Transcendent Cause

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The sun reflected off the waves. The sand looked like baby powder. Another near-perfect 83-degree day, with a gentle breeze softening the heat and tall palm trees bent slightly to provide shade.

I took a deep breath of the salty air, closed my eyes, and tried to sleep off the most recent in a long string of hangovers.

I was chasing something. I just wasn't sure what.

I had moved around a bit, mostly tropical beach destinations, looking for the perfect place. I think I got as close as possible in the Caribbean. And yet, here I was. Hungover. Miserable. From the outside, everything looked fine: dream destination, decent job, plenty of friends, nothing pressing to worry about. From the inside, empty.

Sleep was elusive. My head hurt too badly. The thought finally came: God, seriously? This is my purpose? This is why I'm alive? To endure the endless cycle of hangovers and a life that feels pointless?

Sometimes it seems the more beautiful the geography, the more broken the people. Like they found perfection, only to find it empty.

What came back, not audibly but unmistakably, was something like: Finally, you've asked. No. This isn't the point. Let's get you home and onto the path I have called you to.

Two weekends later, I moved back home. I started attending church. Through a sermon on Passover, I met Jesus. The path changed.

We often tell the young men in our society to go on adventures to find themselves. To find their identity. To sow their wild oats.

But identity is not something we discover by drifting. Our Heavenly Father has already given us one, along with a purpose and a calling. That's almost never what we set out to find.

Your transcendent cause is the telos God created you for, fulfilled in becoming like Christ (teleios), expressed as love for God and love for neighbor..

Telos: You Were Created for This

God creates everything with the end in mind. From Genesis to Revelation, He works toward a telos: a purpose and a plan. He formed each of us, knit together in our mother's womb, known before we drew a breath (Ps 139:13-16).

His original creation was good. Eden was the template of His intent: His image-bearers dwelling with Him in unbroken communion, working, eating, walking with God in a place without sin or fear.

That communion is the deep memory underneath every restless human pursuit.

By Genesis 3, the template was fractured. Sin entered the world and broke everything. It twisted work. It distorted our relationship with God and with each other. It scrambled the purpose He placed in us. Humanity was exiled from the garden into a sin-infected world.

We've been searching for what we lost ever since, blind men in a maze.

We chase success and over-invest in work. Some try to escape into a bottle. Others reach for it in relationships. I tried most of these, including the "perfect" destination.

Some of us look in places that seem good. Religion. Morality. Being a good person. We over-index on respectable things and call the result spirituality.

The restlessness underneath the hustle, the relationships, the achievements, is a telos problem, not a circumstance problem.

The Wrong Cause: Pharisee Religion (Matthew 5:17-20)

Western culture bows to performance.

Ask anyone how they're doing. The almost-guaranteed answer is "busy." You only worked 60 hours last week? I worked 65. You volunteered two days? I served four.

We have an extraordinary capacity to pervert anything. Even good things. Especially good things. Performance with the wrong heart is the engine.

Jesus rebukes the Pharisees often, but especially in Matthew 23. These were people doing good things. They knew Scripture. They prayed. They gave. They were "God's people." Jesus calls them hypocrites anyway.

The motivation was wrong. They were not operating from faithful, heart-driven devotion. They were grand-standing for attention and admiration. They were pursuing self-righteousness instead of God's.

The Lexham Theological Wordbook defines δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē) as "justice, righteousness; the quality of being in accordance with God's law." The word carries both a moral sense (living rightly) and a legal sense (being declared right).

Jesus says He did not come to abolish or relax the Law. He says our righteousness must exceed the Pharisees'. That sounds impossible until you understand what He is and is not asking for. He is not asking for more religious performance. He is asking for a different heart.

In Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV), He summarizes the entire Law this way:

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

God gave us an identity in His image. He gave us a telos: to glorify Him and love Him, and to extend that love to others. The right cause is not compliance, performance, or religious theater. The right cause is becoming the kind of person who loves like that.

The wrong cause is performing for a verdict that has not been given. The transcendent cause begins where the verdict has already been declared.

Justification: The Demand Is Met

Jesus, the Son of God, existed before creation. He stepped down from His rightful place and entered our world on a rescue mission.

His mission was to complete the Father's will: that the Father's children would be redeemed and brought home. God the Father loves us so much that He sent His Son to die so we could be restored as His family (John 3:16).

The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb 9:22). The payment is steep, and we cannot make it. We inherited the very sin we cannot pay for.

Through the virgin birth, Jesus stepped past that inheritance and was born without sin. He continued to live the life we could not, perfectly aligned with the Father's will. He faced real temptation. He never sinned. (I explored this more in the previous post, Don't Win the Wrong Game.)

