Honour and Shame and COVID-19 Realities - Part 4

Hopefully you have already seen Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this series….and here is Part 4 which highlights the reality of shame and shaming which is featuring in how Yale University is exploring the ‘best messaging’ to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine** (please see note below as I am not endorsing any particular vaccine but wanting to highlight the messaging methods being used).

Essentially they are contextualising how the message is worded and targeted. The message they want to promote is the same—'get the vaccine'—but how it is said, and the motivation it wants to ignite, differs from what they have done before.  They realise that culture is changing and to make a message ‘stick’ and be ‘heard’ they have to change how to say it.

Yet, how it differs is worth a look, as it reveals a couple of things: 

1. how they believe Americans in particular, but maybe Westerners in general, in the 21st Century think. 

2. what this can remind us about how 21st Century Westerners (particularly Americans) may need to be brought the message of the gospel.

But lets look at what the actual Yale research messages are.

They have come up with 10 ways to frame the message, each with a slightly different angle of approach. They are:

1 - Personal Freedom

a message about how COVID-19 is limiting people's personal freedom and by working together to get enough people vaccinated society can preserve its personal freedom.

2- Economic Freedom

a message about how COVID-19 is limiting peoples's economic freedom and by working together to get enough people vaccinated society can preserve its economic freedom.

3- Social Benefit - self-interest

a message that COVID-19 presents a real danger to one's health, even if one is young and healthy. Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is the best way to prevent oneself from getting sick.

4- Social Benefit - community interest

 a message about the dangers of COVID-19 to the health of loved ones. The more people who get vaccinated against COVID-19, the lower the risk that one's loved ones will get sick. Society must work together and all get vaccinated

5 - Economic Benefit 

a message about how COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on the economy and the only way to strengthen the economy is to work together to get enough people vaccinated

6 - Social Pressure - guilt

The message is about the danger that COVID-19 presents to the health of one's family and community. The best way to protect them is by getting vaccinated and society must work together to get enough people vaccinated. Then it asks the participant to imagine the guilt they will feel if they don't get vaccinated and spread the disease.

7 - Social Pressure - embarrassment

The message is about the danger that COVID-19 presents to the health of one's family and community. The best way to protect them is by getting vaccinated and by working together to make sure that enough people get vaccinated. Then it asks the participant to imagine the embarrassment they will feel if they don't get vaccinated and spread the disease.

8 - Social Pressure - anger

The message is about the danger that COVID-19 presents to the health of one's family and community. The best way to protect them is by getting vaccinated and by working together to make sure that enough people get vaccinated. Then it asks the participant to imagine the anger they will feel if they don't get vaccinated and spread the disease.

9 - Trust in Science

a message about how getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is the most effective way of protecting one's community. Vaccination is backed by science. If one doesn't get vaccinated that means that one doesn't understand how infections are spread or who ignores science.

10 - Not bravery

this message describes how firefighters, doctors, and front line medical workers are brave. Those who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are not brave.

But let’s take a closer look at what the nuance is for each message in relation to the dynamic of shame.

The first five are oriented toward proposed material/physical benefits - physical health, physical freedom, economics.

The next five are oriented toward emotional/social status, and its these which I want to unpack further.

Yale label them as:

• Guilt
• Embarrassment
• Anger
• Trust in Science
• Not bravery

Guilt - this one is really saying that you will feel like you have done wrong by not protecting the health of one’s family and community, kind of like disobeying the law 101 to love your neighbour and are guilty of spreading the disease.

Embarrassment - this is another word for a level of shame, a feeling of not being able to face those around you because you would feel you failed to do your part for the good of society and would feel ashamed for presumably spreading the disease.

Anger - this is also specifically saying it is within the ‘social pressure’ area, and I think they are meaning the person who doesn’t take the vaccine will be angry at themselves for being the ones spreading the disease to family and friends. To be angry with yourself is to be disappointed and dissatisfied with yourself that you did not live up to your own expectations…in other words to be ashamed of yourself.

(*there is some confusion in the logic here, as if the vaccine is effective, and a person opts not to take the vaccine which is made available to all, they have by default admitted they are willing to get the disease come what may, at their own risk or peril. So if a person who chooses not to be vaccinated gets the disease, they will have only got it from others in the same situation, and will only spread it to others who have also chosen to not get the vaccination. If the vaccine is effective, they will not spread it to others who have been vaccinated. However we will go along with the Yale logic for now and simply take their options at face value).

Trust in Science - Here is not the place to go into the arguments for or against the science around vaccines but I don’t think it is fair to say that someone doesn’t believe in science just because they decline to be vaccinated. In fact I was thrilled to hear a scientist recently say on USA TV that science is not facts but a ‘method’ and everyone needs to ‘trust but verify’. 

