Tickling People’s Ears Is No Laughing Matter

How do you feel when someone pays you a compliment? If it’s genuine, it probably makes you feel good. Maybe really good. We like hearing nice things said about us, especially if we know they’re sincere. But sometimes, even if we sense it’s just flattery, it can still massage our egos. We might call it having our ears tickled – telling us what we’d like to hear.

 

In most instances there’s nothing wrong with that, although Proverbs 27:21 does offer these words of caution: “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives.” Perhaps another way of saying this is that it’s not just what we hear people say about us, but also how we respond. If their words go to our heads and we start thinking too highly of ourselves, we’re entering dangerous territory.

 

But there’s another, perhaps more insidious form of “ear tickling” that’s going on today, especially in the realm broadly defined as evangelicalism. Many denominations, individual congregations, and even some seminaries are “repackaging” biblical teachings and doctrines so they’re not regarded offensive. Because in our politically correct world, lots of folks don’t like being confronted with truth, especially (to borrow the term) inconvenient truth. They strongly prefer the ear-tickling approach.

 

Words like “sin,” “hell,” “judgment,” and “condemnation” are being banished from many pulpits. Pastors don’t want people sitting in the pews – their “audiences” – to feel guilty or bad or, dare we say it, offended. It’s like they’re trying to “rebrand” Jesus, making Him and His teachings more palatable for 21^st century consciousness. Even though the Scriptures describe Jesus Christ as “‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble because they disobey the word” (1 Peter 2:8).

 

Rather than teaching how Christ and the Word of God should shape culture, some apparently have concluded the culture should shape perspectives on Jesus and the Bible. Questions of morality, ethics, spirituality, even life and death, are being answered according to the prevailing whims of the media, entertainment, education, politics, and other elements of popular “thinking.”

 

Thank the Lord, there remain churches where pastors speak biblical truth boldly, unapologetically, and as compassionately as possible, without watering down the gospel message. I’m a member of one of those. But with many congregations and denominations bleeding members like spiritual hemophiliacs, they’ve decided a more “tolerant” Jesus will stem the flow.

 

This is hardly a new phenomenon. Writing to his protégé Timothy, the apostle Paul declared, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires” (2 Timothy 4:3). Another translation expresses it this way: “to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

 

Ear tickling wasn’t conceived in the 20^th or 21^st centuries, however. It was happening many centuries before Paul arrived on the scene. In the Old Testament prophetic book we read, “They say to the seers, ‘Stop seeing visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions’” (Isaiah 30:10). 

 

Reminds me of the fellow in the country church who approached the new minister and informed him, “Preacher, we don’t mind your preachin’. But now you’ve gone and started meddlin’!”

 

I get it. I lived much of my early adult life trying to keep God at an arm’s length, inviting Him closer only when I felt I needed His help. The straight-forward precepts of the Scriptures can cramp our style in how we’d like to live. As an old friend said so well, “If sin wasn’t any fun, we wouldn’t want to do it.”

 

Unfortunately for those who want a kind of compromising Christ, the Scriptures are adamant that redefining the Lord isn’t an option available to them. As Hebrews 13:8 reminds us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” The God of the Old Testament and the God revealed through Jesus in the New Testament isn’t to be remolded into our image.

We find this ominous warning in Jude 1:17-18 which rings all too familiar today: “…remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.’ These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”

 

Writing to Timothy, Paul exhorted him not to bend to the pressures of culture and other influences: “Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching you have heard from me, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus…. You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well” (2 Timothy 1:13, 2:1-2). 

What about those of us who see no need for “reimagining” Jesus and His Word, who believe more people need to hear God’s truth, as the Bible clearly presents it, and less ear-tickling talk? We’re not likely to change the mindsets of the “marketers” within the Church. But we can do as Paul admonished believers in ancient Corinth: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).  

