Echoes and Stars

1. Most every action and statement prescribed by the culture-makers (believer and unbeliever) assumes the highest realities are the seen realities. Think of how different things would be if we all took Paul seriously when he told us to keep our eyes on what is unseen. Not only would it make us more kind, it would make us more patient, and gentle. And loving.

2. Be so enraptured with the kingdom of God that the toppling of the kingdoms of this world are as nothing.

3. Arguments on social media seem to lead to more extreme positions taken by each person and they rarely seem to lead to more moderation or understanding of the other person’s conviction. They only escalate. So if you started at level 3, the argument leaves you at level 6. The next day something else happens and now you are at level 7. That is until someone else argues with you, and now you are at a 9 or 10. Then you “cancel” that person or write them off as a bad person, irredeemable. Though just a few days earlier you would have been far more willing to engage them. Our convictions are not becoming more firm. Our anger is becoming inflamed.

4. There is a moment In A Hidden Life when Franz is in prison and he is being asked to say he will support the Nazi Regime. He is asked, “Don’t you want to be free?” And he responds with, “I am free already.”

5. The news is rarely new.

6. A “canceling” culture cannot separate you from the love of God in Christ.

7. In my theological world, there is not much good news. One group is trying to decide who is Reformed enough and the other is trying out woke everyone. Again, there is not much good news among them.

8. I have twice recently seen someone wearing a shirt with “Change the World” on it. One was a boy who was about 8 years old. The other was a middle-aged woman. What are the assumptions behind such a statement? Do we have a responsibility to approach the world this way? Where does such an idea come from? Is this a command and from whom?

9. They will not stop with toppling statues.

10. I can find no teaching in the NT calling the church to fight anything except their own personal temptations and unbelief. Not the empire. Not the culture around them. Not the Gentiles. Not the Jews. Modernity has blinded us to this reality. It has told us there is always a fight to fight outside of ourselves. Modernity has blinded us to the ever-present need to fight for confidence in the King and his Kingdom.