This Earthen Vessel

September 2025

This has been a different week out of all the other weeks this year, this week, with Charlie Kirk’s assassination still resounding with the echoes of the shot that took his life. Everywhere I look, I see the rippling effect continue to press on around the world, as people begin to wake up from this slumber of hiding from the fear of man. Repeatedly, I have seen testimony after testimony, declaring that at one time they were governed by the fear of man, but no longer afraid, seeing that standing up to defend the truth, what’s real, although costly, makes a powerful difference in the world we live in.

Charlie knew the cost of standing firm. Both he and his wife, Erika, never deluded themselves about what may happen at the hands of people who demand everyone to cowtow to their Marxist, socialist, pro-abortion, anti-biblical, pro-lgbt perspective or face possible violence. They call for it. They post about it. And they are possibly the most miserable people on the planet, because no matter how they scream, kick, yell, throw tantrums, flipping off people that don’t agree with them, they can never make neverland real.

I know I started off talking about Charlie and his counting the cost to stay true. But really what inspired me to create this post was my time in the word this morning. I will most often, at church, open my Blue Letter Bible app, and go to the passage that is the focus of the morning biblical study, and see what nuggets I can glean. And glean I did. Acutally this started before today if I’m totally honest. Reflecting, I can see that this started a few days ago.

Maybe this is about the price Charlie paid.

Like many others around me, his death grieved me, especially since his wife and daughters were there with him having a front row seat to this traumatic tragedy. Somehow, I ended up in Luke 14 a few days ago, and this passage, under the title ” Leaving all to follow Christ,” really grabbed my attention.

“²⁵ Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 

I’ve read this before, but something Jesus said stayed with me. He said, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” This isn’t the first time Jesus has made statements like this. For instance:

Matthew 16:25 ” For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Mark 8″35 “For whoever desires to save it life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Luke 9:24 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

John 12:25 ” He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Sounds to me like we need to hate our lives in this world in order to gain life.

But what does it actually mean to lose our lives for His sake? I posed that question to my daughter, and her response was simple and accurate: “Dying to self—not doing what the flesh wants.” One hundred percent true. And yet, while her answer is concise and theologically sound, there’s an invitation to examine this more closely.

Does it fully capture the scope of what Jesus is calling us into?

If we’re honest, many of us move through our days largely untroubled by whether our lives are truly oriented toward Him. We assume it is. We manage schedules, responsibilities, and desires with little interruption from the question of surrender. The picture I get in my mind is a household bustling with activity and life, and Jesus is outside, wanting to be part of that life. I confess that I have been on a journey of whittling down those things that compete for my adoration over Jesus. Movies, music, entertainment videos, and social media. This is an ongoing work for me; my most recent decision is to deactivate my Facebook account. The cons outweigh the pros, and I can no longer ignore them.

For me, losing my life for His sake goes beyond restraint or self-denial alone. It is identification. I must identify with His crucifixion—my old self put to death—so that I may also participate in the power and reality of His resurrection. Death is not the end goal; transformation is. The cross is my pathway, but resurrection life is the outcome. I’ve recently taken to encouraging people to live their lives at the foot of the Cross, where they will thrive.

Recently, in December 2025, reading an Advent devotional by Paul David Tripp, he was highlighting some of Psalm 14, and I ventured on into 15 as well. I’ve read this Psalm many times, but this time it hit different; it became personal, and my heart connected with it.

Psalm 15

1Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

² He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;
³ He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
⁴ In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
⁵ He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved.

The Lord highlighted my capacity for backbiting, and although I may not do evil to my neighbor, I’ve allowed the thought of “payback” to linger for a bit. Additionally, the Lord pointed out my recent taking up of a reproach against a friend who is close to me and attends my church.

This encounter with Psalm 15 caused me to pause and reflect on what I was reading and then hold up my life to it, in examination. I was grieved by what I was seeing. I want to be a man who honors and fears the Lord, walking in truth, never returning evil for evil, devoted to the study and rumination of His word, and to prayer. And I really want to be known for the fruit of my life to be what people see, not my words.

In my experience, words others speak can be used to deceive, to deflect people away from what is being hidden or not yet surrendered to His Lordship. Even Paul the Apostle made a point of deflecting away from his words, pointing to the power that was at work in his life.

2 Cor 2:1-5

 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. ² For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ³ I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴ And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

There are just two days left, and 2025 will be concluded. Soon, Jesus will return. I want all my days to matter for God’s Kingdom. I owe Him my life. In my spirit, I feel a significance around the word “Inquire.” As to inquire of the Lord.

To make this a bit more clear, Ps 27 really exemplifies this word for me.

One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.

And then in 2 Cor 6: 15-16

And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”

This is bringing it home for me that I am drawn to the idea of inquiring of the Lord in the secret place. There’s a place to be led by Jesus in all things, and I want to live in that place, in that space, unfettered by my flesh, by the world, by the cares and worries of this world. Even as I am typing this, Psalm 91 comes to mind.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

The picture I chose for this post is the Ten Boom family. They lived for Jesus, they laid down their lives for Him and for His people, they experienced miracles in the darkest of places and were protected by His divine providence, even when it had to do with fleas and lice. Oh, how they loved the Lord Jesus.

And I love Him too. May the coming new year be filled with His Presence and Power in a way you never thought possible. Maranatha.