Seeing Through the Windshield, Not the Rearview Mirror

Things usually are designed as they are for a specific reason. “Form follows function,” the architectural and industrial design adage declares. The function or purpose of a chair is to support people sitting on it. After that, the furniture designer can decide what form the chair should take. The function of a car is to transport riders from one place to another. Once that purpose is achieved, automotive designers can figure out how to visually impress potential buyers. 

 

Form follows function. This principle came to mind while reading an entry in pastor and author Tony Evans’s Kingdom Man devotional book. He observed, “Do you know why a car’s windshield is bigger than its rearview mirror? Because where you are going is more important than where you’ve been.”

 

Simple wisdom, but profound. Unless you’re backing out of your garage or driveway, trying to steer your car while staring into the rearview mirror would be utter foolishness. Not to mention extremely dangerous, especially if you’re on the highway. Keep looking ahead! And yet, persisting to hold a rearview perspective is how many people are living their lives.

 

These folks let memories and regrets from the past dominate their days, coloring their present and shaping their future. I regard it as the “woulda, coulda, shoulda syndrome.” “If I would have done that, then this wouldn’t have happened.” “I could have chosen to do that; then I wouldn’t be where I am now.” “I should have decided to do (whatever) instead of what I did – then everything would have been different.”

 

Understandably, there’s not one of us who if given the opportunity wouldn’t change some key events or decisions in our past. The person who says, “I wouldn’t change a single thing about my life,” is either in denial or unrealistic. We all have regrets to some extent. But the simple fact is we can’t change the past. Time machines don’t exist, and even if they did, changing even a slight detail might have catastrophic consequences. Science-fiction writers call it “the butterfly effect.”

 

The best we can do is learn from the past and strive to do better in the present and time yet to come. In sports they say to be successful, a baseball pitcher or quarterback in football must have a short memory. They can’t dwell on the pitch just thrown that went over the fence for a home run, or the pass that was intercepted during the last drive. They must ignore the mistake and move on to the next pitch or play.

 

Pastor Evans added this comment: “I’m not saying yesterday is a bad conversation topic, but you don’t want to get stuck there. Yesterday’s victories will not carry you through today. Yesterday’s defeats should not dominate tomorrow.”

 

I think this is why the Bible has such forward-thinking focus. Even in Genesis, the Bible’s first book, there are many references to forthcoming events, biblical “types” that foreshadow God’s actions in the future. The Old Testament includes a series of prophetic books. And the last book of the Bible, Revelation, is filled with prophesies yet to come.

 

The apostle Paul was a man whose life could have been ruined by “rear view mirror living.” A zealous Pharisee and acclaimed religious leader, he had eagerly persecuted early Christians, even gladly spectating at the stoning of the apostle Stephen. After his dramatic Damascus Road conversion, Paul never forgot what he had done, always marveling at the incredible forgiveness, grace and mercy of God. 

 

However, rather than dwelling on his past, he was able to write, “…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

 

Apparently somewhat of a sports fan, he often used athletic metaphors. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 he wrote, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize…. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

 

While the apostle does not comment specifically on looking backward, he certainly understood that winning racers can’t be concentrating on portions of the course they’ve already passed. In a similar way, to live in a way that honors God we must learn to let go of the past – its failures and pain, as well as its successes and joys – as we pursue what the Lord has for us now and the days to come.

If anyone has a clear view of the past, it’s God. Still, He gives us this promise: “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). He can take our past, even in wrecked form, and make it functional for a glorious future. 

Feeling Sorry, Remorseful, Or Repentant?

Little Jimmy and Jeannie were having their usual sibling spat. Jimmy said something hurtful to Jeannie and she began crying loudly enough for neighbors two blocks away to hear her. Their mother rushed into the room to see what the commotion was all about. Jeannie told her what Jimmy said. Jimmy just looked the other way and mumbled, “Sorry.” But he couldn’t conceal an impish smirk.

 

It wasn’t long before Jimmy moved beyond the “sorry” stage. His mom decided his repeated misbehavior required more than a scolding. So, while sitting in his room without his beloved “screens” – his tablet and TV – Jimmy discovered what remorse was all about. He was still sorry, but mainly because he had been caught being mean to his sister and was being disciplined.

