Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 27

Will We Ever Disagree in Heaven?

Because we’re finite and unique and because we’ll never know everything, we may not agree about everything in Heaven. We’ll agree on innumerable matters and wonder how we ever thought otherwise. But we’ll still likely have different tastes in food and clothes and music and thousands of other things. We will have discussions, perhaps even debates, about things we won’t yet understand. Of course, there will be no personal attacks, no ill-informed biases, and no prideful refusal to grant a valid point.

Some of us will have insights others don’t. Some will have a better understanding in one area, others in a different area. Our beliefs can be accurate but incomplete, since we’ll not be omniscient. Adam was without sin, yet he needed more than himself. Even before sin, surely he and Eve brought different perspectives. Not all disagreement is rooted in sin.

The companionship of other finite beings involves discussion and dialogue, which creates progress through synergy. That synergy involves differences and even disagreements. Could Michael and Gabriel, two sinless beings, have different opinions on a military strategy? Could they think differently enough to disagree? Why not?

C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and other friends in their group called The Inklings often argued ideas with each other. On the New Earth, could Jonathan Edwards, G. K. Chesterton, Francis Schaeffer, Charles Spurgeon, and John Wesley agree on 90 percent of the issues, yet still challenge one another’s ideas in what’s still unknown to them, stimulating each other to a greater understanding? Could they even say, “Let’s think and talk to the King, approach an angel or two, bounce our ideas off Paul, Luther, and Augustine, and then meet again and share what we’ve learned”?

Even though Christ’s insights would be absolutely accurate, that doesn’t mean we’ll always fully understand them. God has made us learners. That’s part of being finite.

If we will always and automatically see all things alike, then why will there be rulers and judges on the New Earth? In a perfect world, why would there be a need for authority? Because that’s the way God has made us. He’s the ultimate authority, but He delegates authority to mankind. It’s not sin that necessitates authority; it’s simply God’s design, existing first within His triune being (John8:28). Since we’re told that we’ll judge angels, will there be disagreements to pass judgment on? If sinless people see differently, might they still need wise counsel?

Uniqueness and differences existed before sin and will exist after it. Only God has infinite wisdom and knowledge. We should expect some differences in perspective, but we should also expect an ability to resolve them without rancor or bruised egos. Imagine the ability to question and challenge without any malice and to be questioned and challenged without a hint of defensiveness.

Wouldn’t that be Heaven?

Browse more resources on the topic of Heaven, and see Randy’s related books, including  Heaven .

Photo: Pexels

Christ’s Gentleness Makes Him Great

Note from Randy: One of our challenges is to look at the complete Jesus revealed in Scripture. We dare not remake Him in our image, reducing Him only to our favorite attribute, love. By seeing Him in His holiness and love, His truth and His grace, we’ll learn to see the fullness of His beauty. Gentleness is also part of His character, but we dare not mistake that gentleness for weakness.

C.I. Scofield said, “There is in the Lord Jesus a perfect evenness of various perfections. All the elements of perfect character are in lovely balance. His gentleness is never weak. His courage is never harsh.” And Thomas Watson wrote, “Jesus Christ is tender without being weak, strong without being coarse, lowly without being servile.”

Hope you enjoy this article from Desiring God’s David Mathis on King David’s strength shown through gentleness, and how that reflects the perfect gentle strength of our Savior.   

Gentleness Made Him Great: Learning from the Strongest of Men

By David Mathis

We felt safe with Seth.

I was 16 years old, in tenth grade — right in the middle of those promising and perilous teenage years — when he came to our church as the new youth minister. I was surrounded by the pressures and confusion of adolescence, and yet Seth Buckley brought a clarifying, stabilizing presence. He embodied mature Christian manhood, with both strength and gentleness.

None could question his physical strength. He had played linebacker at Alabama, and he could squat and bench far more than any of us high-school athletes. Yet he played the guitar and sang solos. And his tender heart for Jesus, and teenagers, came through, often with tears, in heartfelt rehearsals of the gospel every Wednesday night.

The reason we felt safe with Seth wasn’t because he was weak. He emphatically was not. He was strong — both physically and emotionally. And he was gentle. That is, he knew how to use his strength to life-giving ends. To the gift of his strength, he had added the virtue of gentleness.

Neither effeminate nor brutish, neither soft nor violent, Seth modeled for us teenaged men-in-training the kind of men we wanted to be deep down — the kind of men the gospel produces over time. In this way, knowing Seth helps me imagine what it may have been like to know King David.

