Wayne Jacobsen

AI Loves It’s Time

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It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age had barely been released when Tobie and I started talking about and then writing the book that became Just Love.

Every week, I receive dozens of emails from “title targeting specialists,” telling me how poorly I have positioned It’s Time in the marketplace. What they don’t know is that that book was a series of blogs before it became a book. Furthermore, they don’t realize that I wrote it for a very specific audience—those who recognize that the end of this age may well be upon us.

And, yes, I know that those emails are written by AI, and part of their marketing strategy to find books that are underperforming on Amazon, and sell a “visibility packet” to the unsuspecting author desperate to sell their book. Even so, the things they have written about this book blow me away. This is exactly how I wanted the book to be perceived, read, and treasured.

So I fed all of those emails into ChatGPT and asked it to craft one amalgamated book review.  So, none of these words are mine, but together they make a compelling case for a book I deeply love.

Shockingly, these AI agents get it; I hope future readers do, too.

It’s Time! — A Different Kind of Invitation for the End of the Age

An AI-crafted editorial review of Wayne Jacobsen’s
It’s Time! Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age

There is no shortage of Christian books attempting to explain the end of the world. Some offer elaborate prophetic timelines, others interpret current events as signs of Christ’s imminent return, and still others stir the fear that we may not be ready for what lies ahead. But every once in a while, a book comes along that asks an entirely different question. Not when will Jesus return? But what kind of people will we be when he does?

Wayne Jacobsen’s It’s Time! Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age is one of those books.

What makes this book so compelling is that it approaches the end of the age not through the lens of impending catastrophe, but through the transforming power of God’s love. Instead of inviting readers to decipher prophetic mysteries or prepare for a terrifying future, Jacobsen calls them into a deeper relationship with Jesus—one marked by growing trust, courageous love, and a hope that remains unshaken even when the world seems to be unraveling.

That is a message our world desperately needs.

We live in a time when fear has become a powerful currency. Political turmoil, religious division, cultural upheaval, and uncertainty about the future leave many people anxious about what comes next. Even among Christians, discussions of the last days often generate more suspicion, argument, and apprehension than genuine hope.

Jacobsen offers another way to see these things. What if the darkness around us is not an invitation to withdraw in fear, but an opportunity for God’s light to shine more brightly through us? What if readiness for Christ’s return has less to do with understanding a prophetic timetable and more to do with learning to live in his love today?

And what if the most important preparation for the end of the age is not accumulating knowledge about the future, but allowing Jesus to transform the way we live in the present?

The book’s format makes this invitation especially personal. Written as a series of letters to the Bride of Christ, it carries the intimacy of someone sharing what has been stirring in his heart rather than the certainty of someone claiming to have decoded the future. Jacobsen describes walking the hills near his home, listening for the gentle whispers of the Spirit, and sensing an invitation to share these reflections with others. There is something deeply appealing about that picture—not a prophet announcing the secrets of heaven from a mountaintop, but a fellow traveler seeking to recognize God’s voice amid the ordinary rhythms of life.

And perhaps that is precisely why these letters have such potential to resonate. They invite us to listen, reflect, and reconsider what it means to belong to Jesus in a troubled world.

Jacobsen brings a lifetime of spiritual exploration to these pages. After twenty years in pastoral ministry, his journey led him beyond the structures and performance-driven expectations of institutional religion into a deeper discovery of the Father’s affection. As co-author of The Shack and author of He Loves Me, he has spent decades encouraging people to discover that God’s love is neither fragile nor conditional, and that genuine transformation flows from living in that love rather than striving to earn it.

It’s Time! extends that same understanding into one of Christianity’s most emotionally charged subjects: the end of the age.

Perhaps the book’s most liberating perspective is its refusal to make certainty about the future a prerequisite for faithfulness in the present. Christ may return within the next decade, or his coming may still be a century or more away. Either way, the invitation remains the same. We are called to live with a love stronger than self-preservation, a faith that can flourish through adversity, and a hope that does not depend on circumstances turning out as we wish.

This distinction between hope and wishful thinking is especially important. Wishful thinking requires life to unfold according to our expectations. Genuine hope rests in the character of God, even when those expectations collapse. It does not deny suffering, disappointment, or darkness. Instead, it discovers that none of these has the final word.

That kind of hope is not passive. It frees us to engage the world with compassion rather than fear, to love people without needing to control them, and to face uncertain days without surrendering our peace.

And that may be the most challenging implication of these letters.

