Pricey Pal,
It occurs to me yearly on the Fourth of July: I discover myself torn between the nation of my delivery and my adopted homeland. The primary thirty-one years of my life have been spent within the UK, however in some ways, the previous forty-one within the US have really deepened my ties with household and buddies who nonetheless dwell on the other aspect of the Atlantic.
This now could be the “land that I really like,” though it has taken me time to confess it. In our early days in America, I informed Susan that once I die, I would really like my stays to be taken again to Scotland for burial. Again then, once I sang “God Bless America,” I’d change the final line and sing “my dwelling from dwelling” somewhat than “my dwelling candy dwelling”!
I’m not between two minds on this matter, having been swallowed up by the beneficiant affection that’s uniquely American. As Christians, we’re residents of a nation but additionally residents of heaven awaiting our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Figuring out Jesus defines our citizenship. But it’s proper for us to care about our nation and to hope for our leaders within the consciousness that they’re in nice want of God’s indwelling Spirit.
Because the Olympics proceed, many people will really feel an elevated sense of patriotism. The video games in France kindle my reminiscences of Scotsman Eric Liddell’s triumph within the 1924 Paris Olympics. Final month, we celebrated the hundredth anniversary of his historic race. When he was requested how he had managed to win the gold medal and set up a brand new world report within the 400 meters, his reply was characteristically modest. “I ran the primary 200 as quick as I may, and with God’s assist, I ran the second 200 even quicker.”
In 1925, Eric returned to China, his birthplace. There he taught girls and boys what it means to “press on towards the objective for the prize of the upward name of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). He died in a Japanese civilian internment camp in 1945. He was forty-three years outdated.
Eric Liddell lived his life and confronted his loss of life as a sworn statement to the reply to the primary query within the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Man’s chief finish is to glorify God, and to take pleasure in Him ceaselessly.” His assurance of salvation is aptly summarized within the reply to the primary query of the Heidelberg Catechism, “What’s your solely consolation in life and in loss of life?”: “That I’m not my very own, however belong physique and soul, each in life and in loss of life, to my trustworthy Savior Jesus Christ.”
As I write this letter and consider Eric Liddell main the gang in singing “Jesus Shall Reign” as he boarded the prepare to China, I’m struck by the distinction of that picture to these his age in the present day. The article beside me describes Gen Z, younger individuals between age fourteen and twenty-eight, and highlights the pessimism of this technology, which is “fueled by rising world unrest, wars and disruptions, monetary crises, and … emotions of ‘local weather nervousness.’” Gen Z has grown up underneath the affect of a view, described by George Weigel within the foreword of the e-book Mild of the World, that believes humanity is simply “a congeries of cosmic chemical accidents … with no intentional origin, no noble future, and thus no path to take by means of historical past.” Not like Liddell, who at age twenty-two knew his victory got here from God, they don’t have any “consolation in life and in loss of life” and no basis from which to sing, “His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, until moons shall wax and wane no extra.” The reply to Gen Z’s dilemma will not be present in training however within the particular person of Jesus, who’s “the picture of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all issues have been created …. And he’s earlier than all issues, and in him all issues maintain collectively” (Col. 1:15–17).
So let me recommend that along with remembering our leaders, you add Gen Z to your prayers this month.
Each of our August e-book suggestions guarantee us that we’re cherished, guarded, and made new in Jesus. The Lord of Psalm 23 and Remade: Embracing Your Full Identification in Christ would each be wonderful books to share with a younger grownup you realize who’s looking for a Savior.
Thanks on your partnership, which continues to make it attainable for us to share the excellent news in order that others will by grace alone and thru religion alone turn into residents of heaven.
With my love within the Lord Jesus,
Alistair
PS: Make a date to take pleasure in viewing the film Chariots of Fireplace.
