Author: DwightClough

I want to share with you an epiphany I had earlier this year about the meaning of life. Sorry this is long, but it takes a little bit to explain.

Ecclesiastes is probably the strangest book of the Bible. The author, Solomon, sets God aside, looks around, tries to find meaning in life and comes up empty. He examines the evidence and concludes: there is no meaning to life.

Meaningless!
Pointless!
Empty!
Futile!
Vanity!

According to Solomon, here’s why:

#1 You, me, everybody—we all end up dead. All that’s left is a corpse in the ground, and once you die, you will soon be forgotten.

#2 Life isn’t fair. The corrupt live in McMansions; good people struggle to pay the rent.

#3 Life is hard. And is it worth it? Probably not.

#4 Great achievements are meaningless. You spend your whole life climbing the ladder; when you get to the top you discover—there’s nothing there.

#5 Pleasure too is meaningless, empty, devoid of meaning.

Yeah, it’s a bleak book, but also witty, eloquent, and sometimes practical.

But when we get to the end of the book, we find these words. (And they seem completely out of place.)

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NIV

For many years I read that and I didn’t get it.

Yeah—standard biblical advice. But how does it fit this book?

At the end of the book, Solomon, who has mostly been ignoring God for the whole book, brings Him into the picture.

That does change things. His arguments melt away:

#1 Yes, we all die. But life doesn’t end in the grave. Life goes on. And the meaning for our lives is found in that greater life that is to come.

#2 And yeah. Life isn’t fair. But it doesn’t end there. God is still in charge of this universe. He has seen what has happened to you. He knows. He cares. And all wrongs will be righted.

#3 Sure, life is hard. But there is no pain without purpose. God will redeem all the pain and trouble we have experienced if we let Him.

#4 While we cannot find our significance in our achievements, there is a way that our accomplishments can have meaning and lasting significance.

Years ago I listened to a mega church pastor tell about his near death experience. He stood before Jesus and realized that all of his rock star Christian accomplishments meant nothing at all. Nothing. Nada.

The only thing that mattered was: Did I do what Jesus asked me to do?

More on that in a minute, but yes—our accomplishments can mean something, if they’re what Jesus asked us to do.

#5 Is pleasure meaningless? Apart from God, yes. But when we invite God in, He gives us good things to enjoy, which we can celebrate with gratitude as gifts from God.

We can gather all of this from the rest of the Bible. But Solomon doesn’t zero in on any of those things. Instead, he tells us to fear God, keep His commandments, because all our deeds will be judged by God.

How does that give us lasting significance?

Here’s my epiphany:

Someday we stand before God in judgment.

Judgment Day.

I used to think of Judgment Day as a court date with God. He declares is guilty or innocent; He sends us to heaven or to the lake of fire.

But what if God is saying something else here?

What if Judgment here in this passage is not a court date with God, but rather a Father meeting with His child and helping that child—that’s you and me—helping us make sense of this “meaningless” life?

This was my epiphany.

Judgment is when God looks at your life with you, and says, “Remember what you did there? It mattered. It has lasting significance. You have lasting significance. Your life has meaning.”

Judgment is the moment in our existence when God reveals the hidden meaning to your lives, when He takes away the curtain and shows you how and why your life mattered.

Are you rich or poor? Are you smart or slow? When you post on social media, do you get 75 comments and 200 likes? Or do you get crickets? Are you an up front leader or are you invisible? Will a thousand people come to your funeral or will your death go unnoticed?

None of that matters.

All that matters is this: Did you do what Jesus asked you to do?

That matters. That gives your life lasting significance.

And let me add a footnote to that.

Some people have the idea that Jesus is here to steal your autonomy, your identity, your sense of self—that He wants to rob you of you, and turn you into some kind of goody-two-shoes religious fanatic, turn you into somebody you aren’t.

Uh, no.

Not my experience.

When I ask Jesus, “What do You want me to do?” most of the time He turns the question around: “What do you want to do, Dwight?” He invites me into the process, and we make a plan together.

What does all of this mean?

God is wanting to work with you to give your life lasting significance and deep meaning. He’s offering that to you.

All you need to do is ask.

So ask!

God intends for you life to be filled with meaning and to achieve lasting significance. He wants to help you find that meaning today and every day, and someday, when you stand before Him, you’ll celebrate that significance together.

Be encouraged!

Dwight

PS. More in this video…

“A sinner saved by grace”—that’s how many—maybe most—Christians would identify themselves.

Sounds good—humble, honest, theological. But is it true? And is it helpful?

I’m going to answer no to both questions.

