Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000046S
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00:01 - At some point in your life, it is going to feel
00:03 like the world has suddenly turned completely against you 00:07 and it'll seem like people are turning on you 00:09 without any provocation. 00:11 Injustice is a very real part of human existence. 00:15 So the question is, how are you gonna deal with it 00:18 when it inevitably happens? 00:20 [soft music] 00:41 Over the course of a lifetime, 00:43 most of us build some kind of personal philosophy, 00:46 an intellectual model, to help us navigate 00:48 what appears to be a very chaotic world. 00:52 As different things happen to us 00:54 we make slight adjustments to that model, 00:56 so that it still makes sense, 00:58 much the way that a scientist might adjust a theory 01:01 to fit new emerging data. 01:04 And by the time you hit middle age or even before that, 01:07 most people's models appear to be rather baked in. 01:10 You're not too likely 01:12 to change your mind about things anymore 01:14 unless there's very compelling evidence to do so. 01:18 For the most part, 01:19 our self-made philosophy serve us pretty well. 01:22 We need some kind of framework to navigate life 01:25 but where the rubber really meets the road, 01:28 where you're going to find out if your model is good, 01:31 is in the home stretch. 01:32 When you find yourself days away from life's finish line 01:35 looking death in the eye, 01:38 is your worldview still going to sustain you? 01:41 That was the question faced by the Roman statesman, 01:44 Boethius, back in the early sixth century 01:47 when he suddenly found himself imprisoned 01:49 and condemned to die for crimes he did not commit. 01:53 The Western Roman Empire at that point 01:55 was already yesterday's news. 01:57 Romulus Augustulus, the last Western emperor, 02:00 had been deposed in 476 AD and in his place, 02:05 Gothic kings were ruling Italy from the city of Ravenna. 02:09 First, Odoacer who had removed the Western emperor 02:13 and then Theodoric the Great 02:15 who seized the Western throne 02:16 at the prompting of the Eastern emperor 02:19 who was trying to get him to stop attacking Constantinople. 02:24 The Gothic kings in the West did not consider themselves 02:27 to be the successors of the Roman emperors, 02:30 which was really obvious 02:32 when Odoacer actually sent the imperial crown and cloak 02:36 back to Constantinople 02:38 as a symbolic nod to their political supremacy. 02:41 He just wanted to be the king of Italy 02:44 and he was happy to be somewhat subservient to the emperor. 02:48 Now, in reality, there wasn't much subservience 02:51 but on paper that was kind of the idea. 02:54 Then, when Theodoric took the Western throne, 02:57 he adopted the same attitude, 02:59 an attitude of subservience to the East 03:02 but in his Senate, 03:04 there was a great deal of apprehension and suspicion 03:07 about the ambitions of Constantinople 03:10 to the point where rumors started to fly 03:12 that perhaps some of the senators in their midst were moles, 03:15 spies for the East in league with the emperor, Justin I. 03:17 spies for the East in league with the emperor, Justin I. 03:21 People's suspicions eventually landed on Boethius, 03:25 a rather well-heeled 03:26 and academically accomplished individual 03:29 who made it his purpose 03:30 to live a principled and ethical life. 03:34 The efforts of Boethius to be honest and transparent 03:36 were completely misunderstood by everybody 03:40 and he was accused of covering up a plot by traders 03:42 in their midst and Boethius was condemned to death. 03:47 It was during his time in prison 03:49 that he wrote his most famous book, 03:51 a book called "The Consolation of Philosophy", 03:55 which I must say is one of the most beautiful books 03:58 handed down to us from the ancient world. 04:00 It's part poetry and part prose, which makes it fun to read. 04:05 And it's a dialogue between Boethius 04:08 and a woman who is the personification of philosophy, 04:12 kind of the way that wisdom is personified as a woman 04:15 in the Bible's book of Proverbs. 04:19 This is a book that I would almost, almost, 04:23 put on the same shelf with the books of Job and Ecclesiastes 04:27 because it deals with the problem of suffering 04:30 and it does it really well. 04:32 And it forces you to examine your own priorities 04:35 and ask yourself if the way you've built your life 04:38 is going to be enough to sustain you 04:41 when you suddenly lose everything. 04:44 What good is your philosophy 04:46 if it can't help you when life gets hard? 04:49 Of course, it also raises political questions. 04:52 Things like, would you rather be right about things 04:54 or favored by people? 04:57 And the ultimate question raised in this book by Boethius 05:01 is about your worldview. 