gnt2

some thoughts on the gospel & its relevance to today's culture TikTok/Instagram: @goodnews_timelesstruths

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the picture of the old woman with a cane

Some time ago, while praying, a picture came to my mind of an old woman, weak and decrepit, leaning on a cane for support. She limped along, managing to press on little by little, but with great difficulty. Then a man, Jesus, stepped forward. His presence immediately flooded the space around them both with the warm light. She looked up and, recognizing him, broke into a smile that shone of delight and relief. She dropped her cane and leapt into his arms. As soon as Jesus embraced her, the woman became young. Her back straightened, her wrinkles disappeared. The vitality in her body and face revived. Although I cannot say for certain this picture came from God, I think it does illustrate something important that can be supported by Scripture. All of us were created by God in his image. We were created to be in relationship and fellowship with Him. If we are not walking with God—if we are relying on something else to help us stay upright, to keep pushing forward—then we will not get very far, and eventually whatever that 'something else' is will fail us. Like the old woman’s cane, it’ll crack and rot. It cannot hold up forever. Only God, who always is and will be, and who is the ultimate source of goodness and love, can grant us the strength that endures, that can hold us up through the uncertainties and trials of life.

Only by trusting in Jesus and following him can we find true hope, purpose, and fulfillment. No amount of money or validation or success will ever feel like enough. But the salvation offered to us through faith in Jesus is enough. Jesus is always ready to welcome you into his arms, for in him is life, and life in abundance. 

Matthew 11:28-30 CSB

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Isaiah 40:31 CSB

but those who trust in the LORD will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint.

[goodnewstimelesstruths]

when God calls us to lead...

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership. I’ve been leading the children’s ministry at an international church in Kyoto for about seven months now, and although I am grateful to have been entrusted with this role, I’ve struggled to do this job with confidence and joy. The main reason I’ve yet to feel that I can thrive in it is because I hate being a leader. I’ve never considered myself a ‘leader’, nor have I ever thought I could be a good one. There’s a lot associated with what it means to be a leader, but one of the things I really shudder at is being the main representative for something (especially something that I think is really important). Suddenly, people are looking to me as the one responsible for overseeing the sustenance and growth of the ministry. There is a fantastic group of volunteers who play an important role in keeping the ministry going, but they are looking to me for direction as well. I feel wholly unqualified and under-equipped to make decisions that impact people; such a responsibility feels much too heavy for me.

Although I have never considered myself a leader, the truth is that the majority of us have led and do lead in some capacity. Parents lead their children. Teachers lead their students. And as Christians, the Lord has called us to lead other people to him—to lead others to know the great love God has for them. While there are Christians who do take on larger leadership roles in ministry, people see all of us who profess belief in Jesus as representatives of him and the faith. But the thing is that God doesn’t expect us to do it perfectly. Sometimes I’ll look to Jesus as a model for how I should be serving and become discouraged when I fail to serve as humbly, kindly, wisely, etc. as Jesus. Yes, we should be looking to Jesus, and the Bible says that God is conforming those who love him to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29). However, we can also look to Scripture to see examples of people who believed in God and wanted to serve him but—when asked by God to serve in an unexpected way—failed to do so in full confidence and faith and/or did not go about it perfectly.

I’m currently reading Exodus in the Bible and have been struck this time around by how reluctant Moses was at first to take on the responsibility of leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The Lord said in Exodus 3: “I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He answered, “I will certainly be with you…” (Continuing in chapter 4) But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.” The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.” Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”... 

I’m not doing something nearly as frightening and life-threatening as what God asked Moses to do, but I still saw a little bit of myself in Moses’ lack of faith in his own abilities and ultimately in the Lord, who assured Moses he would 1. be with Moses and 2. be the one who'd actually do the work that brings about change. Ultimately, the Lord is the one in control of all things. And he is a good, perfectly loving God, who is constantly at work in the world. He has guided me to this specific role, and although it is not the role I envisioned for myself, I will do what I can, without expecting to do it perfectly, and trust that the Lord is working behind the scenes to accomplish his purposes for his glory.