However, the point of this option is to make someone feel inferior, unintelligent or plain neglectful of science if they were to hesitate to be vaccinated. This again is a shaming perspective.

Not Bravery - this is an interesting option and once again based around the idea that Bravery is honourable and noble, and to not be brave is to lack honour and be ignoble - in other words to be a shameful coward and be the opposite of what those around you would praise. Instead of being looked up to and rewarded, you would be looked down on and despised.

So out of the five (5) emotional/social options, one relates to guilt and 4 relate to shame.

By default this then says that Yale University (at least the ones involved in drawing up this clinical trial research), believe that 80% of emotional/social motivations are likely to be influenced by a shame oriented mind-set. Of course we don’t yet know what the outcome of this research will be, but how the study is framed is very revealing about what they believe the make-up of American society is likely to respond to.

How does this speak to us as Christians in relation to the gospel message….

Honour and Shame are alive and well in our world and motivating aspects of life….including a COVID-19 Vaccine.

This then prompts us again as Christians, to think about how we are framing the gospel in the 21st Century particularly in relation to this second Yale research example. 

Shame is not a new concept to the world, as I have talked about before. Some believe that ‘guilt’ is the ‘godly’ way to talk about wrong-doing, and shame is ‘ungodly’ and society’s pre-occupation with shame is evidence of its waywardness. However, guilt is not a more righteous or biblical concept than shame. In fact, the Bible speaks more about shame than guilt.

We may be seeing a ‘flare-up’ socially of all kinds of shame dynamics, but this is not because the world is becoming ‘ungodly’. It just means that the dynamic of shame is socially more ‘acceptable’ to speak about, and its coming at a time in which society wants to label certain actions as bad or good in shame terms.

What this era does tell us is that society is thinking more and more overtly in shame terms. 

How people think is related to how they are motivated, how they process information, how they make decisions, set priorities, decide what is good and evil, and thus what they understand to be loving of neighbour or good for themselves. 

If society is thinking in shame terms more and more (as this Yale research proposal could indicate), then they will be thinking through issues of right and wrong, good and bad, in shame terms. If those shame contexts are only framed by the world’s definition of what is and what is not shameful, society will of course be ‘off-track’.

But to get society back ‘on-track’ does not require a push to think in more ‘guilt’ terms, but to think in more biblically oriented shame terms.

Thinking through the gospel in term of shame is not only biblical but it is desperately needed by the church. 

Because if the church can’t think about the gospel in shame terms, it will not be effective in sharing the gospel to a world that thinks in shame terms.

When we go cross-culturally we talk about sharing the gospel in the ‘heart language’ of the people, in the words and in the ways of how they think. We need to start doing that with our 21st Century world - we need to start once again sharing the gospel in ways that not only talk about guilt, but that are permeated with the contexts that surround the dynamics of shame.

The world is aware that in order to change people’s mind-set about an issue which they think is important, it is vital to think about how that message will best be received and acted upon.

How much more do we as Christians have a message that is important…eternally, not just temporarily, important?

How much more do we as Christians need to learn to understand biblically rooted ways to explain that message to the maybe 80% of the Western population who are primarily thinking in terms of shame?

Are you wanting to learn how to understand your own emotions of shame, or that of others, or that of society in general? 

Are you wanting to understand more of what the Bible says about shame? 

Are you wanting to share the gospel better to shame oriented hearers?

Here are a few book/blog suggestions.

Honourshame.com

Jackson Wu

Werner Mischke

Shame Interrupted

Unashamed

Looking Shame in the Eye

Defending Shame

The Global Gospel

Ministering in Honor-Shame Cultures

Saving God’s Face

About Face

Honor, Shame and the Gospel

 - **NOTE: this post is not a place to go into the safety, protocols, politics etc of the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, nor is it an endorsement nor non-endorsement of a COVID-19 Vaccine nor in any way an encouragement or discouragement to get vaccinated. Up until yesterday, vaccines were still very much in the trial phase as and none were yet clear for general use in humans. While the UK has just approved one vaccine for use, Australia is holding back approving the same vaccine. Some have raised concerns about lack of adequate time being given to Phase 3 trials, to others who are concerned regarding the Oxford Vaccine’s background related to feotal cells. Others are concerned that Moderna are using technology never used before and as a company have never before completed research to a full in-use human vaccine. Outcomes remain to be seen. If you are interested in an easy read and simple clear graphic on the various COVID-19 vaccine development contexts take a look at this article, or read about the things to consider as a COVID vaccine is developed, in this article, or consider the science of the vaccines from a Christian perspective in this article from Creation Ministries International.

