Author and theologian Dr. Gavin Ortlund offered “a short pastoral reflection” the morning of Thursday, Sept. 11, regarding how Christians are to move forward with hope instead of being overwhelmed by evil following a challenging news week. Ortlund specifically mentioned the murder of Turning Point USA cofounder and Executive Director Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10.
“I think what I’m feeling is the sense that we’ve crossed a threshold,” said Ortlund. “The world has never felt like this in my memory. We’re in a different time.”
Gavin Ortlund: Remember the Cross
“There is tremendous evil that is rising up around us, and it’s easy to feel disoriented and overwhelmed,” Ortlund said. He wanted his viewers to know that his video would not solve “any problems” but was intended to help people with next steps. “Like, what do I do today, for the next eight hours?” he said. “How do I keep going forward? That’s what I’m thinking about.”
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Ortlund offered five considerations for people struggling to find hope in the face of evil. First, he encouraged his followers to look to Scripture and to remind themselves of the truths found there. One passage he suggested was John 14-16.
“When evil feels overwhelming, we can feel unmoored and disoriented, and we feel this sense—we start to question everything,” Ortlund said. “We start to feel like, what is up? What is down? It’s this very disorienting experience when you come face to face with evil.”
“Those are the moments where we need to kind of go back and anchor ourselves in the truths of God’s Word, the hope that we have as followers of Jesus,” said Ortlund, “and basically, speak back to the darkness, speak the light of the gospel.”
John 14-16, in which Jesus addresses his disciples prior to his death, “is a great passage,” Ortlund said, explaining that the disciples felt “overwhelmed” and “fearful.”
“I’m sure they had all kinds of emotions,” he said. “And the first words out of Jesus’ mouth: ‘Let not your heart be troubled.’ And then he’s giving them hope. He’s talking about, ‘I go to prepare a place for you.’”
“As followers of Jesus, we have a hope that rises above the evil of the world,” Ortlund observed. “And no matter what happens, it’s unshakable. And so the first thing to do is go to God, go to the prayer closet, go back to the basics, and anchor our hearts in that, and don’t do anything else until we’ve done that.”
“A second thing that’s on my heart is a fresh resolve to do good and to seek good and to oppose evil,” said Ortlund. He encouraged people not to succumb to despair or cynicism. “Speaking to my heart, speaking to other hearts,” he said, “now is a time not to get quiet but to speak all the more boldly and lovingly about hope and about Jesus and about truth.”
