“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).

It has been said that the way a person looks at a rose bush determines whether he is an optimist or a pessimist. A pessimist is sad that rose bushes have thorns. An optimist is delighted that thorn bushes have roses. Our attitudes, or perspectives, are extremely important and often will determine how effectively we can witness.

The context surrounding the verse quoted above from Acts 16 contains Paul’s and Silas’ witness in Philippi. After Paul and Silas had cast out an evil spirit from a slave girl, the owners of the girl dragged Paul and Silas before the authorities with trumped-up charges. The crowds joined in the attack against these two godly men, after which the authorities had them stripped, beaten and severely flogged. Then, without any medical attention to their severe wounds, and though they were Roman citizens, they were thrown into the jail where they were placed in the inner cell. Their feet were placed in the stocks—a device that caused severe pain.

Our attitudes, or perspectives, are extremely important and often will determine how effectively we can witness.

Even though they were publicly humiliated and were in intense pain, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns. The other prisoners were listening. No doubt they were wide-eyed as Paul and Silas, rather than complaining and threatening to retaliate against their accusers or the authorities, were praising God through their prayers and hymn-singing. Suddenly, God miraculously delivered them by an earthquake. In the process the jailer, his family and possibly even some of the fellow prisoners were saved through the gospel testimony of Paul and Silas. 

Paul’s and Silas’ attitudes (or perspectives) were an important ingredient in their testimony. Had they been grumbling, complaining, even cursing their situation, nobody would have listened to them. But instead, they were doing what Peter urged his readers to do when he wrote: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have suffered grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:6). Peter’s readers had been dispersed because of persecution and had lost all things—their homes, their jobs, their worldly possessions and, in many cases, their families. Like them, we are also called to rejoice even when we are suffering.

Our attitudes (or perspectives) are very important ingredients in our Christian walk. They not only affect our own outlook but also those of our families, our co-workers, our friends and neighbors, our fellow church members and the lost whom we hope to evangelize. If our outlook is pessimistic or dismal, people simply do not want to be around us, much less listen to us. If we exhibit a genuine optimism and a joyful spirit, people will be attracted to our testimony.

A number of years ago I learned a phrase from a young man who was an energetic witness of the gospel. When people nonchalantly asked him, “How are you?” he would always answer, “Much better than I deserve,” meaning that he was living joyfully under God’s grace. I now answer people who ask me that question the same way. It has led to a number of brief discussions about the Lord’s wonderful grace and mercy. When one answers that question with, “OK, considering the circumstances,” or “I could be better,” or “Alright, I guess,” an opportunity is missed. An answer with a genuine, Christ-honoring statement of some sort can generate both a rich testimony and a setting in which to discuss God’s wonderful gift of grace.

However, it is not just the response to a greeting with which we are concerned—it is our overall attitude. If we are truly children of God, we have so much about which to be thankful and to rejoice. Our sins have been eternally forgiven. Our home is heaven. Someday we will share God’s glory. Our trials and difficulties in this life will soon end. Sin will be totally eradicated when we get to heaven. God is our loving Father. His grace will sustain us. His arms of protection are surrounding us. He has given us loving brothers and sisters in the Lord. Even our sufferings are here to develop character and, subsequently, hope—and we know that in the end we will win with Christ.

If we are truly children of God, we have so much about which to be thankful and to rejoice.

There is no end to God’s graciousness toward us. How can we help but rejoice? Paul reminds us of this throughout the letter to the Philippians. He summarizes his thoughts by a command in chapter 4, verse 4, where he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

How can we make this joy apparent in our lives and, especially, in our local church bodies? Here are some practical suggestions:

• Make a habit of verbally expressing your gratitude to the Lord for His choosing you to be one of His children.

• Express your optimism that God has all things in control and that He is working all things together for the spiritual good of His children.

• Be willing to optimistically accept your responsibilities in your local church. If you are needed on the construction crew, volunteer willingly. If you are needed on the clean-up crew, or needed in the nursery, or needed as a teacher, express your joy at being able to serve Christ in that way.

