an example, then in whose interest is it for people to stay home, be unemployed, be inactive, lose jobs and income, place stress on close relationships, and watch as their mental, physical, and emotional health collapses. Who are the “they” that benefit from all this? 

I think it is reasonable to assume that there are plenty of bad people out there who would relish the opportunity to profit from a tragedy. It happens all the time. Many years ago my hometown of Elba, Alabama, was flooded by a breach in the levy that surrounded the town. My parents’ home was right in the flood zone. As soon as the water subsided, it wasn’t long before they heard a knock at the door. There was a large truck and trailer, and a crew of men who wanted to pull up the existing ruined carpet in their house and replace it with fresh new carpet.

As it turns out, this was a legitimate business. My parents accepted their offer and had new carpet in a couple of days. The company made some money off my parents, money that wouldn’t have come their way if the flood hadn’t occurred. But did the carpet company cause the breach in the levy? Uh, no. 

Because of some odd quirk in human nature, we assume there is a “they” out there. Off the top of my head, I can think of the Freemasons, the Illuminati, scientologists, FEMA, the New World Order, the Federal Reserve, Halliburton, Google, the Vatican, Bilderberg, Walmart, the Rothschilds, the Knights Templar, the UN, Skull and Bones, the Koch brothers, George Soros, the Trilateral Commission, the Knights of Malta, Exxon Mobil, Zionists, and the lizard people,  who might be considered “they.” 

“They” are at the heart of conspiracy theories.

So if the world is beaten down to a place of despair, famine, illness, and chaos, “they” benefit.

“They” will force us to do awful things, like convert to the metric system or listen to atonal music. 

What happens is that conspiracy theorists piece together a narrative based on snippets of evidence. Problem is that they don’t ask themselves if such a conspiracy actually exists. They don’t challenge their own thinking. Rather, they simply want the essential parts of their story to mesh with the beliefs they identify with. (Read that again.) It’s easier for some to believe in lizard people running the world, because that absolves them from accepting the reality that we live in a fallen world where bad things – disease, poverty, natural disasters, etc. – happen, and happen frequently. 

The impulse is to find scapegoats – someone has to be responsible for the bad. And that someone is out to get us. And, by golly, we won’t be enslaved by some nefarious overlord.

If you’re still with me, hear this: evil is rampant in the world. Satan wants to destroy. He uses human agents to further his wicked purposes. He might even use conspiracy theories. This is a fact. If you are a believer, you know this already. More on that later.

The problem is that we can struggle with identifying what is real wickedness. I’d suggest that conspiracy theories are, in themselves, potentially satanic. Conspiracy theories divert us into looking at imaginary, irrational beliefs rather than identifying where the true evil lies. 

Conspiracy theorists tend to flock together. There is much comfort in hanging out with those of like mind. It’s sort of like England during the World War II blitz – “we are all suffering together, and we need to mount some kind of resistance.”

Resisting evil is always appropriate. Fight it tooth and nail. Just make sure you’re fighting a real enemy and not some imaginary boogeyman. 

I’ve observed that people resent it when I’m not as troubled as much by the world as they are. I see evidence of that in veiled or sometimes overt putdowns. Using terms like “sheeple” or being encouraged to “wake up” are very revealing. Devaluing me is not a good way to bring me around to your way of thinking.

Conspiracies are like chains. The more involved in a conspiracy, the more likely it will be outed, just like that weakest link will snap. Conspiracies won’t stay a secret when there are a lot of people involved. Occam’s Razor comes into play here, too – what’s the most likely scenario? It’s going to be the simplest. Conspiracy theorists always give people more ability and competency than they actually have.

Speaking to my fellow Americans … most of us have never experienced a major catastrophe. We missed the 1918 flu epidemic, we missed the Great Depression, and for the most part missed the two world wars. We’ve seen bad things happen in other countries, but not in ours. So if we’re being submitted to a major catastrophe these days, there has to be a deliberate hand at work, right? There has to be a plot of some sort of evil human design. That’s the way many people try to make sense of it.

I’ll say this again. We live in a fallen world. We deal with evil in tangible and spiritual ways alike. Before Jesus returns, we will continue to live in this fallen world. What are we to do? 

We are to fight the real evils, not the sensationalized, hysterical, unreal monsters. Let’s make a difference in the life of that terrified young lady who is pregnant and alone, or the neighbor who is dealing with their spouse who is terminally ill, or the family who, through no fault of their own, has had their electricity turned off because both the mom and dad are out of work and struggling to find jobs. 

Be salt and light. Encourage the downtrodden with words and deeds. If you want to invest in something, invest in that individual who is yearning for Jesus and doesn’t even know it. Use the energy you’re expending in wondering what the Freemasons are up to into the life of someone you can actually impact with Christ’s love.

Talk later! And remember – it’s always appropriate to look in the mirror from time to time and say, “You know, I could be wrong.”

Eternity now. Doesn’t that have a nice ring?

Recently I was given the opportunity to review a copy of the new NET Eternity Now New Testament. The legal folks at #biblegatewaypartner tell me that I need to mention that I received this Bible for free as a member of the amazing Bible Gateway Blogger Grid.

So, there’s that. And I’ll give you my honest opinion.

You may have a shelf full of Bibles in various translations. Perhaps your phone is loaded down with Bible aps. Candidly, though, what Thomas Nelson has done is offered a Bible in a format I’ve never seen, and it’s way-cool.

