Daly Focus Blog
As I witness the chaos that so often erupts in our culture, there’s one word I don’t usually hear people use to describe what’s happening: disillusionment.
I believe disillusionment is at the heart of much of the problems plaguing our country: from mass shootings to drug and alcohol abuse to losing hope so completely that suicide seems the only option.
America was once a nation of rugged pioneers. Now, we seem to struggle to handle life’s harsh realities.
Last week’s fatal shooting of a Columbus, Ohio teenager by a police officer set off another fierce debate about the competence and racial motivations of law enforcement.
As you will recall, Columbus police were called out to a violent knife attack. Body camera footage later revealed one of the teen girls attempting to stab the other just prior to the gunfire.
To be sure, the police officer, who was white, was faced with a horrific dilemma that required an almost instantaneous decision.
Over the last few years, Teen Vogue has made headlines for regularly serving up deeply offensive content, including condoning abortion and offering advice to young women on how to obtain illegal abortions.
But the publication is back in the news this week for firing Alexi McCammond, its incoming editor-in-chief. Back in 2019, she was declared an “emerging journalist of the year” by the National Association of Black Journalists.
Ms. McCammond was let go before she even started because of some offensive comments she tweeted back in 2011 – while she was a freshman in college.
From his days playing on the field, coaching on the sidelines and now, serving up insight in the broadcast booth on NBC’s Football Night in America, many of us have admired Tony Dungy.
But while Coach Dungy has a keen football mind, we especially appreciate him for his commitment to his family and the boldness with which he shares his deep Christian faith.
“My job as a dad is to point my children to the Lord, and everything else in life will take care of itself,” he once observed.
With eleven children, Coach Dungy exemplifies and models Christian fatherhood.
It’s been a unique Inauguration Day, beginning with now-former President Donald Trump’s early morning departure from Washington, D.C., and then President Joe Biden’s swearing-in on the western front of the Capitol.
At Focus on the Family, we began the day with a call to the nation for prayer – for President Trump and his outgoing administration and for President Biden and his team. If there was ever a time requiring God’s mercy and divine intervention in America, today’s events seem to cry out for it.
I’ve been thinking about kindness a lot because I believe it lies at the heart of the Gospel. Have you ever met a believer who became a Christian as a result of judgment, condemnation, or ridicule? Me neither.
One of my favorite verses is Romans 2:4, which reminds us that it’s the kindness of God that opens people’s hearts to the message of God.
I often ask myself, “Am I reflecting God’s kindness? Or am I just being nice?” Scripture never tells us to be nice.
Historically, Christianity has been at its purest and most powerful in times of crisis. It’s in the margins of society where God seeks and finds people through the power of His Gospel.
Throughout history, the Gospel has been countercultural for its revolutionary message about the human heart. The Gospel isn’t a moral handbook or a handy roadmap for successful living. It’s a pronouncement about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that gives us ultimate victory over suffering and death.
In 2009, the late Chuck Colson led the charge among Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christian leaders to draw up a declaration that addressed three key issues crucial to the health and well-being of the culture: life, marriage, and religious freedom. Within months, over a half a million people signed the Manhattan Declaration.
Ten years later, we at Focus on the Family remain firm in our support of the tenets detailed in the Manhattan Declaration. In fact, to reaffirm them, we’ve invited John Stonestreet, the president of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, to our studios for a timely conversation about how Christians can keep their bearings in a culture that’s ever-changing.
In set 16 of the That the World May Know series, titled “Cultures in Conflict,” Bible teacher Ray Vander Laan leads viewers on a journey with the Apostle Paul as he preaches in Athens, Greece on Mars Hill and founds the church in Corinth.
Along the way, Ray highlights Paul’s tremendous ability to share God’s truth in a way the culture of his day could understand.
In Corinth, for example, one of the most important structures was a temple dedicated to Asclepius, the god of healing.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
