Ep 206 ｜ Kobe's Death & the Sovereignty of God
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Summary
In this episode, I talk about the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and the lessons we can learn from his tragic passing. I also talk about why we care so much when someone we don't know who is famous dies.
Transcript
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Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week.
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So today we are going to talk about Kobe Bryant and some lessons we as Christians can draw from
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that and some analysis I have on the coverage surrounding this tragic event. We're going to
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ask the question, why do we care so much when someone that we don't know who is famous dies?
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Yes. And don't guess my answer on that because you don't know. I'm going to dig into that and we're
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going to look at what scripture has to say about all of this. I will try to also get into a little
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update on the election, on the primaries. And then I did want to get into what I wanted to talk about
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on Monday, leftism against the family and what that kind of looks like. I'm also going to answer
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some of the questions that you guys sent me on Instagram. So I want to get into all of that.
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We'll see how much time we have. I have a lot to say about the Kobe Bryant thing. Okay. Now we are
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going to get into today's episode. So Kobe Bryant, you guys know by now this happened on Sunday. So
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you've probably heard a lot of news coverage on it. I hope not to repeat more of what you've already
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heard, but just in case you haven't gotten a recap on it, I will tell you a few of the details.
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Kobe Bryant died tragically in a helicopter crash on Sunday. His 13 year old daughter,
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Gianna was with him along with seven other people, other parents and their children. They
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were all headed to their kids' basketball game. Apparently the pilot of the helicopter,
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he had a lot of flying experience, a lot of hours under his belt, but he was just unable to navigate
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the fog, which was really thick that day. He was trying to fly under it, but something went wrong.
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We obviously don't know all the details. We'll never know exactly what happened. I mean,
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I cannot imagine. You can't help but thinking about this, but I really can't fathom those few
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seconds that they felt, if there were those few seconds that felt absolutely helpless when they
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realized that something was wrong. It's just too much for us to think about. It's probably not
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super productive for us to think about because we can't control it. There's nothing that we can do to
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change it, and if we were in that situation, there would be nothing that we could do to control it
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then either. Kobe and his wife, Vanessa, were married in 2001, so they've been married for a
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long time. They have three other daughters, one of whom was born just this summer, so about seven or
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so months old. It's absolutely devastating. If you watch the videos that have been circulating on
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social media that are kind of in tribute to Kobe Bryant, what it seems like, at least through these
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videos and what other people are saying about him, is that he loved his family. He loved being a dad.
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He loved his girls. He started playing in the NBA at 18. He was obviously one of the winningest
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basketball players to ever exist. He, of course, I'm guessing, will be inducted into the Basketball
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Hall of Fame. From what we read through reports, he has grown up a lot during the past 20 years of his
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life, which is to be expected and to be hoped for, for not just someone like him, but for all of us.
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He has left a legacy, not just of basketball, but also of family. I want to play one clip from
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ESPN, from Ellie. I don't know if it's Ellie or Elle. Elle Duncan, describing her interaction with Kobe
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When it came to sports, he said that his oldest daughter was an accomplished volleyball player
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and that the youngest was a toddler, so TBD. But that middle one, he said, that middle one was a
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monster. She's a beast. She's better than I was at her age. She's got it. That middle one, of course,
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was Gigi. When I reflect on this tragedy and that half an hour that I spent with Kobe Bryant two years
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ago, I suppose that the only small source of comfort for me is knowing that he died doing what he loved
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the most, being a dad, being a girl dad. Now, there are a few points that I want to make from
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all of this. One is the question of why we mourn so deeply and so widely, a person that we don't know,
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as if their life is any more important than anyone else's. So why was I someone who does not follow
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basketball? I've never followed basketball. I've never really thought about Kobe Bryant. I mean,
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the seconds that he has occupied my brain, probably total like 15 throughout my life.
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Why was I so shocked and disturbed when my husband walked into our room and said and told me that Kobe
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Bryant died in a helicopter crash? Like, why does that still feel so sad to me? Why does that feel
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so heavy to me? Why do I feel like it's not real? Why does it feel so surreal to someone like me,
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someone who doesn't really care about this sport, certainly doesn't idolize Kobe Bryant?