Honour and Shame and COVID-19 Realities - Part 3

If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 of this little series I would encourage you to take a look.

But here in Part 3 I want to mention how human honour seeking is an undercurrent in more ways in our world than we realise.  Recently Russia announced that they have a Vaccine for COVID-19 that they say is ready for full use.

It seems that they are doing Phase 3 Clinical Trial as they go along instead of waiting till that Phase is finished before declaring it safe and rolling it out as a licenced vaccine. To simplify it, Phase 3 is important as in Phase 1 and 2 the vaccine is tested as to whether it produces an antibody response and can be ‘safely’ injected into a limited number of healthy humans. But in Phase 3 not only are there more humans injected across a range of ages and health contexts, but there is supposed to be a greater amount of time given to make sure of what the longer-term effects are and what happens when these people later get the ‘real’ virus in the community - whether it protects them and they don’t get sick, or it does nothing to protect them at all, or if like what has happened previously with vaccines when a person later catches the ‘real’ virus they get extra severely sick or die because of an immune enhancement problem! So proper time and practice is important for this phase. It is this phase that many hopeful vaccines have to be trashed and the research has to start over again!

The point of interest is that they are making it very clear that they are the 1st in the race to get a vaccine. It has been said by some that it is sad that what was meant to be collaboration has become a race to see who can get to the finish line first and has been a race for prestige! Some are concerned that safety is being sacrificed. The human desire for honour, to be first, to be the top, to be the best and better than others, is very strong and can sometimes cause us to throw caution to the wind, cut corners or do the minimum rather than the maximum to ensure health and safety, whether its in the classroom, the school sports field, the workplace, the space race or a vaccine race!

Russia has named their vaccine the Sputnik V, bringing a parallel to the fact that the Russians were the first into space in the ‘space race’.  The honour of being first is being questioned by other nations as being at the expense of a proper sequence of protocols to ensure a ‘safe’ vaccine.

But how often do we also rush what we should take time to do, just because we want to be first or noticed or recognised or praised! How often do we ‘cut corners’ to get what we want when we want it? How often do we care more about our own image, and what others will think of us, instead of doing what it takes, no matter what others may think? As God’s children we need to be more concerned about honour in his eyes, than honour in the eyes of the world and those around us even in the small things.

….Keep watch for Part 4 coming soon!

Another Very Colourful Critter in the Garden

It’s taken about 8 years of living in the bush and almost 20 years of living in Botswana to finally have my camera ready at the same time as seeing this fast-moving and camera-shy colourful critter!

This time its not part of the insect kingdom or the mammalian kingdom, but the reptile kingdom….and not the dangerous lethal slithery kind!

My home country of Australia has the frilly necked lizard and the blue tongued lizard, but nothing like this guy as far as I know!

It’s always exciting when you see a bit of bright blue appear around the edge of a tree…..

And here he is a little closer up….

….and full length (about 30cm)…..its amazing just how much he can manage to blend into his surroundings even with such vibrant colours…...

…..and he he is showing off his full beauty in the afternoon sunshine!

Praise the Lord with me 

and give thanks for another exhibit of his amazing creation….

…..and be reminded with me 

that if God takes such care to make beautiful creatures like this, he will also make things beautiful in our lives in his time, for our ultimate eternal good and his supreme eternal glory!

Honour and Shame and COVID-19 Realities - Part 2

If you haven’t read Part 1 of this little series on honour-shame and COVID-19 find it here.

In this post today, I want to look at an unusual situation of the reaction of an Emergency Doctor in Australia, who tested positive for COVID-19 and was placed in a quarantine hotel for health workers for 7 days.

She said:

'A fresh sense of shame at ending up here was all I could muster. Healthcare worker infections have been such a focus for colleagues and the media and now suddenly, here I am….

But in my abrupt isolation, my own illness, I was suddenly scared in a way I wasn't while caught up in the constant fight to save others' lives. 

Not because I feared I would not survive COVID-19, but because I am petrified that in the success of our fight, we may well lose the very essence of our reason to live.

Why should she feel ‘shame’?

Because since the time the first shame entered the world in the Garden of Eden, isolation, and separation, and shame, are all infused with the same ‘DNA’. 

As human beings we were not meant to be separated from God or from each other. Nothing was supposed the come between us and our Creator and us as humanity together. When it does, it feels wrong, it feels bad, it feels painful. While it might seem strange that someone feels shame for being in quarantine, it is the same essential condition as being separated out, being unacceptable to ‘normal’ humanity, being rejected, and not being ‘enough’ or ‘up to standard’  (not healthy enough) to be included in community life. It feels like a form of unpleasant consequences/punishment for being ‘deficient’ (not healthy enough). It runs parallel to the sense of being ‘unclean’ and contaminated, so that others want to stay away from you and you are kept away from others.

