Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:13-16
The world is insane. It’s Clownworld—not like a funny clown, but those terrifying ones. Can I get a witness? I have no social media and I try not to watch any news. But when I go to the gym each morning, all the cardio machines are facing an end-to-end row of huge TVs, which endlessly assault the eyes (and ears if you plug in) with lie after lie after lie. (Don’t care which channel you choose—from the plethora of “news” channels to the “innocent” HGTV and “harmless” TLC.) Although my headphones are filling my ears with a sermon or podcast, with my head down or eyes closed, I can’t help but glance up and around. No matter the TV in question, there are literal lies (of commission)—straight out falsehoods being peddled as truth. Lies of omission, where the talking heads leave out 95% of a story to hype an alarming headline. And there’s all the gaslighting…this is a term that describes when someone accuses another of some malicious activity that they themselves are actually doing—usually for the purpose of inciting doubt and insanity. Narratives are pushed—hard. Social, cultural, political. There are shows that “normalize” (and celebrate) children being mutilated in the name of activism. Drunkenness and serial hookups are glamorized. Even our favorite home makeover shows are spun with fabrications (even if we don’t want to admit it). Newscasters are the worst, especially with the current penchant for the love of crisis. Everything is a threat and a crisis. And the favorite buzzword of all: “existential” (usually paired with either “threat” or “crisis”). In other words, whatever the context, the issue-du-jour is a threat to our very existence (think pizza ovens and gas stoves). Fear pushers are everywhere.
Even our own sources of seemingly innocuous info are feeding us lies and fear and crisis. Case in point: It’s August in Florida, so it’s hot—no shocker there. But apparently, I should be melting, because at 9pm last night I walked out to the porch to a pleasant evening of about 85 degrees. But when my hubby opened his weather app, it trumpeted to him, “Warning! Warning! Real feel is 116 degrees! Heat advisory! Go inside or you’ll die!” (OK, maybe it didn’t say that last part.) But seriously. I was STANDING OUTSIDE. It did NOT “really feel” like 116 degrees.
This kind of craziness is not new. In about 740 BC, the prophet Isaiah warned about it: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!” (CNN per Isaiah 5:20-23) And in the New Testament, Paul wrote to Timothy about what the world has to offer: “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power” (2 Timothy 3: 1-5).
So, how do we, as followers of Jesus Christ, live in this world without succumbing to all the insanity? The Bible has a lot of instruction for this—in all 66 books. Here are just a few ways. We must be in the world, but not of it (John 17:14-15). Because we belong to a Holy God, we are to “be holy as He is holy” (1 Peter 1:13-16). We cannot conform to the cultural patterns of this world, but we’re to transform our lives by renewing our minds through God’s Word (Romans 12:2). We must stay surrendered daily to Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). And we’re to unreservedly live for our perfected future—the consummation of our salvation and full realization of our sanctification at our glorification. That’s a fancy way of saying, “Let’s keep our eyes focused on our ultimate destination, when we are present with the Lord without the enemy, the world, or our fleshly desires hindering us.” (Colossians 3:2; 2 Corinthians 4:18; Matthew 16:23; Psalm 1)
Now, more than ever in my lifetime, we have to keep our eyes, mind, and heart on the Lord. The alternative is just plain crazy.
Lord, as the world continues to get darker, help me stay focused on You and Your Word, looking ahead in confident hope.
encouraged by grace 