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Why does it matter to me and matter to people like you so much? I don't know the full answer
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to that question. But in thinking about this, I think that we subconsciously immortalize cultural
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icons in our minds. We place them as fixtures in walls in our minds. And we may never even pay
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attention to that fixture that we have on our wall. But when it's taken down, when it's not there,
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it leaves a space that we begin to notice. And we didn't even realize that we put it up.
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But now we kind of have this void and we didn't even know anything was filling it before. And
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that's kind of what it feels like to me. I think it also reminds us of our own mortality. If we've
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immortalized this cultural icon, when they do die, it's a little bit jarring. When someone as strong,
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as powerful, as rich, as Kobe Bryant dies, we realize that death is imminent for all of us.
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He had the best kind of helicopter out there. From what I read, I don't know a lot about helicopters.
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I also have no desire to ride in a helicopter. But from what I've heard, this was the best kind
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of helicopter that money could buy. He had one of the most experienced pilots out there. This was a
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routine flight on a normal, albeit foggy day, but a pretty normal day. And something went wrong.
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And now he's gone. And his 13-year-old daughter is gone. He was also young. And I think that's
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another reason why it's hard for us to take in. He was only 41 years old. He had just retired.
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And in a lot of ways, it just started a whole new part of his life, maybe even a more meaningful part
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of his life. We're reminded in that, that death is not fair. It doesn't make sense. We look for some
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kind of meaning to it or something to make it feel less blunt, less cruel, but we can't. Death has
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existed as long as humanity has existed. And yet, we're just not used to it. We can't become
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comfortable with it. We're looking for something to redeem it. But it rattles us. It confuses us.
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It haunts us. So when someone young and influential that we have immortalized,
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that we have placed as a fixture on the wall of our mind suddenly and unexpectedly dies,
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we are forced to face the uncomfortable reality of mortality, not just for the people that we look
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up to, not just for the people that we assume are going to live long, influential, and healthy lives,
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yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears
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for a little time and then vanishes. So you, me, Kobe Bryant, we are blips on the span of eternity.
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Our lives are here today, gone tomorrow. We are small specks on the timeline of history,
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but we are not insignificant. Our existence isn't arbitrary. God placed each of us when and where he
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did on purpose, specifically. Sometimes we joke, especially, I would say, us conservatives,
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we're like, oh, we're born in the wrong time. We should have been born 50 years ago, or we should
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have been born 100 years ago when America was better, when America was in its prime, when patriotism
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mattered, when Christianity was more mainstream. We kind of joke about all of this stuff, or sometimes we feel
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unprepared for the future. We don't want to confront the changes happening to our country, or we feel
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unequipped. But God has placed, you and I, has placed all of us when and where he did with intention.
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So not accidentally, not arbitrarily, purposely. God is sovereign over our lives. Even when we look at
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a death like Kobe Bryant's, and it seems premature, it seems like we've been robbed of something. The
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reality is, in light of God's sovereignty, we haven't. Jesus asks this rhetorical question,
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which I assume most of you know, in Matthew 6, 27, and which of you, by being anxious,
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can add a single hour to his span of life? That question always punches me in the gut,
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because I'll be honest, I am a pretty anxious person. Naturally, I can lay in bed at night and just
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come up with things that I should be worried about that really aren't worth my worry, but it's almost
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like my mind is addicted to worrying about something or trying to control something. And if I don't have
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something to worry about, I will conjure up something to worry about. Like, that's how naturally sinful
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and naturally in need or in want of control all of us are. And when Jesus asks this question,
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it gets me right in my core, because it's like he's asking it to me and everyone like me.
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Who of you, by worrying, who of you, by being anxious, can add one hour, 60 minutes? And this
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is really just a figure of speech. So even one second to your life, is worrying going to add
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one second to your life? And I would even add on to that. Can any of you, by worrying, add an hour
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to your kid's life, to your spouse's life, to the people that you care about? Can it add to their life?
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And of course, the answer that Jesus is getting at is no. The rest of the chapter in Matthew 6,
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Jesus tells us, stop worrying. Stop worrying about your provision. If you can't even add a single hour
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to your life, you don't need to worry about anything. So stop worrying about your clothes.
