Happy Sunday,
My first son, August “Auggie” Woodruff, was born on October 2nd at 33 weeks, and by God's grace, both he and momma have been doing amazing! He’ll be in the University of Iowa NICU for a few more weeks, chunking up. (Fun fact: we were in the hospital for “The Wave” during Iowa’s game against Ohio State.)
Here’s a previous edition of this newsletter that gets at a core concept from my book, Broken News, coming out next Fall. (And yes, Auggie’s really excited to read it.)
Scriptural Basis
“For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Philippians 1:21
Is Jesus up for the moment?
My dad, a pastor of 40+ years, told me he’s seeing an uptick in people concerned that Jesus’s call to “love enemies” sounds nice but is not up for this cultural moment. They claim the other side is playing dirty, and if we don’t fight back, we’ll just get trampled.
They may be right.
Leading with radical love and forgiveness might not be a winning strategy… but it’s still the correct choice. Look at the cross. No one watching Jesus die would’ve been celebrating His victory. Yet through His faithfulness, anyone who trusts in Him gets to share in a victory that can never be undone. Our goal as Christians isn’t to win the cultural moment; it’s to glorify God within every cultural moment.
One of the great joys of following Christ is that I do not need to stress about the next year, decade, or century. I don’t even need to fight to avoid being trampled. I can simply focus on faithfully following God’s commands—including His call to love our enemies—whether it seems like God is winning or losing… because I know God eventually wins.
The Apostle Paul models this posture in Philippians 1 by seeming wholly unconcerned about his own persecution. He openly says he’d prefer to die and be with Christ, “which is far better,” but if he lives, he’ll just continue with his “fruitful work” of sharing the gospel (including with his jailers). Paul’s posture comes from a complete confidence in Christ and the certainty of his own eternity in Heaven. Paul knows he’s on the winning team, but the victory comes from Jesus, not from him. There’s no pressure on Paul to get results or “win” the moment—he’s just responsible for being faithful.
I want to imitate Paul (who is imitating Jesus); I want to be committed to doing what is right and confident that God will win even if I lose.
Was this valuable? Was this heretical? Do you have a rebuttal? Should it not make the book?
Please hit reply and let me know! Your replies are genuinely a huge help and are massively shaping this book. I don’t have time to respond to each one, but I read every email personally.
Recommended: For years, my dad (a pastor of 40 years) has sent The Friday Update*—quick insights on culture, thought-provoking quotes, fascinating statistics, and Biblical wisdom. I didn’t read it for a long time (it was an email from my dad…), but finally gave it a shot and am pleased to say that he seems wiser and more interesting than when I was in high school. It’s free and worth your time. Subscribe in one click!
*I’m fortunate enough to be paid to promote products I actually use and genuinely recommend. The Friday Update is one of them. I hope you enjoy it too!
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