 

What he had yet to learn was the third stage of dealing with one’s wrongdoing: Repentance.

The circumstances may differ, but each one of us at one time or another (and probably much more than once) has had encounters with these three stages of making amends for wrongs we have done. We might feel sorry because we were caught in the act of doing something we shouldn’t. Remorse comes when we have to face the resulting consequences. But true change comes only in the repentance stage,

 

One dictionary defines repentance as, “reviewing one’s actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show a change for the better.” 

 

This “commitment to personal change and the resolve to live a more responsible and humane life,” as Wikipedia states it, is at the heart of what it means to begin a healthy, growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Literally, to repent means to turn from something and turn toward a very different form of behavior. Biblical repentance is turning away from sinful habits and practices and turning to Jesus for forgiveness.

 

It’s important to understand the difference between true repentance and simply feeling sorrowful for our words, thoughts or actions. As 2 Corinthians 7:10 tells us, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

 

The passage continues, “Consider what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what vindication!” The great news that when we repent of sins, laying them at the foot of the cross, we no longer need to carry them around. We’re released of our burdens of guilt. As Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery [to sin].” We’re not freed to do whatever we want, but freed to be and become everything God wants us to be.

 

Too many people find themselves in bondage, enslaved to sins despite their regret, feeling “sorry” for things they continue to do. An alcoholic feels sorry for having fallen “off the wagon” again. Someone has fallen prey again to the lure on online pornography. Another person has taken another blow to personal integrity, acting unethically or dishonestly once more and feeling sorry, even remorseful. But not yet at the point of repentance.

 

My life has been punctuated with times when my thoughts and actions controlled me, rather than the other way around. I’d beat myself up for my repeated failures. Sorrow and remorse were continual friends, but it wasn’t until I reached the point of repentance that things began to change.

 

There’s a misconception that we must “clean ourselves up” before approaching Jesus, but at the heart of the Gospel message is the truth that we can’t. Times when I prayed with resignation, “I give up, Lord. I can’t do it,” turned out to be some of the best moments along my spiritual journey. Because it was as if He responded, “I know you can't. But I can, and if you’ll let Me, I’ll do it through you.”

 

Speaking to a crowd of onlookers in Jerusalem who had observed the healing of a crippled beggar, the apostle Peter said, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

 

It wears us out, doing and thinking and saying things we know we shouldn’t while not doing and thinking and saying things we know we should, and then repeating the pattern day after day. As Jesus said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Rather than shrugging our shoulders in resignation thinking, “That’s just the way I am. I can’t help it,” we can trust as did the apostle Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

Self-Help Isn’t a Biblical Benchmark

The grapes in a vineyard are helpless apart from the vine.

Years ago, I interviewed the CEO of a major corporation who talked about how he became immersed in self-help books, audiotapes, and other motivational resources. He was always striving to become a better executive, eagerly studying and testing any technique or philosophy he thought might enhance his skills and productivity.

Sometimes he would be sitting quietly in his den, wearing headphones and listening to the latest self-help message he had discovered. If his children wanted to visit with him, one would warn the other, “Don’t bother Dad now. He’s motivating.”

 

Bookstores – a vanishing breed these days, sad to say – have long recognized the “self-help” section as one of the most popular destinations for customers. Who doesn’t want to improve, whether it’s becoming a more successful person, more adept craftsman, more skilled artist, athlete or photographer, better spouse or parent, or any of myriad other life pursuits?

 

The one exception, I suppose, was the bookstore employee who, when asked by a customer where to find the self-help section, responded, “Help yourself!”

 

In many ways, the self-help approach to life remains the rage. The Internet, especially with resources like YouTube and Google, has only fed our self-help appetite. We can find videos showing how to do virtually anything, from hanging a picture on the wall to assembling a bicycle, learning how to play the guitar or drums to fixing a leaking faucet.

 

You’ve probably heard someone say, “You have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.” Have you ever tried to do that? Talk about a superpower! And who has shoes or boots with bootstraps anymore, anyway?