First, the Bible is in the New English Translation. If you aren’t familiar with this translation – and I wasn’t, because I’m primarily an NIV-kinda guy – it’s worth checking out netbible.com/net-bible-preface to see where they’re coming from. Short version is that the translators have tried to do the best possible job of straddling that line between being readable and being accurate. I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. A word for word translation can come across as stiff and awkward; a thought for thought translation might read better, but might lose just a tiny bit in accuracy. Or not. 

My thought on the translation itself: I think we’re safe with this one. When I do legit Bible study I like to refer to several translations at the same time. Here’s one more for that mix.

The crazy innovative feature of the NET Eternity Now New Testament is how it’s formatted. I can see this being of enormous help to a new believer wanting to “get into” reading their Bible. I’d even say this is a good intro to the Bible for a curious new -believer.

The Bible comes as a boxed set of five separate books. (Huh?) In the neat packaging  I’ve shown above – titled “Eternity Now,” very meta there – each little volume contains a different set of New Testament books. Here’s the breakdown:

• Grand Tour – the amazing story that changed the world. It contains Luke and Acts.
• No Going Back – a fast-paced account from the front row of history. This is Mark and First and Second Peter.
• Death to Life – beyond what happened to what it all means. This covers all of Paul’s letters. 
• The Legacy – a rich story etched with pain and promise. Here’s Matthew, Hebrews, James, and Jude.
• Now but Not Yet – the beginning was shocking, and the ending changes everything.

(Those colorful descriptions are from the cover copy of each book.)

The other novelty – which isn’t a bad thing – is how the individual books are formatted. Each book begins with a prologue, a very accessible overview of what the reader can expect from the book. It’s simply background, not intended to be scholarly, but rather gives some context.

From there, each book is broken down by the traditional chapter numbering. Note – and this might be a deal-breaker for some – there are no numbered verses. Each chapter reads like a novel with no verse breaks.

That’s to say – this isn’t a Bible for Bible study, per se. It’s more useful for devotional reading, I can see it’d be pretty cool for someone’s daily Bible reading to take one of the volumes and simply read through it at their own pace. There are no notes, no cross references, anything like that. It’s just text, biblical content.

I think there’s a place for this translation and the way it’s formatted. Here’s a shoutout to whoever chose the font used, too!  I can see someone tossing one of the little volumes in their purse or backpack. I don’t really want to consider this “leisure reading,” but I get a really accessible vibe from this. I can recommend it – again, not as a study Bible, but just as an easy and fun way to get into scripture. 

You can find it in the Bible Gateway store at https://bg4.me/3PccDVn and its Amazon page https://amazon.com/dp/078529127X/   

Your thoughts?

I was today years old when I learned about the Reticular Activating System.

I know that sounds pretty esoteric, but stick around. You’re about to have your eyes opened.

Actually, I had heard of the RAS – it’s just one of those random things that passes through my mind filter and keeps flowing. Maybe a piece or two of information gets trapped.

The reason I’m taking a look at the RAS today is because (drum roll!) I’m about to help you understand who you are and why you do and think the things you do.

Firstly, I am daily struck by how flat-out dumb some people seem to be. That’s my gut reaction. When I back down a bit, though, I wonder – what’s the origin of their beliefs? How can they, in the face of unbiased facts, cling to some bizarre, destructive belief?

Enter the RAS. This may not be as fascinating to you as it is to me. Fine. Go read someone else’s blog.

Still here?

Your RAS is sort of at the base of your brain. It acts as a filter against the data that is all around us.

Check it out. What sounds do you hear right now? I hear the clicking of my keyboard. A fan is whirring in the background. I have my Beats earphones in, and I’m listening to the soundtrack of “Encanto,” because, y’know, we don’t talk about Bruno.

I’m eating some Blue Diamond Smokehouse almonds. I can look out the window at a staggeringly blue sky. And there are all sorts of other colors, images, pictures all around me.

It’s said there can be 2,000,000 pieces of data hitting us at once. That’s a lot.

Since our finite brains can manage only so much, that RAS kicks in. Using that “filter” analogy, your RAS only lets certain things get processed.

And what is the RAS set point? It filters out everything except what it thinks is important.

How does it know what is important? This is huge.

It filters out everything except what you focus on most. Or, as Earl Nightingale said, “You are what you think about.”

Have you ever noticed:

• People who say “I’m always late” are always late?
• People who say, “I’m not very confident” aren’t very confident?
• People who say, “I can’t lose weight” can’t lose weight?
• And – people who say, “This is a dark and scary world” live in a dark and scary world?

Like I said, this RAS thing is huge.

Hey – have you ever said anything like:

• ”I’m really bad at this.”
• ”I always mess up.”
• ”I never have enough money.”
• ”I’m afraid of losing friends.”

What happens is that your RAS will show you things that those statements are true for you. Self-fulfilling prophecies, if you will.

To drill down even further, consider this: The more proof you see, the stronger your belief that it is true.

And where do you get your proof? More on that a bit later.

So – the stronger your belief is, the more likely you are to tell it to yourself … over and over. Self-talk leads to “proof” which leads to belief.

My concern – and it should be yours, too – is that proof can be subjective. That potentially problematic RAS keeps you from considering that where you get proof/facts is fallible. You come at beliefs with your mind made up (the RAS again), and it rejects anything contrary to what you believe.

Culturally, this could impact things like your thoughts about global warming, COVID (masks? No masks? Vaccines? No vax?), your politics, your religion (or lack of it), even who you perceive to be “The Enemy.” You restrict your input to like-minded people, your favorite news sources for the truth (like YouTube), etc.

