Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 77

The Holiday Season, and Precious Times with Our Kids and Grandkids

Last December, in that pretty normal year called 2019, our daughter Karina Franklin and her family flew up from California to join Nanci and me along with our daughter Angela Stump and her family. Because of this weird season of COVID that began less than three months later, that was the last time our whole family was together.

Nanci and I were thrilled to have everyone in the same place and to eat and talk and laugh and have fun together. That time and all the others are even more precious given Nanci’s three-year battle with cancer and the challenges to gathering together because of the threat of COVID, especially to Nanci with her increased vulnerability due to her lung surgeries. Like many of you, we are cherishing family more than ever. My mind is still at that Christmas gathering, and I wish we could have another this year and for that matter, every month!  

It seems impossible that our daughters are now are 39 and 41 and that four of our five grandsons are teenagers. The oldest two, Jake and Matt, just turned 16. One has his driver’s license and the other likely will by the time this blog is posted. Grandson Ty will be 15 in March, Jack is 13 and David will soon turn 9.

While Karina and the Franklins were visiting us, our friend and EPM staff member Stephanie Anderson took photos of our family. (Stephanie is excellent at nearly everything she does, including being a wife and mom, and editing my books and blogs and directing our social media; on top of all that she has a terrific photography business too; our thanks for her wonderful photos. And thanks too for Nanci’s and my home church, Good Shepherd Community Church, for allowing us to gather on the church property.)

God is sovereign over all, sovereign over Nanci’s health and mine, sovereign over COVID and the results of elections, sovereign over every personal hurt, struggle, and loss. Sovereign over when we can and can’t get together with all the family we love. “The lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him… The LORD has established His throne in the heavens; And His sovereignty rules over all” (Psalm 103:17, 19).

One of the most beautiful aspects of His sovereignty is how He puts us in certain times and places (Acts 17:26-27) and brings us together as married couples with children and grandchildren. Right now as I’m typing, as I think about and pray for each member of our family, my eyes are full of grateful tears. “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds” (Psalm 9:1).

There are dozens of great family photos I just looked through again, but I love most the informal ones, with smiling and laughing and eye contact with each other, so I’ve selected a number of them. Stephanie did a great job encouraging us to enjoy the moments together, and I treasure those happy family memories and many more, past and present and future, that they represent. I hope and pray you will find yourself with family and friends over this year’s holidays. I know it can be a difficult time of the year for some since families are far from perfect. If this is true for you, I hope you will connect with fellow members of God’s family and experience fun and laughter and happiness and encouragement as you celebrate the grace of our Lord Jesus.

Jake, Angela, Dan, and Ty Stump:

David, Dan, Karina, Jack, and Matt Franklin:

(In the slideshow below with more photos, I made one small contribution. At the photo-shoot I asked Stephanie to take a photo with my grandsons pointing up to the sky. Later I tinkered with the sky in the photo to make it into a sci-fi scene. Since my grandsons and I both love that sort of thing, I thought the final product was fun.)

The Stand That Saved a Child’s Life

In response to my blog post Is It Judgmental and Unloving to Believe That Abortion Is Child-Killing?, a reader shared this touching true story, which we’re sharing with her permission:

When we were missionaries in Eastern Europe, a sister who attended our church asked my husband to take her to the hospital so she could get an abortion...her situation was desperate...she lived in a slum, and had three kids all under five and a husband that did not work and drank heavily.

My husband explained he could not do it as it would be condoning murder and assured her we would be with her and give her the help and supplies she needed to have the baby...but she was desperate so [she] couldn’t comprehend any other solution to her plight and became very angry with us. A few days later we [met with] her and the Lord had done a marvelous work in her heart so that she had decided to keep the baby.

We were true to our word, and through the help of other brothers and sisters back home everything was provided for the baby...today he is a young man in his 20s.

Thank God my husband stood firm.  —P.A.B

I love the grace and truth that was modeled in the response to this woman, and the actions that followed their promise of help. “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions” (1 John 3:18, NLT).

Of course, speaking the truth in love, standing for life, and encouraging others to do the right thing doesn’t always mean they’ll do it, or that they will like you. But even then, real love doesn’t quit or give up; it will offer help and point to Jesus Christ as the only true source of hope, healing, and forgiveness.

Years ago, when she was in high school, one of my daughters had a friend who found herself pregnant and was determined to get an abortion. My daughter, along with an older friend, showed up outside the clinic at the time of the appointment and pleaded with her friend and her friend’s mom to save the life of her baby. She offered help and support, including free babysitting. Sadly, the friend went through with the abortion. Though what my daughter did was obviously difficult, later she heard from someone else that her friend actually respected her for doing it, and most importantly, I believe God was honored by her actions and words. “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11).

If you’d like to be involved with helping women facing unplanned pregnancies in your area, I encourage you to contact your local pregnancy resource center (find one in your area). Also, check out Embrace Grace, a group that exists to “equip churches on how to love and support the single and pregnant young women in their communities.” They partner with pregnancy resource centers to refer women to local churches where they can join a support group and receive help and love.

May we back up our pro-life convictions with courage, grace-filled words, and loving actions!

Download the PDF of Randy’s new book Pro-Choice or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims—What Do Facts & Common Sense Tell Us? 

In this thoroughly researched and easy-to-read book, author Randy Alcorn examines fifteen major claims of the pro-choice position and shares fact-based, rational responses. If you have mixed feelings about abortion, as many people do, this book can be part of your quest for truth. If you’re pro-choice or pro-life, it can help you think through your position.

If we have any hope of understanding and engaging with each other, let’s move our dialogue beyond bumper stickers, memes, and tweets. Randy encourages readers to listen carefully to arguments on both sides of the abortion debate, and to look at the evidence and weigh it on its own merit.

