“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” – Judges 21:25

The people of Israel failed to embrace God as their king, which was a required “part of the deal” in their covenant with God. The book of Judges reveals the terrible effects of that rejection of God’s authority: tribalism, idolatry, mistrust and abuse of others, misplaced loyalty, violence, sexual sin, moral relativism, human trafficking, human degradation, destruction, and civil war.

That sounds a lot like where we are today as we see and consume the poisoned fruit of radical autonomy’s mantra, “you do you, I’ll do me.” As followers of Christ, we must recognize that the way out of this is for everyone to recognize and obey the Lordship of Jesus. But wait before hitting the like button…

The way out of this mess begins with Christians really, truly committing to stop doing whatever seems right in our own eyes and truly kneel in submission before King Jesus. We need to get our own hearts, lives, and priorities right first.

Then we must do what we’ve been commanded to do by our King: make disciples of Him. If you lament the state of your country and long for her to be a “Christian” nation, please understand that biblically that isn’t a thing. Not in the New Testament. Countries aren’t Christian, people are.

A nation is Christian when all its citizens genuinely embrace Christ. The solution to our problems isn’t to “fix the country” or return to some past golden age. The solution is for followers of Christ to reach individuals, millions of individuals reached one at a time with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do need to fix our broken culture and fallen world, but we don’t get to outsource that hard work to politicians or parties, because the solution isn’t political, it’s gospel. It’s not national, it’s personal.

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” – John 8:12

Even as light streams through the window and birds chirp on a spring morning, we must acknowledge that this is a dark world. There is the darkness of uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, finances, safety, health, freedom, policy, facts, and even truth itself. There is the darkness of loneliness, fear, despair, and depression. There is the darkness of anger, hatred, evil, and death very much at work in the world.

The more we try to figure things out ourselves and chart our own course, the deeper we eventually wind up in the darkness. But there is light! There is light available to all who embrace it: the light of Jesus Christ. Embrace Him as Lord and Savior. If you truly follow Him and what He taught as you navigate this dark and uncertain world, you will stay in the light. Jesus brings light into the dark places and when we follow Him, His light is always with us.

We will still have seasons of uncertainty, confusion, doubt, and despair. The darkness will always try to surround us. In those times we must resolve to simply follow Jesus – despite our uncertainty, confusion, doubt, and despair. Rather than wander off, we must follow closer in faith. Even when we don’t understand why He leads us as He does, we must commit to follow Him and we’ll eventually realize that as we do, we were and are, always in the light.

“And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’” – John 8:7

Sin is very serious and must be dealt with. And it has been. The point Jesus so vividly teaches is that everyone has a sin problem – we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and standard for our lives (Romans 3:23). That’s a very, very serious problem because the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). On the topic of sin, we must look at ourselves before looking at others. Rather than condemning someone to die for his or her sin, we need to truly realize that we deserve eternal death for our sin, yet Christ was condemned to die for it instead.

Our sin separated us from God, leaving us spiritually dead. On our own, we cannot permanently defeat our sin, much less pay the penalty for it. However, Christ died on the cross to pay our penalty and to defeat the power of sin over us. He never sinned, but died so that in God’s judgment we would be forgiven for our sins. This is the gift of God’s grace that’s given to everyone who truly believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior. As we become more keenly aware of our sin and Who dealt with it for us, it should move us from a heart of condemnation to a heart of restoration toward those still trapped in their sin. We should desire to offer that gift of grace to those who, like us, are sinful. We are not to turn a blind eye toward sin, but rather in recognizing it, we must offer the life-giving cure for sin, rather than the life-robbing condemnation of a fellow sinner.

“The Jews therefore marveled, saying, ‘How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?’ So Jesus answered them, ‘My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.’” – John 7:15-16

Though we certainly aren’t Jesus, there is a valuable lesson here for every follower of Christ. We don’t have to be as wise as God to sound wise – we simply need to speak the Word of God. Because of the power of God’s Word, we don’t have to be the smartest or best educated person in the room to speak, teach, and give advice impactfully. Indeed, some of the smartest people wind up looking ridiculous as they strain all belief and contort all logic to evade, distort, or dismiss God’s Word and wisdom.

Invest effort in knowing, speaking, and doing God’s Word. Make that effort daily and keep at it week after week, month after month, year after year. One day you’ll look up and be surprised as where you are compared to where you once were. People will marvel at your knowledge and wisdom and like Jesus you can respond, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.”

“But he said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’” – John 6:20

There was a lot going on in that moment on a dark and storm-tossed Sea of Galilee. It bears reflecting on, because it speaks to our moment…

The disciples were in a small boat, in the pitch dark of night, exhausted after hours of rowing, uncertain when their ordeal would ever end, and afraid for their lives. In the midst of all that, Jesus appears and says they don’t need to be afraid, because He’s now with them. As followers of Christ, He is always with us in the midst of every storm. The storm may hurt us. The storm may even claim our life. But we don’t need to be afraid in the storm, because Christ is with us. “It is I; do not be afraid.”

The disciples were in that boat in that storm because Jesus put them there. They were there in obedience to Him. Sometimes Jesus will put us into very difficult and frightening situations. He will call us to do exhausting and dangerous things and we must do them. But we don’t need to be afraid of them, because He’s there with us. “It is I; do not be afraid.”

The disciples were particularly afraid of Jesus in that moment, because He appeared in a completely unexpected way (walking on the water in the middle of the night). Jesus will act unexpectedly at times. As C.S. Lewis said of Aslan, the Christ-figure in the Chronicles of Narnia, He is not a tame lion. Despite our popular and pleasant images, Jesus is the sovereign king of the universe, not merely a buddy we get to direct as we please. His ways are not our ways. His wisdom and power go infinitely far beyond ours. He will do things we don’t understand, and He will ask us to do things that are difficult, confusing, and dangerous. He asks us to change in ways that feel deeply uncomfortable and even painful, ripping around who we thought we were so that we can become who we were created to be. We need to trust Him and His good will and plans for us, following His lead, making the needed changes, and living in obedience. “It is I; do not be afraid.”