Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 118

The Truth Starts with God, Not Us

Left to myself, I don’t think straight. I believe the lies that are currently popular. God gives me His truth as a moral compass, a reference point to guide me.

It’s not my job to fix the compass so it points the direction I want it to. I must believe the truth as it is, thank God for it, and seek to communicate it graciously to others. I start by believing that He is telling the truth, no matter how controversial that truth may seem in a world that changes “truths” like troupe actors change clothes.

In this video, I share more thoughts about how the truth doesn’t start with us, but with Jesus, who said He is “the way, the truth, and the life."

For more on this subject, see Randy's blog as well as his devotional Truth: A Bigger View of God's Word.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Heavenly Encouragement in the Race of Life

Life in this world—the way it is now and the way we are now—can be difficult, can’t it? It’s easy to become burdened, discouraged, depressed, or even traumatized when you suffer the loss of a loved one, when your health is failing, or when your dreams—your family, career, or lifelong ambitions—have crumbled. Perhaps you’ve become cynical or have lost hope. Some seasons of life can seem like a series of twists, turns, and dead ends.

God gives each of us a race to run. To finish well we must develop perseverance. The Christian life is not a hundred-meter dash but a marathon, requiring patience, endurance, and discipline. But how do we find the strength to finish our race well? 

Heaven Is Our Finish Line

When the apostle Paul faced hardship, beatings, and im­prisonment, he said, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV). What gave Paul the strength and perspective to “press on toward the goal”? A clear view of Heaven.

A study was done in which one group of Israeli soldiers was told it would go on a march, but was not told if or when the march would eventually end. Another group was told the length of the march.

Both groups were tested for their stress response. Although they marched not one foot further than those in the other group, those who didn't know if or when the march would end registered a much higher level of stress. Why? Because they felt helpless—hopeless—wondering if they would ever be allowed to rest.

We do not know exactly when, but as followers of Christ, we do know there is a finish line. We will not run forever. We will rest.

Think of it: Jesus, at unfathomable cost to Himself, purchased for us a happy ending. A happy “ending” that will never end. Anticipating our future on a resurrected Earth with Christ can empower us to persevere in a difficult marriage, remain faithful to the hard task of caring for an ailing parent or child, or stick with a demanding job. Samuel Rutherford wrote, “Our little time of suffering is not worthy of our first night’s welcome home to Heaven.”

If you believe this, you won’t cling desperately to this life. Your solid hope will give you strength to persevere when things get tough. You’ll lift your face, stretch out your arms, and continue running in anticipation of the greater life to come. (I must mention suicide here because the idea seduces some people. The fact that Heaven will be so wonderful shouldn’t tempt us to take shortcuts to get to the finish line. As long as God keeps you here on Earth, it’s exactly where He wants you.) 

Our Savior Is Waiting

Hebrews 12:1 tells us to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” creating the mental picture of the Greek competitions, which were watched intently by throngs of engrossed fans sitting high up in the ancient stadiums. The “great cloud of witnesses” refers to the saints who’ve gone before us, whose accomplishments on the playing field of life are now part of our rich history. The imagery may also suggest that those saints, the spiritual “athletes” of old, are now watching us and cheering us on from the great stadium of Heaven that looks down on the field of Earth.

The author of Hebrews goes on to admonish us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The following verse commands us: “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2–3, NIV).

John Piper writes of these verses, “But we do not look sideways to the saints as we run. Our main motivation comes from looking straight ahead at Jesus. He finished the same race of human life. Only he never sinned, and so his race was perfect. When he finished his race, he finished our salvation. So we run, ‘looking to Jesus, the founder and finisher of our faith.’”

Jesus Christ, the Rock of salvation, is the One who has promised to prepare a place for those who put their hope in Him, a place where they will live with Him forever. If we can learn to fix our eyes on Jesus, to picture our eternal home in our mind’s eye, it will comfort and energize us, giving us a clear look at the finish line. And if we’ve served Him here, His welcome will be glorious!

In his book Things Unseen, Mark Buchanan describes the Christian’s life race and Jesus’ role encouraging us on: “You’re heaven-bent. You eagerly await a Savior who, in turn, eagerly awaits you. There’s a huge company with you, cheering every move you and your Savior make closer to each other. He pours out grace for you to finish the race. He pours out more grace when you stumble, grow weary, fall down, lose heart. He stands at the head of the course and, while all the saints who have gone before line the roadway and cheer riotously, He stretches out His arms wide in exuberant welcome, exultant congregation.”

