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I watched the woman in the mall as she went from store to store, looking, browsing, picking up and putting down items, sometimes buying and sometimes not, and wondered what she was really seeking. Even her purchases did not seem to delight her as she wandered into the food court scanning the coffee shop menu. She paused here and there on several coffee items before deciding on none of them.

Her behavior stood out in stark contrast to a young middle school age boy in the food court who had stopped at several vendors and had a tray loaded with enough food to feed a small gang. It seemed as if he had decided he wanted one of nearly everything and no sooner had he seated himself than the contents of the tray were gobbled down. But that was not enough for him as he now began to look at ice cream offerings to add to his feast. What would be enough to fill up this boy’s hunger?

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Most of us have had such scenes play out for us and sometimes we have been the main characters as we mulled over things we might purchase. Those were times when we weren’t hunting for the best buy on socks or pajamas that were specific target items but rather simply “shopping” for the sake of pleasure looking at things that might interest us or fill up some unnamed void we wanted to fill. It has been called “retail therapy” by some.

For many of us there was no need to come home with bags of things. Our closets, shoe racks, drawers, make-up bags, and jewelry boxes are already full. Nevertheless, we keep looking for new things. 

For some of us we miss that we seem to rarely be content in any area of our lives. For some of us this leads to bitterness. After all, we want to be happy or at least happier than we are. As a result, we look for things and ways to create that happy feeling. Happiness is not a constant and tends to be largely circumstantial, but we keep looking without seeing how meaningless this endless pursuit can be.

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In another time when our culture was different than it is at present and choices were fewer to create happiness, how did anyone come close to those feelings we seek to find?

Dissatisfaction seems to be at epidemic proportions in almost every age demographic for more reasons than would fill an old-fashioned phonebook. 

“There is ultimately only one thing that makes human beings deeply and profoundly bitter, and that is to have thrust upon them a life without meaning. There is nothing wrong in searching for happiness. But of far more comfort to the soul is something greater than happiness or unhappiness, and that is meaning. Because meaning transfigures all. Once what you are doing has meaning for you, it is irrelevant whether you’re happy or unhappy. You are content.” 

Laurens van der Post

I LOVE this quote and I think it speaks volumes.

Perhaps our dilemma is that things we thought would mean something to us doesn’t or doesn’t anymore. We end up filling up bags of stuff we thought meant something and donating it to someone else and go right back to replacing it with new “stuff.” And this dissatisfaction has spread to more than just “things.” It infects all of our values – education, government, entertainment in all forms, and relationships as well. We have become a “throw away” culture. Little wonder we have little contentment much of the time. 

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“We cannot thrive without meaning. Our need for meaning is as urgent and unceasing as our need for water.” 

Matthew Kelly

Mathew Kelly points to the core of what has changed and what seems to be missing for too many. We didn’t lose the need for meaning but little by little our choices led us away from the centrality of meaning. Meaning is what we were designed for in our vertical relationship with God. Becoming complacent and captivated by all the “shiny things” we began drifting away from what kept us anchored. Disconnection from God resulted in life becoming more meaningless. 

The books and movies that we most love give us reminders of that because they tell stories with meaning if they impact us. And when we make choices that convey meaning, we not only impact ourselves but all those with whom we make contact.

“Meaning binds your life together into one coherent whole. It connects all the many aspects of your life.” 

Matthew Kelly

To take back the ground that eroded, we start by making a choice for one moment in time where we open ourselves once again to God. Don’t think of hours, days, or other bigger chunks of time. Start by making a better choice for one moment and don’t waste another precious moment living without meaning.

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I seem to recall there was a time not so long ago when we didn’t struggle with knowing who we were. I am not sure I remember conversations about trying to determine our identity or values back then. It wasn’t that we didn’t have questions and wonder but they were not resting on a foundation of seeming discontent about almost everything in life. If we have uncertainties as surely we did, they were not pulling us into perpetual whirlpools that caused us to lose certainty about who we thought we were nor become our main focus.

We accepted certain things at the core were what life was about and mattered most to us. Some might say life was simpler then and that was true in many ways. We focused largely on responsibility within our family and the sphere where we spent our time and being responsible was a sign of good character and trustworthiness. We believed in some level of moral goodness was possible despite the awareness of evil and uncertainties.  Serving others, whether family, neighbors, or our nation were practiced in daily living not just in the midst of a crisis. 

