This is love.



If you don't think that there is any way that suffering through the tragedies of life can glorify God, watch this video. It's absolutely beautiful. There's a heartbreaking joy in this, and a deep Christ-likeness in this young couple expressed in their love for their baby.

I'm overwhelmed.

[Grateful hat tip to The Anchoress]

I needed to hear this this morning. Side hug to our friend Jen for the youtube link.



Have you ever had times when prayer seems hard? Not that you're not praying, but just that you don't really have words anymore? I find myself in the uncomfortable position of no longer being able to dictate my plans for fixing our situations to him, because sometimes life just beats my pair of jacks.

Prayer's easier when I can just tell God what to do and slap an amen on the end of it. It's a lot harder when the words don't come because I've already worked through plans A through Z. and I'm running out of letters.

That's one of the awesome things about God's love, the gospel. It's for the helpless. People like me.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. - Romans 8:26

If you're like me, this message from John Piper is very hard to read. I struggle with this, because so much of my time is spent actively avoiding suffering. I pray for protection for my family, and my biggest fears and darkest nightmares always have to do with the suffering of the ones I love, and in particular my children.

Meditate on this.

A World of Suffering

Three thousand children die everyday of malaria. Our missionaries get malaria like headaches. Thirty million people have died of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Fifty million die each year—and most die young and in agony. While we’re talking here, one hundred are dying each minute. If you could hear them all, you’d hear so many screams you’d go insane. Only God can hear them all and not go insane. God parcels out our awareness in small amounts lest we go under.

How can you live in a world like that as a loving person and rejoice in the Lord? By learning the mystery of 2 Corinthians 6:10. If that seems like an emotional impossibility to you, then ask the Lord to do the impossible. What you’ll hear in our time together is not theoretical. This is pastoral theology. We are not speechless in times of suffering. We have a great revelation in the gospel. We have spectacular news. There is something to say. God has not spoken in vain. If you want to minister to others, you must have the theology of suffering. I hope that I can help you do that.

Suffering Is Essential

Let me underline one of the statements I’ve already made: Suffering is an essential part of your Christian existence. I choose the word essential very carefully. Paul said to new believers in Acts 14:22, “Through many tribulations we will enter the kingdom of heaven.” This is Christianity 101. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 3:2-3 that we Christians are destined for suffering. This is your destiny—suffering. Think it not strange when the fiery ordeal comes upon you. And 2 Timothy 3:12: All who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted. And Romans 8:16: We are fellow heirs if we suffer with him. There is one God-appointed path to glorification—suffering. If you are making it your life ambition to avoid suffering, you will perish and suffer forever. And all this Pauline talk is based on Jesus’ talk.

It's good that Piper is examining this. I think I need to hear it.

Suffering is an essential part of the Christian life. You will suffer. You must suffer. My hope is that during our times together we’ll be prepared to suffer for the glory of Christ.

[H/T: Bob]

A little boy lays crying in his bed. He doesn't want to get up and go to school today. He knows that he'll receive a beating today. Probably one before school, and definitely one after. It doesn't matter what he does. He can try and avoid his tormentor, but sooner or later, he'll be seen and then the punishment will begin.

He's had his hair pulled. He's been pushed down countless times. Hit in the face. Kicked in the stomach. Forced to do humiliating things. He's been left sobbing after a beating in the bathroom afraid to come out, but knowing that if he stays in there too long someone will come looking for him to beat him some more anyway.

Somehow, some way he's going to be beat up today. Either physically or psychologically. But every day is an ordeal. And there's no one to tell.

The abuse isn't just physical. It's verbal too. They tell him he's weak. They tell him he's not good enough. They tell him he doesn't deserve to live. They make fun of him. He's tried to dress differently. Comb his hair differently. But it doesn't matter. The harder he tries to please them, the worse the abuse gets.