• If problems occur in your church body, rather than complaining, seek to help in a God-honoring way to bring about a solution or resolution.

• Never complain about others. Use your tongue to build up others, rather than tearing them down. 

• Pass along to others your gratitude and joy when good things are happening. Good attitudes are helped along by positive enthusiasm. (Remember that bad attitudes are also passed along to others.)

• Let people know that you are praying for them. The church staff especially needs this. Often they receive more criticism than verbal support. A word or note of positive encouragement can mean much to them.

• As you are around the lost, be especially mindful of the ways you express your attitudes. Many of them live in a dismal, dog-eat-dog world where there is little hope or joy. Brighten their days with a genuine, helpful, positive outlook. That may help attract them to your Lord. Paul instructs us to make the doctrines of our Lord attractive (Titus 2:10).

Our perspectives matter. In our church for many years we held an annual Christmas banquet during which we had a fun time, usually including some Christian entertainment. It was an occasion when the congregation expressed gratitude to the staff and a time of joyful fellowship. At one year’s banquet, a church member had invited a lost friend. After the banquet, that lost friend went back to his home where, unable to sleep, he pondered and mulled over what he had witnessed. Finally, at 2:00 AM, he awakened his Christian friend with a phone call, in which he said “I don’t know what you folks have, but whatever it is, I want it.” Our member explained to him that it came through a personal commitment and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As the member witnessed to him, the Holy Spirit opened the man’s heart and he was gloriously saved. 

This wonderful story began with the members of our church collectively expressing joy as they fellowshipped together. This man knew that his life was empty and joyless and he finally saw something much better.

We, Christians, have the best of the best—the good news of a gospel that works! Let’s express it everywhere and always—by our words and by our perspectives.

This article is an excerpt from Curtis Thomas’ book – Life in the Body of Christ: Privileges and Responsibilities in the Local Church. A new hardcover edition is now available for pre-order for $19.98 at press.founders.org

The Great Wave Off Kanagawa (1831), Katsushika Hokusai, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York

Featured in Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, this woodblock print captures the peril of three fishing boats tossed by a rogue wave in Sagami Bay, twenty-five miles southwest of Tokyo. In the year this painting appeared, 1831, another great outdoor painter, John James Audubon, traveled from England to New York to begin his work on Birds in America; Meanwhile, over in Europe, the Impressionist artists, Monet and Renoir were still children, but they would one day be influenced by Hokusai’s work.
There is much beauty in nature, but aestheticians have identified an experience that goes beyond savoring a sunset, delighting in a blanketing snowfall, or taking in the fall colors of New England. They speak of “the sublime,” that which is intimidatingly splendid. It’s kin to a word occurring five times Psalm 24:7-10—‘glory,’ as in “the King of glory.” The Hebrew word for ‘glory’ is kabod, a cognate of kebed (“heavy”); it connotes substance and heft, the sort of awesome presence that terrified Isaiah in his chapter six. Painfully aware of his deplorable weakness, the prophet feared being “crushed” by the sovereign holiness of God.
The eighteenth-century British philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke, in speaking of the sublime, identified it as “astonishment,” that is the “state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror. In this case the mind is so entirely filled with its object, that it cannot entertain any other.” And, for illustration, he pointed to the ocean, which can be “an object of no small terror.” [1]
In his Critique of Judgment, Immanuel Kant supplied other examples of the sublime:

Bold, overhanging, and, as it were, threatening rocks, thunderclouds piled up the vault of heaven, borne along with flashes and peals, volcanoes in all their violence of destruction, hurricanes leaving desolation in their track, the boundless ocean rising with rebellious force, the high waterfall of some mighty river, and the like, make our power of resistance of trifling moment in comparison with their might.[2]

