His master said to him, ‘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.’ -Matthew 25:23 (ESV)

The trail of the Black Panther, indistinguishable from the actor who portrayed the superhero, led the world to one far greater than he.

In August 2020, in a year already beset with the worldwide coronavirus pandemic and racial strife across the U.S., another tragedy occurred: the death of 43-year-old actor Chadwick Boseman. But while his influence during his time on earth was substantial, his postmortem legacy speaks even greater volumes for his life as a beacon in the world.

Though Boseman had already taken several roles in many movies, it was his starring role in the 2018 Marvel film “The Black Panther” that made him a household name. That movie was so popular that it went on to gross over $1 billion (U.S.) in ticket sales. The movie’s popularity had much more to do than superheroes and action, but of a positive portrayal of black leading characters that would, in turn, positively influence and build up young black viewers. This significance cannot be understated.

But in the two short years after the movie, the world saw less and less of Boseman outside of his appearances in two other Marvel movies. A few paparazzi shots revealed him as increasingly gaunt and underweight. Those shots would later underline what was revealed to the world after his passing from colon cancer: he had undergone several chemotherapy treatments over the years, unbeknownst to almost everyone around him, including his movie crews and co-stars.

After his death, people around the world came forward to testify to the life he lived. He didn’t draw attention to his illness, but instead used his fame and positive influence to visit children with cancer in various hospitals. He used his own money to eliminate the financial inequity for an actress who wasn’t getting paid the way her peers were. He inspired countless youths to see that they, too, could be a part of a positive portrayal for others.

But what wasn’t mentioned as much as the above–though beautiful as they were–was that his friends and co-stars shared some of his final tweets and text messages. In those communications, Boseman simply encouraged others to stop in the middle of their harried, stressful lives and be grateful for the day the Lord had made. That no matter what happened, they could be grateful.

In hindsight, it was so clear that he lived that life every single day.

Boseman lived a life that pointed people to God, and continues to point people to God even after death. The trail of the Black Panther points to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God is most certainly praising him on a life lived as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to Him.

You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.– Ephesians 2:19-22

In the 2018 movie “Thor: Ragnarok,” the citizens of Thor’s land, Asgard, are decimated by powerful enemies during the unfolding of Ragnarok, the end of the world according to Norse mythology. Only a tiny fraction remain by the end of the film. But there is hope in a truth that is threaded throughout the movie, which is first shared by Thor’s father: Asgard isn’t a place, it’s a people.

That is a parallel for the truth here in real life, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. With believers scattered and ordered to stay in their homes while the world is ravaged by an invisible enemy that has infected over a million people at the time of this writing, we are reminded that the church–the body of Christ–is people, not a building.

It’s a truth we’ve known and heard for as long as we’ve been believers, but this is the time to truly live it. As humans, we’re built to be social and not do life alone, but the helplessness we confront in the face an enemy we cannot defeat on our own points us back to God.

In a later Marvel movie, we see that small group of surviving Asgardians get further massacred by an even more powerful enemy…but in the end of the story arc, we see the remaining survivors take root in a new land. After a hard season of surviving, they were poised to plant the seeds for thriving.

No matter where we are, we must remember to look up in total dependence upon, and praise for, Him in this Easter 2020 season. When all seems hopeless, like when it surely must have felt when the apostles witnessed the crucifixion of their Savior, we must persevere in faith as witness to His overcoming power and grace as did the apostles three days later.

We are the church. Let us witness to the world how God can use even these times of tragedy to make Himself known!

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. -Psalm 9:10

A staple of defensive driving courses since its release in 1950 is Disney’s animated short Motor Mania. What’s amazing about it is how relevant it still is today for its insight into human nature.

In it, Goofy is the mild-mannered Mr. Wheeler, a working man getting ready to go to work. But once behind the wheel, he transforms into a devilish (horns and all) character called Mr. Wheeler, who drag races from stoplight to stoplight, drives dangerously in traffic, endangers pedestrians, and generally puts his needs over that of everyone else on the road. Just moments earlier, he was one of those very pedestrians he is now endangering!