I imagine myself seeing Jesus, falling to my knees, having Him reach out and pull me up. To think of Him welcoming me not just once, but for all eternity, is sheer joy.

Shut your eyes and picture seeing Jesus and being embraced in His arms when you cross life’s finish line. What a wondrous thought!

The Promise of Eternal Reward

It’s not only the anticipation of seeing our Savior that should propel us forward; it’s also the joy of pleasing Him. Jesus has promised reward for those who’ve faithfully served Him: “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done” (Revelation 22:12).

Moses remained faithful to God because “he was looking ahead to his reward” (Hebrews 11:26, NIV). Likewise, Paul ran his race with his eyes on Heaven’s prize, which motivated him to run hard and long. He was unashamedly motivated by the prospect of eternal reward, and acknowledged it freely and frequently (1 Corinthians 9:24-25; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 5:9-10; 2 Timothy 4:7-8). “Run in such a way as to get the prize,” he said, and on the verge of death he spoke longingly of the crown the Judge would award him in Heaven. He encouraged believers with these words: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

Jesus tells us that one day His faithful servants will hear their Master say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23).

Think about those incredible words: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Memorize them. They are the words we long to hear, the words we were made to hear.

What changes might you need to initiate today so that you may one day hear those words from God? If you don’t yet know Jesus, it’s not too late. Confess your sins and humbly accept the gift of His atoning sacrifice on your behalf. If you do know Him, make your daily decisions in light of your destiny. By God’s grace, use the time you have left on the present Earth to store up for yourself treasures on the New Earth, to be laid at Christ’s feet for His glory (Revelation 4:10). Run your race of life to honor Him.

And should you wonder if there’s anything you’ve done that God could possibly reward, be encouraged by 1 Corinthians 4:5 which talks of the judgment when “each will receive his praise from God” (NIV). He will find something to reward you for. Will you seek to do more rewardable works for Him?

When we hear Jesus say “Well done,” we'll know that any sacrifice we made, any difficulty along the way, was nothing. Meanwhile, we can rejoice in suffering in the same way that Olympic athletes rejoice in their workouts—not because we find it easy, but because we know it will one day result in great reward.

He Gives Renewed Strength

Many are familiar with the beautiful promise of Isaiah 40:31: “Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (NIV).

Joni Eareckson Tada writes about this verse:

The beginning of the Christian life was exhilarating: lots of smiles and handshakes and encouragement. Your emotions soared. And the end? Well, it’s going to be wonderful meeting Jesus face-to-face.

But now you’re in the middle. There are miles behind you and miles to go. You don’t hear any cheers or applause. Your commitment to simply keep putting one tired foot in front of the other begins to flag and fade. Ah, but the promise in Isaiah is just as true now as then. Friend, if you walk in the Spirit, your strength will be renewed. You’ll run and not be weary. Even in the long, gray, middle distance, you will walk and not be faint. So friend, don’t faint; don’t give up. The finish line is just over the horizon and, oh, what a rich reward awaits you. Every step brings you closer to home, so fix your eyes on the One who awaits you there. You’re halfway home. 

With God’s help, we can submit to the discipline of the life circumstances He’s entrusted to us. May we rejoice not merely when those circumstances please us, but even when they don’t, because we know God is sovereign, all-knowing, and all-wise, because He has delivered us from Hell and promised us Heaven, because He is working together all things, even the worst things, for our good (Romans 8:28).

So are you weary in life’s race? Ask your Savior for His empowerment to finish strong, and keep your eyes on the heavenly finish line. By His sustaining grace, you’ll make it.

Randy’s book Heaven can help you learn more about our heavenly finish line, which will inspire you to finish well in the race of life. Browse EPM’s selection of Heaven related books and products here.

This article also appeared in the Spring/Summer 2018 issue of our free Eternal Perspectives magazine.

Top photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

These Two “Look at the Book” Videos from John Piper Are a Great Investment of Your Time

If you haven’t yet checked out John Piper’s amazing LABS (Look at the Book), I encourage you to do so. Here are two that I watched in the past few days and think are terrific:

The Righteous Are Not the Perfect: Piper talks about the difference between the righteous and the wicked, in Psalm 1 and the rest of the psalms. This is really insightful.