Expert in War

We might remember David as “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:1) and forget he was first a fearless, strong, and skilled man of war. But a striking scene at the end of his life gives a fuller picture of David than the simple singer-songwriter. When David’s son Absalom rebels against his father, marches on Jerusalem, and sends David momentarily retreating, David’s friend Hushai plays loyal to Absalom in order to defeat the rebel counsel. As he makes his case (which carries the day), he characterizes David, in terms that all agreed with:

You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war. (2 Samuel 17:8)

Not just his men, but David himself is mighty — and expert in war. And this wasn’t new. When we first meet David (even before Goliath), he is introduced as “a man of valor, a man of war”:

Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him. (1 Samuel 16:18)

In the following chapter, the Goliath account, we learn that David has already killed lions and bears (1 Samuel 17:34–36). He has the courage to face the giant, and the skill to conquer him. And though still a youth, David is strong enough to take Goliath’s massive sword, draw it from its sheath, and take off the giant’s head (1 Samuel 17:51). Soon the imposing Saul, who stood head and shoulders above the rest, would hear his people singing of David’s strength: “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7).

What Made Him Great?

Psalm 18, which David wrote in praise of God’s lifelong deliverance, celebrates the physical strength and ability that God had given and honed in his anointed. David “can run against a troop” and “leap over a wall” (Psalm 18:29); he says that God “equipped me with strength” (Psalm 18:39) and “made my feet like the feet of a deer” (Psalm 18:33). God “trains my hands for war,” making his arms strong enough to “bend a bow of bronze” (Psalm 18:34). And yet, right here, in mention after mention of his human strength, David celebrates the surpassing quality of gentleness. Strength and skill may have made him a good warrior and king, but “Your gentleness,” he says to God, “made me great” (Psalm 18:35).

Strength, valor, and experience made David “expert in war,” but it was God’s own gentleness (which David learned firsthand) that made David great. Not only had the omnipotent God been gentle with his Anointed, in his finitude and many failings, but God’s gentleness had come to characterize David’s own leadership. As Derek Kidner comments, “While it was the gentleness God exercised that allowed David his success, it was the gentleness God taught him that was his true greatness” (Psalms, 95).

Where do we see this greatness? When did David add the surpassing virtue of gentleness to the valuable ability of his strength? Psalm 18 appears in 2 Samuel 22 at the culmination of the book, and two key mentions of David’s gentleness earlier in the story set up this climactic line and lesson.

Gentle with an Enemy

After the death of Saul, David’s commander, Joab, avenges the personal loss of his own brother. Saul’s commander, Abner, had struck down Joab’s brother, Asahel, after he had pursued Abner after battle. Abner had warned him to turn aside, and Asahel would not, and Abner struck him in the stomach. “A long war between the house of Saul and the house of David” followed, with David growing “stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker” (2 Samuel 3:1).

In time, Abner sought peace with David and delivered the rest of the kingdom to David. They feasted together, and David sent Abner away in peace. But Joab then drew Abner aside (under the pretense of peace) “to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother” (2 Samuel 3:27). The contrast between David and Joab is stark and pronounced. Both can be fearsome in battle. Both are strong, brave, and experts of war. But Joab, while an asset in war, is a liability in peace.

Joab’s unrighteous killing of Abner threatens the consolidation of the nation under David’s rule. So, David publicly mourns the death of Abner so that “all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to put to death Abner” (2 Samuel 3:37). David speaks to his servants to make clear his differences from Joab, the son of Zeruiah:

Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness! (2 Samuel 3:38–39)

Gentle with a Traitor

Second, near the end of David’s reign, when Absalom has rebelled against him, David sends Joab and the army out against Absalom, but with specific instructions. In keeping with his pattern of exercising strength, and adding to it the virtue of gentleness, David orders Joab, in the presence of many witnesses, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom” (2 Samuel 18:5).

Some commentators see weakness and indiscretion in David at this point; others see the gentleness that made him great. Peter Leithart comments,

These instructions were consistent with David’s treatment of all his enemies; he had treated Saul well, and just recently he had restrained Abishai from cutting down Shimei. He knew what Joab was capable of, and he wanted all his men to know that he treated enemies with kindness and compassion. David’s behavior again provided an Old Testament illustration of Jesus’s teaching about loving enemies. (A Son to Me, 278)

Joab, of course, defies David’s will and kills Absalom, again accenting the difference between the two men. Both are strong, but only one is great — and that through his gentleness.

Joab is the one-dimensional man of war — strong, tenacious, courageous in battle, a hero in combat. Yet his manhood is immature and incomplete. A liability at home and in peacetime, Joab is unable to cushion his strength and control his tenacity.

David, on the other hand, in masculine maturity, has learned gentleness and can thrive in all contexts. His abilities are multidimensional. He can lead a nation, not only an army. Both strong and gentle, he knows when to wield his strength and when, with admirable restraint, to walk in gentleness.

High and Exalted, Gentle and Lowly

In showing teenaged boys the strength and gentleness of mature masculinity, Seth showed us far more than the greatness of King David. While Psalm 18 gives tribute to God’s work in and through David, there is much in the psalm, writes John Calvin, that “agrees better with Christ” than with David.