Your RAS loves this. It doesn’t want things complicated.

This is all fixable. Here are three thoughts.

1. Set your RAS to look for the positives.
   1. I am great at this.
   2. I am always on time.
   3. I am confident.
   4. I listen to diverse voices.
   5. I embrace truth, even when it’s contrary to what I want to believe.
2. If you do this effectively, then your RAS will start showing you things that verify your new beliefs.
3. Change, and the world will change for you.

People talk about what an upside down world they live in. There is much said about “living in fear.” That’s not of God, of course, but what I’m noting in these days is that fear exists all across the spectrum. I think that you choose what you’re afraid of, and it all has to do with that RAS working.

As an example, you might say:

• ”I’m afraid of getting vaccinated. Who knows what’s in that stuff?”
• ”I’m afraid of not getting vaccinated. I don’t want to end up in the hospital.”
• ”I’m afraid of what’s going on in government. It’s awful.”
• ”I’m afraid that others aren’t taking comfort in the lessons of history. It’s been awful before.”

I could go on, but you catch my drift.

If, based on what you’ve read (and I’d encourage you to do a little research on your own – I love this stuff) and you can see that your RAS can take you places you don’t want to go, consider – your RAS can take you to where you need to be. 

Here’s the punch line, and it’s a good one if you’re looking to reprogram your RAS:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. – Philippians 4:8

Talk later!

Do you tell yourself there’s a thing you can’t do? What is it, and why is it an issue?

There’s a concept out there called “self-limiting beliefs.” You can take a look at what that’s about here. The term crops up in personal growth or self-help literature. Basically, self-limiting beliefs are assumptions or perceptions that you’ve got about yourself and about the way the world works. These assumptions are “self-limiting” because in some way they’re holding you back from achieving what you are capable of. It’s that thing you can’t do. Or “things,” perhaps.

I tend to be mildly skeptical of too much motivational rah-rah stuff. Usually it’s because I’m seldom served steak with the sizzle. There are some folks out there who have done a great job of giving me good content. I’m a huge Zig Ziglar fan … if I look out my office window, I can see the old YWCA where he met his wife. Zig’s teachings are sound, and I’ve come to believe over the years he’s the real deal. I am also fond of Brian Tracy and Jim Rohn.

I’ve listened to and read these guys. They’ve often been helpful. Still, there is sometimes a gap between what I should be capable of and what I’m actually doing. I, in Christ, want to be the very best I can be.

How do I explain that thing I can’t do?

You’ve most likely heard me say that the reason I’m still alive – and the reason you’re still alive – is that you haven’t accomplished what God put you here to do.

I’m 65. I should know that by now, don’t you think?

I never thought of “building a career.” I’m not interested in climbing some ladder. Whatever assignment the Lord had me in, then that’s what I wanted to be about.

But that thing I can’t do? It’s always out there.

I might be talking to myself here, but I also hope I’m talking to you. I’m wondering if, in your own life, there is a thing you can’t do. That one thing – or maybe things – that are just out of your reach.

If I were giving out assignments, I’d have you name just one thing you can’t do, and then why you can’t do it. That could be very revealing.

I thought about sharing mine. I decided it’s none of your business. *snort*.

With all that as background, let me give you something to ponder.

Ancient script says, in Ephesians 3:20-21, ”Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

I mean. Dad-GUM.

Unpack that.

• Imagine the future God has for you.
• Chances are your God is too small.
• There is infinitely more that He wants to give you than you could even ask for.
• God knows your motives and desires. But even those deepest desires don’t meet the depths of that “immeasurably more.”

Don’t misunderstand. This isn’t some genie-in-a-bottle, name-it-and-claim-it bogus teaching. But there’s a lot going on here, and it should encourage us greatly.

What’s the call for us to do to deal with that thing you can’t do? Here are six.

1. Ask God to show you the bigger plan. Not just what’s happening now, or what has you bogged down. Go big.
2. Acknowledge He does have a plan. He isn’t sitting around, scratching His head, trying to figure out what to do with you.
3. Ask, seek, find. Duh.
4. Is there anything keeping you from experiencing God’s joy? Here’s what’ll fix that: your imagination can’t comprehend what He is capable of doing. That’s some joy giving right there.
5. Look at that scripture again. Your two key words? Able and accomplish. Most of us grasp the “able” part. Of course He’s able to do anything. But we get tangled up with the “accomplish” part. That’s where we fail. Well, pilgrim, if He’s able, He can accomplish whatever it is in our lives that will bring honor to Him.
6. This is all about “abiding.” He works within. The power of God resides in you. Measure your hopes and dreams against that.

Want some more? Check out 2 Corinthians 9:8:

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

That thing you can’t do? Check this out:

He does great things in us so that He can be glorified. How do your plans bring Him glory? Because if they are of Him, then that thing you can’t do has already been done. You just have to embrace it and live it.

This sounds sort of preachy, and that’s not my intent. Bottom line: Don’t talk yourself out of doing something you should do. In Him, you are good enough.

As God sent Jesus, ask Him to send you. That thing you can’t do will be conquered. Don’t be held back by small dreams. Ask God to give you a glimpse of His plans for you.

Talk later!

So, conspiracy theories. Do you enjoy them? If you do, you’re probably the happiest you’ve ever been.

I’ve been thinking about the mechanics and mindset of how conspiracy theories work. My conclusion is that conspiracy theorists can often create a world that is much worse than the one they actually live in.