05:03 Is your understanding of the world 05:05 enough to carry you through the very worst that life 05:09 is eventually going to dump on you? 05:11 At the beginning of the volume, Boethius laments the fact 05:14 that wicked people seem to prosper. 05:17 Well, principled individuals like himself 05:20 were being punished all too severely. 05:23 Here's what he writes. 05:24 He says, 05:26 "For myself, I have been parted from my possessions, 05:29 "stripped of my offices, blackened in my reputation, 05:32 "and punished for the services I have rendered. 05:35 "By contrast, images appear before my eyes 05:37 "of criminals in their dens, wallowing in sensual joys, 05:42 "the most abandoned of them 05:43 "plotting renewed false accusations, 05:46 "while good men are prostrate with fear 05:49 "as they survey my danger." 05:52 If, for some reason, 05:53 you thought that corrupt governments were a new thing, 05:56 think again. 05:57 That problem is as old as civilization itself. 06:00 Boethius is thrown in prison for being a good man. 06:04 His honesty and his dedication to ethical conduct 06:07 has made him a threat to people 06:09 who hunger after things like prestige or power. 06:13 And the fact that Boethius 06:14 was condemned to death for being good 06:17 was driving other good people into silence. 06:22 What happened was completely unjust 06:25 and what's surprising to some people 06:26 is that the authors of the Bible 06:29 express pretty much the same sentiment. 06:32 I know that some people think 06:33 the Bible is nothing but a work of religious propaganda 06:36 designed to sell a religion 06:39 but this book is nothing of the sort. 06:41 I mean, listen to this passage 06:42 found over in the book of Psalms where it says, 06:46 "But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; 06:49 "my steps had nearly slipped. 06:52 "For I was envious of the boastful, 06:53 "when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 06:56 "For there are no pangs in their death, 06:59 "but their strength is firm. 07:00 "They are not in trouble as other men, 07:02 "nor are they plagued like other men." 07:06 The apparent lack of justice in our world 07:08 is a very old problem, 07:10 a problem that keeps a lot of good people awake at night. 07:14 What's the use of living well 07:16 if you never get to see a payoff? 07:18 That's one of the biggest questions asked 07:21 in "The Consolation of Philosophy". 07:23 Now, most of this book by Boethius 07:25 appeals to ancient classical learning. 07:28 It has all kinds of illusions 07:30 to pagan philosophers and historians, 07:32 which makes good sense. 07:34 I mean, Boethius had a classical education 07:38 but he was also a Christian 07:40 who tried to help heal the divide 07:42 between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople, 07:45 which perhaps didn't help the unfortunate perception 07:48 that he was trying to overthrow the West. 07:51 And, of course, some of the big questions he raised 07:54 are the same questions raised in the Bible. 07:57 Boethius cannot understand why his life is ending so badly. 07:59 Boethius cannot understand why his life is ending so badly. 08:05 And in that moment, he joins the likes of John the Baptist 08:06 who spent his life announcing the arrival of Messiah 08:11 but then died in Herod's prison 08:12 after condemning a wicked king's reprehensible behavior. 08:18 Now, in the time that you and I have together, 08:20 there's no way we could put a dent in this whole book, 08:22 so we're gonna have to touch down on a few little highlights 08:25 and make ourselves content with just that. 08:28 What Boethius is doing is trying to find order in a universe 08:32 when his world appears to be chaotic, 08:35 which is something that we all eventually do. 08:37 In his book, "Suspicious Minds", 08:40 Rob Brotherton describes an experiment 08:42 at the University of Amsterdam 08:44 where psychologists asked a group of people 08:46 to think about something that made them feel ambivalent. 08:51 And they were asked to sit at computers 08:52 and write out a list of pros and cons 08:54 for whatever subject they thought about. 08:57 When they were finished, 08:58 the computer was designed to spit out an error message 09:02 and they were told they had to do the whole thing again 09:04 but at a different terminal. 09:07 At that point, they were taken to a really messy cubicle 09:10 with a second computer. 09:12 And they were shown a series of abstract images, 09:15 a series of dots, 09:17 some of which contained real pictures of objects 09:20 and others that were simply random. 09:22 What they discovered was absolutely fascinating. 09:26 If the cubicle was messy, if it was a chaotic environment, 09:30 more people found patterns in those random dots 09:33 than those who took up the time to clean up the cubicle 09:36 before they did the test. 09:38 In other words, 09:40 something in our brains makes us crave order. 