A sense of shame, often unable to be clearly put into words, runs deep--very deep--in our psyche, and in our sense of identity, of belonging, of inclusion, and of acceptance. Even when we can’t explain it, we feel it.

To ignore this reality, or simply suppress it is a recipe for problems. 

The answer to it however, is not just to turn everything that is shameful into something noble, as the world is trying to do. 

As Christians we need to learn to recognise it, acknowledge it, and address it biblically. 

As Christians we should be the first, not the last to recognise it. We should also be the first not the last to be speaking about it and addressing it…because its only the gospel that frees a person to face their shame and find relief from it. It is only the gospel that frees us to name what is shameful, as shameful in God’s eyes, but at the same time offer freedom from it in Christ - not an absence of shaming from people according to the world’s definitions of what is and is not shameful, but a new ability in Christ to dis-arm the shame and strip it of its power. In Christ the shaming of the world no longer counts as permanently debilitating or destroying, and the shame that does count (the shame of sin) is already accounted for and covered, in Christ.

Honour, Shame, and COVID-19 Realities - Part 1

Over the next few blog posts I would like to highlight a few of the occurrences of shame issues I have recently come across in relation to COVID-19, and what we might learn from each of them, and what it might mean for Christians and the gospel in the 21st Century.

The first is a non-Western example in relation to the problems of COVID-19 management which require the changing of cultural practices.

Here are some examples:

a A writer from Syria - said that people are still kissing on the cheeks all over the place as its a cultural practice. To not greet appropriately in honour-shame cultures is one of the worst things you can do, as it is seen as denying people the most fundamental level of honour.

Similarly even in Botswana Dr Makwinja, a Developmental Psychologist quoted in the official Governement COVID Bulletin Issue 92 about implementing new behaviour-change COVID-19 guidelines and protocols in society, has said:

‘to follow the new culture is complicated….a Setswana culture dictates that people greet each other by shaking hands as a sign of respect and honor…it will be difficult to change'

a But Batswana are being strongly encouraged, and being led by example of their leaders, that everyone must make the needed changes. By the leaders doing the new style of greeting, the practice of greeting is still valued but the new style is ‘endorsed’ as ‘honourable’ by the ‘elders’, thus the people feel ‘free’ to make the changes without thinking they are dishonouring the culture and the ancestors who gave them their culture.

The issue of the shame - ‘stigma’ of COVID-19 has been recognised as significant here in Botswana, with part of the COVID education and awareness messaging from the beginning including posters such as these below:

a I have heard several references to the issue of funerals in South Africa - people feel the need to properly honour family members and don’t want to be the ones who ‘fail’ to attend and do the proper honouring. There are also believed to be dire consequences from passed family members when they become ancestors, if proper burial/funeral honouring has not taken place.

a Australia had problems early on in the current Victoria outbreak, in the Broadmeadows area where cultural gatherings (of people from immigrant communities) were the source of a ‘cluster’ of cases…and the comment was made in a media interview by a family member at one of the gatherings that others just don’t understand the cultural need to have families come together for such gatherings.

To not do what is required culturally is seen as dishonouring your culture and thus those within your culture. As we have talked before about on this blog, such cultural dishonouring is the most shameful and sinful thing a person can do.

Honour and Shame concepts cannot be ignored, and any behaviour modifications will need to be reframed not in Western ‘law’ language and demands, but described and requested in new honour-code terms. If you term it in ‘law’ terms that seem unrelated to cultural honour language then the cultural honour practices will continue in the ‘honour’ category of life, while ‘trying’ to fulfill other demands which will be deemed as secondary. But if the new requests are put in the ‘honour’ box, then ‘honour’ takes on a new context. If new requests are then disseminated through cultural leaders who now show that to do what is culturally honourable and honouring the ‘elders’, has changed and is what they are now demanding, then there is more hope of the general person’s behaviour changing. Then there is less mental conflict (cognitive dissonance) between what ethnic culture demands and what the Government laws are demanding.

As Christians we should be eager and willing to put aside earthly cultural practices and not feel ‘bound’ to them. Our priority is not whether our behaviour is honouring cultural elders, ancestors or ‘culture’ in general, but whether it honours God and how he says we are to act toward him and toward others. It’s never easy to ‘go against the grain’ or ‘swim against the tide’ of culture or peer pressure, but we need to make our decisions from a different standpoint and seek God’s approval above human approval.

In Part 2 I will take a look at what shame had to do with an Aussie Emergency Care doctor testing positive for COVID-19.

