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Understanding God's Role In Our Government And The Rise Of Anxiety In Modern Society
in the morning on American Family Rad
Jenna Ellis: I love talking about the things of God because of truth and the biblical worldview. The U.S. constitution obligates our government to preserve and protect the rights that our founders recognize come from God our creator, not our government. I believe that scripture in the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raised up each of you and God has allowed us to be brought here to this specific moment in time. This is Jenna Ellis in the morning.
Jenna Ellis: Good morning. Good morning. Well it is a great morning to take one of those shows to kind of pull back and have the 30,000 foot perspective on a topic that I've actually talked about in a variety of contexts over especially this past year. It seems like with the rise of so much integrated social media, so much social proofing, artificial intelligence, people's heavy reliance on artificial therapy and even even with you know some of the recent headlines including the Lindsey Clancy trial and all of the justifications for the, the left and even you know the mom culture in some circles to justify that through emotion and and extreme forms of cope a ah lot of this in various ways. We've talked about anxiety and the, and the biblical worldview and how the Bible calls us to overcome anxiety.
Owen Strand's New Book 'A Call To Cultivate' Addresses Anxiety And Thriving Where God Plants You
And my dear friend Owen Strand wrote a book recently that's called A Call to Cultivate Overcome Anxiety by Thriving Where God plants you. And I'm so grateful that he's joining the program today because I've been wanting to have this conversation for a while but it seems especially timely at this moment to talk about anxiety. What causes anxiety in, in our lives? Of course we live in a fallen world, but how the Bible truly can call us to and does call us to thrive and that we don't have to be like those without hope and just deal with all of the other coping, coping mechanisms and justifications that the world gets gives and so I've read this book and I really, really appreciated it Owen and thank you so much for joining this morning.
Owen Strachan: Thank you, Jenna.
Exploring The Timely Message Of Owen Strand's Book On Cultivating And Overcoming Anxiety
Thanks very much for having me back on and I appreciate your words very much. Yeah.
Jenna Ellis: And I think you're just one of those, you know, really prolific authors that God has given you such a great outlook on so much and so much wisdom that you know, you've written books like Christianity and Wokeness, calling out timely issues, the culture, you've, you've given admonishments to, to men to rise up with courage and be men in society. And now this particular, book I think is timely. But what caused you to want to write something specifically, and this seemed to be specifically to Christians, talking about cultivating and specifically the topic of anxiety.
Owen Strachan: Yeah, I've been reading the passage that the book Concentrates on, Jeremiah 29, 4, 7, about planting gardens in Babylon for some years. And when I read Jeremiah 29, years ago, I realized how counter to the spirit of the age it really is because we're in such a fast paced culture. I myself have had a number of moves in recent years with my family. everything seems to be traveling at light speed. Social media has increased the pace of conversation.
The Bible's Call To Stability In An Unstable World Of Rapid Change And Anxiety
There's just a lot to say about our sped up age. And I realized that I and many other people needed what Jeremiah 29 offers, namely, a focus on stability. We're in a very unstable age. Instability being a close cousin to anxiety. we're in an age when things shift very rapidly, when people make huge transitions almost overnight. You think about silly things like sports and you recognize that managers now for pro teams across different sports get fired one game into the season, two games into the season, teams will have five managers over a two year period. People are moving at a rapid rate. our political world is unstable in a major way. All this to say, Jenna, I just realized that I'm living in this, culture and breathing it's crazy air. Everyone else is as well.
Addressing Societal Instability And Anxiety By Focusing On The Soul And Finding Peace In God
You look at the younger generation, you look at how they've turned to digital entertainment and access to try to deal with the challenges of their life, which is really just like adding more pain to existing pain. You total all this up and you have really a society, a culture that is just awash in instability, anxiety and in many cases depression. Sometimes Christians will wave a hand at that. They'll hear concerns about mental health or something like that and think, I don't see that phrase in scripture. I'm not here to be a mental health expert or professional, but what I am here to focus on as a theologian in Sum is the soul. And a lot of us need a lot more stability and a lot more calmness and a lot more peace. It's not that we can slow life down exactly, but we need to look up, we need to lift our eyes up and we need to find our peace in God. So that's, that's the genesis of this book.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And that is so well said.
Jenna Ellis Shares Her Journey To Stability And The Importance Of Cultivating A Local Life
And you know, I can say in my own life, I mean, before I moved to Florida, I was constantly moving around for, for various jobs and just that was you know, the nature of my ah, life and calling that the Lord provided, there still, there were so much that constantly moved, including me. And so, you know, whether that was, changing apartments, changing states, changing jobs, I mean there was just kind of this constant upheaval. And one of the things that I prayed for in the, you know, kind of the aftermath of, of leaving, working for Trump and coming to American, Family association, which I just love, this ministry and this position, because it's very consistent and it's exactly what, what I want to be doing. And I'm so grateful that the Lord provided, this platform for ministry. but it's consistent. And so having, you know, this stability and now being, you know, in my same place for almost four years now, I mean, which is incredible, really gave me a different view of living locally, living peacefully and actually cultivating where I'm at, because I was able to literally unpack like completely for the first time in probably 10 years. You know, and so there's something to be said honestly for your surroundings and for cultivating, you know, your home and for. In your surroundings and having consistency in your neighbors, your local church, all of those things that I think we, we tend to in such a globalist sort of society where, you know, the news headlines can come from literally anywhere and we're so caught up in the rest of the world that somehow we, we often forget to just take the time to cultivate our little corner of Eden, as, as my parents call it, which I love, which is, you know, our own, our own homes and our own environments and our own families and our own churches and where we are locally. And so, So I really do think that part of this phenomenon of being a part of a society that is so national and so global instead of our own demographic where we are physically has really had a big detriment on, on our peace.
Jeremiah 29: Building Homes And Planting Gardens As A Call To Stability And Cultivation
And that wasn't really what the Lord intended.
Owen Strachan: Yeah, I Think you're exactly right. Jeremiah 29:5 was written, thousands of years ago, over 2,500 years ago, but it has a lot of relevance for the era you were just describing. And you yourself have experienced, and I've experienced build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce. That's what God says to the exiles in Babylon, the people of Judah, who are deported over a three month march from Jerusalem to Babylon. So it would have been a brutal experience. And yet what does God say when his covenant people get to Babylon, the world's foremost pagan city, where the Tower of Babel very likely was so a monument to paganism. He doesn't say, I'm going to get you guys out of here in a week or maybe a month. He doesn't say, all right, you know, hide swords, we're going to take this city over for my name. he doesn't say opt out and just, you know, just head for the hills as soon as you can. He tells the people of Judah, his people to build houses and live in them and then plant gardens. Well, what is that, you know, underneath? Well, that's a call to stability. That's a call, a word you've used several times already. I love it. Cultivate. That's a call to be where you are. It's a call to make a home. It's a call to, to say, I have been in tremendous chaos and now God has put me here. And so my calling is not to fret.
The Dangers Of A Plastic Life And Chasing Experiences Over Building A God-Centered Life
My calling is not to thrash against the cage and try to find a new place to go. No doubt the exiles felt that they wanted to go back to Jerusalem, understandably, but their own sin had led them to Babylon, so their own context was unique. It doesn't map carefully, onto every aspect of our experience, but the point is this. God is interested in stability and stability is good for our soul. In general terms, there are seasons when, you know, you got to get on the road, so to speak. There are seasons when you need to take on a new challenge. It's not a terrible thing to move for a job, to advance a career. These kind of things in our context make sense at different points. But overall, we have been sold this vision of a plastic life, Jenna. It's a life where the carousel never stops. We live on planes, we have an Instagram worthy life. We're chasing air quotes, experiences all the time. But what we're not doing is building a steady, God centered life. And the reality is, I'll close the point here, a Lot of the best joys in life are not found on the road or found in chaos, or found in not even remembering where we are, what city we're in. A lot of the best joys in life are found in the simple rhythms of life.
Finding Joy In The Simple Rhythms Of Life And Cultivating Our Homes And Communities
It's, you know, the basics. It's morning coffee with your Bible, it's taking a walk in nature, it's serving your church, it's showing up for church and just worshiping God together with people who, like you, need Jesus infinitely. It's building your vocation, it's clocking in and clocking out. Honestly, a lot of it is not super fancy or exciting, but there is so much glory and goodness in the quiet moments of life.
