2020: The Year of Death
We wake up this morning to see that another star has faded, Chadwick Boseman, dead at 43. Add his name to the list of people 2020 has claimed, like Kobe Bryant, Grant Imahara, Jerry Stiller, Kenny Rogers, Charlie Daniels, and even Regis Philbin. The loss of these individuals impacts each generation uniquely. We probably weren't surprised that Charlie Daniels' or Kenny Rogers' time was finally up, but Kobe, Grant, and now Chadwick? These deaths blindside us into a surreal shock that death is real and that no one is immune.
2020 stands alone. In all my years, I have never experienced a societal fixation upon mortality. We typically just ignore it, albeit bothered by the occasional funeral. Covid, however, has changed that forever. Each day that goes by, we ponder our mortality and fixate on data and statistics as they relate to death. In good conscience, concerned for the welfare of all, we have kept ourselves locked down and hidden away, allowing politicians and media figures to translate our fears into ratings and votes.
While we remain in place, videos of individuals being shot and killed result in blazing cities. Ammo disappears from shelves, and perpetuates our culture's newfound fraternity with death. Massive hurricanes that alter entire landscapes are considered mundane, not even worth front page headlines. We are all too fixated on our own self preservation. Death now waits at our doorstep. We lock and load as we all lock down.
It's a strange sensation, to constantly live in fear; fear of your fellow man, fear of authority, fear of a ubiquitous pathogen. Society is on the verge of tearing itself apart as a result of this fear, because it is an unhealthy fear, an unhealthy fixation.
You would think that with such a preoccupation with our own mortality, society as a whole, would be more humble, more gracious, more forgiving. After all, Psalm 90 implores, "Teach us to number our days..." but it appears we have missed the second half of the verse "that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." We may have learned to number our days, but we have certainly not applied our hearts unto wisdom.
Rather, what has emerged in 2020 is a collective unreadiness to grapple with the frailty of our humanity. We have embraced an incomplete perspective and experienced a failure of worldview that does not have the ability to instill ethics, value, or enduring peace. Self preservation has replaced the sovereignty of God. Men no longer pray, "Thy will be done." We cannot face our mortality with peace, because we have shunned the Prince of Peace, thus chaos reigns.
Generations passed have endured injustice, holocaust, and ceaseless warfare. Some were equipped to persevere through the darkness, as a result of the light within them. Other generations shunned the light and embodied the darkness, succumbing to madness and personifying the evil they eschewed.
We are living in the midst of a great transition, from the City of God to the City of Man. We have become the measure of all things, the judge of nations, the arbiter of morality, and as a result, we are crippled by the fear of our own frailty.
Death lurks and we have no solution. Sin reigns and we don't know what to call it. Self-righteousness stands confounded, perplexed that evil and injustice haven't conceded to our narcissism.
We have become an ignorant people; brutal, cruel, and conceited.
Yet, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
Man has always been ignorant of God. It is his disposition, his nature. He hides his shame and refuses to take responsibility for the chaos in his life. Jesus alluded to this when he said, "the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil."
So we live in debilitating fear... We lock ourselves down in our homes, we berate others who do not, we arm ourselves, we assault, we burn, and we curse and do not bless.
Our hearts harden while our minds remain deceived. We feel the discomfort of our dissonance, but proceed as if nothing is wrong. 2020 is our Spiritual State of the Union and we are beginning to see what happens when a nation resists God. We've created a tense, anxious, and explosive environment. All that remains are desperate men and women fixated on their own preservation.
But Jesus reminds us, "Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it." This was such an integral theme to Jesus' teaching that it is repeated six times in the New Testament.
So if you're as dismayed by 2020 as the rest of the world, consider these words of Christ, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."
Let these words of Christ dwell in you richly. May they be the salt that seasons your speech. May your hearts no longer be troubled, for we have hope in a heavenly inheritance. We have surely had our fill of sin, and no darkness is worth forsaking the light.