 

We’ve even spiritualized the self-help philosophy somewhat. There’s the adage, “God helps those who help themselves.” This saying has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin, while others contend it was coined by a British politician named Algernon Sidney. Someone quipped a variation of this saying, “God helps those who help themselves, but God help those who get caught helping themselves.”

 

Some folks might say, “Doesn’t the Bible say, ‘God helps those who help themselves’?” No, you won’t find it there, unless you’re consulting the books of 2 Opinions or 3 Babylonians. (Which aren’t in the Bible either.) Seriously, if anything, the essence of the Scriptures is quite contrary to the self-help mindset.

 

British preacher and theologian A.W. Pink summed it up well when he said, “To declare that God helps those who help themselves is to repudiate one of the most precious truths taught in the Bible, and in the Bible alone; namely, that God helps those who are unable to help themselves, who have tried again and again only to fail.”

 

We could cite dozens, even hundreds of passages about how the Lord helps those unable to help themselves, but a good place to start is Jesus. Speaking to His disciples, Jesus used a vine as a metaphor for dependence on Him: 

“Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

 

The apostle Paul might have had this admonition in mind when he wrote, “I can do everything through [Christ] who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

 

Paul, despite his many accomplishments, never got over his dependence on God. He wrote about a “thorn in the flesh” that he had, although the apostle never specified what that was. It was a perpetual affliction, to the point that, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me…. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

 

The corporate executive I mentioned earlier discovered this. Someone introduced him to the Bible, and in the process, to Jesus Christ. Before long, he said he disposed of all his self-help resources and started using the Bible, its teachings and truths as his guide, both professionally and personally. And that remained the case for the remainder of his life.

We live in a culture that was birthed with a “can do” spirit, individuals filled with determination and self-will to accomplish great things. They were the original “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” folks. Certainly, we all have abilities and talents in certain areas. But from an eternal perspective, we truly cannot do anything apart from the indwelling power of God’s Spirit. Paul noted Jesus’ earthly life was filled with the power of God, and “by God’s power we will live in Him to serve you” (2 Corinthians 13:4). 

God Wants to Give Us Our Heart’s Desires

How would you react to receiving an absolute guarantee that God wants to give you your heart’s desire? Who wouldn’t want that, right?

 

When you consider the idea that God truly wants to give you your heart’s desire, what pops into your mind? Some might want to immediately start compiling a personal wish list to offer up in prayer. Others, however, might think this post is about to venture into the realm of so-called “prosperity theology” or the “name-it-and-claim-it” mentality. 

We find it fairly common in our American consumer-oriented way of thinking to equate God’s blessings with material things. Stuff like cars, houses, vacations, other forms of affluence. But that view is more of a cultural perspective than a biblical one. 

 

Consider this: If theological interpretations are to be true and biblical, they should apply to people universally, regardless of their status or citizenry, don’t you think? Biblical truth must apply to “Third World” believers – folks living in Bangladesh, an impoverished village in India, the barrios of Mexico City or the favelas of Sao Paolo, Brazil – as well as people living in more materially rich “first world” nations. 

 

So, it’s hard to see how a declaration, “God wants you to be rich!” relates to a devoted Christ follower struggling day-to-day in an impoverished region. That doesn’t mean God can’t bestow material gifts on His people, because He can and often does. But if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had “no place to lay His head” (Matthew 8:20), why should we think we’re above that? Why should we conclude that if being His follower defines us  “children of the King,” the Lord is obligated to bless us with fancy homes and lavish lifestyles?

 

Wait. Didn’t I start off by saying the Lord wants to give us the desires of our hearts? Yes, I did. And He does. How do we know this? Because Psalm 37:4 says so: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” But let’s hit the pause button for a moment. Before taking that promise “to the bank” so to speak, let’s look more deeply at the rest of the psalm.

 

Psalm 37, written by King David, also declares we’re to “Trust in the Lord and do good.” It says we’re to “Delight yourself in the Lord…. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him…” (verses 3-5). Those statements are equally important because Bible scholars know to properly understand a passage in the Scriptures, or even specific words, we can’t ignore the context in which they appear.

