Highlights: How to Cope with a Life That’s Too Short

Psalm 90 (Part 1) : Finding God in the Psalms

Two responses to the brevity of life:

Resignation: Learn to accept the brutal reality of a life that’s too short. Admit defeat.

Resistance - Affirm that there IS something wrong with the way things are. Death is a tyrant. An enemy to be defeated.

Our hope (is) finally to emerge from the tyranny (of time), the poverty of time, to ride it not to be ridden by it. We are so little reconciled to time that we are even astonished at it. “How he’s grown!” We exclaim, “How time flies!” As though the universal form of our experience were again and again a novelty. It’s as strange as if a fish were repeatedly surprised at the wetness of water. And that would be strange indeed; unless, of course, the fish were destined to become, one day, a land animal. (Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis)

Is God really angry?

There is both love and anger, both mercy and judgment throughout the whole Bible.

When we love someone - a parent, spouse, child, friend - and they’re being harmed by someone else, isn’t it normal and healthy for us to feel anger? Why would we apply a different standard to God?

Though I used to complain about the indecency of the idea of God’s wrath, I came to think that I would have to rebel against a God who wasn’t wrathful at the sight of the world’s evil. God isn’t wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful because God is love. (Miroslav Wolf)

God’s anger is not the same as our anger. it’s always at the right thing, at the right time and to the right extent. It’s judicial anger. It’s measured. It’s appropriate. In fact, it’s necessary for the well-being of the world.

But the death sentence we are under is not simply a punishment. It’s actually a mercy. A severe mercy, but a mercy, nonetheless.

1. Death is a natural consequence of sin.
2. Death limits the damage that can be done by human sin.
3. Death sends us a message: Something is horribly wrong.

He whispers to us in our pleasures, he speaks to us through our conscience, but he shouts to us in our pain

4. Death means we can only procrastinate for so long.
5. Death is the door to our eternal home.
6. The cross of Christ is proof of God’s loving purpose.

Whatever game God may be playing with the world...He’s playing by the same rules. (The Problem of Pain, C.S.Lewis)

Life in this world is the mere cover and title page of the great story, which none of us on earth has ever read, which goes on forever and ever and in which every chapter will be better than the one before? (Narnia Chronicles - The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis)

Highlights: The Pathway to Paradise - Psalm 16

Finding God in the Psalms (Episode 54)

The most unhappy people in the world are not those who have nothing, but those who have everything and have learned that it doesn’t make any difference.

Paradise is an ever-receding horizon.

Paradise is not a place, it’s a Person.

Every vision of “the life we’ve always wanted” that does not have God at the center is a mirage.

What will the Age to Come be like? The Age to Come will not be less than we now have but infinitely more! All that is golden in this life…All that is satisfying, valuable, beautiful, exhilarating, pleasurable, wonderful will not just be included in the Age to Come but will far exceed what we now experience.

There is a path of life that leads without a break into the presence of God and into eternal paradise. It’s the path of friendship with God. God is not one to give up his children, his friends. You can take that to the bank! The journey from refugee to the right hand of God begins with a choice. It requires a choice. David made his here. He swore loyalty - fealty to YHWH - the true King of Israel. “I have no good apart from you.” It’s the beginning of the path that leads to the only paradise that will ever exist. We can make that same commitment in our own time to one who is the King and Lord over all - the risen Savior, Jesus Christ. Our sworn oath of fealty to Jesus is the first step we all need to take on the path that leads to paradise.

Think of the greatest pleasures and joys of this life, the most euphoric moments. These are all just toys, stuffed animals, childish clothes and books. These are all just minuscule tokens, the tiniest of down-payments…flickering foreshadowings of far more real, robust and lasting pleasures. Because, one day we will be in his presence, where there are joys and pleasures forevermore. When God is your Father and Friend, you have it all. The reason we crave the joys and pleasures of this life is because sometimes they look a little bit like the paradise that will be ours one day in his presence.

