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3R Thursday is a newsletter published every Thursday that contains ruminations, reflections, and readings to encourage Christians in the pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

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3R THURSDAY: Glorious Tapestry, Anxious Devilry, and other reasons not to worry

Our souls long to be with God and to enjoy Him forever. Yet, we often get sidetracked by Wealth, Health, and Notoriety—admirable distractions to be sure—but distractions nevertheless.

C.S. Lewis calls us “amphibians” in that we are dual-natured: both in the spirit and of the flesh. We are confined by time (flesh) yet can transcend time (spirit) at the same time. These are the “Delicate Arch” moments: the holy moments when we transcend time and our existence is understood in light of God’s infinite glory. Yet, despite these moments, we still find ourselves moving back and forth (the Law of Undulation) and worshipping at the Altar of the Unknown Future.

More times than not, when we find ourselves worshipping at the Altar of the Unknown Future, we are often anxious about the future. Yet, Jesus teaches us to “not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself." (Matthew 6:34) This is a reminder that in the tapestry of God’s grand design, each day is but a thread and each thread has its glorious purpose.

Dr. Andy Davis uses the analogy of a grand tapestry to illustrate God’s grand design and all the Beauty contained therein. Sure, the tapestry looks “good” or “beautiful” from one side, but what about the other side? The side that faces the wall is just as much part of the tapestry as the “right” side because each thread plays its part. Each thread is there for a reason, a purpose only known to its creator. The same can be said of our lives as well: we worry about a given day or a given event, but from God’s perspective, that day is but one thread in a glorious tapestry that He is creating. Our hope as Christians is that one day we will see the “big picture”—the beautiful side of the tapestry—and realize that our tiny thread played a crucial role; that God used our lives for His Glory.

Or in other words, don’t be anxious! God is weaving the Glorious Tapestry.

Moreover, it's not just Jesus who beckons us to this understanding. Paul writes to the Philippians: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6-7) Magnificent freedom lies in such petitioning and thanksgiving!

This Glorious Tapestry is interwoven throughout Scripture, from the Psalms' comforting embrace to the Old Testament prophecies, all harmonizing with the same song: "Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you." (Psalm 55:22)

Those words are easy to read and hard to believe. Yet, it is the chief end of man to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Meanwhile, Wealth, Health, and Noterity are shimmering, shiny, and shifty.

Put another way, do you long for God’s presence? Do you aim to glorify Him in all that you do? Do you desire to know him forever?

Here’s a thought experiment (Credit: Josh Fields, Pastor at FBC Iowa Park — Where Do You Stand With God?) :

• Would you rather have all your debts paid off? Or have God?

• Would you rather have a healthier body? Or have God?

• Would you rather increase your following by 100x? Or have God?

The answers to these questions reveal what we are most anxious about—what we are currently burdened by rather than casting and surrendering to the Lord. More likely than not, these are figless fig trees and our worship at the Altar of the Unknown Future reveals as much.

In the apt words of C.S. Lewis from "The Screwtape Letters," the senior demon, Screwtape, instructs his nephew, Wormwood, on the tactics to divert humans from God by focusing our attention on the Future. Screwtape observes that:

In the cunning mind of Screwtape, he elucidates how keeping humans away from the present moment keeps them away from touching the eternal—from God Himself. Later on, Screwtape says, “the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity” and “nearly all vices are rooted in the Future” because “Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present” but “fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.” No wonder we worship at the Altar at the Unknown Future when we become incrementally separated from God: we are neither “continually concerned…with eternity” nor “meditating on [our] eternal union with…[God].”

All good and well, but how do we live this out?

1. Obey the present voice of conscience and practice unwavering faith

2. Bear the present cross and become sweaty breadwinners

3. Receive the present grace and wait patiently for the Lord

4. Give thanks for the present pleasure and build a Pious Proprietorship

5. Know that God is in the Here and Now, “the point at which time touches eternity.”

Suffice it to say that God is the great Creator, weaving the Glorious Tapestry, and our anxiety about the Unknown Future is a devilish way to distract our focus from God.

Need help embracing that truth?

Albert Camus called it the Absurd. As Christians, we can call it the Glorious Tapestry:

These words are nothing but microscopic pixels emitted as light to your eyes in such a way that communicates meaning and intent despite not fully grasping e-a-c-h a-n-d e-v-e-r-y l-e-t-t-e-r contained herein and not to question that fact that our eyes can somehow translate light into neurological signals; and yet at the same time the device that you’re holding is somehow able to do this in a instant across what we call “the internet” which is really a vast connection of computers, cables, and correspondence flying around the world at the speed of light, a feat that no man will ever accomplish in our lifetime, yet is the bedrock for our modern society; a fact so complicated that no one person fully understands nor comprehends how “the internet” works but so simple at the same time that those of us born in the 1990s somehow implicitly understand this basic fact without any formal education informing us of the same; and despite this fact you have still received message and meaning intended to communicate to you that this world is full of unknowns; that despite our best efforts to consider the grandeur of “the internet” we would be unable to contemplate and ruminate over such technological feats but for the earth spinning at an incredibly fast pace, at the just the right angle so that our bodies could remain still for a singular moment over the course of our entire humanity, by which we call “gravity”; that if the earth was not moving at this exact speed then life as we know it would come to a crushing standstill; and that the God of Heaven and of earth knew all of this and created accordingly; and that same God loves us and sustains us; He counts our breaths and knows the number of hairs upon our head and the anxious thoughts within our heads; and He became one of us—human—being fully God and fully man so that He may die and atone for our sins so that we could fully enjoy Him forever. He is the Creator of the Glorious Tapestry and He has good plans.

“Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day." (Matthew 6:34)

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6-7)

"Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you." (Psalm 55:22)

Thank you for reading. If this encouraged you, please forward this email to someone else who needs encouragement as well.

See you next Thursday,
CFW

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