09:45 And if there isn't discernible order in our environment, 09:47 for some reason, our brains will manufacture it. 09:52 So, when your life suddenly falls apart, 09:55 there's something thing inside you that doesn't like it. 09:57 You instinctively know it's not supposed to be this way 10:00 and your brain goes looking for reasons. 10:04 And what sparks that, in my not so humble opinion, 10:08 is the drive we seem to have to go looking for God 10:11 when the world becomes a chaotic mess. 10:13 All right, we've got to take a break 10:15 but then I'll be right back after this. 10:22 - [Voiceover] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues. 10:26 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 10:31 If you've ever read Daniel or Revelation 10:33 and come away scratching your head, you're not alone. 10:36 Our free "Focus on Prophecy" guides 10:38 are designed to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 10:41 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 10:43 for you and our world. 10:45 Study online or request them by mail 10:48 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 10:52 - In his famous book, 10:53 Boethius imagines Lady Philosophy coming to his prison cell 10:56 to discuss the suffering that he's going through. 11:00 And throughout the book, 11:02 Philosophy, this lady, gently applies more and more remedies 11:05 to correct his bad thinking, 11:07 telling him that she needs to go slowly 11:10 before she can give him the bitter medicine he really needs. 11:14 Early on, this is what she says. 11:16 "Now I know," she said, "the further cause of your sickness, 11:19 "and it is a very serious one. 11:21 "You have forgotten your own identity." 11:25 Now, that is probably the number one reason 11:27 I wanted to bring up this book to the show today 11:29 because it suggests that we suffer mentally 11:32 because we've forgotten who we are. 11:35 According to this, a great deal of mental anxiety 11:38 stems from adopting false beliefs 11:40 about the nature of the world 11:42 and then expecting the world to fit into your beliefs. 11:45 In Boethius' case, the problem was that he was all too happy 11:49 to accept the random movements of the wheel of fortune 11:52 when they moved in his favor. 11:54 He was happy with his pampered childhood. 11:57 He was happy to be an important statesman. 11:59 He was happy to have people go on and on 12:01 about this wonderful landmark speech he made 12:04 in front of the king. 12:06 He had a very good life 12:09 and he thought fortune would smile on him forever. 12:13 But when fortune suddenly shifted and his life fell apart, 12:16 he felt cheated. 12:18 More importantly, 12:19 his mental framework for living had just fallen apart. 12:22 Here's how he describes it. 12:25 "Fortune, in particular, her fawning friendship 12:27 "with those whom she intends to cheat, 12:30 "until the moment she unexpectedly abandons them, 12:34 "and leaves them reeling in agony beyond endurance. 12:37 "But if you recall what she is, her ways and her worth, 12:40 "you will realize that you neither had, nor have lost, 12:43 "anything of worth through your association with her... 12:47 "You think that Fortune has changed towards you, 12:49 "but you are mistaken. 12:51 "Her ways and her nature are always the same. 12:54 "What she has done is manifest towards you the fickleness 12:58 "which reflects her characteristic constancy." 13:01 In other words, 13:03 "What did you think was going to happen, Boethius? 13:05 "Everybody's life is chaotic. 13:07 "Did you really think 13:09 "you were the one exception to the rule?" 13:12 All of us have to deal with living in a place 13:14 that human beings thought they could manage without God. 13:18 And so, all of us succumb sooner or later 13:20 to the results of living as fallen human beings. 13:24 Because of the nature of our broken world, 13:26 even good people suffer. 13:29 Jesus himself expressed a similar thought 13:31 in the Sermon on the Mount. 13:33 "...for He", he said, that's God, 13:35 "makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, 13:38 "and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." 13:42 You know, I think one of the things 13:44 I like best about the writings of Boethius 13:46 is just how honest he is. 13:49 When you read about the final days of Socrates 13:51 who was also condemned to death, 13:54 the whole thing seems a little surreal. 13:56 Plato makes Socrates seem happy, 13:59 as if being in prison and condemned to die 14:00 is the best thing that's ever happened to him. 14:03 It's not a typical experience for a real human being. 14:07 And you'll notice, by the way, 14:09 it wasn't the experience of Jesus 14:10 who begged his father in the Garden of Gethsemane 14:13 to let the cup of extreme suffering pass. 14:17 Honestly, I have trouble relating to somebody 14:19 who loves the thought of dying, 14:21 except maybe those few people 14:23 who are suffering so horrifically 14:25 that death would actually be welcome. 