Ponder this retelling of Ephesians 2:2,
2020 stands alone. In all my years, I have never experienced a societal fixation upon mortality. We typically just ignore it, albeit bothered by the occasional funeral. Covid, however, has changed that forever. Each day that goes by, we ponder our mortality and fixate on data and statistics as they relate to death. In good conscience, concerned for the welfare of all, we have kept ourselves locked down and hidden away, allowing politicians and media figures to translate our fears into ratings and votes.
While we remain in place, videos of individuals being shot and killed result in blazing cities. Ammo disappears from shelves, and perpetuates our culture's newfound fraternity with death. Massive hurricanes that alter entire landscapes are considered mundane, not even worth front page headlines. We are all too fixated on our own self preservation. Death now waits at our doorstep. We lock and load as we all lock down.
It's a strange sensation, to constantly live in fear; fear of your fellow man, fear of authority, fear of a ubiquitous pathogen. Society is on the verge of tearing itself apart as a result of this fear, because it is an unhealthy fear, an unhealthy fixation.
You would think that with such a preoccupation with our own mortality, society as a whole, would be more humble, more gracious, more forgiving. After all, Psalm 90 implores, "Teach us to number our days..." but it appears we have missed the second half of the verse "that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." We may have learned to number our days, but we have certainly not applied our hearts unto wisdom.
Rather, what has emerged in 2020 is a collective unreadiness to grapple with the frailty of our humanity. We have embraced an incomplete perspective and experienced a failure of worldview that does not have the ability to instill ethics, value, or enduring peace. Self preservation has replaced the sovereignty of God. Men no longer pray, "Thy will be done." We cannot face our mortality with peace, because we have shunned the Prince of Peace, thus chaos reigns.
Generations passed have endured injustice, holocaust, and ceaseless warfare. Some were equipped to persevere through the darkness, as a result of the light within them. Other generations shunned the light and embodied the darkness, succumbing to madness and personifying the evil they eschewed.
We are living in the midst of a great transition, from the City of God to the City of Man. We have become the measure of all things, the judge of nations, the arbiter of morality, and as a result, we are crippled by the fear of our own frailty.
Death lurks and we have no solution. Sin reigns and we don't know what to call it. Self-righteousness stands confounded, perplexed that evil and injustice haven't conceded to our narcissism.
We have become an ignorant people; brutal, cruel, and conceited.
Yet, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
Man has always been ignorant of God. It is his disposition, his nature. He hides his shame and refuses to take responsibility for the chaos in his life. Jesus alluded to this when he said, "the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil."
So we live in debilitating fear... We lock ourselves down in our homes, we berate others who do not, we arm ourselves, we assault, we burn, and we curse and do not bless.
Our hearts harden while our minds remain deceived. We feel the discomfort of our dissonance, but proceed as if nothing is wrong. 2020 is our Spiritual State of the Union and we are beginning to see what happens when a nation resists God. We've created a tense, anxious, and explosive environment. All that remains are desperate men and women fixated on their own preservation.
But Jesus reminds us, "Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it." This was such an integral theme to Jesus' teaching that it is repeated six times in the New Testament.
So if you're as dismayed by 2020 as the rest of the world, consider these words of Christ, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."
Let these words of Christ dwell in you richly. May they be the salt that seasons your speech. May your hearts no longer be troubled, for we have hope in a heavenly inheritance. We have surely had our fill of sin, and no darkness is worth forsaking the light.
Ponder this retelling of Ephesians 2:2,
"You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey."
In all our self righteousness and social justice, if our heart is not Christ's, we are mere puppets of the devil; deceived and dismayed.
On the contrary, however, there is peace in the shadow of death, there is hope in the presence of evil, there is justice for the oppressed, and love for our fellow man, but we will only ever know it when we know Him.
Lay down your life, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.
Not even 2020 will shake you from your foundation...
In all our self righteousness and social justice, if our heart is not Christ's, we are mere puppets of the devil; deceived and dismayed.
On the contrary, however, there is peace in the shadow of death, there is hope in the presence of evil, there is justice for the oppressed, and love for our fellow man, but we will only ever know it when we know Him.
Lay down your life, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.
Not even 2020 will shake you from your foundation...
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