This may seem like an odd topic for a blog that proposes to be encouraging and uplifting. I intend to take this to a virtuous place, and we’ll end up there. Promise.

I’d add, too, that this isn’t about COVID, necessarily. The pandemic (or whatever it is, assuming you don’t buy into the notion that this is a pandemic) is a ripe place to look for conspiracy theories, but it certainly isn’t the only place. I’ll strive mightily not to judge you or your beliefs – I have my own, as do you. So, no condemnation.

I’ll make a distinction between conspiracy theories and plots. History is rife with plots – starting wars, planning assassinations, even the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. A conspiracy theory, though, operates in a different realm. I’ll give you an example.

I’m old enough to remember the assisination of President Kennedy. The official final word is that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. But did he? I won’t use my space here to delve into other theories, because there are a gazillion out there. 

Here’s what common sense would say. Kennedy was considered the leader of the free world, right? Isn’t that the traditional title bestowed on the President of the United States? So is it plausible that a “nobody” could pull off such a heinous act? I mean, isn’t it more reasonable to assume that someone or a group equally as powerful as Kennedy had to have been responsible? Because if an Oswald could pull something like this, then none of us are safe.

Well, that’s kinda scary. So the natural human impulse is to seek out what really happened, because the thought that one person, working alone,  could assassinate the President is much more disconcerting than believing there was a worldwide conspiracy in place. 

Who, then, benefits in a conspiracy theory? If you want to use COVID as an example, then in whose interest is it for people to stay home, be unemployed, be inactive, lose jobs and income, place stress on close relationships, and watch as their mental, physical, and emotional health collapses. Who are the “they” that benefit from all this? 

I think it is reasonable to assume that there are plenty of bad people out there who would relish the opportunity to profit from a tragedy. It happens all the time. Many years ago my hometown of Elba, Alabama, was flooded by a breach in the levy that surrounded the town. My parents’ home was right in the flood zone. As soon as the water subsided, it wasn’t long before they heard a knock at the door. There was a large truck and trailer, and a crew of men who wanted to pull up the existing ruined carpet in their house and replace it with fresh new carpet.

As it turns out, this was a legitimate business. My parents accepted their offer and had new carpet in a couple of days. The company made some money off my parents, money that wouldn’t have come their way if the flood hadn’t occurred. But did the carpet company cause the breach in the levy? Uh, no. 

Because of some odd quirk in human nature, we assume there is a “they” out there. Off the top of my head, I can think of the Freemasons, the Illuminati, scientologists, FEMA, the New World Order, the Federal Reserve, Halliburton, Google, the Vatican, Bildurberg, Walmart, the Rothchilds, the Knights Templar, the UN, Skull and Bones, the Koch brothers, George Soros, the Trilateral Commission, the Knights of Malta, Exxon Mobil, Zionists, and the lizard people,  who might be considered “they.” 

“They” are at the heart of conspiracy theories.

So if the world is beaten down to a place of despair, famine, illness, and chaos, “they” benefit. “They” will force us to do awful things, like convert to the metric system or listen to atonal music. 

What happens is that conspiracy theorists piece together a narrative based on snippets of evidence. Problem is that they don’t ask themselves if such a conspiracy actually exists. They don’t challenge their own thinking. Rather, they simply want the essential parts of their story to mesh with the beliefs they identify with. (Read that again.) It’s easier for some to believe in lizard people running the world, because that absolves them from accepting the reality that we live in a fallen world where bad things – disease, poverty, natural disasters, etc. – happen, and happen frequently. 

The impulse is to find scapegoats – someone has to be responsible for the bad.And that someone is out to get us. And, by golly, we won’t be enslaved by some nefarious overlord.

If you’re still with me, hear this: evil is rampant in the world. Satan wants to destroy. He uses human agents to further his wicked purposes. This is a fact. If you are a believer, you know this already. More on that later.

The problem is that we can struggle with identifying what is real wickedness. I’d suggest that conspiracy theories are, in themselves, potentially satanic. Conspiracy theories divert us into looking at imaginary, irrational beliefs rather than identifying where the true evil lies. 

Conspiracy theorists tend to flock together. There is much comfort in hanging out with those of like mind. It’s sort of like England during the World War II blitz – “we are all suffering together, and we need to mount some kind of resistance.”

Resisting evil is always appropriate. Fight it tooth and nail. Just make sure you’re fighting a real enemy and not some imaginary boogeyman. 

I’ve observed that people resent it when I’m not as troubled as much by the world as they are. I see evidence of that in veiled or sometimes overt putdowns. Using terms like “sheeple” or being encouraged to “wake up” are very revealing. Devaluing me is not a good way to bring me around to your way of thinking.

Conspiracies are like chains. The more involved in a conspiracy, the more likely it will be outed, just like that weakest link will snap. Conspiracies won’t stay a secret when there are a lot of people involved. Occam’s Razor comes into play here, too – what’s the most likely scenario? It’s going to be the simplest. Conspiracy theorists always give people more ability and competency than they actually have.

Speaking to my fellow Americans … most of us have never experienced a major catastrophe. We missed the 1918 flu epidemic, we missed the Great Depression, and for the most part missed the two world wars. We’ve seen bad things happen in other countries, but not in ours. So if we’re being submitted to a major catastrophe these days, there has to be a deliberate hand at work, right? There has to be a plot of some sort of evil human design. That’s the way many people try to make sense of it.