Jenna Ellis: I love the way that you describe that. And it's so true that the Instagram culture and the, frankly, toxicity of the digital immersion has kind of sold us this notion that being always on the go, always changing your environment, or always wanting the next biggest, best thing, has sold us a lie about what it truly lived means to live well and live biblically. Because, you know, as you described, that the Bible says, you know, build your homes and live in them and to truly, ah, cultivate. When we use that term, cultivate. I mean, when you're thinking of a garden, it takes time to plant and then tend and ultimately, you know, possibly even years later, reap the fruit of that and then continue to reap the fruit for years. And that takes time of staying in the same spot. And so many people don't see the joy of homemaking. And I'm not talking just about women with children, I'm talking about families, because men are absolutely a part of that process as well. about homemaking. And even for myself, as someone who's single right now, making my home and having a place where I can invite people over. I had my pastor and his wife over for dinner. I host a ladies study now that, that I moderate, which is, you know, so great to have a place that I tend to and then can use for ministry. And we've lost that in favor of selfish personal experiences being constantly on the go, constantly upgrading, constantly changing that we've lost the purpose, I think, of what it means to tend and cultivate a life and that is ordered around first and foremost the Lord and then family and then ministry. And that is, that is such a blessing of the Lord to have those things that I think we've. We've really lost in, in this culture.
Owen Strachan: I think you're right.
Living The God-Centered Life By Assessing What God Is Doing And Cultivating Our Surroundings
And, you know, it starts Ultimately not with looking to us and our practices, although that's important. It starts by lifting up our eyes and trying to assess what God is doing in our lives and what he wants to do in our lives. And I think Jeremiah 29 is this fascinating window, one of the Bible's best pictures of what it is to live the God centered life for most people. Some people are called to live a kind of, you know, headline to headline life. there are Christians called to that sort of existence. Some people have a job that takes them on the road a lot. some people are in military families. And so they move every three to four years on and on. Examples go where those things make sense. Most of us though are not. And what has happened in a digital age that is so visually driven and experience driven is you've got a little downtime at the end of your day or whatever and you fire up Instagram. And I can attest to this personally, you are fed video after video of life in some exotic and beautiful and restful place and it creates tremendous yearning to go there. Meanwhile, for many of us, we're in our own little blessed place, our own little God given place. And here we are not wanting to be there. So I'm rebuked as I think probably all of us need God's loving rebuke. It's really good for us to have a God centered perspective of our current context. God can move us if he wants to. He does that. But fundamentally we need to have a cultivation mindset. We need to not have a consumption mindset where we're trying to consume everything around us, where we're grasping to advance at all times or get on to the next thing.
The Cultivation Mindset Yields Flourishing And Thriving While God Works On Us
Instead, if you're planting a Garden Again, Jeremiah 29:5, kind of the cornerstone verse of the entire book that I've written, a call to cultivate. If you have a cultivation mindset, as you said a few minutes ago, all you do is you go out to the backyard and you pluck some weeds each day and you, you know, clip some plants and you try to bring things to a greater state of flourishing day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. And what that yields over time, if, you know, the garden is blessed by good weather and many other factors, is this thriving little plot of land where living things grow and you can even eat from the fruit of the vine. And, you know, butterflies show up and birds come by and all sorts of, you know, happy little nature creatures visit you. And it's this little picture of what God does With us. God is not just, doesn't just want us to cultivate plots of land. That's not the end goal. We are being cultivated by God. God is working on us one day at a time. And he's patient and he's kind.
Distinguishing Between A Calling To A Mobile Life And Chasing Self-Driven Prominence
He's the ultimate master gardener. And if we'll, if we'll take our cues from him over time, we can shift out of a consumption mindset where we're just consuming things at all times and we're never satisfied and we can instead find the joys of cultivating life in a quieter way.
Jenna Ellis: Wow. And you know, so much to think about there. And I just want to underscore two points that you brought up which are so true. And first, you know, when we're talking about this quieter life, there are seasons that God does, have for various individuals, and, and families to have a different sort of, of life because of the calling on their ministry, because of the calling on their life. but that is very distinct to have a calling to serve in the military for example, or to serve, I mean as I did, I, it was a calling literally to go to D.C. for a period of time, finite, thankfully. And then I wanted to leave. I didn't want that. You, it wasn't this, let's, let's just go for you know, the power and the prestige, for you know, here on out, like a lot of people in D.C. do by the way. But you know, viewing that as a calling for a time, a specific set apart time versus the people who chase the status, the Instagram stories, the the lifestyle of perks and the you know, all of these other reasons that are, that are self driven rather than understanding a calling for a ministry purpose. So those are very different reasons for having a different type of life. And so that should be the exception to have a ministry life that's always on the go. Like Charlie Kirk did for example. you know he had a very distinct calling on his life.
The Quiet Life Is Not Boring But Rich With Ministry And Deep Joy In God's Calling
But that's the exception rather than the rule. And that should be for a ministry purpose, for an eternal focus for a time period rather than what we should all strive for or for the selfish reasons. And, and with that it doesn't mean that the quiet life or the tending of ourselves and the growth is boring in any way. Because I think that that's also the lie of social media that if you're not constantly changing, whether it's the you know, the home interior, Instagram videos or it's the Travel blogs, or it's the experience teams or it's, you know, whatever it is that constantly having new experiences gives you that kind of endorphin push instead of what, what the implication is is that if you just live a regular day to day life that's scheduled, that's principled, that is doing the ministry that doesn't have, you know, the millions of followers on social media, that somehow your life is boring. And the Bible says the complete opposite to that. And that the best things that we do in the ministry to our own families and to our own communities is actually where the best parts of life happen. And so I want to continue this conversation. We have to take a break here. but Owen is going to stay with, me me through this program and his book is called To Cultivate Overcome anxiety by Thriving where God Plants you. You can get this on, Amazon, wherever books are sold. I'd really encourage you, to, to read this book and to think about these concepts. And we will be right back with more.
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Rejecting Fluid Modernity For Deep Living, Connection, And Spirituality Through God's Plan
Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today by visiting afr.netforward/give. That's afr.netgive. welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio. Welcome back.
Jenna Ellis: And I'm here with my special guest, Owen Strand. And his book is A Call to Cultivate. And we're talking about the plan overarchingly that God calls us to and rejecting this life of what Owen describes as our age of fluid modernity, that everything changes all the time, and instead finding the joy as he describes this in the, joy of deep living, of deep cultivation, deep connection and deep spirituality and the power of a loving witness. I mean, so many great, points here, Owen. And and I think, you know, as we, as we talk about the joy of deep living, unpack what that actually means. Yeah.
The Bible Advocates For A Steady, Calm Life, Not A Frenzied Or Chaotic One
To think up Old and NewSong Testament, you have Paul saying to Timothy that prayer should be made first, Timothy 2, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. So I think if we're bringing together Old and NewSong Testament, what we see is that both testaments of scripture hold out a steady, calm and stable life as a, ah, God blessed life. As you were talking about in our last Segment. There are times and there are people who are called to engage in the fray. you are to some degree. I seem to be to some degree. And that's not wrong or evil. In fact, we need Christians, to engage their world. We need that, very greatly. However, we need to take care that we don't mistake the good life for, the frenzied life, the chaotic life. We need to all be pursuing whatever it looks like for us, whatever hours of the day are devoted to this. The quiet life. And the quiet life is the opposite of the way this age wants to live. We're living in a very loud age. We're living in an age where men are sold the idea that if they line up on social media, behind somebody who has a night avatar in his profile, and then they just tweet people and they carpet bomb those who disagree with them, they're advancing a righteous cause.
Beware The Delusions Of Activism And Influencer Culture; Focus On Our Small Lives
Women are fed the delusion that if they follow enough wellness accounts, Instagram influencers, they will have the truly healthy existence, perfectly, balanced they have always sought. And men and women, of course, you know, are susceptible in all sorts of different ways. Sometimes, that crosses those boundaries I've just laid out. The point is this. We're all sold these different visions of the activist life today. The activists, we've all become activists. And the activist said to be the one or the influencer who is truly happy. There's a place for activism, there's a place for influencing. But we need to take care that we remember just how small we are. We can play a role in our world. We are called to take dominion of our surroundings, I believe, for the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel. So let that be clear. We're to be salt and light. Matthew 5, 13, 14. As Christians, however, here's just kind of, a fundamental principle I'm after in this book. Most of us lead much smaller lives than we would like to think we do. Social media amplifies your life in an unrealistic way. It can make you think that if you just tweet to support this cause or you follow this influencer, you are somehow part of the movement to change the world. Well, you know, there's an off chance that could be true in certain instances. Much of the time, even most of the time, you're just stirring stuff up.