First of all, it’s not helpful. People act from their identity. If you identify yourself as a sinner, guess how you’re going to act? And when you struggle with temptation, that temptation is going to seem much stronger than it really is if you are, in fact, a sinner. Identifying yourself as a sinner, in my opinion, dooms you to a lifelong battle—a mostly losing battle—with sin, because no matter how hard you try, your old sin nature is always there, lurking in the background, ready to make you mess up once again.

But there is a different—and very biblical—way to identify yourself that places you in a much stronger position to overcome sin.

Before you accuse me of heresy, let’s look at what the Bible says. Romans 3 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It quotes Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, and Ecclesiastes 7:20 to say that no one is righteous. In 1 Timothy 1, Paul calls himself the chief of (or worst of) sinners. And in Romans 7, he seems to describe his own personal struggle with sin. Jesus said, “There is no one good except God,” (Mark 10:18) and says, “If you then, being evil…” (Matthew 7:11).

So yeah. I get that. I’ve read and reread all these passages with care.

But we really need to wider context of scripture. For example, consider this passage:

But all sinners will be destroyed;
there will be no future for the wicked.
The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
Psalm 37:38-39 NIV (emphasis mine)

If you are a sinner, then who are the righteous? And if we’re all sinners, we’re all going to be destroyed, we have no hope. Or consider what Jesus says in Matthew 26:45: “the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.” If we’re all sinners, then the disciples were sinners, and Jesus was already in the hands of his disciples, so He was already in the hands of sinners. If we’re all sinners, then His statement doesn’t make sense.

And if we’re all evil, and none of us are good, then why does Jesus say, “A good man brings forth good out of the good stored up in him…” (Matthew 12:35) Why do Psalm 1, Proverbs 13, Isaiah 1, Amos 9 and other passages make a distinction sinners and the righteous?

Maybe it’s time to take a second look at all those passages we quote to “prove” that we’re sinners.

Paul calls himself the chief of sinners in 1 Timothy 1. But what evidence does he give to support that claim? He explains that he persecuted the church. Did he persecute the church before his conversion or after?

Before, right?

So what is he really talking about? Yes, he uses the present tense, but he’s talking about himself before he came to Christ. He’s not talking about himself in the present, otherwise he couldn’t tell us to follow his example in Philippians 4:9.

And what about Romans 7. Again it sounds like Paul is talking about himself, talking about a losing battle with sin. But dig deeper into the passage, and read carefully from Romans 7:14 to Romans 8:14. Paul is contrasting two ways of approaching sin, the law, and God. You can walk according to the flesh (sometimes mistranslated “sinful nature”) or you can walk according to the Spirit. What is the flesh? Do a word study throughout the Bible, and I think you will come to the conclusion that the flesh is human effort apart from God.

Here’s what I think he’s saying: If you think you can go it alone apart from God, your life will be a mess. You will struggle with sin and never overcome. But if you invite Jesus into your struggles, He will set you free from sin and give you the power to overcome. Go it alone, and your path leads to sin, death, and hell. Invite Jesus in, and your path leads to righteousness, life, and heaven.

So, no. I don’t think Paul is describing his post conversion self in Romans 7. If he’s describing himself at all, he’s describing himself before he met Jesus Christ.

So, what are the takeaways?

Have all sinned? Yes. (Setting aside those who are incapable of knowing the difference between good and evil. That’s a whole different conversation.)

Compared to God, are we good? No.

Are we good enough to earn our way into heaven? No.

What is a sinner? Someone whose life is characterized by sin.

If we’ve invited Jesus into our lives, are we sinners? No.

Do Christians have a sin nature? According to Romans 6:6, our sin nature is dead. If it’s dead, it’s not alive. If it’s not alive, it can’t do anything to make us sin. So no, I don’t believe we do.

Why do Christians sin then? Because we are, at some level, deceived. Just like Eve in Genesis 3 (1 Timothy 2:14). She didn’t have a sin nature either before the fall.

In my view, the big problem with running around saying, “I’m a sinner. I’m a sinner,” is this: It insults the work of God. God’s work in us (Philippians 1:6) is far stronger than our sin. God is in the process of transforming us. Sin will fail, but God’s work in us will succeed. In the end, we will be without sin. Righteous you and righteous me will walk the streets of gold.

When we are born of God, God’s spiritual DNA is placed inside our soul, and we cannot live a life of sin because that kind of life is incompatible with God’s DNA. (1 John 3:9)

Hope these thoughts are helpful. Here’s a video with more information.

Be encouraged!

Dwight

In the Old Testament book of 2 Kings, chapter 4, we read about a woman with a heartbreaking problem. Her husband has died. He was in debt. She had no way of paying the debt. So the creditor was planning to take her two sons away from her and sell them as slaves to pay off the debt.

