Every blog needs a mascot, right? Well, maybe not every blog, but I decided this one does. Before I introduce him, a little backstory on where he came from.
Boston is one of my favorite places to visit, and when I was there in October 2022, we got this great picture of a squirrel in Boston Common. The squirrels there ignore people most of the time, instead of running away like squirrels usually do. But this one was not afraid of us at all; he walked right up and stared us down. He stayed like this long enough for us to take a picture and was still around after we walked away. For squirrels, fear of humans is a learned behavior and, in some environments, they just go about their business, unconcerned.
Ebenezer, at home in Boston Common
He was a great contrast to the “squirrel moments”[1] dogs (and people) have when they are “distracted by random nothingness.” The Facebook page where I share this blog is called “A place to inject hopeful reminders of eternity into the distraction that is Facebook.” I’ve used this squirrel as my social media picture before to joke that it was the best way to draw attention, and if people are easily distracted by squirrels, why not use one to distract people toward the blog?
So, this squirrel is now the mascot for Driving Toward Morning! But he needs a name. What to call him?
Meet Ebenezer Many people know the name Ebenezer from Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, but in the Bible an Ebenezer is a stone monument constructed as a tangible and visible reminder of God’s past help for His people. Ebenezer means “stone of help,” and such monuments were built in Genesis 28:18, 35:14, Joshua 4:9, 1 Samuel 7:12 and elsewhere. Only this morning did I make the connection that when I write, I’m often trying to create a type of written Ebenezer.
For example, inspired by a devotional about Ephesians 2:4, I wrote a post about the power of the words “but God.” In it, James Montgomery Boice says: “The words ‘but God’ show what God has done. If you understand those two words – ‘but God’ – they will save your soul. If you recall them daily and live by them, they will transform your life completely.”[2]
So, I’ve decided to name him “Ebenezer, the ‘But God…’ Squirrel,” but you can just call him Ebenezer. Whenever I see Ebenezer, I hope to be pulled back into awareness of God’s help when I am distracted or frustrated. I hope to be reminded to store up treasure in heaven as squirrels store food for the winter. I hope to fear God and not man. I hope to be encouraged to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), as every squirrel I see reminds me that interrupting the seeming chaos of the world with “but God” can change everything.
Next time, and every time, you see a squirrel, I hope you are reminded of the same. The world is not random, and God is relevant to your situation, whatever it is.
If you’re ever in Boston and see Ebenezer, say hello to him for me.
One of the most significant ways the media influence us is by what’s called “agenda setting,” which means is that they tell us what is important and what we should care about by choosing what issues or topics to cover most often and most prominently. For example, if a topic appears regularly on the front pages of newspapers or the covers of magazines or in the “Breaking News” of a TV news program, those editors have decided those items are more important, and want us to feel the same. Unfortunately, there’s also an old saying in journalism that “if it bleeds, it leads,” meaning that bad news should get more coverage because it’s good for the business of journalism.
Related, but not the same, is “framing” which means the way the media covers something (the words they use, the sources they cite, etc.) affects our attitudes about it. When the media consistently use words like “radical” or “extreme” to represent only the other side, or if they lump all the news that bleeds to a specific group of people and not another, they’re employing framing.
The problem is that the same issues aren’t always as important to all people, and often the media’s agendas don’t align with what should be each person’s agenda. It’s like news coverage is designed to make us think the world is so evil that we can’t do anything about it, but also that very little is our own responsibility (or fault). As Corrie ten Boom wrote about her time in a Nazi concentration camp: “this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one’s own secret sins didn’t matter.”
Is it really good or healthy to feel all the world’s problems are on our shoulders? However, all media have to make choices about what to cover and how to cover it, so there is no avoiding these problems…unless you have another source for your agenda and the framing of it. That source is God, and here are some verses from His word that can guide us:
Cast Your Anxieties “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:6-7
We can recognize that there is a sovereign God, and ultimately His agenda is the only one that matters. With that knowledge, we know that there are many times where all we can do is pray to the One who sees all the bad news we do, and much more. He is in control.
If It’s Worthy, It Leads “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” – Philippians 4:8
We can recognize that good news isn’t always easy to find, but we should seek it out, even if it’s in our own homes, families, or neighborhoods. There is always something worthy of praise to pay attention to.