 

I like the way pastor and author Tony Evans expresses it in his book, Kingdom Man Devotional. He wrote, “If [God’s] words are abiding in you, His wishes will become your wishes, and He will ‘give you the desires of your heart’ (Psalm 37:4), because your desires will be His desires.”

 

This can work in a variety of ways. Suppose a Christ-centered physician has built a thriving practice and has been generous supporting charitable causes. But one day he senses God is calling him to give all that up. Instead, the doctor senses the Lord is leading him to become a medical missionary, dependent on the financial support of others. Suddenly, the “desire of his heart” has changed.

 

I’ve known of many highly successful business and professional people who before committing their lives to Christ were intent upon building impressive financial portfolios. After He became Lord of their lives, however, their focus shifted to giving away as much of their wealth as possible. Industrialist R.G. LeTourneau and inventor/entrepreneur Stanley Tam come immediately to mind. God gave them the “desire of their heart,” but very different from what it once was.

 

A number of couples I know have had the joy of adopting children, For some it was because of being unable to have biological children or their own; others wanted to add to their biological families through adoption. This wasn’t their original plan, but again, God gave them the desire of their hearts and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Early in my journalistic career, the plan was to climb the ranks and become a newspaper executive, wherever that would lead me and my family. But God had other ideas. He closed all doors except for one, a parachurch ministry called CBMC, through which He presented opportunities I couldn’t have imagined. He bountifully gave me the desires of my heart, even though I didn’t realize it at the time.

 

The list of examples could go on, but the point is clear: When God gives us the desires of our hearts, they aren’t shaped by our self-centered wants and wishes. He changes our hearts and prompts us to embrace what He wants for us because, as Romans 8:28 declares, “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” How comforting is that?

Maybe We Need an Outbreak of FOMO – and JOMO

These are the days of acronyms. It’s like swimming in alphabet soup. LOL – laughing out loud. OMG – oh my gosh. IMHO – in my honest opinion. SMH – shaking my head. I’m sure there are many that I’ve never heard of. Thanks to texting and social media, we’re experiencing an ongoing explosion of ways for writing what we’re thinking without actually writing it out.

 

My personal favorite is FOMO – fear of missing out. It’s one reason people devote so much time to social media. They don’t want to miss the latest posts from friends, family members, even people they don’t like. The same applies to the Internet, constantly logging onto favorite sites to make sure we don’t miss out on the latest developments, whatever they may be. Some people are “news junkies,” following their favorite news sources throughout the day – for fear of missing out.

FOMO isn’t necessarily bad. When desktop computers first came out, some were resistant – me included. But here I am, writing on my computer, memories of manual and electric typewriters becoming ancient history. It might have taken a while, but we eventually tried out personal computers, partly due to fear of missing out. 

 

The same applies to cellular phones, now known as smartphones. The first ones were nearly as large as a briefcase and only the affluent could afford them. As with most technology, cell phones became more advanced, less costly – and smaller. Now practically everyone has at least one. Why did we finally buy them? FOMO.

 

Maybe one day we’ll all have an electric car for the same reason, but that’s a topic for another time. In any case, I’ve learned fear of missing out can be a positive motivator. Even spiritually.

 

Years ago, FOMO prompted me to make an impulsive decision. Long before becoming a follower of Christ, I attended church occasionally but didn’t know the Lord. If you’d asked me then if I would go to heaven when I died, the best answer I could have given was, “I hope so.” Maybe I thought “punching my church attendance card” would help.

 

After getting a job in a new city, someone at work told me about her church. Again, thinking attending church was something I should do at least once in a while, I agreed to visit. At the time I didn’t know one church from another, so why not try this one?

 

During the pastor’s sermon, I understood him to say that anyone who’d not been baptized by immersion wouldn’t go to heaven. I’d never heard that, but the thought came to my mind, “I’m not going to be left out on some technicality,” so I went forward – and got baptized.