True Joy Comes From Recognizing Our Small Influence And Being Satisfied Where We Are
You're stirring up your own spirit and other people. And in a lot of cases, things aren't going to go well. So I think the solution to this is to recognize how small our lives are, how small our influence usually is. And then to just be satisfied and pursue joy right where we are with the people around us. Here's the last thing I'll say. Jenna, we tend to overestimate, the reach of our online presence. We tend to underestimate how important actual human presence and human connection is to the people face to face with us around us.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, that is so true. And you know, to what extent, Owen, do you think that the church has maybe misstepped in this area? Because I can remember even all growing up, I mean, that was the big idea, right, that you heard from pastors. And you know, this was even before there were social media and influencers, but it was like the overarching message from Christians is, go be a world changer. Like, that was the big key, right? Go do big things. And, and it was, you know, for the Lord. so it was in the context of, you know, living out your Christian life.
The Christian Call To Live Righteously Rather Than Merely Go Do Big Things
But there wasn't really this, at least that I remember from, you know, the outside messaging from all kinds of different directions from, you know, pastors to, like I said, you know, seminars that I would go to or, you know, other other types of programs I was involved in from, you know, high school through college. It was, it was always, you know, go do big things rather than this idea of go live righteously. And so how much of this do you think has, the Christians have contributed to kind of this push that ultimately has resulted, I think, in a lot of, of some of this influencer lifestyle to, to have as our motivation, you have to go do big things instead of just go be what the Lord has called you to. And whether that is, you know, influencing your family or a million people, it's. That's not the scale and the metric that we need to be looking at.
Owen Strachan: Great question. We could talk about that for hours. Constant activism is exhausting. constantly being switched on with you pushing forward at all instances to save the world or advance. Whatever righteous cause you think you're a part of will wear you down.
The Christian Life Is Connected, Serving Others Brings Joy, And We Are Called To Be Salt and Light
It will just grind you into fine dust. I don't mean that there is never a cause to join. I don't mean that the solution for us in this fast paced digital age is in fact to find, you know, a mountainside cabin hole away there and never say anyone to anything. The Christian life is a pretty connected life. I mean, think about church membership. I think we're called First Corinthians 5 and other passages by implication, to join a church, serve a church Be known by people, that sort of thing. And I think a lot of life's greatest satisfaction actually isn't in being praised by people, it's in serving people. There's a special joy that is unlocked when you serve for no good reason other than to glorify God and help somebody else. So the Christian life is a pretty connected life. And when you add in the call that I talked about earlier to be something like salt and light in our world, that's a pretty big mandate. Jesus doesn't define what that means. Someone like you or like me would find inspiration from, you know, William Wilberforce, if I could say his name, or Abraham Kuyper, figures like that, who pressed into the culture to be, a meaningful Christian presence in it. Praise God for that. But Christianity often does not say just one thing. Christianity often says two things.
Balancing The Call To Be Salt and Light With The Value Of A Quiet Life
And alongside the call to be salt and light, interestingly, the same NewSong Testament says to aspire to lead a quiet life. So what that means is I think we've got to watch ourselves. It's really good to be inspired by the call to take the mountain, to go to the ends of the earth on missions, to play a role in the public square, whatever it is, to create something beautiful for God's glory as an artist or a filmmaker. We need more Christians doing all of those things. However, all of those Christians and all the rest of us also need to hear that God loves the quiet life, that there is tremendous good in the quiet life. And I think you are right. I think we swung to the extreme of I've got, to make my life count, I've got to do something big or else I don't even really matter. When you add in the amplification effect of social media and you see all these other people going all these places doing all these things, in my world, it's the ministry world. It's who's preaching where, it's who's planting a new church, it's what new missions or ministry initiative is your church doing. There's a tremendous comparison game, Jenna.
The Deadly Comparison Game And The Antidote Of Embracing The Goodness Of A Quiet Life
There's a comparison game for 14 year old girls and their looks on social media. There's a comparison game for 75 year old pastors and how much travel they're doing to spread the gospel. And the comparison game is deadly. So here's the antidote. I think the antidote is not to step away from being engaged in our world of salt and light. It is though, to say God loves the quiet life. So if God leads me to do the big things for Him, I'm going to do them with energy. But if all I do in air quotes, all is, serve my church, love my family, be faithful in my vocation as a Christian, try to be some kind of light in my. In my local community, that is a really meaningful and good life. Let's recover the goodness of that life.
The Exhaustion Of Perpetual Activism And The Pressure To Leave A Legacy
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And in this whole idea. And I love how you put this, Owen, as kind of the state of perpetual activism. That's exhausting. it's so true because there are so many different ways that, you know, everyone feels like they have to be involved all the time. And, you know, we're even told on, you know, on media in so many different ways. you know, what's. What's the call to action at the end? You know, how do we get, more people inspired to do and to engage and, you know, all of these, verbs that are calling for people to do more and to be more and to have better output. And, this whole idea as well, that churches over the last, you know, maybe 10 years or so or even a little longer than that, have driven home this point of, you know, living a life that you leave a legacy, and this whole notion of, oh, I have to be remembered and I have to do something to make my mark on the world and I have to achieve the greatest, there's a lot of pressure to that, that honestly, most people aren't going to achieve.
Jeremiah's Faithful Ministry Contrasted With Secular Metrics Of Success And Legacy
And so then what are they? Failures. I mean, I always look to, to Jeremia Scripture, the prophet who, didn't win a single convert in his entire ministry. So by the metrics of, you know, the mega churches, he would have been a total failure. But God said he was faithful to his calling and to his ministry, and that was counted unto him as righteousness. His life was fulfilled, and God viewed him as, you know, quote, unquote, successful, even though, you know, the Bible doesn't really use that term, but righteous rather, because he lived as God called him to. And so I think there is this just phenomenal pressure on people that is not really biblical, but more of a secular metric that we have to live our lives worthy of a legacy and statues and monuments and, you know, even all of this, that is, I think, a good honoring of Charlie Kirk. When, when then? Now, after his murder. You know, the question becomes, well, who's going to pick up the microphone? It's. I've. And I've had Christians write in and tell me, well, how could I possibly do that? I can't stand and speak in front of, you know, millions of people. I don't have millions of followers. I don't have the type of platform or finances or, backing or, you know, all of these things that he had. So how could my life ever measure up? And those are totally the wrong questions. And so how should we think instead of those constant activism terms to understand the deep joy, and I love that you describe it, the deep joy of our spiritual life that maybe doesn't look the same as what the world tries to judge us for and even some in the Christian community.
Owen Strachan: Yes.
Christianity's Foundation In Christ's Work, Not Our Actions, Grants True Freedom
Ah, again, such a good question. I think fundamentally our life is not like a secular life just with a little Jesus lime spritzer on top. Our life is a completely different life as Christians. And what I'm referring to here, Christians can debate the finer points of soteriology of the doctrine of salvation. There's things we can disagree on as believers. But fundamentally, every single Christian's life is not based in their actions and their accomplishments. Every single Christian's life is based in someone else's life. Actually, it's based in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Christ lived for us, us. Christ died for us. And because Christ lived for us a perfectly righteous life and died for us a perfectly righteous death in our place on our behalf, we can live free. Not only can live free, we do live free. We are free. What that means, Jenna, is that at no point do I have to earn my identity, do I have to prove my worth? Do I have to overcome insecurity on my own? What it means is I live at all times in Christian freedom. Christians really don't have a, great understanding. In a lot of cases of Christian freedom, they think it refers to like, can you watch PG13 movies only or R rated movies only, or can you wear this kind of dress as a woman? Or are you okay, you know, if you're a CCM star, to pose shirtless for a picture at the gym. I mean, that's what Christians tend to think of with Christian freedom. And those are questions to ask and answer, especially with teenagers and college students and all that sort of thing. Those are good questions to talk about. But fundamentally, the freedom we enjoy as believers is the freedom of the cross and the, and the resurrection. And that means I don't have to live an anxious life. I don't have to live a prove, my worth life.
Finding Security And Joy In Christ's Finished Work, Not In Striving For Worth
I hope that I can labor meaningfully for God while I still have breath. I hope I give my all. I hope I leave it on the field for Jesus. However, at no point, literally no point, because of Matthew 11 and 12, Jesus being my Sabbath rest, am I working my way into rest, am I earning eventual heavenly, eternal rest? Eternal rest has been granted to me. Which means that. All this to say, Jenna, Christians should be the most secure, stable, encouraged people on earth. We often falter in this, me included. However, behind every second of the Christian life is the finished work of Jesus. And that means we're not grasping for our identity or our worth or our meaning. It's already given to us. Now we live in freedom. And now we can just receive life as a gift. And now we can labor at all times in joy. Because the race, the quest that is exhausting to show everybody we're of value. It's over, it's done, it's settled. and that's the foundation of deep joy. That's the foundation of a peaceful existence, bringing that to mind every single day as a believer.