If we genuinely believe that God’s kingdom is already at work in the world, why would we allow fear to dictate our responses to those around us? Why would we retreat into religious tribalism, self-protection, or endless arguments about who has correctly interpreted the signs of the times? Shouldn’t the anticipation of Christ’s return make us more loving, more generous, more courageous, and more attentive to the people whose lives touch ours?

The Bride of Christ is not being invited to panic. She is being invited to awaken.

That awakening is not merely about becoming more religious or working harder to prove our devotion. It is about discovering the nearness of Jesus, learning to recognize his presence in everyday life, and allowing his love to displace the fear, pride, and self-interest that so easily govern human behavior.

There is both urgency and peace in that invitation. Urgency, because the opportunity to love is always before us, and we dare not sleepwalk through lives that could be filled with God’s presence. Peace, because the work of transformation belongs to him, and we can trust his faithfulness more than our ability to understand or control what happens next.

Ultimately, It’s Time! offers something far more enduring than another theory about the last days. It challenges readers to reconsider what spiritual readiness actually looks like. Not frantic preparation for a future we cannot predict, but growing intimacy with the One who holds that future. Not fear of an approaching darkness, but confidence that his light is greater. Not escape from a broken world, but participation in the love through which God is making all things new.

For readers exhausted by religious fear, disappointed by the failures of institutional Christianity, or simply longing for a more authentic and hopeful way to follow Jesus, these letters offer a compelling invitation worth considering.

You do not have to agree with every impression Jacobsen shares to be challenged by the central question his book raises: If Jesus really is coming for a Bride shaped by his love, what does that mean for the way we live right now?

The answer may matter far more than knowing when he will return.

Perhaps that is the real significance of the title. It’s Time! is not primarily a warning that the world is running out of days. It is an invitation to stop postponing the life of love, trust, and freedom that Jesus has already made available.

It’s time to awaken from fear. It’s time to move beyond religious performance. It’s time to discover a hope that can carry us through darkness without being overcome by it.

Above all, it’s time to live deeply loved—and to let that love illuminate the world around us.

That is a message worth hearing, whatever the future holds.

Oh, and I’m supposed to tell you it will make an excellent Christmas Gift. We don’t have copies here at Lifestream, but you can order it from Amazon.

_______________________

And, finally, we are currently trying to raise $36,000 for relief in East Pokot for children, widows, and the elderly, and to buy an acre of land to prevent an orphanage from having to shut its doors. We have vetted the need, and I’m convinced both needs are genuine and urgent. So far, in response to my blog on Friday, we haven’t even received $1,000.00 yet.

If this touches your heart, would you help these people in Kenya?  To do so, you can visit our Donation Page at Lifestream. Check the box for “Kenya Relief”. You can also Venmo contributions to “@LifestreamMinistries” or mail a check to Lifestream Ministries  • 107 N. Reino Rd, PMB# 411 • Newbury Park, CA 91320-3710. Or, if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 990-8780.

As always, every dime you send will end up in Kenya, and no gift is too small. We will not take out any money for our own administrative costs.

Thank you for considering this; it is a chance to make a huge difference for brothers and sisters there.

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Empathy, Generosity and Exploitation in America

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Who would have thought that the idea of empathy could become a polarizing topic in our political climate? That’s what a recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found.  Regretfully, it was presented in an anti-Trump context, but the statistics are still disturbing:

Democrats (84%) and Independents (70%) are more likely than Republicans (53%) to see empathy as a net positive to society. White evangelicals were the least likely to name empathy as a foundational social value (42%), and more than half of white evangelicals (54%) said, “empathy can become dangerous when it leads people away from building a society guided by God’s truth.”

This has been gelling among the conservative crowd for a while. “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy,” Elon Musk said on The Joe Rogan Experience last year, comparing it to a bug in Western civilization. And in 2019, conservative theologian Joe Rigney wrote a blog post about the “enticing sin of empathy,” arguing that “Satan corrupts through compassion.”

I was horrified. Empathy is not a bug in the Creation; it is the foundation of the New Covenant. The New Command Jesus’s kingdom is “to love one another as I have loved you.” He told us that this love extends not just to people in the household of faith, but to orphans, widows, the needy, and even to our enemies. Empathy cannot be construed as a political weapon, not for the faithful.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is the foundation of how Jesus invited us into his kingdom and to fulfill his desires. Empathy is not a bug; it is the love Jesus designed to build his society on God’s truth. Honestly, this is why the content of  Just Love is so important for today. Many Christians have lost hope that the power of love is the way God brings his kingdom and his justice into the world.

