Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 530 | GOOD NEWS! We're 20 Months Closer to Death

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Back in studio! We're going to take today to reorient ourselves and make sure our priorities are straight. So many of us have felt like life has been on "pause" since the pandemic began, thinking that once this is all over, we will just snap back to the way things were in 2019. Unfortunately, that's just not the case. The virus, and governments' heavy-handed responses, are here to stay. As Christians, we need to remember how we're called to spend our time on this earth and live according to God's Word, whether or not things are "normal." --- Today's Sponsors: Dwell has built a beautiful listening & reading experience for the Scriptures. With over a dozen new recordings of the Bible, they've hand-picked voices that will engage & inspire you, plus it features a new read along experience which lets you read big, bold text accompanied by beautiful background art while you're listening to it being read at the same time. It's time to get in the Word! Go to DwellApp.io.RELATABLE to get 10% off a yearly subscription, or 33% off Dwell for life! Raycon wireless earbuds have seamless Bluetooth pairing & a comfortable, noise-isolating fit: you can start listening right away & keep listening for hours! This holiday season, give your friends & family something they can use for calls or music, for work or play, at home or on-the-go. Go to BuyRaycon.com/ALLIE today to unlock exclusive deals up to 30% off your order! Alliance Defending Freedom has challenged the private employer vaccine mandate in court & they need your help. Protecting our cherished freedoms from government overreach is why it's vital that you join the growing number of supporters at ADFLegal.org/ALLIE. Make a tax-deductible donation to ADF's Freedom Fund to ensure they have the resources necessary to continue all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary! --- Past Episode Mentioned: Ep 522: SPECIAL EPISODE: The Truth About Kyle Rittenhouse | Guest: Elijah Schaffer https://apple.co/3D37j0x --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey, guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone had not only a wonderful weekend, but that you also had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the past two weeks that I haven't been with you live have been wonderful. as you guys know, I pre-recorded the episodes that played over the past couple weeks,

lots of just amazing conversations that I had that we had pre-recorded and then released for you while I was out celebrating Thanksgiving and just having a time of rest with my family. Had so many just amazing comments from you guys and messages that the conversations that were recorded meant so much to you. We talked about, for example, healing from abortion. We talked to Bridget Fetasy about getting sober, about her journey to becoming a mom. And we talked about anxiety with David Marvin. We talked about the prosperity and the progressive gospel with Kosti Hinn.

We had so many uplifting and edifying conversations. And I think I can say that without it sounding like I'm tooting my own horn because it really was the guest that just brought it every time. I always have the best guess I think in the business, unrelatable. And I'm just thankful for the very substantive and meaningful conversations that we are able to have. And I love when you guys give me the feedback and you tell me that they meant a lot to you. So thank you guys for tuning in while we were gone. Now we are back.

And man, oh man, there is so much to talk about. So while I was gone, the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict came out. The episode that we recorded right before I. left with Elijah Schaefer about what really happened in Kenosha that night since he was there as one of my most popular episodes ever. And I actually knew as I was recording it. I could just feel as I was having that conversation with Elijah that it was going to be a popular episode. I can almost always tell as I am recording an episode that it is going to be very widely shared and listen to and watched. And I knew that you guys would appreciate that and appreciate his perspective. If you haven't listened to

that, I recommend you doing so because the conversation and the debate about Kyle Rittenhouse and about that verdict is still raging. We're going to talk about that this week, not today, but we are going to talk about it. We're also going to talk about the Julius Jones case where he received, I believe it was a commutation by the government or the governor of Oklahoma. We're going to talk about that case, whether or not he's guilty. We're going to talk about the death penalty later this week. Tomorrow, we're going to focus on COVID, this, oh, Omocron variant. And we're going to talk about what the numbers are and the threats now that we are receiving of lockdowns and more mask mandates and shutting down schools and all of that stuff.