And so we’re pointed to the oceans, whose water covers around seventy per cent of the earth and whose dynamics are quite sublime, as Hokusai knew full well.
This painting hails from the Far East, in contrast with the other three, which are Western. I include it to underscore the gospel implications for lands unknown to (even unsuspected by) the Israelites in David’s day. Though Psalm 24 is Hebrew scripture delivered to God’s chosen people, its reach circles the globe. As Augustine observed of Psalm 24:1-2, “This is true, for the Lord, now glorified, is preached to all nations to bring them to faith, and the whole world thus becomes his church.” [3]
The Domes of the Yosemite (1867), Albert Bierstadt, The Athenaeum, St. Johnsbury, Vermont

Psalm 24:1-2 – 1The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
Bierstadt, an eighteenth-century German-American painter was remarkable for his glorious landscapes, as were other Americans of the Hudson River School—Frederick Church, Asher Durand, George Inness, Thomas Cole, Thomas Moran, and Thomas Cole.  Whether working in the Hudson Valley, the Sierra Nevadas, Yellowstone, or the Andes, these men astonished their viewers with breathtaking portrayals of God’s handiwork. Bierstadt introduced many to the Rockies, helped spur the conservation movement, and has been featured on two of America’s commemorative stamps.
This painting portrays California’s Yosemite Valley, granted protection under Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and designated a National Park in 1890. Though romanticized, Bierstadt’s rendering is nonetheless indicative of the grandeur of this site, a reality well chronicled in a series of black and white photographs by Ansel Adams, whose work is featured in a Yosemite Village gallery.
Psalm 24:2 encompasses the granite domes that define the valley, for it says the Lord founded the earth “on the seas and established it on the waters.” Well, certainly, Genesis 1 says that the waters were gathered so that the dry land would appear on the third day of creation, but young-earth creationists point beyond this to Psalm 104, where we read, in verses 5-8:

Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

They read Noah’s Flood into this passage, for “turn not again [ever] to cover the earth” would not make sense if the psalmist were speaking only of the initial emergence of land. It would ignore the subsequent, universal immersion above the tallest mountains recounted in Genesis 7.
Beware of (and thank God for) Wadi Rum.
Worldview-wise, there are two big ways of seeing our surroundings. One is naturalistic/materialistic, regarding flora and fauna, hill and dale, you and me, as the product of chemical and physical laws at work on some sort of primordial stuff. On this model, it would take eons of dumb matter talking to itself (“dialectical materialism”), through hit or miss, to generate Handel’s Messiah. It’s hard to believe that folks would embrace such “seeing,” given its Rube Goldberg absurdity, but they soldier on, determined to keep God’s hands off the universe.
The other view regards the universe and all within as the handiwork of a multi-omni creator. Some have proffered various versions of the Anthropic Argument for God’s Existence, working from the wonderful correspondence of man’s needs to the Lord’s earthly provision, the way that the environment is marvelously attuned to our makeup, e.g., the right mix of the gases we breathe; the distance to the sun and tilt of the earth, giving us tolerable seasons. Of course, the Darwinists counter that it fits us since we fit it; if we didn’t, we’d be extinct. They venture a deflating analogy, that of the woman who marveled that God had caused great rivers—the Thames, Tiber, Seine, and Danube—to flow through the capitals of Europe.
This snappy dismissal of the wondrous correspondence between Creation and her creatures’ blessings does not bear up to scrutiny, and the aesthetic provisions of nature are particularly troublesome for the materialist. (Indeed, the problem cropped up early on, when eighteenth-century art critic John Ruskin pressed Charles Darwin to explain the glories of a peacock’s deployed fan.) Darwinian philosopher Denis Dutton gave it his best shot in The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution, when he played off a worldwide affinity for “blue landscapes” (with a stream winding its way through a verdant, populated valley).[4] He reasoned that this was the product of natural selection, in that creatures who migrated there more likely survived and procreated, and thus passed along their aesthetic wiring to progeny evolving through natural selection.
But this fails to explain our aesthetic appreciation for deadly settings, such as lightning storms, a cluster of icebergs, and desert regions, such as Wadi Rum in the south of Jordan, an extension of Israel’s Negev. In my experience, Wadi Rum is one of the most visually enchanting places on earth. Yet, the hot, red sands under a relentless sun can make even shoe-clad walking miserable, and the expanse of desolation, replete with shear granite outcroppings, would make one despair of survival if not for the air-conditioned tour bus standing nearby.
Filmmakers have used it in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Dune, and The Martian, whose star, Matt Damon, remarked, “I was in awe of that place . . . One of the most spectacular and beautiful places I have ever seen, and like nothing I’ve ever seen anywhere else on Earth.” [5]  But how could it be beautiful? What sort of survival-of-the-fittest story could one concoct to explain the development of an appetite for deadly landscapes?
I’m sure that Darwinians could come up with something. Actually, they have to do this, given their devotion to “methodological naturalism,” conveniently overlaying their metaphysical materialism.  (Harvard biologist Richard Lewontin wrote that, no matter how contrived the scientific theories might seem, they had to stick with purely material accounts, lest a disruptive “divine foot” find its way in the doorway.) [6] Besides, nothing is foolproof since fools are so ingenious. Perhaps they can argue that the terrain is so awful that it’s a good place to hide out and have kids since no one wants to bother you there. Well, “Whatever,” and “Knock yourself out.” But far better to say that the “fullness thereof” includes not just the nutritional, hospitable, and industrially harnessable, but also the aesthetical, thanks to God’s astonishing kindness to the world’s inhabitants, to “those who dwell therein.”

