Life ebbs and flows. It spans the highest of mountains and the lowest of valleys. Some days leave us feeling on top of the world; others at the pit of despair. Circumstances dictate far too many aspects of our lives, and often direct our ascent to joy or fall into anguish.
Many of us neglect to realize that events themselves are neutral. Situations happen and we run into a myriad of them every day without escape. But they only force reactions; they don’t mandate them.
In other words, we control the rudder that directs our state of mind through the murky waters of life. We choose to stand or fall, turn right or left, fight or retreat. Life throws us tidal waves and sunshine, but only we determine how either will impact us.
Sunshine and clear skies rarely throw us into pits of depression, but tidal waves and ravaging storms do. We’re so finicky. When life sails smoothly, we bask in joy and our light hearts bounce with glee. When life stumbles upon rough waters, we look for someone to blame and throw pity parties until the storm passes.
God usually finds Himself the recipient of our fits. We wrestle with, celebrate, blame, praise, question, and shake our fists at Him depending on our circumstances; though the volume of our communication with Him normally reserves itself for stormy waters.
The greater the storm, the louder our voices of protest resound. Or in an attempt to get back at Him we succumb to silence, erroneously thinking our silence can manipulate Him into doing what we want. Either way, God bears the brunt of our blame, when He should be the recipient of our praise.
One man in the Old Testament whose life attests to these truths is Elijah. God anointed Elijah as His prophet and ordained his life to accomplish mighty purposes for His name. Probably the most famous account of Elijah’s life reflects the throw down at Mt. Carmel between God (with Elijah) and Baal (with his prophets).
God disintegrates any possibility of Baal’s deity through a display of unhindered glory—thrusting fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice Elijah prepared. (Baal’s prophets failed to call down fire after hours of begging and slashing themselves with knives to appease him). Everyone acknowledges God as Lord and Elijah experiences a spiritual high that puts most of ours to utter shame.
The high continues with Elijah’s call of rain to end after years of drought. Being in God’s sweet spot for your life renders a sense of spiritual euphoria beyond imagination. Elijah experienced his sweet spot to degrees hardly imaginable to us. Sailing through his life then resounded perfection—far beyond mere mediocrity and pleasantness.
With such a backdrop, chapter 19 of 1 Kings surfaces. King Ahab (the one whose god Baal just got pummeled by God Almighty on Mt. Carmel) recounts the event to his wife, Jezebel, who’s not thrilled with the news. Infuriated, she sends a messenger to Elijah to communicate a promise of death. Elijah receives the news (remember, he’s just experienced an intense spiritual high) and reacts to Jezebel’s threat contrary to expectation.
He was afraid and arose and ran for his life. (1 Kings 19:3a)
Instead of standing firm and claiming God’s protection, Elijah freaks out. He wines, complains, and sinks so far as to beg God to take his life. He arrogantly believes that he’s the only one left who believes in God and decides life isn’t worth living anymore. To wit, the depth of his pity party matches the height of his spiritual euphoria just a couple of days before.
Elijah’s story encompasses the schizophrenia of our relationships with God more than we’d like to admit. When life overflows with sunshine and peachiness, our walks with God are sweet and satisfying. But when life ushers a storm into our presence, we turn abruptly and throw parties of pity unmatched by Hollywood’s most dramatic.
Does God change with circumstances? Do His attributes mutate with the ebbs and flows of life happenings—good and bad? Hardly! God alone remains consistent, tried, and true. He alone secures us in His truth as our Rock and Strong Tower. But the manifestation of His power into our minds depends on what we choose to believe.
Elijah, like so many of us, accepted God’s power, truth, and love when life steered according to plan. But the second events changed, his reserve did too. He (consciously or not) traded belief in God for belief in himself—he doubted God’s ability to save and decided running away was his best bet.
The circumstances changed, but God didn’t. Elijah changed his mind; yet God refused to change His accordingly. Despite Elijah’s schizophrenic tendencies, God patiently wooed him and reestablished His anointing on Elijah’s life.
And behold the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing…”                                1 Kings 19:11-12
He loves us. His love reaches far beyond our capability of screwing up. He loves independently of our response, and His comfort engulfs us even if we can’t recognize it. Life’s about Him, not about us. We do ourselves a favor to recognize that and interpret circumstances through the clear lens of His sovereignty rather than the broken, sin-saturated lenses of this world.
He works out His gospel through both smooth sailing and murky waters. Our lives exist to extend the glory of His gospel, and we only embrace such a calling when we realize its grand scope in comparison to our frail lives. Get out of your box and embrace His. Let His gospel dictate your reactions to life’s circumstances, not the other way around. And never doubt in the dark what God shows you in the light.

