But you know, Thanksgiving is a great event with deep meaning that extends far beyond food and football. Last week we talked about how the word “thank” comes from the word “think.” So this year, I’m celebrating “Thinksgiving” and I’m choosing to be “thinkful” about God and family and life. How ’bout you?

But there’s more: God makes Maui and forges the French Alps. He makes mangos and peaches and blackberries and cabernet grapes. He makes the soil and climate of Bordeaux France and Sonoma Valley. And He gives us the whole thing like a wedding gift, and he says, “Here. Do you like it? What do you think?

And then God lets us in. He doesn’t just make a place and space out there; he makes a place in his perfect heart for us. And human relationships are a picture of that.. It’s why we long for intimacy. It’s why we love chivalry and heroism and intimacy and romance. Get the BIG podcast.

The person who wrote these ancient words is tagging on the topic of faith. Earlier he says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” Those two words, substance and evidence capture the objective side of faith–that while there is a subjective aspect, it is not purely subjective; it has an object–God–who is an objective reality in himself, independent of my subjective approval or disapproval of his existence.

Notice that faith is the “substance” of things hoped for. The Greek word literally means, “that which stands under” or “foundation.” In other words, faith is as concrete as the slab our church auditorium is standing on. Now, we can’t see the slab because there’s a carpet in the way. That’s how life is. We can’t see the slab, but we know it’s there, so we walk on it. So the subjective certainty in our hearts has an objective solidity to it.

Notice also that faith is “the evidence of things not seen.” The Greek word for “evidence” means, “proof.” Richard Dawkins, well-known atheist and outspoken antagonist against the assumption of God, said this: “Science is not religion, and it doesn’t just come down to faith. Although it has many of religion’s virtues, it has none of its vices. Science is based upon verifiable evidence. Religious faith not only lacks evidence, its independence from evidence is its pride and joy.”

But this ancient author to the Hebrews says that faith itself is evidence–the “evidence of things not seen.” I like to think of faith as a higher faculty than reason, and a higher sense than our five senses. It’s kind of like a sixth sense that is able to conceive of realities that go beyond what we see. So when I’m stressed or depressed, I fix my eyes on this God I can’t see and somehow that makes life a lot better for me.

Like camping on the deck the other night. I know it’s another small example but I just don’t have any major issues in my life right now; when I get some, I’ll be sure to share. But even the smaller things matter because progress is often the aggregate of little things. So camping on the deck. It was my stupid idea, but then I found myself trying to talk the kids out of it because I just wanted to sleep in my comfortable bed. I’m older now. I get sore you know. But then I came to my senses and I remembered, “I’m a dad. It’s my lot. It’s not about me. While they’re still young, it’s about them. So be a man and get out there and set up the tents.” So I decided to die to my want. The Result: the experience with my kids was way better than a comfortable night’s sleep. It in fact was so superior that we went camping again this past Friday night, this time for real, at Fort Fredrick in the great outdoors. No bathrooms, no showers, no mattresses, no cable, no internet, no blah, blah, blah… and we’ll never forget it, and hopefully it will inspire my kids to one day endure uncomfortable things for the sake of fun with their kids and so and so forth. We need to die to ourselves even in the small things of life to experience the really good things of life.

The Bible says that the Holy Spirit “drove” Jesus into the wilderness. Wilderness was the proving ground where Jesus would get the divine energy that can only come through tempting, testing, and hardship.

You know it: People acquainted with hardship are typically stronger, wiser, and broken. That’s why Paul told Timothy to “endure hardship.” We need to be broken. I don’t trust people who aren’t broken. There is a very, very short list of people that I would call in the middle of the night when everything is falling apart—and the one thing that each of those people have is that they are broken.

So I say consider seeking out some kind of wilderness experience: (1) To show God, the devil, the world, and yourself that you got what it takes. And if you have Christ, you have everything and this is never proven truer than it is in the wilderness. (2) To shed all distraction in order to connect with God in a unique and powerful way. Here, in our climate-controlled bubbles, it’s almost like we hide behind all our busyness. Busyness is so noble, we think, and we equate it with importance. And isn’t that convenient? We can kill two birds with one stone: We can feel important and hide from all the deeper issues of life. But busyness will never do anything to remedy your deepest issues. It may treat symptoms, but that’s about it. Wilderness-like experiences are the remedy. When all is stripped away, and only God is left, there is healing and vision.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon seems to know that just as time is essential, timing is essential too because it dictates the appropriateness of things. For instance, I can say the right thing, but if I say the right thing at the wrong time it becomes the wrong thing. It’s all related to time. And every purpose under heaven has an appropriate point in time (appointment with destiny), and an appropriate season (duration).