Sound familiar? The act of getting behind the wheel unlocks otherwise buried urges for control and dominance when we’re suddenly granted more power than any human could have when not behind the wheel. Behind the wheel, we pilot multi-ton battering rams that can literally change or end people’s lives around us.

Human nature’s fight for control and dominance over one another—and straying from God’s lane—is the same since Adam and Eve. In Genesis, Jacob’s name change to Israel (meaning “wrestles with God”) says it all.

It takes a conscious effort to not let our inner Mr. Wheeler take over in life to get over one another for our own benefit. Who’s driving in your life right now, Mr. Walker or Mr. Wheeler?

If we trust God with the wheel of our lives, He will not disappoint us in our journey—or the destination.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16 (NIV)

My son recently lamented that each school day was the same, and that he even had the same thing for lunch and snacks each day.

His complaints reminded me of some books and magazines I’d read as a child, where there would be two pictures side by side, and each picture was subtly different than the one next to it. If you studied each one carefully, you’d spot all the differences between the pictures.

Life can often be like that, where we get mired in routine, and forget to spot the meaningful differences, because we lose our focus on the One who provided all of it to us.

I did my best to help my son see God in the details: He made the very ingredients that made the food we eat. He made the people who grew and prepared the ingredients. He gave the jobs and all the blessings of having work to his teachers and principal. God uses teachers to prepare him to be an adult. And though every day may seem the same, the details of the work we’re assigned is different, and preparing us to handle bigger changes as we get older. And God even uses the structure of routine to help us learn to organize all the information coming at us each day!

But most of all, the biggest difference we have as believers is that we live a victorious life that was hard won by Jesus…and without it, we would not be in His presence once we leave this world. With that perspective, we can gratefully live every day, hour, and moment for Him.

We can choose to see everything but God, or see God in everything.

Today’s soundtrack

“Everything” by TobyMac reminds us that He’s in every little thing.

Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” -1 Corinthians 1:31 (NIV)
My soul will boast in the LORD; let the oppressed hear and rejoice. -Psalm 34:2 (NIV)

Over the 45 years I’ve walked this planet, I’ve had my highs and lows, just like everyone else. But for the first 40 years, I didn’t know I was blindly walking through a spiritual battlefield. I can see now that it was only God’s grace that saved me so many times from stepping on mines.

I didn’t know I was getting perforated with hostile fire. I didn’t know why I despaired, no matter how well or poorly I was doing in worldly terms. I didn’t know why life felt so pointless and empty, no matter what world view I tried to adopt. I didn’t know why my life felt wrong, despite living in a world that said good and evil are yours to define.

The One Way I avoided was the only way

But because I was a worldly sleepwalker, there was One whose Way I avoided, because the world hates Him. I believed that anything but Jesus must be the way…but every path I chose led to dead ends.

As readers of this blog know, the wool was pulled off my eyes. I awoke to see the world as it truly was, like Neo did in The Matrix. It was almost too much to process, because the world I knew for 40 years was completely false, setting me against the truth by painting it as falsehood!

In a world where we celebrate epic battles between good and evil in movies, then walk around in a world where we only celebrate humankind and its material accomplishments, I learned we were blinding ourselves to the true epic battle that really takes place all around us.

Your armor, good knight!

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. -Ephesians 6:13 (NIV)

After the initial weeks of shock, I voraciously read and learned about a suit of spiritual armor given to believers. It would protect us on a daily basis, but we had to consciously keep it attached, or it could easily slip off and we’d be vulnerable again. For me, it helped to imagine it as invisible Iron Man armor, including sensors (discernment) to see through lies and falsehoods I didn’t even notice before.

The armor also reminded me of the footing and moral compass I never had before, and a narrow but clear path to take in this world—a path that would lead to the next world. I also became empowered to live and walk in faith, with bottomless joy and grace, as long as I would not let myself block access to them. And I learned I could pray rails of faith through my life for the train of God’s power to charge through, to His glory. As surely as I blink, I believe.

