You Stubborn Mule!

Posted on by Betsy

Consider the poor mule. Through no fault of his own, he has gotten the reputation of being stubborn. Truth be told, mules are highly intelligent animals who are cautious and act out of self-preservation. Unlike the horse, whose first instinct is to flee, a mule will carefully consider his options for safety. If an instruction seems illogical or risky, he will refuse it. Unlike Yellow Labs, who just truly are stubborn for stubborn’s sake, the mule is a considerate thinker. We need to change our cliche to “stubborn as a Lab.”

It is amusing to see David use that phrase about mules in today’s lectionary passage. He tells us not to be like the “senseless horse or mule” that has to be led by a bridle.

Read the first two sections for clues on what David says we are being stubborn about.

Psalm 32 (Common English Bible)

2 The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered over, is truly happy!
2 The one the Lord doesn’t consider guilty—
    in whose spirit there is no dishonesty—
    that one is truly happy!

3 When I kept quiet, my bones wore out;
    I was groaning all day long—
    every day, every night!—
4 because your hand was heavy upon me.
    My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. Selah

David asserts that keeping quiet about sin is an unnecessary burden that leads to great unhappiness. Refusing to confess and repent led him to groan all day and left him feeling wasted away. There is a simple solution to this, says David. Simply admit guilt, reveal your sin, and God will remove it.

5 So I admitted my sin to you;
    I didn’t conceal my guilt.
    “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord, ” is what I said.
    Then you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah

6 That’s why all the faithful should pray to you during troubled times,
    so that a great flood of water won’t reach them.
7 You are my secret hideout!
    You protect me from trouble.
    You surround me with songs of rescue! Selah

Many decades ago I had an opportunity to minister to a woman whose guilt had wasted her entire life away. We sat under a piano in a church’s Fellowship Hall until 3:00 in the morning as she poured out her life story to me. As a very young wife, she had an affair with a man of a different race. The affair resulted in a pregnancy that she was sure she could not pass off as her husband’s, so she had an abortion. Her deep guilt over the whole thing led her to self-medicate with alcohol and eventually drugs. One addiction fed another and she eventually lost her job, her marriage, and custody of her children. She met me after twenty years of this wasting. A church had reached out to her to attend the retreat I was leading, and she was working hard to live a clean life. But one thing was missing. She had never received Christ’s forgiveness, so she had never forgiven herself. Her new church had taught her about Jesus, but she was convinced that she was unworthy.

I began to talk about what happened on the cross. She was familiar with everything I said, but still stubbornly refused his forgiveness. The hour was late, the floor was cold, and the pastor was exhausted. Finally I asked her if she thought that she was so special that the redemption of the cross didn’t apply to her. I asked her if she thought that she was really so extraordinary that the power of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection was good enough for everyone but her. Did the power of her sin defeat the power of the cross because it was stronger? Then she broke. God broke that chain of being addicted to her past and set her free. The next morning she was a completely new woman. I ran into her years later and she was remarried, had finished her degree, and was a successful banker in her town.

Lent is about learning that you aren’t stronger than God. Lent is about understanding the damage of sin and how confession and repentance are the only things that will heal you. Lent is the time to uncover long-buried guilt and get rid of it.

8 I will instruct you and teach you
    about the direction you should go.
    I’ll advise you and keep my eye on you.
9 Don’t be like some senseless horse or mule,
    whose movement must be controlled
    with a bit and a bridle.

Don’t be anything like that!
10 The pain of the wicked is severe,
    but faithful love surrounds the one who trusts the Lord.
11 You who are righteous, rejoice in the Lord and be glad!
    All you whose hearts are right, sing out in joy!

So let us repent and move on. Let us rejoice and be glad! Let us sing out in joy.

And let’s stop being as stubborn as a Yellow Lab.

My Things Now by Ashten Ree Avery

Look! Look!