And we're going to talk about based on the data, based on the science, whether or not it is justified. You can probably assume what I am going to say, but we're going to walk through all of that tomorrow. And then just a heads up, we are going to do the same thing for Christmas. break that we did for Thanksgiving break. We're going to pre-record some awesome episodes, and we are going to release those the week of Christmas or the week before Christmas, the week of Christmas, and then the week after Christmas, I think that's what it is. It's a total of three weeks that starts like the December 21st, I think it is. I'm just trying to remember what the days actually are. But we're going to take a break for three weeks, and we are going to have two episodes.

a week for the first two weeks that we pre-recorded. And then that first week of January, we're not going to have any episodes come out. We might have some replays of some popular episodes just so you guys have something to listen to, if you want to listen to it, just so something is being put out. But we are going to come back with a vengeance that second week of January. So that's just an FYI. I will make sure that I remind you guys of that before. but I just wanted to give myself and give my team some time to recuperate and, you know,

regather ourselves and spend time with our family for the holiday season. So we're going to work hard to make sure that you are still getting some new episodes while we are doing that. All right. We're not going to talk about the news today, even though there is so much that we could talk about. There's like 10 million trials that are happening right now. There's the abortion cases that are being heard by the Supreme Court.

there's a million things that we could talk about, but I really feel that we, or maybe it's just me, maybe it's just me that feels like I need to kind of reorient myself, that I need to take a step back, look at the big picture, take a deep breath, and remember who is in control. And you guys know, we probably do this, have this conversation about once a week, if not once every other week, just reminding ourselves that God is sovereign, reminding ourselves of what's important. And we really can't talk about this. We really can't talk about this too much. And it's been an especially overwhelming few weeks, I think, on social media with all of the conversation that's been going on surrounding things like Kyle Rittenhouse. And again, we've been having this very hot debate

about what justice actually is, what justice looks like, what it should look like. Per usual, I think that there are a lot of public Christians that get it wrong. They think that empathy and so-called social justice should take precedence over objective, true biblical justice. And I want to have a conversation about all of that, but it's really overwhelming to see those kinds of conversations and hot takes on social media and to just feel the stress of that, to feel the burden of that. So want to have all of the answers to all of the questions that are being posed, wanting to have all the responses to the absurdity that you are seeing being spewed on social

media, feeling like there are so many problems in the world that you just want to fix, feeling the anxiety of raising kids in this kind of world, not knowing what the future holds, what America looks like, how this country is going to continue to hold together. Are things ever going to get better? Things only going to get worse and worse until Jesus returns. Is this time worse than any other time in history? My answer to that is no, but there is cause for concern. You guys know that. We talk about these causes for concern very often. So there's a reason. There's a reason why people feel especially stressed, especially worried right now, especially as you hear the headlines or you see the headlines and you hear the newscasts

about the next variant that we need to worry about. Or maybe you're more worried about the restrictions themselves. So there's a million reasons why people are perhaps justified in being at least tempted to crippling anxiety and fear. And on top of that, you still have people who have dealt with what I think isn't even bigger and perhaps deadlier pandemic, and that is loneliness. Loneliness that very often leads to despair. And so I want to reorient us today, bring us back to what is important and what is absolutely true.

there's a lot that we worry about because we don't actually know if it's true. Like we don't actually know, we don't know the outcome of a particular policy or a particular headline, particular issue. And so the anxiety comes with not knowing. But graciously, the Lord has told us a lot that we can hang our hat on, that we can absolutely trust in. He has revealed to us, not everything, but a lot of things that we absolutely know. know to be true. And that can anchor us. I did a post on Instagram. I think it was last week. And the title slide, it was 10 slides. And the title slide said, you are still 20 months closer to death. You're still 20 months closer to death. And now that might not sound like good news.

You might think that I am trying to send you further into a cycle of despair. And I am not. That's just the truth. We are 20 months closer to death. Even as we spend our time twiddling our thumbs, spend our time overwhelmed with the anxiety that wakes us up in the middle of night, feels like it punches us in the gut, makes us feel like we are paralyzed, like we can't even move forward, and threatens to overwhelm us at any point.