We had fewer choices about any number of things while still having the opportunity to dream dreams, set goals, and pursue plans. Entertainment was not central to our days and we found it in smaller arenas like the neighborhood, the church, or the small local movie theater where only one choice was offered on a weekend. It may have included TV with only a few channels with family friendly programs and only a limited number of newscasts that ended most days’ programming after the eleven o’clock reports. Home had a rhythm of varying kinds for most everyone with families gathering for the evening meal and children having daily chores in addition to homework.

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For many of us if we were guided by some level of faith we weren’t tied in knots about trying to determine our identity within it that we were trying to give ourselves based on an eclectic hodgepodge. Reading some thoughts of Paul Tripp identified what seems more common now.

“The problem , sadly, is that many of us live in a constant, or at least a rather regular, state of identity amnesia.We forget who we are, and when we do, we begin to give way to doubt, fear, and timidity. Identity amnesia makes you feel poor when you are rich. It makes you feel foolish when in fact you are in a personal relationship with the One who is wisdom. It makes you feel unable when in fact you have been blessed with strength. It makes you feel alone when in fact, since the Holy Spirit lives inside you, it is impossible for you to be alone. You feel unloved, when in fact, as a child of the heavenly Father, you have been graced with eternal love. You feel like you don’t measure up when in fact the Savior measured up on your behalf. Identity amnesia sucks the life out of your Christianity in the right here, right now moment in which all of us live.”

Paul Tripp

How did it happen? When did we start chasing after “more” and “not enough” and “success” as though these would bring about satisfaction we were somehow missing? What tantalized us and duped us into losing what we had been sure of much of the time?

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Did we really buy the same lie that took Eve off guard? She had everything in that perfect Eden Garden except a beguiling serpent seduced her into believing she was denied if she couldn’t have one piece of fruit from one tree. She listened long enough to wonder if she was denied what she needed to be truly happy and content and then succumbed to that idea.

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Have all of our choices led us to miss what has been the central belief of not so long ago? Has our life been upended by a nonstop daily diet of things we are told will make us prettier, richer, thinner, smarter, more successful, younger, and happier? 

Pause before you answer that because it shows up in even small ways for most of us and left unchecked can lead us down a path we did not intend to take. By now, we may not even recognize it despite a pandemic just a few years ago that brought us up short and cut our choices and options back to a level unknown to us. Did we learn so little back then beyond our difficulty trusting sources we had believed in before?

At a time when the world itself teeters on great uncertainties, it is time to shake ourselves from the identity amnesia Paul Tripp writes about and find solid footing on the foundation of the faith we espouse but do not always live out.

“So if you’re his child, ward off the fear that knocks on your door by remembering who God is and who you’ve become as his chosen child. And don’t just celebrate his grace; let it reshape the way you live today and the tomorrows that follow.”

Paul Tripp

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Have you noticed how easy it is to be caught up in the stress of always striving, seeking to accomplish something? It represents struggling or fighting for something. There is no question there are more than one or two principles, values, and causes that are worth fighting for or on behalf of, but in our Christian experience have we balanced out when we are to cease from that?

Everywhere I look there appear to be struggles in abundance as so much in our lives and world is being shaken. We can easily be thrown off balance and our natural instincts kick in and we either flee or fight. The key we must not lose sight of goes to the foundation of our Christian experience and what informs the decisions we make as we live in the world while seeking to be not of the world as His sons and daughters. I hear often that we need to stand in the midst of all that swirls around us.

One of the books I read long ago is that “little” gem by Watchman Nee entitled Sit, Walk, Stand. In less than sixty-five pages, he lays down the foundational principles Paul lays out for us in Ephesians as succinctly as anything I have ever read. If you have read it, you know what I mean. If you have never read it, put it on your book list.

It struck me that our difficulty of standing in the midst of challenge is perhaps because we have not first learned to sit, as Watchman Nee makes clear.

Standing suggests we are in conflict or warfare and we cannot begin to consider warfare unless we have first learned to truly rest in Christ, in who He is, and what He has done for us and already accomplished on the cross and through resurrection.

When we can sit and rest in that truth, we have greater clarity on the reality of the victory that was already accomplished and will be accomplished for the rest of all time.