When the apostle John, on the isle of Patmos, caught his glimpses of the glory of Christ, he witnessed the paragon of mature masculinity, complete in power and grace. In Jesus, he saw not only man but “the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). “His voice was like the roar of many waters,” and his face “like the sun shining in full strength” (Revelation 1:15–16). Later John would see this Lion of a man, sitting on a white horse, as the one who “judges and makes war” (Revelation 19:11).

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. (Revelation 19:15)

Yet when the apostle looked between the angels and the throne of heaven, he “saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). A lamb-like Lion, and lion-like Lamb, awe-inspiring in his majestic strength, and yet seen to be truly great as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of his people.

Jesus’s gentleness cushions the application of his great power as he marshals it in the service of his weak people. Do not mistake his gentleness for weakness. Gentle is not code for weak. Gentleness is not the absence of strength but the addition of virtue to strength — in men like Seth, King David, and most admirably of all, the Son of God himself.

The article originally appeared on Desiring God , and is used with permission of the author.

Photo: Unsplash

Why Does a Biblical Theology of Suffering Matter?

How we think about suffering will radically affect how we see God and the world around us. If you believe God should always bless you and your loved ones with material abundance and good health, you are setting yourself up to lose your faith. Actually, you should lose that faith, because it’s false. Replace it with true biblical faith.

Trials are an opportunity to jettison false ideas about God and ground ourselves in who He reveals Himself to be in His Word. Only faith in the true God can pass, and even find strength in, the most formidable of life’s tests.

Suffering will come; we owe it to God, ourselves, and those around us to prepare for it.

I did a podcast episode with Davey Blackburn from Nothing Is Wasted Ministries, and one of the questions he asked me was, “Why is a proper theology so imperative to us being able to walk through pain and suffering?” (Davey has experienced much suffering himself; read his story here.)

Listen to or watch our entire conversation:

Randy’s book If God Is Good brings fresh, realistic, and biblical insight to the subject of suffering and evil. Also see his devotional 90 Days of God’s Goodness, book The Goodness of God, and booklet If God Is Good, Why Do We Hurt?, which deals with the question and shares the gospel so that both unbelievers and believers can benefit.

Photo: Unsplash

Brock Purdy’s Faith and Family Are a Great Super Bowl Story

Nanci and I watched the Super Bowl together every year since we met in 1969. She loves Jesus, people, dogs, and football. And I think she would enjoy the videos of a strong Christian athlete and his family I’m linking to in this blog.

(No offense intended to fans of the Kansas City Chiefs, a great team and great organization that has its own share of believers. The Purdy story is simply unique in so many ways, and I found the inside glimpses of their family to be to be rare and refreshing.)

First, though, always beware of Super Bowl halftime shows, which are sometimes immoral and not what Christian families will want themselves or their children to watch. But also, during the game, keep your eyes open for two new “He Gets Us” ads. I know the primary family that is funding these. Believing that many false perceptions of Jesus are out there that turn people away, their goal is to “reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible.”[If you want to know more about these, see this article.

Now for a remarkable Christian family dimension at the center of the Super Bowl this week. 49er quarterback Brock Purdy has had a storybook beginning to his NFL career. He was the very last player chosen in the NFL draft two years ago, and that player is called “Mr. Irrelevant.” Except Purdy has been anything but irrelevant. He began his NFL rookie season, 2022-23, as the third-string quarterback of the 49ers. After injuries to both quarterbacks ahead of him, Brock took over as starter. Most people’s expectations were very low.  But he ended up winning all five regular-season games he started. He led his team to a division title and an NFC Championship Game appearance, in which he was injured and the 49ers lost.

Purdy continued as the 49ers’ starting quarterback in this year’s 2023 season, where he led them to a repeat division title and then to Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII. Brock led the league in several passing categories. And set the 49er’s all-time single season passing yards record. He also earned a Pro Bowl nomination.

I’ve chosen and linked to a number of videos below, some of them very short, that will give you what I consider to be a really unique and encouraging picture of Brock, his dad and mom, and sister and brother. Even if you’re not a football fan, I believe you will be encouraged by these.

Brock Purdy talks about his faith and coming from behind to win the 2024 NFC championship, 60 seconds:  

Brock Purdy talks about confessing sin and following Jesus, 60 seconds:

Purdy on faith and family at a Press Conference, 40 seconds:

Check out the Purdy Family (These are gold; if you love families, you will love these.)

