The Everything Crisis
Get ready for your faith to be tested again and again.
Alarm Bells
Even when it’s silent, you can almost hear them. Sirens. Alarms. Every day. New headlines. New warnings. It’s not just reflexive fear or pessimism. A lot is really going wrong all at once.
Consider:
We’re living through an economic crisis. Most Americans’ earnings have been stagnant for decades. The real wages of working-class men have been flat for over 40 years. Millions of middle class Americans have given up the dream of owning a home.
Our crisis is also cultural. Whatever your views of immigration, the stability of the Western world has been upended by a backlash against porous borders. Meanwhile, we hotly dispute the meanings of the words male and female.
Our crisis is geopolitical. The longstanding trust that bound the United States to the rest of the West is evaporating. China, a high-tech surveillance state, believes its moment to surpass America’s influence has arrived. Israel and Iran are now at war, and a brutal conflict still rages three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Our crisis is ecological. Eighteen of the nineteen hottest years on record have occurred since 2000. God’s creation is changing unpredictably, with the variety of plant and animal life declining rapidly. Even in America, millions lack clean drinking water.
Our crisis is technological. The average person now stares at a small screen for nearly five hours every day, a number that keeps increasing. Big tech algorithms fuel anger, anxiety, and loneliness. Rates of depression sit at an all-time high. The average child is now exposed to pornography around age 12. And as ChatGPT aims for a billion users, AI could soon make past technological disruptions seem mild by comparison.
Amidst all the disorienting change, “old” tragedies persist. Think of drug and alcohol addiction, domestic abuse, broken families, or abortion.
Even if our politics were healthy, these challenges would be daunting. And yet, at this crucial moment, our civic fabric is unraveling. Imagine hearing that some other government was disappearing people off the streets and shipping them to foreign jails. And then picture that country opening the door to its military detaining its citizens1. You know exactly what you’d think if that were happening somewhere else.
Why are so many pillars of sanity and morality and liberty teetering all at once?
The Crisis Behind the Crumbling
One key answer lies in yet another crisis: over the last 25 years, 40 million Americans stopped going to church. That’s equal to the entire population of twenty-two states2. We’re talking about one-in-eight Americans. It’s the biggest religious shift in our country’s history. In sheer numbers, the loss is more than the believers added by all of America’s past revivals combined.
That’s tens of millions who are no longer shaped by God’s word. Tens of millions no longer connected to live-giving Christian community. Think of the countless hours of dead-end pursuits that could have been spent in Scripture. Think of the millions of prayers that were never prayed.
Of course falling numbers in the American church don’t account for all of the rising chaos. But if you know the power of God personally, you understand that losses on that scale explain a lot.
Do Not Lose Heart
Despair, of course, is one possible response. But it can’t be the choice of God’s people, who are commanded to rejoice in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16). Consider also Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 4:16–18:
We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
With faith in Jesus Christ, it’s possible to view anything we suffer in this world as a light momentary affliction. I don’t emphasize that to be dismissive of your pain. I say it because the same Holy Spirit who dwelt within Paul is available to all who believe. If he remained faithful through shipwrecks, beatings, and betrayals, we too can persevere whatever the future holds (2 Corinthians 11:24–27).
Paul’s recounting of his sufferings also pushes back against another temptation: denial. This holds appeal, even for Christians. The shelves at the stores are still stocked. Gas isn’t being rationed. Most Americans who want a job have one.
Yet, just as Paul doesn’t sugarcoat or deny the sufferings he endured, we shouldn’t dismiss the ominous clouds that are gathering. We’re called to be a discerning people. “Wise as serpents” is how Matthew 10:16 puts it. Thankfully, this kind of savvy doesn’t suppress our hope. That’s because even if world we know crumbles, the Spirit will keep pointing us to the “glory beyond all comparison” that lies ahead.
Examine Yourself
With that in mind, it’s a good time to take stock of your faith. Reflect on the simple truth that God “shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:18). When we first respond to the Lord in faith, we receive the fullness of his love and grace. Consider how God chooses to see his children. In his sight, we are not smeared in our sin, but clothed in the righteousness of his Son Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). Astonishing as it may seem, weary sinners who believe are already forgiven in God’s eyes. He already sees us as holy.
Remember the words of the Apostle’s Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of the saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
These are the steadfast truths that will sustain souls in an unpredictable world.
Do you believe them?
Do you live them?
Do you gather together with other followers of Jesus to celebrate them? Do you receive communion, the Lord’s Supper? Do you rejoice in baptisms? When you mourn departed saints, is even your grief lifted up by the hope of everlasting life?
Confession Brings Renewal
I promise I didn’t stack up all those crises earlier to unnerve you. I did it so that you won’t deny what you feel in your gut. We really are living in a strange and dangerous time. It’s not your imagination.
The Bible instructs us to live without fear (Isaiah 41:10, among many other verses). But that doesn’t mean we should deny that there are fearful things in this world. Christ makes it possible for us to be clear-eyed about how terrible this world can be and to live with hope, purpose, and peace.
I know I’ve already said a lot in this post, but I’ve got one last appeal. And it could be the most important step you take to prepare for the road ahead.
As I said above, examine your heart and mind. And then ask the Lord if you’re carrying any sin that you haven’t brought out into the light. Then set yourself free by confessing it to another trusted believer.
Don’t miss the two specifics I mentioned. First, don’t assume you don’t have anything you need to confess. Years ago, shortly after I became a Christian, the Lord brought a sin to mind that I’d completely forgotten about. The term “repressed memory” would likely apply. The book of Proverbs compares a man’s heart to deep water (20:5). We don’t always realize what’s hidden beneath the waves.
Next, if the Lord brings a sin to mind, confess it to an actual person. A lot of us are good at coming up with excuses to sidestep this. But James 5:16 reminds us to confess our sins not only to God, but also to one another. The verse’s context raises the possibility that this could bring physical healing.
If such talk of healing gives you pause, consider this: the line between the healing of our bodies and our sprits is blurrier than many today appreciate. I think every time I’ve ever confessed sin, I felt better physically afterward. It was if I became lighter, relieved of a burden I only dimly realized I was carrying.
Start Wherever You Are
Given where I began this post, confession might seem an unexpected place to end. I agree with that. I see reaffirming our faith and confessing our sins as the starting point in our response to rising challenges. There’s much more to say about the path ahead. Lord willing, I’ll get to pick up those themes in the future. But to run any race, you have to first cross the starting line.
There’s no quick fix to any single earthly problem we face. And they’re all coming at us at once, often tangled up with one another. For a time like this, you want to know that you know God’s love and forgiveness. You need to be set free of any sin that you’re carrying.
The renewal we need began two thousand years ago. That’s because the Son of God laid down his life and rose from the grave. His resurrection was a victory over sin and death. Today, the forces that corrode and corrupt our world are still potent. But they are also like walking corpses, destined for defeat.
God’s renewal will get the last word. Let it begin today in your heart, mind, and life. And watch it spread outward from there.
To be clear, people who riot and commit violent crimes should absolutely be arrested and prosecuted. Local law enforcement needs plenty of resources to respond. And because it is far more accountable to its community than the federal government, local law enforcement is almost always better positioned to avoid enflaming very, very difficult situations.
Now that the door has been opened to using the military in a law enforcement capacity, we are going to discover it is very difficult to close. In a free country, the military is not used against the citizens it serves.
Connecticut, Utah, Nevada, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nebraska, Idaho, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana, Rhode Island, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming combined have about 40 million people.
Watch and pray,
Love and keep.