Do Not Be Anxious About Anything: A friend had texted me that he is going through a very tough time. So I thought of Philippians 4:6-7, and hoped John Piper had done a LAB on that passage. Sure enough, I found he has. When I watched it to see if I thought it would help this brother, I realized that it helped me as I too am in a tough time. I shared it with my wife Nanci who is battling cancer—after 43 years of marriage, she is my sweetheart, and I am with her step by step in this journey. If you’re facing challenging times, I hope you watch this. I’m not sure you could find a better way to invest 10 minutes of your life.

May you walk with King Jesus daily, remembering He says to you, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:16).

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Let Your Kids Experience Failure

I’ve written before about how failure can be an important part of God’s character-building process in our lives. Here, in his book Navigating Life With More Than Enough, Todd DeKruyter talks about how parents need to let their children experience failure and avoid constantly rescuing them from life’s dilemmas and difficulties. —Randy Alcorn

Hear how Michael Jordan speaks of failure: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Watching your children fail is much harder than you might expect. Many of us high achievers solve problems for a living. We need to fight against stepping in, constantly fixing problems, or helicopter parenting. Townsend and Cloud, in their book Boundaries With Kids, have a beautiful exchange that grabs the picture here of letting the child learn through failure. They say parents need to stop “running interference.”

Imagine a child late on the project who has to have certain supplies tonight in order to do the project by tomorrow. Instead of running to the store to teach them the lesson that mom and dad will bail them out, what if you responded like this:

“Mom, I need some glue for my project.”

“Sorry, dear, I don’t have any.”

“But I have to have it. The project’s due tomorrow.”

“What teacher would call and give you an assignment at this hour without enough time to get the supplies?”

“Come on, Mom. She gave it to us at school.”

“When?”

“Two weeks ago.”

“Oh. So you have had two weeks to get glue and your other supplies?”

“Yes, but I thought we had them.”

“Oh, that’s sad. Seems like I remember this happening with the felt you needed for your last project. Well, I don’t have any and it’s past my bedtime. So I hope you can figure out something to make that does not require glue. Good night, honey. I’m pulling for you.”

Wow! Now that is teaching the kid to learn how to control himself. It lets him fail early enough in life where it’s not too crazy of a consequence, and it’s just good parenting.

Struggle is good. Let our kids want, work, and learn. Failure is a great teacher. There is much even in MBA courses and business schools lately about failure being a good teacher. There are loads more quotes from people who have accomplished much about how much failure taught them. What about the child who has cash to help them avoid failure? What will they learn? What lesson is learned when the parent swoops in like a helicopter and bails the young ones (or not so young ones) out of trouble? Money can buy me out of trouble? Is that the lesson you want them to hear?

We teach so much in those moments. Let’s teach well.

Photo by giselaatje on Pixabay

Our Book Ministry to Prisoners Is Growing

A few years ago Nanci and I met Earl Smith, former death row chaplain at San Quentin State Prison and author of Death Row Chaplain: Unbelievable True Stories from America's Most Notorious Prison. He has his own story of redemption and a deep heart for men imprisoned in their souls. I have seen Earl two other times since first meeting him. This is a man who has had spiritual conversations with notorious criminals, including Charles Manson. (Earl is also chaplain for the San Francisco 49ers and one of the most trusted people in that organization.)

At a conference with professional football players, Earl told me, and at the time I didn’t know this, that our ministry has sent San Quentin lots of books. He said, to my delight, that they have made an incredible difference in the lives of prisoners, many of them on death row. Hearing it from him and seeing the tears in his eyes moved my heart deeply.

Almost all the credit is due to our staff member Sharon, who faithfully responds to the hundreds of requests and letters EPM receives each month, and also Dwight and Dan and others, who have packaged and sent the books. Only in eternity will we learn of the full impact of these books and letters.