With this noted lack of empathy among evangelicals, it is perhaps no surprise that the financial excesses and abuses that many Christian organizations perpetuate under the nonprofit laws in the United States. On Friday’s podcast, Kyle and I talk about a new documentary called The Religion Business, which starkly demonstrates the problem. I’ll warn you, it’s painful to watch if you have any kind of conscience.

It exposes how billions of dollars are collected every year under the banner of Christianity, which is mostly spent for the personal enrichment of ministry leaders or institutions instead of going to ministry programs to help people spiritually or to help people in need. And even those who collect for needy people keep most of the money for “administrative” costs that are much higher than needed.

If they had even a modicum of empathy for the people who give them money, the people they claim to help with it, or those they supposedly “minister to,” none of this would happen. Could it be that their lack of empathy is a contagion all across the religious landscape?

Before his death, disgraced ministry leader Ravi Zacharias said, “When you get to the top in my profession, you have already proved that you have compromised your convictions several times along the way.” After his death, it came to light that he had sexually harassed numerous women on his staff.

Reread his statement. It applies to the leaders of most national ministries that I know personally.  It is not only a sad indictment of those leaders, but it is also a testament to the lack of discernment on the part of those who continue to send them money, thinking they are part of Christ and his kingdom.

It was especially hard to watch all of that while I gaze upon requests for help in Kenya. A few months ago, we were asked to help drill a well in East Pokot and provide immediate relief for those starving there. Many of you remember our multi-year involvement in West Pokot to rescue five tribes, well over 150,000 people who had no water or anything to eat.

While I was praying about whether or not to get involved in yet another project at this season of life, a man contacted me who wanted to give $50,000 to help in Kenya. Because of his gift, we were able to drill a well in East Pokot (see photo above) and provide some immediate food assistance. They still need an additional $6,000 to help feed them before they can plant and harvest their crops.

In addition, I got a request last week from one of the orphanages we have assisted in Kenya. Sara and I bought them a tractor a few months ago to help them feed 400 orphans who live and go to school there. Kenya requires orphanages to have a minimum of three acres to ensure the kids have enough space. To meet that requirement, they have leased an acre from a family next door. But that family has to sell their land because they are moving across the country.  

That one acre cost $30,000. If the orphanage can’t buy it, the family will sell it, and 400 kids will be turned out on the street. I don’t know about you, but that directly hits my heart. These kids have already been rescued, are currently being educated, and they will soon have the resources to provide their own food supply.

So, I’m coming back to the amazing audience yet again, to see if you can help me raise $36,000 for these two needs in Kenya. If this touches your heart, would you consider helping us raise this money?  To do so, you can visit our Donation Page at Lifestream. Check the box for “Kenya Relief”. You can also Venmo contributions to “@LifestreamMinistries” or mail a check to Lifestream Ministries  • 107 N. Reino Rd, PMB# 411 • Newbury Park, CA 91320-3710. Or, if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 990-8780.

As always, every dime you send will end up in Kenya, and no gift is too small. We will not take out any money for our own administrative costs. And whether or not you can help us here at this time, please lean into the power of empathy for people around you. Seeing life through their eyes is not a bug in the human experience; it is the best way to spread God’s light in the world.

 

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Walking Someone Toward Eternity

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The first time God asked me to do it, I wasn’t excited about the opportunity.

One of my dear friends had been diagnosed with melanoma, which was a death sentence at the time. As we prayed for his healing, the random thought kept running through my mind: Will you walk with him to death’s door?  It was a whisper, and one I hoped wasn’t coming from God’s Spirit.

I resisted it at first, even as I prayed for healing. I believe in a God who heals, and I wholeheartedly agree with Paul that death is an enemy. In I Corinthians 15:26, he writes, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” We weren’t created to die. Death separates us from the people we love. I had lost a good friend during our senior year of high school. This friend was only in his fifties, too young for life to end. Even when time and treatment seemed to make it evident that healing was not coming, except through death itself, he refused to hold that possibility. Even at his end, emaciated by his cancer, he kept trying to find a way to be healed.

When it became clear what God was asking of me, it didn’t go well. Despite my best attempts to help him face what was coming, he refused to have meaningful conversations with people he was leaving behind and to do the work that would best care for his loved ones after his death. Looking back, I wish I’d been better prepared.

“Faith” doesn’t serve us well when it ignores reality. There is so much to be treasured in someone’s last days, if we can recognize what is really going on. It’s hard to fault someone who seeks to be healed to his last breath, but it is not a faithful way to face death when it comes knocking. Faith accepts reality when it is clear and lets God inhabit it with us, especially when the outcome is not what we hope.