Stunningly Beautiful Tiny Garden Surprises

African Flora and Fauna never cease to amaze me with their beauty.

Time and again, I am caused to be in AWE of our amazing God who made it all!

A ‘normal’ or ‘ordinary’ day can suddenly turn into a photographic expedition of the unexpected.

I had headed into the garden with my camera as my husband had said that a few days ago he noticed flowers on the native Gardenia at the bottom edge of the yard, and I know that those flowers normally only last a day or two. However, it was a disappointing excursion as the flowers were all spent already.

Then all of a sudden, as I neared the house again, I multi-coloured shiny ‘metallic’ bug caught my eye!

Just incredible!

Then I realised there were a few of them on the bush. I could have stayed watching them for ages.

And here is a look closer up….

 

Not only are the colours stunning….but they change slightly in different light. 

The front and side edges can seem a deep red like in the first photo and the blue can change to green or even tinges of yellow, and the underside green ‘zigzag’ can even seem brilliant gold like in the photo below!

(these two Mr and Mrs were busy and inseparable for the whole time I was watching, and they walked up and down all over the bush still joined together….but they didn’t seem to have any trouble with one of them having to walk blindly and trustingly backwards every time they moved!)

I am once again just so filled with praise for our wonderful heavenly Father who obviously so enjoyed making a world filled with his never-ending variations of beauty, …...and he continues to gain joy, I’m sure, as his children ‘discover’ that beauty, are blessed by it, and glorify him because of it!

If the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, then these little bugs definitely enable that!

When you see bugs like this, you can’t help but smile and know a ‘lightness of heart’ and ‘joy of soul’ in the midst of the so many aspects of this trouble-filled world that seem to have tried to smother humanity this year. These, are joy-gifts from God!

Hopefully these few little snapshots of beautiful African bugs will help you not only smile, but also give you a moment when you too can enjoy and glorify God even more!

A day at a time - more lessons from Cactus Flowers

This year of 2020 for most people across the globe has been one of unexpected changes. From one day to the next many places have not known whether the morning news will announce a new 'lockdown' or protocols for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our own personal lives this year have also had some extra 'one day at a time' contexts in addition to the COVID-19 issues, including a situation that placed great uncertainty from one day to the next whether we would have to move house or not.  Each day taught me a 'refresher course' in making the most of enjoying the beauty of the Botswana bush around me, the twinkling of city lights at night in the distance, the clarity of the stars above my head, and the perfect layout of our current house for my health limitations.

Right now the change of seasons is at its peak, when the bush goes from the trees all looking totally dead and 'leafless', as it transforms from 'brown' to 'green' with all the new growth on the trees.

It is also the season when the Cactus flowers bloom in our garden. The last couple of years we have enjoyed a few flowers bloom, though not as profuse as some years back.  

But this year, was a bumper-bloom!

More than 30 flowers came out all at once!  A spectacular greeting one overcast morning!

But once again these flowers had a lesson to teach me…..as they only last about a day.  And then they are gone.

All that beauty….just for a day!

Yes.

But they are so beautiful, even though they bloom only for a day.

And even more beautiful for having a few raindrops still lingering on the ends of their petals.

God could have thought "oh well those flowers will only be around for a day so they don't need too much beauty or extra care to make".  But he didn't. He made them just as beautiful (or maybe more beautiful) for their short life. They are perfectly crafted and delicately formed….all the more astounding as they come out of the most prickly little lumps in our whole garden.

Such lessons for me once again…..to value each day, rejoice in each day, treat each day as important and worth investing in, each day requires God's hand, and is filled with his goodness and love. 

Then there is the reminder that out of ordinary lumps of life and even prickly lumps of life can come some of the most beautiful and amazing experiences.

Neither short time-spans or prickly, painful, ordinary areas of life are the measure of beauty or value or delight. To dismiss life's awkward or difficult parts or hurry through a day like its just a figure on a calendar, means we risk missing out on the blessings God wants to fill our lives with!

Such are some of the lessons of the Cactus flower!

Beauty in the 'bleak mid-winter' of the African Bush

The ‘bleak mid-winter’ here in the Botswana African bush is not the British mid-winter of ice and snow, but it is the season when the bush dries out and many trees lose their leaves. There is actually a unique kind of beauty to it. But it is also the season in which when visiting a game reserve, you have a good chance of seeing many animals of God’s creation. They are not hidden behind dense foliage and they are having to visit waterholes more often as their main remaining source of water.

So, it was a good time to take a few days away last month, to stay at a chalet in the small local Mokolodi Game Reserve. Our view overlooked one of the waterholes. So not only did we enjoy some great sightings on our game driving, but we had many visits from animals at the waterhole too.