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Stop worrying about what's going to happen to you. He says, does God not provide for the birds?
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Doesn't he care for flowers? Doesn't he care for grass? And if he cares for these,
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don't you think he'll give you what you need? His own children, human beings that are made in his
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image, children that he has called to himself, reconciled to himself through Christ, if not even
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a sparrow, falls out of the sky apart from the Father's will, this chapter says. Do you think
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anything could befall you that is not in his control? And what are we to do with this knowledge
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of God's total, absolute sovereignty? Jesus tells us in the same chapter, seek first his
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kingdom and his righteousness and all these things. Everything God knows that you need will
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be added to you. That doesn't mean that we're always going to get the health and the wealth and
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the ease and the luxury that we are looking for. It means that whatever provision that God has
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determined we need, he will provide it for us. And we don't need to worry about it because there is
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absolutely nothing our anxiety can do. This chapter, Matthew 6, by the way, flies in the face of the
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whole self-care movement, which says that you are solely responsible for meeting all your needs and
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caring for yourself in order to be rejuvenated, in order to be effective, in order to be a good mom,
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in order to be a good person. It gives us something better. Jesus gives us something better in this
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chapter that God cares for you, that you are not the shepherd of your soul. You are not the shepherd
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of your needs or the giver of your needs. God is the same God who cares for the birds, who cares for
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the lilies of the field. He cares for you and he cares for you a lot more because you are in Christ,
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his child. In Job 38 and 39, these are some of the most stunning chapters in the Bible. And I want to
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say they're my favorite, but I almost don't because I would be Job. I would be the person
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questioning God and being like, what have I done to deserve this? The answer is a lot,
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but questioning God's will. And God is speaking to Job in the same way that he would speak to us
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if we are questioning his will. And here is part of what he says in chapters 38 and 39. This is the
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Lord answering Job. And I'll just read some of the verses. They are long chapters and I've talked
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about them on this podcast before. I encourage you to read the book of Job, but to read these two
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chapters and to see how God responds when we question whether he really is powerful, whether
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he really does know what he's doing when we question his sovereignty. Here are some of the things
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that he asks rhetorically to Job. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me
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if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched
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the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars
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sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst
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out from the womb? When I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band and prescribed
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limits for it or set bars and doors and said, thus far you shall come and no farther. And here shall
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your proud waves be stayed. Have you entered into the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of
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the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
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Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare if you know all this. Do you know when the
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mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? Do you number the months that they
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fulfill? And do you know the time when they give birth? Is it by your understanding that the hawk
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soars and spreads his wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes
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his nest on high? This is the God who cares for us. This is the God who has reconciled us to himself
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through Christ. This is the God who promises to meet our needs. Who, as Psalm 23 says, is our shepherd.
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He leads us beside still waters. He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. Surely goodness
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and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives, this chapter says, and we shall dwell in the house
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of the Lord forever. So even when we look at a tragedy like Kobe's, which in many ways serves as
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a reminder of everyone's mortality, we have peace, trusting that the God that we serve is totally
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sovereign, that he cares for us completely, and that we have a purpose while we are here on earth.
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It's not arbitrary. It's not accidental. It is to seek his kingdom and his righteousness,
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knowing that all of these things, everything that God determines that we need will be added
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unto us. Here is how 1 Peter 5, 6 through 11 puts it. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty
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hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he
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cares for you. Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion,
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seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are
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being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little
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while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore,
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confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
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One thing I love about God, there are a lot of things, obviously, I love about God,
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but one thing I love about God, and I've been thinking about that this week, while he is eternal,
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he's suspended in the eternal now, so he's not limited at all by time. While he is eternal
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and commands us to have an eternal perspective, so to think of ourselves as citizens of heaven,
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not citizens of this world, he does care about the here and now. He cares about our physical needs.
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He cares about our earthly lives. Sometimes we create this false dichotomy in our heads between
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the spirit world and the physical world, and we act like God has called us to not care about the
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physical world at all. Well, that's not true. The Bible is very concerned about the physical world.
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God is very concerned about our physical needs. He's very concerned about our earthly lives.
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He doesn't dismiss our worries by saying, oh, they don't matter. Just wait till you are where I am.