Helping people through this season isn’t easy. You don’t want to discourage someone’s hopes, but also you don’t want them to seek the false comfort of denial and miss the gifts God gives in the closing days of life on this side of eternity. It’s a gentle encouragement to what’s true, rather than directing them with our own insights. Walking with someone to death’s door is a gift. If you have the opportunity, don’t shy away. We will all need it at some point, unless Jesus returns in our lifetime.

In the vast majority of loving marriages, one spouse will be there to help the other, who won’t be there for them. It is a sacred task to be near someone you love until they are no longer present in this world. For the one who dies in Christ, it will be the best of all days when they finally come face to face with their Redeemer beyond the limitations of this age. But that day is also the worst day for the one left behind, for the grief of separation will only be true on one side. Yet Jesus inhabits that space, too, as he converts the grief of separation into a deeper gratitude for the gift we had while they were still alive. You learn things there that you can’t learn anywhere else.

Recently, a friend of mine lived this whole reality, and lives on to tell the tale. When his wife was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer, and the subsequent surgery could not get it all, he called me. Hearing the news broke my heart. They had been married for less than a decade and were finding a rich and fulfilling life together. Over her remaining days, we talked often. I encouraged him that, as hard as it is to face the prospect of losing his beloved, he had been given a magnificent task—to walk with her through the uncertain times ahead, right to the edge of eternity.

She passed away a year ago, two and a half years after that surgery. He has just published a book about their journey from first love to final breath. It’s called Elaine’s Last Breath, written by Ron Vincent, a retired high school teacher who holds graduate degrees from The University of Notre Dame and Texas A&M University. I also got to read over his shoulder as he wrote this book.

It’s a gut-wrenching tale, but also an encouraging example of how to traverse this sacred ground. It’s available now on Amazon and is well worth your time, especially if you have a loved one, be it a spouse or parent, who is on a similar journey.

He asked me if I would write an endorsement for the back cover:

“Ron Vincent not only offers a loving tribute to an incredible woman but also peels open his heart to others even when an untimely death steals the love of your life.”

To respect our mortality is not morbid. Death is not the last word on anything; Jesus converted it into a doorway to a glorious future. I’ve always been fascinated with what’s next— the Resurrected Life, free from the limitations of flesh and time. Our whole life here is like waiting for our favorite ride at the amusement park. As I creep closer to the front of the line, I’m not sad that life is passing; I’m excited to discover what that next world looks like.

Every time someone I know passes away, my first thought is I wish I knew what they know now. Paul said that what we are here is like an acorn, and what we’ll be there will be like the oak tree. Can you imagine? No, and I’m sure our attempts to speculate from Scripture are all woefully inadequate to help us understand what life beyond this age will look like.

But I do know this—we will be with him forever!

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Off Grid Christianity – Episode 188

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I got a chance to catch up with Martin Purnell of the U.K. last month, and this is the podcast our conversation produced.  He’s been gracious enough to have me on his podcast a few times, and I am always grateful for what comes out of it.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Here’s how they described this podcast:

And it is a welcome back to a returning guest. Wayne last spoke to us in Season 3. He is a podcaster, pastor, director of Lifestream Ministries and a major author. Wayne co-authored the millions selling book The Shack.

In this podcast, Wayne shared how he was progressing after his back surgery for cancer. So, two seasons later, how is Wayne health wise? Can he play golf again? What is his book It’s Time about? Why did he write his latest book with Tobie Van Der Westhuizen and what do the words Justice and Righteousness, mean to Wayne?

It was a privilege to have Wayne joining us again and he will encourage and give you great insight on what was discussed.

I don’t love all the preoccupation with book sales or being referred to as a pastor, though I am more one now than I ever was. I know they’re trying to hype a podcast into an environment I left long ago, but that’s important to them.  Be that as it may, I do enjoy my conversations and friendship with Martin.

I’m recording yet another podcast today about Just Love with someone in Ohio. I’ll let you know when that airs.

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Presence in Our Pain

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Sara and I just returned from a wonderful time together, enjoying the fall colors in New England and Canada’s eastern provinces. Every day was a feast for the senses as we explored cities and villages in their fall splendor, walked through gardens caught between the summer and autumn, and reflected on the region’s rich history.

Even more meaningful for me was reconnecting with friends I’ve known in that region for many years. We caught up on each other’s stories and celebrated how God’s goodness has continued to unfold in our lives. One couple from Florida traveled with us for an eight-day stretch, which deepened our conversations and friendship.