In this time of travel restrictions around the world….enjoy a visit with us to Mokolodi!

Around the waterhole - 'social distancing' sometimes felt like it had made its way even to the bush!

Impala

Gemsbok

Male Kudu (L) and Wildebeest

Zebra 

Warthog

Red Hartebeest

And in the trees....

Can you spot the baboon up in the tree on the left?

We had hoped to maybe spot a leopard up a tree, but not this time.

But yes, it is normally birds that are in the trees.....

...we saw many and managed to photograph a few

Can you see the well concealed kingfisher 

up in the top right corner with his orange beak?

The silhouette of the Drongo on the other hand is easy to spot

The Yellow Billed Hornbill, on the other hand seemed to be everywhere but in the trees 

- here he is on the top of our chalet...

and then trying desperately to get to his reflection in our car window 

- he seemed to persist for hours every day!

And in the bush.....

It's amazing how hard it can be to see a Zebra clearly in the bush!

This giraffe was huge and at first could be mistaken for just a few more tree trunks!

Then there was a Mother and Baby giraffe

And a Waterbuck resting in the shade

And a lone ostrich

One morning a large herd of Kudu came grazing around our chalet 

and this one was just a couple of meters from our front door!

Then we can't forget two other large creatures who were in the dam at another part of the Reserve - neither of which we wanted to get too close to!

That larger 'lump' you can see lazing in the sun,

 has dangerous jaws and can move quickly if it wants, 

and we certainly did not want to be a crocodile lunch!

This hippo also has large dangerous jaws, 

but we didn't even get to see them open as she rested

 (we think that extra little sliver of a bump in front of her nose may have been a calf?)

What we had hoped to see but did not, was some Rhino....we knew they were there as their poo was all over the place, but all we saw was a Hornbill, busy partaking of what he thought were delicious delights hidden within that Rhino poo!

Well, maybe next time we will get to see the actual producer of the poo!

But that's part of the fun of discovering the African bush!

Hopefully it won't be too long before the world 'opens up' again and you might be able to visit and see it for yourself!

Filled with Fear or Fuelled by Hope! - Gospel Opportunities in Unprecedented Times!

Are you like me? Have you had many fellow Christians forwarding you articles, video links, blog posts, quotes and such like about how many events so far in 2020 are indicating its the End Times?

Well are we in the End Times?  

I don't know. 

We might be. 

But there have been other generations before us that have maybe felt the same at different times. And maybe there will be more generations in the future who will feel the same way.

Whether we are or not, we are meant to be living every day like Jesus is coming back today!  

As Christians, Jesus said in Matthew 24:6 that we should not be alarmed even if there are wars and rumours of wars as part of the 'end times'. However, I am so saddened that many of these links I have been sent seem to be written and compliled in such a way as to stir a sense of alarm. The music chosen as background to some videos has even been to build tension. 

Yet, what is the purpose meant to be of Christians being alert to the end times?

Is it so that Christians spend their focus 'warning' other Christians that 'the end times are here', which often seem to only engender further fear and anxiety? Does Scripture give us the book of Revelation, and passages like those in 2 Thessalonians, so that our fear will increase and we become almost addicted to such messages of impending doom so that we get almost get an adrenaline rush from end times focused social media posts? NO. The truth of Scripture is not there to increase the Christian's fear of end times, but fuel their hope.  

But I have read or received very many links (almost none!) that have been designed to fuel my hope in God and passion for sharing his gospel.

Here is where I think we are missing the point on 2 counts.

1. Knowledge of the end times is supposed to be fearful for only one group of people - the unsaved.  And that should spur us to be even more active and passionate about sharing the gospel. 

Any signal of the end times should prompt and propel our gospel sharing, but sadly the messages I'm receiving are not about spurring people on to the urgency of sharing Christ.

So I don't think we are getting the 1st foundational point of knowing about the end times - increased intentional gospel proclamation and disciple making.

2. Then secondly for the Christian, what is the purpose of knowing about the end times?…..Building hope.  We are meant to encourage each other and spur each other on in the knowledge that this world is not our home, we do not live for the temporary earthly successes but for eternal and spiritual glories. 

We are reminded that we can endure whatever is coming because we are not alone, we are indwelt by the Comforter, never forsaken, strengthened by his might, calmed by his peace…and thus face the future not with fear but with confidence and calm.  But I'm not seeing this. I am not being sent messages of confidence, calm and encouragement.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what are we doing?

COVID-19, African locust plagues, and years of drought may or may not be telling us the end times are immanent. But even if Jesus is coming soon, we are not meant to fear, but eagerly cry 'come Lord Jesus'. We shouldn't be engulfed with fear or stirring fellow Christians to fear. Instead we should be beacons of hope. 

