Jesus Christ said to his apprentices:

“You are the salt of the earth” (Gospel of Matthew 5:13a).

When Jesus said that in the first century, his apprentices would not understand him to be talking about something to sprinkle on for flavor.

They would understand him to be talking about something people in those days used to preserve the food they put in storage. Salt would keep food edible for a long time.

How important was that in a world where food was not as easy to get as it is for us today? How important was that in a world where things like canning, freezing, and refrigeration did not yet exist?

Salt, in those times, could be the difference between having enough good food to eat (to stay alive) or having none.

So, when Jesus told his apprentices to think of themselves as “the salt of the earth,” what would they take him to mean?

That the presence of the people of Jesus...

Life is better and richer, healthier and stronger, with tension in it.

The gravitational pull (tension) between Earth and the sun.

The way our muscles contract and relax to move our bodies.

The sweetest sounds we know come from the tension of things like eardrums, guitar strings, and vocal cords.

Great sex takes the buildup and release of tension between two people.

I am thankful for the tension between my wife and me. Before we met, I was loose and sloppy in many things. But sharing life with her–a person who is different from me in so many ways–made the tension that is making me a better man.

Getting better as a person is not just for me; it’s for my wife, too. It’s for my son. It’s for every person with whom I have a relationship. Sharing life with my wife–so different from me in so many ways–makes a tension that does so much good for so many people beyond my wife and me.

When I was a teenager, my passion for American history led to a passion for American politics.

I had a strong attraction to the men and women whose actions, character, and thinking built our nation and society. History.

Likewise, I had a strong attraction to the exchange of ideas among citizens and their representatives in the public square. This is what I believed would build our nation and society for generations to come. Politics.

I think my dad is the person who introduced me to the phrase: “exchange of ideas.” From an early age, I believed that is what politics should be about.

What ideas would build our nation and society into a “more perfect union” with “liberty and justice for all?” These are the kinds of questions I thought about as a teenager (and still think about even more today).

As a young man, I looked for people who felt the same way I felt about politics...

These are the facts:

Since 1990, violent crime in the United States is down at least 33 percent.

Violent crime decreased the most over two periods during the last 30 years:

1) Between 1992 and 2000 (1.9 million violent crimes in 1992 down to 1.4 million violent crimes in 2000), and
2) Between 2007 and 2015 (1.4 million violent crimes in 2007 down to 1.2 million violent crimes in 2015).

You can see these and other U.S. violent crime statistics here.

Over the same period, violent crime in U.S. cities also decreased at a sharp rate. For example: Violent crime in cities like Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C., dropped between 75 and 87 percent from its peak in 1991. For more statistics on violent crime in U.S. cities, go here.

Note: The two periods in which violent crime dropped the most in the last 30 years coincide with Democratic presidential administrations.

I...

“Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint, but happy are those who keep the law” (Proverbs 29:18).

Do you see the link between “prophecy” and keeping the law?

The wise teacher of Proverbs makes her or his point: Lawlessness starts where prophecy ends. No prophecy, no “law and order.”

What is prophecy?

Many Bible translations do not use the word “prophecy” in this verse. Instead, they use the word “vision.” Some use the word “revelation.”

At its root, the Hebrew word that we translate into English means “to see” or “to behold.”

So, what do the people need to behold or see or else they “cast off restraint” and the law is lost?

Now, this is a Bible verse, so a lot of Bible-believing people will say the answer is simple: God’s way or God’s will. The people need to see what God wants them to do so that they can do it.

How do you see what God wants you to do?

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What you want most in life–what you really, really want–is not something you can get today on sale or shipped free in two days.

Some of the things you want–really, really want–cannot even happen when you are alive! The dreams and hopes you have for your grandchildren or great grandchildren may not come true until after you’re long gone.

I know you know all of this, if…

…you are a parent…

…you are a spouse…

…you are a professional of any kind…

…you are a disciple of a master at anything.

I wish more of my fellow citizens would know this about politics.

You know the ancient Greek proverb: “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they shall never sit in.”

Trees grow slow and so do great societies.

Greatness does not happen with the election of one candidate over the other. Greatness does not happen with the passage of new laws.

A great society takes many...

What would your life be like if you were missing your thumbs?

Think about it: So much of what you are able to do with your hands is all because you have opposable thumbs.

That is: You can place your thumb opposite the four fingers of the same hand. This lets you grasp and handle things.

Think about it: So much of what you do depends on your fingers having an opponent. Your life as you know it depends on healthy opposition happening all day, every day.

Would you give that up?

When God brought my wife and I together, he gave each of us an opponent in the same way he gave a thumb to the fingers. Without Tracy, I would be so much less than what I am. Yes, she affirms and encourages me, but she also challenges me, makes me think different, and pushes back on the parts of me that are immature.

Even though she makes it hard on me sometimes, I wouldn’t give her up. The two of us...

Vote for your neighbors.

You may not like any candidate for office or the party behind them, but vote for your neighbors.

Choose to believe in your neighbors.

Choose to be interested in them.

Choose to respect them.

Choose to trust them.

Choose to want the best for them.

Do you believe you can do that?

Even if your neighbor has the “wrong” candidate’s sign in the front yard?

Even if your neighbor’s skin is a different color than yours?

Even if your neighbor goes to a different house of worship (or no house of worship)?

Even if your neighbor was born in another country and chose to come here?

Vote for your neighbors.

Electing the right leaders is of great importance in a democratic republic.

But the most important thing? Electing each other into a shared citizenship in which we practice mutual honor, respect, and trust.

Neighbor-hood is the essence of democracy.

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“You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness” (James 1:19-20).

You say you want God’s righteousness?

Then you have to make room for it.

How?

By giving God your anger. Empty it out to God so that you have room for God’s righteousness in you.

If the fire you already kindle within yourself is anger, what room is there for God to kindle the fire of the Holy Spirit in you?

The thing about anger is: It feels like righteousness. It passes for righteousness. In front of the right people, it looks to them like righteousness.

Anger is not righteousness. It is false righteousness. It is self righteousness. Anger is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Do you know who that wolf is going to eat after it’s done shredding the neighbors, strangers, and enemies Jesus Christ taught you to love?

...

Do you want to “have it all?”

Or, would you be happy just to have what you want to have?

How do you do that? How to you get that?

I can’t think of a time in my life when having what I wish to have seemed harder than now. I can’t think of a time in my life when I was more afraid of not having what I wish to have. COVID, culture wars, and recession could last months or years. I can’t even have just some of the life I want; so having it all feels like a fool’s dream these days.

What about you?

In the ancient Christian scriptures, we find a letter that an old teacher, James, wrote to some apprentices and students of Jesus Christ. He wrote to them because they were going through bad times. Their hopes were fading fast under a gathering storm of threats to their very lives.

So James wrote them a letter. He hoped pen on paper would turn into wind in their sails.

In the first lines of...