The print book is available from our ministry for an extremely low cost ($1.00 per single copy; 90 cents per copy on orders of 100 or more; 80 cents per copy on orders of 1,000 or more, plus shipping.

Photo by Xavier Mouton Photographie on Unsplash

How Do We Forgive Those Who Wrong Us and Either Can’t or Won’t Ask for Forgiveness?

Note from Randy: The following article is excerpted from David Powlison’s excellent book Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness. I personally benefited from his outstanding book, and highly recommend it. Here David addresses Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness, and how that works when those who’ve wronged us either can’t or won’t ask for forgiveness.

What if the other person does not ask forgiveness or even admit any wrong? The Bible addresses this in a deft way. Forgiveness comes in two forms. First, and foundationally, you forgive another person before God, whether or not that person admits or even recognizes any wrong. This is attitudinal forgiveness. Listen to how Jesus speaks of this vertical-dimension forgiving of another person: 

“Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11: 25) 

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:9-15) 

In both cases, you are talking with God, not the person who wronged you. That person is not part of this conversation. You stand alone before God your Father dealing with your own attitudes. In the Mark 11 passage, Jesus says to deal with whatever you have against anyone else. He doesn’t even tell you to try to sort out what really happened, and whether it was a real wrong or only a subjective feeling of offense. Conflicts can be impenetrably complex. Did you actually do something against me? Or did I misunderstand what you were doing? Or was I just being hypersensitive? Often it’s hard to know what really happened because so much was happening in both parties. Trying to figure out the definitive explanation leads to more disagreement and outrage. Instead, Jesus simply says that if you have anything against anyone, forgive. 

In the Matthew 6 passage, Jesus emphasizes dealing with real wrongs: “our debtors” are people who owe us. The mercy of God, our Father in heaven, (remember Psalm 103’s fatherly compassion) is front and center in helping us. This vertical aspect of forgiveness deals with our attitudes. Its purpose is to change you, not to deal with the other person. It prepares you, so you will go to the other person already willing to be merciful. You are no longer holding the grudge, building up bitterness, on the defensive, on the offensive. 

The second aspect of forgiveness is transacted forgiveness. Again, listen to how Jesus describes it: “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” (Luke 17:3-4) 

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over … Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:15, 21-22) 

Notice that here Jesus envisions a conversation with the other person. You bring it up constructively; the other person asks to be forgiven. The interpersonal interaction is able to be both candid and full of mercy (a rare combination!) because the attitudinal forgiveness has already happened. It is also worth noticing that in both cases, Jesus chooses to portray the other person as a repeat offender! He or she keeps doing it, even after admitting it’s wrong. That’s realism. That’s why we need patience. That’s why we are continually driven back to our Father to seek forgiveness ourselves and to again work out the attitudinal forgiveness. Then we can again move toward the other person to seek transacted forgiveness. 

This combination of attitudinal and transacted forgiveness helps make sense of many common and extremely tangled situations. Here are three. First, what if the other person won’t hear you out? He or she gets defensive and self-righteous, counterattacking when you were seeking to be constructive. Again, we are driven back to our Father to forgive attitudinally. This vertical dimension of forgiveness must always happen, and it keeps your attitude in check. The horizontal dimension is a more uncertain and hazardous road, a goal to pursue, not a certainty. It takes two to reconcile, just like it takes two to make a war. But one can forgive, even when the other is still at war. It is called loving your enemy. 

Second, what if the person who hurt you is off the scene — perhaps dead, perhaps long vanished out of your life, perhaps too hostile or even dangerous to approach? The attitudinal forgiveness means you can always deal with the things that poison your own heart. Transacted forgiveness and actual reconciliation are desirable fruits, but not always attainable. But, by God’s mercy, we can always establish our hearts in mercy. We are not left in limbo when there is no possibility of a reconciling interaction. 

Third, seeing that our forgiveness of others has two interconnected parts helps us navigate the opposite messages that one often hears in Christian circles. Some in the church teach, “If you forgive from the heart, then you don’t need to go to the person.” Others teach, “Unless the other person asks for forgiveness, you don’t need to forgive.” Each focuses on a half truth — and draws a false conclusion. When you put together both halves of what Jesus did and taught on forgiveness, you get a coherent truth. 

So if you forgive from the heart, then you become able to go constructively to the other person when it is called for. Not to go would be not to love. But, if the other person will not ask for forgiveness or if it would not be wise to approach the other person, then transacted forgiveness and reconciliation can’t take place. But you are reconciled with God and able to forgive. Not to forgive would be to harbor bitterness. 

Forgiveness is a conscious choice formed through knowing God’s mercy to you. It clearly recognizes that what happened was wrong. It makes no excuses for what happened. And then it lets it go.   

This excerpt from Good and Angry is used with the permission of the publisher.

See also Randy's book  Beautiful and Scandalous: How God's Grace Changes Everything .

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Will Our Time and Efforts Invested in Hobbies Be Considered Worthless at the Judgment Seat of Christ?

A reader wrote me this note with a question:

“I loved reading Heaven. It has really opened my eyes up so much to what we can expect from the New Earth and it has really encouraged me to see all of God’s (uncorrupted) Creation as ‘very good’ and not all ‘worldly.’

I do have one question. What are your thoughts on more ‘leisurely’ activities (like our hobbies, cooking, stargazing, reading, etc.) and how our works will be judged at the Judgment Seat? It seems like 2 Corinthians 5:10 seems to say that our deeds will either be ‘good’ (and be rewarded) or ‘bad’ (worthless) which won’t be rewarded. I would imagine that time spent reading a good book wouldn’t necessarily gain someone a spiritual ‘reward’ at the Judgment Seat but neither would I ever consider our (non-sinful) hobbies to fall under the category of ‘worthless’ (bad). Would this mean that any deed that we ever did that won’t gain us a ‘reward’ (crown, etc.) be considered ‘worthless’ as per 2 Corinthians 5:10?”