And as we shine as beacons of hope, maybe others will ask us why we have so much peace, calm and confidence in the face of so much uncertainty.  Maybe instead of worrying more we should be witnessing more!

In fact 2 Chronicles doesn't tell us that drought, locust plagues and pestilence (disease) are signs of the end times, but are signs God's people need to repent!

Fellow Christians, what do we need to repent of ?  What do you need to repent of?

Have we failed to hear the message of Scripture for the purpose God gave it? Have we forgotten that any 'signs of the times' are there to prompt us to give more glory to God, to be reminded that we are in safe hands since he already knew about this before we even began to think about it? Have we been messengers of alarm to fellow believers and quiet to non-believers, instead of messengers of warning to non-believers and comfort and encouragement to believers?

Yes there are conspiracy theories, there are wicked realities in our world, there are sinful and selfish hearts, and there is a Father of Lies whose aim is simply to steal, kill and destroy everything that is good and glorifies God. Satan is out to mess up the world and let sin have its full destructive force. He is the angel of light and great deceiver and will trick many into following what look like his 'good ideas' but are concealing destructive goals. His end-times schemes are destructive, are anti-God and are deceitful. 

But Scripture doesn't tell us to spend all our efforts in telling and retelling and retelling fellow believers that the end times might be coming. We already know they are coming…we have been pre-warned, not to be filled with fear, but to be equipped and forearmed with hope which gives us greater urgency to live and share the gospel. 

We are not taken unawares, so we should not be shocked or worried. We are children of the winning King. We already know the end of the story. God has the last say. God gets the glory and we get to live with him forever.

We are not victims of what world leaders might be up to, even though we might feel the impact of their decisions. Rather we are victors with the One who has already won the Victory over sin. Whatever man's and Satan's schemes, God has the greater plan. God is still working his plans. It is a deception and lie of the Devil for us as believers to be weighed down, discouraged, worried or consumed in our focus or time with all that might or might not happen or when. Yes, let's be aware that the world is not just going to plod on forever, there will be end times. Yes, let's be strong clear voices of truth and light and the salt in the earth. But let's also keep it in perspective, and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not the storm….or else like Peter, we will sink and not walk where Jesus wants us to.

So in this year of 2020 - what is your focus? Where are your energies? Has Satan got you diverted? 

Or are you propelled by the world's news into sharing the good news about Jesus more urgently than ever before?

Are you busy helping and encouraging others in their efforts to share the good news?  

Are you busy encouraging and building hope in the hearts of your fellow believers?

Oh how I would long to receive more messages or watch more videos that observe the sad and sorry state of our world and are thus filled with gospel urgency and passionate hope!

2 Thessalonians 2:16

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, 

who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 

comfort your hearts 

and establish them in every good work and word.

and the very next verse in 2 Thessalonians 3:1 (which encapsulates the goal of our ministry) should be the focus for our prayers and our work as we await the second coming of our King….

Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, 

Lessons from a COVID-19 Mushroom ...about Tests, Temptations and the Unexpected!

This year of 2020 and COVID-19 seems to be a roller coaster of the unexpected!

In chatting with a member of our family just yesterday, we talked about how from one day to the next you don't know if the laws will change, lockdown will be re-instated or what the next news broadcast will say. 

When the Unexpected Arrives

I had another little lesson on dealing with the unexpected just recently in the form of an unexpected arrival in our garden of….a mushroom! Yes, that photo above is of a mushroom.

In our garden there is a pathway area which is just plain dirt and nothing normally grows - even weeds don't grow there very often.

But just a few days ago, we noticed a 'bump'  or 'lump' of some kind had suddenly appeared in the middle of the dirt path. From a distance I wasn't sure what it was, but I did not think it had been there the day before.

When we went to do a close-up check, this is what we found!

Yes, definitely a mushroom. A lone, quite large mushroom. On a dry dirt path, in the middle of a dry cold winter! How bizarre.

It seemed totally out of place, in the wrong season, and like it had come out of nowhere…although it was plainly obvious that it had pushed its way out through the loose dusty dirt - since it still had 'dirt' covering the top of it. It felt like a strange mix of a surprise and the totally weird!….it was almost the definition of the unexpected. This thing was a sudden 'intrusion' and 'disturbance' to the quiet and peaceful smooth patch of dirt pathway, and from our perspective it was not meant to be there.

I wasn't sure whether to see it as a nuisance, annoyance, a danger, cute, ornamental, intriguing or delightful.  Should we remove it, wait and observe it, or enjoy its beauty?

But then I got to thinking….this is like so many unexpected things in life to which we can have a multitude of responses.