Posted on by Betsy

Today is Ash Wednesday. I hope you have made a plan to get smudged. Ash smudges remind us of our mortality and that we all end this life on earth as ashes and dust. As we contemplate that somber Debbie Downer reality, we begin our 40 day spiritual trek toward the cross and eventually the empty tomb. I have always loved and hated Lent for its long winter night of the soul, but I have never finished this reflection marathon without a deeper sense of who I am and whose I am. It is worth the effort. It is worth the surgical deep cut. It is worth the sense of wonder and awe that comes from walking with Jesus in his desolate and lonesome valley.

We typically start Lent with Joel’s beautiful words of invitation to return to God from our gloom (Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17), or Isaiah’s challenge to choose the fast that pleases God and not you (Isaiah 58). But today we will submerge ourselves into Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians and see what Lenten practices we might glean from this lectionary passage. Lenten disciplines include fasting, Scripture reading, confession, repentance, service, meditation, and worship. Many of us are looking for a list of Lenten-Do’s as a way of growing stronger in our faith. Many of us would do well to focus on Lenten-Don’ts. But in any case, let’s see what Paul advises his church in regard to being better and stronger representatives of Christ as a blueprint for a different kind of Lent this year.

2 Corinthians 5 (Common English Bible)

20 So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God. 6 1 Since we work together with him, we are also begging you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 He says, I listened to you at the right time, and I helped you on the day of salvation. Look, now is the right time! Look, now is the day of salvation!

So our first task is to acknowledge the blessing of God’s grace and how immediate God was in his response to our need. Look! Look! God proclaims that the day of salvation is here. As representatives of Christ, we must call others to reconcile with God. Now is the time!

3 We don’t give anyone any reason to be offended about anything so that our ministry won’t be criticized. 4 Instead, we commend ourselves as ministers of God in every way. We did this with our great endurance through problems, disasters, and stressful situations. 5 We went through beatings, imprisonments, and riots. We experienced hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger. 

If you have suffered for your witness, take heart. Paul and his followers went through it all and more. That is the cost of doing and being the Gospel.

6 We displayed purity, knowledge, patience, and generosity. We served with the Holy Spirit, genuine love, 7 telling the truth, and God’s power. We carried the weapons of righteousness in our right hand and our left hand. 

Here is your list of Lenten practices:

Seek to always display purity in every thought, word, deed, and post. Yes, every post.

Increase your knowledge of God every day by reading your Bible. I’ll cover Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but you’re on your own for the rest of the week.

Be generous! Share your time, your resources, your money, and your presence with others.

Genuinely love other people with the help of the Holy Spirit. You’ll need the Holy Spirit for some of them.

Only tell the truth. This truly is the hardest 40 day challenge on the list. Thank goodness we get Sunday’s off.

Access God’s power. God will enable you to accomplish these Lenten practices if you let him.

Use God’s righteousness as tools of engagement. After all, this is the Lord’s work. We are just the representatives.

8 We were treated with honor and dishonor and with verbal abuse and good evaluation. We were seen as both fake and real, 9 as unknown and well known, as dying—and look, we are alive! We were seen as punished but not killed, 10 as going through pain but always happy, as poor but making many rich, and as having nothing but owning everything.

As I said to my running partner recently after finishing a hot and humid Half Marathon, “We’re not dead yet.” Paul’s example of persistence in witness will serve us well as we seek to include others in our Lenten endeavors this year. If that list seems impossible, focus on just one or two and go from there.

May God grant us a Holy Lent.

My Friend Tim

God Laughs

Posted on by Betsy

They say that laughter is good for the soul, and I think that is true. I had an opportunity last weekend to spend time with my daughters as we celebrated the eldest’s birthday. The days were filled with their childhood memories, jokes and silly stories, cleverly snappy retorts, and a lot of giggles. I realized at the end of the weekend that I was quite tired and quite satisfied. We had laughed our way through the hours together and my pulse was lowered, my blood pressure had stabilized, my shoulders were relaxed from their usual taut position of sitting around my ears, and I slept really well.

Did you ever wonder what makes God laugh?

