The news feed blares pictures of emaciated children. Haunting eyes and horrific stories. Of war zones, political figures, various famous people. We spend our time clicking through inches of articles that just escalate our anger and fear.

There are weeks when I delight in the blowing of the breeze in my face, in wet leaves skidding across the campus sidewalks, in riding my bike in the rain, entranced in the glory of the music in my headphones. When I am easily thankful for every friend and every hug, when the morning sunlight spills through windows like joy.

And then, there are those hard-hearted early hours, fighting a battle just to be at peace. The days and weeks when I chomp my fingernails down reading article after article about how the world is going to end in a million different ways. When I am consumed by the press of stress, and when I press down on myself, showing no grace in any case.

Focus flips inward, and thankfulness falls flat. I become the great critic and judge of this world and myself, predicting failure of the country, and future failures of my own.

Nudge. Nudge of the Holy Spirit. Back to the Bible, back to the truth.

In the pages, Jesus is on the cross, gasping his last breath and saying, "It is finished."

What does "finished" mean?

Means that I don't have to strive endlessly, beating up on myself and predicting doom and gloom if a law isn't passed, a decision isn't made. I am already saved! And all mankind is offered the same hope. The victory is won. Eternity glows rosy. There's still work to do here on earth, still people with which to share the good news, but...

We don't have to try and save ourselves and everyone else. We Can't. We'll never be able to save the circumstances of this world, to meld the perfect politics, to bring all the wars to peace. But we can walk through the rabble, joyful and hopeful, because of salvation offered in Jesus. Saves us from ourselves, from our sin, from the desperate worries of this world.

We find it easy to forget, these happy promises, when we are lying buried under two tons of homework, or pressed by the pressures of society, to be likable, and even of our Christian communities, to always be holy and happy and good.

Jesus is the Savior, not us. What is required of us is repentance, obedience, rest: Trusting in Him and not ourselves.

Grace. grace, God's grace! a beautiful thing. incomprehensible.

Out of the shadowy cubicle of cultural cynicism, and into the beaming and calming light of eternity, that's where we need to be.

All these are shadows, shades. Wisps in the wind. The promise of Jesus Christ marches through the ages, a hope for the aching need of all humanity and all eternity. The promise of God slain, that we might live. We can be His, no longer captives of our present circumstances, but abiding in our imperishable inheritance, abiding in our relationship with the One who holds all things.

So when war is declared again, when bombs drop, when tests are failed, when you and I fail, when friends desert, when nations stands divided, I'll be trying to stop, drop, and pray this time around instead of first internally attempting to solve all the problems and working myself into a very dizzy tizzy.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. — Phil. 4:6-7

This present darkness, these present tasks... They are quickly passing. They are worth our work but not our worries.