This is a really great question!

First let me say some general things about hobbies and leisure activities to create a context for answering it. When we worship God as God, everything else falls into place—and hobbies, sports, music, reading, and entertainment can all enrich our lives as intended. Scripture gives us this command: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Eating and drinking are basic human activities. They are not only necessities but also physical pleasures that we’re to do for God’s glory. I ride my bike to God’s glory in this life. And I worship God while joyfully playing tennis and snorkeling, just as I worship Him while enjoying music, reading God’s Word, and playing with my dog. We can certainly worship God as we eat, drink, work, read, and enjoy hobbies, nature, and art.  

God is the source of all lesser goods, so that when they satisfy us, it’s God Himself who satisfies us. We should reject any view that seeks to divorce our experience of God from life, relationships, and the world—all of which God graciously gives us. Such a view sees the material realm and other people as God’s competitors rather than instruments that communicate His love and character. It fails to recognize that because God is the ultimate source of joy, and all secondary joys emanate from Him, to love secondary joys on Earth can be—and in Heaven always will be—to love God, their source.

Scripture says we are to put our hope not in material things but “in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17). If He provides everything for our enjoyment, we shouldn’t feel guilty for enjoying it, should we?

In my book Money, Possessions, and Eternity, I write about how Scripture says we’re at war, and therefore we should make sacrifices commensurate to this crisis, that we may win the war. So yes, an unhealthy obsession and focus on things that won’t last isn’t our goal. We can’t forget that “Only one life; will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

But seen properly, even hobbies and leisure activities can draw our hearts to worship Christ and be part of what’s done for Christ’s glory. A wartime mentality can be taken to such an extreme that we feel it’s unfaithful to enjoy any possessions, pleasures, or special activities. That’s why I’m so thankful that in the midst of his command that the rich be generous, in 1 Timothy Paul reminds us that God provides everything for our enjoyment! Even in wartime, it’s important to have battle breaks. Soldiers need rest and recreation. Life isn’t just utilitarian. There’s nothing wrong with spending time on pleasures that renew and revive us, especially considering that our battle will last a lifetime.

I’m grateful to have fun possessions, such as a bicycle, tennis racket, and mask, snorkel, and fins. They aren’t necessary; yet they contribute to my physical and mental health. Our family spends money on vacations that aren’t “necessary,” yet they bring renewal and precious relationship-building opportunities. My wife and I sometimes go out to dinner, enriching our relationship and renewing our vigor to return to life’s battles. We can give away much or most of our income and seek to use our time wisely, yet still have breathing room for legitimate recreational spending and leisure time.

Paul says it is demons and liars who portray the physical realm as unspiritual, forbid people from the joys of marriage, including sex, and “order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:3-5). God is a lavish giver. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

Because of the current darkness of our hearts, we must be careful not to make idols out of created things. But God isn’t displeased when we enjoy a good meal, marital sex, a football game, a cozy fire, or a good book. He’s not up in Heaven frowning at us and saying, “Stop it—you should only find joy in me.” This would be as foreign to God’s nature as our heavenly Father as it would be to mine as an earthly father if I gave my daughters a Christmas gift and started pouting because they enjoyed it too much. No, I gave the gift to bring joy to them and to me—if they didn’t take pleasure in it, I’d be disappointed. Their pleasure in my gift to them draws them closer to me. I am delighted that they enjoy the gift.

Of course, if children become so preoccupied with the gift that they walk away from their father and ignore him, that’s different. Though preoccupation with a God-given gift can turn into idolatry, enjoying that same gift with a grateful heart can draw us closer to God.  

God welcomes prayers of thanksgiving for meals, games, books, relationships, and every other good thing. When we fail to acknowledge God as the source of all good things, we fail to give Him the recognition and glory He deserves. We separate joy from God, which is like trying to separate heat from fire or wetness from rain.

Every day we should see God in the food we eat, the air we breathe, the friendships we enjoy, and the pleasures of family, work, and hobbies. Yes, we must sometimes forgo secondary pleasures, and we should never let them eclipse God. And we should avoid opulence and waste when others are needy. But we should thank God for all of life’s joys, large and small, and allow them to draw us to Him. My taking pleasure in a good meal or a good book is taking pleasure in God. It’s not a substitute for God, nor is it a distraction from Him. In the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, it’s what I was made for: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

Now I can return to this specific question about reward: when we use hobbies and leisure activities as an opportunity to worship and glorify and thank God, we are acting in faith. Faith is what pleases Him, and our seeking Him is what He will reward (Hebrews 11:6). So yes, I believe hobbies done to God’s glory could be something He might well reward. Either way, when done to honor Him, they certainly won’t be considered worthless in our gracious Father’s eyes!

God is the one who gives us our gifts, abilities, and resources, all of which we are to steward well, seeking to please our Master. The first person Scripture describes as “filled with the Spirit” wasn’t a prophet or priest; he was an Israelite craftsman (Exodus 31:1-6). God gifted and called Bezalel to be a skilled laborer, a master craftsman, a God-glorifying artist. The gifting and calling were from God (Exodus 35:30-35). He created each of us as individuals, with different interests and skills and talents, and using them to His glory is part of being a good steward. Different activities may even be a means of connecting with people we might otherwise never meet and provide opportunities to share about the God we love and serve!

Of course, if we participate in activities that don’t honor our Lord, or have pride in our abilities, or use them as excuse to neglect the other things God has commanded and called us to do, then yes, hobbies can become sin, and something God wouldn’t reward us for at His judgment seat.

