The Friday Update - Not 30M

Happy Friday,

Given our tendency to justify ourselves, it’s worth noting that David does not appeal to his record or his intentions. He throws himself entirely on the mercy of God. Grace begins only after self-justification ends. The hope of the Gospel is not that God discovers something lovable in us, but that His love is unfailing in spite of how unlovable we may be. 

Two Truths, One Message

In Christ we’re both a sinner deserving death and God’s child fully known and fully loved. Whichever of those is harder for us to believe is the one we should reflect on today.  

Only Answers 

In 1964, Picasso was asked his opinion on computers. He replied, "They’re useless. They only thing they can give you is answers.” (BTW, at the moment, the U.S. ranks among the countries most concerned about AI, making it both the world’s foremost developer of AI and its chief hater.)

Without Comment

1) One in eight U.S. adults are taking a GLP-1 drug.

2) 40% of U.S. adults now get health and wellness information from social media influencers or podcasters.

3) Although humans have many exceptional cognitive abilities, Dr. Raymond Klein—an experimental psychologist at Dalhousie University—believes that a house cat staring at a mouse hole displays greater focus than the average person is capable of, according to this Atlantic article.

4) A 50-year-old tech founder is 2X as likely to be successful as a 30 year old founder.

5) Per this survey, nearly half of U.S. 7-year-olds are not permitted to play in their own yards without an adult watching them, and 55% of 14-year-olds are not allowed to go beyond their streets unsupervised.

6) Between 300K to 350K Russians have been killed in the war against Ukraine. For perspective, 58K Americans were killed throughout the entirety of the Vietnam war.

GKC Quotes (G.K. Chesterton)

1) “A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.”

2) “We fear men so much because we fear God so little.”

3) “There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.”

4) “A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.”

Trending

1) Given AI, some universities are returning to oral exams and blue books.

2) Ads for gambling sites are becoming nearly as ubiquitous as ads for big pharma.

3) Commentators are using the word 'unserious.’

4) People and institutions are acting unseriously. 

Apologies

Thanks to those offering congratulations on The Update topping 30M subscribers. Alas, like the time I mentioned hopping on “the Christ Church jet” to get somewhere, I assumed you’d realize that was a joke. For context, the WSJ has 4.7M subscribers; the NYT has 13M. I’m about 30M shy of 30M. In an effort to make my jokes more obvious, our R&D department is working on installing a laugh track. I’ve also got David Letterman and Jerry Seinfeld to agree to coach me on how to set up a joke. In other news, I am accepting congratulations for running a sub 2 hour marathon and for winning the Nobel Prize in physics.

The Sinfulness of Sin

1) Our Sin—AKA, bad behavior, “mistakes were made” "missing the mark"—is more tragic and offensive than we can know.  

2) Its sly marketing campaign—"just this once," "I deserve this," “everyone does it,” “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” and "no big deal”—is part of the path towards justification.

3) Sin is less bad behavior than it is cosmic treason.

4) Although we are often paralyzed by guilt over our sins of commission, our real offense lies with our sins of omission.

5) The most sinful consequence of sin is that it sent a sinless Savior to his death. 

Overheard

1) Even nostalgia is not what it used to be.

2) God is doing 10 million things in our life. We might be aware of 3 of them.

3) One of the main obstacles to discipleship today are people’s schedules.

4) For every complicated question, there's an easy answer that's almost always neat, plausible and wrong. (AKA, simple solutions seldom are). 

WOTW

Honorable mentions go to: theater kid (a bipartisan political slur directed at those hungry for public validation) and show-hopping (a viewing habit where people constantly jump from one TV series or streaming show to another without deeply committing to any single one). Full honors go to micro-looting (a new word for...theft).

An Invitation

If you’re in the Chicagoland area and you haven’t yet signed up for Lakelight’s event “Pursuing A Tech-Wise Life” with best-selling author Andy Crouch, the spots are filling up quickly. It’s June 1, 7pm, at Christ Church Lake Forest, in-person only. You can register here.

Closing Prayer

"Lord, take my lips and speak through them; take my mind and think through it; take my heart and set it on fire.” (W.H.H. Aitken, from Prayers Ancient and Modern (1897))