Journey to The Journey

Many of us may object to the old saying, "knowledge is power," because we don't feel very powerful. In fact, we may more often than not struggle to believe and implement what we know to be true. The struggle of fear and doubt is not something that is foreign to the Christian. If it were, then the encouragement we find in scriptures like 1 Peter would be unnecessary. Instead, God has graciously inspired men like Peter to write letters of encouragement to his people because he knows our propensity for doubting.

This week as we dove back into in our sub-series over 1 Peter, we encountered a difficult, yet aptly timed passage about submission to rulers and authorities. Opinions, when it comes to social and political issues, are like snowflakes...no two are the same. To say that we, as a culture and a nation, are deeply divided over a number of important issues is a huge understatement. The gap between blue and red is often as far as the east is from the west. This often leads to ineffective stalemates where neither side is willing to budge and progress grinds to a screeching halt. Yet, this is the system in which we live, and like it or not, we must play the hand we've been dealt. At the end of the day, I still believe America is the greatest nation in the world and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but that doesn't mean there aren't some serious problems facing our country.

In this week's message, Joe challenged us to think. He called us to think specifically in three different ways. First, we were challenged to think forward to the blessed hope we have as Christians in the gospel. Second, we were challenged to think backwards upon our past and former life; with thankful hearts and minds for the work God has been doing in redeeming and restoring us to himself in Christ. And finally, we were challenged to think upwards towards the holy God who is.

This topsy-turvy, chaotic mess is the world we live in. It often feels that there is nowhere to turn for encouragement and nothing but shifting sand beneath our feet. We aren't alone in our predicament. It's been this way throughout history. We aren't the first generation to experience this and we surely won't be the last. So, what are we to do?