The Friday Update - Everything Hidden

Happy Friday,

Many are agitated. You? If so, do you know why? Is it really the crazy amount of crazy on “the outside?” Or might it be an erosion of wellbeing on “the inside?” And if it’s the second, what’s fueling it: Your electronic leash (hello, smartphone)? Your seven-page, unprioritized to-do list? Your addiction of choice (power, pride, porn, pot, popularity, video games, alcohol, the news, other)? Is it unconfessed sin? Envy? A secret? Do you know? And when was the last time you tried being quiet… still… unhurried… and simply rested in Him? The noise on the outside is real. But it’s the noise on the inside that destroys. Don’t mistake restlessness for reality. Be still and know that I am God.

Second

What we think about God is the 2nd most important thing about us.

Everything Hidden Revealed

People are furious the Epstein files still aren’t fully public. I’ll leave it to the lawyers and journalists to assign blame. As a pastor, I’m not worried that Epstein outran justice. No one ultimately outruns the audit of an all-knowing, all-powerful Judge. While Epstein’s alleged crimes were unquestionably heinous, I’m far more worried about my own court date. In Christ, we’re forgiven and fully reconciled. But forgiveness doesn’t cancel accountability. We will all give an account for what we’ve done with what was temporarily entrusted to us. And to whom much is given, much is required.

As Info

Although I was temporarily sidelined by a raspberry yogurt that left me in serious dental pain, I’ve recovered. Indeed, I’m feeling pretty good these days. In part because I just realized that if I play all the “you-must-listen-to-this” podcasts I’ve been sent at 3x speed, I can get through them in just over 20K hours. 

Yes! 

It was said of Jonathan Edwards that, “his relationship with Christ was such that his happiness was out of reach of his enemies.” May we all find that level of contentment in Christ. 

Noteworthy 

In the New Testament, the word saint – which doesn’t mean “impressive,” only “forgiven” – always appears in the plural. And there is not one instance of Jesus approving of someone feeling morally superior to anyone else. 

Overheard

1) Time is the only currency you spend without knowing your balance.

2) A loss of self-control always results in a loss of freedom.

3) It doesn’t matter which Western Civ decided to devalue first, the elderly or wisdom. The results are the same, and they are tragic.

4) We have plenty of beliefs but too few convictions.

Without Comment

1) Only 1 in 3 young adults is actively dating, though 51% desire to do so.

2) In the new Toy Story movie, toys lose their jobs to AI.

3) Gen Z men are less likely than their grandfathers to say they support gender equality.

4) Per Gallup, 40% of U.S. women (15 to 44) said they’d move abroad (permanently) if given the chance.

5) According to this report, 1 in 4 Americans reported eating all of their meals alone in ‘23, up 53% since ‘03.

6) The 5 largest tech companies are worth nearly one-third of the S&P 500.

7) Per this updated ‘24 WH report, America’s violent crime rate fell to the lowest levels since 1969. 

WOTW

Honorable mention goes to Fermi Problems (the name given interview questions occasionally directed at computer and finance geeks – e.g., How many Ping-Pong balls fit in a 747? Or How many gas stations are in the U.S.? ) These questions are not meant to elicit a precise answer but to test an interviewee’s reasoning ability. Full honors go to AI:DR, which translates, “It’s AI so I didn’t read it.” (As info: theologians had Fermi Problems long before Fermi was born – e.g., how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?). 

Quotes

“If we saw the difference the tiniest of our prayers make – and all the people those “little prayers” affected down through the centuries – we’d be so paralyzed with awe that we’d be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.” Peter Kreeft (lightly edited).

 So… What’s the Most Important Thing? 

I’m not going to leave you hanging. I noted the “second most important thing” about you to get you wondering what the most important thing about you might be. The second most important thing about us is what we think about God. The first is what God thinks about us.

Resources

Click here to hear my interview with Dr. Meghan Sullivan, the Notre Dame professor overseeing a $50M grant to develop AI ethics. Click here to register for The World Behind the Wardrobe, a Lakelight class I will teach this Spring on Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton and Stott. Finally, to all those in the greater metro Nashville area, save April 9^th. We have nearly final plans for a Lakelight Live event on C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man to be held then. Details soon.

Closing Prayer

“I’m not worthy, Master and Lord, that you should come beneath the roof of my soul; yet since in your love toward all, you wish to dwell in me, in boldness I come. You command; open the gates, which you alone have made. And you will come in, and enlighten my darkened reasoning. I believe that you will do this; for you did not send away the harlot who came to you with tears, nor cast out the repenting tax-collector, nor reject the thief who acknowledged your kingdom. But you counted all of these as members of your band of friends. You are blessed forevermore. Amen. (John Chrysostom, 347-407)