I imagine God laughs at things that make us laugh: Pandas who tumble uncoordinated around their habitats, puppies scampering after their siblings, children flying high on playground swings, etc. But God is actually quite serious in his laughter. He laughs at the futile attempts of people who seek to scheme against him and band together to defeat his Anointed One. He laughs at our stupidity. He must be rolling in the clouds right now.

Psalm 2 (Common English Bible)

Why do the nations rant?
    Why do the peoples rave uselessly?
2 The earth’s rulers take their stand;
    the leaders scheme together
    against the Lord and
    against his anointed one.

Ever since the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, humans have tried to band together to outwit, outthink, and outsmart God. Legend suggests that after this event God scattered the peoples and separated them by language so that this would never happen again. Yet here in David’s time, we see once again a coalition of schemers trying to take a stand against God.


3         “Come!” they say.
        “We will tear off their ropes
        and throw off their chains!”
4 The one who rules in heaven laughs;
    my Lord makes fun of them.
5 But then God speaks to them angrily;
    then he terrifies them with his fury:
6         “I hereby appoint my king on Zion,
        my holy mountain!”

God’s laughter comes from a place of holy righteousness and the strength of his love for us. Like parents who set rules and boundaries for the good of their children, his warnings and derision come from a place of compassion.

7 I will announce the Lord’s decision:
    He said to me, “You are my son,
        today I have become your father.
8 Just ask me,
    and I will make the nations your possession;
    the far corners of the earth will be your property.
9 You will smash them with an iron rod;
    you will shatter them like a pottery jar.”

This future-forward look at Jesus’ Second Coming gives hope to us as we are heart-sick and wearied by the world’s leaders who turn their backs on God and perpetrate unthinkable crimes against humanity. Hold on, David is saying. When Christ returns, the evil among us will be shattered like frail pottery jars and Jesus will reign with equity, compassion, harmony, and love.

10 So kings, wise up!
    Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
11 Serve the Lord reverently—
    trembling, 12 kiss his feet
        or else he will become angry,
        and your way will be destroyed
    because his anger ignites in an instant.

But all who take refuge in the Lord are truly happy!

Happiness is found in taking refuge in the Lord. Only there can we be truly safe and protected from the horrors of this world. And that, my friends, is something to smile about.

Path to the Moon by Wende Pritchard

Endless Patience

Posted on by Betsy

Do you have something in your past that you would rather forget? I know I do!

Paul’s letter in First Timothy reveals an uncomfortable truth about his past. He reminded Timothy of the time when he was Saul of Tarsus and he violently persecuted Christians for their beliefs. He was present at the stoning of Stephen and was “extremely zealous” and famously violent for persecution “beyond measure” (Galatians 1). He was a Pharisee, a Roman citizen, a tent maker by trade, and yet God used all of his sinful past to convert the world after he first converted Saul on the road to Damascus.

I think it is easy to forget Paul’s violent beginnings as we study his many letters and his theology. Paul brought the Gospel to the modern world in a stunning series of missionary journeys that included imprisonment, shipwrecks, great personal cost, and eventually death. 

This passage in 1 Timothy talks about his appointment to ministry in spite of his past:

1 Timothy 1 (Common English Bible)

12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength because he considered me faithful. So, he appointed me to ministry 13 even though I used to speak against him, attack his people, and I was proud. But I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and without faith. 14 Our Lord’s favor poured all over me along with the faithfulness and love that are in Christ Jesus. 

15 This saying is reliable and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I’m the biggest sinner of all.16 But this is why I was shown mercy, so that Christ Jesus could show his endless patience to me first of all. So, I’m an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. 17 Now to the king of the ages, to the immortal, invisible, and only God, may honor and glory be given to him forever and always! Amen.

What a remarkable reversal!

The persecutor became the proclaimer.

The sinner became the saint.

The faithless one became the leader of the faithful.

The Lord’s favor was poured out over Saul, and he received the faithfulness and love that are in Christ Jesus. Endless patience won out.