Practicing the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence

A Game with Minutes, Frank Laubaugh

The Great Omission, Dallas Willard

Highlights - Episode 53

Fulfill Your Purpose!

Finding God in the Psalms

First - Start with Humility

Second - Connect with the Coach

To understand anthropology begin with theology. Discovering the purpose of life begins and ends with God.

When God made us in his image, it means we were created to speak and act on his behalf…on behalf of the King, as if we were him. It’s our job description! It’s to be ambassadors of the King of kings in every area of life. To bear his seal. To live like God would live if he were us.

Every true Christian practices being God. (Cyprian)

God doesn’t assign value to things based on their size. We may be small by cosmic standards, but we are…most important - far more important than we think!

Jesus was finally doing the job that you and I were originally created to do. Where the first Adam failed, he (the second Adam) succeeded. He said, “If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the father.” That should have been our tag line. In Jesus, we see the kind of person we could have been.

If you are an apprentice of Jesus, your end goal is to grow and mature into the kind of person who can say and do all the things Jesus said and did…it’s about turning your body into a temple, a place of overlap between heaven and earth…an advanced sign of what, one day, Jesus will do for the entire cosmos, when heaven and earth are at long last reunited as one… Let your body become God’s home.One day we will be creatures so radiant with the presence of God, pulsating with such love, power, wisdom, joy and life, that, if we were to see ourselves now as we will be then, we’d be tempted to worship! ( Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer)

Third - Follow His Example - He’s a Player Coach

No Roman legions would be necessary to bring about God’s kingdom…only the devotion and service of the humble who follow Jesus…The kingdom of God was launched into the world not from a palace but from a stable…not from a throne but from a cross. He’s the player coach who is the servant king…And it’s our calling…our privilege to follow his example.

Those who will change and ultimately rule the world are not the stars, but the servants.

Servanthood is intrinsic to the heart of God. No one will be comfortable in his presence who has not begun to learn the beauty and joy of servanthood.

Bibleproject.com - “Babbling Babies Rule the World” (Video and Podcast)
Heart of a Friend - “Why Am I a Christian?” (Episode 7), “A Clue to the Meaning of the Universe” (Episode 22)

Highlights - Episode 52 | Antidote to Fear

The answer for our fears is not a what, but a who.

First: Remember, God is BIGGER than our problem.

Second: Pursue your friendship with God BEFORE you face a crisis.

Third: Pray earnestly.

Fourth: Take Action.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Fifth: Say “no” to fear.
Fear knocked, faith answered and no one was there.

Sixth: Never face your fears alone.

Highlights

Live No Lies, by John Mark Comer

Deceptive ideas play to disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful society.

The Devil The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. Disinformation is at the root of almost every single problem we face in our society and our souls Soak your mind and imagination in Jesus’ truths before you are assaulted with the devil’s lies.
The Flesh Every time you think or do something it becomes easier to think or do that same thing again, and the more you repeat this process the harder it is to break the self-perpetuating cycle. Cells that fire together, wire together. At first we make our own decisions, but then our decisions make us…The lies we believe, lead to behaviors we can’t leave. What Scripture reading is to our fight with the Devil, fasting is to our fight with the flesh. For confession to yield…freedom, it must drag our sins into the light…Just the act
The World The world - a system of ideas, values, morals, practices, and social norms that are integrated into the main stream and eventually institutionalized in a culture corrupted by sin…The distorted becomes normative…If you can make it trend, you can make it true. Every follower of Jesus in every culture has to constantly ask the question, in what ways have I been assimilated into the host culture? Where have I drifted from my identity as a Christ-follower? A growing number of people are more loyal to the ideology of their political party than they are to Jesus and his teachings. We can't follow Jesus alone. And by following Jesus together, we are able to discern Jesus’ truth from the devil’s lies, help one another override our flesh…, and form a robust community of deep relationships that functions as a counterculture to the world. In doing so, we’re able to resist the gravitational pull of all three enemies of the soul. To say “yes” to Jesus invitation is to say no to 1000 other things. As the monks used to say, "every choice is a renunciation." It's 1000 tiny deaths that all lead up to one massive life. It’s… the freedom of yielding to love. It's saying to Jesus, “whatever, wherever, whenever, I am yours.