So to illustrate this, Solomon writes a poem using “polar opposites”—birth/death, war/peace, love/hate, etc. “Polar opposites” was a common poetical device to communicate totality. And all of these polar opposites describe the first polar opposite which is birth and death. Between birth and death, we’ll look at all the other realities common to human existence. This edition of Real Life Matters will give you hope as you face all these seasons of life.

I have all these very strong drives. Take sex, for instance. God invented sex. And we’re created with a very strong longing for it. Why did God make it that way? Why do we always seem to want more, more, more?

The Rolling Stones recently completed the most successful world tour in their history, grossing $120 million. Mick Jagger is in the top one-hundred of Britain’s richest people. He has four houses worth over $12 million. He has five children by three different women. His girlfriends have included some of the most beautiful women in the world. Yet his friend Keith—as in Keith Richards—said, “99% of the male population of the Western world—and beyond—would give a limb to live the life of Mick Jagger… but he’s not happy being Mick Jagger.” One magazine article ends by saying, “Nearly 30 years after the Stones’ most defining moment in song… Mick still can’t get no satisfaction.”

Ah, the secret of satisfaction. That’s what this latest edition of Real Life Matters is all about.

For instance, the earth alone-weighs 6.6 sextillion tons. Not trillion, not quadrillion, not quintillion, but 6.6 sextillion tons! That’s the “illion” with the 21 zeros behind it. And all of that weight is traveling through space at 72,600 mph. And the Bible says that the universe is God’s “finger work.” It’s like flicking a switch for God to create and sustain your world. So I think He can handle your mortgage payment.

Genesis 1:16 briefly describes the creation of the stars: “And He made the stars.” That’s it. It’s almost parenthetical; it’s an “oh by the way…” Why so short and simple? It’s too elaborate to elaborate. Psalm 19 tells us that the cosmos is God’s way of getting our attention: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.” God is not silent; we are not listening. Just our star, the sun, is 93 million miles away from here. And just to give you an idea of the size of things, you could fit Planet Earth inside the sun a million times like a gumball machine. But there are stars out there much bigger than our sun. One star called Antares could hold 64 million suns the size of our sun. There is another sun out there in the constellation Hercules that could contain 100 million suns the size of Antares. “And He made the stars.” Our galaxy alone is over six hundred trillion miles across. But our galaxy is only one of some hundred-thousand-million galaxies that can be seen using modern telescopes. And each one of those galaxies contains some hundred-thousand-million stars.

Stunning, isn’t it, that the creator of the vast cosmos bounced around in a belly, on a donkey ride into Bethlehem, was born in a pool of blood, in a cave, in a dirty feeding trough? And from the cradle to the cross, Jesus had one all-consuming drive and passion: You. And your eternal well-being. I think a great gift idea for Christmas would be a theology of wonder, a theology that’s never quite complete, a theology that keeps seeking, keeps asking, keeps knocking. Merry Christmas.

I know that most of us are cynical about anything “free” these days. Seriously, what’s the catch? We’ve been told all our lives that there’s no free lunch and that we need to work our way to the top in this meritocracy called life. So anything free seems cheap. I was watching TV the other day and caught this eBay commercial. Their slogan is “shop victoriously; don’t just buy it… win it!” eBay kicks meritocracy up a notch. And I have to be honest, I love it. I love meritocracy. It seems right. And because I can be competitive, it’s just plain funner.

But there is something that I’ve come to realize in my 44 short years of life. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to shake this thing called sin. I know that it sounds like some archaic backwoods preacher-word, but the word sin simply means to miss the mark—it’s an old archery term. If an archer missed the target, he was called a “sinner.” The Bible says that “we all have sinned and all fall short [miss the mark] of the glory of God.” And we don’t like that, so we don’t like to admit it. We all want to be able to split the uprights; we want all of life’s baskets to go swish, and sometimes they do. But not always.

I was telling some friends this the other day: Everywhere I go, there my self is—and my self, like your self, doesn’t always choose the right things. And God is a perfect God with a perfect standard that we are just not capable of living up to. And that’s why we need what the Bible calls a free gift. And receiving it simply means admitting our need and taking this gracious handout from God. Until then, we’ll keep trying the same things over and over again expecting different results—Einstein called that insanity.

Around 20-some years ago, someone gave me a Bible and wrote on the inside cover Mark 8:36, where Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul?” I couldn’t shake those words. They were all over me like a cheap suit with static cling. What are you toiling for in life? And what if you actually achieve it? Then what? What if you hit the lottery? I know—the lottery is basically a tax on people who are really bad at math. The chances that you will win the Lottery: 1 in 4 million. The chances that you will eventually die in a car crash are actually a lot better: 1 in 125. But the most staggering statistic of all: 10 out of every 10 people will eventually die. What you and I need is God’s free gift.

