May 29, 2024

Viewing all things through the lens of the True and the beautiful!

Memorial Day is a time of remembrance. We specifically remember those who gave their life in order that ours might be free. In that spirit, today’s issue of The Equipped will consider three matters of life and death, and how the unavoidable fact of death on Earth speaks directly of a life that never ends.

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The True

Choose Life

Every day is a choice. That sounds easy. If you get to choose, it would seem as though the path should always be easy and enjoyable. So why is it that so often our choices and our circumstances carry with them so much difficulty? In order to prepare ourselves for a series of headline stories dealing with life and death, it is critical we first stand on firm scriptural truth around this question.

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deut. 30:19).

That is actually the second time in Deuteronomy 30 (the first being in verse 15) we are told that the choice between life and death—and also between prosperity and destruction—is set before us, and that it is ours to make. This is a concept we have considered together before here at The Equipped, but it warrants our return to it today as we grapple with evidence of death having such a significant foothold in our world.

If the choice between life and death is ours, why does death seem to so frequently prevail? Why are we not choosing life with more consistency, and more importantly, how do we reverse that trend?

The answer to those questions is found in verses 11-14 and can be summed up by these words: The answer isn’t out there, but rather in here!

“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”

Friends, the stories we are about to consider bear the markings of two distinct approaches to life: 1) The answer is out there somewhere, and I have to find it, and 2) The answer has already been freely given to me, and I simply need to allow it to flow through me!

It is not a difficult choice that we must strive to attain. It is not in a faraway place that requires a great journey or even great effort.

To the contrary, it is very near. It is in fact hardwired into your very being when you choose to surrender to the salvation offered by God through the sacrifice of His only Son. The prophet Jeremiah echoes this promise when he says the Lord has put His words in your mouth (Jer. 1:9) and is watching to see them fulfilled (Jer. 1:12)!

How is it that we so often choose death and destruction when the choice of life and prosperity is set before us? It is because we are looking for life where it does not exist—out there.

The abundant life offered freely to us—the life that is ready for our choosing and to which we should be inviting others—exists within the very words of our God. That word became flesh in the form of Jesus (Jn. 1:14), and lives within you when you choose to take hold of the life that is set before you.

It is a matter of life and death, and the choice is yours. Choose life!

World

No Greater Love

Davy and Natalie Lloyd, who were a young married couple from the U.S., and Jude Montis, who was Haitian, were killed in a gang ambush in Haiti. The couple were full-time missionaries in Haiti for an organization founded by Davy's parents. Montis was a long-time employee of the organization. All three were killed as they were leaving a youth group event when gang members in trucks swarmed the area and attacked.

According to reports, the children living at the mission and the remaining staff have been relocated safely, and arrangements are being made to transport the bodies of the American victims home to Missouri.

Analysis and eternal perspective: Senseless. That is the word so often used in a tragic situation like this, and in one sense it fits perfectly. There is no human sense to be made for the evil taking of three lives devoted to the service of others in need. Davy and Natalie were recent college graduates and newlyweds who were voluntarily putting themselves in harm’s way in a foreign land in order “to see the Gospel of Christ make a difference in the lives of Haiti’s young people.” That was the mission of their organization, and Jude Montis had devoted his life to it as well on behalf of his fellow Haitians.

From this perspective, the horrific attacks and the loss of three precious lives is heartbreaking, tragic, and yes, senseless.

But we serve a God who has been bringing order from chaos since creation. We will likely never know on this side of heaven why this was the appointed time for Davy, Natalie, and Jude to die (Ecc. 3:2, Heb. 9:27). However, because their lives—something it was never possible for them to keep—were aimed at a purpose beyond this Earth, these otherwise senseless events carry a transcendent tone that no violence or destruction can override. While chaos and disorder at the hands of lawless gangs are the markers of the day in Haiti, that evil cannot touch the memory, legacy, and ongoing impact of three Jesus followers who demonstrated the ultimate love of pouring out their lives—both in the living of them and in the loss of them—for their friends.

Even in their death, and even as they are united in eternity with our God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached because of how they lived.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (Jn. 15:13).

World

Landslide

Hundreds or even thousands are dead or missing after a massive landslide buried a large portion of a village in Papua New Guinea. The exact number of those missing remains unknown (the United Nations initially estimated 670, but government officials have suggested more than 2,000). An accurate accounting is difficult due to the lack of any meaningful census in more than a generation.

Rescue and recovery efforts are ongoing, but are severely complicated by treacherous and unstable conditions, as well as the lack of heavy earthmoving equipment.

Analysis and eternal perspective: We as The Equipped have recently considered that “life is but a vapor” (Jam. 4:14). Very little can punctuate that fact as vividly as a landslide that consumes scores of homes in only a few moments. As we pray for those directly impacted, there is undoubtedly a temptation to allow these events to produce trepidation in our own lives. After all, if death comes for everyone, and it can come at any moment, it is easy to believe the lie that death holds the ultimate power over us.

If we live from that belief, the impact of any life we have remaining is severely hindered.

But we serve a living God who died to “break the power of him who holds the power of death . . . and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14-15)!

It is certainly true this affords us a purpose after death. In fact, it promises us an eternal home in a place where we are truly citizens (Philip. 3:20).

But this liberation is not one that only shows up in death. It is one that should radically inform the way you live! You are surrounded by people who face the certainty of death, and you hold the one thing each and every person needs—the promise of life!

So yes, take hold of the promise of life after death. But don’t stop there. Walk in the promise of true life—and life to the fullest, and do it while you are still living, because death has no grip on you (Jn. 10:10, Rom. 6:9)!

U.S.

Hidden Battles

Grayson Murray, a 30-year-old professional golfer and two-time winner on the PGA Tour, took his own life shortly after withdrawing from the second round of this week’s tournament. A statement released by Murray’s parents alluded to personal challenges he had faced—challenges about which he had talked openly, and which it appeared he was overcoming. Many of Murray’s PGA Tour competitors expressed their own grief and shock over his passing, as well as support for his family.

Analysis and eternal perspective: We should start very practically with this story: Check on your friends and family. Do it today.

Every one of us is both blessed and afflicted with the human condition. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, and that fact makes our God worthy of our praise (Ps. 139:14; Gen 1:26-27)! Even so, we currently exist in a physical time and place that wars against our very souls. The enemy understands that physical death has no hold on us, and so his ultimate aim is to rob us of the life-giving mission that is spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Fear, depression, and anxiety are universal opponents. Each of us has them, and all of us need each other to combat them. We need each other to bring constant reminders that He who is in us is greater than He who is in the world (1 Jn. 4:4).

Friends, we are in Christ Jesus, so the victory is ours in the end. But the battle that wages in the interim is intense for all of us. So check on your friends and family today. Remind them that while circumstances are at times dark, the powers of this world have no grip on them because the Savior of the world calls them His (Is. 43:1)!

The same is true for you! Fear not. He knows your name. You are His. The waters will not sweep you away and the flames will not burn you (Is. 43:1-2).

“But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Is. 43:1-2).

The Beautiful

Held

We have considered the fragility of life on Earth, so let us close with a reminder of its exquisite beauty and complexity. Our God and Creator has designed life on Earth to replenish itself. He knows about the life of every sparrow, but He esteems your life as infinitely more valuable (Matt. 10:29-31). There is beauty in your fragileness being held in His protective hand, and in His design that we carry each other’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). Your place of greatest strength, beauty, and purpose is realized when you are held in His hands (2 Cor. 12:9).

Don’t forget to check out the broadcast version of The Equipped on Faith Radio or wherever you get your podcasts!