Jenna Ellis: And what an encouraging distinction from the striving and the futility, often, at times, of life and just the constant noise and pressure of media and social media and, you know, even some of those around us. And I hope as, as you are listening, you know, whether this is in your car on the way to work or you're listening later, you know, on your way home or from, your home or in the midst of chaos or whatever it is, where you are listening, this is an encouragement that we don't have to continue, the futility of striving toward the goals of the world, but that we can truly live a meaningful life that is honoring to the Lord because He has already done it all.
A Call To Cultivate: Embracing A Meaningful Life Honoring The Lord's Accomplishments
And that with our salvation, the work is finished. And so everything that we do in this life is to advance the truth of the gospel of Christ and to ultimately live a life, worthy of his calling. but we can do that with joy. And so we're gonna take one more break here. Owen Strand is my guest, and his book, that you absolutely need to read with your family, with your churches, is a call to cultivate, overcome anxiety by thriving where God plants you. And we will be right back with more.
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Finding Peace and Gratitude in a Quieter Ministry Life Away from the Noise
Welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.
Jenna Ellis: Welcome back. And I'm talking with Owen Strand, who is, my special guest this morning about his book, A Call to Cultivate and how we can live a life that God truly calls us to without the distractions and noise and false goals of the world. And you know, I was telling Owen in the break, and I actually want to say this on air as well, is that, you know, this book, for me came at a time in my life where, you know, I had left the noise of D.C. and the prominence, frankly, and the stress that was representing a sitting President of the United States and you know, moving to Florida and having a quieter life of still in ministry fully, but you know, something that was more stable and more predictable and and frankly just more peaceful is truly a blessing in my life. And I, even to this day, but especially right after I left working, for Trump, so many people have asked me, you know, how can you go to, you know, regular life, after you know, being in D.C. and flying on Air Force One and all this stuff. And I, and my response is actually very easily because the type of lifestyle that whole entire job demands, is so different from the regular life. And frankly, at times the privacy that I think we undervalue as a society in the midst of all of the noise of social media and this desire for prominence that, that again, you know, it's not that prominence is a bad thing, but it's the desire for that over perhaps where God is actually calling you. And for most of us living, the quiet and peaceful life, it can be a source of discontent and that can turn into sin. And so this book came for me at a time where I was already feeling the, the inward peace and just the, the gratitude and the thankfulness of being able to live a quieter life, and still being in ministry and finding, the joy in the calling of being settled finally. and this put into words, I think, and in biblical terms, what I was already feeling.
Finding Joy in Small Tasks Done for the Lord and Hope in God's Ultimate Restoration
And so, your conclusion, Owen, is talking about toward greater gardens and how we can, we can look at our lives and, and look at the brokenness around us and realize too that, an even greater Eden is coming when God ultimately, at the end of all things, restores all things. And so even the futility of, you know, my house gets messy by the end of the day and I have to clean it all the time. And you know, doing the dishes for, you know, for people who's going, who are thinking I have to do that every single day. And it's just this never ending pile of laund laundry and dishes. And you do it because you love your family and because you love, the people who will eat off of the clean dishes next. You know, that's why you do those things and you do them as unto the Lord. But sometimes it can seem futile in the small things, even though there's so much joy when you put it into the greater purpose. But the ultimate reason that we have hope is because at the end of all things and in his time, God is going to restore m.
God Cares For Us Deeply, Turning Our Sorrows Into Eternal Joy and Compassion
Owen Strachan: Yes, that's exactly it. God sees all our faithful labors in the here and now. God sees every cleaned dish, every changed diaper, every reconciliatory conversation or attempt at reconciliation. He sees it all. He sees every thankless hour you put in at work. He sees, all the exhausted hours you're driving your kid to yet another practice. He sees everything. He sees. He sees the pain of married people. He sees the challenges of single people. And he cares about it all. That's the amazing thing to me, Jenna, is, God cares about us. God is not an impassive stone deity up in the sky. First Peter 5, 7 tells us to cast our cares on him because he cares for us, the caring God. And that is almost what separates Christianity from every other religion, every false religion, is that our God is the caring God in a loving, compassionate way.
Moving Beyond Eden To A Greater, Restored Reality In The New Heavens and Earth
And that care isn't just a little feature for us right now, sweet little pat on the head from God. The care that is ours now explodes in eternity to come. It comes to full flowering, to use the gardening metaphor, and what it looks like is we're in the new Eden. As you said, we're in the greater Eden. We're not going backward. Jenna, you didn't say that. But sometimes Christians think that, they think we're going back to Eden. We even use that language with regard to eschatology, not so much millennial views, but of restoration. Oh, God's going to restore the earth. Well, with all due respect and love, brother or sister, completely wrong. He's not restoring Eden. He's taking us to something much, much, much greater. It's the greater Eden. It's the new Jerusalem, it's the new heavens and the new earth. And there is literally no possibility of any snake slithering in. There's no tear, there's no crying, there's no pain, there's no sin. So that's where we're headed. And that, that perspective that I just outlined quickly there has been sharply critiqued, in recent years. what I just said, if I offer that to Christians as kind of their driving motivation, keep your eye on eternity, and be faithful here and now, that's not enough for certain movements because we're told, we've been told recently, Christians are supposed to actually heal the world now. We're supposed to make the world right now. We're supposed to effectively usher in eternity to come ourselves. And, we can disagree over eschatology and love, but I don't think that's correct, Jenna. I think we are called to be faithful now. God will give the victories he wants to give in the here and now. And then eventually Jesus is going to make the whole earth right?
The Hope of Heaven: Tired of Sin, We Long for God's Righteousness and Peace
And so all these pains and sorrows and anonymous grinding hours are going to be done and we will know the reward and love and peace of God in full.
Jenna Ellis: And what, what a wonderful and blessed hope. I mean, we see kind of the shadows and the foreshadowing, of course, of of Eden here. And we also see the complete opposite in, you know, the brokenness and the evil of this world and in the anxiety of, of our day today and some of our troubles and worries of things. And you know, one of the great things, and I loved what, what Jon MacArthur said years before his own passing was, when he said that the, the reason that he longed for heaven is because he is so tired sin. And I just loved how he expressed that because that encapsulates all of what is wrong in the world and that we will be able to spend eternity in the presence of our Lord and have, everything righted and have, you know, Eden the way that, God, originally created and intended for, the rest of eternity is, you know, such a wonderful promise that we can look forward to. But to look forward while we still understand that we have. We do have a mission, we do have a ministry, but that can look quieter and more joyful than the world's view of this constant, aggressive sort of pressure of. Of activism.
Finding Joy in God's Redemptive Work, Turning Brokenness Into Something More Beautiful
And I love the way that you phrase that. So, Oh, and just in about the minute that we have left, what's. What's one other perhaps, takeaway that you want people who maybe are kind of struggling with this to hear through this conversation?
Owen Strachan: I think, Jenna, I want them to hear that there is nothing in our life that is broken that can't be given to God. In that final chapter, of a call to cultivate, I talk about kintsugi pottery. Ah, kind of a strange word, kintsugi, but it basically means a potter takes a broken vessel, something you knock over when you're playing in the living room and you're not supposed to. And that. That potter reconstitutes that vessel, that jar, let's say, but with striated gold lines. So it becomes something even more valuable and beautiful than it was. And I would say that's true of us as Christians. we sometimes struggle with shame and guilt and regret and just daily sadness, daily defeat. But God is doing a bigger work in our lives, and he will take even the hardest difficulties and the greatest pains, and he will redeem those for good, because he is the redeemer God. So if we keep that in mind, we can face the future with courage, and we can know that all things will be reconciled in Christ eventually.
Jenna Ellis: Amen.
Owen Strand's Book 'A Call To Cultivate' Offers Courage and Hope for the Future
And amen. Well, Owen Strand, thank you so much for, joining this hour. The book is a call to cultivate, and you can reach me and my team. Jennaafr.net.
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Understanding God's Role In Our Government And The Rise Of Anxiety In Modern Society
in the morning on American Family Rad
Jenna Ellis: I love talking about the things of God because of truth and the biblical worldview. The U.S. constitution obligates our government to preserve and protect the rights that our founders recognize come from God our creator, not our government. I believe that scripture in the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raised up each of you and God has allowed us to be brought here to this specific moment in time. This is Jenna Ellis in the morning.