Reality TV reveals the most egregious pitfalls of humanity. We waste hours of our lives watching programs that arguably decrease the amount of brain cells in our otherwise functioning brains. Some of us watch shows dedicated to stalking rich families as they engage in outrageous drama, while others stare with gruesome curiosity at scenes within a home whose owner is a hoarder.
Of course, reality TV isn’t the only form of debilitating nonsense available on TV or in media at large. Soap operas, gossip magazines, various forms of music and talk shows hypnotize us with their warped perceptions of reality just the same.
One box-like electronic device sitting in homes enslaves families and transforms minds into waste dumps. Magazines lying casually on tables reach into our minds and captivate them with the material being advertised. Music flowing throughout a room or car wraps itself around our thoughts and injects the content into our perspectives and worldviews.
Media is powerful. It at once sucks us in, repulses us, informs us, twists our perspectives, encourages us, enrages us, and draws out every emotion conceivable. Most of the time, this remains an unseen process. Our reactions to media aren’t often conscious; we simply find ourselves as bait being pulled through murky waters.
Before we get too carried away, media is not inherently immoral. Some outlets are, to be sure, but others remain morally neutral (like sports), and a small few actually dedicate themselves to spiritual growth and maturity.
Engaging in media does not ban us to hell. God doesn’t hate us or think we’re less spiritual if we watch TV, nor are we condemned for listening to rap music or dancing. (King David danced all the time by the way, but that’s another topic for another time.)
Though powerful, media itself is neutral. Our job is to discern how best to engage it.
Exercising our Christian faith is like walking up a downward escalator. As bona fide sinners and justified saints, we wrestle with the Romans 7 tension of walking in accordance with the Gospel while tripping over potholes and boulders thrown at us from the enemy. We often act like we don’t want to, and then don’t act the way we want to. We get confused, disoriented, turned-round and thrown up-side down.
The only way to remain in Christ (and consequently run from sin) is to abide in Christ via the Gospel. That means immersing ourselves daily in His truth and saturating our minds with His plans and purposes.
Media plays a huge role in our conquests of faith. More often than not, it proves to be an agent distracting us from the Gospel. Instead of contemplating on the truths of Scripture, we squander our time by filling our minds with worthless information, empty plotlines, and transparent worldly promises.
Our lives are short. We receive very little time on earth to engage and thrive in faith. We’re given one chance to learn about the greatest display of love and grace this world has ever known (the Gospel), and one designated amount of time to respond to it. Reponses range in size and form, including our rest and work, fun and discipline, freedom and discernment.
The challenge we face with media is one of balance and purpose. Is our time with media held in proper balance to the rest of our lives? Do we find ourselves engaging more with it than we do with our families and/or with God?
Are we being purposeful with media or are we letting it define our purpose? Are we diligently discerning the media outlets we fancy? Or do we watch, listen, and read whatever we want whenever we want without a critical view?
The under girding question in our relationships with media is this:
Is media a means through which we worship or an end in which God is ignored?
It can’t be both. As Paul states in Romans 8, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”
All media should be used to zoom in our focus to Christ, not divert our attention to the peripheral vision of our perishing world. Ask Him to shift your focus to Christ first using any method available—even media. Let Him be the end we pursue, and media remain a means through which it’s accomplished.