The pattern of the abuse is typical. The abuser hurts him. Then the abuser apologizes or makes nice. The boy is lulled into a false sense of security. The boy figures the abuse was just his own fault anyway. As long as he doesn't make anymore mistakes, there will be no more punishment. But then it happens again... and again and again. And it's always the same. Punishment, apologies, let's be friends. Punishment, apologies, let's be friends. The boy is willing to do ANYTHING to make the abuser happy and avoid punishment. And never really figures out that it's not possible, or that the abuse really isn't his own fault.

He hates himself. He hates his life. He wants to die. Maybe he can kill them? Maybe he can kill himself? "That would show em!" he thinks. But fortunately he's too scared to go through with it. They remain fantasies in the mind of a tormented little boy.

He tries to act like it's no big deal. After all, this is normal, right? He's been told it's normal. But it doesn't feel normal. The other kids at school don't all get treated like this. Why can't he be like them?

It started around the time he started school and continued until he left home.

One day in the 4th grade, he started beating his own head against the wall in a desperate plea for attention. A teacher stopped him. The boy just cried, "I hate myself. I hate myself. I hate myself." But nothing happened. No help was given. Except for a few moments of sympathy, nothing changed.

Once in the 8th grade, he fought back. He had had enough and in a screaming rage, he tried to strangle his abuser. But it didn't work either. The authorities intervened briefly, but after a few days, everything went back to normal.

He's grown up now. But to this day, he doesn't think anyone really understands or cares about the horrors of his childhood. Is he just being a whiner? Why can't he just get over it?

Now I don't want to play tricks with you the reader, but I wanted to make a point. Here it is:

The boy was me. Everything you read above is true. Only my abusers weren't my parents. They were my peers. I was a victim of bullying.

I just decided yesterday that bullying is another form of child abuse and should be labeled as such. It's taken me decades to figure out why I still bear the scars. Now I think I finally know.

Recently I saw a news story that some laws against bullying are being considered. It's about damn time.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:34-35

These are words Jesus spoke to his disciples on the night before his torture and crucifixion. They amaze me. They cause me to bow in shame. They cause me to rejoice.

This passage has been simmering in me for quite some time. I have found it hard to tackle this core truth; this beautiful, beautiful diamond of a command that Jesus gave us his last night on earth pre-resurrection.

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples . . ." - by what? By the fact that we have love for one another. I like the way the ESV (and NASB too) render that last phrase: "if you have love for one another".

Do you know anyone who has love for you? I certainly hope so. I hope I'm not mangling this or reading too much into it - not all versions translate it that way - but I am caught by the subtle difference between "if you have love for one another" and "if you love one another". Someone can love you and never show it, can't they? Someone can say they love you, and not mean it. But if someone has love for you - the image I get is that they have love ready, available, on full display, kind of like a good meal, set out for you - now that's quite another thing.

But be that as it may, it is definitely quite another thing, quite a different thing, quite an amazing thing, to love our brothers and sisters in Christ so that all the world can see it. That's the beauty of the church. You see, loving people who are just like you is easy. But the church is diverse, different, full of many, many different kinds of people, spanning the globe and spanning history.

The love of Christ is the kind of love that can spring into full bloom between two people who's only similarity is that they are in Christ. When the world sees that, they know it's real. The love of Jesus, truly and freely given to our brothers and sisters in Christ, is the height of (to use a word very popular these days) authenticity.

It's absolutely beautiful.

And this is one reason I am afraid. Not just because the church is divided; God's love can span those divisions and has for millennia. But in our day, in this time, it seems our divisions are becoming more dumbed-down, and hence less hefty, and, therefore, far less excusable. It's one thing to respectfully divide from a brother over the weightier matters of doctrine. It's quite another to divide from him because he isn't as relevant as you are, or because you want to be called "Christian" and he wants to be called "Christ-follower", or because his suit irritates you, or . . . whatever. It's one thing to disagree on the meaning of communion, quite another to bash your brother because you think ministering to people's physical needs is primary and you're embarrassed because he wants to give them a Bible.