 

This isn’t to speak negatively about baptism in any way, and I know there are a variety of views on who should be baptized, when, how, and why. But the only reason I agreed to be baptized then was FOMO. I felt certain there was a heaven, and when the time came to leave this life, I didn’t want to miss out.

 

Lots of folks take their initial steps of faith because of FOMO. It might be a desire to know they’ll go to heaven when they die – or not go to hell. A cynic might say they want “fire insurance.” Others might have concluded there must be something more to life than constantly striving for more or the unending routine of daily living. They resonate with the old Peggy Lee tune, “Is That All There Is?” They’re missing out on something, but don’t know what.

 

Some may have observed a friend’s, coworker’s or neighbor’s life, seeing in them an inner quality they lack. They wonder what’s different about the other person’s life. “What do you have that I don’t?” they might even ask. Over time this can open a door for an honest conversation about the Bible and Jesus Christ – who He was (and is), what He did, and how we should respond to the offer described in Romans 6:23, “the free gift of God [that] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

Even for genuine followers of Jesus, those who’ve sincerely trusted in Him by faith, FOMO can be helpful. Because the act of receiving Christ, as described in John 1:12 – “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” – is just the first big step of faith. It’s the beginning of a lifelong adventure, a day-to-day process of having the Lord reveal what it means to experience the “abundant life” He describes in John 10:10.

 

We’ve all gone through the COVID pandemic which affected us in many ways. Maybe we need an outbreak of FOMO, causing us to stop going through the motions or relegating God to one area of our lives and letting Him infuse everything we do. Ephesians 3:20 says He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” I don’t know about you, but I have a healthy fear of missing out on that!

Who knows? Our “FOMO” might transform into JOMO, the joy of missing out. This can enable us to enjoy spending free time doing what we really want to do – especially cultivating a growing relationship with the Lord – without worrying that something more interesting is happening elsewhere. 

At the End of the Day … It’s Night!

Have you ever heard of Utqiagvik, Alaska? I hadn’t either until recently. Formerly known as Barrow, Utqiagvik (don’t ask me how to pronounce it) is the northernmost town in Alaska. So what? Well, if you lived there, right now you would be in the midst of a 67-day “polar night.”

Because of its geographic location and the tilt of the earth’s axis, this town experiences perpetual night annually for 65 days or more. The sun won’t rise there this year until Jan. 23, and then just for a few minutes. If it happens to be cloudy, too bad! That’s a long time to be in the dark!

 

The flip side of this natural phenomenon is that the more than 4,000 citizens of Utqiagvik can enjoy the midnight sun all summer – 80 days or more of uninterrupted daylight. I’ve heard of golf enthusiasts eagerly playing 18 holes at midnight during this all-light-all-night season.

 

Getting back to that long, long night of northern Alaska, most of us would consider going more than 60 days without any sunlight unbearable. We complain when we shift from Daylight Time to Standard Time and “night” descends before 6 p.m. Imagine going somewhere for lunch and it’s still pitch-dark? 

 

So what? Well, for one thing light is an essential part of life. It’s the catalyst for photosynthesis, the process by which green plants use sunlight to synthesize food from carbon dioxide and water, producing the green pigment chlorophyll and generating oxygen. Also, sunlight is valuable for health reasons. Sunlight helps the human body to produce vitamin D; a good remedy for newborn babies suffering from jaundice is exposure to sunlight.

 

Most important, light is a critical part of the biblical narrative. In the creation account, God’s first act was to declare, “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). Then on the fourth day the Lord said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light to separate the day from the night,,,. God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars” (Genesis 1:14-19).

 

Over the six biblical days of creation, God devoted two of them entirely to creating light, including the sun, moon, and stars. Certainly, one reason was so the animals and human beings He’d later create could see and appreciate what He had made. But there was much more to it than that.

 

In the Scriptures, darkness is often synonymous with sin, evil, and separation from God. Isaiah 50:10 admonishes, “Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.” Darkness – no offense intended for the people of Utqiagvik, Alaska – is not somewhere to remain in. 