Below is a report from our ministry showing how this outreach is continuing to expand and grow. —Randy Alcorn

Each month Eternal Perspective Ministries sends hundreds of Randy’s books to prison facilities across the U.S. Recent numbers show this outreach is growing! Just this past March, we received inmate requests from 12 new facilities in one week (the most we’ve ever received). And during one week alone, we had 180 book requests (normally we get 50 to 70)! The most recent commonly requested book is the coloring book and devotional Picturing Heaven. Here are our numbers from 2017:

2,958 new prisoner contacts
624 institutions served
358 (average)  letters received monthly
40 to 50 requests weekly from a Dayton, Texas jail (other prisons 5 to 20)

And here are some recent letters we’ve received from prisoners:

“I just read your book Deadline. It was life altering. I have been a drug addict for 30 years and am 42 years old. A lot of my life I have spent guilt ridden because of my drug abuse. I have a 15-year-old daughter that I have been estranged from for 2 years now. It’s been a catch 22—I use drugs because I don’t have my daughter and I don’t have my daughter because I use drugs. It reminded me of Jake’s relationship with Carly. Your book gives me hope of a renewed relationship with my child. It also makes me look forward to a life after this life. I have a sense of peace now that I have never had before, and behind bars at that.”  —Tammy

“I would first like to say how much your donations mean to the inmates I’ve met here. They have inspired us to look deeper into the Word and into ourselves; greatly nourishing the Holy Spirit and our creativity in the form of art and poetry. …I know your efforts have already expanded the kingdom of Heaven, making His word more accessible and more desired by those here who were ignorant.”  —Elizabeth

“Randy Alcorn has been a spiritual mentor to me behind these walls along with many countless of men who have fought the good fight of faith and have followed in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, in which we can imitate their faith (Hebrews 13:7).”  —Rafael

“I would like to thank you for all that you do. I don’t believe I would have found God if it wasn’t for Eternal Perspective Ministries.” —Erica

It’s also encouraging to occasionally receive financial gifts from prisoners ranging from a few dollars to a $25.00 check we received several weeks ago for our “Books for Prisoners Fund.” (And more than once we’ve received postage stamps from prisoners to help offset mailing costs!) These prisoners have limited resources, so for them to give so that others can receive books is deeply touching.

If you’d like to partner with us to help provide books to prisoners, you can donate online (choose “Books for Prisoners Fund” under Special Funds). 100% of the donations to this fund will be used to finance the cost and shipping of the books and materials. Thank you for helping us make an eternal difference in the lives of prisoners, who are often a forgotten mission field.

“I was in prison and you visited me.” —Jesus, Matthew 25:36

Four Pieces of Advice for Graduates

With graduation season almost upon us, here are four pieces of advice for both high school and college graduates (and reminders for all of us, in any stage of life).

You can watch the video or read the edited transcript.

1. Ask God to speak to you through His Word. Something I encourage you to do every day is to go before the Lord and say, “God, open your Word to me, and open my heart to your Word. Let Your book always be very important to me—not simply as words on a page, but as a tool of your indwelling Holy Spirit.”

Evaluate your spiritual life and ask Him to speak to you through His Word, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, to give you the ability to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

2. Seek to do everything to God’s glory. First Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” Isn’t that interesting? It doesn’t say, “Whether you spend time in the Word, evangelize, go out in foreign missions, pray, and attend church, do it all to the glory of God.” (Though those things are certainly important.) No—it says to glorify Him when you’re eating and drinking and in every other simple, basic thing.

Don’t draw a line in your life between the secular and the sacred. Your whole life should be one of devotion to Him, so that when you’re working in a mundane job, playing sports, listening to music—whatever you’re doing—you’ll be doing it for Christ’s glory.

3. Remind yourself of God’s promises and your responsibility before Him. Throughout the day, continually remind yourself that Christ is in You, He is with you, and He has promised you an eternity with Him. Remember that Christ has given you gifts and a sphere of influence, and He’s entrusted money and material things to you that He calls upon you to share with others. Ask Him to use you as His vessel wherever you go and in whatever you do.

4. Make it all about Jesus. He says that if you want to save your life, you’re going to lose it (Matthew 16:25). If everything you do is all about you and making your life the way you want it, you’re in danger of following the rich fool’s example (Luke 12:13-21). But Jesus says that if you lose your life for His sake, you’ll find it. That’s the fulfilling life of following Christ.