[1] Edmund Burke, “Of the Passion Caused by the Sublime,” A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Harvard Classics, Volume 24, Part 2 (New York, P. F. Collier and Son, 1909-1914), Part II, Section 1. Accessed January 5, 2020 at https://www.bartleby.com/24/2/201.html.
[2] Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment (New York: Hafner, 1968), 100-101.
[3] Augustine, Exposition of the Psalms 24:2, quoted in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament VII, Psalms 1-50, edited by Craig A. Blaising and Carmen S. Hardin, Thomas C. Oden, general editor (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity, 2008), 185
[4] Denis Dutton, The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009), 14­­–15.
[5] “Ridley Scott and Matt Damon on Going to Jordan to Recreate Mars.” Yahoo! Entertainment (September 29, 2015). https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ridley-scott-and-matt-damon-on-going-to-jordan-to-230136329.html.
[6] See Richard Lewontin, “Billions and Billions of Demons,” a review of Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, New York Review of Books (January 9, 1997). This quote was discovered by Philip Johnson and given widespread attention in his book, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 81.

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This article is part 2 of a series, you can read part 1 here.

After all the trials Naomi and Ruth experienced in the first two chapters of the Book of Ruth, God’s steadfast love appears to be at work for these women. God is not going to abandon them, and He has a good purpose even in their afflictions. He is about to put His unfailing mercy, grace, and kindness on display in the lives of these two women who have endured so much difficulty. 

As we read in this narrative, God really doesn’t do anything overly spectacular to complete this story from a human perspective. God’s steadfast love shows up, not through direct divine intervention, but through His people displaying divine love through their faithfulness.

This concept is important for us to grasp because we live in a culture of broken promises and relationships where loyalty and faithfulness are rare. People in our world often lie, breaking promises and faith in relationships. Steadfast, faithful love is almost non-existent in our society.

That’s the reality of the world, but it shouldn’t be the reality of the church of Jesus Christ. God has called Christians to steadfast love so we might reflect His character to our broken world. There are three characteristics of this faithfulness to consider from Ruth 3 and 4 as we strive to emulate the Lord’s steadfast love.

First, to emulate God’s steadfast love, we need to understand that steadfast love is relational.

We cannot display God’s steadfast love in isolation from others; we need to be in relationships with people to obey this calling of showing the Lord’s steadfast love to him and the world. We see this relational aspect of steadfast love in Ruth 3. 

In this chapter, we observe the importance of showing steadfast love in our relationships. Naomi shows her daughter-in-law this love by arranging her search for a husband. Ruth shows this love repeatedly to Naomi – especially when she adheres to Naomi’s parameters during her quest for a husband. Boaz even recognizes her love and obedience when he says, “You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich” (verse 10).Ruth also shows this love by being prudent in her search for a mate, seeking to do right before the Lord. Boaz shows this steadfast love by agreeing to marry Ruth.