14:28 But aside from that, very few people want to die. 14:32 And Boethius is honest. 14:34 He's as human as you and I are. 14:35 And he raises the same questions we do 14:38 when life suddenly becomes hard. 14:40 Why, where is the justice? 14:43 How do we make sense out of this? 14:45 And at the end of the day, the really big question, 14:48 where is God when it hurts? 14:52 Now, one of the most important ideas this guy brings up 14:55 is the notion of lowering your expectations. 14:58 If you don't go through life 15:00 expecting nothing but sunshine and roses, 15:02 it doesn't hurt quite as badly 15:03 when your personal fortune takes a nose-dive. 15:07 "If you sow seeds in your fields", Boethius writes, 15:09 "you must balance the barren years 15:11 "against the fruitful harvests." 15:13 That's pretty good advice. 15:16 It's easy to believe when times are tough 15:18 that the universe has turned against you 15:20 but that's only because we quickly forget 15:22 how good we've had it otherwise. 15:25 And it's also because we've been living under the illusion 15:27 that we actually own stuff, 15:29 which brings me to one of my favorite parts of this book. 15:33 I mean, listen to this. 15:34 This is Lady Philosophy talking to Boethius. 15:37 She says, 15:38 "When nature brought you forth from your mother's womb, 15:40 "I adopted you; 15:42 "you were naked then, and bereft of everything. 15:45 "I nurtured you with my resources, 15:46 "and, this is what now makes you so angry with me, 15:50 "I bent over backwards to spoil you, 15:52 "and to give you a pampered upbringing. 15:54 "I hedged you round with the glittering panoply 15:57 "of all those riches rightfully mine. 16:00 "It now suits me to withdraw my gifts. 16:02 "You owe me a debt of gratitude 16:04 "for having enjoyed possessions not your own; 16:07 "you have no right to complain 16:08 "as if you have lost what was indisputably yours. 16:12 "So why moan and grow? 16:13 "I have not laid violent hands on you. 16:16 "Wealth and position 16:17 "and all such things are at my discretion. 16:19 "These handmaids of mine acknowledge their mistress; 16:22 "they come with me, and they retire when I depart. 16:25 "I can assert with confidence 16:27 "that if those possessions whose loss you lament 16:29 "had really been yours, 16:32 "you would certainly not have lost them." 16:34 In other words, 16:35 the only reason we feel lost when life becomes unfair 16:38 is because we were living under an illusion 16:41 that this broken world owes us something, 16:43 that we actually own stuff. 16:47 It reminds me of the story that Jesus told of a rich man 16:49 who was living under the illusion 16:50 that his possessions gave him personal meaning. 16:53 It's found over in Luke 12 where Jesus says this. 17:00 "Then he spoke a parable to them, saying: 17:01 "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17:04 "And he thought within himself saying, 17:05 "What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops? 17:09 "So he said, I will do this: 17:11 "I will pull down my barns and build greater, 17:13 "and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 17:16 "And I will say to my soul, 17:18 "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; 17:21 "take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry. 17:24 But God said to him, 17:26 "Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; 17:28 "then whose will those things be which you have provided?" 17:31 In other words, your stuff's going to somebody else. 17:35 It continues. 17:36 "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, 17:39 "and is not rich toward God." 17:42 Here's the problem that Jesus describes. 17:44 If you think your stuff is the meaning of your life, 17:47 then you have no meaning when your stuff is suddenly gone. 17:50 And someday, trust me, your stuff will be gone. 17:54 If you think that accolades and fame 17:57 are the meaning of life, then your life becomes meaningless 17:59 when the world stops applauding. 18:01 And believe me, it will. 18:04 Half a day on social media 18:06 will teach you how fickle celebrity can actually be. 18:09 At some point, everything you own, 18:11 everything you've accomplished, 18:13 everything that people praise you for, 18:15 it's going to be gone. 18:17 And then what? 18:18 At that point, what does your life really mean? 18:22 "Take heed and beware of covetousness", Jesus warned, 18:25 "for one's life does not consist 18:27 "in the abundance of the things he possesses." 18:31 In the story that Boethius tells, 18:33 Philosophy promises to give back everything 18:35 if he can rightfully claim it belongs to him. 18:39 And, of course, he can't 18:40 because even though you and I have title deeds 18:43 and receipts to prove ownership in this life, 18:46 none of us actually owns anything. 