Then He fulfilled the Father's will at the cross. He was wrongly convicted and crucified as a sinner, though He was never one. He took on the sin of the world there. He paid what we could not.

The cosmic court demanded payment. Jesus paid it. By doing so, He declared everyone who trusts Him fully free. One sacrifice. One gift. Full satisfaction. We are declared righteous (dikaioō) in Him.

The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Elwell and Beitzel) defines justification as "the act of God in bringing sinners into a new covenant relationship with himself through the forgiveness of sins... a declarative act of God by which he establishes persons as righteous; that is, in right and true relationship to himself."

We do not perform, posture, or earn our way to God. Nothing we could do would be enough. The payment has already been made. What remains is to accept the Father's invitation: come back home, as sons and daughters, through faith in Jesus.

Sanctification: The New Heart (Matthew 5:1-47)

Justification and sanctification are different.

Justification is a one-and-done event. Declared free. Past, present, future. Complete.

Sanctification is an ongoing process. More like a child growing up.

Ezekiel 36:26 (ESV) paints it well:

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

God performs a heart transplant. Then He reshapes that new heart, day by day, by His own Spirit.

The Greek hagiazō means being made holy. Sanctification is the journey, not the entry.

Justification gets you in. Sanctification is who you are becoming inside.

Jason Allen's Matthew sermon series at Life Connection Church keeps returning to the question: who are you becoming? Where do you find your identity?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus walks through a series of heart conditions. These are not goal posts for salvation. They are markers of an ongoing transformation: the new heart of flesh growing into a heart that beats like the Father's.

Beatitudes (5:3-12): The Root, Not the Performance

Jesus sits down on the mountain. The disciples gather. He begins to teach.

He does not start with rules. He starts at the root. The Beatitudes describe what life looks like at the root level when God has begun reshaping a person.

He is showing what His scoreboard looks like compared to the world's. He cares more about the hearts of His people than their performance.

Salt and Light (5:13-16): Indicative, Not Imperative

You've probably met people who follow Jesus and just seem different. Joyful or radiant even in situations where others would not be.

That's because they are. As Christians, we have been set free. No longer under the guilt of sin. No longer captive to the world. We should live like it.

Set apart. Holy. Different. Not in an "I'm better than you" way. Not in a religious, uppity way. In the way that prisoners who have been eternally freed cannot help but live.

We have the best news ever. We should live as if it's true.

The Six Antitheses (5:21-47): To the Root

Notice Jesus doesn't abolish the Law. He doesn't even relax it. He reveals its true heart-intent.

The pattern: "You have heard it said... but I say to you..."

He is not removing the original command. He is showing that the command was always pointed at the heart, not just the behavior.

Anger (5:21-26): Murder begins in the heart. Jesus addresses murder, then shows that taking a life begins as anger long before the act.

Lust (5:27-30): Adultery begins in the heart. Adultery starts before the first touch. Glances turn to thoughts. Thoughts settle in.

Covenant faithfulness (5:31-32): Divorce begins in the heart. Unhealed hurts harden into bitterness. Without grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation, the heart prepares the way long before the paperwork.

Truthful integrity (5:33-37): Lying begins in the heart. The impulse to slide by, to avoid responsibility, to manage perception is the immature heart-reaction Jesus is targeting.

Non-retaliation (5:38-42): Vengeance begins in the heart. Plenty of practice opportunities here. Someone cuts me off in traffic and my first instinct is rarely grace. The instinct itself is the diagnostic.

Love of enemies (5:43-47): Hatred begins in the heart. Jesus loved us while we were still enemies (Rom 5:10). His mercy overcame our hatred. The same mercy should flow through us toward people we are tempted to hate.

Jesus pruned the religious. He rebuked the performers, the hypocrites, those who thought well of themselves. He transplanted sinners into Himself. He justified them. And He continues to mature them.

He is not merely teaching people how to behave. He is showing what a human life looks like when God becomes its center, the heart becomes its workshop, love becomes its pattern, and obedience becomes its foundation.

Teleios: The Completeness You Are Heading Toward (Matthew 5:48)

The call is perfection. Jesus says so directly in Matthew 5:48 (ESV):

"You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Honestly, this was probably the most clarifying verse in the chapter for me. I have read it many times and, candidly, I think I have skipped over it more than once. Perfection is not achievable, so my mind moved on.

On one hand, I was right. I cannot achieve perfection. That is exactly why Jesus came. He lived the perfect life I could not, on my behalf.