What do you have in your past that either enables or hinders you from sharing the gospel? Paul’s story is a powerful reminder of the power of forgiveness of sin to wash away all of our transgressions. It is also a good reminder to us that God loves every sinner and shows mercy and patience to all. When we sit in judgment of other people’s sins, we sit outside of God’s great plan to bring Jesus into the world to save sinners. All the doors of redemption must be left open for the Sauls to come in.

If the “biggest sinner of all” can be made new and whole through the mercy and grace of the Lord, so can the rest of us.

Do you have a story of a past that was changed? With God’s help, you can do great things.

Go and tell!

Poured Out by Kathy Schumacher

snOBX

Posted on by Betsy

Last week’s massive snow storm hit the Outer Banks like a Super Bowl linebacker on cocaine. Upwards of 12 inches of snow were dumped during hurricane force winds, leaving homes without heat, power, internet, or even a way to get out of the driveway. Down in Buxton, four more beach houses fell into the ocean due to incredible storm surges and flooding. This makes twenty houses claimed by the sea since September. Highway 12 and the northern part of Ocracoke were closed. It was an Armageddon in real time, serving up challenge after challenge to our frail barrier islands. And the challenges remain, as we are a beach area with minimal snow removal equipment.

Outer Bankers are hearty people who are used to storms, and it was inspiring to see the community reaching out to support one another. An older couple in my church went without heat for hours. Once that was posted on Facebook, another family in the church quickly opened their home to the couple and their cat. Immediately, another church member offered transportation with their four-wheel drive vehicle. The local Stack ‘Em High Pancakes and More restaurant delivered hot meals to the Dominion Power workers who risked life and limb to restore power to the blacked out neighborhoods. The owner of the restaurant risked life and limb to deliver the food during the worst of the storm. Churches quickly pivoted to online worship services. The fire station where I serve as a volunteer chaplain was staffed overnight by volunteers who sheltered in the bunk room so that they could immediately respond to emergencies. Suddenly all of our political differences and arguments fell by the wayside, and we became one united community. Why, oh why, does it take a disaster for us to come to our senses?

Paul was no stranger to a community divided.

1 Corinthians 1 (The Message)

10 I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.

Paul had to deal with divisions and arguments in the church at Corinth. People had taken sides and claimed that their conversions were superior to other people’s conversions based on who it was who had converted them. In other words, they had fallen into personality cults and thought their leader was so worthy of their loyalty and worship that they then had the right to look down on anyone who didn’t follow the same person.

Sound familiar?

Paul stepped in and urged them to drop their faux followings and follow only Jesus, the Master. He demanded that they learn to be considerate of one another. He required them to cultivate a life in common, much like we do when disaster hits and we reach out to a neighbor.

The people of the Outer Banks set a beautiful example of selfless community response during this recent weather event. That’s what we do and who we are.

Now if only we could all learn to do this without the storm.

Stormy Weather by Kristine Kiousis

“Got It.”

Posted on by Betsy

The new Alexa voice is sassy. Suddenly this appliance with which we have grown so comfortable has now become a petulant teenager who rolls her eyes, stamps her foot and exhales an exasperated “Got it!” in place of her former soothing “Okay.” A month or so ago we were pestered by old Alexa to try her new version, Alexa Plus, but we resisted. Alexa, you were fine just the way you were. Leave us alone. But somehow, without bidding, her tone has changed and now we get flippant Alexa whenever we politely ask her to turn on the lights. Got it! For real, Alexa?

Tone is everything isn’t it?

Having survived the nuclear winter that is raising teenage girls, I stand battered and bruised but still breathing in full assurance that tone is everything. When your once sweet little girl suddenly becomes Satan’s spawn and a simple inquiry about her breakfast preferences results in a scorched-earth reply, you realize that both your tone and her tone are important. Fortunately teenagers eventually grow out of their recalcitrant phase and parents eventually grow back their singed eyebrows. But inflection, timing, and word choice still matter.

Paul knew something about this.