Jenna Ellis: Good morning. Good morning. Well it is a great morning to take one of those shows to kind of pull back and have the 30,000 foot perspective on a topic that I've actually talked about in a variety of contexts over especially this past year. It seems like with the rise of so much integrated social media, so much social proofing, artificial intelligence, people's heavy reliance on artificial therapy and even even with you know some of the recent headlines including the Lindsey Clancy trial and all of the justifications for the, the left and even you know the mom culture in some circles to justify that through emotion and and extreme forms of cope a ah lot of this in various ways. We've talked about anxiety and the, and the biblical worldview and how the Bible calls us to overcome anxiety.
Owen Strand's New Book 'A Call To Cultivate' Addresses Anxiety And Thriving Where God Plants You
And my dear friend Owen Strand wrote a book recently that's called A Call to Cultivate Overcome Anxiety by Thriving Where God plants you. And I'm so grateful that he's joining the program today because I've been wanting to have this conversation for a while but it seems especially timely at this moment to talk about anxiety. What causes anxiety in, in our lives? Of course we live in a fallen world, but how the Bible truly can call us to and does call us to thrive and that we don't have to be like those without hope and just deal with all of the other coping, coping mechanisms and justifications that the world gets gives and so I've read this book and I really, really appreciated it Owen and thank you so much for joining this morning.
Owen Strachan: Thank you, Jenna.
Exploring The Timely Message Of Owen Strand's Book On Cultivating And Overcoming Anxiety
Thanks very much for having me back on and I appreciate your words very much. Yeah.
Jenna Ellis: And I think you're just one of those, you know, really prolific authors that God has given you such a great outlook on so much and so much wisdom that you know, you've written books like Christianity and Wokeness, calling out timely issues, the culture, you've, you've given admonishments to, to men to rise up with courage and be men in society. And now this particular, book I think is timely. But what caused you to want to write something specifically, and this seemed to be specifically to Christians, talking about cultivating and specifically the topic of anxiety.
Owen Strachan: Yeah, I've been reading the passage that the book Concentrates on, Jeremiah 29, 4, 7, about planting gardens in Babylon for some years. And when I read Jeremiah 29, years ago, I realized how counter to the spirit of the age it really is because we're in such a fast paced culture. I myself have had a number of moves in recent years with my family. everything seems to be traveling at light speed. Social media has increased the pace of conversation.
The Bible's Call To Stability In An Unstable World Of Rapid Change And Anxiety
There's just a lot to say about our sped up age. And I realized that I and many other people needed what Jeremiah 29 offers, namely, a focus on stability. We're in a very unstable age. Instability being a close cousin to anxiety. we're in an age when things shift very rapidly, when people make huge transitions almost overnight. You think about silly things like sports and you recognize that managers now for pro teams across different sports get fired one game into the season, two games into the season, teams will have five managers over a two year period. People are moving at a rapid rate. our political world is unstable in a major way. All this to say, Jenna, I just realized that I'm living in this, culture and breathing it's crazy air. Everyone else is as well.
Addressing Societal Instability And Anxiety By Focusing On The Soul And Finding Peace In God
You look at the younger generation, you look at how they've turned to digital entertainment and access to try to deal with the challenges of their life, which is really just like adding more pain to existing pain. You total all this up and you have really a society, a culture that is just awash in instability, anxiety and in many cases depression. Sometimes Christians will wave a hand at that. They'll hear concerns about mental health or something like that and think, I don't see that phrase in scripture. I'm not here to be a mental health expert or professional, but what I am here to focus on as a theologian in Sum is the soul. And a lot of us need a lot more stability and a lot more calmness and a lot more peace. It's not that we can slow life down exactly, but we need to look up, we need to lift our eyes up and we need to find our peace in God. So that's, that's the genesis of this book.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And that is so well said.
Jenna Ellis Shares Her Journey To Stability And The Importance Of Cultivating A Local Life
And you know, I can say in my own life, I mean, before I moved to Florida, I was constantly moving around for, for various jobs and just that was you know, the nature of my ah, life and calling that the Lord provided, there still, there were so much that constantly moved, including me. And so, you know, whether that was, changing apartments, changing states, changing jobs, I mean there was just kind of this constant upheaval. And one of the things that I prayed for in the, you know, kind of the aftermath of, of leaving, working for Trump and coming to American, Family association, which I just love, this ministry and this position, because it's very consistent and it's exactly what, what I want to be doing. And I'm so grateful that the Lord provided, this platform for ministry. but it's consistent. And so having, you know, this stability and now being, you know, in my same place for almost four years now, I mean, which is incredible, really gave me a different view of living locally, living peacefully and actually cultivating where I'm at, because I was able to literally unpack like completely for the first time in probably 10 years. You know, and so there's something to be said honestly for your surroundings and for cultivating, you know, your home and for. In your surroundings and having consistency in your neighbors, your local church, all of those things that I think we, we tend to in such a globalist sort of society where, you know, the news headlines can come from literally anywhere and we're so caught up in the rest of the world that somehow we, we often forget to just take the time to cultivate our little corner of Eden, as, as my parents call it, which I love, which is, you know, our own, our own homes and our own environments and our own families and our own churches and where we are locally. And so, So I really do think that part of this phenomenon of being a part of a society that is so national and so global instead of our own demographic where we are physically has really had a big detriment on, on our peace.
Jeremiah 29: Building Homes And Planting Gardens As A Call To Stability And Cultivation
And that wasn't really what the Lord intended.
Owen Strachan: Yeah, I Think you're exactly right. Jeremiah 29:5 was written, thousands of years ago, over 2,500 years ago, but it has a lot of relevance for the era you were just describing. And you yourself have experienced, and I've experienced build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce. That's what God says to the exiles in Babylon, the people of Judah, who are deported over a three month march from Jerusalem to Babylon. So it would have been a brutal experience. And yet what does God say when his covenant people get to Babylon, the world's foremost pagan city, where the Tower of Babel very likely was so a monument to paganism. He doesn't say, I'm going to get you guys out of here in a week or maybe a month. He doesn't say, all right, you know, hide swords, we're going to take this city over for my name. he doesn't say opt out and just, you know, just head for the hills as soon as you can. He tells the people of Judah, his people to build houses and live in them and then plant gardens. Well, what is that, you know, underneath? Well, that's a call to stability. That's a call, a word you've used several times already. I love it. Cultivate. That's a call to be where you are. It's a call to make a home. It's a call to, to say, I have been in tremendous chaos and now God has put me here. And so my calling is not to fret.
The Dangers Of A Plastic Life And Chasing Experiences Over Building A God-Centered Life
My calling is not to thrash against the cage and try to find a new place to go. No doubt the exiles felt that they wanted to go back to Jerusalem, understandably, but their own sin had led them to Babylon, so their own context was unique. It doesn't map carefully, onto every aspect of our experience, but the point is this. God is interested in stability and stability is good for our soul. In general terms, there are seasons when, you know, you got to get on the road, so to speak. There are seasons when you need to take on a new challenge. It's not a terrible thing to move for a job, to advance a career. These kind of things in our context make sense at different points. But overall, we have been sold this vision of a plastic life, Jenna. It's a life where the carousel never stops. We live on planes, we have an Instagram worthy life. We're chasing air quotes, experiences all the time. But what we're not doing is building a steady, God centered life. And the reality is, I'll close the point here, a Lot of the best joys in life are not found on the road or found in chaos, or found in not even remembering where we are, what city we're in. A lot of the best joys in life are found in the simple rhythms of life.
Finding Joy In The Simple Rhythms Of Life And Cultivating Our Homes And Communities
It's, you know, the basics. It's morning coffee with your Bible, it's taking a walk in nature, it's serving your church, it's showing up for church and just worshiping God together with people who, like you, need Jesus infinitely. It's building your vocation, it's clocking in and clocking out. Honestly, a lot of it is not super fancy or exciting, but there is so much glory and goodness in the quiet moments of life.