It's common to be embarrassed by our brothers and sisters in Christ, isn't it? It's so easy to have that thought slip into our minds: "They're doing it wrong. They're giving me a bad name." When, God help us, by our rejection of our brother, we give Christ a bad name. I've written around this subject recently, and continue to think on it with Christ's words in mind.

I read the passage at the top of this post and I want to sing and dance for joy, and I want to fall to the ground and hide from God's wrath. I'm no theologian, but I'm pretty sure that it means that Jesus wants us to have love for our Christian brothers and sisters. Full, unashamed, on-display, familial love. Not a love that sweeps aside true differences, but rather a love like that with which Christ loved, one that sharpens our brothers and sisters, speaks the truth in love, forgives, yields, shows mercy, gives others preference in honor, and stands beside them always.

"just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."

If there was ever someone who Jesus could be embarrassed of, it's me. It might be you too. Yet he loves me. And he loves you. And he wasn't too embarrassed to be seen with us. In fact, he humbled himself beyond all imagining to come dwell among us so we could kill him.

In light of that, the least I can do is follow his example and love you.


Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. - 1 John 4:7

Note: this was cross-posted at Out of the Bloo

From the Anchoress . . .

This reminds me of a story here on Long Island, where a teenager who was goofing around, stupidly, threw a frozen turkey at a moving car and nearly destroyed a woman’s face, and how that turned out:

Surgeons, who rebuilt her face using metal plates and screws, said the impact might have caused lasting brain damage. But prosecutors say that Ms. Ruvolo’s recovery has been remarkable and that she is once again back at work and living on her own.

Accompanied by several friends and relatives, Ms. Ruvolo, a 44-year-old office manager, came to court wearing a black pantsuit and a gold cross on a chain for her first face-to-face meeting with Mr. Cushing.

Stopping to speak to her on his way out of the courtroom, Mr. Cushing choked on an apology and began to cry. For an intensely emotional few minutes, Ms. Ruvolo alternately embraced him tightly, stroked his face and patted his back as he sobbed uncontrollably.

Many of the two dozen people in court - prosecutors, court officers and reporters - choked back tears.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” Mr. Cushing said over and over again. “I didn’t mean it.” Most of their exchange was whispered, but at one point Ms. Ruvolo’s advice to him was just barely audible.

“It’s O.K., it’s O.K.,” she said. “I just want you to make your life the best it can be.”

And we saw this sort of heroic forgiveness among the Amish after their children were slaughtered.

I was at Adoration earlier today and wondering about saints and heroes, and whether it is “easier” sometimes to be a “hero” when things are clearly one or the other - good or bad, black or white - than when things are ambiguous and blurred as so much is, in our age. And I wondered too whether it’s easier to be merciful, when a hurt against you is huge and very, very clear, when it is a “hurt” that you know is going to be with you every day for the rest of your life…maybe when it’s that crystaline - so obvious that you don’t need Oprah or Dr. Phil to tell you you’ve been hurt - you have to forgive or you can’t move on, either. Maybe if you can’t forgive . . . you kill your own spirit.

I hope I never have to find that out for sure.

Forgiveness is beautiful . . .

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

- Colossians 3:12-17

I had a sobering thought the other day, and this post by Lars reminded me of it (it's a great post, by the way, and I highly recommend it).

You've heard it said: "if you had been the only sinner in the world, Jesus would have died to save you."

This weekend I thought of a corollary to that: If I had been the only sinner in the world, Jesus would have died to save me. And I would have been the one nailing him to the cross. Because He died for me when I was still His enemy.

It's no wonder that John exults "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God!" - 1 John 3:1a

Have a great weekend, everyone. God loves you!

What did they do about Fingernails and Toenails back in Bible times?

I mean without those fancy little fingernail clippers we all have?

