Like many of you, I enjoy watching some TV series for a variety of reasons. One reason is to hear and understand the world around us and the philosophies that are being pushed. Sure, like many, I enjoy ‘turning off’ things I normally do (meetings, lots of reading, and processing plans), but this cultural perspective helps me as I think about leading people and helping them.
With that said, I recently started watching ‘The West Wing,’ a late 1990s drama about life in the White House. No, I don’t agree with many of the things in the show, but one thing has stood out to me. There is an odd ‘optimism’ and ‘positivity’ in the show that is super fun and refreshing. It’s a stark contrast to our current climate of negativity, conflict, and loud barbs thrown at one another. It made me wonder why. Why is there such a difference in a show that started almost 30 years ago?
One thing I noticed, and it was confirmed by a review I read of the show, was that it started prior to cell phones. The review called it ‘pre-cell phone optimism,’ which I found to be an interesting comment. Why would there be optimism and positivity in the pre-cell phone era? It doesn’t mean real, hard things weren’t going on. This doesn’t mean that evil empires weren’t on the rise or that there were no political fights. But why was the show’s outlook ‘pre-cell phone optimism’?
As one who grew up in the days leading up to this show (a child of the 80’s), I completely understand this thought. Here’s why this is true: when cell phones hit our hands, and everyone in the world has the ability to post anything they want online, immediately, for all to see, we now see things as they “really” are, and we have no category for how to filter them or think about them. To put this in biblical terms, cell phones gave us the opportunity to see how decadent and evil our world really is, and we have no way to think about it or process it. In the days of ’ The West Wing,’ people received their news by radio, newspaper, and on the nightly broadcast. Once per day, and they were ‘big’ things like national news (ignorance really was bliss). Now, we are inundated with everyone’s ‘news,’ and it’s overwhelming the amount of evil we see and read about.
This is why a biblical worldview is so important. A biblical worldview allows us not to be negative, pessimistic, or afraid of what we see in our world. We’re not shocked that mankind, which is totally depraved, does depraved things. But moreover, we see God’s providential, good hand at work to bring all things under the authority of His Son, Jesus. We are not ignorant of the schemes of our adversary, and we are not shocked by the trials of this world. But we long for, hope in, and believe that Jesus Christ will rule over all things.
Ways to give and receive comfort:
Here are some practical ways to give the comfort God has given you to others:
- Pray for your suffering friend regularly. Carry them on your heart. Share that with them.
- Share a scripture verse that God used to comfort you during your trial.
- If there are books/resources/sermons that God used to give you His perspective on your trial, inform your Christian friend about them. In the last few years, Jill found a book called The Moon is Always Round, about parents teaching their young son about the death of their baby.
- Because they’re on your heart, believe that God will give you words of encouragement or strength for them. When He does (and it seems to be good for them), share it with them.
Here are some practical ways to receive comfort:
- With humility and gratitude. Many times, we’re on the suffering end so that God can put us in a position to receive, rather than give. It’s hard to receive comfort, but it’s best done in humility and with a heart full of thanks.
- Without doubt in God’s character. By doubt, I don’t mean a momentary wondering. I mean a deep-seated frustration, anger, or sense of injustice in your heart. Don’t let that stuff settle in your heart. I’ve sometimes wondered if we don’t receive comfort from God because we’re angry with Him. I don’t have a chapter and verse to prove that. However, I can think of parenting…I want to always give good gifts to my children, but when something bad happens in their lives, and they’re mad at me or blaming me, I’d like to see them deal with their heart towards me before I act.
- Understand that comfort might be (more than likely will be) grace to help you endure. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Sometimes there’s grace to escape, but sometimes the escape is the ability to endure.
- Expect, acknowledge, and thank God for the many ways He comforts us. Sometimes we don’t recognize God’s comfort because we didn’t expect it to come the way it did. Sometimes, we don’t thank God for comfort because we didn’t acknowledge it when it came.
Looking Ahead:
This week, we will look at “welcome one another” from Romans 15:7. Think of how graciously warm your God has welcomed you in Christ. This will stir your ability to welcome other Christians into your life.
Cheap Seats:
- USA!! USA!! USA!! Two great hockey games…with two great results.
- The Beavers need to find more ways to score and stop teams from scoring late in games.
- Huge congratulations to several in our church who are competing in high school basketball:
- The Days Creek boys’ basketball team, led by James Ellis, won their league’s tournament and their first-round playoff game last night (I’m typing this on Wednesday). They’ve got a big one coming with Prairie City on Friday.
- The UVC girls’ basketball team, led by Dane Tornell, won the regular season league title for the first time since 1999. CLF has several young ladies on that team, led by seniors Avery Renyer and Geneva Tornell. They open up the state playoffs tonight (Wednesday) with Crosspoint Christian.
- The UVC boys’ basketball team, led by Brian Ferguson, won the regular-season league title and their first-round state playoff game. Several young guys on that team come from CLF families, led by senior Justice Bendele.
- It’s a super fun time for many of our families.
- One thing I would add to this: if you know of any exploits by CLF members that would be great to highlight in my “Cheap Seats” section, let me know. I’m sure I’m missing some that are doing really cool stuff.
Christ is King!
In Christ,
Dave York