Now, I’m bulletproof. The hostile fire is still there, but I’m no longer walking through it unprotected. And, finally, I’m living life, rather than surviving meaninglessly and waiting for death. If you’re tired of getting shot down in life, maybe you’d like to end that cycle and suit up…and be bulletproof, too. Come this way.

Today’s soundtrack

Citizen Way’s “Bulletproof” perfectly describes how God’s armor helps us face the spiritual attacks we didn’t even know we were under till we were saved.

O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. -1 Chronicles 16:34 (NASB)

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. -Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I showed my son the 1964 movie Mary Poppins for the first time, and it was definitely just as eye-opening for me as an adult as it was for a little boy. It wasn’t just age, but also my reborn spirit, that God used to help me connect the dots for my son as I answered his questions about the film.

Q: Why did Mary Poppins arrive with a change in the wind, and then disappear when the wind changed again?

A: Mary Poppins came at a time when the kids needed their stubborn, hard-hearted father, and then she left when his heart was changed. Her job was done.

Q: Isn’t it unhealthy to have a spoonful of sugar with medicine?

A: The song isn’t really about sugar or medicine, but is saying that our perspective can make the things we need to do much easier to swallow.

And that song, “A Spoonful of Sugar,” was the perfect connector I needed to talk about having an attitude of gratitude, Thanksgiving or not. Giving thanks to the Lord in all things, especially to start the day, can set the tone for a great day or a lousy one. And as a result, a spoonful of sugar can sweeten our witness to a jaded, cynical, complaining world.

Just as Mary Poppins brought light and cheer and triggered a change of heart in the Banks family, we believers are called to do the same in this world.

Today’s soundtrack

“Counting Every Blessing” by Rend Collective. Enjoy.

Love your neighbor as yourself. -Mark 12:31 (NIV)

A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity. -Proverbs 17:17 (NASB)

I sat expectantly in a diner across the table from an old friend and colleague, who had something heavy to share with me. I just knew he was quitting.

Well, he was quitting, but not his job. He declared that he was quitting being a man, and would self-identify as a woman, and was already deep in hormone replacement therapy and other treatments.

The first thought that came to my head was the recurring theme of the Book of Judges: that man did what was right in his own eyes. That book is a microcosm of the whole of the Bible and all of human history, since man has constantly chosen to define good and evil on his own terms, rather than God’s. There’s nothing new under the sun.

After my friend went on for about 15 minutes straight, he asked me to share how I felt. I knew that this was a critical moment for being a true agent of God’s love, or to be a self-righteous judge, jury, and executioner.

I told him that my world view was very different from his, but that I would always be his friend. That was crucial, because the Lord is our friend no matter how far we stray, and He is the father who will run to embrace His prodigal children. His love is unconditional.

The world says that when we live by a moral view not in agreement with the world’s, that must mean we “hate” others who don’t agree with us. I disagree. Love isn’t conditional upon agreeing points of view.

If all people are made in God’s image, then we mistreat God when we mistreat others. Jesus demonstrated how to treat all people, to be love incarnate. It was not an enabling love, but one that was there in the midst of society’s outcasts and undesirables…sometimes the very ones who are closest to the brokenness needed to finally let go of self and be receptive to the God who was there waiting for them the whole time.

God never quit on the world that quit on Him, spat on Him, beat Him, and crucified Him. As true Christ followers, neither will we quit on the world.

So, my friend and I left the diner with the understanding that our friendship remains, while our viewpoints differ–and that’s perfectly okay.

This turn of events, as are all, are no accident. I believe that such trends are a true test of the walk of believers in the face of a defiant, Godless world. But even in the very middle of a world that’s turned its back on God, you can find Him: My friend’s new middle name translates to Joan…which means, “God is gracious.”

Today’s video word study

The excellent Bible Project’s video on sin/khata…and how our mistreatment of others is mistreatment of God, because we’re all made in His image.

Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare. -Jer. 29:7 (NASB)

In the 2004 Disney/Pixar animated film The Incredibles, a former superhero (Mr. Incredible) is presently a dad trying to relive his glory days. Later in the film, he and his family are all in shackles as a result of his clandestine adventure-seeking. He comes to realize that while he was seeking adventure on his own, the real adventure was right under his nose all along: the family he was neglecting while he was chasing the adventure he wanted now.

In the opening chapters of Genesis, God makes a garden for Adam and Eve to tend. It’s part of a larger world where there is no disease or death or pain. But the serpent tempts them with the prospect of greater power and knowledge. He’s taking their sight off tending the garden—and everyday adventure—that’s right under their noses. Death, disease, and pain enter the world, which they’re now ushered into as they’re banished from the garden.

Pretty much the rest of the Bible chronicles all the different ways man continues in his disobedience and envy, while God patiently stays with them. At one of the many low points, Israel’s continued disobedience finally reaps punishment through the people’s exile to Babylon. And now, since they didn’t tend their garden, they live in someone else’s garden.

The prophet Jeremiah sends a letter to the exiles, which contains the much-loved verse:

For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. -Jer. 29:11 (NASB)

But before that happens, God uses Jeremiah’s letter to tell His people that they must tend their current garden. Thrive there. Show Him they can still be grateful even when living out the consequences they’ve reaped. (Jer. 29:1-10)

How’s your garden?

Maybe the garden you’re in has some really stubborn weeds that need pulling. Maybe it’s been neglected, and needs the water of kindness, love, and quality time. What kinds of seeds are you sowing while you’re waiting to reap a better tomorrow?

God works through people—and that includes me and you—to be active participants in His plan for a better future and hope. Just ask Him to fill you with all the qualities you lack—and to let Him do so by dropping the pride, bitterness, and resentment that’s blocking Him—so He can use you to make the incredible garden right under your nose thrive to His glory.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. -Joshua 1:9 (NASB)

In the Disney/Pixar Toy Story movies, one of the main characters, a toy Space Ranger named Buzz Lightyear, famously proclaims, “To infinity…and beyond!”…often before attempting a seemingly impossible feat.

Infinity in the finite

In the Toy Story movies, toys live their own lives when their owner isn’t around, and they make use of all the everyday things in their environment we don’t think twice about. The parallel we can draw is that every day–every moment–is an adventure right under our noses, if only we stop ignoring what we think is mundane. Our daily mission is the execution of Jesus’ Great Commission, to make Him known to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28:16-20).

We do that by proclaiming Him through our actions and words, in every little detail of our lives—public and private. In our good and painful relationships, parenting, workplace, out shopping, and so on. In our waiting and sorrow, excitement and celebration. How?

In how we empty ourselves daily, or maybe even hourly, to let Him fill us to overflowing with grace, strength, and mercy we don’t have so we can face life’s challenges. When we do that, He makes us better than we ever were alone…and there’s a chance others may see Him in us.

In this world and the next, it is through Christ who gives us strength (Phil. 4:13) to venture to infinity…and beyond.

Today’s soundtrack

MercyMe’s “Grace Got You” describes how lives lived for God can make Him known to unbelievers around us.

One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” -Matthew 22:35-40 (NASB)

In 1967, the Beatles released the famous soon-to-be-famous song “All You Need Is Love.” The song was specifically written to be crystal clear in its meaning, and leaving nothing to misinterpretation.

It also sums up what believers are called to do every day: love God with every fiber of your being, and love others as yourself.

Being human, we’re not perfect in our obedience to these commandments. But what I’ve learned is that the more I dedicate and lose myself in pursuing the first commandment (to love God with all my might), the easier it is to obey the second commandment (to love others as myself).

That’s exactly what Jesus did: He loved those considered undesirable and unworthy of society’s standards. He loved His enemies. He modeled for us how to love if our eyes are trained on the Father.

If we love like Jesus, God can work through us to heal and transform this ailing world. We will be overflowing conduits to achieve this purpose, with strength and grace we could never muster on our own. And to do it, His love is all you need.