On the other hand, I was misreading the verse. The Greek word here is teleios. It does not mean "without error" the way our English "perfect" does. It means complete, mature, fully grown.

Connect it to telos, our purpose, and the meaning lands: we are matured into the purpose for which we were made.

Just as biological children grow up, God spiritually grows us up through sanctification.

God created us with a purpose (telos) and works in us by the Holy Spirit to bring that purpose to fruition (teleios).

He does not demand that we achieve perfection on our own. He knows we cannot. As Jesus tells the disciples in Matthew 19:26 (ESV): "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

New Home: Where the Cause Resolves (Revelation 21)

Go back to the beginning, to Genesis. There you find the root of the longing.

The world was good. People were very good. There was no sin. No pain. There was work, food, abundance. The people walked with God. They were in His presence, unafraid.

This was the telos for which we were created: to walk in the goodness of God and to glorify Him.

In Genesis 3, the desire for more overtook humanity. Sin entered. Everything fractured. We were separated from a Holy God who cannot abide sin.

But John 3:16 tells us God loved us so much that Jesus came on a rescue mission. He redeemed. He paid the ransom. He restored us to the Father. He lived the perfect life we could not. He became the perfect sacrifice. He died for us, making propitiation we could not afford, justifying us and freeing us from sin.

Justification was one-and-done: an eternal declaration of freedom through faith. But God was not done. He loves you as you are, and He loves you too much to leave you that way.

So He continues His work of sanctification. Heart transformation. Conforming us into the image of His Son.

Philippians 1:6 (ESV) tells us we can trust that work:

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

The Spirit will finish what He started. He will make us complete in Christ (teleios).

And then, at the end of the journey, the destination is not a return to Eden. Eden was the template. The destination is greater: the New Creation described in Revelation 21. A city, not a garden. God dwelling with humanity restored, surpassing what Adam and Eve walked away from. The Edenic communion fulfilled in cosmic scale.

The longing was never really for the past. It was for the consummation Eden pointed toward.

Closing: Your Transcendent Cause

When I first heard "transcendent cause," I assumed it belonged to people who change the world through extraordinary achievements. That may be true sometimes. But it is not the whole picture.

One of my favorite lines, often attributed to Brandi Snyder:

To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.

God created you for a purpose: your telos. He did not create you to be good enough. He did not create you to follow the letter of the law morally. He did not create you to accumulate points on the world's scoreboard.

Your transcendent cause may not be to cure a disease or build a rocket or solve world hunger. It is still your transcendent cause, your telos, what God has called you to. It may shape the life of one person or many. It matters either way.

What is required is ordinary faithfulness. Walking with God. Driven by love. Love that originates in the Father, is reflected back to Him, and then flows through us to others.

This is the path of teleios: becoming what we were made to be, complete as our Heavenly Father is complete.

Years ago in the Caribbean, the question I finally asked was: God, is this my purpose? The answer I heard, in the quiet way He answers, was no.

The home you have been chasing is the home God is welcoming you forward into, through the finished work of Jesus.

Welcome home.

 

About the Author: Chad is an ordinary dude loved by God, saved by Jesus, and trying to live a faithful life. A blessed husband and dad.

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Don't Win the Wrong Game

Sometimes the most dangerous thing in life isn't chasing the wrong thing. It's chasing a good thing the wrong way.

Men, we tend to be all-consuming and relentless in our pursuit of everything, especially good things.

Work? Good. God created it. Sport? Good. Marriage? God created, 100% good. Your thing? Probably good.

I turned a good thing bad over the weekend.

We went out of town for a baseball tournament. My son pitched one of the best games of his young career. I was proud of him.

Sunday came. Close game, extra innings. Two outs, a couple of runners on. Our pitcher was struggling because the other team's dugout was screaming while he was throwing and he couldn't focus. I needed an out. He had thrown 60 pitches the day before.

Then I did something I swore I'd never do. "Hey son, how's your arm?"

Stupid. I knew the answer before I asked. I knew it wasn't an accurate answer. I knew he'd tell me what I wanted to hear because he wanted the ball.

"It feels amazing!"

We lost the game. I hurt my son. And I violated my values.

This week, studying Matthew 4, I kept running into a better Father leading His Son.

The Holy Spirit Brought Jesus to the Right Game

Matthew 3 ends with Jesus's baptism, which I wrote about in The God Who Got in Line. Immediately after, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan (Matt 4:1–11).

Satan wanted Jesus to win the wrong game. He still does the same with us. He doesn't tempt Jesus to cuss, drink, or break an obvious commandment. He tempts Jesus to operate from His own power instead of trusting the Father.