As we have been hoping and wishing and biting our time until things turn back to normal, the reality is we are 20 months closer to death. And that's how I'm going to start this reorientation of an episode in setting us straight and getting us back to what is most important. And I'll explain that in just one second. Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues face our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true

about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. So I think that we have all been at one point or another over the past 20 months under

the impression that real life will resume when these so-called unprecedented times end, that our anxiety will go away, that our fear will be diminished, that all of a sudden will be happy and healthy and we will be able to embrace normalcy that basically we're going to get a redo on all of this and the way things were in 2019 will come back and then when that comes back we'll get back into a routine that will make us happy and healthy and whole so when the virus is over or when the mandates are overturned or when our party has more power when the economy is better or when a particular policy is implemented or when whatever it is that we see as the big impediment to normalcy is finally overcome, then we can go back to how things were. I think all of us have had

that thought. I certainly had that thought in the beginning when I thought that things would be over in 15 days as we were promised 15 days to slow the spread. I naively believe that that would be the case or surely this is not going to continue into the summer of 2020. I remember that's what I was thinking. And so when it finally is over, that's when life will go back to normal. That's when, you know, I'll eat healthier. That's when I'll, you know, start going to church again. That's when I'll make sure that I'm waking up early and reading my Bible. That's when I'll stop consuming the news second by seconds and being overcome with the worry that's associated with that. When all of this ends, that's when XYZ will happen. That will make things sane again.

The reality is that that's a trick. That's a trick that's not real. Life did not actually pause in March of 2020. Or in January of 2021 when Joe Biden officially became president. Life didn't pause then. We are not currently in a holding pattern. We are still 20 months closer to death than we were when this whole thing started in the beginning of 2020. All this time, the seconds have continued to tick. The sand and the hourglass has continued to trickle. Our finite lives, have continued to dwindle all this time. So the thing that was always going to kill you still is going to kill you. Maybe it's going to be a virus.

But more likely, it will be one of the millions of other things by which people die every day and for which no mitigation strategy is mandated and about which no journalist bothers to write. That's the bad news. That's the bad news is that you're going to die. We're all going to die. something at some point is going to kill you. That's inevitable.

The good news is we can, all of us, right this very instant, stop pretending that normal times, what we see as normal times, are normal, and simply get on with our lives. We are so fortunate in America that we have enjoyed peace and prosperity that is completely unfathomable to most people in the world. I mean, what a blessing for which we should continue to advocate. We should continue to fight.

We should continue to care about the rights that make that peace and prosperity possible. We should thank God for these things. But neither peace nor prosperity, especially for the Christian, is historically normal. Really, persecution is normal. Poverty is normal. tyranny is normal tribulation distress famine danger are normal as romans 835 tells us they're not desirable at all but they are normal so the reality is is that our so-called unprecedented times are actually very precedented i mean they're precedented in world history just in the past 100 years alone but

they're certainly precedented many times over throughout human history and jesus knew the alpha and the Omega. He knew exactly what our times right now would look like when he said, follow me in Matthew 419. There are no exemptions granted for the Christian life, not for a virus or for draconian policies put in place in the name of stopping the virus, or for inflation, or for bad presidents, or for any other obstacle standing in front of what we see as nostalgic normalcy. So in the midst of all of these things and more, the Christian is still called to surrender. It's still called to joy. It's still called to prayer. It's still called to service, to hospitality, to generosity, to truth, to love. We are still called to an abundant life

of obedience to God. So when I say, it's time that we get on with life. We get on living and you say, but Ali, I live in Australia. And we're locked down in my particular day where I live. in Canada. I live in this part of the world or this part of the United States where we aren't allowed to do the things that we used to do. I can't get on with my life. I want to get on with my life, but I can't get on with my life because of all of these different restrictions. Or maybe you're someone who is scared to leave your home. You're scared to interact with people because of the virus. And so you feel like, well, there's no way that you can just get on with your life. I am not talking about a life that is made possible by Dr. Fowtie or by the president or by any policy

or by the absence of any sickness. I am talking about the life that whether you like it or not is continuing to move forward like a freight train. Like you can either live the life that you have right now to the fullest in obedience to God the best way that you possibly can or you can just continue to live in fear inside your home. Those are our are two options. Those are our two options. I know that, I know one thing for sure. And that one thing is, no matter what policies are put in place, that God knew about them before they were put in place. And I know that God's authority transcends any earthly authority. And I know that God can be obeyed no matter what station of life that we are in. Like, the gospel can be lived out.