Other books by John Mark Comer: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, (2019) Practicing the Way, (2024)

Three Comer Interviews: https://careynieuwhof.com/mypodcast/ #’s 316, 440 and 626

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-carey-nieuwhof-leadership-podcast/ id912753163?i=1000507476227

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-carey-nieuwhof-leadership-podcast/ id912753163?i=1000534517644

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-carey-nieuwhof-leadership-podcast/ id912753163?i=1000642615384

Restoring the Foundations: https://restoringthefoundations.org/

Highlights: How NOT to Read the Bible (Episode 50)

The road to atheism is littered with Bibles that have been read cover to cover.

To most Christians, the Bible is like a software license. Nobody actually reads it. They just scroll to the bottom and click “I agree.”

Never Read a Bible

Verse By lifting verses out of context, they can easily be misunderstood. The story-line of the Bible must be understood so that we can see where the verse/passage/book fits into the larger over-arching story.

We need to enter their world to hear the words as the original audience would have heard them and as the author would've meant them to be understood…If we don’t the possibilities for confusion are endless.

Stranger Things

The surrounding people groups who worship other gods and goddesses practiced all kinds of evil things…God did not want Israel to become like them, so he had Moses write down loving guidelines…to keep them distinct from other nations.

God didn’t create the institution of slavery. Slavery was man-made and was everywhere in the ancient world. The Old Testament rules established unique protections for slaves. Slaves were treated much better in ancient Israel than in surrounding cultures.

Boys’ Club Christianity

When we read what Jesus did with regard to women, it should be recognized as countercultural, highly shocking, and extremely challenging to the religious leaders of his day. We see Jesus striving to change the culture he lived in through the way he treated women – with respect, dignity, and equality.

The Bible verses that at first sound misogynistic and chauvinistic have explanations.

Misunderstandings are due to not looking at the specific situations and unique culture of that time period.

Do We Have to Choose Between Science and the Bible?

The Bible teaches us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go. (Galileo)

So many of the debates within Christianity, as well as the mocking criticism of the Bible, end up being irrelevant when we accept that God wasn't providing details to satisfy questions from our modern scientific worldview. God used what the people were aware of at that time to communicate the truth about himself and his work in creating all things.

Does Christianity Claim All Other Religions Are Wrong?

Christianity is the one world faith in which people don't have to earn their way to heaven, but it is through the work of Jesus and us putting faith in him.

The Horror of God’s Old Testament Violence

If you were carefully reading the entire Old Testament, you would not find a reactionary God who needs a class in anger management, someone who strikes out randomly, without cause. Instead, you find a God who is patient – again and again – with his people. Even in the parts where God is actively behind violence and death, it is not done without first pleading for change, giving warnings, waiting for change and showing great patience.

Jesus Loved His Crazy Bible

The Bible Project Podcast (12/06/2021) Interview with Dan Kimball

The Lost World of Genesis One, John Walton

ReGenerationProject.org

What’s On My Bookshelf?
A Review: Plagues Upon the Earth, by Kyle Harper - The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse | Part 3 - Highlights

Coronaviruses and influenza viruses are the ones that we are currently worried about. H5N1 (a bird flu)...if it ever gets airborne...it’s got a 60% death rate. (Dr. Larry Brilliant, Harvard Magazine)

It is the advance of scientific knowledge, actualized by public policy and private behavior, that has given humans the advantage over microbial threats. Science and state-craft are the keys to the Great Escape.

Science

As of 1870, only a small Avant-garde of researchers believed that familiar diseases were caused by invisible living agents. But by 1900, for a scientist or medical professional to believe anything else was becoming ignorant.