That gives us the beginning of clarity on what it means to cease striving.

If we get caught up in constant striving, I am not so sure the enemy is not gleeful when he senses that we are not certain that Christ’s sacrifice has counted for much of anything. Have we also lost sight of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us?

I am not suggesting there are not attacks of the enemy from a broad range of options available to him, but rather if we rightly discern what is an assault from him and what is a consequence of some poor choice or sin in our own lives. Our discernment is key.

Nee makes clear that if we have a solid understanding of our position with the Lord that we will be able to learn how to walk with Him before the world! In Ephesians Paul makes clear we are to put on the whole armor of God so we can stand against the wiles of the devil. Paul doesn’t suggest at that point that we are to march into battle, but rather to stand. Am I, are you, remembering why Paul exhorts believers to do that?  It’s key to the foundation that leads to a cessation of striving.

“The word ‘stand’ implies that the ground disputed by the enemy is really His, and therefore ours. We need not struggle to gain a foothold on it.”

Watchman Nee in Sit, Walk, Stand

The weapons described in Ephesians 6 are by and large defensive except for the sword that can be used both defensively and offensively.

That gives a metaphor for the truth that we have the ground because of Him. We are not, I am not, trying to get the ground if He dwells within us or me.

Jesus took the war to the enemy at the cross and defeated him there. That is what allows us to know and be assured that we can stand and in fact, to know that He is counting on us to stand and not be shaken as the world around us starts to come apart. 

Let Paul’s words encourage your heart today:

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)

Is what He called us to do easy?

Absolutely not! 

 We need to depend on Him and that is as it should be.

Do you remember when you were a child?

Childhood blesses us with so many dreams. We don’t have the lived experience to put them on the shelf so we consider them all to be possibilities. We believe we can be or do almost anything (or at least hope that we can).

Heading off to elementary school began to challenge some of those dreams. We needed to work harder, study more, and adults outside of our parents began to assess our abilities. Peers were not just the kids from the neighborhood and perhaps a Sunday School class. Many of them had different values and views. The person we wanted to be our best friend didn’t always respond as we hoped.

That shadowed the earlier childhood dreams for some of us. There were all sorts of reasons for that. One of the key ones was whether or not we had someone (anyone) who believed in our unique possibilities and us. If no one came alongside us to encourage us, doubts about dreams and abilities began to grow.

But it didn’t stop there. No matter which way our early dreams evolved, high school brought a buffet of challenges and more pressure than we might have expected. There were all those extracurricular activities, but now you often needed to excel to be able to participate. There were try-outs for sports, musical groups, speech, and drama groups. More of who you were was evaluated all over again. That wreaked havoc with some additional dreams.

We were being asked to make decisions about college, tech school, or getting a career and it tended to feel a bit overwhelming. It felt like a forever decision. Most of us didn’t know then that our brains didn’t mature fully until nearly 27 years old and we also didn’t have a ton of experience. How much did we really know about ourselves anyway?

Life can be a bit like a conveyor belt ride at a theme park, but we don’t know that will be the case when we are young. We don’t realize that life is always in transition and neither we nor our environment or opportunities remain the same.

Perhaps we need to learn that life gives us a chance in each new season to dream a new dream. (And it doesn’t stop as we get older or retire.)

Transitions from one season of life to another come with more than a few challenges. We can look forward to some of the changes that come with the transition and shudder at others. We can be tempted to ask, “What now?”

The answer to the question is impacted by whether or not you risk finding a new dream.

The new season offers new opportunities, not just limitations and losses. Believing that and discovering a new dream is a key to continuing growth, deeper satisfaction, passion, and a zest for living, but the key is to find a new dream (a new possibility) before the transition actually occurs.

Over and over again in the Bible we see possibilities for new dreams at different seasons of life. I think God designed it that way. Look at how many of the stories show God showing up with new dreams and big opportunities even when a person may think they are beyond the age when those are possible. (Moses comes to mind and so does Caleb when he said, “Give me that mountain” … or similar words.)

My dreams have changed many times over the course of my lifetime even though some of the pieces of each dream may remain. I love God’s unfolding design and even now am curious about what He has in mind next.

You see, whatever your limitations may be, His design and dreams for you have already taken that into account.

What’s holding you back?

