So Whats a Christian To Do, April 2025

As I write this letter, we are in the throes of Lent, and it is a battle. We are
bombarded daily with images of man’s inhumanity to man, society’s outrage, its vitriol, an unimaginable display of lewdness, a complete lack of shame, and a worldwide dystopian dysfunction, all orchestrated by the evil one himself.

As Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

That is why I chose the Book of Revelation for this year’s Lenten study series. Revelation is a literary form of resistance against imperialism, empire, domination, and exploitation. The symbols of the beasts are designed to unveil and reveal the true face of empires as monstrous, violent, and deceitful.  So, what’s a Christian to do? That’s what Lent is all about. It’s a time of reflection. As we fast from worldly appetites (as you identify yours), our minds are refocused away from our current mortality and toward our future immortality.  When life beats us up, as it is frequently want to do, remember that this current state in which we exist is but a blink of an eye relative to God’s timeline, and whatever troubles you might be going through will soon pass away. We have the hope and the expectation that something better awaits us. The victory of the cross assures us of this.