Patience ranks high among virtues, just not virtues common to Americans. Fast-paced-give-it-to-me-now living ravages America and impartially reaches to church families within. Moving brands us with its distinctive mark, and we often find ourselves impatient as a result.
Waiting five seconds for a car to accelerate when the light turns green causes our blood to start boiling. Shopping warps itself into a hunting experience—especially during the holiday season. Parking lots display the depravity of human functioning, busy stores reveal the impetuous nature of their clientele, and we target check-out lines like prey—looking for the shortest ones to pounce on.
Even the most uncompetitive of citizens discovers their impatient vice when thrust into stressful situations. We invest time, energy, and finances into making our images appear cool, calm and composed. But get us in the crosshairs of the taut, and we crumble into insecure, tantrum-throwing individuals who refuse to stop until we get our way.
Now, tantrums manifest themselves in many shapes and sizes. No once-size-fits-all tagline applies to the conniption fits we exercise when life happens in un-us-approved ways. Some of us turn inward and critical—judging everyone we see and holding them to a self-imposed standard of acceptance. Others lash out bearing remarkable resemblance to a two year-old embarking on his quest to make his parents miserable.
Regardless of venue, all of us throw tantrums of impatience that result in hurt and pain—mostly to ourselves.
FAUX ENTITLEMENT
Behind every tantrum—big or small, quiet or loud, conscience or not—lurks a sense of entitlement. We throw fits first and foremost because we don’t get our way. If someone cuts in front of us in line we get upset because we feel entitled to that spot. We erroneously think we deserve it because we stood there first. If someone takes it, we subconsciously translate their action personally as if their mission in life is to make ours miserable. In reality, that individual remains clueless to their action (after all, many people live in the realm of oblivion). But their ignorance matters not because we’re too entrenched in our own psyches of entitlement to recognize their oblivion and let it go.
All human entitlement exists only in the minds of fallen sinners. It’s simply a false premise. Sin consumes our deepest core making us entitled to only one entity—hell. Sounds harsh, thanks to society saturates which us with the false premise of our goodness and “rights” as individuals. Surprise surprise, society misses the mark.
The truth of Scripture (albeit depressing) asserts our entitlement to nothing except the hell we deserve as punishment for our sin. Of course, the depth of despair realized in this point fades away when acknowledging the all-encompassing nature of God’s grace through the Gospel. Jesus Christ traded places with us. He became our punishment so we could receive the eternal life and blessings with God He secured for us long ago.
Our entitlement in anything rests in Christ’s entitlement of glory. Christ deserves everything, and in Him we receive the blessings of His entitlement. Sin strips us of deserving anything good in this world, but God’s grace through Christ bestows good upon us anyway not because we deserve it, but because we stand in the sacrifice of the only One who does.
 GOD’S PLAN
These truths flesh out with immense ramifications in our lives, particularly in our dealings with society. But one more piece must be addressed to complete the antidote to impatience and frustration.
If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you…these things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.
John 15: 18-19; 6:33
Jesus clarifies a HUGE truth in these verses…our expectations of life in this world must mirror His. Only Jesus deserves God’s unhindered blessing and favor. Said blessing and favor transfer to us because we rest in the finished sacrifice of Christ and His Gospel. BUT this world is not the venue God chooses to unleash His blessing and favor to us.
 When we accept Christ personally as our Lord and Savior, we receive citizenship in heaven and begin investing in eternity first, in this world second. Our expectations in this world (should) reflect that. This world rejected Christ; we should expect no different.
Such readjusted expectations jerk the rug of faux entitlement out from beneath of feet. Every time we prize truth in Christ above the lies of this world, we receive peace. No circumstance, tragedy, crisis or trial strips us of the peace God offers us in Christ as we rest in His promise of hope and courage for overcoming the world.
WAITING…
Unfortunately peace infrequently alleviates pain during hardships in life. Knowing truth rarely translates into experiencing the joy God offers us without extensive help. Just because we know life will trip us up with pain hardly makes experiencing it a gleeful event.
Times of intense pain thrust us into the tension of faith—believing what we can’t see. We exercise faith in situations forcing us to trust God’s heart when we can’t see His hands. The process painfully awakens us to the reality of sin and its gross consequences. We cry, struggle, question God and plead with Him for answers, all too often only to discover His silence for a time.
The option afforded us is patience. We wait on the Lord, trusting His heart and promises while He carries us through the pain and chaos. Times like these force us to break away from faux entitlement and realize our identity and purpose in Christ. Surrendering to Him may not ease the pain like we desire, but He will submerge us in His peace and comfort.
Hurry up and wait on Jesus. Embrace His truth to the degree of forfeiting any sense of faux entitlement you’ve erroneously accumulated from this world. Look beyond this world to Him and let His truth be the lenses through which you perceive this life and all its pain. It won’t be easy, but it’s only worth it.

