Thread by @JoshDaws

I had a nightmare that my wife was leaving me and didn’t want me seeing the kids. Nothing I tried would change her mind. It was awful. I woke up in a panic at 4am and haven’t been back to sleep. That’s how I feel watching everything collapse around us - completely powerless. 1/

I don’t know how people manage their anxiety without faith in a sovereign and loving God who works all things together for good. I can’t imagine going through this without a deep reservoir of peace from which to draw. 2/

If you find yourself hopeless, I want you to have hope. Not in a miracle cure which may or may not come. Not in a future economic recovery. Certainly not in our leaders. Things are likely to get much worse before they get better. 3/

I want you to have hope in the knowledge that our biggest problem has already been solved. 4/

Humanity has had one overriding problem from the beginning. We’re awful. We’re selfish, greedy, murderous, destructive people. We all recognize this in mankind. You can’t watch the news or look back through history without seeing it. The Bible calls this sin. 5/

God hates sin and the destruction it causes. He is holy and righteous. That means that he is 100% good, 100% loving, and 100% just. Because he is just, God doesn’t let sin go unpunished. 6/

This is good. Whatever punishment Jeffrey Epstein deserved here on earth is being meted out in the afterlife. There is no getting away with sin. 7/

We all instinctively want to believe that about the worst of the worst, but we don’t want to believe that about our sin. We take solace in the fact that we can always find someone worse than us. “I’m not as bad as so-and-so.” 8/

Unfortunately, God’s standard for judgment is not other people worse than you. God provided us with his law to let us know what was required to live blameless in his sight. Jesus summed it up in just two commands: 9/

1) “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

2) “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 22:36-40 ESV bible.com/bible/59/mat.2… 10/

These are not just goals to aspire to or nice words to live by. These are commands of God that we all break on a daily basis. James, the brother of Jesus, writes:

“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
James 2:10 ESV 11/

Jesus said that if you even have anger in your heart toward a brother you are guilty of murder. Yikes. Our hearts are so infected by sin that God’s law is an impossible standard to live up to. /12

The apostle Paul, writing to the church in Rome, explains our situation.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Romans 3:23 ESV

“For the wages of sin is death”
Romans 6:23a ESV
/13

That’s our biggest problem. God is 100% just and his judgement will be directed at us. If that were the end of the story there would be no hope. However, God is also 100% loving and made a way to spare us from the judgment we deserve. 14/

God’s own son would step into our place and receive the punishment we deserve. Jesus came to earth uninfected by sin. He was fully God and fully man. He lived a perfect life never once breaking God’s law. 15/

He was crucified on a Roman cross and in that crucial moment that all of history hinges upon, the wrath and judgement of God that we rightly deserve was poured out on him instead of us. 16/

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 ESV bible.com/bible/59/rom.5… 17/

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16-17 ESV 18/

Our biggest problem has been solved! That is why we can have hope. No matter how bad things get here on earth, we can look to the cross and an empty tomb and know that God loves us. We know that whatever bad he allows must be for a higher purpose because we know he loves us. /19

That’s the gospel (good news). God adopts us into his family. When he looks at us he sees the righteousness of Christ. The sins we continue to commit are already paid for on the cross. There is no guilt. There is no shame. There is no judgment due. /20

This hope can be yours if you recognize that you are in desperate need of a savior and then repent. /21

To repent means to turn away from sin and toward God. Not that you start behaving your way to God, but that you turn to him in response to what he has already done for you. /22

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”
2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV bible.com/bible/59/2co.7… /23

“[I]f you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Romans 10:9-10 ESV /21

I’m finding great comfort in my faith during this time of crisis and wanted to share it with others who are battling the same anxieties I am. My DMs are open if you want to talk. Keep scrolling if you want to argue.

“May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”
Romans 15:33 /fin