Author: Wes White

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Power to Change the World Around Us

There are some things we can learn fairly quickly like “Don’t throw a rock at a baby skunk.”

Other things take a long time, even a lifetime, of meditating upon in order to become habits of thinking and acting.

These include the basic ways we think about life and the principles we live by.

How do we transform the world? We need to get people to see things differently, to have a different vision for life and live by different principles.

This is so important and significant. What if we could see the world the way God sees it? What happens if someone really believes God is there? What happens when someone really believes that our moral actions matter before God for now and eternity? What if a person could see God’s amazing love and believe that it was for them? It would make a huge difference.

The way to change the world is to help people see differently. In Ephesians 1:3-14, the Apostle describes in lofty terms the beauty and glories of the good news that God is restoring all things and has chosen the people of the church in Ephesus to be a part of that marvelous plan (see my post on this here).

But it’s not enough to talk about it. We can’t just give people our words. We have to give them our lives. When Paul heard about the Ephesians and their faith, he praised God for them. He gave thanks for them. He had an affection for them, and he said so.

Most importantly, he prayed for them. He didn’t just give them the message. He knew that the work of seeing God’s truth was a work of the Spirit of God. This work of God’s Spirit is available for the asking, and so Paul kept asking.

And that’s what we need to do. We need to keep asking. How do change the world around us? We ask. We ask the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus to help people see differently.

Former Senate Chaplain Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie captured this sentiment in these words: “We are not a powerless minority in the face of evil. We can change the course of history, we can alter the trend of evil in our society, we can liberate people—if we will pray in the name of Jesus Christ.”

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God’s Marvelous Plan

We have a choice in life: we can find joy based on circumstances or find a joy that transcends all circumstances.

The Christian faith, in my view, provides unparalleled resources to find joy that can transcend all circumstances.

A leader of the early church named Paul demonstrated this in his life and words. He shared his life with thousands through his travels. Throughout the Roman Empire, he started little communities of people who had put their hope in Jesus.

As he traveled, he wrote these communities letters (sometimes called “epistles,” but they were just letters). He wrote several of them from prison.

What is striking about these prison letters is the note of joy and optimism that marks them. In his letter to the Christian community at Ephesus, Paul explained the basis for his hope.

I would encourage you to read the whole passage (Ephesians 1:1-14) as a beautiful example of the heart of the Christian life in praise to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is so much fruit for reflection in these verses, but consider just one: God’s marvelous plan.

Paul’s confidence was that whatever may be the explanation of any specific circumstances, God had let them in on the secret of the ages. God was going to take everything that was broken and put it back together under the leadership of Jesus (Eph. 1:9–10). That was God’s plan, and God had chosen Paul and the believers of Ephesus to be a big part of it (Eph. 1:11).

Because of that, Paul could rejoice. Whatever the circumstance, he knew that he was playing a part in the plan of the ages, and it was good for him and for everybody else.

As I have thought about this, I have begun to apply it to my own life. I have been working on a Doctor of Ministry degree for the past 3 years. I am now working on my final project. I went to the library at Johnson University to do some research. After gathering some books, I sat down and opened my computer and . . . all the files from all my classes had disappeared! I eventually was able to get most of them back, but it was frustrating, especially the loss of a paper I was working on and a large amount of notes.

As I thought about it later, I realized that as frustrating as it was, I was still part of God’s marvelous plan. He had chosen me to be a part of what He was doing in bring all things together in unity in Christ. What was a few lost files compared to that? This thought helped me to have joy above my circumstances.

Recently, I was thinking about my time at college. I really enjoyed college, but I made some choices that I have often questioned since, especially in the way I carried out those choices.

After reflection, I was comforted by the thought that whatever regrets I may have, the big plan is still in place. It was going to be OK. God was restoring all that was lost in Jesus, and he has chosen me to be part of that glorious work. That is a great comfort.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is what our faith is all about, lifting our hearts to the Triune God and seeing the big picture of His marvelous plan for the world and being amazed that He has made us a part of it.