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He doesn't dismiss them at all. He doesn't scoff at us as immature or naive or say, oh, just wait until
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your next stage of life, until you're really busy, which is what we do sometimes when we look at other
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people. So, for example, if you're a mom and you hear someone who is not a mom say, oh, I'm so tired,
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I'm so stressed, what do we do? Well, I hope I don't do this, but what do a lot of times,
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what's our propensity say? Oh, you don't even know what stress is. You don't even know what tired is
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until you have kids, or you don't even know what tired is if you just have one kid. Wait till you have
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seven kids or something like that. Well, God has every right to do that to us, but that's not what
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the Bible says that he does with our concerns. Now, are some concerns valid and some concerns not?
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Yes, absolutely, but that's not what God does when we have anxieties. He doesn't say, hey,
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they don't matter. He says, give them to me. These worries are now mine. I will take them on. Those
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anxieties that you have, those heavy burdens that you're carrying, I will carry them for you. I will take
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them. I will bear that weight, so you don't have to. Let me replace them with my burden, Jesus says,
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which is light, and my yoke, which is easy. You know, when kids, just to keep going on this example,
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you know when kids or when teenagers care about things that we adults know ultimately won't
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matter? Like, I think back to when I was a teenager and I went through like a breakup when I was 15 years
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old and I thought it was going to be the end of the world. Like, I'm never going to get married because
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when do you find your future husband, if not at 15 years old in high school? But I remember caring
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so much when I got broken up with when I was like 15 or 16 years old. And I remember coming
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home to my mom and I can actually tear up talking about this, not the breakup, but the situation that
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I'm about to explain. I remember coming home and talking to my mom about it and her caring so much
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and her crying too, not because she thought it was, you know, the end of my dating career,
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the end of my life or the biggest tragedy that would ever befall me, but because she was
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empathetic, because she cared about what I cared about, because she cared about my pain. And so in a
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much bigger way, in a much deeper way, in a much more significant way, God also looks at our weakness
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and looks at our anxieties and looks at the things that we care about. And he offers us sympathy.
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He offers us compassion. He says, give me your anxieties. Give me your burdens. He doesn't just
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write them off or scoff at them or make fun of them. He says, I understand that you have anxieties
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and all the things that you really need, I'm going to provide for you. He pays attention to us. He
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sees us. We serve a sovereign and compassionate God. We serve a God who took on human flesh and died
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to death. He didn't deserve to die, in part to be able to sympathize with our weaknesses. Hebrews 4.15
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says, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in
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every respect has been tempted as we are and yet is without sin. So praise God. That's just one of
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those verses that you read, and it just hits you how gracious and how good and how merciful God is to
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us. But Jesus didn't just come so that he could sympathize with our fleshly weaknesses. He came
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for God's glory to rescue us from death through his resurrection. There is something in us that
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naturally, I think, seeks some kind of redemption and stories of death. So you'll see on Twitter or
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you'll hear when people are talking about Kobe's death, at least, like at least they lived a full
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life. At least they did a lot of things. At least they died doing what they loved it. At least.
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But really, and I'm not speaking about Kobe specifically, I'm just talking about unbelievers.
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I don't know whether or not Kobe Bryant was a Christian. But there is really no at least when it
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comes to death for the unbeliever. For the unbeliever, there is no redemptive piece of the death story to
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be found. And yet for the Christian, we rejoice that we have been redeemed from death through the
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resurrection of Jesus Christ. When the world is looking for something to make death feel
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more comfortable, it is their soul yearning for the risen Jesus. And that is the answer we
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Christians present them. Part of what I try to do, Unrelatable, is to talk about the things that you
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guys are thinking about and answer the questions or at least dig into the questions that you guys have.