Jenna Ellis: I love the way that you describe that. And it's so true that the Instagram culture and the, frankly, toxicity of the digital immersion has kind of sold us this notion that being always on the go, always changing your environment, or always wanting the next biggest, best thing, has sold us a lie about what it truly lived means to live well and live biblically. Because, you know, as you described, that the Bible says, you know, build your homes and live in them and to truly, ah, cultivate. When we use that term, cultivate. I mean, when you're thinking of a garden, it takes time to plant and then tend and ultimately, you know, possibly even years later, reap the fruit of that and then continue to reap the fruit for years. And that takes time of staying in the same spot. And so many people don't see the joy of homemaking. And I'm not talking just about women with children, I'm talking about families, because men are absolutely a part of that process as well. about homemaking. And even for myself, as someone who's single right now, making my home and having a place where I can invite people over. I had my pastor and his wife over for dinner. I host a ladies study now that, that I moderate, which is, you know, so great to have a place that I tend to and then can use for ministry. And we've lost that in favor of selfish personal experiences being constantly on the go, constantly upgrading, constantly changing that we've lost the purpose, I think, of what it means to tend and cultivate a life and that is ordered around first and foremost the Lord and then family and then ministry. And that is, that is such a blessing of the Lord to have those things that I think we've. We've really lost in, in this culture.
Owen Strachan: I think you're right.
Living The God-Centered Life By Assessing What God Is Doing And Cultivating Our Surroundings
And, you know, it starts Ultimately not with looking to us and our practices, although that's important. It starts by lifting up our eyes and trying to assess what God is doing in our lives and what he wants to do in our lives. And I think Jeremiah 29 is this fascinating window, one of the Bible's best pictures of what it is to live the God centered life for most people. Some people are called to live a kind of, you know, headline to headline life. there are Christians called to that sort of existence. Some people have a job that takes them on the road a lot. some people are in military families. And so they move every three to four years on and on. Examples go where those things make sense. Most of us though are not. And what has happened in a digital age that is so visually driven and experience driven is you've got a little downtime at the end of your day or whatever and you fire up Instagram. And I can attest to this personally, you are fed video after video of life in some exotic and beautiful and restful place and it creates tremendous yearning to go there. Meanwhile, for many of us, we're in our own little blessed place, our own little God given place. And here we are not wanting to be there. So I'm rebuked as I think probably all of us need God's loving rebuke. It's really good for us to have a God centered perspective of our current context. God can move us if he wants to. He does that. But fundamentally we need to have a cultivation mindset. We need to not have a consumption mindset where we're trying to consume everything around us, where we're grasping to advance at all times or get on to the next thing.
The Cultivation Mindset Yields Flourishing And Thriving While God Works On Us
Instead, if you're planting a Garden Again, Jeremiah 29:5, kind of the cornerstone verse of the entire book that I've written, a call to cultivate. If you have a cultivation mindset, as you said a few minutes ago, all you do is you go out to the backyard and you pluck some weeds each day and you, you know, clip some plants and you try to bring things to a greater state of flourishing day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. And what that yields over time, if, you know, the garden is blessed by good weather and many other factors, is this thriving little plot of land where living things grow and you can even eat from the fruit of the vine. And, you know, butterflies show up and birds come by and all sorts of, you know, happy little nature creatures visit you. And it's this little picture of what God does With us. God is not just, doesn't just want us to cultivate plots of land. That's not the end goal. We are being cultivated by God. God is working on us one day at a time. And he's patient and he's kind.
Distinguishing Between A Calling To A Mobile Life And Chasing Self-Driven Prominence
He's the ultimate master gardener. And if we'll, if we'll take our cues from him over time, we can shift out of a consumption mindset where we're just consuming things at all times and we're never satisfied and we can instead find the joys of cultivating life in a quieter way.
Jenna Ellis: Wow. And you know, so much to think about there. And I just want to underscore two points that you brought up which are so true. And first, you know, when we're talking about this quieter life, there are seasons that God does, have for various individuals, and, and families to have a different sort of, of life because of the calling on their ministry, because of the calling on their life. but that is very distinct to have a calling to serve in the military for example, or to serve, I mean as I did, I, it was a calling literally to go to D.C. for a period of time, finite, thankfully. And then I wanted to leave. I didn't want that. You, it wasn't this, let's, let's just go for you know, the power and the prestige, for you know, here on out, like a lot of people in D.C. do by the way. But you know, viewing that as a calling for a time, a specific set apart time versus the people who chase the status, the Instagram stories, the the lifestyle of perks and the you know, all of these other reasons that are, that are self driven rather than understanding a calling for a ministry purpose. So those are very different reasons for having a different type of life. And so that should be the exception to have a ministry life that's always on the go. Like Charlie Kirk did for example. you know he had a very distinct calling on his life.
The Quiet Life Is Not Boring But Rich With Ministry And Deep Joy In God's Calling
But that's the exception rather than the rule. And that should be for a ministry purpose, for an eternal focus for a time period rather than what we should all strive for or for the selfish reasons. And, and with that it doesn't mean that the quiet life or the tending of ourselves and the growth is boring in any way. Because I think that that's also the lie of social media that if you're not constantly changing, whether it's the you know, the home interior, Instagram videos or it's the Travel blogs, or it's the experience teams or it's, you know, whatever it is that constantly having new experiences gives you that kind of endorphin push instead of what, what the implication is is that if you just live a regular day to day life that's scheduled, that's principled, that is doing the ministry that doesn't have, you know, the millions of followers on social media, that somehow your life is boring. And the Bible says the complete opposite to that. And that the best things that we do in the ministry to our own families and to our own communities is actually where the best parts of life happen. And so I want to continue this conversation. We have to take a break here. but Owen is going to stay with, me me through this program and his book is called To Cultivate Overcome anxiety by Thriving where God Plants you. You can get this on, Amazon, wherever books are sold. I'd really encourage you, to, to read this book and to think about these concepts. And we will be right back with more.
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Rejecting Fluid Modernity For Deep Living, Connection, And Spirituality Through God's Plan
Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today by visiting afr.netforward/give. That's afr.netgive. welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio. Welcome back.
Jenna Ellis: And I'm here with my special guest, Owen Strand. And his book is A Call to Cultivate. And we're talking about the plan overarchingly that God calls us to and rejecting this life of what Owen describes as our age of fluid modernity, that everything changes all the time, and instead finding the joy as he describes this in the, joy of deep living, of deep cultivation, deep connection and deep spirituality and the power of a loving witness. I mean, so many great, points here, Owen. And and I think, you know, as we, as we talk about the joy of deep living, unpack what that actually means. Yeah.
The Bible Advocates For A Steady, Calm Life, Not A Frenzied Or Chaotic One
To think up Old and NewSong Testament, you have Paul saying to Timothy that prayer should be made first, Timothy 2, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. So I think if we're bringing together Old and NewSong Testament, what we see is that both testaments of scripture hold out a steady, calm and stable life as a, ah, God blessed life. As you were talking about in our last Segment. There are times and there are people who are called to engage in the fray. you are to some degree. I seem to be to some degree. And that's not wrong or evil. In fact, we need Christians, to engage their world. We need that, very greatly. However, we need to take care that we don't mistake the good life for, the frenzied life, the chaotic life. We need to all be pursuing whatever it looks like for us, whatever hours of the day are devoted to this. The quiet life. And the quiet life is the opposite of the way this age wants to live. We're living in a very loud age. We're living in an age where men are sold the idea that if they line up on social media, behind somebody who has a night avatar in his profile, and then they just tweet people and they carpet bomb those who disagree with them, they're advancing a righteous cause.
Beware The Delusions Of Activism And Influencer Culture; Focus On Our Small Lives
Women are fed the delusion that if they follow enough wellness accounts, Instagram influencers, they will have the truly healthy existence, perfectly, balanced they have always sought. And men and women, of course, you know, are susceptible in all sorts of different ways. Sometimes, that crosses those boundaries I've just laid out. The point is this. We're all sold these different visions of the activist life today. The activists, we've all become activists. And the activist said to be the one or the influencer who is truly happy. There's a place for activism, there's a place for influencing. But we need to take care that we remember just how small we are. We can play a role in our world. We are called to take dominion of our surroundings, I believe, for the glory of God and the advancement of the gospel. So let that be clear. We're to be salt and light. Matthew 5, 13, 14. As Christians, however, here's just kind of, a fundamental principle I'm after in this book. Most of us lead much smaller lives than we would like to think we do. Social media amplifies your life in an unrealistic way. It can make you think that if you just tweet to support this cause or you follow this influencer, you are somehow part of the movement to change the world. Well, you know, there's an off chance that could be true in certain instances. Much of the time, even most of the time, you're just stirring stuff up.
True Joy Comes From Recognizing Our Small Influence And Being Satisfied Where We Are
You're stirring up your own spirit and other people. And in a lot of cases, things aren't going to go well. So I think the solution to this is to recognize how small our lives are, how small our influence usually is. And then to just be satisfied and pursue joy right where we are with the people around us. Here's the last thing I'll say. Jenna, we tend to overestimate, the reach of our online presence. We tend to underestimate how important actual human presence and human connection is to the people face to face with us around us.