I’ll say this again. We live in a fallen world. We deal with evil in tangible and spiritual ways alike. Before Jesus returns, we will continue to live in this fallen world. What are we to do? 

We are to fight the real evils, not the sensationalized, hysterical, unreal monsters. Let’s make a difference in the life of that terrified young lady who is pregnant and alone, or the neighbor who is dealing with their spouse who is terminally ill, or the family who, through no fault of their own, has had their electricity turned off because both the mom and dad are out of work and struggling to find jobs. 

Be salt and light. Encourage the downtrodden with words and deeds. If you want to invest in something, invest in that individual who is yearning for Jesus and doesn’t even know it. Use the energy you’re expending in wondering what the Freemasons are up to into the life of someone you can actually impact with Christ’s love.

Talk later! And remember – it’s always appropriate to look in the mirror from time to time and say, “You know, I could be wrong.”

“Do the next right thing.” That’s pretty much a call to action, right?

The problem with follow-through is complicated, though.

• You have analyzed your situation until you’re paralyzed.
• You’re not comfortable where you are, but it’s more comfortable to stay there than it is to take a risky step.
• You aren’t even sure what the next right thing is.

If you’re a Disney fan (and, unapologetically, I’m one of the most passionate), you may recognize “The Next Right Thing” as the title of a song from Frozen 2. If that leaves you saying “Huh?”, never fear. I’ll get you caught up.

© Disney

Without getting bogged down in the plot (which is really dense and thought provoking), we have a character named Anna. Anna is one of two sisters from the mythical kingdom of Arendelle. (Maybe it’s not all that mythical!)

You’ll need to watch Frozen 2 to appreciate this (and Frozen too, of course. Trust your Uncle Tony on this.)

At the darkest point in the movie, when Anna thinks she’s lost her sister Elsa and the beloved snowman Olaf, she sings this:

I’ve seen dark before
But not like this
This is cold
This is empty
This is numb
The life I knew is over
The lights are out
Hello, darkness
I’m ready to succumb

I follow you around
I always have
But you’ve gone to a place I cannot find
This grief has a gravity
It pulls me down
But a tiny voice whispers in my mind
You are lost, hope is gone
But you must go on
And do the next right thing

Can there be a day beyond this night?
I don’t know anymore what is true
I can’t find my direction, I’m all alone
The only star that guided me was you
How to rise from the floor
When it’s not you I’m rising for?
Just do the next right thing
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing

I won’t look too far ahead
It’s too much for me to take
But break it down to this next breath
This next step
This next choice is one that I can make

So I’ll walk through this night
Stumbling blindly toward the light
And do the next right thing
And with the dawn, what comes then?
When it’s clear that everything will never be the same again
Then I’ll make the choice
To hear that voice
And do the next right thing*

This. Do the next right thing. The song is a study in depression – not what most folks would anticipate from a Disney movie.

Kristen Bell portrayed Anna. Here’s what she said about the song:

A lot of people feel that feeling: What do I do when I don’t know what to do? My personal mantra is you just do the next right thing. It also stems from when I am experiencing anxiety and depression. What do I do when I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning? You just do the next right thing, and that’s stepping out of bed. The next right thing is brushing your teeth. The next right thing is eating your breakfast. The next right thing is looking at your calendar and going to work. This idea of having an intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic motivation is something that as a parent I know is incredibly important to show kids and to help them cope. I really wanted Anna to be representative of that.

You’re probably way ahead of me already. This is a blog about encouragement.

Between the song lyrics and Kristen Bell’s astute observations, I don’t have a lot to add. But I’ll try to help us collectively determine what the next right thing is for us.

• You may be in a mental and emotional place that is really bleak. Or not; perhaps you’ve been there in the past and know you could easily be there again. It’s in your nature, right?
• You look toward the future. Maybe it isn’t hopeless, but it IS discouraging at the very least.
• You tend to project your anxiety because of all the “what if’s.”

Let’s make some progress here.

• You are not psychic. Maybe you think you are. Fact is, while you may have some sense of what’s coming next, there is no way you can know every detail of the future.
• If you’re a Believer, then your future is already secure. That doesn’t mean that you won’t face some excruciating challenges, but the final outcome is settled.
• If you don’t know what to do – right now – then take some counsel. The next right thing might be to simply stand up and stretch. Eat something. Latch onto at least one thing you are thankful for (a pulse? Somewhere to sleep? An upcoming meal?)
• After you’ve done that thing, take a deep breath. Then do another thing.
• These are baby steps, but they are steps. They are actions. They are little victories. Compounded, you can engineer a whole stretch of wins.
• Don’t wait until you feel like doing the next right thing. Do something anyway. Your feelings will catch up.
• There is no shame in letting someone you trust know you’re struggling. I can’t stress this enough. And if you don’t have anyone trustworthy enough or understanding enough in your life, there is plenty of help available.

This is all personal to me, no doubt. Since my head injury, depression is an unpleasant addition to my life. I am progressively getting better, and I’m so grateful for that. I’ve learned, though, that my improvement is largely in my own hands. I can’t passively sit around wishing things were different. I’m not ready for postmortems yet.

Sometimes you simply have to act. Do the next right thing.

Be blessed.

Tony’s Question: Without going into any detail – a simple yes or no would work here – do you know what the next right thing is in your own life? Share, if you’re comfortable doing so.

*Written by: Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez

Lyrics © Walt Disney Music Company

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

I don’t know if you’ve ever given any thought to our hard hearts, but I’m sensing that, as a whole, we’re a lot less compassionate than we used to be.