Frame Your Responsibility Locally “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10
Too much attention to the big picture problems of the world can distract us from the work God has put right in front of us, which we were created to do. God wants us to be faithful, not to save the world (He has already done that!)
I agree with C.S. Lewis, who wrote: “I think each village was meant to feel pity for its own sick and poor whom it can help and I doubt if it is the duty of any private person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot help. This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know. God may call any one of us to respond to some far away problem or support those who have been so called. But we are finite and he will not call us everywhere or to support every worthy cause. And real needs are not far from us.”
Yes, global problems matter and there is always a lot of bad news, but today let God set your agenda and frame it through the lens of His eternal victory in Christ.
Social media is a great place to share short bursts of pontification, whether in memes, quips, quotes, or what have you. Sometimes a little more research may do some good, though. Several times recently I’ve seen the quote below shared by people protesting what they see as people in power playing loose with information to pompously push pernicious policies that are precariously close to imperious:
“Truly, whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire
Since this quote was often posted by Christians, they might be appalled by the context of the quote:
“Formerly there were those who said: You believe things that are incomprehensible, inconsistent, impossible because we have commanded you to believe them; go then and do what is unjust because we command it. Such people show admirable reasoning. Truly, whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. If the God‐given understanding of your mind does not resist a demand to believe what is impossible, then you will not resist a demand to do wrong to that God‐given sense of justice in your heart. As soon as one faculty of your soul has been dominated, other faculties will follow as well. And from this derives all those crimes of religion which have overrun the world.”
On the positive side, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”[1] Being a Christian requires holding on tight to things that seem absurdities to the world, but it also means we have the “God-given sense of justice” that requires we show mercy to those whose absurdities are different from our own.
If I post anything that seems absurd, please let me know, mercifully… ( I think Abraham Lincoln said something similar on his website)
It’s become cliché to say social media brings out the worst of people, since they can hide from consequences behind internet anonymity and distance. Mike Tyson, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, said “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.” But disrespect and wanting to punch people in the face who disagree with us is nothing new. Just one generation after Adam and Eve were made in the image of God and living in perfect love, their son Cain killed his brother Abel for uncertain reasons. Genesis also doesn’t tell us exactly how Cain killed Abel, but we can be sure social media wasn’t involved. Hate doesn’t require an internet connection or working Wi-Fi, only one person deciding that another person is a thing to be defeated, not as a person made in God’s image. Sometimes by focusing on what we are disagreeing about, we can lose sight of the fact that the person disagreeing with us is inherently valuable.
Today, after months away, we return to a series on James 1:27, which says: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James gave careful thought to this phrase, not as hyperbole, but as an example of what perfect religion – worship of God the Father – looks like. Eternal life is for people who love when there’s nothing more at stake than the person being loved, but putting issues above people is one way we get stained by the world and fail to represent Christ. Note that I didn’t say ignore the issues – it’s a question of priority.
The Singular Person Psalm 113 is a Psalm about praising God and making Him known throughout the world, and ends with a very specific praise:
“He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!”
To me, what’s most striking here is that this is a singular barren woman, not barren women as a group. It doesn’t say that God ends all barrenness (although He might). The Psalmist chose as a climactic ending to this poem about the heart of God and how He wants to be known a praise to God for giving a home and family to one barren woman. This means that the sovereign God of all the universe is concerned about individuals, their specific circumstances, and their specific need for salvation. He does not respond to an “issue” of the barrenness of women but responds in a way that satisfies the needs of individual people. People are not statistics to Him, to be counted and divided into opposing sides until one prevails over the other. Each person’s needs and path to redemption are unique in God’s eyes, and only He can provide for all. He is the only way to a perfect world.
Similar to the “barren woman”, James 1:27 is about visiting specific “orphans and widows,” not fighting for the end of all afflictions for all widows and orphans. He is fighting for people, not total victory in an argument. While this might seem obvious to some, it’s so easy to exalt issues over people that we don’t always notice when we do it.
The Issue of Family A common issue today is “family,” which I put in quotes because as an issue it doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. A lot of time and energy is put into fighting for “family values,” defined many different ways, and James 1:27, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world,” is relevant in multiple ways.
