November 20, 2024

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

The True

Not Worth Comparing

Every week, you and I wrestle with the messiness of our present world. In this space, we grapple with headline news and the evidence of brokenness. Closer to home, you navigate pain and loss and difficulty. I do the same. Through it all, we often ask, “Why?” Why must we endure such pain, frustration, and agony when we serve a God bigger than it all? Why is it necessary?

Those questions find both voice and resolution in Romans 8, which describes our current condition as one of “bondage” and “decay” (v. 21) and acknowledges that “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (v. 22).

Does that resonate with you? Does it feel as though your struggle and your effort results only in the deterioration of all that is around you? Is your spirit groaning and do you sense that all of creation is groaning with you?

If so, read on, because the reason for our temporary pain and suffering is intensely beautiful! Verse 19 says, “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed,” and verse 20 says that it was God’s will that creation be subjected to frustration.

That sounds like the opposite of beautiful, doesn’t it? That sounds more cruel than beautiful. But as always, context is everything. Why did God entangle our existence with suffering? In verses 14-16, God expresses His intense fatherly love for us by granting us the “spirit of adoption” and claiming us as His very own children! Then, in verse 17, He gives us the reason for our suffering: “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

You are an heir. You are an heir because you are God’s child. You are God’s child because He has adopted you! He has adopted you because He chose you! And finally, you suffer because He suffered and because He longs for you to share in the glory that will come on the other side of your suffering!

Your God has chosen to share His glory with you, and the temporary price to pay is that you will also share in His suffering on the way to that glory. It is an astounding and glorious trade!

One final thought. You might be tempted to weigh the cost of this exchange. Is your present suffering worth the future shared glory? Don’t be ashamed if that question wells up—you are presently in a finite body that cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of the promised glory, so the question is normal. It is one with which I regularly grapple!

It is a question that makes verses 18-19 jump off the page! Read and consider this weighing of the exchange slowly and with care:

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”

Not. Worth. Comparing.

Friends, it is not even a close call. It is not just that your shared glory with God exceeds your present suffering. It is not just that the exchange will be worth it.

It is that the two are not even worth comparing!

Your suffering is for the purpose of being called a child of God’s, and all creation waits in breathless anticipation for your association in Him to be revealed!

You are suffering. It is true.

But your glory is coming, and all of creation will be astonished at its magnitude.

Your present suffering is not even worth comparing to the glory that is coming, and in which you will share with Him forever!

World

Undemocratic

Forty-five activists—including former legislators—were convicted and sentenced by a Hong Kong court on charges of conspiracy to commit subversion. Each of the convicted defendants was sentenced to prison, with the longest sentence constituting 10 years. The charges in the case are described by Chinese officials as national security related, though the actions in question revolve around participation in an “unofficial” primary election in 2020 in support of opposition candidates.

International governments and observers were widely critical of the ruling and most defended the actions of the activists as typical political activity. The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong called for “authorities to cease politically motivated prosecutions of Hong Kong citizens and to immediately release all political prisoners and individuals jailed for their peaceful advocacy for rights and freedoms.”​

Analysis and eternal perspective: We as The Equipped have regularly reflected on the fact that the political freedoms enjoyed in the United States are not reflected in many parts of the world—a reality that has been true across the wide sweep of human history. This story is a stark reminder of that sober reality, as peaceful political activities have landed dozens of individuals behind bars.

Mankind was created to praise and glorify the living God (Is 43:21). We were also designed in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-27) and intended to live in possession of a freedom reflective of God’s character (Gal. 5:1). This design is frequently disregarded and assaulted by lesser ideals at the behest of governments of men. As Jesus followers—and specifically for those of us with a stated objective of being equipped to respond to events around us with the spirit of the living God—we should use the freedom we have to speak up for those who are being deprived of it (Gal. 5:13)

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5:1).

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Gal. 5:13).

World

Significantly Degraded

Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran last month significantly degraded the Iranian regime’s capacity to develop nuclear weapons, according to Israeli reports. The strikes were targeted at Iranian military facilities in Parchin and are believed to have destroyed equipment necessary for building, testing, and deploying nuclear weapons.

Analysis and eternal perspective: The equipment destroyed is believed to have been housed at the Taleghan 2 facility in Parchin, which Iran does not officially acknowledge as part of its nuclear program, likely explaining why Iran did not disclose the extent of the damage now believed to have occurred. While Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is focused on energy production, observers around the world have long pointed to facilities like those in Parchin as hard evidence to the contrary. Last month’s retaliatory strikes are perhaps the most significant setback Iran has experienced in its efforts to expand its nuclear capacity.

The world is an increasingly dangerous and hostile place. It can be easy to let this reality shake your confidence. But your identity, your reality, and your eternity cannot be touched or altered by any of the uncertainty around you. You are a child of the King (Jn. 1:12), a citizen of heaven (Philip. 3:20), and an heir to a Kingdom without end (Rom. 8:17).

In fact, as your world grows increasingly chaotic, you should walk in greater and greater confidence, because you possess—and have the mandate to share with others—that which frees you from all that seeks to kill and destroy you (1 Pet. 5:8-11).

World

1,000 Days

It has now been more than 1,000 days since Russian troops invaded Ukraine at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin. More than a million people are dead or injured as a result of the ensuing war, and the fighting continues to wage.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use U.S. long-range missiles to strike targets deeper into Russia. This authorization has long been a request from the Ukrainian government and marks a reversal of President Biden’s previous denial of such requests.

Analysis and eternal perspective: Putin’s goal is compassion fatigue. No matter how horrific his actions or the suffering of those within range of his violent invasion, Putin is counting on the nearly-universal reality that we as human beings typically have a limited bandwidth we are willing to devote to ongoing suffering. He is counting on the fact that, though the suffering he is inflicting continues (his own people are dying at an alarming rate as he sends waves of troops into battle), the world’s willingness to stand athwart him will wane.

As Jesus followers, it is likely we have a wide range of views about whether and how the international community should intervene in the ongoing war. But even amid those wide-ranging opinions, we should stand unified in this: Our voice, our influence, and our actions should contribute to the defense of the oppressed (Is. 1:17).

This feels like an impossible mandate, but consider that God offers a clear delineation between defending the oppressed (your responsibility) and achieving vengeance (His responsibility according to Romans 12:19).

There will come a day when all will be made right for all of eternity. It can be impossible to understand why there is a delay in this justice, and yet you and I are called to remain faithful to that which is clearly charged to us:

“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Is. 1:17).

The Beautiful

No Bounds

The intricacy with which God has designed His world is staggering. From the flowers of the field, to the fruits of the trees, to the fish in the sea, His imagination knows no bounds.

Even so, among it all, you my friend are the most carefully designed of all. You, my fellow Image bearer, are among the created, yes. But you, out of all creation, were made to commune with the Creator!

“Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Lk. 12:7).

The Equipped

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