That's the real battle is not moralism vs. immorality, but self-reliance vs. submission. Satan will happily let you be a "good man" if it keeps you from being a dependent son.

Know Your Playbook

If you want to fight, know your Bible. Most of us guys are ready to go toe-to-toe when we feel wronged. But the real fight isn't physical. The only weapon that works against the ultimate enemy is the Sword of Scripture.

Jesus could have called legions of angels. That wasn't the fight He was there to win. The bigger battle was spiritual, and Jesus fought it with the Word.

Satan tempted Him in three approaches: provision, protection, and power.

Provision. Satan dared Jesus to turn stones into bread. Prove your sonship, feed yourself, act independently of your Father. Jesus answered from Deuteronomy 8:3: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Jesus trusted the Father's timing over His own hunger.

Protection. Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and quoted Psalm 91. "He will command His angels concerning you." Jesus answered from Deuteronomy 6:16: "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." Jesus refused to demand proof of a promise He already believed.

Power. Satan showed Jesus every kingdom of the world and offered them to him. If Jesus would worship him. Jesus answered from Deuteronomy 6:13: "You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve." Jesus refused to take the crown without the cross.

Notice what Satan didn't do. He didn't argue about Jesus's identity. The temptations assume it, "since you are the Son of God." The attack wasn't on the title. The attack was on whether Jesus would trust the Father's goodness enough to wait.

It's easy to win the wrong game.

Jesus was fully human. He could feel the pull of hunger, comfort, and a shortcut to a crown. Satan offered Him a fast track: skip the suffering, get the kingdoms now. From the outside, it would have looked like a win. It would have been the wrong win.

He chose obedience over the shortcut. And it cost Him everything.

The Right Roster for the Right Game

After the wilderness, Jesus doesn't go recruit the obvious candidates for the throne He just refused to take early. He moves into the region of Zebulun and Naphtali in Galilee, a mixed-population frontier Isaiah called "Galilee of the Gentiles," and He calls fishermen.

This is still the wrong-game question, just answered on the staffing side. If Jesus had been chasing the world's kingdoms, He'd have built a roster that could take them. He didn't. He picked ordinary dudes.

Not Pharisees. Not the credentialed, polished, or self-righteous. Peter was impulsive and loud. Andrew was a bit quieter. James and John were volatile enough that Jesus nicknamed them Boanerges, "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17), and ambitious enough to ask for thrones later (Matt 20:20–28).

What Jesus does appreciate is the one thing they do right: they drop the nets and go.

Thank God He uses ordinary, broken guys. That means I'm available for His roster.

When He tells them He'll make them "fishers of men," He's not just working a tradesman's pun. Jeremiah 16:16 has God sending fishermen to gather His people. Ezekiel 47 pictures fishermen on the banks of the healed Dead Sea after the river flows out from the temple. Jesus is plugging these guys into a prophetic tradition of gathering. The first nets cast for Isaiah 9's great light.

The right roster, for the right game.

What Call Are You Making?

I have the honor of coaching 8U and 12U baseball. Kids this age are learning to throw, field, run the bases, and be good teammates. We work on fundamentals. We compete. We enjoy winning. There's nothing wrong with any of that.

But I try to keep the goal bigger than the scoreboard. Values. Leadership. Truth. A picture of what faithful competition looks like. We pray and do Bible studies. Baseball is great. Baseball is not ultimate. No game has an eternal impact by itself.

Kids make errors. They strike out. They drop fly balls. They miss signs. They stay on the team. On God's roster it's more secure than that. He chose us. We're going to sin. He doesn't cut us. Our mistakes are covered by the work of Jesus. Still loved. Still valued. Still called to grow.

So whether I'm reading about Jesus in the wilderness or standing on a baseball field with a lineup card, the same question keeps surfacing: what game am I trying to win? Quick results and easy approval? Or faithfulness to what lasts?

I made a ball call. It wasn't life-ending. My son will heal. There will be more games.

Don't make the wrong eternal call. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Mute the distractions. Sit in silence. Spend time with your Heavenly Father in prayer and Scripture. See what He wants to call you to.

We have plenty of good things to chase and win. Just make sure you don't win the wrong game.

Be careful of chasing the view at the summit, of eyeing the kingdoms and their glory. You can probably win them, but at what cost?

About the Author: Chad is an ordinary dude loved by God, saved by Jesus, and trying to live a faithful life. A blessed husband and dad.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets — who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises... (Hebrews 11:32–34, ESV)

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Related Readwise Source Highlights

Playing the Wrong Game

  • Sahil Bloom, The 5 Types of Wealth — "I wasn't playing the wrong game, I was playing the game wrong."