[goodnewstimelesstruths]

on body image (TW: eating disorder)

So, I’ve known a lot of people who weren’t happy with the way their bodies looked, and it affected the way they viewed themselves and their worth as a person. There’s a whole bunch of reasons for this that I’m not going to get into, but it breaks my heart that a lot of people develop a strong aversion toward their bodies and themselves because of the messages that they’re receiving from culture and media and even the people closest to them. So I wanted to speak some truth to the untruths that are circulating and causing harm.

First off, this is personal to me. I developed pretty severe anorexia when I was 18 (and wrestled with it for about 5-6 years) because I’d slowly come to believe that I’d only ever be desirable if I was beautiful, and the physical and mental repercussions of that continued to linger for several years. Counseling was one of the biggest things that helped me and I strongly advocate for that, but I’d say what really saved me from destroying myself through the disorder was identifying what I was believing about myself—that I’m not worthy of love if I’m not pretty—and replacing that lie with the truth that Jesus says I’m worthy because he made me worthy. We are all made in the image of God, so fundamentally that gives each of us worth. God created us and calls each of us precious and valuable to him. He loves us so much that he sent Jesus to save us. Society and culture might not want us. That person that we desire approval from might not want us, but God always does. The narratives we craft about ourselves can root themselves deep within us, so it’s important that we discern what the truth is and dig out the bad roots so that we can plant seeds of hope that will sprout life.

The effects of sin on our bodies

Now, rooting my identity in Jesus did help me to begin to overcome the disorder. But just because I no longer struggle with it on a daily basis does not mean that I now think my body is perfect and I’m super satisfied with it all the time. The truth is that we all are living in bodies that are falling apart. We get sick, we feel pain. More often than not, our bodies fail to do what we want them to do. No matter how hard we try, our bodies will never be good enough. That's because there is sin in the world and in us. I think it’s important to appreciate our bodies and what they can do for us, but it’s also important to recognize that living in broken, imperfect bodies can be really, really hard. The Bible offers hope for that too. Jesus came down to Earth and experienced what it was like to have the same weak and limited body that we have, and then when he was sent to be killed he endured his body being mercilessly beaten. He went through intense physical suffering and ultimately death to pay for our sins so we wouldn’t have to. And then he resurrected, and one day if we believe in him we’ll also be resurrected and have brand new bodies that are no longer affected by sin. 

Unconditionally loved

If you are burdened by negative thoughts about your body/self that you've struggled to overcome, begin by uprooting anything that you have come to believe about yourself that isn’t true and replacing it with the truth that endures. A way to begin is to complete this sentence: If I am not __X__(beautiful, pretty, perfect etc), then __Y__will happen. What will happen if you are not what you’re trying to be? My sentence read, If I’m not thin, then no one will love me. I recognized that what I wanted was to be loved. And that’s true for everyone, right? Because we were designed to desire to be loved. But not loved because of what we’ve done or what we look like... What we desire is to be loved unconditionally. And the only one who can love you unconditionally is God.

When I think about and dwell on and really sit in the truth that the God of the universe, who created the world and everything in it, also created me with a purpose, and that he knows me, like all of my faults and fears, and yet sent his child to die to save me so that I could be part of his family forever, I remember that I am loved. And that has become the guiding and healing force of my life.

[goodnewstimelesstruths]

our sanctification

1 Thessalonians in the Bible is a letter the missionary and apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica. In chapter 4, Paul talks about something called sanctification which comes a lot in the Bible. Sanctification literally means "to set apart for special use or purpose", or to make holy. Chapter 4 verse 3 says God’s will is our sanctification, so God wants us to become more like Jesus, you know, more righteous and holy and peaceable and gentle and good. Oftentimes I feel overwhelmed at the thought of striving to become more like Jesus who was perfect in every way because I know that I still struggle to love perfectly or to just be a good person. I’m tempted to think I’m a bad Christian. But Paul addresses that at the end of Chapter 5: ((1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 CSB [23] Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] He who calls you is faithful; he will do it)) God doesn’t expect us to sanctify ourselves by ourselves. It says God is faithful, he will do it. We can’t be absolutely good and holy by our own hard work and sheer determination, but God through his Spirit helps us and ultimately will do it himself. So let’s desire to please God and depend on him for the strength and will to be more and more like Jesus, and look forward to one day having a sound spirit, soul, and body perfected in Christ. 