Where will you be in 10 years? It’ll be 2017. 2017 sounds weird to me, a little futuristic. How old will you be? What will you look like? Who will have died? Now move that out 20 years—2027. What will cars be like? Now move it out 75 years—2082. Most everyone reading this will be gone.

Ah, but the Bible says that there’s this thing called the book of life. And every person whose name is written in it won’t have to worry about time anymore. What would that be like?

But then there’s that other alternative in Revelation 20:11-15. (You might want to read it.) Whether the “lake of fire” language found there is literal or figurative isn’t really the most relevant issue. But it seems convenient to make literal/figurative the issue—a nice diversion from what is likely intended to be real point: Literal or figurative, focus people: the lake of fire is bad and the book of life is good. Which would you prefer?

Studying more, it seems that getting in that book of life starts by simply accepting a gift—the free gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ. It’s offered every time we hear about it. Maybe you’re thinking, “Yeah, but what about those who’ve never heard about it, what happens to them?” I don’t know. But I’m assuming from everything I’ve read that God is perfect love and perfectly just; so God must have some plan for those who’ve never heard. But us… we’re responsible for what we do know, accountable for the light we have.

So now that two convenient diversions are out of the way (literal/figurative & what about the never-hearing?) check out another judgment scene in Daniel 7:7-10. Read the language. I mean really read it. Then notice the words, “The court was seated, and the books were opened.” Ever been to court? Court gives me the willies—even mere traffic court. I remember sitting in traffic court waiting my turn. I just sat there and watched the judge roast one guy after another. My palms were sweaty. So this guy goes up and the judge asks him: “Do you have any previous violations?” He looks the judge straight in the face and says, “No, your honor.” The judge says, “Oh really.” Seconds later, the judge starts reading a long list of offenses to a very pale-faced liar.

We’re all a little like that pale-faced liar so long as we slough this stuff off with God. But if you’ve received the free gift of God which is eternal life through Christ, the Bible says, “There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” So get right with God and admit you’re a sinner and ask God for forgiveness—everyday.

Then read a third judgment scene in Matthew 25. We find there that it’s not really just about the bad things we’ve done, although our twisted minds want to dwell there. No, it’s more about the good things we didn’t do. And if we’re real busy doing the good things of God, we’ll have much less time for bad stuff! So please—don’t just look busy; get busy! And that’s the simple key to a fulfilling life that no longer lives under the fear of condemnation, but under the motivation of compassion. Start fresh today.

God is not some killjoy that wants to ruin your party. He’s the opposite. And if we live according to God’s pattern for life, we’ll enjoy real peace and freedom, not the fake-me-out illusion the internet offers. This is proven true in my life time and time and time again—I am much happier in life when I’m making right choices. We need to learn to hate and jettison anything that robs our peace and freedom.

Take sex for instance. God invented sex! But sex outside the context of commitment typically leads to awkward feelings and a mangled de-humanizing view of others. But within the context of commitment (marriage), sex is the most sacred expression of trust. We all want one person—just one—one that we don’t want to share with anyone else—one that we can trust with the most vulnerable area of life and that’s why we’re jealous by nature.

Paul’s “their god is their stomach” (v 19) is a rhetorical illustration. There is nothing wrong with enjoying food and drink in wise moderation. But to make consumption some kind of god… doesn’t that seem a bit shallow? The very first commandment is “You shall have no other gods before me.” God can get jealous just like you. Why? There’s this crazy little thing called love. It’s right and natural for Lisa to not want me messin’ ‘round. She would be right to be an out-of-control jealous psycho-chick were that the case. It wouldn’t be love otherwise. Just as Lisa would be right to say, “You shall have no other girls before me,” God says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Doesn’t this just make perfect sense?

Ever met someone whose “glory is in his shame” (v 19)? It’s like that guy at the office who brags about all the chicks he’s had sex with or how much he drank last night. Woo. Doesn’t a little something inside you feel sorry for that guy? You can see how hard he’s trying, and you can see how empty he seems to be coming up every time. There is no true glory in shameful things. True glory is borne out of sacrifice and commitment. All our true heroes have the right stuff of sacrifice and commitment.

At the end of the day, there are two paths and two destinations: One is heading for construction; the other is heading for destruction. What’s it going to be for you—holiness and happiness, or sleaziness and sadness? The secret of satisfaction is the good life of continuing to cultivate a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s what will bring us happiness, freedom and peace. Anything else is a lie.