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And some of you might be wondering about Kobe Bryant's muddled history. There was a rape
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allegation against him many years ago that ended in a settlement. And what I want to talk about on that
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is whether or not, and I guess it's kind of weird because I am bringing it up, but like I said,
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I'm bringing up the fact that it was brought up. And I'm questioning whether or not we should bring
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up these moments in the wake of someone's death. Again, realizing that I am doing it. But I wouldn't,
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I don't think I, well, okay, let me just get into this. So there was a reporter for the Washington
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Post that literally within hours of hearing about his death, tweeted a reminder that he had a rape
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allegation against him and how it ended. And then that kind of started this cascade of other women
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also tweeting, hey, remember, this guy is a rapist. And of course, these people were dragged through the
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mud on Twitter for the most part saying, you know, why would you bring this up at this time? This is
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not who he is. It was an allegation. It wasn't proven. All of that stuff. So my question is whether
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or not we should be talking about that kind of thing in the wake of someone's death. And I try to
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look at it from both sides. On the one hand, if I were the victim of this case, and again, we don't
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know exactly what happened or even if it happened as the allegation went. But if I were a victim and
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my attacker was being celebrated after his death, would it be very hard for me to see all those
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accolades knowing that there is a side of him that most people are just ignoring and pushing to the
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side? A big part of him, if true, that other people are pushing to the side? Yes, it would absolutely
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be difficult. And I would probably be wondering as a victim, why the heck are people hailing him as a
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hero? Why are they looking to him as some kind of role model? Don't they know what he did to them?
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So on the one hand, I do understand why reporters would bring this up to say, hey, just a reminder,
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this happened, or at least this allegedly happened. We need to remember the victim of this case. If I
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were the victim of this case, yes, it would be very difficult for me to see this kind of thing going on.
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On the other hand, if you are Kobe Bryant or if you are someone in his position or if you are a
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family member of Kobe Bryant, if one of your loved ones dies and right after they die, someone reminds
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you of their worst moment that happened several years ago that happened, I think it was decades ago
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at this point, or even just a rumor about them. Because again, we don't know all the details and we
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don't know exactly what's true. Like, how would you feel if someone brought up that one terrible
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mistake that you made or a terrible allegation against you that almost ruined your life or
00:23:58.520
whatever it was? Do you think that that is the right moment to bring up the worst thing that you've
00:24:04.520
ever done? We've all done bad things, not that, but we've all done things that we regret. We've all
00:24:09.260
said things that we regret. And certainly we don't want in the seconds, in the wake of our death,
00:24:15.500
for someone to bring up our lowest moments or allegations against us that were, that represented
00:24:21.740
our lowest moments. Uh, no, I don't think that that is what we want. And I don't think it's
00:24:27.440
appropriate. There's a reason why, uh, at funerals, we don't talk about all of the terrible things
00:24:33.360
someone said or did. And maybe some of you are proponents of being more honest at funerals, but we
00:24:37.960
try to focus on the good that people did on the influence that they had, uh, their faith, if they had
00:24:44.300
of faith. And we try to respect, uh, the family members and the loved ones that are mourning this
00:24:49.360
person that for all of their flaws, this person was deeply loved, deeply needed, uh, in his family's
00:24:55.600
life. And so we try to respect that as much as possible. So in my opinion, it seemed a little
00:25:02.480
insensitive towards Vanessa, towards his daughters to bring up that kind of allegation, literally
00:25:08.920
hours within the death, especially since this was just one part of his life. Now, obvious, obviously,
00:25:17.200