Jenna Ellis: Yeah, that is so true. And you know, to what extent, Owen, do you think that the church has maybe misstepped in this area? Because I can remember even all growing up, I mean, that was the big idea, right, that you heard from pastors. And you know, this was even before there were social media and influencers, but it was like the overarching message from Christians is, go be a world changer. Like, that was the big key, right? Go do big things. And, and it was, you know, for the Lord. so it was in the context of, you know, living out your Christian life.
The Christian Call To Live Righteously Rather Than Merely Go Do Big Things
But there wasn't really this, at least that I remember from, you know, the outside messaging from all kinds of different directions from, you know, pastors to, like I said, you know, seminars that I would go to or, you know, other other types of programs I was involved in from, you know, high school through college. It was, it was always, you know, go do big things rather than this idea of go live righteously. And so how much of this do you think has, the Christians have contributed to kind of this push that ultimately has resulted, I think, in a lot of, of some of this influencer lifestyle to, to have as our motivation, you have to go do big things instead of just go be what the Lord has called you to. And whether that is, you know, influencing your family or a million people, it's. That's not the scale and the metric that we need to be looking at.
Owen Strachan: Great question. We could talk about that for hours. Constant activism is exhausting. constantly being switched on with you pushing forward at all instances to save the world or advance. Whatever righteous cause you think you're a part of will wear you down.
The Christian Life Is Connected, Serving Others Brings Joy, And We Are Called To Be Salt and Light
It will just grind you into fine dust. I don't mean that there is never a cause to join. I don't mean that the solution for us in this fast paced digital age is in fact to find, you know, a mountainside cabin hole away there and never say anyone to anything. The Christian life is a pretty connected life. I mean, think about church membership. I think we're called First Corinthians 5 and other passages by implication, to join a church, serve a church Be known by people, that sort of thing. And I think a lot of life's greatest satisfaction actually isn't in being praised by people, it's in serving people. There's a special joy that is unlocked when you serve for no good reason other than to glorify God and help somebody else. So the Christian life is a pretty connected life. And when you add in the call that I talked about earlier to be something like salt and light in our world, that's a pretty big mandate. Jesus doesn't define what that means. Someone like you or like me would find inspiration from, you know, William Wilberforce, if I could say his name, or Abraham Kuyper, figures like that, who pressed into the culture to be, a meaningful Christian presence in it. Praise God for that. But Christianity often does not say just one thing. Christianity often says two things.
Balancing The Call To Be Salt and Light With The Value Of A Quiet Life
And alongside the call to be salt and light, interestingly, the same NewSong Testament says to aspire to lead a quiet life. So what that means is I think we've got to watch ourselves. It's really good to be inspired by the call to take the mountain, to go to the ends of the earth on missions, to play a role in the public square, whatever it is, to create something beautiful for God's glory as an artist or a filmmaker. We need more Christians doing all of those things. However, all of those Christians and all the rest of us also need to hear that God loves the quiet life, that there is tremendous good in the quiet life. And I think you are right. I think we swung to the extreme of I've got, to make my life count, I've got to do something big or else I don't even really matter. When you add in the amplification effect of social media and you see all these other people going all these places doing all these things, in my world, it's the ministry world. It's who's preaching where, it's who's planting a new church, it's what new missions or ministry initiative is your church doing. There's a tremendous comparison game, Jenna.
The Deadly Comparison Game And The Antidote Of Embracing The Goodness Of A Quiet Life
There's a comparison game for 14 year old girls and their looks on social media. There's a comparison game for 75 year old pastors and how much travel they're doing to spread the gospel. And the comparison game is deadly. So here's the antidote. I think the antidote is not to step away from being engaged in our world of salt and light. It is though, to say God loves the quiet life. So if God leads me to do the big things for Him, I'm going to do them with energy. But if all I do in air quotes, all is, serve my church, love my family, be faithful in my vocation as a Christian, try to be some kind of light in my. In my local community, that is a really meaningful and good life. Let's recover the goodness of that life.
The Exhaustion Of Perpetual Activism And The Pressure To Leave A Legacy
Jenna Ellis: Yeah. And in this whole idea. And I love how you put this, Owen, as kind of the state of perpetual activism. That's exhausting. it's so true because there are so many different ways that, you know, everyone feels like they have to be involved all the time. And, you know, we're even told on, you know, on media in so many different ways. you know, what's. What's the call to action at the end? You know, how do we get, more people inspired to do and to engage and, you know, all of these, verbs that are calling for people to do more and to be more and to have better output. And, this whole idea as well, that churches over the last, you know, maybe 10 years or so or even a little longer than that, have driven home this point of, you know, living a life that you leave a legacy, and this whole notion of, oh, I have to be remembered and I have to do something to make my mark on the world and I have to achieve the greatest, there's a lot of pressure to that, that honestly, most people aren't going to achieve.
Jeremiah's Faithful Ministry Contrasted With Secular Metrics Of Success And Legacy
And so then what are they? Failures. I mean, I always look to, to Jeremia Scripture, the prophet who, didn't win a single convert in his entire ministry. So by the metrics of, you know, the mega churches, he would have been a total failure. But God said he was faithful to his calling and to his ministry, and that was counted unto him as righteousness. His life was fulfilled, and God viewed him as, you know, quote, unquote, successful, even though, you know, the Bible doesn't really use that term, but righteous rather, because he lived as God called him to. And so I think there is this just phenomenal pressure on people that is not really biblical, but more of a secular metric that we have to live our lives worthy of a legacy and statues and monuments and, you know, even all of this, that is, I think, a good honoring of Charlie Kirk. When, when then? Now, after his murder. You know, the question becomes, well, who's going to pick up the microphone? It's. I've. And I've had Christians write in and tell me, well, how could I possibly do that? I can't stand and speak in front of, you know, millions of people. I don't have millions of followers. I don't have the type of platform or finances or, backing or, you know, all of these things that he had. So how could my life ever measure up? And those are totally the wrong questions. And so how should we think instead of those constant activism terms to understand the deep joy, and I love that you describe it, the deep joy of our spiritual life that maybe doesn't look the same as what the world tries to judge us for and even some in the Christian community.
Owen Strachan: Yes.
Christianity's Foundation In Christ's Work, Not Our Actions, Grants True Freedom
Ah, again, such a good question. I think fundamentally our life is not like a secular life just with a little Jesus lime spritzer on top. Our life is a completely different life as Christians. And what I'm referring to here, Christians can debate the finer points of soteriology of the doctrine of salvation. There's things we can disagree on as believers. But fundamentally, every single Christian's life is not based in their actions and their accomplishments. Every single Christian's life is based in someone else's life. Actually, it's based in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Christ lived for us, us. Christ died for us. And because Christ lived for us a perfectly righteous life and died for us a perfectly righteous death in our place on our behalf, we can live free. Not only can live free, we do live free. We are free. What that means, Jenna, is that at no point do I have to earn my identity, do I have to prove my worth? Do I have to overcome insecurity on my own? What it means is I live at all times in Christian freedom. Christians really don't have a, great understanding. In a lot of cases of Christian freedom, they think it refers to like, can you watch PG13 movies only or R rated movies only, or can you wear this kind of dress as a woman? Or are you okay, you know, if you're a CCM star, to pose shirtless for a picture at the gym. I mean, that's what Christians tend to think of with Christian freedom. And those are questions to ask and answer, especially with teenagers and college students and all that sort of thing. Those are good questions to talk about. But fundamentally, the freedom we enjoy as believers is the freedom of the cross and the, and the resurrection. And that means I don't have to live an anxious life. I don't have to live a prove, my worth life.
Finding Security And Joy In Christ's Finished Work, Not In Striving For Worth
I hope that I can labor meaningfully for God while I still have breath. I hope I give my all. I hope I leave it on the field for Jesus. However, at no point, literally no point, because of Matthew 11 and 12, Jesus being my Sabbath rest, am I working my way into rest, am I earning eventual heavenly, eternal rest? Eternal rest has been granted to me. Which means that. All this to say, Jenna, Christians should be the most secure, stable, encouraged people on earth. We often falter in this, me included. However, behind every second of the Christian life is the finished work of Jesus. And that means we're not grasping for our identity or our worth or our meaning. It's already given to us. Now we live in freedom. And now we can just receive life as a gift. And now we can labor at all times in joy. Because the race, the quest that is exhausting to show everybody we're of value. It's over, it's done, it's settled. and that's the foundation of deep joy. That's the foundation of a peaceful existence, bringing that to mind every single day as a believer.