Other resources that may be helpful:

Knowing God’s Will
Find Your Happiness in Christ
Christ-Centered Stewardship in a Consumer-Driven Culture
Guidelines for Sexual Purity
Recommended Books, Blogs, Websites, and Software to Go Deeper into God’s Word and Draw Closer to Jesus

More recommended books:

Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will by Kevin DeYoung
Do Hard Things  by Alex and Brett Harris
How to Stay Christian in College  by J. Budziszewski
This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years by Jaquelle Crowe

Photo: paseidon on Pixabay

The Proper Study of a Christian Is the Godhead: Charles Spurgeon on the Subject of God

Nanci and I have been going deep in the character of God as we face her cancer and the treatments. She read a portion of this to me the other day, and I went back and found Spurgeon’s larger context, which we first posted on our site eight years ago, to read to her. We were both encouraged that there is nothing like the attributes of God to overwhelm us with a sense of eternal perspective as well as to give us comfort and encouragement.

It also reminds me of the seeming impossibility of a 20-year-old with such a grasp of who God is and such a command of the English language. While it is true that there is only one Spurgeon, there have been countless people in the past who’ve been saturated in the knowledge of God at very young ages. I think we should raise the bar of our expectations for our children and young people in our churches, and challenge and stretch them to read and meditate and go deep in the person and Word and works of our incomparable God.

Over 160 years ago, on January 7, 1855, a pastor in England rose to preach. His name was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was only twenty years old. This is the introduction to his sermon about God:

It has been said that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.

There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God....

But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe.... The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.

And, while humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore.

Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.

Excerpted from “The Immutability of God,” A sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark. J. I. Packer quotes from this message in Knowing God .

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

Young Adults with Down Syndrome Speak Out: “Our Lives Are Worth Living, Too”

Years ago, the television series “Life Goes On” portrayed a teenager named Corky who had Down syndrome. The starring role was played by a young man with Down syndrome, and many people were touched by his winsome performance. Critics raved. But many of the same critics favor the killing of these children, just like Corky, before they are born.

A survey of pediatricians and pediatric surgeons revealed that more than two out of three would go along with parents’ wishes to deny lifesaving surgery to a child with Down syndrome. Nearly three out of four said that if they had a Down syndrome child, they would choose to let him starve to death. [1] This is not only horrible, but baffling, for many Down children are the happiest you’ll ever meet. These children require special care, of course, but surely they deserve to be born and to live as much as any of us. (Over the years, the most popular character in my novel Deadline has been a Down syndrome boy named Little Finn. He also appears in my novel Dominion. In Deadline, I also portray another Down syndrome child teaching people in Heaven, with a startling depth of insight.)

Some argue: “It’s cruel to let a Down syndrome or handicapped child be born to a miserable and meaningless life.” We may define a meaningful life one way, but we should ask ourselves what is meaningful to the handicapped themselves:

A 2011 study by Harvard University researchers found that rather than leading lives of suffering, people with Down syndrome have unusually high rates of happiness. An amazing 99 percent said they are happy with their lives, 97 percent like who they are, and 96 percent like how they look. “Overall, the overwhelming majority of people with Down syndrome surveyed indicate they live happy and fulfilling lives,” the researchers found. [2]

“A slew of recent studies has shown that people with Down syndrome report happier lives than us ‘normal’ folk. Even happier than rich, good looking and intelligent people.” [3]

Wouldn’t you suppose we’d want more people of any group characterized by such happiness? Tragically, however, studies show that of mothers who receive a positive diagnosis of Down syndrome during the prenatal period, 89 to 97 percent choose abortion. [4] This means that the children most likely to be happy are also most likely to be killed before birth.  Reports show that Iceland’s abortion rate for unborn Down syndrome babies is almost 100%. Denmark’s is 98%. [5]

When adults kill a handicapped child, preborn or born, they may think it's for her or his good, to prevent future suffering. But in doing so, they aren’t preventing cruelty to the child; they’re committing cruelty to the child. And in reality, it’s most often done in order to prevent difficulties for themselves and others.

I was touched by a video of Charlotte Fien, a British young woman who eloquently challenged a UN “expert” on human rights who advocates for aborting Down syndrome babies.

Here’s a transcript of what Charlotte said:

Mr. Ben Achour, your comments about people with Down syndrome deeply offend me. I felt you attacked me for being who I am. Who am I, Mr. Ben Achour? I’m a human being just like you. Our only difference is an extra chromosome. My extra chromosome makes me far more tolerant than you, sir. . . . If any other heritable traits like skin color were used to eradicate a group of people the world would cry out. Why are you not crying out when people like me are being made extinct? What have WE done to make you want us to disappear? As far as I know my community doesn’t hate, discriminate, or commit crimes. . . .