if it really happened, that's a huge part of someone's life. And, um, I don't think it's,
00:25:22.860
I don't know. I think that we can disagree on whether or not it was right for someone to bring
00:25:27.820
that up immediately. Now, here's where I disagree with a lot of the people who were angry at the women
00:25:35.420
who tweeted about this in the wake of his death. Uh, do I think it was a, like, would I have done
00:25:42.240
it? No, I would not have done it. I think that it's, it's just too cruel, but, but I do not agree
00:25:50.480
with what happened to this Washington post reporter. So the woman who brought up, Hey, by the way, he's
00:25:56.480
an alleged rapist. She was actually suspended by the Washington post. And a lot of people are saying
00:26:03.200
serves her right. She shouldn't have brought it up. Now. I disagree with that. Like, I don't think
00:26:08.600
that she should be punished for it. She just brought up facts of the case. Like she wasn't,
00:26:13.520
it wasn't conjecture. She didn't make up some random conspiracy theory. Maybe it wasn't the best
00:26:19.560
timing in the world, but it was a fact what she was reporting was true. And it was her perspective on
00:26:25.860
it. And she felt the need to bring it up. I do not think that merited suspension. Uh, and for all of us
00:26:32.000
who believe that it's important to say what is true for all of us who believe in reporting facts,
00:26:39.180
I think it's a little bit troubling that she was suspended for doing that. Again, I disagree with
00:26:44.480
the timing. I don't think that she should have done it when she did and maybe how she did again,
00:26:49.940
that just seems cruel to the victim's families. It just doesn't seem right since he had done so much
00:26:56.080
in his life, but it was still true. That doesn't change the fact that she reported facts. And I
00:27:02.700
don't think that that is punishable. That's just my opinion on it. And I know I disagree with a lot
00:27:07.700
of people on that. Um, but I just don't think that that is something that is worth castigating
00:27:15.200
officially anyway. Of course people can on Twitter say that she was wrong for it, but for the Washington
00:27:20.500
Post is suspended for that, that just seems a little bit crazy, especially since the Washington
00:27:25.980
Post has glorified the deaths of terrorists, by the way, called, uh, the terrorist that was taken out
00:27:34.180
by our military recently and austere scholar. So they have botched plenty of obituaries with
00:27:41.920
factless headlines. And so it also seems a little bit hypocritical to suspend this person who brought up
00:27:49.120
this one dark part of Kobe Bryant's life. So I tried to see that situation from both sides and
00:27:56.860
tried to have empathy for both sides. Ultimately, yes, it is a true part and an important part of his
00:28:02.880
story. I just wouldn't have brought it up how and when she did. So that's my take on that.
00:28:08.580
As far as the election and impeachment goes, I know we're kind of shifting into something kind of
00:28:15.080
starkly, but that's because we're wrapping up the end of the episode. I know I said,
00:28:18.980
I might talk about that, but we're going to talk about that on Friday. I have a special guest that's
00:28:22.520
going to break that all down for us who will give her, uh, her expert insight into, uh, all of that.
00:28:29.120
But really, I just wanted to focus on this very poignant moment, uh, in our lives and whether we
00:28:36.060
understand why or not, it is significant to us. No, in the long run, or really at all, is his death
00:28:42.420
any more significant than any other father's death? No, it's absolutely not. Or any more, uh,
00:28:48.260
significant than any other individual's death? Death? No. Uh, from dust we came to dust we go.
00:28:55.300
And it is all the same. We are all image bearers of God, but there is a cultural significance to it.
00:29:00.260
And like I said, um, it kind of reverberates our own fears and our own concerns about mortality.
00:29:06.600
And there's a lesson to be drawn from that, especially from us, uh, for us as Christians.
00:29:11.280
Okay. I'm going to answer some of the questions that you guys sent me on Instagram. Okay. One
00:29:17.800
question that someone had, well, one question that someone had was on yoga and mindfulness. And I
00:29:22.700
answered that last, well, actually I talked about it on Monday. So you can listen to that episode if
00:29:28.760
you want to know that. Someone else asked me though, if I think it's biblical for women to get cause,
00:29:33.920
or I guess men too, to get cosmetic surgery. And I am assuming that also means Botox. Now this is a
00:29:42.120
little bit touchy because I know there are people that listen to this podcast that, uh, have gotten
00:29:46.420
Botox. I have a friend who recently got Botox. And I remember when I worked for someone who, uh,
00:29:53.100
was only 28, she got Botox regularly. And she said she started when she was 26. And so I know a lot
00:29:59.200
of people who have gotten Botox, and I'm sure in my life, I will know more and more, uh, in this
00:30:03.800
industry, there are certainly people who get Botox, get all kinds of surgery, fillers in your lips.
00:30:08.960
That's really popular. Just full disclosure. I have never done any of those things, uh, whether or not
00:30:16.380
it is biblical. So the Bible talks about, uh, the honor and having gray hair, the honor in becoming
00:30:26.220
old, the honor in having, uh, children and having generations that you leave as your legacy,
00:30:33.600
hard work as your legacy. And so what we know is that God adding years to our life is a blessing.
