The Best Time to Be Alive Is Now

Jesus is Lord.

That is true today. It was true the day they crucified the Lord.

When we look at the “news” we are looking at the parts of the story that history will most often forget. Nobody much recalls who was the most popular court celebrity in the days of Caesar Augustus, but everyone celebrates what happened to a Jewish girl on the first Christmas Day. Tiberius made some important decisions, but the bad choices by his procurator, Pontius Pilate, are remembered more.

It is easy to imagine this happening right now, some place, and our missing it for the ephemera of politics, sports, and celebrity.

Right now somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa there is a young woman deciding to follow Jesus. Her testimony will change millions and God will remember her name. We will not read about her tomorrow, but God is at work and history will remember her name.

Sometimes what seems to be news is news: Napoleon losing at Waterloo mattered, matters, and will matter.

Sometimes what seems to be news isn’t: somebody cared about pole sitters in the 1920’s, but nobody cares now.

Humans forget that God is in His Heaven and He keeps score, not Twitter. He doesn’t need “mentions,” because He has the power. He is willing to appear to lose, because He is not insecure. He waits, because time is on His side.

Jesus is Lord.

Winning is not success in this lifetime. Feel free to lose if you side with the Lord of Eternity. He will right the wrongs and the losers of today will be the winners of tomorrow. When I was a boy, I would play elaborate war games with cardboard pieces against a very smart high school teacher. He generally won (curse you Brian Larkin!), because he was willing to “lose” battles to win wars.

God is the same.

He could end history and declare His victory, but He wants to redeem all our bad choices. As history moves forward, God brings meaning to the pain . . .though nothing can change the fact that pain is pain. If you stand with God, you will still hurt, but He will make sure the pain is moral gain. History continues so that without transgressing choices, God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is good news.

Isn’t it splendid to know that if we side with His plan, His righteousness, and wait on Him that all will be well?

One hundred years ago some Americans believed the Bible and some mocked the Bible. Today some believe the Bible and some mock the Bible, but for different reasons. One hundred years from now some Americans (if America lasts) will believe the Bible and some Americans will have brand new reasons to reject the Bible. God’s truth will endure. . . only those in error change . . . as one error is abandoned for something new.

Jesus remains Lord.

The immovable fact of today is that Someone who loves you is in charge. The cosmos is so complicated that can appear wrong . . . but it is true. He wins and so we can win.