[goodnewstimelesstruths]

Epaphroditus (from the letter to the Philippians)

I wanted to talk about someone who briefly shows up in the Bible and is rarely ever talked about and that’s Epaphroditus. Paul briefly mentions him in his letter to the Philippians. The church in Philippi sent Epaphroditus to give Paul supplies while he was under house arrest in Rome and on the way Epaphroditus got so sick he nearly died. But God restored his health, and Epaphroditus made it to Paul and then delivered the manuscript of Philippians to the church in Philippi. When illness nearly prevented Epaphroditus from doing his job, he may have seemed like a failure in the eyes of the Philippians since he was just a messenger, but Paul assured them that Epaphroditus actually went above and beyond as he cared deeply about the interests of others and was modeling the mind of Christ. Even though his work was mostly that of being a messenger and not anything particularly spiritual, it was still the work of Christ. This is encouraging to me because even if we’re doing work that doesn’t seem like it’s a big deal or super spiritual or making an impact, God sees our work and he is glorified when we love him and seek to worship him in all that we do, even in the mundane.

[goodnewstimelesstruths]

are all Christians obsessed with the afterlife?

I recently read this article and the interviewee mentioned something about Christianity that I think is a common misconception: that Christians focus on the afterlife and disregard this Earth and the people on it. But that way of thinking about the world doesn’t come from the Bible, and it’s not how God wants us to live. First of all, God wants us to take care of the earth. God created the world and he called it very good, so he was pleased with what he made, and we can still see God’s handiwork all around us. In Genesis it says that when God created the first human, he had the man work the earth and watch over it and name all the creatures too. So from the beginning God intended us to partner with Him in cultivating and protecting the earth. But the first humans sinned, they didn’t trust God, and through their rebellion, evil and chaos entered God’s perfect world, so that’s why we see a lot of disorder in ourselves and others and all around us. But that doesn’t mean Christians have given up on this world. No, this is the world God created and it’s the one he is ultimately going to restore. (Revelation 21). God even came to earth as Jesus 2000 years ago. When Jesus came, he taught about something called the Kingdom of God, where God reigns and his will is fulfilled on earth, and Jesus proved he was the true King of that kingdom when he died on the cross to pay for the consequences of sin and conquered death and rose again. And Jesus tasked Christians to tell other people about him and the kingdom of God, which one day is gonna be fully established on earth. That’s key - God came down to us as Jesus and the Kingdom of God is coming to earth, and Christians want to tell people about the truth that every single one of us can have a relationship with God, who one day will make everything right on THIS earth. God came to us because this world matters, the earth and the people on it. I recommend watching the Bible Project’s video called Heaven and Earth for a greater discussion of this theme.

[goodnewstimelesstruths]

cancel culture

GNT2 originally started on TikTok. This was my first post:

So this was the initial catalyst for wanting to start this TikTok. It’s based on an assumption about God that’s incorrect so I wanted to comment. Canceling someone means removing them from a place of relevance and respect. And sometimes there's a cause for that. But here, that term ‘cancel’ is being misapplied. In Genesis, God creates the world, and it’s beautiful; He called it very good. Then he created Adam and Eve to take care of the earth. Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God and with one another. But God gave them a choice: either to trust that he was good and knew what was best for them, or to not trust him. And they chose to disobey him. So their souls were separated from God and since God is the giver of life and goodness, that was essentially death. Yes, God created Adam and Eve knowing they would sin but he also already had a plan for how to rescue them and restore their relationship with him. In Genesis 3, God says that one day, Eve’s offspring would be victorious against the being that deceived them, and that’s referring to Jesus who is God in the flesh and came to earth to take the punishment for our sins upon himself. God never abandoned or canceled humanity - he always had the plan of salvation in mind and he let us know as soon as sin entered the world. We can always turn back to him.e known.