There are so many problems in our culture that it is easy to become overwhelmed just by listening to the news. Certainly, to get improved ratings the news curators pick stories based on their shock value, so things are likely not as bad as what the media outlets portray. But still, our own experience validates the fact that there is much brokenness in our world.

As I listened to a reading from Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John this morning, I tried to put myself in the shoes (sandals?) of the disciples as Jesus challenged them to provide food for the crowd which numbered 5,000 men plus women and children.

There were no food trucks queuing up to park around the meeting place. They could not call a food delivery service for 10,000 sandwich boxes. The disciples had no idea how to provide food for the crowd.

The only resources available were five loaves of bread and two fish.

Andrew, who discovered this resource then asked the crucial question, “. . . but what are they for so many?”

If I am honest, I have to ask the same question when faced with the issues of my daily life. I don’t have the resources to improve, let alone fix, the problems I see around me. I have limited time, limited talent, limited knowledge, and limited financial resources. I look at the resources I have and have to ask God, “What are they for so many?”

The lesson I should learn from John 6 is that I don’t need to feel pressured to fix everything. It is not my responsibility to fix much of anything. I’m called to be obedient to do the next thing.

If I am sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and if I am obedient to that leading, God will make it enough.

In a sermon not long ago, I heard a definition of Biblical joy that I would like to share with you:

”Biblical joy is the conviction that God sovereignly controls the events of life for his glory and our good.”

I think of the words in James, “consider it all joy when you encounter various trials.” From this verse it seems as though joy is something that is not an unbidden emotion such as anger or jealousy. Joy seems to be something that needs to be learned through a changing of mindset.

J Gresham Machen published a book in the 1920s describing the challenge facing the church of his day. I’m finding that some of what he predicted as the result of cultural trends in his time is impressively applicable 100 years after his writing.

For example, consider this paragraph:

The whole development of modern society has tended mightily toward the limitation of the realm of freedom for the individual man. The tendency is most clearly seen in socialism; a socialistic state would mean the reduction to a minimum of the sphere of individual choice. Labor and recreation, under a socialistic government, would both be prescribed, and individual liberty would be gone. But the same tendency exhibits itself today even in those communities where the name of socialism is most abhorred. When once the majority has determined that a certain regime is beneficial, that regime without further hesitation is forced ruthlessly upon the individual man. It never seems to occur to modern legislatures that although “welfare” is good, forced welfare may be bad. In other words, utilitarianism is being carried out to its logical conclusions; in the interests of physical well-being the great principles of liberty are being thrown ruthlessly to the winds.

-J Gresham Machen – Christianity and Liberalism

These are chilling words, especially since we do not seem to have learned any lessons from the 20th Century as we move into the 21st. In my own country, I am noticing an alarming trend where some people in power attempt to silence those who disagree with their narrative of how society should be arranged.

We need to look no further back than the Covid-19 crisis to find evidence of this tendency. During the crisis, there was no room for debate, and in many locations, there was no freedom to operate outside of the stipulations of the elites who held the power.

Liberty was sacrificed by using fear to manipulate the people into compliance. What freedoms will be taken away during the next crisis? The freedom to proclaim our belief in Jesus? The freedom to assemble to worship?

Even so, I am encouraged that Jesus promised to build his church and the gates of Hell will not prevail over it.

Jesus cannot be stopped, no matter who attempts to do so.

The opening verses of Matthew 5 are commonly referred to as the Beatitudes. Each of the nine beatitudes begins with “Blessed are . . .” and then provides a condition for blessing. I wrote an introduction to the Beatitudes in a previous post which you might find helpful.

In the USA, we might think we are blessed if we have a loving family, a good church, a comfortable house, a reliable car, a rewarding job, and . . . Each of our lists would include things that most people, of every culture and time in history would think necessary for happiness or to feel blessed. We likely think of blessing in terms of physical comfort and pleasant distraction. But Jesus shows us that he thinks otherwise.

F. Hauck, in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, refers to the beatitudes in Matthew 5 as “sacred paradoxes” where God affects a reversal of all human values. He goes on to say,

“True happiness is not for the rich and secure, but for the poor and oppressed who are rich only in pity, purity, and peace. Blessing is also for the persecuted, for those who hear the message of the kingdom (Mt. 13:16), for those who meet it with faith (Lk. 1:45), for those who make no false demands (Jn. 20:29), for those who watch (Lk. 12:37) and stand fast (of Jesus (Jn. 13:17),”

What hit me this morning is that none of the conditions listed by Jesus are tied to the current situation of the one to be blessed. The conditions for blessing are internal and not external. They are based on choices we can make, not circumstances forced upon us. More specifically, in those conditions for blessing, Jesus outlines the correct response to the things that trouble us.

I am writing this to remind myself and my readers to focus on allowing my thinking to be transformed (Romans 12:2) so that I can see things from God’s perspective and be obedient to what he has called me to do no matter what goes on around me.