I have been blessed on this journey to know so many people around the world, not just meeting in passing, but staying in their homes and becoming part of their lives. I have watched them navigate both joy and tragedy and witnessed how Jesus continues to take shape in them.  I am grateful for the people who have so graciously shared their lives and stories with me, and how their experiences have encouraged me.

We are back home now and settling into the pace of life here. It will take some time.

On Monday, Part 2 of my interview with Louise Sedgewick on Lifted to Hope was released. Here’s how she describes our conversation:

God Enters Into Our Pain

 

Wayne Jacobsen returns this week to share more of the journey he and his wife, Sara, walked through as they began to understand the effects of her unresolved trauma on their lives and marriage. As Wayne gained a deeper understanding of Sara’s past, he came to recognize that her pain had become their pain. Rather than standing at a distance, he chose to walk alongside her, seeking to understand her experiences and do what he could to help her feel safe and loved. Through this difficult season, they experienced God’s presence in the midst of their pain and discovered that healing begins when we are met with compassion, patience, and grace.

Wayne also shares the heart behind his new book, Just Love, offering a fresh perspective on righteousness and the way God draws us to Himself. God is not asking us to perform or prove our worth to earn His love. Instead, He invites us into a relationship where we can experience His mercy, comfort, and grace. Just as Wayne chose to enter into his wife’s pain rather than leave her to face it alone, God does not stand at a distance when trauma touches our lives. He comes close, meets us in our brokenness, and lovingly invites us into healing. This conversation offers a beautiful reminder that we are not alone in our suffering, and that God’s love is not something we have to earn.

You can listen here:  iTunes or on Spotify.  Or you can find it on Louise’s Website.

There’s nothing worse for us living in the chaos of this age than to let pain and difficulty compromise our connection to God’s presence within us. I’ve been down that many times in my younger years, mistakenly assuming that if God loved me, I wouldn’t know pain or tragedy. It can lead to so much shame and misguided religious activity to “earn” our way back to something we never lost. God doesn’t abandon us to pain; he’s right there with us, able to show us the way through it.

I hope the podcast above helps you relax into that love in the face of whatever despair or struggle you’re facing. You are loved, even when you lose sight of it.

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Walking Through Trauma

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When it rains, it pours. This is my second podcast to drop this week. I told you about Unshackled Faith on Tuesday with the Easier Said Podcast, which one person called “a beautiful, extraordinary autobiography in oral form.”

Now, a podcast I recorded this summer with Lifted to Hope with Louise Sedgewick, has dropped part one of a two-part conversation about how God is walking Sara and me through her trauma that surfaced a few years ago.   Here’s how they describe our discussion:

When Unresolved Trauma Hits a Marriage
When a crisis hits, what we believe about love, commitment, and ourselves often comes to the surface. Wayne Jacobsen experienced this firsthand when his wife, Sara, left him after 46 years of marriage. Neither of them fully understood how unresolved trauma from Sara’s past was shaping the way she interpreted their relationship. What Sara had believed was kindness toward others, she began to recognize as people pleasing, a pattern that had been robbing her of life. Rather than focusing on his accomplishments or responsibilities, Wayne chose to set everything else aside and seek God’s wisdom about what was happening. He wanted to understand his wife’s pain, examine his own heart, and discover how he could love her well.
In this episode, Wayne shares the journey of learning to understand Sara’s trauma, rebuild trust, and help create space for healing. Known for his work as a bestselling Christian author, founder of Lifestream Ministries, and co-host of The God Journey podcast, Wayne could have focused on the many things he had accomplished. Instead, he chose to prioritize his wife and pursue her heart with patience, humility, and love. His story is a powerful reminder that sometimes the most meaningful thing we can do is lay aside our own agendas to understand someone we love. I was deeply touched by Wayne’s choices and the way he walked through this difficult season with Sara. I hope his story encourages you to consider what love looks like when the person closest to you is hurting. 

You can listen here:  iTunes or on Spotify.  Or you can find it on Louise’s Website.

 

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Unshackled Faith

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I’m going to interrupt my wonderful vacation to let you know about this podcast that dropped on Sunday. It was recorded in June with Brock Roggie, host of the Easier Said Podcast.

View the trailer
Watch the Entire Podcast on YouTube
Listen on iTunes

Here’s the description of our conversation from the Easier Said Podcast:

In this episode, best-selling author Wayne Jacobsen joins the show to trace his winding path from institutional pastoral ministry to a freer, grace-centered life of faith. Wayne opens up about his early family dynamics, the collapse of traditional ministry, and how navigating deep control forced a complete reimagining of what it means to walk with God. He unpacks how understanding God’s heart transforms our approach to human suffering, shifting our perspective from performance-based religion to simply living loved within a genuine community.