Christians share many attributes in common with non-Christians (we’re all people, after all). One particularly futile attribute we wrestle with regards our fascination with the unknown, particularly our future. Most of us stand ready to trade treasured items for a glimpse into our futures (should the opportunity present itself). Our calls may not flood psychic hotlines, but the thought crosses our minds and we strive after any clue or hint of evidence that may serve as a portal into the future.
Our fascination with the future betrays hidden transgressions in our hearts, such as lack of trust in God or ill contentment with our current lives. We convince ourselves all worries would melt away if we only knew what the future held. Knowing the future creates greater opportunity for trusting God and submitting to His will, we believe. Surely knowing His glorious purposes for our lives grows our faith and increases our love for Him a hundred-fold!
A man named Hosea might disagree. Hosea prophesied God’s truth to a kingdom whose tenants flagrantly turned their backs on their Savior. The life of a prophet in the Old Testament hardly qualified as a desirable occupation; Hosea’s amplified that reputation.
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.”
Hosea 1:2 
Before letting romantic tingles consume your emotion-prone heart, God’s command to Hosea bears no romance. Hosea marries a prostitute, not out of love or an enthralling story of rescue, but because he’s commanded to do so by the Lord. Love at first sight evaded Hosea and his wife. Their marriage mirrored God’s “marriage” to His people Israel (not a lovely relationship by any means).
Hosea’s understanding of his marriage and purpose therein stood clear. God cued Hosea into His plan and purposes—how He intended to carry out His will in and through Hosea’s life and marriage. Did Hosea embrace this calling with open arms and an eager heart? Seems unlikely. His obedience divulges the depth of his faith in God, but moving forward in such a situation could not have been easy.
Other lives in Scripture reveal the less than glamorous appeal of knowing the future before it happens as well. Consider John the Baptist. He received no divine insight into his future regarding specific happenings, yet arguably preferred it that way if given the choice. We often admire John the Baptist with slight envy when contemplating his life. But what about the way it ended?
But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod, so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Having been prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests. He sent and had John beheaded in prison.
Matthew 14:6-10
Do we envy his death—beheaded by a vindictive queen at the drunken pledge by the king?
If God allowed John the Baptist to behold all his future, would he pursue Christ as wholeheartedly? No one possesses insight to answer such a question, but it creates an opportunity for deep reflection regardless. Chances remain solid that martyrdom evades most of our futures. But martyrdom scarcely echoes the only form of tribulation we encounter on earth.
God’s silence about our individual futures actually constitutes as a measure of grace. Uncertainty of details allows us to enjoy the ride far more than intimate knowledge would. On one hand, He spares us from the dread of impending rough patches. On the other hand, we receive the blessing of enriched spontaneity when blessings rain down in blissful drops—one after the other.
Remaining unaware of the specific revelation of our future mostly ends well. We enjoy life far more exercising our trust and faith in God than we would if we seized a portal of the inevitable.
However, what we lack in vision regarding specific revelation of our individual lives, God makes up for in general revelation of the Gospel and our future in Him. We may hobble about in life from one trial to the next, but through every hardship we face we possess inexplicable peace derived from certainty in our ultimate destiny.
Knowing our ultimate future in God secured in the sacrifice in Christ permits us to live life to the fullest here and now. Because Jesus overcame the world and currently waits to consummate the kingdom He inaugurated in His first coming, we live in His victory. The world controls its own, and we belong not to the world, but to its Creator. Our eternal future lies in His incomprehensible grace guarded by the impenetrable covering of Christ’s sacrifice through the Gospel.
In light of our everlasting future in glory, knowing details that die with this life ceases to matter. Let the omniscient One know enough for you. Trust His heart and Word even when you can’t trace His hand. Enjoy the beautiful, enthralling life He yearns to walk you through. That’s all you really need (and ever want) to know.

Did you know…

• The earth’s circumference at the equator is 24,901.55 miles?
• The earth’s circumference between the north and south poles is 24,859.82 miles?
• The earth’s population is around 7 billion?
• That 70% of all the earth’s surface is covered in water, and oceans hold 96.5% of all water?
• There are 196 countries in the world?

Though children absorb most of this information in their elementary school years, these facts still entice us to awe if reflected upon. We live on a massive planet comparative to our size, and most of it remains underdeveloped.

Yet, because of technology and modern advancements, the world stands at our fingertips. Transportation enables us to travel faster than ever; planes travel the width of the world in mere hours. Information transformed from dusty books standing on library shelves to keyboards and mouse clicks. What used to take people hours to research now requires but a click of a mouse before instantaneously appearing on a conveniently perched screen.

We’ve somehow found ourselves in a small world. Adventures transformed from physical endeavors to ones in cyberspace. We’re at once capable of doing more than our grandparents ever dreamed of, yet find ourselves bored and stagnant.
What happened? Have we become so disillusioned in our technological capabilities that we overlook eternal perspective?

I fear we have.

Technology, though fabulous (trust me, I’m the kind of girl who took a cordless curling iron to a camping trip on the beach), renders unfortunate side effects that dull our minds and stipend our hunger for the eternal.

Ancient peoples looked to gods because to explain earthly phenomenon. They believed rain to be a blessing and a drought to be a curse—both directed at them personally. A simple life required simple faith and simple belief.

Such belief fails miserably today. A modern world requires modern answers. Educated people require answers fitting within their educated perspectives. Or so we think.
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Religions evolve like technology; but the one who remains the same regardless of past, present and future is Jesus. Jesus alone answers the tribal native in the jungles of Brazil and the CEO of America’s fastest growing company. Jesus’ story reaches the ghettos of inner cities and the palaces of esteemed royalty.