If what you otherwise would have done with an hour spent on a leisure activity is pray, read the Bible, feed the poor, gather with your church, or share Jesus with your neighbor, then sure, just say “no” to the hobby!  But if you would have spent it doing a number of other discretionary things, then feel free to say “yes” to it. Do it wisely, do it God’s glory, and do it with joy and thanksgiving, knowing “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17).

Photo by Kirill Zharkiy on Unsplash

God Is Enough for You and the Emptiness You Feel

Nancy Guthrie is one of my favorite writers, not least of all because she’s saturated with God’s Word. In her new book God Does His Best Work with Empty, she affirms Jesus without ever offering cheap “get-on-with-it” advice that is code for “stop grieving, it makes us uncomfortable.” With honesty and transparency, Nancy affirms gospel truth that encourages, corrects, and empowers us to embrace the blood-bought goodness and joy of Jesus. This is a terrific book.

In this two-minute video, Nancy Guthrie talks about how so often we see emptiness in our lives as our biggest problem. But when God looks at the empty place, He sees it as His greatest opportunity. This is especially applicable to the difficult year many of us have experienced:

Read an excerpt from God Does His Best Work with Empty here.

Photo by Daniel McCullough on Unsplash

Our Sovereign King Is Always on His Throne

Whether you are encouraged or distressed by the results (thus far) of the 2020 election, there is great comfort in acknowledging and embracing Scripture’s teaching that God is sovereign over human events, including the outcome of elections. In Isaiah 46:10, God says, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please” (NIV). Those who believe in a God who knows “the end from the beginning” can relax because even though they don’t know what lies ahead, their sovereign God does.

“For dominion belongs to the LORD and He rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28, BSB). Because God has absolute power, no one—including demons and humans who choose to violate His moral will—can thwart His ultimate purpose. “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will” (Proverbs 21:1).

The Lord “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:11, NIV). Our fates do not rest in the hands of fallen humankind: politicians, lawyers, military officers, employers, or even spouses and children. If we believe this, our reaction to current events and to many of the difficulties we face will change. Problems will seem smaller, for although we can’t control them, we know God can—and that everything will work out for His glory and our good.

Charles Spurgeon said, “Cheer up, Christian! Things are not left to chance: no blind fate rules the world. God hath purposes, and those purposes are fulfilled. God hath plans, and those plans are wise, and never can be dislocated.”

Ultimately our hope must be in Jesus, this Sovereign over the nations: “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you” (2 Chronicles 20:6).

Let these truths about God’s sovereignty, purposes, and trustworthiness bring you perspective and peace:

“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, His sovereignty rules over all.” (Psalm 103:19, NASB)

“He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; ... the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.” (Daniel 2:21; 4:17)

“It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.” (Psalm 118:8-9)

“…you are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in your hand, and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all.” (1 Chronicles 29:12, CSB)

“He stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases.” (Job 23:13, NIV)

“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” (Psalms 33:10-11)

“Do not trust in nobles, in a son of man, who cannot save. When his breath leaves him, he returns to the ground; on that day his plans die. Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever…” (Psalm 146:3-6, CSB)

“His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:14, CSB)

Photo by Kristaps Ungurs on Unsplash

Breathe in the Happiness of Heaven

I grew up in an unbelieving home, and first heard about Christ as a teenager. Initially, Bible stories seemed no more true than the Greek mythology and comics I loved. Then I read the Gospels, and believed that Jesus was real, and then superheroes became mere shadows of Him. When Jesus rescued me, I experienced a profound happiness I’d never known, and have never gotten over. My heartfelt gladness was the result of being born again, forgiven, and indwelt by God’s Spirit. “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1, NRSV).

This “joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:12) contrasted starkly with the emptiness I’d felt before hearing the “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7), also called the “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10).

I never considered what I gave up to follow Christ as sacrifices — mainly because they hadn’t brought me happiness. Jesus now meant everything to me. I wasn’t trying to be happy; I simply was happy.

Sorrowful, Yet Always Rejoicing

Not everyone who comes to Christ experiences such a dramatic increase in happiness. Plenty do, but even many of those see their happiness gradually fade over time.

Until Christ cures this world, our happiness in Christ will be punctuated by sorrow. Yet somehow an abiding joy is possible even in suffering. Christians are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

A few years ago a dear friend took his life and I wept more than I have in years. One moment, Nanci and I were huddled close and sobbing with his widow. Then inexplicably guitar and drums exploded while someone sang “Twist and Shout.” Shocked and wide-eyed, the three of us started laughing uncontrollably at the startling incongruity.

That moment was a gift, laughter lifting our heavy hearts. More such moments came over the next three days that included the dreaded graveside and hope-filled memorial service. Death’s grim face did not prevail, as the family worshiped a sovereign, loving, happy God who gave us joys both small and great in the midst of heartbreaking sorrow. Jesus said, “How happy are you who weep now, for you are going to laugh!” (Luke 6:21, Phillips). The laughter promised us in Heaven sometimes erupts in the present, a welcome foretaste of the unending happiness awaiting us.

Positive Thinking and Pure Joy

Experiencing daily happiness in Christ isn’t wishful thinking. It’s based on solid facts: God secured our eternal happiness through the cross and resurrection. He dwells within us, and He intercedes for us. Nothing separates us from His love. And He tells us “Be happy and full of joy, because the Lord has done a wonderful thing” (Joel 2:21, NCV).

“Positive thinking” says we can be happy by ignoring the negative (such as sin, suffering, and hell). I don’t believe that. Nor do I embrace the God-as-genie, name-it-and-claim-it prosperity gospel, which promises happiness through health, wealth, and success.