The Hygiene Revolution - The principles of germ theory inspired renewed efforts to disinfect the personal and household environments.

The war against bugs - Insects that had once seemed a mere nuisance were now seen as vehicles with deadly payloads.

Chemical Control of Pathogens - Dysentery was still a major health problem in the developed world, and typhoid remained – until chlorination. The most important reason we can drink a glass of water today and not feel even a hint of dread is because it has been treated with chlorine.

Antibiotics - Starting in the 1940’s...Antibiotics delivered us from the long period of human history when the simplest wound was a mortal threat.

Vaccines - Small pox was a success story. So was the measles vaccine. The vaccine was licensed in the U.S. in 1963, and measles infections fell instantaneously. A disease that once caused 1 million cases a year in the United States was reduced to an annual incidence of fewer than 100. Globally, In the early 1980s, 2.5 million children died annually from the measles. By 2018, mortality has been reduced to 140,000 deaths.

Public Policy

Improvements in life expectancy are generated not by ideas alone but by ideas that are put into action, especially by capable governments that care about the heath of their citizens...The control of infectious disease, by its very nature, requires collective and coordinate action.

Investments in public water systems were among the largest, and might even have been the largest, public investments in American history and they had a larger impact on human mortality than any other public health initiative. The household toilet is a private portal into the sprawling subterranean circuitry quietly gathering our collective muck. Several times a day we sit astride a section of the largest and most expensive environmental infrastructure in the world – the vast underground systems of sewers and waste-water treatment plants that are a defining feature of the developed world.

The federal government erected an infrastructure for agricultural and veterinary science early on, and precocious American agro-science is an underrated storyline in the global emergence of germ theory and the biochemical control of infectious disease.

Paradoxically, we are in some ways more fragile than our ancestors, precisely because our societies depend on the level of security against infectious disease that may be unrealistic

We have much to learn from the experience of those who lived and died before us. It is urgent that we do so.

What’s On My Bookshelf?
A Review: Plagues Upon the Earth, by Kyle Harper
The Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse | Part 2

Highlights

We still have much to learn from the experience of those who lived and died before us. It is urgent that we do so. The long history of disease counsels us to expect the unexpected. The worst threat may be the one we cannot see coming.

Bubonic Plague (Black Death)
Three stages in history - The Justinian Plague (500’s A.D.), The Black Death (1300’s A.D.) and

Modern Era Plague (1890’s A.D.)

Almost anywhere the evidence in Europe is rich enough to form a quantitative impression, the Black Death carried off 50-60 percent of the population...the death toll is always staggeringly high. Although many a textbook still claims that the Black Death carried off a third of the continent, in reality, the best estimates are closer to half...In Europe alone, forty million or more might have been claimed by this bacterium. The plague is a killer in a class by itself

Small Pox

Endemic throughout the Eastern Hemisphere. Brought to the Americas by the conquistadors.

Major outbreaks of small pox occurred on Hispaniola and other islands in the Caribbean from the earliest days of discovery but then jumped from the Caribbean to the shores of Mexico in 1520. By the time Cortez approached the capital city of the Aztecs a year later, it had been “hollowed out” by the deadly disease. The small pox devastation continued along the trade routes to the north and to central and south America, having the same impact. Measles came alongside and made its way to the mainland continuing its decimation of those small pox hadn’t claimed.

In the 1700’s it accounted for 10-15% of all mortality in Europe.

As the practice of vaccination extended world-wide, small pox was finally eliminated entirely in 1977. It was a global triumph. To date, small pox is the first and only human pathogen that has been driven to extinction.

The Great Influenza (1918/1919)

Killed approximately 50,000,000 people.

One of the single most deadly events in global history. And it infected perhaps one in three persons alive, making it probably the single most coordinated rapid attack by a parasite in the history of the planet.

And the threat of future novel influenza strains, replaying the events of 1918 to 1919 remains one of the most dangerous lurking threats to human health.

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, by John Barry.