So……..I woke up early this morning……4:30am?!?…….no point in trying to get back to sleep. I figured that I’d go out on the patio to watch the sunrise and do my Bible reading for the day. As it turns out, this is a fairly lengthy process: build a fire in the fire pit………pull a shot of espresso…….froth some milk for the crema……..wipe off the dew. While I was at it, I fired up the robot vacuum to clean up the mess from last night’s dinner party.

So I’m standing at the espresso machine working on my latte………and all that the robot wants to do is vacuum the square yard of floor that I’m standing on…….over and over and over.

I had some unkind words……..for the robot……..as I prepared for my morning devotional……..my morning conversation with God. I verbally savaged a machine in preparation for a conversation with my creator………the guy who has blessed me with a lifestyle that very few people in our current world enjoy………a lifestyle that Jesus didn’t enjoy.

And then it hit me.

I am an ungrateful snot.

You may or may not have an espresso machine, or a robot vacuum, or a patio. But, compared to the 8 billion people on this planet…….as an American……..you are blessed. Your lifestyle, just like mine……is in the top 1 or 2 percent.

We have, you and I, been blessed…….individually……..and as a nation. And we need to start acting like it……..individually………and as a nation.

So my question is this:

When was the last time that you felt sorry for yourself? When was the last time that you complained about your life?

For me………it’s been at least 15 minutes.

When was the last time that you shared your individual blessings with someone who was struggling? When was the last time you asked your congressman to send more aid to Africa……or Bangladesh?

For me……..it’s been a while.

I worry that I……..and my nation……..have become ungrateful…….and self absorbed. We once sought God……as a nation………and I worry that we have lost that. As a nation we need to invite God back into our public life.

As an individual……………I need to spend more energy saying “thank you lord”…….and less energy saying “why me?”

One of God’s many promises is that if we seek him……he will bless us.

Another of God’s promises is that if we bless others, he will bless us.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land .

God, ESV

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Solomon, ESV

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Jesus, ESV

I’ll call him Joe.

He is my friend. You almost certainly know someone like Joe…….you may be Joe.

Joe is a committed atheist.

He believes in science, Darwin, life, and death.

I believe in God, life, death, and paradise.

We share the belief in life and death. Our disagreement is fundamentally this:

Science and Darwin………..God and paradise

Dead black nothing……..eternity

Where we came from…….and where we are going.

Two different belief systems.

Our lives are the result of either an accident or a conscious, intentional act of creation……by an intelligent creator…….a creator who loves us and who wants us to be happy. We are either going somewhere…….or we are going nowhere.

Joe and I are both nice guys. With few exceptions, you can count on us to do “the right thing”. You could call us both righteous men. We both operate on a basic moral code. And, in fact, our moral codes are almost identical. In a word….we are good people.

But, in this one area, our belief systems are mutually exclusive……..and that means that one of us is wrong. Much like the Michigan/Ohio State football game. 50,000 passionate sincere people in red and a similar group in blue sit down together on a Saturday afternoon believing…….hoping…… that their team is going to win. Half of them will go away disappointed.

And so it is with Joe and me. We will both die someday…… probably in the next 10 or 20 years. And one of us will be disappointed. Either the lights will just go out for both of us……..or we will face eternity. And there is the rub. My eternity will be defined by joy and love……… Joe’s eternity will be very different. At best he will miss out on the joy and love.

I am comfortable with my future……both the next 10 to 20 years and what follows that. I am very uncomfortable with Joe’s future. I believe that God is uncomfortable with Joe’s future as well.

What to do?

For me………there is no risk for being wrong. For Joe……the risk is catastrophic. Because of the eternal implications, I want Joe to change his mind. I worry about Joe………a lot.

There are dozens of strategies that will not work:

Guilt
Nagging
The threat of hell
Quoting Bible verses
Leaving tracts in public restrooms
Spray painting “Jesus loves you” on somebody’s wall.
Miracles
Angels
Demons
Don’t you want to someday see Aunt Thelma again?
Reports of answered prayers
Healing

But…….there is one trick that can work.

I have heard it said that the surest sign of the presence of God…..is joy. And this is absolutely true. If you are a believer, then you will be joyful……no matter what the circumstances……NO MATTER WHAT. That joy is the surest way to draw others to God. You can count on the fact that people will act in their own best interests……almost always. If you are a Christian……you will be joyful……..non-christians will sense your joy……..and they will say to themselves. “I don’t know what he has……..but I want it”. Paradoxically, the more dire your personal circumstance……..the more powerful your witness of joy will be.

Your joy is the key to changing Joe’s mind. In a curious way, your joy is the key to Joe’s future.

If you are a Christian and you are not joyful……..then you need to look under the hood………because you are missing something.

And so are all of the “Joe’s” in your life.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Jesus, ESV

‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Jesus, ESV

When I was younger, my sons would ask me questions and I would answer as best I could. As I get older, I find that, more and more, I answer…….”I don’t know”.

In a word…….the more, I know, the more I realize how ignorant I am.

As an individual, I have come to realize that the body of knowledge that is beyond my understanding…….is vast. This is also true for mankind collectively.

How we use the knowledge that we understand is fairly straightforward. We create tools. We build things. We entertain ourselves. We spread our family. Unfortunately, we also destroy things……and each other. Nonetheless, for better or worse, our use of the knowledge that we understand makes sense to us.

But what about the things that we do not understand? How do we handle the things that we do not know? How do we handle the things that we cannot know?

If you plot human knowledge as a curve over time, the curve rises ever more sharply. This curve is a measure of what we know. But, indirectly, it is also an indication of what we do not know. Either it will someday flatten out…….and we will know everything……..or it will continue to rise. Either perfect, complete wisdom is achievable…….or it is not.

And this concept divides us.

Some of us work very hard to expand the envelope of what we can understand. Some of us do not accept a reality beyond our knowledge. And some of us seek the answers in the spiritual realm.

The really big answers to the really big questions are either within our reach…….or they are not.

Where did we come from?

Why are we here?

Where are we going?

Origin, purpose, destiny.

We ask science to answer these questions…….we send telescopes into space. But, every answer leads to more questions.

I don’t believe that the curve will flatten out.

I don’t believe that knowledge is finite.

I don’t believe that we will ever achieve complete wisdom……..in this world.

There is a vast body of knowledge that we do not understand and, unfortunately, the really big, really important answers are a part of that hidden knowledge.

So, I explore the spiritual realm.

The best guide that I have found on this journey……..is the Bible. I trust it because it resonates with the things that are in my heart.

A creator…….a father…….who loves me.

A need for relationship……..love.

A concrete, immutable, truth behind it all.

A hierarchy…….God> me> family> society> earth.

So…….ultimately…….I put my trust……..I build my future……on what I cannot know……..yet.

For my fellow travelers………who put their trust in what they know………in what humanity collectively knows……I have to ask:

“How is that working out for you?”

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

…Solomon, ESV

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Paul, ESV