We should be grateful when God grants us health, provisions, and delightful surprises. But it’s one thing to be happy when such things occur, and another to believe God has failed us when they don’t.

Our models shouldn’t be jewelry-laden prosperity preachers, but Jesus-centered servants. Servants such as missionary Amy Carmichael (1867–1951), who brought the gospel to countless children she rescued from temple prostitution in India. She experienced much physical suffering and didn’t have a furlough in fifty-five years. Yet she wrote, “There is nothing dreary and doubtful about [life]. It is meant to be continually joyful. . . . We are called to a settled happiness in the Lord whose joy is our strength” (Frank Houghton, Amy Carmichael).

There’s selfish and superficial happiness, just like there’s selfish and superficial love and peace. But we still use those words, even though the world sells cheap imitations. We dare not belittle Christ-focused happiness just because there is self-centered happiness!

A Joy Bigger Than Circumstances

The quest to be happy is as ancient as Eden. People’s thirst for happiness remains. Our culture is characterized by increasing depression and anxiety, particularly among youth. Studies show more people feel bad than good after using social media; photos of others having good times leave observers feeling left out and inferior.

Research indicates there’s “little correlation between the circumstances of people’s lives and how happy they are” (Happiness Is a Serious Problem, 115). Yet when people are asked “Why aren’t you happy?” they focus on circumstances. In our fallen world, troubles are constant. Happy people look beyond their difficult circumstances to Someone whose grace brings light to the darkness and smiles to our faces in the most unlikely moments.

Many Christians live in sadness, anger, anxiety, or loneliness, thinking these feelings are inevitable given their circumstances. They lose joy over traffic jams, wifi issues, or rising gas prices. They miss the reasons for happiness expressed on nearly every page of Scripture.

We Will Breathe Happiness in Heaven

A.W. Tozer wrote, “The people of God ought to be the happiest people in all the wide world! People should be coming to us constantly and asking the source of our joy and delight” (Who Put Jesus on the Cross?).

Amy Carmichael’s “settled happiness” is possible despite life’s difficulties. Rich and durable, this happiness is ours today, because Christ is here; it’s ours tomorrow because Christ will be there; and it’s ours forever, because He’ll never leave us.

The day hasn’t yet come when God will “wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4). But it will. Christ’s blood-bought promise has breathtaking implications for our present happiness. Jesus made this startling statement: “Happy are those who mourn; [for] God will comfort them!” (Matthew 5:4, GNT). Present happiness is derived from the promise of future comfort. The eternal perspective of God’s children informs them of a true and ultimate happiness they can anticipate now (see Psalm 16:11; 21:6; 36:7–10; 37:16; 43:4; 73:28; John 10:10).

Why not frontload eternity’s joys into the present? Don’t we find current happiness in anticipating an upcoming graduation, wedding, visit, reunion, or vacation? So shouldn’t we find even greater pleasure in anticipating the day when God will swallow up death forever (Isaiah 25:8), permanently reverse the curse (Revelation 22:3), and unite us with our Savior and eternal family?

Calling upon His grace, let’s enter into our Master’s happiness today by contemplating and sharing His promise that we’ll behold His face in a new and captivating world, where joy will be the air we breathe.

Browse more resources on the topic of happiness, and see Randy’s related books, including Happiness and Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Racism Can Be Seen in Our Low Expectations of Others

This video, with responses to the question, “Are voter ID laws racist and suppress the black vote?”, is fascinating and revealing. It demonstrates that racism includes well-meaning whites who patronize blacks and think they have to make things very simple so that “those people” can understand them.

In my experience racism among conservatives sometimes (by no means always) takes the classic and more obvious form. Among liberals however, it often takes the paternalistic form of “you can’t take care of yourselves so you must depend on us to take care of you, and that’s how we earn your votes.” Both are racist and demeaning in their own ways. 

Of course, voter suppression may be happening in some other ways. The point here is that it’s possible to actually demean and belittle people as being less intelligent and capable, even when we imagine we’re being progressive and justice oriented.

See Randy's novel Dominion, as well as Benjamin Watson's book Under Our Skin.

Photo by Fabien Bazanegue on Unsplash

When We Disagree, What Are We Really Arguing About?

From Randy: I recently shared on  my blog a message that I recorded for my home church on Romans 14, called When Christians Disagree About Beliefs and Actions. I explained that true love and unity are never achieved at the expense of primary biblical truths. But they are achieved at the expense of personal pride and preferences on second- and third-level issues.

The following article from Kevin DeYoung is perfectly consistent with the primary v. secondary or first level/second level/third-level approach I talk about in my message. We need to recognize that our consciences differ, and we should pray and search Scripture and ask God’s guidance, realizing that in secondary issues, God will approve of others believing and acting differently than we do. This is where true biblical love, a big view of God, and believing the best of our brothers and sisters comes in. Thanks for this helpful article, Kevin.

What Are We Arguing About?

By Kevin DeYoung

On the Life and Books and Everything podcast, I talked at some length about what we are really arguing about when it comes to some of our current cultural flashpoints. I won’t repeat everything I said on the podcast (you should subscribe!), but I thought it might be worthwhile to give the basic outline of my monologue.

My overarching point is this: we need to be clearer as Christians about where our disagreements lie.

That is to say, we often talk as if we are disagreeing about significant elements of the Christian faith—whether that has to do with God’s sovereignty or worship or justice or racism or abortion—when actually we are disagreeing about a host of issues surrounding those issues. By drilling down to our actual disagreements, we may not find a new consensus or a mythical third way, but perhaps we will be able to talk to each other with more charity and humility.

Let’s look at three of the most contentious issues dividing churches (or about to divide churches) at the moment.