If we are going to be people who display God’s love and kindness, we must interact and be in relationships with others. We need this kind of kindness in our churches, marriages, families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and so on. As we show continued kindness and grace to others, we will reflect God’s nature and character toward us. 

Second, to be people who show steadfast love, we need to realize that steadfast love is costly.

There is a difficulty that accompanies this kindness, loyalty, and love. It’s easy to be kind when people are kind to us. It’s easy to show love when we stand to gain something from that transaction. It’s easy to be loyal to those who can benefit us. However, the love God has shown to His people goes beyond what is convenient. It is costly. We see this aspect of steadfast love in 4:1-11 with Boaz’s interaction with a possible redeemer of Naomi and Ruth, who did not want to jeopardize his immediate family’s inheritance.

Ruth’s redemption in this story parallels our own – although our redemption is more costly than any human example. Our redemption was purchased, not with earthly riches, but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1). Because of this amazing redemption, we are now co-heirs with Christ and have received an inheritance. How incredible it is that, unlike the first redeemer in Ruth, Jesus does not wish to guard His inheritance, but shares it with His people because He is our great redeemer.

As we consider steadfast love, then, we see that it is often costly, difficult, and risky. We are called to step out in faith, trusting God for our inheritance, for our protection, for our well-being – not selfishly seeking to protect ourselves from hurt, mistreatment, ostracism, or loss.

For us to love like God has called us to love, we must take risks. We will have to reach out to the person unlike us. We will have to be first to break the silence during a conflict with words of reconciliation and peace. We will have to be willing to step out to help someone we might otherwise pass by. We will have to overcome the fear of being rejected or ostracized when we tell someone about Jesus. Steadfast love is costly, difficult, and risky; it is not safe or convenient. 

Lastly, steadfast love is rewarded.

From verse 12 through the end of the book, we read of one blessing after another. Naomi, like Job, is restored. God has not been against her, but He has been working for her in her suffering, bringing about a great deliverance through her family line. Naomi’s suffering had a greater purpose, namely, the salvation of humanity.

Ruth has a son named Obed, which means worshiper, giving readers beautiful insight of this ending. Naomi went through the valley of the shadow of death and emerged praising the Lord for His goodness. Ruth is also marked as a worshiper of the true and living God, with her husband Boaz.

Christians can be assured that when we arrive on the other side of any trial and see God’s great purposes, we will be awestruck by His goodness and be driven to worship Him, like Naomi and Ruth. It’s not easy to see that promise amid our sufferings. The natural reaction is to rename ourselves Mara from bitterness, as Naomi did when she returned home. For all God’s people, though, the moment of worship comes when we see God’s glory displayed, realizing that His will is always for our good.  

The end of the story of Ruth is just one more step in the story of God’s redemption of sinners. In verses 21-22, we read, “And to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed, and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.” This David would receive an everlasting covenant of an eternal kingdom, a kingdom His offspring would rule forever and ever.

The story that began with so much tragedy ends with redemption, salvation, promise, hope, and ultimately, with worship. Boaz steps out in faith, jeopardizes his own inheritance, and becomes an ancestor of the Messiah. Ruth, who has proven her faith of the unseen Lord throughout this journey, winds up being a key person in the genealogy of Jesus. In Matthew 1, there are three women listed in Jesus’ genealogy. Two of them are Gentiles. One of them is Ruth.

Steadfast love is rewarded and blessed. It might be inconvenient, risky, and costly. Yet it is always worth it in the end. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection prove this to be true. 

Proverbs 20:6 asks a pointed question: “Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?” Many people talk about steadfast love, but few practice it. Many people say they are loyal, kind, and faithful to the end, but most of them aren’t. It’s difficult to find a person of true, faithful, enduring steadfast love. Nevertheless, may we as believers of Jesus Christ be characterized by His steadfast love in a world that desperately needs the hope and promise of salvation.