First, an earlier post of this series, said “whatever its source, civil law is a provision for a fallen world, not a pathway to a perfect world.” In both the Old and New Testaments, God tells us there will always be poor in the land and that every civil law is inherently limited in a broken world. Christians should “defend the family,” but in what way? James 1:27 says to stand for individuals for whom the institution of family has already failed – widows and orphans. “Pure and undefiled religion” succeeds where law fails, filling the gap with the heart of God, who cares for the specific “barren woman” of Psalm 113:9. There is no perfect law that solves the issue of “family values,” therefore “visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” Affliction comes in many forms and is too complex and diverse for any government to deal with entirely.
Second, when we fight for perfection in our laws, taking absolute stands on either side of an “issue,” we risk elevating law to a level it’s not possible of achieving, and we also may justify hurting people in the process, thinking the end result will be worth it somehow. Once we see the world in fully black/white, either/or terms, it becomes easy to think that if only the right side came out ahead, the issue would be resolved, any collateral damage can be explained, and everyone would be happy. However, consider the extreme example of violence around both abortion clinics and crisis pregnancy centers. In that case and many smaller ones, when we cause harm to opponents, we prove that there are cracks in our own system, creating new victims on top of the existing ones. Those left behind haven’t been helped, but new affliction has been added by those hoping it will be somehow worth it to win the “issue” battle.
Third, ministering to widows and orphans keeps us from the pollution of the world which insists that our salvation is political and based on power. James 1:27 encourages us to reject a world that wants to put laws, culture, even hashtags above actual people. The world too often believes the ends justify the means because belief in worldly utopia depends on a 100% solution, but also believes it’s ok to ignore concrete problems while fighting for a solution that will never arrive. Salvation comes from only one source: the cross.
In the start of this post, I wrote that it’s become cliché to say social media brings out the worst of people, and its cliché because massive amounts of time and energy go into fighting over abstract issues and dividing into groups of “us” and “them”. James 1:27 says that we are not defined by which side of an issue we support, and what we’re willing to do to achieve victory for our side, but by how we love those individuals for whom this world has failed.
It is better to minister to the ones who have been punched by this world than to add another punch to the damage.
Therefore, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” – Hebrews 10:23-25
And what are “good works”? “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
How often have prominent public figures had to walk back, clarify, or disown public comments in response to a social media protest? A recent Pew Research poll showed that only about 25% of American adults use Twitter, and about 25% of those people write 97% of all Tweets. Yet, journalists, politicians, executives, individuals, and others often feel they need to bow to Twitter and other social media or be “cancelled.” I’m not sure which is more worrisome, that so few largely anonymous Twitter users have so much power, or that even U.S. presidents sometimes yield to them.
Paradoxically, while the pandemic has shaken many people’s confidence in authority, at the same time some worldly authorities are claiming more power, having failed so miserably to manage the pandemic and its ripple effects. To me, a lesson of the pandemic was: “See all these things people trust in? They can all be torn down overnight.” It has left a lot of people shaken. Those we used to trust aren’t trustworthy, but where else can we turn?
The authorities respond: “Just give us more power and we will try again, but harder. Ignore the evidence and trust us.”
The authorities of Jesus’ time were pretty lousy themselves. In the greatest abuse of authority in history, they killed Him on a cross on Good Friday, humiliating Him publicly for all of history to see. The rebel Barabbas was released by Roman political authorities instead of Jesus because of the cries of an angry mob stirred up by a few Jewish religious authorities jealous of Jesus’ appeal and resentful of His claims of authority. Astonishingly, it’s not entirely unlike Twitter. In modern times, the mob wouldn’t even need to show up to have Jesus killed, the “influencers” would just have to start #CrucifyHim trending and people would follow along just to be seen holding the popular view. If Jesus’ message of love and hope for mankind died with Him, where can we turn?
Fortunately, we have Easter, where Jesus responds: “You hit me with all the power you have, and it wasn’t enough. Even the grave cannot hold Me. I rose from the dead and now sit at the right hand of the Father, in the place of ultimate authority. The tomb is empty. Observe the evidence and trust Me!”
Jesus is risen indeed!
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!” – Psalm 118:22-25
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 