Keeping It All In Perspective
This week, our country will celebrate a historic and monumental milestone, 250 years as a nation! That is truly remarkable and worthwhile to celebrate with parades, friends, BBQ’s, and honoring our veterans and leaders. Over the last month on the blog, we’ve been talking through the natural tension that should arise for every believer in this arena: that is, how do we rightly and appropriately celebrate/think about this moment while recognizing that we are first and foremost citizens of heaven (1 Pet. 2:12)? Let’s look at four guideposts for the believer to consider.
Thankfulness – One of the first responses for believers in this moment should be thankfulness. But our thankfulness isn’t tied exclusively to earthly or material means. It is instead rooted in the goodness of God and the generosity of his common graces. James (1:17) tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” This means that all of the good things that we have in this life are gifts from God. They aren’t rooted in our sufficiency, ability, or autonomy; they come from him. Jesus explains it this way in Matthew 5:45, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” God extends good gifts as common graces for all people. Did you draw breath in your lungs this morning? That was a gift of God’s common grace. Did the sun come up, or did someone give you a hug recently, or did you enjoy a good cup of coffee? Again, all of those are gifts of God’s common grace. It can be easy to think that the good things (material, political, relational, etc.) we have in this life have all exclusively come from our hard work or determination. The truth for Christians is that yes, our effort is a part of the equation, but without God’s common grace of good gifts, we couldn’t even put in the effort in the first place. We are solely dependent on him. All that is good in our lives has come to us as a gift from the Father of lights, so when we pause to celebrate, let us make sure to honor the Lord in our gratitude. Let us also be humble in remembering that God has been giving common grace gifts to all people in all places and through all of time. God’s common grace is for all people. Praise the Lord!
Honesty – We live in a cultural moment that likes extremes and hyperbole. We like to use exaggerated phrases and make things that should require thoughtfulness and nuance into thirty-second sound bites. I think that we can all agree that these aren’t healthy or helpful habits. One of the beautiful gifts of the Bible is that it gives us the language and the freedom to resist these things and instead engage in real honesty. This honesty extends in two directions: what is good and what is truly evil or wrong. The freedom of Biblical honesty is that we can verbalize what is good and what could be better (is wrong) at the same time without feeling as if we are being disingenuous. The Bible tells us that creation was made by God and pronounced good (Gen. 1). At the same time, the Bible explains that because of sin, creation now groans for its restoration (Rom. 8:20-22). Or consider King David. The Bible (Ps. 89:27) tells us that he was made to be the “preeminent” and “greatest” king of the whole earth. It also gives us every painful detail of his affair with Bathsheba, the murder of Uriah, and Nathan’s confrontation (2 Sam. 11-12). Over and over again, the Bible speaks with real honesty that looks at the whole situation. When we step into a cultural moment, a political issue, or even a relational fracture, we should follow the Scripture’s model and speak with honesty that celebrates what is good and mourns what was wrong, and even cries out against what was evil. Jesus gives us a good model for this in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). There are wonderful things to celebrate in our country’s history, and because we are broken and sinful people, there are plenty of things to acknowledge weren’t right or good, and some things were simply evil. The Bible offers a path out of inflamed worldly rhetoric and into genuine honesty. This posture is actually a gift to our neighbors and friends, showing the goodness of Jesus.
Hope – One of the ultimate reasons that the Bible can offer such genuine honesty is that it offers eternal and unfading hope through Jesus. Let’s be frank, if all we have is the here and now, then honesty doesn’t really serve us very well. But if there is hope both now and in eternity, lasting peace, true goodness, and transcendent peace, then honesty serves to help make those things clear. That is exactly what we get to experience as Christians with honesty and hope. See, in the Bible, hope isn’t merely a wish of something pleasant that might happen. It is the confidence of what is going to happen because of God’s promises. Peter talks about hope this way, “he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Pet. 1:3). Living with this kind of hope is to change everything for the believer. It enables us to walk peacefully and calmly through turbulent times. It helps us navigate both extraordinary success and unimaginable loss. Why? Because we know what is coming, and we know it is going to come because of the one who promised it, Jesus. If he defeated the grave through his victorious resurrection, then leading us into an age where there is no pain, sickness, sorrow, or death is a sure thing! That is our real and true hope, and we don’t need to feel the temptation or the draw to put our ultimate hope in anything else. Hope isn’t a wish; it is a confidence that orients our hearts, minds, and perspectives every day.
Perseverance – Finally, the believer is to be compelled to persevere in the proclamation of the gospel each and every season of their life. Imagine having the most important message to tell someone and keeping it to yourself. Pretty stark, right? Jesus calls out the Ephesian church for this very thing in Revelation 2:1-7. They had all the right theology, doctrine, and Bible studies, but they had lost the love they had at first. This love that they had lost was a love for the lost. In other words, they didn’t persevere in the gospel, and Jesus calls them back to it. Any time Christians interact with a worldly structure or celebration we should allow the Spirit of God to well up in us a holy desire to proclaim the gospel with increasing clarity. When we go to vote, let’s not just do a good civic duty; may we remember that it is the gospel that gives true and lasting life. When we go to Jack Trice or Hilton for a game, let’s not just go to enjoy athletic competition; may we take a second to look at all of the people the Lord wants to rescue and redeem. When we attend a parade, let’s not just marvel at historic and community connections; let’s be in awe that God has been advancing the gospel in all places and times, and he will continue till Jesus comes back. Our involvement and engagement in civic life are important and needed. But as Jesus’ redeemed people, we are to always bring an aroma of the gospel wherever we go, including our civic lives (2 Cor. 2:15-16). So, why don’t we allow our civic lives to remind us of the power and need for the gospel?
As we celebrate this important milestone, may these guideposts help us keep it all in perspective and not get lost along our way.