Presidential Election

Christians disagree about all sorts of things related to the election. I don’t want to talk about Trump vs. Biden. Instead, I want us to think about voting itself. How should Christians in America think about their vote for president? I see at least four approaches.

1. Vote for the best candidate of all the candidates. Pretty simple. Look on the ballot (or write someone in) and vote for the person you think best represents Christian values and will effectively carry out the responsibilities of the presidency.

2. Vote for the best (or least bad) candidate of the two major parties. It is almost assuredly the case that the Republican or Democratic nominee will be president, so, this argument insists, we ought to vote for whichever of the two candidates is better. And what do we mean by better? That is open for debate as well. For most people “better” means some combination of policies, platform, appointments, personal integrity, and the political party you would be putting in power. You may or may not be excited about the person at the top of the ticket, but you figure you are voting for a network of policies and influencers, not just one person.

3. Vote for the best candidate—of all the candidates, or of the two leading parties—so long as the candidate meets a certain threshold for character and ideology. This is like 1 and 2, but instead of saying, “I will always vote for the lesser of two evils,” it says, “I won’t cast a vote for someone I think is actually evil.” You think to yourself, I could never cast a vote for someone who advocates the killing of all puppies. He may be better than the person who supports the killing of puppies and grown dogs, but I simply can’t vote for someone who doesn’t pass a basic test of moral decency.

4. Vote in a way that you believe best advances the long-term interests of your policy goals and convictions. You may reason that Candidate A is less bad than Candidate B in the short run, but you are going to vote for Candidate C because you want to signal that you hope your party will select better candidates in the future. Or you may reason that even though you agree with Candidate B on more issues, that candidate’s style or character makes those positions less palatable and actually hurts the goals and policies you care about most. Instead of viewing the election as a matter of immediate national life or death, you think it best to play the long game and vote accordingly.

I’m not telling you how to look at your vote. Maybe one of these approaches makes more sense in our given context than another. But then we should be clear that we are arguing about a philosophy of voting—something not nailed down in Scripture—rather than about issues of first-order importance. I don’t think all of the approaches above are equally compelling, but I do think they are all reasonable ways to approach the act of voting.

Police Shootings

Let’s take another controversial issue. Many churches are divided over how to think about police shootings. Too often, we throw around accusations of racism or cultural Marxism or not caring about the Bible or not caring about people of color, when we are actually disagreeing about the facts of a given situation. It’s easy to jump to conclusions, and then jump to counter-conclusions, when slowing down to ask certain questions can isolate what we are really talking about and (likely) disagreeing about.

When it comes to the specific issue of a specific police shooting—not all race issues in general—we would do well to ask four questions.

What happened?
How often does it happen?
To whom does it happen?
Why did it/does it happen?

Of course, it’s possible that we ask questions in a way that only serves to obfuscate the issues. We’ve all heard people say, “I’m only asking questions,” when they are really just trying to gum up the discussion. But highlighting the four questions above—even if we don’t agree on the answers—can at least highlight that our disagreements may not be about a lack of concern for justice or an affinity for Critical Race Theory.

Instead, our disagreements may focus on: whether the shooting was justified or not, whether police shootings happen a lot or little, whether they happen disproportionately to some people over others, and whether the shooting was because of race, poor training, poor judgment, or some other factor. In other words, we may think we are arguing about social justice, when actually we are arguing about shooting data and police unions. Or, we may not, in fact, be arguing about remotely the same thing at all but have reached an impasse because one person is looking for empathy and a recognition of historical wrongs while another person is parsing out the nuances of proper compliance and policing procedure.

Covid-19

One more issue, and this may be the most difficult. It’s no secret that Christians don’t agree on when and whether to open church, on when or whether to wear masks, and on when or whether to disobey the government. Again, the arguments are often pitched as fundamentally about the Bible, theology, and personal devotion to Christ. And they may be. But more often in my experience, the hottest part of the argument is about other issues not spelled out clearly in Scripture.

Is the virus a very serious health concern, or has the threat been greatly exaggerated?
Is the government exercising its authority in consistent ways, or does it seem to be singling out churches for worse treatment than other establishments?
Is the government trying to achieve its public health goals in the least burdensome way, or are its rules arbitrary and unreasonably heavy-handed?
Is the government generally to be trusted as looking out for the best interests of its citizens, or is the government ramping up oppressive measures that it will be slow to relinquish?

These are all important questions. I’m not suggesting we don’t try to answer them. But in answering them, let’s be clear that we are making decisions about epidemiology, mathematical modeling, and government bureaucracies. One church may say, “Don’t you love Christ? Why won’t you meet for worship?” Another church may say, “Don’t you love your neighbor? How dare you open for worship?” Of course, every church ought to be absolutely committed to public worship and loving our neighbors. The reason two churches like this are criticizing the other has much more to do with their epidemiological views than their theological views. Being clear about the disagreement is a step in the right direction.

Four Final Thoughts

Where does this leave us? Quickly, four thoughts.

1. Let’s be clear what we are arguing about (and what we are not arguing about). Drill down to the issue really causing separation.

2. Let’s be less dogmatic about our approach to voting, and our reading of police data, and our take on the severity of the virus than we are about fundamental articles of the Christian faith. By all means, we can try to persuade about all those other matters, but let’s realize we are outside the realm of inerrant, or often even uniquely Christian, conclusions.

3. Let’s humbly acknowledge our position when disagreeing with others in the church. Instead of raising every disagreement to the highest rhetorical level, we might say, “I’m not questioning your commitment to Christ, but I don’t think the virus is the threat you think it is. Here’s why.”