I keep hearing you use the word “suffering” in relation to Down syndrome. The ONLY thing we have to suffer are horrible people who want to make us extinct. I have a brilliant life. I have a family that loves me. I have great friends. I have an active social life.

Mr. Ben Achour, what you are suggesting is eugenics. It’s disgusting and evil. You need to apologize for your horrible comments. You should also be removed from the Human Rights Committee as an expert. You are not an expert about Down syndrome. You sir, do not speak for my community. The Human Rights Committee needs people who will genuinely fight for the rights of others who are being oppressed. I suggest that the Human Rights Committee appoint me as an expert. I will fight for our right to exist for the rest of my life.

Charlotte is joined by a chorus of courageous individuals with Down syndrome who are speaking out about their right to life. In her TEDx talk, my fellow Oregonian Karen Gaffney asked, “I have one more chromosome than you. So what?” An accomplished open-water swimmer, Karen has crossed the English Channel in a relay race and completed the swimming leg of the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

Last year, 18-year-old Natalie Dedreux from Cologne asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel a tough question about Germany’s abortion laws: “Mrs. Merkel, you are a politician. You make laws. I’m an editor at a magazine for people like me who have Down syndrome. Nine out of ten babies with Down syndrome in Germany aren’t born. A baby with Down syndrome can be aborted days before the birth, in what is called ‘late stage abortion.’ My colleagues and I want to know what your opinion on late-stage abortion is, Mrs. Merkel. Why can babies with Down syndrome be aborted shortly before birth?”

“I don’t want to be aborted, I want to be born,” Natalie concluded, to applause.

When Frank Stephens, a young man with Down syndrome, gave a speech before a U.S. House appropriations panel, he told members of Congress, “Just so there is no confusion, let me say that I am not a research scientist. However, no one knows more about life with Down syndrome than I do. Whatever you learn today, please remember this: I am a man with Down syndrome and my life is worth living.”

There is one recent positive sign in American society: Gerber named Lucas Warren, who has Down syndrome, as their . Looking at Lucas’s precious smile, how could there be any doubt that he and other children with Down syndrome have lives worth protecting and cherishing?

[1] Curtis Young, The Least of These (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1983), 118.

[2] Marc A. Thiessen, “When will we stop killing humans with Down syndrome?,” The Washington Post, March 8, 2018.

[3] Jevan, “People with Down Syndrome Are Happier than Normal People,” The Tribal Way (blog), October 2, 2012.

[4] H. Choi, M. Van Riper, and S. Thoyre, “Decision Making Following a Prenatal Diagnosis of Down Syndrome: An Integrative Review,” Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health 57, no. 2 (March/April 2012): 156–164.

[5] Marc A. Thiessen, “When will we stop killing humans with Down syndrome?,” The Washington Post, March 8, 2018.

Top photo by Nathan Anderson on Unsplash

Of Marriage and Uprooting Our Idols: Three Pieces of Advice for Newlywed Women

Today’s guest blog is from Shauna Hernandez, a vital and beloved member of our team at EPM. What she has to share here is wise, insightful, and transparent. I think it’s helpful not only for newlyweds, but also those who’ve been married for many years. And I believe husbands of all ages should read it to help better understand, honor, and serve their wives, in the spirit of 1 Peter 3:7. Thanks so much for these insights, Shauna!  —Randy Alcorn

On October 21, 2017, I walked down the aisle and married Ryan Hernandez, a man so good for me and yet quite different from me. We were a bit older when we got married; I was 29 and he had just turned 34. Starting marriage a little further along in life compared to other friends has its benefits. We know who we are, what we like, and how we do life.

We both had been international missionaries and had each lived several years in three different countries: six countries total! We’d both lived on our own, with and without roommates. We had great relationships with our families. We loved the Lord and attended church regularly. We loved each other and were committed and faithful to one another. We went through pre-marital counseling, and had wise people speaking into our relationship. Ryan walked me through (and continually does) the grief of losing my mom just a year before we got married. So why did marriage seem so hard? Why did I feel like I was crying over every little hardship? Hadn’t we done the hard work before so that we’d sail smoothly into the horizon of marital bliss?

Don’t get me wrong—I love Ryan and would do anything for him. But those first couple of months I felt like I was failing as a wife. I didn’t have a perfect dinner schedule figured out. Our precious little apartment wasn’t ever fully clean (even though I felt like we were constantly cleaning!). I just couldn’t seem to happily balance working two jobs, cooking, cleaning, and spending time with my husband. And my emotions were all over the place.