Find a new dream for the next season of your life. That new dream provides a new beginning.

How like God!

God is the author of new beginnings.

We don’t like to talk about evil even though it was a word once more commonly used. We tend to prefer to call things that are evil something else, often by the result of evil instead of labeling it evil. Do we hesitate to use the word because we have been deceived into believing it is something else or are we in denial because we don’t know what to do with it?

How would you define evil?

The dictionary defines it this way: “profoundly immoral or wicked.” That definition might help unravel what has caused the word to seldom be used in recent years because what many in the culture label immoral or wicked has changed a great deal in recent decades. What was unthinkable on TV 20 years ago is now commonplace at all hours of the day. What we believed children should be protected from diminishes a bit more each year. When something in history points to evil, we now choose to rewrite or delete it instead of learning from it.

“History tumbles out a mass of data – wars, famines, murders, and accidents – along with sunrises and still waters, lilies of the field and green pastures. God’s people have been convinced that it is possible in prayer and praise, in listening and believing, to discern meaning in this apparent chaos and therefore to read good news in the daily life of history.”

Eugene Peterson in Reversed Thunder

Yes, there is meaning and good news in the midst of all these things, but it does not negate the existence of evil and how it operates in the midst of every aspect of the world and humankind. How easily we can be seduced by that one who perpetrates evil on mankind to minimize or ignore it while we only focus on one aspect of life. He would surely have us be lulled into a fantasy world because in his delusion he also hopes it will cause us to minimize God’s power and goodness, his truth and righteousness, his mercy and judgment, his grace and truth.

The source of all evil would rename it and have us believe that it is not what it seems and if perchance we believe it is that it is so powerful that not even God can conquer it. But he forgets an important truth:

“The devil is but God’s master fencer, to teach us to handle our weapons.”

Samuel Rutherford

Maybe that also points to part of the problem. We want to be peacemakers and peaceable, forgetting we are at war and if we do not pick up the weapons we have been given, we will have surrendered what has been entrusted to us.

Our movies often expose us to stories (both true and fictional) that have a theme of war. Perhaps we are drawn to them less because they depict violence and more because we want to see evil defeated. They may well be part of the popularity of The Lord of the Rings series.

If we want to see evil for what it is and see what its defeat will look like, Revelation 6 and 7 gives us a vivid clarification and reminds us what the end of the story truly will be. In these chapters we see four horses, each with a different role. Have you considered why horses are used to describe what will happen?

“The horse is the animal for battle: oxen for farming, donkeys for transportation, horses for battle. The basic nature of history is warfare. Persons who live by faith live in conflict. History is a long sequence of battles – the forces of good and evil in pitched conflict. Sensitive persons know this. Artists know this. Students of history bare the documenting sources. People of prayer are in the middle of it even when the guns are silent. The battle rages within the soul; it is fought out in family circles; it is contested between nations. War is the human condition. To be human is to be at war.

God may be in heaven but the devil runs history.”

Eugene Peterson in Reversed Thunder

About now you may think this doesn’t sound very encouraging, but if you look closely at the passages in Revelation that are the theme of this post, do you see which horse appears first? It is a white horse and most of us know a white horse portends a hero sits upon it. He is here to do battle with the forces of evil represented by the other 3 horses. (Remember the great scenes of Shadowfax that Gandalf rides in The Lord of the Rings?) This white horse has on it a rider with a bow and crown who goes out to conquer and is all about conquering. It can belong to only Christ who is in history ruling and conquering the forces of death, darkness, and evil as Eugene Peterson describes in Reversed Thunder. We so often think of Him in other roles that seem meeker or gentler than one who is riding into battle. We can fall prey to sentimentalizing Christ.

The enemy loves that when we do, but if we do, we will miss a crucial understanding about how the story ends, who wins and why. You will miss there is a hero who cannot be defeated. He was not defeated on the cross and his return will bring us to the final battle against evil. We who believe will be with Him, and this depiction in the passage is the hero we will want to lead us on that day.

“The world is in conflict; our Christ is the first on the field of battle. High issues are decided every day. Christ is not only worshipped each Sunday, he is triumphant each week day. That, of course, is not the way the newspapers report it; that is not the way our own emotions respond to it; but that is what the preached revelation proclaims.”

Eugene Peterson in Reversed Thunder