The conversation also pulls back the curtain on the turbulent, grassroots journey behind The Shack from its unexpected origins and controversies to its transition to the big screen. Beyond literary success, Wayne gets personal about the severe life trials, health challenges, and relational fractures he faced along the way. He explores how trauma and adversity become the catalysts for deep healing, resilience, and a revolutionary understanding of love and justice.

Ultimately, Wayne offers a powerful look at marriage, conflict, and redemption, showing how to move past control and cherish one another through life’s most profound storms. Tune in for an inspiring reminder that real growth isn’t about avoiding pain, but learning how to face life’s challenges together.

———- Show Log ———-

00:00 Personal Background and Family Dynamics
05:59 Understanding Stories and Relationships
08:45 The Journey of Faith and Ministry
11:54 Navigating Control and Uncertainty
14:56 Marriage and Cherishing Relationships
26:27 Navigating Conflict in Marriage
32:04 The Journey of Pastoral Ministry
41:58 Pain and Redemption in Relationships
48:42 Understanding God’s Pain and Our Own
54:44 Desires and the Human Condition
56:51 Living Loved and Community Building
01:00:21 The Birth of Podcasting and Self-Publishing
01:02:00 The Journey of ‘The Shack’ from Concept to Creation
01:07:11 The Struggles of Publishing and Controversy
01:11:20 The Transition from Book to Film
01:16:53 The Impact and Reception of the Film
01:20:04 Personal Trials and Transformation
01:28:44 Rebuilding Relationships and Healing
01:29:12 Unfolding Memories and Healing Journeys
01:32:09 Love Through Trauma and Redemption
01:35:14 Facing Life’s Challenges Together
01:39:59 Navigating Health Challenges and Resilience
01:49:03 Transformative Insights on Love and Justice
01:55:10 Closing Remarks

Now, back to our vacation…

 

 

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Living in Gracious Space

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[Note: I’m taking a rest from my responsibilities at Lifestream over the next three weeks, so this will be the last blog I’ll post until later in October unless something important comes up. And please be patient with my response to your emails as well.]

We finished our last Just Love class with the question that guided our journey: How does love make things right?

That’s not a question we answer by trying harder to be loving. In fact, one of the most important things we explored together is that love is not something we generate from our own best intentions. It is something we receive, abide in, and then find flowing through us in ways we could never have produced on our own.

That may sound simple, but it is not easy for those of us who were taught to live by self-effort. We can even turn love into another performance—another burden to carry, another standard by which to judge ourselves or others. But God’s love does not begin with our lack. It begins with his fullness. When we live from lack, we grasp for significance, defend ourselves, and try to get others to meet needs only God can fill. When we live from fullness, something settles inside us. We are less driven to prove we are right, less desperate to control outcomes, and more available to see the person in front of us.

That became especially clear as we talked about conflict. Love does not ignore what is wrong, nor does it rush to fix everything. It listens. It seeks to understand. It owns the unintended consequences of my own actions. It looks for the path of repair without needing to win the argument. Sometimes love begins with a simple question: What is this like for the other person?

One of the most moving stories in our conversation came from someone who had been caught in a painful family conflict for years. The breakthrough didn’t come when she finally proved her point, but when she could empathize with what her daughter had experienced. That shift did not erase the pain, but it opened a door that trying to be right never opened.

That is where love-informed justice takes us. It doesn’t ask, “How do I win?” It asks, “What would make this whole?”

It doesn’t look for a neighbor worthy of our love, but invites us to become a neighbor wherever love is needed. That’s the beauty of the Good Samaritan story. Jesus didn’t answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” by helping us figure out who deserves our care. He showed us a man moved by compassion, willing to cross the road and his cultural biases to enter another person’s pain and do what love made obvious in that moment.

Just love is not a new standard to meet; it is the fruit of abiding in Father’s love. When you are loved well, you will love well.

Maybe that is why Jesus could simplify everything so profoundly: Do to others what you would have them do to you. Be loved by God. Love one another. Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God. We often make faith more complicated because we are still trying to earn what has already been given. The life and love of God is not a burden we carry; it is a river we can walk into, and a flow we can ride.