18:48 I mean, you can lay your hands on it, 18:49 you can claim exclusive use for one lifetime, 18:53 but there's an undefeatable clock on the wall 18:55 that says nothing is actually yours. 18:58 And unless you understand that, 19:00 losing everything is going to be very painful. 19:03 So, the Bible presents another well-heeled, wealthy man 19:06 who suddenly loses everything very unjustly 19:09 and here's what he says. 19:12 "Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; 19:16 "and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 19:17 "And he said: Naked I came from my mother's womb, 19:21 "and naked shall I return there. 19:23 "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; 19:25 "Blessed be the name of the Lord." 19:28 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. 19:34 This guy understood that he owned nothing, 19:36 which gave him the grace 19:37 and the peace of mind under pressure 19:40 to acknowledge that God had not done him wrong 19:42 at the very worst moment of his life. 19:44 I'll be right back after this. 19:50 - [Voiceover] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 19:52 we're committed to creating top quality programming 19:54 for the whole family, 19:56 like our audio adventure series "Discovery Mountain". 19:59 "Discovery Mountain" is a Bible-based program 20:01 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 20:03 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 20:06 from this small mountain summer camp, pen down. 20:09 With 24 seasonal episodes every year 20:12 and fresh content every week, 20:14 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 20:20 - There's an important passage in Ecclesiastes 20:22 that has the potential 20:24 to grant you peace of mind even in chaos. 20:26 It's in chapter five. 20:28 It says, "There is a severe evil 20:30 "which I have seen under the sun: 20:32 "Riches kept for their owner to his hurt. 20:34 "But those riches perish through misfortune, 20:37 "when he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand. 20:40 "As he came from his mother's womb, 20:42 "naked shall he return, to go as he came; 20:44 "and he shall take nothing from his labor 20:46 "which he may carry away in his hand." 20:50 This is one of the biggest themes you'll find in Boethius. 20:52 He finally understands 20:53 that nothing actually belonged to him. 20:56 He might have used pagan philosophers to make that point 20:58 but he was also a Christian and I virtually guarantee 21:01 he knew about this passage in the book of Ecclesiastes. 21:05 Boethius was treated unjustly, 21:07 robbed of all his accomplishments, 21:09 his name dragged through the mud without mercy, 21:13 and now he's going to die. 21:14 And he suddenly realizes that people who have it very good 21:18 are ill-equipped to deal with hardship. 21:20 He writes these words. 21:22 "...the most fortunate people are also the most squeamish; 21:26 "being unused to any hardship, 21:27 "unless everything comes to them on the nod 21:30 "they are floored by the slightest difficulties." 21:34 Now you tell me that's not a description of our generation. 21:37 Never has anybody had it so good. 21:40 Even our poorest people here in the West now live better, 21:43 more conveniently than at any time in the world's history. 21:46 I mean, that's not to say there are no problems 21:48 because there are but our problems are smaller 21:53 than the stuff our ancestors dealt with. 21:55 And yet somehow we see 21:57 more prone to dissatisfaction and complaint 21:59 because we've come to believe that fortune will always smile 22:03 and that the world owes us something. 22:06 I'll take, for example, the recent pandemic 22:08 where people started to treat little things 22:10 as if they were grave injustices. 22:12 Think about public health orders like wearing a mask. 22:16 Whether or not you believe those work 22:18 is completely beside the point. 22:20 What I want you to notice is how little it took 22:23 to make us complain 22:25 and feel as if the universe was against us. 22:27 By contrast, a lot of our grandparents suffered unimaginably 22:31 in the muddy trenches of Europe. 22:33 And I don't ever remember my relatives 22:36 grumbling about the brutal conditions of the labor camps. 22:40 Not even once. 22:42 It's a matter of perspective 22:43 and that's where Boethius really shines, 22:45 at least in my opinion. 22:47 "If as a traveler on life's path 22:49 "you had first set out with empty pockets", he writes, 22:52 "you could face the highwayman with a song on your lips." 22:56 You know, all of us exchange our lives for something. 