Just two days ago, my friend Jason Romano of Sports Spectrum (a great magazine and podcast) interviewed Brock Purdy’s father Shawn about his son’s incredible journey to the Super Bowl, 30 minutes:  

Brock Purdy’s big sister and little brother talk about their parents and their brother starting in the Super Bowl, 7 minutes (the warmth of affection for family here is beautiful):

Brock Purdy’s mom, also interviewed by Jason Romano of Sports Spectrum (17 minutes and delightful):

Brock Purdy interviewed 11 months ago after his amazing first season with the 49ers:

Finally, here’s a classic Ray Comfort (one of the most unconventional and creative Christian leaders I’ve ever known) 20-minute gospel presentation woven together with Brock Purdy’s statements about Jesus. In it he shares the gospel and you get to hear people’s responses to his questions, as he leads them toward Jesus:

When One Day Your Present Life Is Forgotten on Earth, God Will Forever Remember and Care

Our lives are so brief, they may seem like pebbles dropped in a pond. They create ripples for a moment, tiny wrinkles that smooth out, then are gone forever. Abandoned tombstones with names no one remembers are stark reminders of our eventual anonymity in this world. What do you know about your great-grandparents? What will your great-grandchildren know about you?

Our brief stay here may appear insignificant, but if we spend our lives honoring Jesus and being generous, thereby storing up treasures in Heaven, our lives will have everlasting value. The Bible tells us that although others may not remember us or care what our lives here have been, God will remember perfectly, and He cares very much—so much that the door of eternity swings on the hinges of our present lives.

For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments. (Psalm 103:14-18)

Malachi 3:16-18 is a remarkable passage that tells us God documents the faithful deeds of His children on Earth: “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.’ “

God is proud of His people for fearing Him and honoring His name, and He promises that all will see the differences between those who serve Him and those who don’t. Those distinctions are preserved in this scroll in Heaven.

The king often had scribes record the deeds of his subjects so that he could remember and properly reward his subjects’ good deeds (Esther 6:1-11). While God needs no reminder, He makes a permanent record so that the entire universe will one day know His justification for rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked.

Other passages describe a scroll in Heaven. Jesus opens a great scroll (Revelation 5:1, 5), and an angel holds a little scroll (Revelation 10:2). The psalm writer David said, “Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record?” (Psalm 56:8). He asked that his tears be kept in Heaven’s permanent record.

There’s no hint that God will destroy any or all of the books and scrolls presently in Heaven. It’s likely that these records of the faithful works of God’s people on Earth will be periodically read throughout the ages.

The books contain detailed historical records of all of our lives on this earth. Each of us is part of these records. Obscure events, words heard by only a handful of people, will be known. Your acts of faithfulness and kindness that no one else knows are well-known by God. He is documenting them in his books. He will reward you for them in Heaven.

How many times have we done small acts of kindness on Earth without realizing the effects? How many times have we shared Christ with people we thought didn’t take it to heart but who years later came to Jesus partly because of the seeds we planted? How many times have we spoken up for unborn children and seen no result, but as a result someone chose not to have an abortion and saved a child’s life? How many dishes have been washed and diapers changed and crying children sung to in the middle of the night, when we couldn’t see the impact of the love we showed? And how many times have we seen no response, but God was still pleased by our efforts?

God is watching. He is keeping track. In Heaven, He’ll reward us for our acts of faithfulness to Him, right down to every cup of cold water we’ve given to the needy in His name (Mark 9:41). And He’s making a permanent record in Heaven’s books.

Browse more resources on the topic of Heaven, and see Randy’s related books, including  Heaven .

Photo: Pexels

Your Shepherd’s Lovingkindness Pursues You

Psalm 23 was the first passage I memorized as a brand-new Christian, at age 15. I remember loving those words. I am amazed at how much more they mean to me now because of the suffering and grief I have both witnessed and experienced since then:

1 Yahweh is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

3 He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will pursue me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.  (LSB)

Most of us are accustomed to translations of verse 6 that say God’s goodness and mercy will “follow” us, but the Hebrew here is stronger. It is the same word used of pursuing a chariot and a fleeing army in battle (Judges 4:16). Yes, the pursuer is following, but with a high degree of intensity. God’s goodness and lovingkindness won’t simply amble along behind us; they pursue and catch us. Don’t you want to be caught by God’s goodness, love, and kindness?

Just as the psalm starts with Yahweh (the personal name of God, often translated with all caps LORD), it ends with Him. Yahweh is our shepherd, and that same Yahweh is the one whose place we will live in forever. What beautiful bookends to a priceless song.

During her cancer years, Nanci wrote a prayer based on Psalm 23. It has spoken to me over the last five years, and I hope it speaks to you too, as you reflect on your heavenly Shepherd and the ways He leads and cares for you through every circumstance:

Please, Shepherd of my life,

Cause me to want nothing more than to have you as my Shepherd.

Reveal to me that the pastures and waters to which you lead me are green and still—because you are there!

Enable my heart to receive the restoration of my soul by your Holy Spirit.

Renew my conviction that, for your name’s sake, righteousness is the direction of every path you have for me.  

May your Holy Spirit—the Comforter—banish all fear of evil as I walk through this valley—because you are with me!

Open my eyes and my ears to the protection and comfort of your rod and staff.

Help me experience the table you have prepared for me in the presence of my suffering.