All of that was legal back in the day.

She needed a miracle. So she consulted the prophet Elisha. Here’s what the text says:

Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”
2 Kings 4:2 NIV

Here we find something profoundly important.

The woman was focused on what she didn’t have. She didn’t have the money to pay off the debt. But God, through the prophet, changed her focus from what she didn’t have to what she did have.

She had a jar of olive oil.

God starts with what we have. It may be small. It may seem insignificant, but God multiplies what we have.

Years ago I dreamed of owning a home in the country. I was desperately poor at the time; if I told you my income you probably wouldn’t believe me.

But I felt like God wanted me to start with what I had. So I put some money in a jar—it was everything I had on me at the time, $1.78 I believe. I closed the lid, labeled the jar “House in country.” (Every so often I added a few coins. The jar I’m holding contains two dollar bills, 33 quarters, 21 dimes, 13 nickels, and 13 pennies.)

And every time I walked by that jar, I was inspired to believe that God could do the impossible.

And He did. Through a series of miracles, God provided us with a home in the country—a nice home built in 2016 with new appliances that actually work all the time (that was a new experience for us). And last year, we were even able to add a one bedroom apartment onto our home so my 92 year old mother could come and live with us.

Back to our story. The prophet Elisha told the woman to borrow as many empty jars as she could. Then she poured oil from her jar to fill all the others. After selling the oil, she had money not only to pay off the debt, but to start a new life with her young sons.

What you desperately need you already have—in part. Take what you have, hold it up to God, and watch Him do something amazing in your life.

Be encouraged!

Dwight

PS. I know I haven’t posted here for a while. Here are a couple of recent videos I posted:

A message to JD Vance

Could this be a place for you? Empower Good groups

And this Saturday at 10 am I’ve scheduled a video to help you identify your Kingdom Style.

Remember Cleopas?

(I have a picture of him just above my computer screen.)

He was having a really bad day. At great personal risk, he invested everything he had into this new movement, this movement that was going to change the world. Their leader was unstoppable. He could do anything. He wasn’t afraid of anyone. Of course they had enemies (who doesn’t?), but they weren’t afraid. God was at their back, and the future belonged to them.

But then the unthinkable happened. A member of the inner circle turned into a mole, a traitor. He secretly arranged for their leader to be ambushed in the middle of the night, hauled off to a sham trial, convicted of crimes never committed, and then publicly executed in the most painful, humiliating way possible.

The message was clear: You don’t mess with the powers that be.

Now every member of the movement was like a rat in sudden sunshine, scurrying for cover, trying to find a place to hide.

Cleopas and his buddy (sorry, I don’t have his name), were getting out of town, trying to find a place to lie low, and figure out what to do with their broken dreams.

They’re walking along, and this stranger decides to join them.

“What’s going on?” the stranger wants to know.

“You haven’t heard?”

What follows is the conversation Cleopas never expected—about how human bullies don’t have the power to mess with the plans and purposes of God, how hope can be found in the most unexpected place, how even death cannot stand in the way of God.

Then their eyes were opened. The stranger wasn’t a stranger at all.

He was Jesus.

(You can read the story in Luke 24.)

Yes.

That’s how it works.

It is both comforting and startling, seismic at a soul level, it changes everything. One moment it feels true inside that we are all alone, we will never be loved, we don’t have what it takes, something bad is going to happen, and it’s all our fault—we will be ruined.

And then Jesus.

Call it a paradigm shift. The wind has stopped, the lake is still, and now, finally, we realize who is in the boat with us—the Master of all our storms, the only one who can say, “Peace, be still; don’t cry; Lazarus, come forth!”

Jesus changes what feels true inside, and in the place of all our panic, where we once felt the need to hide—even from ourselves, the storm has stopped, our soul is still, and the peace that cannot be explained remains.

So yeah.

Any time you can check that box, that’s a big win for the Kingdom of God.

Be encouraged!

Dwight

I heard somewhere that 41 million Americans who call themselves born again Christians plan to stay home on election day and not vote.

If that’s you, then this post is particularly for you.

3 things we Christians should know before we vote:

#1 We will answer to God for how we vote

Our vote, just like everything else in life, does not belong to us. It belongs to God. When Jesus bought us with His blood, He also bought our vote. It belongs to Him. It’s part of the power and influence we have, and we are accountable for how we use our influence. So it just makes sense…

Father in heaven, (how) do You want me to vote? Who do You want me to vote for?

#2 We get our truth from Jesus

Jesus is the truth (John 14:6). We don’t get truth from political candidates, political parties, or media outlets. Am I saying they always lie? No. But they lie often enough so you need to filter everything they say through Jesus, and ask Him for His perspective.