As we finished this series, I was grateful for the honest stories, the thoughtful questions, and the way people wrestled with these things not as theory, but in the real situations they face. That’s where love becomes more than an idea. It finds its way into our families, friendships, disagreements, disappointments, and wounds—not because we finally become good at love, but because we find ourselves at rest in his.

That is where his justice can find its expression through us. Not in our striving, not in our need to be right, and not in our attempts to fix everyone else, but in the quiet fullness of Father’s affection. Love makes things around us right by first making us whole enough to see, to listen, to care, and to respond with grace.

And that is a beautiful place to live.

I’m pretty sure that’s what Paul had in mind when he called ambassadors of reconciliation.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

2 Corinthians 5:18-20

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When Love Meets Injustice

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First, I used this graphic to remind you that the audio version of Just Love is available now. Someone shared last week how fun it was to hear Tobie read Chapter 3 about his conversation with the classroom. That it is!

Second, I don’t get to travel as much as I used to, so it makes it all the more special when I do. I want to make sure people in New England have heard that I’ll be coming to the Boston area next weekend (October 2 -4).  I’ll be facilitating casual conversations, helping people process things I’ve said or written that they want to understand better.  On Saturday, October 3, I’ll be in Reading, and on Sunday and Monday, October 4-5, I’ll be in the Sutton/Worcester area. You can get all the details on my Travel Page.)

Now, on to today’s blog:

What does love do when it is wronged?

That was the question at the heart of a most recent Just Love conversation online. It is one thing to talk about love in the abstract, where it sounds beautiful and inviting. It is another thing to ask what love looks like when someone lies about you, betrays you, abuses you, takes advantage of you, or leaves wreckage in the lives of people you care about.

That is where love is tested. And that is where our understanding of God’s justice either becomes a doorway into healing or a justification for our own vengeance.

We explored Matthew 5, Romans 12, and even the often-misunderstood Old Testament phrase, “an eye for an eye.” Most of us have heard that as a call to vengeance, but in its original setting, it was actually a restraint on vengeance. It was meant to keep punishment proportionate—to stop the endless escalation of retaliation that destroys families, communities, and nations.

Jesus takes us even deeper. He doesn’t invite us to a more refined vengeance, but into a love that refuses to answer evil with evil. Paul echoes the same theme in Romans 12: “Do not take revenge… but leave room for God’s wrath.” That doesn’t mean God is itching to punish people. It means justice is safer in his hands than in ours. Human vengeance is almost always distorted by fear, anger, shame, or the need to make someone pay. God’s justice is different. It is redemptive. It seeks to make things right, not simply to even the score.

Love does not mean we pretend evil didn’t happen. It does not mean we allow abuse to continue. It does not mean we ignore wisdom, boundaries, or the safety of those who are vulnerable. Some in our group shared deeply personal stories of betrayal, abuse, family conflict, and the long road toward forgiveness. Those stories reminded us that love is not sentimental, nor is it passive. Sometimes love turns the other cheek. Sometimes love draws a boundary. Sometimes love walks away from a destructive situation. Sometimes love confronts. The difference is not found in a rulebook, but in learning to listen to the Spirit as he reshapes our hearts.

One of the themes that emerged was the difference between transactional love and transformational love. Transactional love keeps score. It asks, “What do you owe me?” or “What must I do to get God to bless me?” Transformational love begins somewhere else entirely. It starts with the love we have already received from God and lets that love change the way we see ourselves, our enemies, and the injustice we suffer.

That’s why forgiveness can never be reduced to a demand. “You have to forgive” has often been used to heap shame on people who are already wounded. Real forgiveness grows best in the soil of being forgiven. The more secure we become in Father’s love, the less we need vengeance to protect us. Forgiveness doesn’t excuse the wrong or erase the need for boundaries. It simply releases our demand to make another person pay and entrusts justice to the only One who can hold it rightly.

This is where the gospel becomes so practical. Love does not call us to be doormats, nor does it permit us to exact revenge. It invites us into a different way of being in the world. Might does not make right. Love does.

And love makes right first in us. When we process our pain through his love, we are better able to see how the Spirit would lead us to respond.

Love frees us from the need to control outcomes, defend our image, or satisfy the rage that injustice awakens in us. It teaches us to respond rather than react. It gives us courage to protect the vulnerable without hatred, to tell the truth without contempt, and to set boundaries without vengeance.

That is not easy. No one in our conversation pretended it was. These are not answers we master in a single class session. They are learned slowly, in the real circumstances of our lives, as we keep bringing our pain, anger, confusion, and desire for justice into the presence of Jesus.