Don’t let me overlook—or fail to ask for—your every healing drop of oil on my head.

Keep my perspective on my daily overflowing cup of your goodness and mercy.

Direct my longing toward my place with you in your house, forever!

Finally, I recently listened to Phil Wickham’s rendition of Psalm 23. This is so beautiful:

Photo: Pexels

Three Lessons from Joni Eareckson Tada on Resilient Joy in Pain

Note from Randy:  I have the greatest appreciation and respect for Joni Eareckson Tada. With her warm-hearted exaltation of God’s sovereign love, she has profoundly impacted my life and Nanci’s life, along with that of countless others. She’s a living example of Psalm 119:71, which says: “My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.”

In this touching article, Joni writes, “Resilient joy makes hope come alive, so much so that we can be ‘sorrowful, yet always rejoicing’ (2 Corinthians 6:10).” This sister is pure gold. She lives what she writes. As you read her words, sit at her feet and learn what it means to trust in Jesus and find great joy, even when life is hard and painful.

(Joni was recently on Alisa Childers’s podcast, talking about her new book Practicing the Presence of Jesus and the nearness of Christ in 50 years of suffering. It’s a touching interview.)

I Sing My Way Through Pain: Three Lessons in Resilient Joy

Joy is found in the strangest places. Take this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44). When we read this, we may assume the field is attractive, something we would love to purchase anyway: a sun-drenched meadow dappled with wildflowers, or a garden plot with rich soil ready for tilling.

But life is not like that. We can see the field in this parable as representing what God would have us embrace for the sake of our joy. His lot for you may not be attractive; it may resemble a sandlot with broken bottles, rusty oil cans, and old tires scattered around. It may be a bleak field, with nothing about it even hinting of wealth.

Until you discover it hides a treasure. Then the scrap of hard dirt and weeds suddenly brims with possibilities. Once you know great riches are concealed there, you’re ready to sell everything to buy it. It’s what happened to me.

Striking Gold

Early on in my paralysis — and almost by accident — I unearthed an unexpected treasure. I opened the word of God and discovered a mine shaft. I dug my paralyzed fingers into a weight of incomprehensible glory, a sweetness with Jesus that made my paralysis pale in comparison.

In my great joy, I went out and sold everything, trading in my resentment and self-pity to buy the ugly field nobody else would want. And I struck gold.

After decades of using the pick and shovel of prayer and Scripture, my field has yielded the riches of the kingdom of heaven. I have found a God who is thunderous, full-throttled joy spilling over. His Son swims in his own bottomless ocean of elation, and he is positively, absolutely driven to share it with us. Why? As he puts it, “[so] that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). Jesus is after nothing less than our full joy.

But deep in the bedrock of Scripture, my shovel hit something hard and unyielding. God is nobody’s water boy. As the solemn Monarch of everything and everyone, he shares his joy on his own terms. And those terms call for us to suffer — and to suffer, in some measure, as his beloved Son did when he walked on earth (2 Timothy 2:12).

Rejoice in Hope

No one understands the relationship between joy and suffering better than the Son of Man. My God became human, his love insisting that I not be alone in my struggles. When I hurt, he knows. But Jesus does not merely sympathize with me; he’s done something about it. Through his death and resurrection, he has freed me from sin’s power and, in part, from the suffering that results from it. And he will free me fully in the age to come.

That coming age is my joyous hope! It’s hope that sees Jesus on his throne with his kingdom filling every corner of the cosmos. Hope that envisions sorrow and sighing erased from the face of the universe. Hope that eagerly awaits the moment when pain and tears will be banished and evil punished.

But that hope — the better country of Hebrews 11:16 — is still in the future. I’ve likely got miles to go before I sleep, and it’s getting harder to adjust to the harsh encroachments of older age and increasing pain. I could easily throw down my pick and shovel, collapse by the edge of my ugly field, and say, “God, I am so tired of this. Please, no more.”

So I stoke my hope. I am heartened by my precious Savior and the way he endured unthinkable suffering for the joy set before him. I follow him, parking my wheelchair on Romans 12:12: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Now, it’s easy to see why God commands us to be constant in prayer, for it can be a struggle to pray when you’re suffering. And we understand why God commands us to be patient in tribulation, for it’s hard to muster patience when you’re in misery.

But it’s really hard to rejoice in hope — hope can feel so far off, vague, and nebulous. Yet God commands it. For if Jesus laid aside his robes to put on the enormous indignity of human birth for our sake, then his Father has the right to command our joy. He has the prerogative to call forth in us a happiness that’s commensurate with his Son’s sacrifice. We are to cultivate a joy that’s worthy of Jesus, our Blessed Hope (Titus 2:13).