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Dollywood and the Essence of Leadership

I’ve been to Dollywood dozens of times, but last Wednesday was one of my best experiences. The reason? I put my oldest daughter Anna in charge. Instead of complaining about me, the rest of my seven children complained about my daughter. I was off the hook!

Not only did I not have to lead, Anna led really well. She handled the complaining better than I would have.

As I reflected on what she was doing, I realized that she was doing exactly what I aspire to do as a leader. Here’s what I saw her do.

First, she cared about and understood those she was leading. She works at Dollywood and received compensation tickets with her paycheck. When she had collected enough, she cared enough about her family to want to take them rather than a bunch of friends.

Second, she grasped intuitively that complaints and disagreement are part of the leadership process. When you have to take the interests of a variety of people into account, not everyone will be happy. This is just part of being a leader.

Third, she made decisions. She downloaded the Dollywood app and looked at the wait times for the various rides. She thought about what she wanted to do, what the family would want to do, and the time we had, and then she made decisions about it.

Fourth, she didn’t change her decisions based on the differing opinions of any of the individuals, however strong those opinions might be. She realized that she was the leader, and she needed to lead. So, she led.

Fifth, she wasn’t mean about it. She had to hold to her thoughts in the face of sometimes strong disagreement, but she didn’t lash out defensively. She just made her decision, kept going, and kept smiling. It was a joy to watch.

Here’s one example. When we walked by the Wild Eagle, the wait was 25 minutes. Several children wanted to ride it right then, but she knew from experience that the wait time would decrease. So, she made her decision to move onto another ride. There was grumbling, but it died down. Eventually, we made our way back to the Wild Eagle and got on in less than 5 minutes.

As a smart and sweet 15 year old oldest sister of six siblings, Anna seems to have grasped the essence of leadership. I think I can retire.

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Funerals and Family Relationships

The gravestone of my 2nd Great Grandfather Robert White with my 2nd Great Grandmother’s behind it at our family’s ancestral cemetery in Russellville, KY
Much of modern life is geared around avoiding the aging process and not thinking about death. The Christian message is rooted in the reality of death. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It challenges everyone to consider their own standing before God and to be ready to meet Him on the day of their death. It also offers comfort in the face of death through the death, life, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Consider as an illustration the first question in the Heidelberg Catechism, a series of questions and answers explaining the Biblical faith written in the 16th century and adopted and loved by millions of Christians since: “What is your only comfort in life and death?”

Notice, however, that the focus is on the individual. The problem with this perspective is that an individual’s death is not only about that individual. It is about the family and those closely connected with that person.

The Bible answers the question of how an individual ought to face his or her own death. Does it have anything to say to the family about dealing with death?

I was wondering about this a few months ago. I was thinking, does God have anything to say about funerals? I quickly remembered that the Bible was full of examples of funerals.

Recently, I have been studying the book of Genesis. This is a book about families, and, not surprisingly, it records several funerals and describes in detail what happened.

The first thing you observe is that these funerals bring families together. For example, Isaac and Ishmael, who did not seem to be on best of terms, came together to bury their father Abraham (see also 35:29 and 49:1).

Second, the families take time to mourn. This is most clearly seen in Genesis 50. Joseph’s sons take 70 days to mourn for Jacob in Canaan, and they take a journey together to mourn him and bury him in the land of Canaan.

Third, when these funerals are done well, they allow the family to heal. Genesis 47–50 record Jacob’s preparations for death, his death, and what followed after. The conclusion of this series of events is Joseph’s firm declaration of his forgiveness of his brothers and his determination to take leadership in providing for the family in Egypt.

Most of the funerals in Genesis allow people to mourn the loss of a key person from the family system, deal with unresolved issues, and allow a new structure to form.