We can be initially shocked, or annoyed or angry or frustrated if we think the 'unexpected' is also undesired. Or we can be intrigued or delighted if the 'unexpected' is pleasurable.

But this little mushroom brought a mix of responses, and became a mini-example (on a low scale of course) of the first few verses of the book of James which talk about trials.

Responding to the Unexpected

Sometimes when the unexpected arrives into our life we wonder if it is something from God or from Satan. This is a factor, but there is another 'or' issue, and that is how we respond 'to' the unexpected.

The English words for trial, and tempt/temptation in James 1 are the same word in the Greek (peirasmon) and some translations translate it as trial and some as trouble and some as temptation. James says that such things are to be counted as 'joy' in James 1:2, but he also says that God doesn't tempt anyone (James 1;13). So how are we to understand this?

My mushroom which elicited a range of responses in me was helping me to gain some new light on this….along with a 'well-timed' sermon from our Pastor last Sunday!

Events in our lives, particularly those that are unexpected, may be difficult, but in one sense are 'neutral' in themselves. From Satan's perspective they are opportunities and vehicles to tempt us to succumb to sin. But when we come to them from God's perspective they are gifts in order to test and strengthen us as we resist the devil's temptation to sin and instead grow in faith in God.

When Satan sent unexpected difficulties into Job's life in order to tempt him to reject God (or as Job's wife said to 'curse God'), God's purpose in allowing them was not to tempt Job to do wrong, but to test and prove and thus grow and deepen Job's faith so that at the end of the process Job joyfully praised the Lord for how his faith had come forth 'as gold' (Job 23:10). Satan's purpose was to lure Job away from faith in God, as opposed to God's purpose being to strengthen and prove and show forth Job's loyalty and trust in God. 

A similar scenario occurred when Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit…. to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1). The wilderness experience was what Satan wanted to use to lure Jesus away from his Father's will, but God used it to prove that Jesus could not be 'lured' to sin and God's plan would be accomplished God's way.

Without God and his perspective, any 'trial' is going to be a time of temptation that is for sure. It will get us down, discouraged, disquieted and disappointed, and we are sure to respond with disobedience to God's commands and dishonouring of his name.

But with God in our trials, they are times where he is proving/testing our faith in order to strengthen it. 

In James 1:3 which says: 

'you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance',

the word used for testing is different from the 'trials' word. 

This time the word for test is 'dokimos', which means to test the genuineness of something. He is shining the light on whether we will be loyal toward him rather being lured away from him toward evil. So James is saying when we understand God's perspective on life, the various trials (peirasmon) we face don't have to fulfil Satan's aim for them, rather they are for the testing (dokimos) of our faith to the glory of God.

God does not lure/tempt us to evil and never sends circumstances into our lives to lure us to sin. Any pull toward evil is coming from Satan and the sin in our world and in our own hearts (James 1:14). God is about working for good and holiness and our growth in faith in him. 

God's reason to allow trials and temptations is the opposite of Satan's schemes in wanting us to be entrapped and tripped up.

Rather than Satan's purpose of increasing our worry and fear and destroying our faith and stopping us from glorifying God, God wants to build our faith, grow us in perseverance (James 1:2-5), have us keep our eyes fixed on him, be reminded of his faithfulness, and bless us with peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7)!

…and that is still the case even when the 'intrusion' and problems just gets bigger rather than going away, like what happened with Job, and with our mushroom!….to about 15cm/6 in. tall!

Its an Honour Choice

As I thought about my mixed reactions toward the mushroom - a bit negatively with annoyance with it being in the middle of the pathway, but then with the delight and joy of its beauty, quaintness, uniqueness, and the way it could point me to praise the Creator - I saw a parallel with our own 'trials' as human beings on this earth. 

In these times, we can respond by succumbing to the temptation to get annoyed, angry, disappointed or complaining about the 'intrusion', or we can view it as an opportunity to see what God may want to teach us through it, and how he wants us to focus on who he is and the gifts of  learning to delight and rejoice in new ways. Instead of thinking of the temporary here-and-now and perceiving them as disruptions to our schedules/expectations, they are meant to be viewed in the light of the eternal and create opportunities to delight in God and the trustworthiness of his plans. 

It's about a choice between our own honour or his honour.

In this way, whatever comes our way—even 'trials' filled with temptations and Satan's schemes—is not cause for despair, but opportunities that God has promised to enable us to endure (1 Cor 10:13). 

Thus, even in this season of a pandemic and all the other 'unexpected' circumstances of life, I am reminded (and a bit chastised) by what I need to learn once again from the emergence of this little mushroom:

God's purpose for unexpected trials is for his glory and our good….thus we can count them all joy!