"Here Joseph, hold your foot still while I chop off your 6 inch toenails with my hand crafted metal tool."

I'm weird I know. I actually wonder about such things. This is one of those times you should thank God that you don't live in my head.

Lars of Brandywine Books has some thoughts on the Saturday between good Friday and Easter:

It doesn't have a name (or not a well-known one, anyway) because it's a kind of a nothing. The bad thing happened yesterday. The good thing hasn't happened yet. It's the day of disappointment, of shock, of depression. The day when the scattered disciples hole up and try to figure out the safest way out of the province. The day when everything has fallen apart, and you don't know what's coming next.

The day when all you've got to go on is a promise. And that promise that doesn't look very promising, in the wake of what happened yesterday.

In other words, it's the day in which we live most of our lives. True, Easter has happened, but Easter isn't finished yet. We seem to be in the third act of God's great drama, and we can't see the climax from here. So we wait, and we say our lines, and we follow our stage directions, but the Happy Ending is still waiting in the wings, behind a curtain.

We're trying to get through Bad Saturday as well as we can.

Easter is our hope. It's a thing that has already happened, and has not yet happened, for us as individuals.

It's a question of perseverance. Today might be called the Day of Perseverance. Hang on. The Feast comes tomorrow.

Well said.

Sunday's coming. Happy Easter, everyone!

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

- Matthew 5:23-24

This passage from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount always trips me up a bit. In fact, I've misquoted it a number of times. The "logical" reading of this passage for me is this:

"So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that you have something against your brother . . ." [emphasis mine]

Having something against someone else seems more controllable, doesn't it? If I'm going to church and realize I'm mad at Bob because he was a jerk to me yesterday . . . *sigh*, well, I guess I better go have a talk with him. I can tell him how he hurt me, get it off my chest, and maybe he'll see the error of his ways.

But the passage doesn't say that I need to leave my gift at the altar if someone's done something to offend me, and go be reconciled (although I think that can be inferred). As with all things from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes us one rung higher on the high-dive of obedience.

"if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you . . ."

Are there any Greek scholars out there? Does this say what it seems to be saying? Because someone can have something against me, even if I don't think I did anything wrong to them. Have you ever had to approach someone to be reconciled for a wrong that doesn't seem all that wrong to you? Were you able to do it without the mealy-mouthed "If I've offended you . . ." speech? It's hard. It's humbling.

I think what Jesus is saying here is "blessed are the peacemakers". Imagine living in a family, or a work environment, or a church, where problems are taken care of immediately. Where people who have hurt you are coming to you and seeking to make things right.

Can you imagine that? You and I can begin building that culture today.

I do believe there is a practical limit to what Jesus is saying here - at least I hope there is. He says "be reconciled to your brother", but there may be instances where your brother refuses to reconcile. I don't believe this passage supports the idea of suspending all worship until the unsolvable gets solved. Although, ironically, there are churches where all worship has, in effect, been suspended due to hard-hearted people who refuse to be reconciled, even when approached in good faith, and who poison the atmosphere of the church due to their lack of forgiveness and high sense of offense.

I do think it supports the idea of attacking relationship problems quickly, and going above and beyond what's normal for us to achieve reconciliation.

"If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." - Romans 12:18.

Is there anyone in your life for which some gift-leaving and reconciliation is called?

From Doug Groothuis, via Jared:

It appears that millions of evangelicals, especially younger ones, are experiencing fetus fatigue. They are tired of the abortion issue taking center stage; it is time to move on to newer, hipper things--the sort of issues that excite Bono: aid to Africa, the environment, and cool tattoos. Abortion has been legal since they were born; it is the old guard that gets exercised about millions of abortions over the years. So, let's not worry that Barak Obama and Hillary are pro-choice. That is a secondary issue. After all, neither could do that much damage regarding this issue.