 

The New Testament offers the same view. For instance, Ephesians 5:8 proclaims, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” The source of this light is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.

 

One of the major prophecies pointing to the coming Messiah proclaimed, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). Early in His ministry, Jesus recited this verse to announce He had come to fulfill those prophetic words (Matthew 4:16).

 

The first chapter of the Gospel of John, echoing the opening words of Genesis, reveals, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it…. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world” (John 1:1-4,9).

 

Jesus left no room for misunderstanding when He announced, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). In another setting, Jesus said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5).

 

Charles H. Spurgeon, the famous British preacher of the mid- to late-19^th century, observed there are three distinct kinds of light from a theological perspective: Physical light; “gospel light” that reveals eternal realities, and spiritual light provided through the Holy Spirit to enable us to understand biblical truth.

 

Just as we require physical light to see and comprehend earthly things, God shows us eternal truth through His Word, and His Spirit enables us to embrace and apply His truth for the “nasty now-and-now” as well as for “the sweet by and by.”

 

Many of us agree that our world in plagued by unprecedented levels of darkness in many forms. Nevertheless, there’s good news: God hasn’t abandoned His creation, and He’s given His followers the privilege of shining His light to help in dispelling the darkness. As Jesus said, “You are the light of the world…. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

 

The people of Utqiagvik, Alaska might have no choice but to endure physical darkness for about nine weeks every year. However, despite the advancing spiritual darkness in society, we’ve been entrusted with the responsibility of shining the light of Christ to everyone in the world around us. “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day” (Proverbs 4:18).

God Is All About Making Things New

Just a few days into the new year, we still have an opportunity to focus on making a fresh start, closing the door on 2023 and being excited about some new beginnings in 2024. We might want to continue and build on some of our accomplishments over the past 12 months, but most of us have things we’d like to do differently or take a totally new approach.

Among the “new” things I’d like to be doing this year is spending more time reading and less time on “screens,” whether it be TV or my electronic devices. I want to tackle my stash of books with renewed enthusiasm. Reading requires action; screens foster passivity. It’s time for action.

New things you’d like to do are probably different from mine, but whatever they are, there’s no time to begin like the present. Out with the old and in with the new, as they say. Hope you find much success in whatever your new endeavors might be.

 

But have you ever considered that God is all about making things new? We see this in the very first chapter of the first book of the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). I believe the “big bang” scientists often speak about can be summed up in three powerful words: “And God said.” 

 

That simple phrase appears eight times in that opening chapter of Genesis, God speaking and creating: Light. Sky, earth and water. Vegetation. Sun, moon and stars. Myriad kinds of living creatures. And finally, man and woman. The Lord conceived what He wanted to create – brand new things – then spoke and it became so. Sounds simplistic, but I’m sure it was anything but that. 

 

God’s desire to make new things didn’t stop there. That was just, well, the beginning. He’s been conceiving and creating new stuff ever since. Take the Ten Commandments, for example. Until then, humankind was governed by an inner moral compass God had instilled, but those succinct commandments embodied how we’re to live and relate, both to Him and one another.

 

As we study the Scriptures, however, we discover the foremost “new” thing the Lord desires to create is you and me. When Jesus went to the cross to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins, that wasn’t the end of the story. Not by the longest of shots. His resurrection not only announced victory over death but also the promise of new life for all who would place their faith and trust in Him.

 

Nearly 40 years ago I was wrestling with what is often referred to as “the Christian life.” I couldn’t seem to get it right, no matter how hard I tried. Then during one life-changing weekend, a friend helped me understand a foundational truth: The Christian life isn’t difficult – it’s impossible! That is, in our own strength there’s no way we can measure up to God’s perfect standards. Or even close.

 

My good intentions and determinations to do better in my own strength would never succeed. As is true for every one of us. This is why Jesus said we must be “born again” (John 3:3,7). Becoming children of God doesn’t demand a “makeover” or some type of improvement program, but an entirely new life. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we're told, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

 

Up to that weekend, I had been wrestling with that latter verse as well as another, Galatians 2:20, which says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” I knew those two passages intellectually, but not experientially. Somehow, they didn’t seem to apply to me. 