Colossians 4:6 (Common English Bible)

6 Your speech should always be gracious and sprinkled with insight so that you may know how to respond to every person.

In his letter to the church in Colosse, Paul addressed the issue of public witness and the impact the church was making on non-believers. There was an issue of internal heresy going around the church and Paul was trying to address that while also reminding them that everything they said and did on the street was a direct reflection of their Christian walk. The community was watching and the witness of the gospel was suffering. He reminded them that their speech must be both grace-filled as people who have received the grace of God and gracious as people who have been sent forth to tell of that grace.

Christian conversation must be both filled with charm and sprinkled with wit so that it might be winsome to those who don’t believe. Sanctimonious declarations that sound dull and preachy will not convert the world. Neither will Christians who engage in hate speech or blatantly support hate groups and hate agendas. One of the greatest challenges of this generation of witnesses is to be careful not to post or proclaim anything that contradicts the teachings of our gentle Savior. People are watching! Jesus is watching.

How are you revealing the risen Christ in your conversations? Does your tone reflect his unconditional love for everyone? Are your posts something Jesus would be proud of ? Will they know you are Christian by your love?

Words matter. Tone matters. Intention matters. Your witness matters. If you can’t say something nice, maybe shut up.

Got it?

Morning Conversation

Sidelights and Stern Lights

Posted on by Betsy

Sunset in Colington Harbour brings all of the boats back into port. Stately masted sailboats and little junkie pontoons all turn away from their day-trippy cruises and head back for the safety of secure slips and backyard docks. The ones who stay longest on the sound until the very last vestige of sunlight has slipped over the horizon have to return by the illumination of their boat’s running lights.

Running lights are regulated and have to comply with local guidelines. For example, port sidelights are red, starboard sidelights are green, and both shine from dead ahead to 112.5° aft on either side. Stern lights are white and shine aft and 67.5° forward on each side. This means that stern lights and sidelights form a complete circle of light around the bottom of the boat.

Running lights help us find our way home in the dark. So does Jesus.

Matthew 4  (New International Version)

12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

    the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,

    Galilee of the Gentiles—

the people living in darkness

    have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of the shadow of death

    a light has dawned.”

17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

The people living in darkness have seen a great light. This prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled by Jesus’ birth. In this passage, Jesus has just left the desert where Satan has tempted him three times, and he is now beginning his ministry on earth.

There is a connection between the “great light” reference and vs.17. The great light we are invited to see is the kingdom of God that Christ is ushering in. He brings the kingdom of God to earth with his incarnation, and the shadow of death is forever gone.

But don’t miss the point. Repentance is the point. Jesus’ first-ever sermon was a call to repentance. It wasn’t about forgiveness. It wasn’t about love. It wasn’t about eternity, or how to treat people, or giving to the poor. It was about repentance.

How often we would prefer to skip that step! Repentance is hard, because it means a complete turning away from the sin you have been committing. It is not just being sorry, but a total reversal of that behavior or practice that has broken you away from God and others. If you go back and repeat that behavior again, you didn’t really repent. You may have felt bad, but you didn’t repent.

Christ calls us to true repentance so that we can be cleansed and made new. With true repentance, we are freed of the chains of our sinful behavior and can walk unencumbered toward the cross. When we confess and repent, a new creation is born in us, and our slate is wiped clean.

Where is God calling you to repent today? What horrible thing have you been carrying around like a millstone on your neck for way too long? It is time to be set free. It is time to be ransomed. Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near. 

It is time to come home from the dark.

Colington Sunset by Stacy Murphy

Shipwrecks and Survival

Posted on by Betsy

Littered every five to seven miles along the coastline, the Outer Banks’ famous Lifesaving Stations stand tall as reminders of a long ago era of shipwrecks and survival. Known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” this area of the North Carolina coast is particularly hazardous for ships. The confluence of the warm waters from the Gulf of Mexico mixing with the cold Labrador Current makes the sea here particularly turbulent. Add the hidden sand bars, rough shoals, and unpredictable weather, and you can see what makes this part of the coastline treacherous.