#3 Defend your religious freedom

I add this because it should be on our radar that 200 million Christians have been murdered for their faith in the last 2,000 years. Worldwide there is a fanatical hatred for Jesus and His followers. And yes, it is here also. Christians are actively persecuted for their faith in over 50 nations, and yes, it can (and does) happen here.

The time to defend our religious freedom is early on while we still have the power to do something about it, not later, when you get that knock at your door in the middle of the night.

More in this video…

 

One final thought…

I often come back to this passage in Joshua 5:13-14:

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”

Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” (NIV)

We aren’t Republicans and we aren’t Democrats. We come from a different place, and we’re part of a different army.

Be encouraged!

Dwight

For many people, this is their greatest fear. For others, this is their greatest hope. What would our country look like if we were truly, 100%, a Christian nation?

Let me offer some observations.

To begin with, no one would be lonely. Ever. Everyone would have an abundance of friends. There would be no divide, no culture war. Instead, all relationships would be characterized by understanding, respect, trust, and love.

We would be a nation of truth tellers. Everyone—politicians and journalists included—would be trustworthy and trusted. No one would be deceived or trying to deceive.

Elections would not divide the country into winners and losers. Instead, they would unite our country around our common values. Candidates would meet often—not to debate—but to collaborate on how best to serve the people. The candidates would be friends.

There would be no bullying, gaslighting, mud slinging, narcissism, con artists, or anything like that.

Any person of any age, gender, race, or look could walk down any street in any neighborhood any time day or night and be perfectly safe. Good people—no matter what they looked like—would never have anything to fear from the police.

Unions would be unnecessary because employers would be outdoing each other to take good care of their employees. The wealthy would be leading the way in serving the needy. There would be no real poverty because we would see ourselves as on the same team, and we would do what we could to bring out the best in everyone.

You could expect breakthroughs in technology, energy, and learning because we would be a nation of high functioning people.

Children—almost without exception—would grow up in stable, loving, two parent families. Marriages would be happy and healthy with divorce almost unknown. Addictions would be unheard of. (And, yeah, no judgment here. I get it. Life happens. But I’m describing what God desires for us.)

Gratitude would characterize the national mood rather than resentment, victimhood, entitlement, or arrogance.

Pain lies, limiting beliefs, bad tapes playing in your head—whatever you want to call it—messages like I’m not lovable, I don’t have what it takes, I’m not safe, I’m human garbage—and any of a thousand other negative messages—all would be vanquished. They would no longer feel true at any level.

That, in my view, is what it would mean to truly live in a Christian nation.

Why are people afraid of this? Because they don’t understand it. They imagine it must be top down, outside in, coerced, with someone in control sending out the religious police to enforce rules nobody wants to follow.

But that’s not what it is.

The Kingdom of God is bottom up, inside out, voluntary. It doesn’t begin until you say yes.

But if this does sound good to you, what’s the next step?

Invite Jesus in. Invite Him into your life and give Him permission to be who He wants to be, do what He wants to do—not once and done, but day after day invite Him in, and watch Him transform your life.

Here’s the video version of this post…

Be encouraged!

Dwight

#1 It’s baked into our identity. God created us in His image, and God is a world changer. Every decision we make affects others including people we will never meet in this life.

#2 Jesus gave us the assignment to change our world. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 tells us to make disciples of all nations teaching them to obey everything He has commanded. Imagine a world like that! That is a changed world, and that is our assignment.

#3 Your assignment is for you. You can’t use a proxy. You can’t hire a professional clergyman to do it for you. It rests on you and you alone. Your assignment is for you.

#4 Your specific assignment is unique to you. No one else can do exactly what you were called to do. You alone have the gifts, the connections, the personality, the placement to carry out your mission.

#5 Our assignment has consequence. You and I were sent here to bring eternal good into many lives. If we don’t carry out our assignment, I don’t know if there’s a way to measure the loss.

#6 You and I are accountable for completing our assignment. We will need to turn in your homework. We will report to Jesus, and He will ask us what you did with the assignment He gave us.

#7 You are uniquely equipped to carry out your assignment. You have been given the tools you need and the opportunity to acquire the skills you need. Nobody is better qualified than you to do what God has asked you to do.

#8 The ticket to heaven comes with transformation attached to it. If your ticket does not have transformation attached to it, maybe you got a ticket to a different destination.

#9 Our job is not just to put people on the train to heaven. Our job is also to bring heaven to earth.

#10 We fix ourselves before we fix our world.

Bonus: #11 We’re better together.