I looked at my wifely “accomplishments” as a way of increasing Ryan’s love for me. If I did better at being a wife, in my mind he loved me more. This is when I realized that I view my relationship with God similarly.

The Lord gave me insight this spring when we took our church’s high school youth group on our annual retreat. Our topic was modern-day idols, and I talked about identifying, uprooting, and replacing our idols with the Lord. In the process of planning these talks, I came face-to-face with my idol of security.  But this isn’t just an issue between Ryan and me. It affects my relationship with the Lord and causes me to strive to be secure by doing better, having a full schedule, and being a “good” Christian to somehow earn His love.

I began to understand that I haven’t fully accepted that my security rests in the fact that God loves me regardless of what I do. Yes, of course He wants me close to Him, keeping His commands and remaining in His love (John 15:10), but the love God has for me isn’t based on what I’ve done for Him. First John 4:19 says that we love because He first loved us. He extended His love to us first, and my love for Him is a response.

As I’m choosing to let the truth of God’s unconditional love—and my husband’s—wash over me, I’ve thought of three things I’ve been learning in these early stages of marriage. I’ve been married just six months, so I don’t pretend to know everything, but these insights have helped me:

1. Choose the better thing. This little phrase has been bouncing around in my head for several weeks. Sometimes I’m so stressed to have a phenomenal dinner ready that I choose anxiety about preparing a meal for my husband over spending time with him. He kindly suggested that our meals don’t always need a wow-factor (no thanks to you, Pinterest!), but can sometimes just be spaghetti. Wives, don’t worry about always making fantastic meals that take hours to prepare. Sometimes a bag of noodles and a jar of Ragu will do the trick. Choose the better thing: spending time with your husband and less time in the kitchen.

2. Don’t compare. Let me say this loudly: DON’T COMPARE. Just don’t. Don’t compare your skills to your friends’. Don’t compare yourself to your mother-in-law. Don’t compare your husband to other men. Don’t compare your husband to your dad. And how’s this one? Don’t compare yourself to your husband. Ryan is an excellent cook. He learned from the best, my dear mother-in-law and her mother, and for this I’m grateful! However, Ryan’s abilities in cooking tend to cause me to second guess mine and I need to remember that I’m learning and that’s OK.  

3. Have a heart of grace. The other morning, Ryan prayed over us that we’d have hearts of grace for each other. In the first precious and challenging months of marriage, choose to show grace to your husband. That could mean choosing to not bring up something hard before bed (when one person is worried and the other is sleepy). It definitely means thinking the best of each other. It’s very likely (though of course there are terrible situations where this could be true) that your spouse isn’t out to get you or make you feel dumb. Trust that they’re in process too.

Marriage is a beautiful and challenging thing. Keep the Lord first, continually going to Him and His Word for counsel and leaning into His unconditional love. Throughout the seasons of life and marriage, He is our unchanging security. And finally, know that you don’t have to have it all figured out. We’re always going to be in process, but what a beautiful thing it is if we choose to walk the road humbly together!

Photo by Jon Asato on Unsplash

A Quiet Place and Our Silencing of the Unborn

Nanci and I saw The Quiet Place, a unique and unforgettable film which left us instinctively whispering and not wanting to make noises afterward. If you see the movie, which I don’t recommend unless you like 90 minutes of tension and lots of dread, you’ll know what I mean. But for sure, if you can put up with the terror presented by the blind but super-hearing aliens, there are some strong family values in this movie. One in particular, an emphatic prolife message, is celebrated in this article by Greg Morse. —Randy Alcorn

Fighting for Life in ‘A Quiet Place’

By Greg Morse

Sound is deadly.

So you play monopoly with cloth pieces and roll the dice on carpet. Even the crunch of a leaf can be fatal, so you pour sand on paths to travel from one place to another. You learn sign language to communicate with children. You bow your head in prayer, hold your family’s hands, but no one raises their voice unto the Lord. You laugh on mute, cry on mute, cry out in pain on mute, sing on mute, live on mute — or you do not live at all.