Evangelicals (if that word has any meaning), for God's sake, please wake up and remember the acres of tiny corpses you cannot see. Yes, the Christian social vision is holistic. We should endeavor to restore shalom to this beleaguered planet. That includes helping Africa, preserving the environment, and much more. However, the leading domestic moral issue remains the value of helpless human life. Since Roe v. Wade, approximately 50 million unborn humans have been killed through abortion. Stalin said, "One death is a tragedy. A million dead is a statistic." Too many are now Stalinists on abortion. The numbers mean nothing, apparently. The vast majority of these abortions were not done to save the life of the mother, a provision I take to be justified. Things have reached the point where bumper stickers say, "Don't like abortion, don't have one." It is simply a matter of private, subjective taste. But how about this: "Don't like slavery, don't own slaves"? Two human beings are involved in this matter, inescapably.

Yes.

March FORTH and vote. Do you know the old joke? That March 4th is the only day of the year that tells you to do something?

So I think it's cool that Texas' primary is today.

I'm also glad that our primary finally matters...Well, more to one party than another, but still...

I'm still wondering why we don't have a national primary. Let everyone vote on the same day. Then maybe I could have voted for my first choice this morning.

It was weird being a player. It was like Texas was the prettiest girl at the ball, finally after the other 30 ladies left. So we finally got some attention. We have counted somewhere around 30 phone calls at our house. One even offered to give us a ride to the polls. They were all automated calls, but calls nonetheless. We got several from McCain, one from Obama (even though we are registered republicans, wow), several for local contests and a few celebrity types endorsing McCain. We even got a call from "Pastor John Hagee", that's what he called himself on the phone. He told us to vote for McCain. Seems like Hagee's a little late jumping on the victory wagon.

Anyway, voting is a cool thing and I'm glad for it.

A guy just rejected by the "American Idol" judges (in a polite fashion, in case you were wondering) just said, "This is the worst day of my life."

I turned to my wife and said, "If that's the worst day of his life, he's had a pretty easy life."

Don't you wish the worst day of your life was not making it through a televised talent show?

My latest snarky political post not withstanding . . .

Some perspective on the relative importance of current political events:

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.

Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

- Isaiah 40:15-31 (ESV)

"If I spend enough time with God, I will inevitably begin to look at the world with a point of view that more resembles God's own. What is faith, after all, but believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse?"

- from Phillip Yancey's Prayer, Does It Make Any Difference?

As in "on the floor". Ever been there?

If you've ever been there, or are there now, read this by Jared.

It will floor you.

As I say to those who for some reason don't mind listening to me, all this stuff can't just be something we talk about.

The gospel is for the real world, for real people. It conquers real strongholds, restores real brokenness. It carries the real weight of the real world.
This is why I was disappointed to see a Christian musician I respect positively review a book by Marcus Borg on Jesus. Marcus Borg is an intelligent, engaging scholar. But his Jesus is dead. His Jesus only rose symbolically, or quote-unquote spiritually. His Jesus is only as powerful as you believe him to be. Or something.

The Jesus of the gospel is really alive. His actual body came out of an actual grave. I need that. I cannot put hope in a symbolic resurrection, because I couldn't care less about a symbolic rescue. My flesh and my blood cry out for redemption, because my problems, my brokenness, my sins are real. A dead Jesus gives me nothing, even if he's written about eloquently and inspirationally.

We crave real resurrection. The weight of the world is equivalent to a heavy cross pressing on flayed shoulders. The gospel must account for that. Everything else is just pretty words that help nobody.

I'm right there with you Jared. You just say it better than I, or anyone else I can think of, can.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

- Romans 5:1-5

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

- 1 Corinthians 13:7

You've heard of a fool's hope, forlorn hope, false hopes, and "all we can do now is hope". Hope seems to be a most milquetoast emotion, the way we often talk about it. Hope seems the last resort of the weak.