  • Shane Parrish, Clear Thinking — "he'd been trying to win the wrong game."

Good Things Becoming Idols

  • Knotty by Nature, "My Ears Closed, but Heaven Opened" — "consumed with…good things—things that slowly become idols."

  • Knotty by Nature, "Dig It" — "Satan tempted Jesus with good things… rely on his own strength."

  • Tim Keller, Center Church — "Everyone has to live for something, and if that something is not God…"

  • Jared Wilson, The Pastor's Justification — pursuing a "successful ministry" vision as functional idolatry.

Temptation / Matthew 4 / Spiritual Warfare

  • Paul Miller, A Praying Life — Jesus reenacting the desert journey.

  • Bethke & Tyson, Fighting Shadows — Satan eclipsing God with problems/temptations.

  • Bethke & Tyson, Fighting Shadows — "Fight the right way, in the right war."

  • Charles Spurgeon, The Armor of God and Spiritual Warfare — standing firm, sword of the Spirit.

  • Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life — Word of God as arsenal for the Spirit.

  • Cody Bobay, Soulcon Challenge — Satan sidetracks men from loving Jesus, wives, and kids.

Distraction, Focus, Values as Guardrails

  • Jon Tyson, "Love God With All Your Mind" — "He doesn't even have to deceive you if all he has to do is distract you."

  • Andy Ellis, "Avoiding Negative Value" — "Values are the trail markers that keep you from going the wrong way."

  • Farnam Street, "Surface Area of Luck" — "daily battle to focus on your ultimate goal, not the quick wins."

Be Still Before God

  • Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ — "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."

  • Chip Ingram, True Spirituality — "quietness and stillness are required."

  • A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God — "Lord, teach me to listen."

Baseball / Coaching Hinge

  • Brian Smith, The Christian Athlete — temptations following a loss (short with son/team).

  • Brian Smith, The Christian Athlete — earthly success vs faithful effort.

The God Who Got in Line

Image Source: Gemini

The King of Kings shows up to his own ministry launch and gets in line behind tax collectors and prostitutes.

I don’t know why, but it always surprises me. 

God has a history of using unlikely people to accomplish his will, something we explored in The Uninfluencers. 

Jesus continues to show up unexpectedly. 

It is no different when we encounter the scene of his baptism and are introduced to John the Baptist. 

The Unorthodox Baptizer

In the first six verses of chapter 3, we meet John the Baptist.

He is not your usual, polished Sunday preacher and certainly does not bear much resemblance to a Pharisee in appearance. 

John shows up robed in camel hair, chewing on some locusts and honey. I imagine we would describe John with words resembling homeless rather than polished. I wonder how we would respond if John showed up to preach in our churches on Sunday. 

John, the last of the Old Testament style prophets fulfills prophecies (2 Kings 1:8; Isaiah 40:3.) He addresses sin directly and without compromise. I think John would make us highly uncomfortable in our modern church culture, both from his appearance and his approach. 

He confronts all people with different approaches: those who recognize their sin, he welcomes to repent and be baptized. Those who don’t recognize their sin, he challenges them to repent and be baptized. He doesn’t use soft or mitigating language; rather, he comes at them directly, addressing the religious power as snakes. 

Those who are far from God often show up in unexpected ways, as well. I think, more often than not, we imagine evil as someone convulsing with their head spinning 360-degrees around their body, and while possible, more likely manifests in a three-piece suit with a large following.

If we were to have passed John the Baptist and the Pharisees on the street, I wonder which we would have assumed was representing God well? Makes me curious who I am judging today?

The Impressive Trees with Dead Roots

Delightfully robed, with power and importance dripping from the tassels of their adornments, the Pharisees and Sadducees arrive to shut down this rogue homeless man who is encroaching on their religious territory. 

They don’t realize they are infected with the sinful pride of the Older Son in the Prodigal Son parable of Jesus. They have done all the right things, know the Word of God intimately, they kept the law, are morally righteous. And, most importantly in their minds, they are from the blessed line of Abraham (Matt 3:9.)

John doesn’t roll out a red carpet for them and welcome them. He confronts them. Invites them, however unpleasantly, to repentance. He warns them that the One who is to come will separate the chaff from wheat, the righteous from the unrighteous, those who walk with God humbly from those who walk in their own self-righteousness. 

This isn't ancient history. This is every person who's ever substituted religious performance for heart transformation. The axe is at the root, not the branches. You can have impressive foliage, church attendance, theological knowledge, moral track record, and still be dead inside.

The danger isn't being far from God. The danger is being close to God, thinking your closeness earned by something you did. The Pharisees' sin wasn't ignorance, it was entitlement. They were So Close, Yet So Far Away, much like what we saw in the post on chapter 2. 