22:58 For most of us that's money, 23:00 which is really just a form of congealed life. 23:02 You exchange your hours for pay 23:04 which hopefully accumulates in the bank. 23:08 And if somebody takes that away from you, 23:09 it feels as if they've stolen your life. 23:12 But if you remember that you've always been naked, 23:14 that you don't really own anything, 23:16 that might really help when bad times come. 23:20 In the Bible, we have the example of Christ 23:22 who abandoned all the glories of heaven 23:24 to become a regular human being, 23:27 to the point where he dies with absolutely nothing, 23:30 naked on a cross. 23:34 That's the example that God sets in front of us. 23:36 And the book of Hebrews says that Jesus did that 23:38 "...for the joy that was set before Him." 23:42 Could it really be that the path to joy is self-denial? 23:46 I know that doesn't seem to make sense 23:48 but what if it's true? 23:50 Let me read you just one more passage from Boethius 23:53 where he really cuts to the heart of the matter. 23:56 This is Lady Philosophy asking him a really tough question. 24:00 She says, "Have you men no resources within you 24:04 "that you call your own, seeing that you seek your goods 24:07 "in things external and distinct from you? 24:10 "Has the world become so topsy-turvy that a living creature, 24:13 "whom the gift of reason makes divine, 24:16 "believes that his glory 24:17 "lies solely in possession of lifeless goods? 24:21 "Other creatures are content with what they have; 24:24 "but you, who are godlike with your gift of mind, 24:27 "seek to embellish your surpassing nature 24:29 "with the grubbiest of things, 24:31 "and in so doing you fail to appreciate 24:33 "what an insult you inflict on your Creator. 24:37 "He sought to make the race of men 24:38 "superior to all earthly things, 24:40 "but you have subordinated your dignity 24:43 "to the lowliest objects." 24:46 So, if you think about what this means, 24:48 if you find your worth in things, 24:51 what does that actually say about you? 24:54 I mean, here we are at the apex of creation 24:56 made in God's image 24:58 and we try to determine our worth by counting our things? 25:01 It doesn't make sense. 25:03 In fact, what you're saying is that the trinkets you own 25:05 are worth more than you, 25:08 and that's a completely backward view of human nature. 25:12 I'll be right back after this. 25:16 - [Voiceover] Life can throw a lot at us. 25:18 Sometimes we don't have all the answers 25:21 but that's where the Bible comes in. 25:24 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 25:26 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 25:28 we've created the "Discover Bible" guides 25:31 to be your guide to the Bible. 25:32 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 25:35 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions. 25:38 And they're absolutely free. 25:40 So, jump online now or give us a call 25:42 and start your journey of discovery. 25:47 - Boethius says that making worldly things 25:49 the measure of your worth 25:50 is gonna leave you bitter and broken. 25:53 He writes, "How rampant is this error 25:55 "entertained by you humans 25:57 "in thinking that anything can be enhanced 25:58 "by external adornment?" 26:01 It's the same principle you find 26:02 in the opening chapter of Romans 26:04 where Paul describes our biggest problem like this. 26:06 He says, "Professing to be wise, they became fools, 26:11 "and changed the glory of the incorruptible God 26:14 "into an image made like corruptible man, 26:17 "and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things." 26:22 What we've done is turn our attention away 26:25 from the actual center of our being, away from our creator, 26:29 and we've put our emphasis on stuff. 26:32 Paul is talking about idolatry here in Romans, 26:35 the worship of mere creations. 26:38 And in a way, that's what we're doing 26:39 when we find our worth in good fortune. 26:42 But what the Bible teaches 26:44 is that your worth does not depend on what happens to you. 26:47 I mean, this world even turned on the Son of God. 26:51 And at that point, 26:53 the most important thing in the world is to know for sure, 26:56 as it says in the book of Acts, 26:57 "...in Him we live and move and have our being." 27:03 Naked you were born and naked you will die. 27:06 And in between those two points, 27:08 you and I, it turns out, were really naked all along. 27:11 You know, historically speaking, 27:13 there's a very long list of Christians 27:15 who went to unjust deaths 27:18 but they had a smile on their faces. 27:20 And you've got to wonder 27:21 what exactly they found in this book. 27:25 Maybe, maybe it's time to give this book another look 27:29 because we're all going to face hardship 27:31 and we're all going to die. 27:33 And what's in your heart and mind when that moment comes, 27:38 well, it's gonna make all the difference in the world. 27:41 Thanks for joining me, I'm Shawn Boonstra. 27:43 This has been "Authentic". 27:45 [soft music] |
Revised 2022-04-07