God can be obeyed. You can deny yourself and follow Christ in a prison cell. So it doesn't matter what our surrounding circumstances are. It doesn't matter how free we are. It doesn't matter what the government is doing. The fact of the matter is that God is going to give you a way to deny yourself and follow him no matter what's happening in the world. And the abundant life that God makes possible through Christ is still possible in your circumstance. In my circumstance, whatever that means. So when Jesus said, do not be anxious about your life. He didn't actually provide any carve-outs.

He didn't give any stipulations. He didn't give any conditions. He didn't give any asterisks correlating within, except in the 2020's footnotes. When Jesus said this, he knew every bit of trouble Christians would face from Nero to now. It's really important for us to remember the devastation that Christians have experienced throughout human history. and he preempts our protestations because we all have them. We say, but what about, but what about? But you don't know, Jesus.

You don't know what I'm really going through. You don't know the suffering that I'm enduring. You don't know how hard it is to go through when I'm going through. He preempts all of those butts with this brilliant question. Which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life. That's Matthew 627. Who of you, by being anxious, can add one hour, just one. You can't even add 60 minutes, Jesus says, to your life by being worried.

So wonderfully, Christians can stop mimicking the paranoia of people who believe this life is all there is. Our good and sovereign God has already numbered our days, Psalm 139-16 says, and his purposes cannot be thwarted, Job 422 says. We are still 20 months closer to death. We are still 20 months closer to death than we were when this whole thing started. When this presidency is over, we will still be four years closer to death. So life is not on pause.

Not for the virus, not for the lockdowns, not for inflation, not for any set of national or personal trials we face. And the reality is, I sent this to a friend yesterday who told me that she was overwhelmed, that she was just weary of the world, which, yeah, wow, I get that. I feel that. At least once a day, I'm weary of this world. And first, let me say that that's not a bad feeling. Maybe one of the blessings of this time, which is, I don't want you to hear me minimizing what

we're going through on a national scale or what you are. going through right now on a personal scale. Your pain is real. Your suffering is real. I mean, people losing their jobs, their livelihoods right now because of unscientific, unconstitutional, tyrannical mandates. Like, that's real. I don't want you to think that I am belittling what you're going through, whether it has to do with that or something totally unrelated. Maybe one of the blessings in that is not just our humility, and that's something that God accomplishes through sanctification through trials and not just drawing us close to him personally and strengthening our faith and reliance on him, but also a reminder that this world is not our home, that we're not

going to find all of the joy and all of the hope and all of the peace that we are looking for here, that our satisfaction, our solace rests in Christ alone. And we will only achieve the lack of sadness, the lack of sorrow, the lack of sickness, the lack of bad, policies and unreliable and power-hungry governments and all that we are suffering from today, we are only going to achieve that kind of world and that kind of peace in heaven. And so maybe one thing that God is accomplishing in his church and in Christians is to have a longing for the return of Christ this Christmas season that maybe we haven't had in the past because life has been so good. Maybe God is using the hardship that people are

enduring today to graciously, to mercifully remind us that all of the suffering that we are feeling today will one day be taking care of it, will one day be over, and that eternal joy is coming. And that that is where our hope lies. And that is where our peace will. will finally, fully, fully come to fruition. And yet we can also have peace today through Christ. We can have peace through the knowledge of the sovereignty of God, understanding, clinging to the fact that God did not place you, and this is what I sent my friend, that God did not place you and your children here and now arbitrarily.