But this much became clear: the justice of God does not grow in the soil of vengeance. It grows in the soil of love.d

And when his love begins to win the battle inside us, we become part of his healing in the world around us.

__________

We will end our first class this Sunday, and later in October, start another one. We are going to make this next one more accessible to people in Australia and Asia. So, we will be starting at 7 pm Pacific Time on Saturday, which will get Tobie up at 4:00 am South African time. But that will put us around mid-day in Asia, depending on your exact location. We are planning to do this on Sunday for people in Australia and Asia, but if Saturday works better for those who want to join us, we could switch. So let me know which would work best for you.

So if you’re interested in being in our next Just Love Conversation, please let me know. We will meet over six sessions and try to get them in before Christmas. If you want to join us, wherever you are in the world, please email me.  We limit these sessions to the first 40 people who sign up.

When Love Meets Injustice Read More »

Does God Make Hearing Him Difficult?

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I’ve had so much fun reading through the questions and answers from the Trail Guide each week that I’ve decided to share some of the answers other people might be interested in.  But before I do, let me share an article with you.

A couple of weeks ago, I did an interview with the editor of The Christian Post about Just Love.  Their article dropped on Monday, titled: ‘The Shack’ Co-Creator Addresses Universalism, Theological Criticism Ahead of “Unplanned Sequel” Book. I’m grateful to Leah Klett for this piece. Few reporters capture the gist of an interview as well and as accurately as Leah did here. Of course, they wanted to draw readers to the article because of my association with The Shack, but Just Love is the “unplanned sequel” to He Loves Me,  not The Shack.  Here’s a quote from the article:

(Wayne) lamented that far too often, people mistakenly believe that the Christian life will eliminate struggles. Genuine faith, he emphasized, is found in experiencing God’s love and presence amid pain, which in turn allows that love to transform believers and flow through them to others. “If you’re not in that flow, if you’re doing a bunch of religious stuff and it hasn’t initiated that flow, I would encourage people to keep seeking,” he said. “There is a life in God for you. There’s an engagement with Him that will answer every question you’ve had, and I don’t mean that in the sense that you get a hard and fast answer; I mean that you have presence in the midst of difficulty that makes sense of the chaotic world we live in until He comes to redeem it all.”

You can read the full article here.

Now to this week’s Q & A from the Trail Guide:

Q: Why would it seem as if God made this revelation difficult for everyone to understand?

A: Wayne’s answer to this turns the question around a bit — he doesn’t think God made revelation deliberately hard to grasp; he thinks God made it something you can’t get secondhand, and that’s a very different thing.

In Giving Up the Burden To Convince Others, Wayne makes the point that revelation “is something we can’t supplant for someone” — meaning you can’t hand someone a fully-formed understanding of God the way you’d hand them a fact. If you could, it would rob them of “the most convincing element” of the whole thing: knowing that God is real because you’ve actually encountered him, not because you were told about him well enough. He says a life following Jesus is “supernatural through and through” — not spectacular, but the quiet, unmistakable sense that this isn’t just you being a good person, that there’s an actual relationship happening. That kind of knowing has to be lived into; it can’t be transferred by better explanation.

That’s also why Wayne talks in places like Did We Get Sin Wrong? Part 4, about revelation being progressive rather than uniform — Scripture itself shows “a movement… from bondage and darkness about even who God is till the revelation of the Son.” It wasn’t given all at once, evenly weighted, because it was never meant to function like an owner’s manual you master and move past. It’s meant to lead you into an actual relationship, and relationships unfold over time — with all the mess, misunderstanding, and growth that involves.

He pushes this further in Living In the Squeeze, saying flatly that “God intentionally has left a lot of things in scripture ambiguous.” Not because he’s playing games, but because certainty handed over on a platter tends to produce performance and information rather than trust. Ambiguity, oddly, is part of what keeps you leaning toward him rather than toward a system.

So the difficulty isn’t God hiding — it’s God refusing to let himself be reduced to a formula. Wayne’s whole invitation, echoed throughout The Jesus Lens, is that the confusion clears not through better technique but through actually knowing Jesus, the one place revelation stops being abstract and becomes a person you can trust.

Sources:
Giving Up the Burden To Convince Others
The Jesus Lens

Go ahead, try it out yourself.  You’ll find the button on every page at Lifestream or The God Journey.

It also works in a variety of languages. If you ask a question in Dutch, Spanish, or French, the Trail Guide will answer you in the language you used to ask the question.  It is a wonderful way for foreign readers to gain some insight from Lifestream or The God Journey in your native tongue.

Does God Make Hearing Him Difficult? Read More »

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