Happy Friday,
Count it all joy when you experience trials.
James 1:2
I keep meeting people who assume they’ve cut a deal with God – i.e., in return for believing in Him, He will ensure that their lives will be long, easy, and pleasant. Those who read the Bible should know that no such deals exist. They should also know that it would be a bad thing if they did. Trials provide us with one of our best opportunities for growth. We need to stop viewing suffering as a breakdown in God’s plans and see it as an opportunity to become more like Christ.
Mother Nature Creation: In previous Updates, I’ve cited Psalm 19 — “the heavens declare the glory of God”— before directing you to Hubble’s latest pictures. This time, I’m suggesting you look down, not up. Here are photos highlighting the diversity of ocean life. Gaze at the creatures and marvel at their Creator.
Five Take-A-Ways: Collin Hansen, author of Tim Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation, spoke at a Lakelight lecture this week. You can click here to listen to his talk. (My podcast interview with him will be posted in a couple of weeks.) What follows is Hansen’s list of the five things that he learned writing about Keller’s life: 1) Do not judge potential in a young leader too quickly (Keller got Cs in preaching); 2) You can borrow from sources without buying everything they are selling; 3) Admit your weaknesses and ask for help (on three “crisis occasions” Keller recruited friends to manage his growing staff because he did not view himself as a good leader); 4) Never stop learning; and 5) Keep pressing for a deeper experience of God.
Quotes Worth Juxtaposing: 1) “You can’t win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” Obi-Wan Kenobi. And 2) “Death is the last weapon of the tyrant, and the point of the resurrection — despite much misunderstanding — is that death has been defeated.” NT Wright.
Lakelight Related:
- Lakelight Live: This Fall, we are launching a series of evening lectures called Lakelight Live. In the first, I will be talking about ways the news has changed, how these changes are changing us, and what we can do about it. These events are being held in Austin, TX (Sept. 12), Nashville, TN (Oct. 3), Bellingham, WA (Oct. 18), Lake Forest, IL (Oct. 29), and Naples, FL (Nov. 2). Space is limited. Sign up here.
- The Good Work Summit: As I mentioned in last week’s Update, registration is now open for the Good Work Summit, Lakelight’s Oct. 14th conference exploring critical issues in the marketplace. Since part of Lakelight’s mission is to help us navigate living out our faith in the workplace, in honor of Labor Day, we are offering a two-for-the-price-of-one registration. Sign up by midnight on Labor Day, and you can bring a guest for free.
Overheard: 1) A polarized country needs a peace-making church; 2) You can tell a lot about a culture by what it does not talk about. Americans, for instance, avoid talking about death; 3) Parents today are being too protective when it comes to real-world experiences and not protective enough when it comes to online ones; 4) It turns out that hope is a bit like a set of car keys. If you set it in the wrong place, it’s easy to lose. 5) It’s worth noting that while the Hebrew prophets were often critical of other nations, they reserved their harshest condemnations for God’s own people; 6) The Amish have tough lives, but there are two things they do not have much of: cell phones and depression.
WOTW: Honorable mention goes to policy violence, disaster porn, manosphere, mug shot, and Spamouflage. Full honors go to omerta, the Mafia’s term for organized crime’s moral code. It surfaced after Putin put the hurt on Prigozhin for violating it. BTW, Moscow needs to up its game. Their announcement that the Luna-25 “ceased to exist” after it crashed into the south pole of the moon lacked the panache and memorability of SpaceX’s announcement following the explosion of its Starship Rocket. They did not say, “Our Starship has ceased to exist” (yawn). They reported that the Starship had suffered a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” As I said several months ago when I first mentioned this phrase, I like it a lot. I think that’s because I’ve had some sermons that have suffered “rapid unscheduled disassemblies.”
Without Comment: 1) According to Newsweek, the number of self-reported witches in the US now exceeds 1.5M, up from 8K in 1990, and “far exceeding the membership of the ‘mainline’ Presbyterian Church USA and just about equal the count of Episcopalians;” 2) It is estimated that Taylor Swift’s recent concert tour generated close to $5 billion in consumer spending, which means that if she were an economy, she’d be bigger than 50 countries; 3) Here is another study that shows that religious people are happier and healthier than non-religious; 4) According to this report from poly sci professor Ryan Burge, the most politically active groups per-capita are atheists, Jews, and agnostics; 5) In a 1950s Gallup survey, 80% of the US public reported “high confidence” in the government to do the right thing. Today, that number stands at 15%.
Tell a Friend: BTW, we’ve been slowly trying to raise our game. You likely noticed our new email template; we’ve also added a referral program. When you share the unique link at the bottom of this email, and someone subscribes, your referral count will tick up (or so I’m told; I didn’t set it up). All this is designed to make it easier for you to share the Update with a friend. And, BTW, thanks to those of you who do.
Resources: Here is a link to last week’s Exodus 2 sermon. In it, I explore the birth and moral formation of Moses. (Be forewarned, it ends with some rather unsettling spiritual truths.) Here is a link to my interview with professor and award-winning author Ian Vaillancourt. We discuss his most recent book, The Dawning of Redemption, which I found to be a very accessible overview of the Pentateuch. I am in violent agreement with Dr. Vaillancourt about the fact that: 1) The Bible is a unified work; and 2) In order to understand the big themes, you need to start at the beginning. (Way too many Christians focus exclusively on the NT, which is much like showing up ¾ of the way through a movie.)
Closing Prayer: I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me having nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. Amen (John Wesley, 1703-1791)