Rejoice in Suffering

“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3). I cultivate a habit of welcoming trials because it produces perseverance that results in godly character — the kind of character that easily grasps the appeal of Christ’s loveliness and yearns to see his magnificent denouement with his kingdom completed. This marvelous hope is enlarged every time I choose joy in my afflictions.

Hope then no longer seems far off, but very near. Not vague and nebulous, but concrete and real. Hope fills my vision with Jesus, making my pain seem light and momentary compared to the glory to be revealed. So when suffering begins to wither my resolve, I stoke my hope by taking several steps.

I sing my way through suffering. Whenever I feel downcast, I ask a few friends to pray, and then I worship Jesus with robust hymns filled with solid doctrine. Hymns that focus on the worthiness of Christ have enough spiritual muscle to barge into my discouraged soul and shake awake a hopeful response. When my weak mind is too foggy to put two sentences together in prayer, my heart defaults to hymns I’ve memorized, like “Crown Him with Many Crowns”:

Awake, my soul, and sing
     Of him who died for thee,
And hail him as thy matchless King
     Through all eternity!

I busy my heart with good things. I’m no fan of television. If a story does not convey moral virtue or truth that points to God, it will dull my heart before the first commercial. Why yield the precious real estate of my brain to that which flattens my spirit? Instead, I busy my heart with good books and videos, art, memorizing Scripture and poetry, and pursuing uplifting friendships that nourish my soul. “It is entirely fitting that our hearts should be set on God when the heart of God is so much set on us,” wrote Richard Baxter. “If God does not have our hearts, who or what will have them?” (The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, 102–3). When suffering overwhelms me, I crowd my heart with Christ.

I serve others who hurt worse than I do. There are always people in worse shape than I am, and my job is to go find them and encourage them in Christ. It’s what Jesus did in his last hours on the cross. In spite of his unfathomable pain, he looked out for the interests of his mother and the thief next to him, and he even pronounced forgiveness on the brutal men who tortured him (John 19:26–27; Luke 23:34, 43). I want to serve like Jesus in the same manner, so I invest my time in Joni and Friends and minister to the world’s families that struggle with disability. It’s always better — and more joyful — to give them relief than for me to receive it.

Resilient Joy

As we rejoice in our suffering, we experience a joy that’s otherworldly. It never asks, “How much more can I take?” but readily adapts to difficult situations with enough elasticity to spring back into shape if disappointed. Resilient joy makes hope come alive, so much so that we can be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). I can be enjoying a glorious symphony or watching a breathtaking sunset, delighting in my backyard roses, or thanking God for his awesome creation, and still, there will be an accompanying sorrow. Part of my sorrow is related to my paralysis and pain, which never goes away; the other part is a heart-wrenching awareness that my crucified Lord gave his life so that I might enjoy the beauties of this world.

Suffering has made me hypersensitive to God’s joys. Such joy is an emotion and a fruit of the Spirit — it is deep and profound, yet tickles at the edges with an almost giddy delight over the prospects of its heavenly hope.

This sort of hard-fought-for joy swells Christ’s heart with gladness. The day is drawing near when Jesus will completely free us from all sin and suffering and present us “before the presence of his glory and with great joy” (Jude 1:24). And when joy becomes a way of life in your suffering, you prove the exceeding worthiness of Christ, which, in turn, will increase his joy in presenting you before the Father. I do not want to diminish that wonderful moment in any way. So joy is not an option. It is commanded for the sake of Christ.

That crowning day is drawing close for this aging quadriplegic. There’s no time to waste. So, it’s back to my sandlot of broken bottles and weeds with my pick and shovel. Back to the bleak field of pain and paralysis, for which no one would even put up collateral. From the beginning, God had set his eye on that ugly field for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful. And I certainly couldn’t be more joyful.

This article originally appeared on Desiring God , and is used with permission of the author.

Photo: Unsplash

Christ and His Kingdom, Not Politics, Should Be the Central Fixture of Our Focus

This election year, many of us are already finding the political commentary and news exhausting. Never have God’s people needed the reminder more that the key to influence and change in this world is not, and never has been, politics. It is faithfulness to Jesus.

Of course, we should look over the candidates carefully and prayerfully consider the issues and where they stand, and what kind of character they demonstrate. While we’re voting for a president, not a pastor, there should still be matters of their integrity and worldview we carefully evaluate.

Still, we dare not set our hopes on the Republican or Democratic parties or candidates, or Independents, but upon the only One who can save us—our true Cosmic  President, our true Chief Justice, and our true Lawmaker: “For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver, Yahweh is our king; He will save us” (Isaiah 33:22, LSB). 

Ultimately our hope should be in Him, this Sovereign over the nations: “O Yahweh, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations?” (2 Chronicles 20:6, LSB).

Andrew T. Walker wrote an editorial for World News Group titled “Man’s Chief End Is Not Political Obsession.” Here’s an excerpt from it:

Though we cannot stop the media from doing what it will do, it’s our choice whether to make politics the central fixture of our focus.

