I don’t know how long you’ve been kicking around on this planet, but I’ve been here for over half a century. And that doesn’t make me any kind of expert. I could live here for centuries and still find surprises that would challenge my perceptions.
But one thing that doesn’t take very long at all to solidify in the mind of any sane person that is paying attention is this; we live in a broken place. Something is wrong in here. The system isn’t right. The feel isn’t right. The jungle eats people. The waters rise up over civilizations. We steal, murder, hate, belittle, and fundamentally serve ourselves. The problem is not out there somewhere in nature. The problem is in here and came pre-equipped in this human heart.
Set in the backdrop of this darkness, I wonder at our capacity for celebration and joy. I have been blessed and given so much. I have also had much taken away. I could spend my entire life mourning the death of both of my parents at very young ages. Some of my earliest memories are dad, sick again . . .the chemo ravaging his strong frame, bringing him down to weakness . . . Eventually to the grave. Could I be bitter!? Could I rage?
How can I be moved to gratitude? How can I rejoice over sunsets and beauty . . . How can I thank this God who gives and takes away? There is a simple answer. I have come to know HIM through His own self-disclosure. The Bible has given me a world-view that gives me absolutely zero expectation of wins in this world. So when the wins come . . . when blessings flow, they are always GRACES. They are always unearned and unexpected. I can still be surprised by the warmth of the sun on a day like today. Not because I am jaded and cynical like Eeyore, always expecting a cloudy day . . . But because I know I deserve no sunlight, and have been given years of it!
A Biblical worldview is one that understands that this fallen world is losing. And one day it will lose to the return of the King. And all nations and kings will give way to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. If this is true, then every joy and every pain of this life has been a temporary step on the pathway to a glorious end . . . Specifically for those who submit to the Lordship of the King.
Knowing that all of my wins come in a losing world, helps to keep me from idolatry. Many (one could say a majority) of people woke up to a flood of political wins yesterday. I would humbly recommend that those “wins” be kept in perspective. It is good to be grateful for desirable outcomes. It is NOT good to boast that the sinking ship is being piloted by our preferred captain.
And what of losing in a losing world? Losing is also living. Nobody lives in a world that always goes their way. I’m not at all trying to offer trite comforts. Instead, I would prefer for this paragraph to be taken as a necessary component of a Christian/Biblical worldview. We live in a world of evil, good, and a 1,000 shades in between. We struggle to keep perspective. And the further we get from a Biblical worldview, the more we will expect thing to line up into very clear categories. Ironically, some of the most rigid interpreters of morality are those who come from a fairly godless context.
A major part of the political division in our culture, is the rhetoric that makes these political decision ultimate. Many who lost, believe they lost ‘it all’. I have seen references to suicide hotlines pertaining to the election results.
I would like to encourage everyone reading this to know that this is a losing world. And in believing this we may find the seed of victory. Allow the discomforts, fears, hurts, pains, and losses of this world to drive you to seek for the answer to the question, “where can hope be found.” The Bible makes sense of this world where all of our wins and losses cannot stand under the weight of what they promise. We have a longing for eternal things in our hearts. Without a promise of eternity, despair makes sense. But with a promise of eternity through Jesus Christ, I can endure both wins and losses here, without being shaken. The greater victory is coming . . . And so these wins and losses now remain surprising delights and expected setbacks in the journey to the Greater King!