4. Let’s understand that most pastors are trying to find a way to hold their congregation together in divisive times. It may be that your pastor is cowardly trying to make everyone happy. That won’t work. But it may be that he is trying to wisely shepherd a diverse flock in a way that helps the sheep to focus on Christ and him crucified. If the disagreement has become public in your church, then the pastor is usually wise to deal with it publicly. That takes courage. But don’t expect that he is going to take a definitive side when he is not an expert in the contentious matter, and reasonable Christians can come to different conclusions. The loving pastor should show that he understands both sides and is sympathetic to the good things people want on both sides. He should not pretend he has found the third way that everyone will agree on or that piety alone will transcend all our disagreements.

Make no mistake, these are difficult times and leaders will have to make difficult decisions. But the fallout from these decisions can be made less difficult if we know what we are disagreeing about, can state clearly why we think the way we do, and are willing to allow that others may reasonably think differently.

This article originally appeared on The Gospel Coalition and is used with permission.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

What’s Missin’ These Days: Obadiah Abernathy Reminisces

When I’m asked who my favorite character from all my novels is, I always say it’s Obadiah Abernathy in Dominion, who played baseball in the old Negro leagues. He modeled dignity, grace, wisdom, and humor.

My spiritual inspiration for Obadiah was my friend John Perkins, now 90 years old, the son of a Mississippi sharecropper and one of my heroes. John awakened me to racial justice with his magnificent book Let Justice Roll Down, and who I got to know when we spoke together at a conference in the 80’s. Later I spend time with John in Mississippi while researching Dominion. I tell some of this story here.

Three years ago John Perkins asked me to write the foreword for his life story and vision, Dream with Me: Race, Love, and the Struggle We Must Win. When I wrote Obadiah’s dialogue, I often asked myself, What would John say? In real life, I sometimes ask myself the same question, including when I write about racial justice.

While I modeled Obadiah Abernathy after the heart and love of John Perkins, my sports inspiration for Obadiah was Buck O’Neill in the old Negro leagues. A modern man of reconciliation, he was born in 1911 and died in 2005, one month shy of age 95. In this video, Buck O’Neill is speaking for 50 minutes when he was in his nineties. Here you see the winsomeness of Obadiah Abernathy, just as in John Perkins you see the same with great spiritual depth:

In this excerpt from my book, Obadiah talks to his family about church in the old days, and the Heaven that’s coming and won’t ever end.

The family sat around Dani’s big dining-room table, Obadiah at the head, Clarence and Geneva on one side of him, Keisha and Celeste on the other, with Jonah and Ty at the far end. Ty was there under protest. As usual, he wanted to be doing something with his friends.

Obadiah sat straight as his eighty-seven-year-old back would allow. As always, he chewed his food over and over, as if stretching it, savoring it, trying to draw extra nourishment. He ate like a man who hadn’t always had enough to eat. At Sunday dinner he held the family reins, and in the last year or so with Obadiah, you never knew where the conversation would go next.

“Fine message, fine message,” Obadiah said. “I like that Pastor Clancy.”

“So do I,” Geneva said. She passed Obadiah a big piece of huckleberry pie.

“Much obliged, Daughter. Looks wondrous. Looks wondrous.” After one long bite and lots of head shaking, he resumed his commentary. “Good chu’ch. I likes that chu’ch. Good chu’ch, isn’t it boys?” He eyeballed Jonah and Ty.

“Yes sir,” Jonah said.

Ty looked down and grunted, “Yeah.”

“Been to lots a churches in my day,” Obadiah said. “One time went with Cousin Jabal to a church in Louisiana. They put whites on one side and blacks on another. Then they had this big ol’ rope goin’ down the middle aisle, just to make sure no one forgot what color he was. Funny thing, pastor was preachin’ through Colossians, and the text was how race don’t matter and we’s all one in Christ Jesus.” He chuckled, eyes dancing. “I don’t know what more that pastor said. I just sat there thinkin’ about how we’re all one in Christ Jesus and lookin’ at that rope!”

Obadiah laughed long and hard, shaking his head. “You remember Jabal’s boy Rabe, don’t you Clarence?”

“Yeah, Daddy. He stayed with us a few weeks until...until the polin’.”

“What’s polin?” Jonah asked. Clarence glanced at his daddy as if to say, “You’re the one who brought it up.”

Obadiah sighed. “Polin’ was where people would get in their cars, drink enough beer to gets them up some courage, then drive down roads settin’ to whack blacks in the back of the head with two-by-fours. It happened to Rabe. Hurt him pretty bad.”

“Why are white people so mean, Grampy?” Celeste asked.

“They’re not mean, honey, not all of ’em, not even most of ’em. Just some of them, chile, just some of them.” He looked around the table. “Jabal always used to say, ‘Never trust a white man,’ and he said it more than ever after Rabe got poled. Well, Jabal was wrong. I told my chillens then and I’m tellin’ you all now. Never trust a man with bad morals and a weak character, that’s what Jabal should have said. Skin color don’t matter, ’cept to people with small brains. There’s good blacks and bad blacks. There’s good whites and bad whites. You can’t never tell a book by its cover. And you can’t never tell a man by his color.”

Obadiah measured the silence at the table before continuing. “The problem ain’t white folk. The problem’s just folk—black, white, or purple, it don’t matter. Bible calls it sin, and sinners is what we all is.” He seemed to be reaching for a story, and his eyes glowed when he found one.

“When I was a boy, my grandpappy on my daddy’s side was visitin’. It was a hot day and we was fishin’ down by a lake—prettiest little lake you ever seen. Well, Grandpappy, he took off his shirt. And I saw the marks all over his back. I came over and ran my finger over them. They was all healed, but you could still see the pain in his eyes. I asked him, ‘Who did this to you, Grandpappy?’ I knew he’d been a slave, but the stories never made much sense to me till I saw the marks.