Mean, even.

God seems to treat people very differently.

That’s problematic, isn’t it? If God is fair and just, shouldn’t we all find favor? Do our hard hearts come from God or from within ourselves?

I’m a novice at theology, and I’m really hesitant about saying things that aren’t sound. But I’ll take a swipe at this anyway, because I think it’ll help you.

First, some background.

This past weekend we kept our grandkids, Katherine and Levi. Katherine’s four. Levi’s two. We love them so so much, but they can make you tired.

Katherine was looking at the account of Moses and the Ten Commandments in a little illustrated Bible. She was intrigued. So, in the interest of broadening her horizons, I decided to show her a movie version of the story. We ended up watching parts of three of them.

We started out with the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille version of The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston. Big, loud, splashy, and reverential. And some killer dialogue; at one point, Nefertiti says to Moses, “Oh Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!” You just can’t get any better than that.

Then we watched the appropriate section of The Bible, the miniseries from 2013 produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. It was certainly more gritty, and the parting of the Red Sea looked terrific.

We wrapped up our session with The Prince of Egypt, the animated version from 1998. To me, it’s the best of the bunch. It’s some potent stuff.

Katherine had tons of questions, but she fixated on Pharaoh. (She’s always partial to villains in movies – she has this thing about Darth Vader, for instance.)

So I tried to explain the whole Israelites being slaves, Moses being sent to deliver them, and Pharaoh saying, uh-uh, nope.

This was an interesting conversation with a four-year-old.

I don’t know if she picked up on the nuances of the story, but she did understand who the good guys and bad guys were. And she was all about the parting of the Red Sea.

What we didn’t get into was the whole business of Pharaoh being so bad.

That’s not a bad question – why does God harden some people’s hearts? More specifically, is He responsible for our hard hearts?

Ancient script says this, in Exodus 11:3:

The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people. (Emphasis mine.)

On the other hand, here’s this, found in Exodus 10:27 and 11:10:

²⁷ But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.

¹⁰ Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

So. There’s that. But what does that have to do with our hard hearts?

There’s no question that this is a mystery.

Why the difference? I’d say, on one hand, only God knows. I have to be at peace with that. Paul says, in Romans 9:18, God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom He wants to harden. 

Yowza.

But back to Exodus: from our limited human view, there are all sorts of reasons in the differences between the Egyptians and Pharaoh. Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites because they were free labor and he could do with them as he pleased. The Egyptians were likely to be more sympathetic. So there are some human factors at work.

That’s not a totally satisfactory view, though.

Making it personal, and in attempting to understand our hard hearts, check this out.

We really don’t know where our deepest feelings come from, do we? Think about it: we are all full of motivations, desires, prejudices, and preferences. Are those due to genetics? Biochemistry? Environment? There isn’t much we can do about those. Or – big one! – are they consciously chosen? Do we decide to engineer our own hard hearts? Is that out of our hands?

My contention is that sin affects everything about us – who we are as well as what we know and do. It can explain our hard hearts.

That could explain a lot about us – why we get so agitated by some people, why we are unwilling to tolerate differing viewpoints, and how we view our world.

Where it gets even messier is when we realize that God controls the universe. No argument there, right? That’s what the Bible teaches. The Bible also teaches that people can obey or disobey God’s commands.

The question hanging out there is this: How does God’s control relate to how you make choices?

If you are free to choose your own attitude and biases – in other words, to accept or reject your hard heart – then it seems to reduce God’s absolute power to something you can override. But – and it’s a big but – if God causes you to have a hard heart against Him and other things and people, then it makes God come across as unfair.

What I grapple with personally as well as corporately is how it seems sometimes that God brings about events and attitudes that clearly oppose His nature.

Rock and roll.

See the implications? This gets to the core of why there are pandemics, why certain elected officials come to power, and how we respond to others and the world and those around us.

As I write this, I’m trying to land this plane safely.

Wheels down:

The connection between God’s sovereignty and human freedom is a big, big mystery from where I sit. People a lot smarter than me (and probably you) have grappled with this for literally thousands of years. It’s still a mystery, and I’m not gonna solve this here at my MacBook on a Tuesday morning.

What I am certain of, though, is that God, by definition, is completely good in His actions. If we think about our hard hearts, and how they came about, we have to acknowledge that we have a big responsibility.

We are responsible to trust Him in all His work and ways. We are never called to solve or even figure out the difficulties that only God understands.

Be at peace with that. And be well. Comments are, as always, welcome.

“Why don’t you drink?” This question has cropped up numerous times over the years in my work with teenagers as a youth minister, and to explain why I don’t drink has always struck me as odd. Alcohol is the only drug in my experience that I’ve had to explain why I don’t use it. And I was asked the question just this past week. I’m intrigued.

So I’m diving into this today. Now – pay attention: this is NOT a discussion as to why you shouldn’t drink, Christian or not. So, I’m not riding some moralistic high horse here. I am not doling out judgement. There are many Christians who will drink wine with a meal, or have the occasional craft beer.

The only thing I would say is that “Is it wrong?” is NOT the only question a Christian needs to ask, and I’ll leave it at that.

I’m Southern Baptist by choice. There are those semi-humorous tags that come along with that. It’s all those don’t’s … over the years, it’s been stuff like Baptists shouldn’t dance, shouldn’t play cards, shouldn’t go to movies, shouldn’t drink – you get the picture. That’s not what this is about.