He placed you on this tiny time speck of eternity, on the small plot of earth where you stand with the neighbors that you have and the resources that he has. given you purposely, providentially, specifically. We were meant for this time. You and I, our kids, our future grandkids, we were meant for this time, no other time. We are called to full obedience to God now, not in a future that we're not even guaranteed. So we have to live our lives right now as best we can, simply doing the next right thing in faith and joy with excellence and for the glory of God. And yes, I understand there is a tension that we live in, that we simultaneously are putting our eyes towards heaven, reminding ourselves that our citizenship is in heaven,

realizing that sinners are going to sin and a broken world is going to be broken and that we don't put our trust in princes or in horses and that we simply put our hope in Christ and the hope of his return is what anchors us. And yet we are in the world. And because we love our neighbor, because we know that politics matter because policy matters, because people matter, because we know that we are supposed to be salt and light here. We do care about what's going on in the world. We do want to push for that which is good and right and true while also being totally content with where we are and what we have. So it's this mixture of being weary with the world, of hating the sin that we see reigning in so many ways, of hating injustice and hating,

just the immorality and depravity and the corruption that we see so rampant and just wanting things to get better and just hoping for Jesus to come back so we don't have to deal with this anymore, while also realizing that godliness with contentment is great gain. That's what scripture tells us. Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. That's so clear. First Timothy 6 through 7, we brought nothing into the world. We'll take nothing out of the world, so we might as well be content with what we have right now. That's a form of godliness, scripture tells us. Even as there's so much that we want for ourselves

and so much that we want for our families, good things that we want for our families. I mean, we want peace. That's a good thing. We want, you know, we want stability. we want good policy these are all good things and it's okay to want them but at the same time a form of godliness is contentment we're supposed to be content with what we have even as we're longing for heaven and so we all feel this kind of tension we all feel this kind of tension and what i want and i'm just going to go on a little mini rant here what i want is for the church to represent that tension well. And we don't do it perfectly, but to represent it with joy, that the church should really be an example for people in this time who have believed the lie, that we are in some kind of holding

pattern, that life has been on pause, that finally one day we're all going to go back to normal, and we're all 100% vaccinated, when we all have our six booster shots that, you know, the government is going to give up their emergency powers and that things are just going to be how they once were and that we don't have to worry about doing the things that we were doing before during this unprecedented time that we're really just on pause and that somehow we'll be able to redeem this time that we have, we'll be able to make up for it. The church should be living as they've always lived. The church should be opening their doors to both saints and sinners.

the church should continue to be hospitable, continue to be generous, continue to corporately worship. Instead, you have some congregations that are actually segregating their congregants by vaccination status. They are actually closing their doors for fear of a new variant. They are not showing in-person hospitality. They have stipulated their generosity and they're welcoming. and they are calling this loving their neighbor, when in reality, the church is supposed to be bold. The church is supposed to be brave.

The church is supposed to realize more than anyone else that death is inevitable, and we have a small window of time to be the hands and the feet of Jesus, and you have so many churches that are so scared, just as scared as secular people who believe that this life is all there is, that they have ceased to be any kind of Christ-like example for the world.

They're so scared. They're so scared. And for the church, like, you know that heaven is our home. Heaven is where we're going. Eternity is where our hope lies. That to live is Christ, to die is gain, as Paul says in Philippians 1. And they are clinging to these, I don't know, this intangible hope that I guess things somehow are going to. be perfect and peaceful and go back to normal here in this life. And they're wrong. And these are

Christians that I'm talking about. These are professing Christians who are living just like the secularist of this world in complete and total miserly paranoia. I mean, every day you guys send me a message telling me that your church or a church that you know is segregating people by vaccination status or is only allowing some people to go to Christmas Eve services. If they have, have their vaccine passports. This is happening, especially in places like Australia and Canada. And you wonder why we're in the state that we're in? If like the people who believe that to live is Christ and to die as gain is living in fear and paranoia of a virus with a 99% survival rate and is not even willing to push back on tyranny in the way of simply opening their doors to

whomever for Christmas services. Like, if Christians aren't even willing to do that, you're fooling yourself into thinking that you're not going to take the mark of the beast. Are you kidding me? What this is showing me is that actually a lot of professing Christians are going to line up to take the mark of the beast. They're going to be excited about it because it's going to mean that they're pro-science. It's going to mean that they are pro-compassion.