“He said, ‘A cruel man did it to me. I’ve asked Jesus to forgive him. I hope he asked Jesus to forgive him too.’ See, he never said it was a white man. He said it was a cruel man. I never forgot that.”

Obadiah looked around the table, and Clarence could almost hear an abrupt gear change in his daddy’s head. “You know what’s missin’ in churches these days?” “What’s that, Daddy?” Clarence asked.

“The mourner’s bench. ’Member our old church in Puckett? They had a mourner’s bench. That was back in the days when you didn’t need no theologian to explain away the Bible. We just believed it. And tried to live by it. ’Member ol’ Reverend Charo, Clarence?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Now that was a preacher. Man had more points than a thornbush.” Obadiah smiled broadly, his white teeth looking like piano ivories. “The Reverend used to say from the pulpit in this big loud voice, ‘It’s no disgrace to be colored.’ Then he’d pause and lean forward and wink at us and whisper, ‘It’s just awfully inconvenient.’”

Obadiah laughed and laughed, mostly on his own, though Geneva managed a few chuckles herself.

“Sunday was the finest day of the week, I reckon. We’d leave behind those cotton fields, that ol’ ramshackle house, and come to the house of God. Without Sundays, we woulda shriveled up and died, worked ourselves to the grave ’fore we was fifty years ol’. We’d put on our Sunday best. Mama, she’d put wheat starch in my collar to glue down the threads on my one white shirt. I’d pick the trousers with the fewest holes. We’d walk the four miles to Sunday school, rain or shine. And we had fun walkin’. Ol’ Elijah and me, we was always cookin’ up mischief along the way.”

He looked right at Jonah and Ty and nodded, as an old man who’s never forgotten what it is to be young. Everyone’s eyes focused on Granddaddy. Frail as Obadiah’s body had become, his eyes were strong and he still carried the indomitable authority of a senior black man.

“Pastor served four churches, so he’d be there once a month. We’d take a break after Sunday school, then have a big service. Preacher go up there and say, ‘Remember your mama? How she used to hug you and tuck you in? But she gone now. Can’t tuck you in no more.’ And he’d carry on and on, till we was all snifflin’ and sobbin’. He’d keep remindin’ us of our grandmammies and all our kin that died until we was almost in a frenzy. Then he’d shout, ‘But someday you goin’ to see yo’ mama again. Some day you goin’ to heaven, if you loves Jesus, and there she be—arm’s awide open, waitin’ fo’ you. How many o’ you can hardly wait for that day?’”

Obadiah’s voice had taken on the strength of the preacher’s from seventy-five years ago. “People, they be shoutin’ and clappin’, twitchin’ and tremblin.’ Not like some churches where it’s just a lecture and they has to stop at an hour so you don’t falls asleep. Now, your churches today, they don’t preach about heaven no mo’, not like that anyways. Not like that. Maybe nowadays we thinks this world’s our home. Maybe that’s whys we’s in so much trouble.”

His deep-set eyes surveyed the table as if it were a poker game and he was trying to read in the faces each player’s hand.

“Then there was revival week. Relatives would come back from all over. Church and family was the same, wasn’t one without the other back then. Lots of eatin’, singin’, preachin’, and lots of offerin’s, sometimes two or three in a service if we didn’t collect enough for the poor.”

“I thought you were poor, Grandpa,” Jonah said.

“Well, compared to most folks we was. But there’s always people poorer than you, and you always gots to help them. You remember that now, chillens.”

He scanned the children to decide which to light his eyes on, and this time chose Keisha.

“We’d come together and focus on a better life—the life to come. Always read the Scripture that said we was strangers and aliens and pilgrims. Slave stock understood that. Property owners never did. See, Keisha, black folk couldn’t own property back then. A few did, but very few. We was sharecroppers; our pappies was slaves. We knew this wasn’t our home. It’s harder when you think you own things yourself. ’Cause then you starts actin’ like a big shot owner instead of a tenant. This here is God’s world, chillens. No man owns anything. We’s all just sharecroppers on God’s land. But he never cheats us—come harvest time, he’ll give us the rewards of our labor.”

“Doesn’t seem that way sometimes, Daddy,” Clarence said. Geneva looked startled. She didn’t remember him ever taking issue with his daddy in front of the children, at least not on spiritual matters. “Lots of bad things happen in this world. Seems like sometimes our labor doesn’t pay off.”

“That’s because it ain’t harvest time yet, Son. You jus’ wait. You jus’ wait.”

“I’m tired of always waiting.”

“You trust him, boy, and yo’ sweet Jesus ain’t gonna let you down. These television preachers make it sound like today’s the harvest. Give a bunch o’ money and next thing you know there’s a big Cadillac in your driveway. Show me the chapter and verse fo’ that one, will ya? God say at the proper time we’ll reap a harvest, if we don’t give up. Proper time ain’t here yet. Don’t give up, Son. Just don’t give up.”

The old man’s eyes started to glaze. His mouth kept moving, but he was in transition. “I remembers those ol’ songs, songs black as night, black as the raven. ‘Steal away.’ ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.’ ‘I’ll Fly Away.’ ‘Just Over in Glory Land.’ ‘In the Sweet By-and-By.’ We always sung about ‘one day acomin.’ We knew this weren’t the day.”

Obadiah was somewhere else now. Was he thinking about his mama? Clarence wondered. His wife? His daughter? Little Felicia?

Suddenly, so low and quiet you could barely hear, he began singing a song Clarence vaguely remembered from childhood. “I does not know why all aroun’ me, my hopes all shattered seem to be. God’s perfect plan I cannot see. But one day, someday, he’ll make it plain.”

Photo by Cassandra Ortiz on Unsplash