I’m not saying to give up on politics. Heaven forbid, in fact. I’m saying to approach politics with proper perspective and cool-headedness. In other words, to paraphrase a quote from theologian Oliver O’Donovan, Christians might be at their political best when talking about politics least. That may have a tinge of irony to it, but O’Donovan’s point is that the pronouncement of Jesus’ kingship should produce an anti-fragility and anti-frenetic spirit in how Christians conceive of worldly authority. If Jesus truly is King (and we most certainly believe He is), earthly politics is at best secondary to our lives in this age. What should be more important is your family, your local church, and your relationships.

What an impoverished worldview it must be to let politics—and Donald Trump or Joe Biden—reorder the hierarchy of loves that we are to spend our lives cultivating.

So, why, then, am I devoting a column to the subject of evangelicals and politics? Am I a hypocrite for penning such a column? Evangelical Christians need to be able to conduct their affairs as evangelical Christians without letting the external commentary swallow up the good work that is happening in evangelical churches or the political circus from distracting us from what makes us evangelicals: a fervent belief in the good news of Jesus Christ and His life-transforming power.

Read the rest here.

This year, we can choose where to fix our eyes. Instead of locking them on the short-term things we can see, we are called to turn our gaze, by faith, to what is eternal. Here are some verses to meditate on, about fixing our gaze on God and His kingdom:

“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest” (Hebrews 3:1, NIV).

“We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

“Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always” (Psalm 105:4).

“My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, LORD, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8).

“I lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven” (Psalm 123:1).

“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from Yahweh, Who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2, LSB).  

“But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge” (Psalm 141:8).

“My eyes are continually toward Yahweh, For He will bring my feet out of the net” (Psalm 25:15).

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2, NIV).

“I have set Yahweh continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8).

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:28).

Photo: Unsplash

Because of How God Sovereignly Led Me Through Past Difficulties, I Can Trust Him for the Future

Recently I shared this on Facebook:

In all my hardest times, God has been there. He’s been faithful to me when I had to resign as a pastor, had issues with church leaders, went through lawsuits and public scorn, was restricted to minimum wage, and faced disease and depression and the deaths of close friends and family members, including the death of my beloved wife and best friend, Nanci. I don’t understand why everything has happened, but I have seen a great deal of good come out of much of it. Because of who God is and all He’s done for me, I trust Him to use all the other difficulties in ways I will not understand until I enter His presence.

Several commenters said that they hadn’t heard that part of my story before and looked it up. It was a good reminder that some of those who follow our ministry aren’t aware of the history of how Eternal Perspective Ministries started. As you watch this video, I hope it makes you think about God’s sovereignty and leading in your own life:

Those who believe that God doesn’t know about billions of future choices and the events that flow out of those choices must simply hope for the best. Those who believe in a God who knows “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10), however, can relax because even though they don’t know what lies ahead, their sovereign God does.

In the several years that we found ourselves in the middle of the stressful situation with the lawsuits, Nanci and I would talk with our daughters, assuring them that God remained in control, that He knew everything that would happen, and that we could trust Him to use it for good. And He has!

In the journal she kept during her cancer years, Nanci reflected on those earlier challenges we faced: “Lord, you used the Lovejoy trial and verdict to shape so many lives—especially those of our daughters. Your plan was not to deliver us out of that literal trial. Your plan was to deliver us through that trial and verdict. By allowing such a severe verdict and penalty, you led us onto a path that was marvelous beyond our hopes. So many blessings were piled along that path for us and countless others. We couldn’t have dreamed what you had in store for us.”

Later in her journal, she quoted Charles Spurgeon:

As to the future, all of us are blind and cannot see an hour ahead us. But the Lord will lead us right up to our journey’s end…Happy are those who place their hand in that of the Great Guide, and leave their way and themselves entirely with Him. He will bring them all the way. And when He has brought them home to glory and has opened their eyes to see the way by which He has led them, what a song of gratitude will they sing to their great Benefactor.

Henrietta C. Mears wrote, “I know not the way He leads me, but well do I know my Guide.” Because of God’s grace and sovereignty, we can fully trust Him in whatever is ahead!

Photo: Unsplash

Child Trafficking Is Nothing Like in the Movies, and That’s Good News

Note from Randy: You may have heard of the allegations brought by multiple Mormon women against the central real-life character of the movie The Sound of Freedom, Tim Ballard. Ballard himself is a Mormon, but whether or not these accusations prove true, there are serious concerns about dishonesty and exaggeration about the claims of tactics of Operation Underground Railroad. If Ballard and some of the movie are discredited, we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Sex trafficking is a very real and serious problem even if some of the allegations are confirmed to be true, and even if the movie is not reflective of the most common and effective ways to rescue children and adults from sex trafficking.

