Book Review: ONWARD by Dr. Russell Moore
- Teaching and Living Out the Fruit of the Spirit at Home - February 15, 2019
- Enough: Seeing Past the Guilt - November 28, 2018
- Souls Informed by Truth - November 14, 2018
Disclaimer: We did receive a copy of this book to review but all opinions are 100% are own.
It happens every election cycle. The nation seems to be in a desperate place and voters are full of fear at what might come.
Fear. It permeates our world, it seems to inform our desperate actions and somehow it has begun to permeate our faith.
In a time when it seems like a default for us to fear what is going on in our county, Onward by Dr. Russell Moore was a great reminder of our real purpose for our time here: to further the kingdom of God.
Don’t get me wrong, elections ARE important, they are extremely significant. They do effect our daily lives and they do play a part in setting the trajectory of our nation and society. To be completely candid, I work in politics and I genuinely feel a call on my life in this area. At the same time, God has shown me repeatedly that at the end of it all, he knows what is written on the scrolls and He alone can open them as Revelation 5 assures.
It is refreshing to read a book describing how in reality, we ARE losing the culture battle between our secular society and the values of our faith. Christians ARE becoming the radical ones who hold strongly to the love of Christ and His sacrifice. Living our lives for God in an uncompromising fashion…is well, out of fashion.
Moore postures that the loss of the Midwestern “Bible belt” or “Moral Majority” might actually be a positive catalyst for a fervent movement for Christ to and the church to actually increase. It is easy to grieve this and not understand why our country seems to be rejecting what is true in such a ferocious way, but it really is all about our perspective.
We must have an eternal perspective in all things and be focused on the simple truth that Jesus Christ is Lord and He died for our sins. Dr. Moore describes the false gospels and half-truths Western Christianity has embraced, and affirms that we shouldn’t cling to those partial, or twisted versions of Christ and Scripture in order to maintain our comfort level with the status quo in our culture.
In fact, as believers, our hope is greater than fear of what our culture thinks Scripture “should” say or fear of our culture removing truth from their lives. Our culture, government and society does not actually have that power over us. We have power to influence our culture and engage it by speaking the truth about the Gospel of Christ without isolating ourselves AND without watering down God’s word.
Electoral politics seems like a highlighted opportunity to ensure “we are headed in the right direction”. While I strongly believe that Christian’s should be informed about our current events and advocating for Truth, and I do work to elect people who love God and share my values, our hope does not rest in them. Our hope rests in God, in His plan, and His truth in our lives.
One of my favorite hymns begins, ” My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and Righteousness” and Psalm 62:5-12 (ESV) says:
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.
For anyone who is feeling fearful about the elections this November, or even about the loss of our culture or the unstable state of our world, I encourage you to read this book. We can be relevant and speak truth in our world with confidence no matter what happens. Let us continue to work and advocate for what we believe and let us not panic, surrender or live in anger, let us live and act like Jesus is alive and He has rescued us from all of it in the end.
Thank you, Dr. Moore for reminding us all to have an eternal perspective on our world, sharing our faith and living for Christ.