Notice what John the Baptist calls them to. He doesn’t say to either of the groups, go clean yourselves up, get better, do more, do less, or be anything.

He calls them to repent. To turn around. Stop chasing sin in any direction, whether it could be perceived as morally good or bad. It isn’t about what they do, but about who they are and whose they are. 

God does not follow our human expectations. Which is exactly what happens next.

The King at the Back of the Line 

Jesus shows up to be baptized by John, he doesn’t make a grand entrance. I think most of us would expect a king to show up more in the style of the movie Aladdin, where Aladdin’s arrival into the city, as a pretend prince, with great celebration and big to-do. 

Conversely, the King of Kings arrives quietly and gets in line behind tax collectors, prostitutes, and soldiers. Broken people confessing their sins, going under the water, coming up wet and hopeful.

Even John objects when Jesus says he needs John to baptize him. John objects: "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus: "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (3:14-15)

Then heaven cracks open. The Spirit descends like a dove. The Father speaks: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Three persons. One moment. One mission.

Though sinless, Jesus steps into the sinner's place taking on the role meant for the guilty. This is the cross in preview. Before Calvary, there's the Jordan River.

The Authentic Invitation

We live in a culture of self-promotion and platform-building. Jesus' first public act was to step down, not up. The King's ministry begins not with a throne but with a river, not with a crown but with submission.

He steps into that line with sinful, broken, lost people, not the line with the self-righteous, important, religious. 

Later, in Matthew chapter 9, Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.”

And, Paul, in Romans 5, describes our posture when Jesus sacrificed his life for ours, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God invites us and welcomes us exactly as we are. He is not asking us to get better, get our stuff together, clean up our act before stepping into his presence. 

Matthew shows us the King of Kings who doesn't demand that you climb to Him. He climbs down to where we are and He gets in line behind us.



About the Author: Just a broken, sinful, ordinary dude who is loved by God, saved by Jesus who is trying to live a faithful, obedient life. A blessed husband and dad. 

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So Close, Yet So Far Away

(Image Source: Gemini)

Looking at Easter from the beginning.

Death and opposition stalked Jesus from the moment of his birth. Despite being God, he endured hardship, attack, and opposition, more than any of us will face. Yet what strikes me most in Matthew 2 isn't the opposition itself. It's how differently people responded to his proximity.

It is interesting to note that proximity does not necessarily lead to a proper response. 

I think it is easy for us to assume that by attending church, or being near Christians, or even as it was assumed for quite some time being born in the US, made us Christian. In fact, my littlest the other day asked for confirmation that since we attend church, we are Christian, right? 

We discussed that while church is important for community and the Christian life, it doesn’t make us Christian by default. We must place our faith, hope, and trust in Jesus and accept him as our Lord and Savior to be a Christian. 

This was a great opportunity to discuss the gospel with my son. It was also eye-opening when entering Matthew 2, to notice how various people responded to the proximity of Jesus. 

They Knew the Answer

When Herod heard of Jesus' birth, he was immediately terrified. Not with reverent fear, but with the fear of losing his power. He summoned the chief priests and scribes and demanded answers (Matt 2:1-8).

They responded without hesitation. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, according to Scripture (Micah 5:2). They knew Scripture verbatim. 

These were the biblical scholars of their day. They had the prophets committed to memory. They possessed the entire roadmap of Jesus' life, the prophecies, the genealogy we looked at in the last article, literally in their working memory. Consider what they would have known well:                                                                                                                                      

  • Isaiah 7:14: The virgin birth, which Paul later connects to breaking the inheritance of sin through Adam (Romans 5:12-19)

  • Isaiah 9:6-7: Jesus, the child called Mighty God, Prince of Peace. 

  • Isaiah 11:1-10: pointing to the genealogy, that Jesus would be a Branch from Jesse's stump. 

  • Isaiah 53: that Jesus would be the suffering servant. 

Now contrast the Magi. They had also learned of Jesus' birth, but with significantly less information. No Torah memorized. No prophetic library at their fingertips. Yet they prepared gifts, traveled from Persia, and came to worship the King.

Six Miles and Twelve Inches

Herod is not ignorant. He knew who Jesus was. But, he reacted with fear. He was concerned about losing his worldly power. 

Similarly, with scribes and chief priests. They immediately responded to Herod when he asked where the child would be born. They knew exactly where to find Jesus, roughly six miles away from Jerusalem, the Holy City, in Bethlehem. 

They didn’t make the trip.