By way of contrast, consider the death of Rachel. Rachel was in a cold war against her sister and their servants (who had also served as Jacob’s wives) over Jacob’s affection and devotion. She died immediately after giving birth to her son. She was so full of frustration that she named her son “Son of my Affliction”!

Jacob took the child and said, “I don’t think so. We’ll call him ‘Son of my Strength.'”

Rachel’s death was unforeseen, and it was not handled with same care that the other funerals were. One result was that things got worse. Jacob looked to Rachel’s son to comfort him. This choice exacerbated the already tense situation with the sons of his other wives, and they eventually kidnapped their brother and sold him as a slave.

In light of this, I think there are several important lessons to consider about funerals and family relationships from the Bible.

The presence of funerals in the Bible indicates that God is interested in the key events of our family life. He takes an interest in these exits from our family system. God made the family, loves it, and is involved with it.

We need to take the time to mourn losses. This is true of all losses: opportunities, jobs, friendships, and death. It is especially true of funerals. No one has the right to demand that we put a period on our mourning, but when we take the time to mourn, we provide opportunity for healing.

Death and funerals are opportunities as well as losses. We can speak into people’s lives, we can call people together who might not have spoken for a while, we can testify to God’s grace, and we can recognize that there is hope for the future.

At the end of his life, Jacob gave Joseph’s children, Ephraim and Manasseh, the status of his own sons. Then he blessed them. He spoke into their lives and encouraged them in regards to the future:

May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.

This blessing embodies the grieving and the opportunity for the family in times of loss, death, and funerals.

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Why Did Joseph Test His Brothers?

In Genesis 42, Joseph’s brothers who had sold him into slavery arrived in Egypt and appeared before him, the ruler of Egypt. They obviously did not expect to see him there and so did not recognize him. Joseph recognized his brothers, but he did not reveal his true identity to them. Instead, he treated them with harshness. Why?

Commentators are not agreed on the reason. Perhaps my favorite suggestion is one we might call the “Hey y’all, watch this!” explanation. Picture Joseph talking to his friends at his office in Egypt. His brothers come in, and he says, “Hey y’all, remember my brothers I was telling y’all about. There they are. Watch this! Hold my beer!”

Unfortunately, this fruitful way of interpreting the Scripture has not been widely accepted by scholars.

One thing that scholars seem to agree on is that Joseph was not trying to get revenge. As one example, Matthew Henry says: “Now why was Joseph thus hard upon his brethren? We may be sure it was not from a spirit of revenge, that he might now trample upon those who had formerly trampled upon him he was not a man of that temper.”

This might be hard to believe in light of the fact that Joseph put all of the brothers in prison for three days. Then, he kept the oldest, Simeon, in prison, telling them that he would only release him if they came back with their youngest brother Benjamin. After all, when people start taking hostages, it’s not funny anymore.

There are two solid reasons to think that this is not revenge. First, Joseph could have done much worse. He could have made them slaves. He chose not to. Second, his own explanation of the situation indicates a long reflection on the meaning of his sufferings that excludes a desire for revenge: “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you” (Genesis 45:5).

So, what was Joseph doing? It seems most likely that he was trying to determine if they had changed. Forgiveness allows people a fresh start, but relationships are built on the basis of people’s character. If someone has been abusive in the past, forgiveness allows a fresh start. However, a real relationship can only flourish if the abuser can let go of their abusive ways.

So it was with Joseph. Happily, in this case, Joseph saw that their hearts had changed. His pretend harshness culminated with a situation where he was going to take Benjamin as his slave. Judah stood up and said:

So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life, sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. . . . Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.

At this point, Joseph could bare it no longer. He broke down and wept before his brothers. Reconciliation had begun.

Is there an application to us today? When we don’t feel safe because of past hurts, we can approach those who have hurt us to see if they have changed. If they have, then we should be willing to be reconciled without demanding anything else in return.

This may be hard, but it is the way of King Jesus. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

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