00:30:40.820
The fact that we reached 28, 30, 40, 50, 60 years old is an immense blessing from the Lord that he has
00:30:47.920
allowed us to, uh, enjoy the, the life that he has given us, that he has allowed us to build earthly
00:30:57.140
legacies that of course don't compare at all to the heavenly glory that we Christians will experience
00:31:02.960
one day. But every year that God gives us is a blessing that we should be thankful for. It is a
00:31:09.080
very worldly mentality to dread age 30 or to dread age 40. Now there is of course something to
00:31:17.460
the concern that maybe we haven't, uh, been as obedient in our lives to God as we would like to
00:31:25.760
be. Maybe we haven't been as purposeful or as intentional as we would like to in our lives. Maybe
00:31:32.420
we look back and we see apathy and we see laziness. And so we feel regret and shame over that. Or maybe
00:31:39.140
we see sins that we have committed in our lives and we say, Oh my gosh, I'm 30 years old or I'm 40
00:31:44.440
years old. And I've done all of these things that I regret, or I haven't done enough. And, um, all of,
00:31:49.360
and all of that. And so of course there's something to that aspect of aging, but as far as, um,
00:31:55.900
not wanting to age or not liking aging, that is a worldly mentality. And I know easy for me to say,
00:32:04.560
as I'm only 27 years old, and I don't want this to sound like I'm condemning everyone who has ever
00:32:10.240
gotten Botox, but I do think for all of us, and I mean, it's the same thing by the way, uh, using
00:32:16.140
night creams and I'm not saying that's ungodly, but we all have the same desire to, uh, yes,
00:32:21.740
we're going to age, but we don't want to look like we've aged in the same way that when we have a baby,
00:32:26.780
we want to bounce back. We want to be able to button up our pre-baby pants immediately after we
00:32:31.780
have a child. We don't want any physical effects of having children to show at all. We want to be able
00:32:37.900
to, uh, look perfect immediately after we deliver our child. And that's just not the case in the same
00:32:44.620
way that we eventually are going to age and we are eventually going to show the effects of age.
00:32:50.560
It just depends on how slowly or how fast you are going to do it. Um, and I think we have to assess
00:32:57.020
our hearts and ask ourselves why, why do we feel like we want to lessen the effects of aging? Is it
00:33:04.240
because we're embarrassed? Well, that would be ungodly because aging is a blessing. Is it because
00:33:09.140
we are trying to match worldly standards? Uh, well, that would be ungodly because we are not called
00:33:14.560
to worldly standards. Is it because we're afraid of what people think? Well, the Bible tells us that
00:33:19.160
we are to, uh, we are to care what God thinks, not what other people think. And the Bible also says
00:33:26.100
that, uh, charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
00:33:32.160
And so not just about Botox or cosmetic surgery, but if we're focusing too much on anything, when
00:33:38.140
it comes to our external appearance, appearance, we probably need to take stock of where our heart
00:33:43.740
is and all of that. And why, why we are doing the things that we do. I mean, I get highlights. I wear
00:33:48.780
makeup. I, you know, use anti-aging, uh, face cream. So there's certainly room for me to ask these
00:33:57.320
questions too. Uh, I don't think those of us who haven't had any cosmetic work done can look down
00:34:02.560
at those who have, if we are also using our own anti-aging measures that might not be surgical
00:34:09.840
or might not be invasive. We all have to take stock of where our priorities are, why we do the things we
00:34:15.940
do. And if our mentality and if our priorities are too superficial, we need to ask God to change our
00:34:21.600
hearts about that. And for him to search us and to see if there'd be any, uh, you know, selfish
00:34:29.260
motives or ambitions in any of us. So that's my thought on that. There are a lot of other questions
00:34:33.740
that I could answer. Thank you to those of you who submitted it. Uh, for those of you who don't
00:34:38.560
subscribe to YouTube, please take the time to do that. That would mean a lot to me. Uh, if you have
00:34:42.900
friends that aren't on social media or don't listen to podcasts, but watch YouTube videos, please
00:34:47.040
share this episode or other episodes that you think are good. It's pretty easy to scroll through
00:34:51.640
and see what subjects I've covered on YouTube. So it's Allie Bestucki is my YouTube channel.
00:34:57.760
And that's it for today. I will be back here on Friday with an interview.