But not in the Bible. In the Bible hope is strong, it is virile, it is tough. Hope is a warrior. Hope sees the victory, before the battle has even begun. Hope bursts forth, the fruit of suffering that has produced endurance and a character strong enough to hope.

Hope is not a salve to numb us or a delusion to hide us away from hopeless reality. Hope is Reality. Hope is something that sets us apart; it is a key aspect of what we call holiness. Hope charges the bunkers of despair, hope outflanks its lines, hope takes the enemy camp. Hope is the flag raised on the Mount Suribachi of our fears, and hope doesn't give heed to the bullets.

Hope is a primary trait of Biblical love, and Biblical love is something else which is as high above our often weak, watery view of love as the stars are above the earth.

Hope laughs at the darkness and sets it alight. Hope is rooted, grounded, anchored, and secured in Jesus. Hope has no fear of our problems, of our darknesses, of our heartbreaks and our loss. Hope has seen the Beloved tortured and nailed to a cross, beaten bloody and killed by His own who did not recognize him. And three days later Hope was born anew as the stone tumbled away and the powers of death crumbled. Hope has seen the worse the enemy can bring, and has seen him defeated. Hope will see the defeat of the principalities and powers that plague us today.

Child of God, your deepest dream will come true. In your flesh you will see God. And He will make all things right.

And because God's love has been poured out in our hearts, we hope.

[Cross-posted on Out of the Bloo]

Our pastor is currently teaching on the Beatitudes, This week the text was Matthew 5:6.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

He made a great point: we hunger and thirst for so many things. Even in our relationship with God, we hunger for blessings, we thirst for great experiences. We want revival. We want emotional stirrings. We want great worship. We want to feel God's presence. We want God's will for our lives to be laid out before us. We want wisdom to make good choices. We want all of our physical needs (and wants) to be met. We are not easily satisfied.

Notice the promise above. The promise is for satisfaction. Now notice who it is directed at: the recipients are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

I'm not sure I've ever really noticed that, as many times as I've read that passage, or fully considered what it means. But as I chew on this, pieces of the puzzle are beginning to click together.

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." - Matthew 6:33

"Christianity is difficult to live, because it requires a total abandonment of who we are"

Have you ever had a "moment" when a beautiful truth crashes in on you?

I just had a moment. The background of this moment is two-fold: first, I was pondering today all the onslaughts against faith in our culture. When it comes to the promotion of the anti-God mindset, there are scads of books being written, music published, and movie and TV portrayals that serve to agitate us, as our faith is attacked again and again. If it's not The Da Vinci Code it's The Golden Compass. Or it's the writings of a Harris, a Dawkins, or a Hitchens. I read a glowing tribute to the movie It's a Wonderful Life a while ago (and that's one of my favorite movies), and, apropos of almost nothing, the author of the tribute said that he believed people would be watching that movie long after Christianity is forgotten.

Stuff like that.

Second, tonight I read this, as I studied for the lesson I'm teaching tomorrow:

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." - John 1:5

This is, of course, in the context of John's soaring, epic, beautiful first chapter in which he speaks of the great Word of God, Jesus Christ, our light and our life. I've read that verse 1,000 times, but tonight I read it anew.

The Light shines. It still shines! It will always shine. What have we to fear? This Light is Jesus. This is Jesus we're talking about here. The darkness does not understand Him and is opposed to Him, but it will never overcome Him.

The gates of hell will not stand, there is no blasphemy that will prevail, and all predictions of the Light's imminent demise are grossly exaggerated.

Jesus is the Lord. He is the Victor. He is our life, and He will always be so. And there's nothing anyone can do about that. Selah and Amen times a million.

This moment of mine reminded me of a paragraph from one of the greatest works of fiction of all time. I'll leave it with you here, because I think the author of this passage also was thinking of the true Light, which will never be defeated:

Then, at last, to keep himself awake, he crawled from the hiding-place and looked out. The land seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or of foot. Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeking among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo's side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King