I am simultaneously thankful for the attention drawn to the terrible crime of sex trafficking and the needs of its victims, and concerned that no unethical people or groups benefit from that attention. Note that months before these allegations emerged, Ministry Watch reported on matters of major concern regarding the small percentage of the money received by Operation Underground Railroad that actually goes to helping free people from sex trafficking.

One of the organizations Eternal Perspective Ministries supports is the biblical, Jesus-centered, and effective ministry of International Justice Mission. As the following article from IJM explains, their real-life work is nothing like what’s shown in the movies. IJM’s founder and CEO, Gary Haugen, has become a friend as I’ve seen and spoken with him periodically at conferences over the years. A few months ago, Gary and I had a long phone conversation. I was impressed and touched by what he shared. One of the things IJM does is teach and train local police in how to enforce laws so they can rescue victims of human trafficking.

If you’re looking for a solid ministry to support, one with a long track record of being used by God to bring freedom and hope to needy people around the world, I recommend you consider IJM.

Child trafficking is nothing like in the movies. Here’s why that’s very good news.

Bullet proof vest. Check. Semi-automatic weapon. Locked and loaded. Side arm. Holstered. A chiseled, rugged looking man equips tactical gear piece by piece with a determined look in his eye. Before he sets off alone on a clandestine international mission to rescue a child who has been trafficked, he clutches a keepsake dangling from his neck and pauses for a moment. “I will find you.”

If this scene sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve probably seen something like it in a movie. Hollywood movies are expertly scripted to paint a devastating picture of child trafficking, often including the story of how one man’s heroics save the day. Movies like these can be an emotionally gripping way to introduce large audiences to the problem of human trafficking. But action movies are not an accurate reflection of reality – even when they are based on true stories.

If you’ve recently learned about the global issue of child trafficking from a movie and have been inspired to help do whatever it takes to end it, you’ve come to the right place. The first step you can take is to learn more about the issue. There are several trusted global organizations to learn from with tons of helpful resources. Most organizations are eager to educate, because the end of child trafficking must begin with an accurate and grounded understanding of the problem. And a good way to start learning is by recognizing the difference between fact and fiction.

International Justice Mission is a global non-profit with 25 years of experience helping rescue children, women, and men from violence. In that time, we’ve witnessed the reality of violence and trafficking millions of people face every day. But we’ve also seen things like rescue, protection, and justice for vulnerable people on a scale once thought to be impossible.

We recently celebrated ten years of work in the Dominican Republic, which resulted in a staggering 78% reduction in child sex trafficking. You can read more about it here.

Here are five examples of how child trafficking has been portrayed in movies, and how they compare to IJM’s real work in the Dominican Republic.

Reel: Children are mostly shown kidnapped on the streets by strangers, stolen from their families in a moment of chaos.
Real: Most children are trafficked by somebody close to them, like a friend, family or relative. While violent force is sometimes used to traffic children, it often isn’t even necessary. For example, families in the Dominican Republic under desperate economic circumstances were typically targeted by traffickers who tricked them with fake job offers and money for school.

Reel: After children are taken, they are sent to other countries in shipping containers to be sold.
Real: While cross-border trafficking does happen, the vast majority of trafficking cases globally are domestic. Often, just moving a child across the equivalent of a state line is enough to separate them from community protection.

Reel: Children are trafficked on the dark web, where buyers and sellers operate with anonymity in the shadows.
Real: Children are trafficked online using the same tools, platforms and technology we use every day. In the early 2000’s before IJM began work in the Dominican Republic, children were bought and sold openly in the streets, in parks and on beaches.

Reel: A lone wolf ex-military officer travels overseas to rescue a child while singlehandedly dismantling all the systemic issues that contribute to child trafficking.
Real: Anti-trafficking organizations like IJM work with local law enforcement, NGOs and authorities for years to help develop their own capacity to rescue children. As a result of IJM’s close work with the Dominican government over ten years, lasting change was measurably achieved. Only local law enforcement has the authority to conduct a rescue. IJM’s role was to help give them the support needed to do that more effectively.

Reel: One man’s brave, daring, cinematic attempt to rescue a child is the story that drives the entire plot. Once the child is rescued, the movie is over and the credits roll.
Real: Rescue is just the beginning of the story. The goal of anti-trafficking work is to help rescue victims in immediate need while addressing the systemic root causes that allow children to be trafficked in the first place.

Over ten years later, child sex trafficking in the DR has decreased measurably and dramatically. And it isn’t a fluke. In fact, IJM has successfully reduced violence against vulnerable people in all nine regions where we’ve concluded program work. This is why we believe it’s possible to rescue millions and protect half a billion people from violence by 2030. We know what works, we know how to get it done, and we know there are people like you who are excited to help make it happen.

Child trafficking is nothing like in the movies. And that’s very good news. Because while the realities of child trafficking are far more harrowing than what you’ll see on screen, the hope that we can end it for good is real.

Photo: Unsplash