Don't miss this. The chief priests had all the information, all the head knowledge, all the prophecies memorized, yet their hearts were empty. They demonstrated complete indifference to the advent of the Messiah. They didn't take a few hours to walk down the road and check.

The distance between their heads and their hearts was twelve inches biologically. Spiritually, it was worlds apart.

Their indifference calls to mind Jesus' words to the church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22). He confronts them for being lukewarm. Neither hot nor cold. Indifference doesn't demand a response. Comfort doesn't produce action.

Meanwhile, the Magi, Gentiles and outsiders without all of Scripture memorized, made a journey of hundreds of miles through faith to worship the Messiah.

Notice God's immediate grace to the outsider. From the very beginning, he welcomes those the insiders overlooked.

Proximity doesn't guarantee a proper response. Judas walked with Jesus for three years, heard his teaching firsthand, and still chose betrayal. Herod sat six miles away with a roadmap to the Savior and chose murder. The scribes stood even closer to the truth, it was their profession, and chose nothing at all. 

Sometimes nothing is the most damning response.

The Pattern that Never Stopped

From birth, murder, betrayal, and persecution were constant in Jesus' life. But God's love and protection persisted even more.

n the second half of Matthew 2 (vv. 12-23), God warns Joseph through dreams about Herod and instructs him to flee to Egypt. Matthew sees something profound here: Jesus is reliving Israel's story. Israel went down to Egypt, suffered under a tyrant, and was called out by God. Jesus walks the same path, but where Israel failed in the wilderness, Jesus succeeds (Matthew 4). He endures forty days of Satan's temptation, refutes every attempt with Scripture, and angels come to minister to him (Matt 4:11).

The pattern continued through his entire life. Lost, broken, sinful people trying to defeat the very mission meant to rescue and redeem them.

As we celebrate Easter, it is evident that even death could not claim victory. Jesus, once and for all, defeated Satan, sin, and death on the cross to welcome us back into God's family.

Our Journey

Is there a six mile journey you are failing to take? 

We have more knowledge available to us today than at any point in history. Many of us have a few Bibles in our homes. We have resources, research, more documentation than we could possibly consume attesting to the facts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. 

I remember vividly, the beautiful day when laying on the balcony in St. Thomas, when God called me home. I was running, much like the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32.) Side note: Tim Keller did my favorite teaching on this, check it out.

I was the Youngest Son, running. I'm not sure what I was running to or from. It certainly wasn't toward God. Looking back, I think I was searching, unconsciously, for something like the Garden of Eden. I think most of us are. There's an inherent desire in us to return to God's perfect creation, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Gratefully, God didn't wait for me to figure it out. Much like the Father in Jesus' parable, God, my good, good Father, came running to me, inviting me back into his family through the finished work of his Son, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

Jesus stepped down from his rightful position in heaven, to come to our world. He lived the perfect, sinless life that I couldn’t possibly achieve. He was persecuted and crucified for my sins, taking my rightful place on the cross for me because of my Heavenly Father’s love for me. He completed his work by defeating the grave, rising on Easter morning to overcome Satan and his plans to steal God’s children. Now, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God, interceding for us! (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25, Hebrews 9:24, 1 John 2:1, Hebrews 1:3)

The courtroom image of 1 John 2:1 isn't a nervous defendant hoping for a good lawyer. It's a case already decided, Jesus presents his own blood as evidence. The verdict is settled. His advocacy isn't "please forgive them" but "I have paid for them." - Tim Keller 

Don't fail to take the twelve-inch journey. Let the knowledge that your Heavenly Father loves you, that Jesus Christ died to redeem you, travel from your brain and penetrate your heart. Come home to God. Let him embrace you like the Father of the Prodigal Son. He is not idly waiting. He is running toward you.

Happy Easter! 


About the Author: Chad is a broken, sinful, ordinary dude who is loved by God, saved by Jesus who is trying to live a faithful, obedient life. A blessed husband and dad. 

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The Uninfluencers

In a world of “influencers” and curated “realities” where everything is designed to promote self, perfection, or at least the illusion of it, it is almost shocking to read about the Uninfluencers that God used to accomplish his plan.

The New Testament doesn't open with a miracle, a sermon, or a dramatic scene. It opens with a list of names.

Following thousands of years of human brokenness and four hundred years without a prophetic voice in Israel, Matthew shares the family tree that leads to God's Redemptive Plan in Jesus Christ. From the outset, it almost appears like a false start. The names on this list include liars, adulterers, idolaters, and exiles. Matthew doesn't flinch. He leads with it.

This is good news generally. And great news for us specifically.