I’ll try to explain why I don’t drink, and I’ll start with some scriptural acknowledgements. These are well-known:

• Jesus’ first miracle was the changing of water to wine at the marriage in Cana. I’ve heard people try to explain that the wine of that day didn’t have the alcohol content of what we have today. Well, the word for wine in Greek is oinos, and this is the same word used when the Good Samaritan poured oil and wine on the man’s wounds (there’s an antiseptic quality here).
• Paul famously told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach’s sake. That oinos again.
• Ephesians tells us to “not be drunk with wine.” Yeah, that’s oinos. What Jesus made at Cana would make you drunk.

Scripture doesn’t speak of abstaining from alcohol. But it does say plenty about drunkenness. Some simple research will affirm that: Proverbs 20:1, Galatians 5:19-21, Luke 21:34, Proverbs 23:29-35, Isaiah 5:11, and lots more. Drunkenness isn’t going to be a neutral state. Scripture says “Nope.”

In our culture, it’s almost as if sobriety makes people uncomfortable.

Storytime!

When our daughter Amy was preparing for her wedding and subsequent reception, she and Teresa looked at several different venues to host the reception. They trusted me enough to do a little vetting, with the understanding that they had the final say.

One spot I visited was gorgeous. The menu they could put together makes me salivate just to even think about it.

The owner asked me if we wanted an open bar. I said, “Thanks, but no. We won’t be serving alcohol.”

He looked at me like I had seven heads. “W-what?” he stammered.

I repeated myself, but didn’t offer any explanation. Once he composed himself, his face sort of clouded and he said sarcastically, “Well, I hope you folks enjoy your punch and cookies!”

That was that.  I thanked him for his time and left.

Going back further, I could talk about the alcohol-fueled experience that was college life. I sampled stuff a couple of times, and didn’t see the appeal. (More later.) There wasn’t any real pressure on me – about the only comments were along the lines of “What could it hurt?” or “You’d be so funny drunk.”

There was one horrific experience in New Orleans when our marching band performed at halftime for a Saints football game. Afterwards, there were shuttle buses running all night from the French Quarter to our hotel. The little group I was hanging with wanted to go to Pat O’Brien’s, home of the notorious hurricane. I thought the glasses this rum concoction came in were pretty cool, and I wanted one. Of course, I didn’t realize that (a) I could have just purchased a glass, and (b) I could’ve got a non-alcoholic version. I got one for the glass, and figured if I chugged it quickly it wouldn’t affect me. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. I’m not proud of any of that.

About the only other experience I had was as a kid at a wedding reception. There was champagne, and I’d always heard about how wonderful champagne was. I took a sip when no one was looking. It tasted like a burp.

One and done.

There’s your background. I’ve heard every argument for and against. Maybe you’ve gotten curious and have done the same kind of research, and come up with an answer that is consistent with what God teaches you.

For me, here are seven of my reasons for not drinking – why I don’t drink. They may or may not be yours. This may be a non-issue for you.

1. I just don’t like the taste. Pretty basic, huh? I’d much rather have sweet tea.
2. We all have this great freedom because of Christ on the Cross. Because of that freedom, we’re allowed to do certain things as Christians without fear of condemnation. (Paul does a deep dive on this in 1 Corinthians 10). But just because I have the freedom in Christ to do something doesn’t mean that I should.
3. If there is such a thing – this is scientifically debatable – I have an addictive personality. Personalities are complex, and there is no one factor in an addiction, other than you have to be exposed to that substance. Look – I’ve struggled with weight all my adult life, and trying to eat right is a bear. Sugar, for instance, or carbs. Ack. For some folks, it may be drugs, or porn, or social media, or Candy Crush. Perhaps, God forbid, SEC football. Even running! Shopping! Chocolate! You feelin’ me? I just know once something gets ahold of me, shedding it is perfectly awful. Drinking would be a really, really bad idea for me.
4. If I don’t drink, I don’t have to worry about abusing it.
5. I’ve seen the bad side of alcohol too, too many times. After performing a few funerals for adults and teenagers who died because of alcohol, you start asking those hard questions. No one sets out to be an alcoholic. Everyone begins with the attitude of “I’m just a social drinker and there’s nothing wrong with it. God doesn’t forbid it.” All those destroyed people, friendships, marriages, life itself – gone. Chocolate typically doesn’t cause that kind of destruction. (We can make a case how someone who doesn’t take care of their health can certainly hurt those they love, too.)
6. I don’t see how it would make me any closer to God. Okay, bingewatching The Mandalorian, or cheering for the New Orleans Saints doesn’t either. Still, it’s a matter of what would do me the more heinous damage. And it’s also a matter of what has the greater influence on me. Jesus hung out in some seedy places, with folks of questionable character, but He was also the Son of God.
7. The big one for me, as for why I don’t drink, comes down to the issue of being a stumbling block. There are some areas in life where I don’t want others to follow my example. I’ve been aware, as a father and a student minister, that impressionable eyes were watching me. There’s an argument out there that, as a parent, I could’ve shown my kids how to “drink responsibly.” You know, demystify it. Don’t make it glamorous or treat it like some forbidden fruit. Show it as a part of day-to-day living. Perhaps. But if I were to drink responsibly, and one of my kids couldn’t, or didn’t, then I would struggle with some real guilt there. The exercise of my freedom in Christ would have not been a good thing.

Those are seven of mine. And again, I’m not obligating you to come up with any reasoning, for or against.

