I have very good news. There are many, many wonderful Christians who read these ATD columns carefully, filtering all my scribblings through scripture.
That is balanced with some bad news. Getting a doctorate in leadership communication guarantees neither good leadership nor clear communication, something I proved last week.
Last Friday, I sent the wrap-up note to our recent podcast/radio study of the Gospel of Mark. In that devotion, I made what I thought was a simple contrast:
1. Following the world or self is confusing, complicated, and convoluted.
2. Following Jesus is contrastingly clear.
As an example of the first point, I employed a great column by Pastor Kevin DeYoung. In it, Kevin satirically detailed the nonsense of the world’s ideas on gender. I then covered the second point, saying, “Given that complicated and moving target, we begin to understand why Jesus said that His burden is easy and His yoke is light. Thank you all for the blessing of studying in Mark together. Let’s follow Him!”
What I didn’t realize was that our ATD note never pointed out that DeYoung’s column was totally sarcastic. Pretending to be the modern puritanical & tyrannical voice of society, he was exposing the nonsense of the world’s ideas of how to live. (In this case, Kevin used gender dysphoria as his example, but we could address any number of other life areas – like money or power – where society shows the same convoluted excuse for ethics.) Sadly, many of our brilliant and biblical audience got lost in DeYoung’s long piece and couldn’t square that nonsense with my call to follow Mark.
So, if you were one of the many confused by that note, rest assured you were not alone. If you didn’t understand, hopefully now you see the contrast I was attempting to make. And if you are still (or even more) confused about this confusion, please write me or the ATD team.