Jenna Ellis: And what an encouraging distinction from the striving and the futility, often, at times, of life and just the constant noise and pressure of media and social media and, you know, even some of those around us. And I hope as, as you are listening, you know, whether this is in your car on the way to work or you're listening later, you know, on your way home or from, your home or in the midst of chaos or whatever it is, where you are listening, this is an encouragement that we don't have to continue, the futility of striving toward the goals of the world, but that we can truly live a meaningful life that is honoring to the Lord because He has already done it all.
A Call To Cultivate: Embracing A Meaningful Life Honoring The Lord's Accomplishments
And that with our salvation, the work is finished. And so everything that we do in this life is to advance the truth of the gospel of Christ and to ultimately live a life, worthy of his calling. but we can do that with joy. And so we're gonna take one more break here. Owen Strand is my guest, and his book, that you absolutely need to read with your family, with your churches, is a call to cultivate, overcome anxiety by thriving where God plants you. And we will be right back with more.
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Finding Peace and Gratitude in a Quieter Ministry Life Away from the Noise
Welcome back to Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio.
Jenna Ellis: Welcome back. And I'm talking with Owen Strand, who is, my special guest this morning about his book, A Call to Cultivate and how we can live a life that God truly calls us to without the distractions and noise and false goals of the world. And you know, I was telling Owen in the break, and I actually want to say this on air as well, is that, you know, this book, for me came at a time in my life where, you know, I had left the noise of D.C. and the prominence, frankly, and the stress that was representing a sitting President of the United States and you know, moving to Florida and having a quieter life of still in ministry fully, but you know, something that was more stable and more predictable and and frankly just more peaceful is truly a blessing in my life. And I, even to this day, but especially right after I left working, for Trump, so many people have asked me, you know, how can you go to, you know, regular life, after you know, being in D.C. and flying on Air Force One and all this stuff. And I, and my response is actually very easily because the type of lifestyle that whole entire job demands, is so different from the regular life. And frankly, at times the privacy that I think we undervalue as a society in the midst of all of the noise of social media and this desire for prominence that, that again, you know, it's not that prominence is a bad thing, but it's the desire for that over perhaps where God is actually calling you. And for most of us living, the quiet and peaceful life, it can be a source of discontent and that can turn into sin. And so this book came for me at a time where I was already feeling the, the inward peace and just the, the gratitude and the thankfulness of being able to live a quieter life, and still being in ministry and finding, the joy in the calling of being settled finally. and this put into words, I think, and in biblical terms, what I was already feeling.
Finding Joy in Small Tasks Done for the Lord and Hope in God's Ultimate Restoration
And so, your conclusion, Owen, is talking about toward greater gardens and how we can, we can look at our lives and, and look at the brokenness around us and realize too that, an even greater Eden is coming when God ultimately, at the end of all things, restores all things. And so even the futility of, you know, my house gets messy by the end of the day and I have to clean it all the time. And you know, doing the dishes for, you know, for people who's going, who are thinking I have to do that every single day. And it's just this never ending pile of laund laundry and dishes. And you do it because you love your family and because you love, the people who will eat off of the clean dishes next. You know, that's why you do those things and you do them as unto the Lord. But sometimes it can seem futile in the small things, even though there's so much joy when you put it into the greater purpose. But the ultimate reason that we have hope is because at the end of all things and in his time, God is going to restore m.
God Cares For Us Deeply, Turning Our Sorrows Into Eternal Joy and Compassion
Owen Strachan: Yes, that's exactly it. God sees all our faithful labors in the here and now. God sees every cleaned dish, every changed diaper, every reconciliatory conversation or attempt at reconciliation. He sees it all. He sees every thankless hour you put in at work. He sees, all the exhausted hours you're driving your kid to yet another practice. He sees everything. He sees. He sees the pain of married people. He sees the challenges of single people. And he cares about it all. That's the amazing thing to me, Jenna, is, God cares about us. God is not an impassive stone deity up in the sky. First Peter 5, 7 tells us to cast our cares on him because he cares for us, the caring God. And that is almost what separates Christianity from every other religion, every false religion, is that our God is the caring God in a loving, compassionate way.
Moving Beyond Eden To A Greater, Restored Reality In The New Heavens and Earth
And that care isn't just a little feature for us right now, sweet little pat on the head from God. The care that is ours now explodes in eternity to come. It comes to full flowering, to use the gardening metaphor, and what it looks like is we're in the new Eden. As you said, we're in the greater Eden. We're not going backward. Jenna, you didn't say that. But sometimes Christians think that, they think we're going back to Eden. We even use that language with regard to eschatology, not so much millennial views, but of restoration. Oh, God's going to restore the earth. Well, with all due respect and love, brother or sister, completely wrong. He's not restoring Eden. He's taking us to something much, much, much greater. It's the greater Eden. It's the new Jerusalem, it's the new heavens and the new earth. And there is literally no possibility of any snake slithering in. There's no tear, there's no crying, there's no pain, there's no sin. So that's where we're headed. And that, that perspective that I just outlined quickly there has been sharply critiqued, in recent years. what I just said, if I offer that to Christians as kind of their driving motivation, keep your eye on eternity, and be faithful here and now, that's not enough for certain movements because we're told, we've been told recently, Christians are supposed to actually heal the world now. We're supposed to make the world right now. We're supposed to effectively usher in eternity to come ourselves. And, we can disagree over eschatology and love, but I don't think that's correct, Jenna. I think we are called to be faithful now. God will give the victories he wants to give in the here and now. And then eventually Jesus is going to make the whole earth right?
The Hope of Heaven: Tired of Sin, We Long for God's Righteousness and Peace
And so all these pains and sorrows and anonymous grinding hours are going to be done and we will know the reward and love and peace of God in full.
Jenna Ellis: And what, what a wonderful and blessed hope. I mean, we see kind of the shadows and the foreshadowing, of course, of of Eden here. And we also see the complete opposite in, you know, the brokenness and the evil of this world and in the anxiety of, of our day today and some of our troubles and worries of things. And you know, one of the great things, and I loved what, what Jon MacArthur said years before his own passing was, when he said that the, the reason that he longed for heaven is because he is so tired sin. And I just loved how he expressed that because that encapsulates all of what is wrong in the world and that we will be able to spend eternity in the presence of our Lord and have, everything righted and have, you know, Eden the way that, God, originally created and intended for, the rest of eternity is, you know, such a wonderful promise that we can look forward to. But to look forward while we still understand that we have. We do have a mission, we do have a ministry, but that can look quieter and more joyful than the world's view of this constant, aggressive sort of pressure of. Of activism.
Finding Joy in God's Redemptive Work, Turning Brokenness Into Something More Beautiful
And I love the way that you phrase that. So, Oh, and just in about the minute that we have left, what's. What's one other perhaps, takeaway that you want people who maybe are kind of struggling with this to hear through this conversation?
Owen Strachan: I think, Jenna, I want them to hear that there is nothing in our life that is broken that can't be given to God. In that final chapter, of a call to cultivate, I talk about kintsugi pottery. Ah, kind of a strange word, kintsugi, but it basically means a potter takes a broken vessel, something you knock over when you're playing in the living room and you're not supposed to. And that. That potter reconstitutes that vessel, that jar, let's say, but with striated gold lines. So it becomes something even more valuable and beautiful than it was. And I would say that's true of us as Christians. we sometimes struggle with shame and guilt and regret and just daily sadness, daily defeat. But God is doing a bigger work in our lives, and he will take even the hardest difficulties and the greatest pains, and he will redeem those for good, because he is the redeemer God. So if we keep that in mind, we can face the future with courage, and we can know that all things will be reconciled in Christ eventually.
Jenna Ellis: Amen.
Owen Strand's Book 'A Call To Cultivate' Offers Courage and Hope for the Future
And amen. Well, Owen Strand, thank you so much for, joining this hour. The book is a call to cultivate, and you can reach me and my team. Jennaafr.net.
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Jenna Ellis engages with author Owen Strachan to discuss his book, A Call to Cultivate: Overcome Anxiety by Thriving Where God Plants You. Together, they explore the themes of anxiety in today's fast-paced world, the importance of cultivating stability in our lives, and how the biblical worldview can guide us through challenges. Owen shares insights from Jeremy 29, emphasizing the call to build and cultivate in our lives, even amidst chaos. This episode is a profound reminder of the quiet joys that come from living a God-centered life.
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