Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, what's in your journal? It's actually prompted by an editorial board piece in the Wall Street Journal recently called the revealing diaries of Dr. Fau. Now, that's a name with which we are all familiar. Dr. Anthony Fauci was kind of the leading spokesperson for the United States government's approach to dealing with the COVID 19 pandemic. We all watched his press conferences, and lived by the rules that, at least in some way, were coming from him. Well, recently, over 1,000 pages of his private diary were made public during the time published by Senator Rand Paul. And probably at this point, to no one's surprise, they reveal a much different picture than what Dr. Fauci was saying in a public way. For example, in the diary entries, what you find is a guy who loved the attention he was getting, who loved the celebrity, loved being mentioned by celebrities, being championed, by celebrities. But publicly, he was saying, hey, I don't want attention. I don't want recognition. Privately, he was reveling in it. Publicly, he was saying there was no chance that the COVID 19 virus came from a lab in China. Privately, he's acknowledging that at least there is some reason to think that it might have. And it goes on and on. The journal entries expose a dramatic inconsistency between what Dr. Fauci was saying publicly and what he actually believed privately. Again, adding to this kind of growing cynicism that we all have about our elected officials and our government officials, that maybe they aren't always being genuine with us. And that is one direction we could go with this episode, right? To lament the state of government, to lament hypocrisy and disingenuity. but that's not actually the way I'm gonna go. All those things are true. but when I read this story, it made me think more about a divide with which I am familiar in my own heart. because the truth is, all of us have a public Persona and a private one. All of us have who we say we are and how we live when people are watching and then what we really think and how we live when no one is around. Most of us just aren't celebrities enough for. For our journal entries to be made public. when I read this, I thought, boy, if I had written a Journal over the course of my life. I would guess I'd be pretty embarrassed by some sections in it as well. I would guess there'd be some inconsistencies and some incongruencies between who I say I am and what I was actually saying when I didn't think anyone would know. You know, Jesus says this in the gospel of Luke 8, 17, that, nothing is hidden that will not be made mannerable, manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Of course, here he's talking about the day of Judgment. Here's why I'm making, this point. I think most of us think that when we stand before God, what will be evaluated is the public Persona. that somehow God's going to be impressed by who he worked really hard to be. When people were watching the image of we were projecting. but I think what Jesus is saying is actually on the Day of judgment, he looks at both. And in fact, it might be more telling who we were in private. I was really challenged by this story. You know, it's one thing for me to say, oh, no, I mean professionally. I'm a pastor. I'm up on stage, I'm talking. I'm trying to drive the church forward, reach people who don't know Jesus publicly. All those things look great. But what does my journal say? that's the question I want to leave you with today. Who are you in private? What are the contents of your thoughts and your feelings and your emotions? Where is your heart? With Jesus, with his kingdom, with your neighbor, with your family, with the people around you? Because today is the day to acknowledge and confess our journal entries before God. Today is the day to receive forgiveness, because according to Jesus, one day we're going to answer for them, whether we avoid that day today or not. Dr. Fauci is living this in a public way. and I lament again the disingenuity of our government officials. But I'm more focused on my own heart and my own life. And my prayer today is God, make my public Persona and my private one one in the same. Help me to be who I need to be, who you've called me to be when everyone's watching and when no one is watching. Boy, would this world be a different place if we all began to pray that. Hey, thanks for checking out Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community Chapel app or website cccchapel.com.

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