 

Although I still struggled “in the flesh,” God wanted me to understand that in Christ I had been made new spiritually. Another verse, Titus 3:5, expresses it this way: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” 

 

I already had new life in Jesus Christ but hadn’t appropriated it. It’s still a challenge at times when, as Jesus said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). It’s a day by day, moment by moment process of learning how to follow Him in the power of His Spirit that lives in us.

 

This brings up another biblical reference to becoming new. Romans 12:2 offers the admonition, “Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Every day can be a battle, being bombarded with “the pattern of this world” through what we read, hear and see.

 

The only way we can win this battle is to “set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). And we can do this consistently only through the power of God’s Spirit. Every day the Lord is busily doing new things – both in us and through us. If we were to ask Him, “What’s new?” I suspect He’d respond, “You have no idea!”

All the Best-Laid Plans and Goals – Tempered by Trust

Happy New Year! So, here we are in unfamiliar, uncharted territory affectionately (at least so far) called 2024. We all know what 2023 gave us, its many ups and downs, twists and turns, joys and frustrations. But what this new year will present, even the sharpest prognosticators can only guess.

 

On a “macro” sense we have little control over decisions made and actions taken globally, nationally, and even at the state and local levels. That, as they say, is “above our pay grade.” However, what we can control is the way we approach the new year, our individual “micro” strategy. 

 

Experience has taught me one of the best ways of doing this is by planning and goal-setting. Just days from now many of our new year’s resolutions will have been broken, but plans we make and goals we establish can still be earnestly pursued.

 

Goals, as I’ve said before, are far superior to resolutions in my opinion. We make resolutions with good intentions, but then we break them and poof! That’s that. Oh well, maybe next year. Goals, on the other hand, are things we can work toward all year long. 

 

Is our goal to lose weight? If we miss an exercise session or eat more than we should, there’s always tomorrow. Want to get out of debt? It can’t be done overnight, but we can whack away at that mountain of “I owe’s” and make steady progress. The important thing to remember about goals is they should be quantifiable, measurable, and attainable. Deciding you want to lose 30 pounds by next week, or get freed up from $30,000 in debt by next month is merely wishful thinking.

 

You might ask yourself questions like: Where am I going (or hoping to go)? How am I going to get there? And how will I know when I’ve arrived?

 

This also applies to the planning process. If we want to change jobs or careers; finally take that long-awaited vacation; or gain more practical understanding of the Bible, it would help to establish a timeline, identify some specific steps to take, and clarify for ourselves what we intend to do. As some old sage once said, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

 

At the same time, one critical step in goal-setting or planning many of us often overlook is to pray about it in advance. As another wise guy has observed, “Man plans – and God laughs.” Because the Lord’s plans are always better than the ones we can come up with apart from His guidance and direction.

 

In Jeremiah 29:11, He declares, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not for harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Through the wonderful hindsight that a lifetime of experience can provide, God typically has never consulted with me about what He intended to do in my life, but again and again I’ve discovered, “Father knows best.”

 

This doesn’t mean those who desire to follow Jesus Christ as called to sit idly on stumps and watch the Lord do all the work. In one of my favorite psalms we find this admonition from King David: “Trust in the Lord and do good… Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do it. He will bring out your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday” (Psalm 37:3-6).

 

In the very next verse, however, we read words we don’t necessarily want to hear. It says, “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” God’s plans are perfect – as is His timing. Even if His timing doesn’t align with the timeframe we desire.

 

The book of Proverbs has much to tell us about planning and goal-setting. For instance, Proverbs 16:3 urges, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” The key is to commit our plans to the Lord – and be willing to accept His course corrections. Because as Proverbs 16:9 notes, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”

 

We could cite many other passages from the Scriptures, but this one offers a good overview: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).

 

Starting this new year filled with hope and potential, I wish you happy setting of goals and formulating of plans. Committing them to the Lord and trusting in Him as you do so.