Month: September 2020

Light Your Candle

Yesterday an estimated 50,000 people gathered in our nation’s capital.

To pray.

Another 60,000 watched live on Facebook while others viewed on their televisions and other platforms.

Young and old, a rainbow of pigment, national origins and denominations, all unified—not for a political ideology, not to protest, not to destroy, not to promote a candidate, but, to seek God and the healing of our fractured land.

“If My people…”
“…who are called by My name…”
“…will humble themselves…”
“…and pray…”
“…and seek My face…”
“…and turn from their wicked ways…”
“…then will I hear from Heaven…”
“…and will forgive their sin…”
“…and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

We in our own homes were encouraged to join in prayer as we watched, listened and asked our God to forgive us our sin as a country, and to heal us, unite us and to turn our eyes back to our Creator.

I am reminded this morning that my hope cannot rest on my government. It does not depend on a party or a candidate. It doesn’t come from who wins or loses an election or who sits on the Supreme Court. A vaccine won’t suffice and a mask won’t save. My faith cannot be swayed by such things.

God will use who and what He will use. Whoever He allows to be in positions of authority, my marching orders are clear. I will pray. I will be respectful. I will not demean image bearers of my creator, regardless of my personal agreement or disagreement with their beliefs or actions.

Be light. Fan the flame.

Instead, I will join with the thousands today who simply prayed. I will believe God hears and that He will act. And, I will shine light where there is darkness. The greater the darkness, the brighter even the smallest flame of faith shines.

Fan the flame, beloved believers,

until it becomes a flaming fire.

(photo by Tony Valazza)

All photos via Trinity Broadcasting unless otherwise noted.

Social Justice and The Gospel

I can’t possibly say this any better than Dr. Tim Keller and those he quotes. Hence, please welcome him to A Bloom in Winter. In my book, Keller is gold.

“Some say: ‘To do the work of the gospel is to work for justice and peace in the world.’ But Jesus’ primary mission on earth was not to change the social order but to save us from sin. That creates a people who, in any place they reside, will have a transforming influence on the goodness and justness of the political and social order. (See Tom Holland’s Dominion.)

J.I.Packer says, ‘The gospel does bring us solutions to these problems, but it does so by first solving…the deepest of all human problems, the problem of man’s relationship with his Maker, and unless we make it plain that the solution for these former problems depends on the settling of this latter one, we are misrepresenting the message and becoming false witnesses of God.’

In The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis has a senior devil writing to a junior devil about how to tempt human beings to move away from “the Enemy”, Jesus. He writes: “The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which [God] demands, and then work him on to the stage at which he values Christianity because it may produce social justice.

For the Enemy will not be used as a convenience…. You see the little rift? ‘Believe this, not because it is true, but for some other reason.’ That’s the game.” (Letter 23)Note: If those to my “Right” (for the lack of a better term) find these tweets surprising (or insincere), they haven’t read me carefully. If those to my “Left” (for the lack of a better term) think this subverts motivation for doing justice, they are also mistaken.”

-Tim Keller