In the days before electronic communication and GPS navigation, ships depended on the efforts of coastal lighthouse keepers and rescue surfmen stationed at these places to stay alive. The Outer Banks has a rich maritime history that includes famous shipwrecks, pirates, Civil War activity, World War II German U-Boats, sunken ironclad ships, and the like. Many people died off this coastline, but many others were saved.

Take a look at this passage from Paul where he reveals part of his own lifesaving strategy:

1 Corinthians 9 (NIV)

Paul’s Use of His Freedom

19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

I have always loved how Paul used all the facets of who he was to woo others to who Jesus is. To the Jews, he was a Jew, to the Gentiles, a Gentile, to the Romans, a Roman citizen…..all in his attempt to live in and serve a culture in order to preach the gospel of salvation and be heard.

This scripture reminds us that Lifesaving Stations look different depending on the people who need saving, but they all perform the same function.

Some look like houses of worship.

Some look like rehab centers.

Some look like inner city homeless shelters.

Some look like pastors’ and counselors’ offices.

Some look like dorms that house addiction recovery groups.

Some look like AA, NA, and AL-ANON meeting rooms.

Some look like prayer ministries.

Some look like Bible Studies and small groups.

Some look like home.

God is in the lifesaving business and his opportunities for helping you are endless. Most of the challenge is to admit that you need saving. Getting to a Lifesaving Station is the next step. It can be scary, humiliating, difficult, embarrassing, expensive … and can heal you and make you whole.

There is a Lifesaving Station near you that is ready to help. How much longer will you drown?

Save yourself and get to one today.

Dare Challenge’s Life Saving Station via Facebook

Smoke and Mirrors

Posted on by Betsy

According to the CDC:

• Secondhand smoke is smoke from burning tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, or pipes.

• Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including hundreds that are toxic and about 70 that can cause cancer.

I am a victim of second hand smoke. My parents both smoked cigarettes when I was a child, and I have strong and unpleasant memories of a care-giver who watched me while my mother worked. She was a chain smoker. I remember riding in her car in the New Jersey winters with all the windows shut, breathing in her cigarette smoke as we ran errands in her VW bug.

I have had respiratory issues all my life. Coincidence or exposure?

It occurs to me that there are other ways of encountering second hand smoke, as in the kind of smoke that comes with mirrors, or the smoke that someone tries to “blow up your chimney.” In this context, smoke is understood as “the obscuring or embellishing of the truth of a situation with misleading or irrelevant information.”

Does this sound like the news? On any platform?

Essentially we are all victims of second hand smoke and mirrors. Nobody delivers the news any more. Nobody is telling the truth. It is all opinion, innuendo, and click-bait. Where is Walter Cronkite when you need him? The truth is obscured, misleading, and irrelevant. Today’s news can make you heart-sick. 

And it is definitely toxic.

So what is truth? Truth is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, heart, and the very being of God. Truth is God, expressed.

Psalm 25 New International Version (NIV)

In you, Lord my God,
    I put my trust.

2 I trust in you;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3 No one who hopes in you
    will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
    who are treacherous without cause.

4 Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long.

God alone is our only source of truth.

God alone is our savior.

In this age of constant confusion, lies, misdirection, second hand smoke, and cracked mirrors, our only hope is for God to guide our path, teach us truth, and to show us the way.

1 Corinthians 15 The Message

If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.

But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.

That’s the truth. You can stake your life on it. All the rest will all pass away. The troubles, trials, and fabrications of this world will all bow down to the truth of Christ-resurrected.

When that time comes, do you think anyone will care about today’s headlines? What is trending on TikTok? What is going viral on Facebook or YouTube?

Nope. All that will wither away in the face of truth.

So stop spending your day inhaling the toxic fumes of untruth of what is currently playing on the news. Quit logging in to the shattered mirror of social media. Turn your eyes instead upon Jesus. 

And the truth will set you free.

Smoke by Michelle Robertson