In my walk with Christ, I want to stay as close to Him as possible. If anything interferes with that, I need to kick it to the curb and be done with it. Lord knows I struggle with consistency on this one! It’s easy for me to justify most anything. I just don’t want alcohol to be added to that list. There is enough I have to contend with already.

I want to become one with Christ. That means that I shouldn’t do things that get in the way of that.

Be well.

I sure would appreciate your comments below.

What is truth? What a classic question, and one worth asking.

This is the foundation of the question, from ancient script. John 18:37-38:

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.

As a nod to pop culture, and another classic found in the movie A Few Good Men:

Jessup: I’ll answer the question. You want answers?

Kaffee: I think I’m entitled!

Jessup: You want answers?!

Kaffee: I want the truth!

Jessup: You can’t handle the truth!

In trying to determine what is truth, I begin with the (correct) assumption that there is Absolute Truth.

God either says yes, no, or wait. He never says “It depends.”

What got me thinking about this question is an observation of The Way Things Currently Stand.

There’s COVID-19. As I’m writing this, I’m still quarantined. I’m waiting to turn that corner people keep talking about.

Specifically, it’s the mask thing. I can’t even.

Should you wear a mask or not?

What would Jesus do? Would He say “it depends?”

Beats me. He hasn’t let me in on His counsel on that one. Personally, I wore a mask and got COVID-19 anyway, which gives some folks an excuse to say “see?” Well, pilgrim, if wearing a mask before I tested positive kept someone else from getting it, then I have problems making that a bad move on my part. So there.

Building on that, then, I’d have to say there IS a truth about how the virus spreads, where it came from, how it can be treated, all that. God created the virus, and if you start going on about how it emerged from a Chinese lab, okay, but God still allowed it. Man can’t create life, but it seems that he can manipulate it. That’s all I got to say about that.

Another thought about truth – and I abhor bringing this up, just because it devalues my spirit – we’ve had this election in the United States recently, right? You probably heard about it. I hope you participated in it.

What is truth? Specifically, who is the president gonna be?

Here we go: we can discuss and debate if there was fraud, and to what extent. I just bet your mind is already made up.

Buried beneath all the hype and hyperbole and anger and frustration there is a truth out there: someone has been elected president, and God knew who that was to be before the foundation of the world was laid. So we/they just need to get at the truth – there is a truth out there – and then we all collectively abide by that even if it’s something we don’t want to hear. We can’t handle the truth … sometimes.

That’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it? We say we want the truth, but then we say “What is truth?” When we learn the truth, and we don’t like it, we might just go somewhere else to hear the truth we want.

Oh, y’all. That’s not the way it works. Don’t be that way.

I’ll illustrate.

I won’t go into the dynamics of why all these platforms have been on a meteoric rise. It’s a definite thing, though.

And I am not, not, not bashing any of these, nor the folks that have embraced them. That is absolutely fine and commendable.

What has brought these platforms to the forefront is that many, many people have looked around themselves, become disgusted at what they’ve seen as bias, and gone somewhere else with others of like mind.

The danger for some people (SOME, not all) is that they’ve gone looking for “a truth” that suits them, that confirms what they’ve already come to believe.

Chuck Swindoll obliquely addresses this tendency in a different context:

We refuse to become the “rabbit-hole Christians” John Stott speaks of, popping out of our holes and racing from our insulated caves to all-Christian gatherings only to rush back again. For salt to be tasted and for light to be seen, we must make contact. We are personally responsible.

That’s a lot of background for me to set up my thesis statement. Ready?

Truth is truth, no matter where you find it. And we should never fear the truth.

All truth is ultimately God’s truth. 

Now, Satan is a liar, and the father of lies. He’s really, really good at wrapping his lies in the mantle of truth, and even we believers can get suckered, big time.

Paraphrasing ancient script:

You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you mad.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. It’ll set you free.

Look, pilgrim, I get it. I want to have my beliefs confirmed independently. There’s that carnal streak in me that sometimes lives to say “told ya so!”

But if I’m going to honestly ask, “What is truth?”, then I need to be willing to make peace with that.

Even if it means my guy isn’t elected.

Even if it means that there was something to COVID-19 all along, and there are ways of curtailing its spread that we haven’t done.

And even if it means my little word is rocked in other ways and cherished beliefs are turned on their collective heads.

I don’t want to make things harder on myself than I need to. Here’s God, offering His truths (and remember, truth is absolute from His vantage point), and I build this social or society-driven wall that protects me from what I don’t want to hear.

I spend all my time with like-minded people and automatically assume other folks are delusional at best and evil at worst.

That makes it hard for me to be salt and light.

What’s the answer to “What is truth?”

To the extent that we can, we need to:

• Check our hearts and emotions. There is a place for righteous anger, but I’m guessing you know when you’re righteously angry and just plain mad. There is a difference.
• Hold up what we see in society against the backdrop of scripture. And if God “reveals” something to you in scripture that doesn’t hold up to orthodoxy or 2000-plus years of scholarship, you’re about to mess up.
• God is not going to reveal something to you and something else to another that is contradictory.
• We can factor in differences of opinion, but we can’t make truth unique to ourselves, and we shouldn’t detest others who don’t see things the same way as we do.
• Most of us were born with an open mind. Let God pry that open if you’ve allowed it to slam shut.
• It’s all going to be okay because God is sovereign.

“What is truth?” It’s not what you say it is. It’s what God says it is.

Be well. Comments are, as always, welcome.