This is the world in A Quiet Place (PG–13), the new thriller written and directed by John Krasinski who also plays the lead (Lee Abbott). His wife, actress Emily Blunt, plays his wife in the movie (Evelyn Abbott). The married couple fights to survive with their son and daughter as monsters lurk in the woods. For them, there is no such thing as safe and sound. The monsters can’t see them, but they can hear them. And if they can hear them, they will find them.

In such apocalyptic circumstances, the movie follows the Abbotts as they sneak through life, trying to do whatever they can to retain some semblance of a normal, albeit silent, existence.

A Quieter Place

But then the couple gets pregnant. And as parents know, no child comes quietly.

Yet, in this world of chilling, life-or-death silence, the Abbotts never even consider preventing a screaming, crying, fussing child from coming into the world. Surely this is a dire threat to the family security. Surely they could not bring the loud infant into their quiet place without risking everything. Surely this baby would get them all killed. Surely such circumstances made it more understandable for one to ponder one’s “reproductive rights” and opt to exercise one’s “reproductive freedom” to “terminate the pregnancy.”

If pregnancy was your reality in this silent world, and you had nine months to make the decision, would you invade the quiet place inside of her and snuff out the voice that would most likely get you killed? The Abbotts chose to silently say, “No.”

Death in a Quiet Place

Many in our society hear the same question and quickly, even casually, answer, “Yes.”

We kill our children daily by the thousands. No monsters prowl our woods, but they live in our homes. We have become them. We have turned forceps on those noisy creatures who would interrupt our plans, our comforts, our television shows. And if we know they have a disability — if they will be especially needy — we silence them at an even higher rate. We are the ones who attack the helpless in the quietest place, in their mother’s womb.

A Quiet Place is not properly a horror film, but it is extremely suspenseful and contains violent and frightening scenes. After an hour and a half, you can walk out of the theater and nobody really died. But the same is not true for the horror films taking place in abortion clinics across the U.S. and around the world — silent assassinations in sterile rooms. They wear white coats. They make death a business. They snatch children from deceived mothers, who tragically pay to have them taken away. We live in a society full of this movie’s monsters. And they seem so ordinary.

The Church in a Quiet Place

We not only attack those who have no voice, but we attack those who try to speak up for them. One cannot shriek too loudly on social media, in conversations around the dinner table, or in any civilized conversation about abortion. Polite society on this issue means a silent society. Hate that we plunge needles into baby skulls, suction out their brains, and bury them — not in a grave — but in a garbage can, and you too become a target. If we personally refuse to call evil good and good evil, put dark for light and sweet for bitter (Isaiah 5:20), then at least we better shut up about it.

Many Christians in the West have grown weary of being maligned on this issue. They have grown tired of doing good and speaking boldly for a taboo cause. Following Jesus is divisive enough without lending our voices to speak about what grieves and infuriates him. So, his body refuses to speak and we silence him too. And our mumbling of, “We didn’t know” doesn’t suffice.

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? (Proverbs 24:10–12)

Many have fainted in this day of adversity. They are reduced to protest on mute, speak righteously on mute, be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation on mute — live Christianly on mute. They live on manicured lawns and must not make a sound while they put our children into Sheol.

They have retired from the fight and live as good citizens in a quiet place — a quiet, civilized place that muffles its children indefinitely.

Sacrifice in a Quiet Place

This is not an endorsement of the movie — for we have enough violence and fright in real life that we do not need to escape into it. But at times, witnessing fictional terror can help us see the domesticated horrors that surround us every day — and the beauty of selfless love that rises to confront it.

Against all the loud, pink, pro-choice banners around us, A Quiet Place stands for human lives worth sacrificing for. Even when a baby would cost them everything, even when they had every excuse to declare their own rights, Lee and Evelyn Abbott fought for their family and their coming son. They risked their lives for their children. They exhausted every ounce of energy to protect them. I don’t know what John Krasinski wanted the world to know about unborn children, but in his movie, I witnessed God’s relentless, sacrificial, and beautiful love for the least and youngest of these.

And what was acted on screen in A Quiet Place was acted out by God in history. “To us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Jesus, an everlasting father to us, did not sacrifice his children but died for them. He laid his life down so that full pardon and full sonship would be secured for his blood-bought family. He gives former monsters (turned children) a new mind, a new heart, and a new courage to protect and fight for the most defenseless of his creation, hidden within a quiet place.

This article was originally posted on DesiringGod.org and is us ed by permission of the author.

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash