April 9, 2025

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

The True

Your First Love

What—or who—is your first love? It is a question that was jogged in my mind recently as I joined my friend Carmen LaBerge on her daily radio show. Carmen made reference to the late great Keith Green’s song, Oh Lord, You’re Beautiful, which is now nearly 50 years old (I personally find that almost impossible to believe). There is a lyric in the song that says, “Oh Lord, please light the fire that once burned bright and clear.”

It is a lyrical reference to Revelation 2:2-4:

“I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”

In other words, “You are doing great in so many ways, and yet, your love for me has grown cold. You have forgotten I am your first love.”

My friend, we talk a lot together about your great mission here on Earth. Scripture is clear: You have a job here, and it is a big one! You are tasked with making disciples of Jesus in every corner of the globe (Matt 28:19-20). It is an active mission, and one that should inform your every moment of every day. It is a mission that presents new challenges and new opportunities on a regular basis.

Even so, it is easy to allow the doing of that mission (as proper and biblical as it is) to overwhelm the relationship that undergirds and informs the mission.

To put it plainly, it is easy to let the intensity of your first love grow cold over time.

God created you first and foremost for His glory (Is. 43:21). He desires your complete and total devotion and worship. He longs for you to be desperately in love with Him first and above all else! He is a jealous God, and scripture is quite clear—He is not content with a love that has grown cold.

He wants more than your deeds; He wants your heart!

It sounds cliché, but it could not be of more significance. This, my friend, is the key to your life’s purpose and legacy. What, or who, is the object of your deepest affection? What, or who, is your first love, and is the flame of that passion as bright as it once was?

If your first love is now something other than Jesus, today is the day to reestablish the priorities of your heart.

If Jesus is your first love, but the fire of your passion has dwindled to a flicker, the solution is not to do more for God. It is to be with Him. It is to return to the passion of your first love for Him.

It is true, you have a mission from God. He sees your faithfulness to that mission and affirms you for it. And yet, He longs for the love you had for Him at first!

Return to your first love. You will find Him waiting and eager to commune with you.

Oh, Lord, You're beautiful
Your face is all I seek
For when Your eyes are on this child
Your grace abounds to me

- Keith Green

​Listen to Oh Lord, You’re Beautiful!

World

Trading Tariffs

A week after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a broad regime of tariffs, China and the U.S. continue to exchange escalating tariff announcements. The White House insists the tariffs will result in new trade deals with many countries, but early indications are that China is digging in for a more adversarial approach. The escalating situation caused global investing markets to sell off, with all major indices moving significantly lower. President Trump acknowledged the financial turbulence, but insisted it is necessary to achieve a more competitive world economy for the U.S.

Analysis and eternal perspective: First and foremost, put your trust in that which the winds and volatility of this world cannot touch. There is significant disagreement around the long-term strategy of deploying tariffs, but there is near-universal agreement that the immediate-term effect is a disruptive and painful one. Investors and consumers alike face increasingly negative news while waiting to understand the longer-term impact of the tariffs.

As a Jesus follower, financial turmoil—especially that caused by outside forces largely beyond your control—is akin to the wind and rain of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 7. If your trust is based on something as flimsy and fleeting as your 401k or your bank account, this week and the days ahead are cause for concern. To the contrary, if your hope and trust is built on the rock of Jesus Christ, the financial storms that are swirling are of no significance to you, because your foundation is secure!

As an added bonus, Jesus followers should be able to thoughtfully engage the current civic debate with a level head, even as so many (of all varying opinions on the underlying tariffs) are responding out of panic and fear.

The financial winds are howling, but you can rest easy. Your house is built on the Rock.

U.S.

A Day in Court

The U.S. Supreme Court, in an unsigned opinion decided by a 5-4 vote, allowed the resumption of deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the authority of the Alien Enemies Act. The order, however, was unanimous that those facing deportation are entitled to judicial review, and the majority held that such review is properly considered wherever the accused is held (in this case, Texas).

Analysis and eternal perspective: The immediate impact of the Supreme Court’s ruling is two-fold: 1) The deportations are permitted to continue using the authority of the Alien Enemies Act, and 2) Deportations will not be permitted unless those detained have an opportunity to challenge their removal.

Both sides of this case are likely to declare victory in part while criticizing other portions of the ruling. It is entirely possible your view of the decision will be similar, and this is a perfect example of a public debate that would benefit from Jesus followers engaging it seriously and deliberately. Both the removal from the country of dangerous criminals and the constitutional right to judicial review of a judgement are critically important components of the U.S. judicial system. It is certain that The Equipped community will have a fairly wide spectrum of views on the best way to balance these sometimes-competing objectives. Even so, there are a couple mandates straight from scripture that each of us can and should affirm.

First, every person is made in the image of God and has eternal significance (Gen. 1:26-27).

Next, those in authority have a sacred duty to defend against danger (Rom. 13:4 calls those in authority “God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer”).

Like so many things, you must hold these two truths in a bit of tension to maintain a level-headed and productive response.

World

Nuclear Negotiations

Leaders of the United States and Iran will meet this weekend in a high-stakes discussion about Iran’s nuclear program. The announcement comes immediately following a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Trump described the planned meeting as Iran’s opportunity to avoid “great danger” by abandoning its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran and the U.S. struck a controversial deal in 2015 during the Obama administration, but the first Trump administration rescinded the deal in 2018 due to Iran’s failure to cease pursuit of weapons-grade nuclear capacity.

Analysis and eternal perspective: Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and previous attempts to restrain its pursuit of nuclear weapons have failed. There is significant skepticism that Iran can be convinced to abandon its nuclear weapons program, making the latest round of planned meetings particularly frigid. The absence of an agreement comes at an intensely volatile time in the Middle East, with Iran backing its proxy Hamas in the war with Israel.

As Jesus followers, you and I have been prayerfully considering the war between Israel and Hamas through a biblical lens that reminds us of both the duty for governing authorities to protect those under their charge (Rom. 13:4) and the eternal value of every person (Gen. 1:26-27).

On the surface, there appears to be little hope Iran will abandon its stated objective to eliminate the Jewish state of Israel. But we serve a God big enough to change the heart of kings (Pr. 21:1)! Let us agree in prayer together that this latest round of negotiations will be a harbinger of peace for the region.

The Beautiful

The Great Beyond

When a spaceman “visited” our home years ago, it left our dog Wrigley quite confused. What was this familiar-yet-strange being? Was it safe? Most important of all, did it bring food?

The new and unfamiliar can be scary, even when it poses no real threat. I wrote in My Fame, His Fame, “The unknown is where the mystery of God abides.” There is a beauty found only in a greater realization of God’s character. He longs to continually make more of Himself known to you. But that requires your venturing into things that are familiar-yet-strange. It won’t always feel safe, but it is where and how you will take hold of a deeper relationship with your God.

Venture into that unknown this week. The mystery of your God awaits.