Here’s the video…

In case you’re interested, I’ve identified five Kingdom Styles—that is, different ways that God has equipped us to bring good into our world. I also created a free, quick and easy quiz to help you identify your Kingdom Style. I need some people to try out the quiz and give me feedback. If that’s you, let me know, and I’ll send you a link.

Thanks!

Dwight

Does it bother you that Christianity has lost much of its influence over our culture?

It bothers me.

It bothers me for multiple reasons. It paves the way for persecution—and I don’t want that for anybody that I love. It opens the door to crime, corruption, and all kinds of evil. It positions our nation to be on the receiving end of Divine judgment. And it’s symptomatic of a church that has—in part, it seems—lost its way.

We are meant to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a city on a hill. And, I’m sure, at times we are. But, wow, look around, and ask yourself: What went wrong?

I’ve been obsessing about that for a long time.

Here’s a question I ask: Did we get our message wrong?

We go out into our world and say, “Hey, everyone! I have a free gift for you! It’s called eternal life. All you need to do is pray a prayer, and then your sins—past, present, and future—will be forgiven, and works-free grace will open heaven’s door for you.”

How does that transform a culture? How does that “make disciples of all nations” and “teach them to observe all things I have commanded you”? (Matthew 28)

I’ve been sending a different message to my world. The grace that saves transforms. (Titus 2 and, maybe, the rest of the Bible.) This isn’t a one-and-done business deal with God; this is a new life—as in an entire life. Eternal life is free and it costs you everything.

It shows up in some of my recent YouTube videos like my most recent 38-minute video on the Kingdom of God.

(And if 38 minutes of Dwight is too much, I’ve recently posted about 35 ten-second YouTube shorts; you can check out some of those.)

Most people in our world don’t know or believe that God is good, so I tackled that in this video.

And, of course, when Christian fixes don’t work, we lose our credibility with our culture, so that’s covered in this video which got over a thousand views.

Anyway, I’m doing what I can to reverse this lack of influence in our culture.

What do you think? How can we restore and increase the influence of Christianity in our culture? What would it take? I’d love to hear or read your thoughts.

Dwight

Why is it that most Christian fixes don’t work?

You have a problem with anger. Christian fix? Forgive!

Yeah, sure. How?

You have a problem with panic attacks. Christian fix? It’s a sin to worry.

Thanks!

You have a problem with lust. Christian fix? Don’t.

Whatever you say.

Most Christian fixes boil down to two words: Try harder. Or, alternatively: Don’t sin.

Not only does this not work, but it forces Christians underground with their problems. (Hmm. This didn’t work for me. But it must be working for everyone else. Since it works for others but doesn’t work for me, there must be something wrong with me. Out of shame, I need to hide.)

Yeah.

Newsflash! These Christian fixes don’t work for anybody. (Or hardly anybody.) So don’t feel bad.

They don’t work because they’re not designed to work. The Christian life wasn’t designed to be accomplished by trying harder. The Christian life is impossible. That’s why we need Jesus.

Most people leave it there, but don’t tell you how to bring Jesus into the problem. So you’re left to guess.

Let me explain what works for me.

I have a problem. It leaves me with a bad feeling. When I’m in that feeling, here’s where my mind goes. When my mind goes there, here’s what feels true. If my feelings could talk, this is what they would say.

Jesus, what do You want me to know?

And then wait. Give Him a chance to say what He wants to say, to show what He wants to show, to rewire your brain and your heart.

Hope this helps!

Dwight

What does it take to bring Jesus to a broken world?

First and foremost, you need to bring Jesus to a broken you. I need to bring Jesus to a broken me. Until Jesus starts occupying the broken places in your life—I’m sorry, it doesn’t matter how smart you are, how educated you are, how highly trained you are, you’re just not positioned to do a whole lot of good.

Here’s why…

We replicate who we are—with all our hurts and hangups. We’ll think we’re doing good, we’ll think we’re doing God’s work, we’ll think we have an amazing ministry, but we’re just replicating ourselves with all our blind spots in other people.

It’s just a law—we reproduce who we are. My four kids look like my wife and me. We reproduce who we are. That’s true physically, and it’s true spiritually.

Years ago I heard people say: Those who God uses greatly He hurts deeply. I don’t think that’s exactly true. First of all, God doesn’t hurt people. God heals people. But, more to the point, all of us are hurt deeply. That’s part of the human condition.

The difference is this: Not everyone has found the courage to take Jesus to those places of pain. And until you and I bring Jesus to our own brokenness, we’re not equipped to bring Jesus to a broken world. So that’s step #1, and it remains step #1 throughout our lives.

More in this video…

Be encouraged!

Dwight