And unfortunately, the church is not. living in light of what we know of the gospel, is not living in light of the truth and the hope that we have in Christ. Instead, they are mimicking the paranoia of the world. And we wonder why church attendance is in decline. It's not because the church fails to be as woke as people want. It's not because the church is homophobic or transphobic. It's because much of the church looks, acts, and sounds exactly like the world. So why would people wish? waste time coming to church when they can get the same thing from brunch. That's the issue. Remember, we are 20 months closer to death. And this life is all that we have. We only have

right now to be like Christ. We only have right now to deny ourselves to take up our cross to follow him, to live in the joy and the peace and the hospitality and the generosity that comes with being a Christ follower right now. You are not going to stand before the judgment throne of God and get some kind of stipulation sticker for 2020 and 2021, that it was okay that you didn't act like a bold, brave, generous, hospitable, joyful, peaceful, loving Christian in these years because of the things that are happening right now.

I want to read you something that I read this morning, 2. Peter 310 through 13, Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, actually let me back up a little bit. Let me back up. Verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar. And the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. And the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, all these things are thus to be dissolved. Everything around us will be dissolved. Since all of these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? So we get it right here. Everything that we see is going to be dissolved. Earthly powers are going to be dissolved. Vaccines are going to be dissolved.

All of these institutions, everything in the world is going to be dissolved. And so what are we to do in light of that? We ought to be people living lives of holiness and godliness waiting for and hasten for it, hastening the coming of the day of the Lord because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. So that is our very tangible hope. Because we know that the world and everything in it is fading away, because we know the things that we see today will be dissolved, because we know that we are living on a tiny speck of eternity

that our lives will fade like the grass that we're only here for a second. There is no time to waste. Like we don't have time to waste another 20 months in anxiety, waiting to go back to church, waiting to open our doors, waiting to welcome people into our home, waiting to be generous, waiting to be hospitable,

waiting to share the gospel, waiting to have children, whatever it is that you've been waiting to do until things go back to normal. Life is being lived right now. The sand in the hour ago. us. It is still, it's still trickling. It's still going through. Our call right now as Christians to live our life boldly and bravely in obedience to God, knowing that this is our future.

We read Psalm 37 a lot and I'm going to reach you the first few verses of that to remind us that this is what's to come and that we live in light of this. Frat not yourself because of evildoers. that's something I have to tell myself every day. Fret not yourself because of evil doers. Be not envious of wrongdoers. For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and preferent faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. And by the way, that doesn't just mean whatever your heart desires we've done most misused on that. You can go back and listen to it. It means that if you delight yourself in the Lord, the desires of your heart will be the Lord's desires. and God is always going to accomplish his desires. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as delight and your justice as the noon day.

Be still before the Lord, wait patiently for him. Frat not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices, refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself, it tends only to evil, for the evildoers will be cut off. And those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more. Though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves an abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked. For he sees that his day is coming. Psalm 37, 1 through 13. That's our hope. That's where we put our trust. That's where our boldness comes from. That's where our bravery comes from. That's where our joy comes

from. We are not going to get joy back when things go back to normal. If we don't have joy in this circumstance, we'll never have joy. If we don't have contentment in this circumstance, we'll never have contentment. If we don't have have bravery and boldness, in this circumstance, we'll never have bravery and boldness. Let's not kid ourselves that when the real trial comes, if we live through the tribulation, that then we'll show people what faithfulness looks like. If we're not willing to do so right now. Life is being lived. Life is being lived one way or another. It is our choice and it is our privilege as Christians to be able to live that in joy and in obedience and in steadfastness doing simply the next right thing in faith and excellence or not.

All right. So as we talk about some of the craziness that's going on in the world, over the next few days, let's remember this. Let's remember where we are, where we stand, why we speak the truth in love and why we live the way that we do right now. Pastor, if you're listening to this, church, if you're listening to this, do not close your doors, do not segregate, do not keep people out of your church who haven't gotten a, wow, I could just, I could go on a whole other rant, But the fact that I see people being shut out of church because of their vaccination set is I have to wonder, Pastor, if you are a Christian yourself. And if you are, then it's time for you to repent.

It's time for all of us to repent of our paralyzing fear and anxiety. The God who created this time and who created us and put us here for a reason knew exactly what was going to happen when he told us to not worry and to trust him. We can do that. We get to trust him as Christians and we should live like that. All right. I'll be back here tomorrow. Steve Day, if you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself.

On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.