As we explore a section that most people, including me, usually scan through stumbling over the pronunciation of the names, we find something more honest than anything we'd post about ourselves online. We find historical insight, raw reality, and the kind of hope that only God can provide.

A Broken Road

The reality is every single person God used in history was broken. I remember the first time I read through the Bible, encountering the next man in the story thinking, ok, here is the one that is going to be solid and righteous. I mean, I am reading the Bible after all. Surely, someone is going to be righteous. Inevitably, every single one failed at some point. At least, until I got to Jesus.

It made Romans 3:10-12 (ESV) really standout in my mind:

> as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 

Since Genesis 3, when sin entered the world through the forbidden fruit, all people have been affected by sin, separated from the Holy God.

But here's the tension Matthew holds throughout this genealogy: God used broken people, and He also called them to faithfulness. Jacob deceived, but he wrestled with God and was changed. David committed adultery and murder, but his repentance in Psalm 51 remains the most honest prayers ever written. Rahab was a prostitute, but Hebrews 11:31 remembers her for her faith, not her occupation. The brokenness was real. So was the call to holiness. Both are true, and Matthew doesn't let us collapse one into the other.

The gospel opens with a genealogy full of adulterers, prostitutes, deceivers, and murderers. This is not accidental. Jesus didn't come from a clean line. He came into a broken one, on purpose. The Savior of sinners came through the family line of sinners.

Can you imagine what King David’s unedited LinkedIn profile would look like? 

(Click for full profile)

Four Women Who Shouldn't Be There

Matthew, while communicating to a Jewish audience, calls out four women in the genealogy. This would have been unusual enough on its own for his audience. But these four women carry stories that expose something deeper than scandal.                                                        

Tamar (Matt 1:3) disguised herself as a prostitute to confront her father-in-law Judah, who had broken his covenant promise to provide his son Shelah as a husband. When the truth came out, Judah himself declared, "She is more righteous than I" (Genesis 38:26). Tamar's story isn't about her deception. It's about Judah's failure, and God's purposes advancing through a woman who refused to let a broken promise stay broken.

Rahab (Matt 1:5) was a Canaanite prostitute in Jericho. Her occupation was real. But the writer of Hebrews doesn't remember her for it. "By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies" (Hebrews 11:31). What defined Rahab was not her past, but her faith.

Ruth (Matt 1:5) was a Moabite, a foreigner from a nation that traced its origin to Lot's incest (Genesis 19). She had no claim on Israel's God or Israel's promises. And yet she clung to Naomi and declared, "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God" (Ruth 1:16). Ruth is faithful, loyal, and an outsider who was grafted in by grace. Her presence in the genealogy quietly says: the Messiah's line was never ethnically exclusive.

Bathsheba (Matt 1:6) is not even named. Matthew calls her "the wife of Uriah," the man David had killed after committing adultery with her. Matthew uses Uriah's name to force the reader to remember David's sin: the affair, the cover-up, and the murder. The indictment falls on David, not Bathsheba. The name of the man David killed is permanently attached to the genealogy of the Son of God. You can read the full story of David's worst failure in 2 Samuel 11.

The Bible Doesn't Read Like a Highlight Reel

The Bible doesn’t read like a modern, perfectly created Instagram post, but more like a journal hidden under a bed, protected by a lock and key. The kind most people would be horrified if another person read. 

It highlights the fact that while God's Creation was originally perfect and sinless, that didn't last long, and we are in desperate need of a Savior.

We all come from a very long line of broken, sinful people. Throughout history, people have tried to obtain righteousness on their own. We can look great on the outside and have broken, sinful hearts. We have pretended to be righteous. Assumed righteousness because of family heritage or moral performance. But we always fall short of the glory of God by our own efforts.

And this is where the genealogy doesn't just comfort the broken. It also confronts the self-righteous. Judah thought he was fine until Tamar exposed him. David thought he had covered his sin until Nathan said, "You are the man" but not in the context that David might have been hoping for. The religious leaders of Jesus' day knew the Scriptures well enough to locate where the Messiah would be born (Matthew 2:4-6) but still plotted to kill Him. Proximity to truth has never guaranteed a right response.

God's Faithfulness, Not Ours

The genealogy is not a record of human faithfulness. It is a record of divine faithfulness despite human failure.

N.T. Wright points out that Matthew's three-by-fourteen structure creates an implicit argument: Israel's story has a pattern. Rise: Abraham to David. Fall: David to the Babylonian exile. And now restoration: exile to Christ. Jesus doesn't just continue the story. He ends the exile. Israel's true return isn't geographic. It's the arrival of the Messiah.

God didn't use broken people because only broken people were available. He designed a redemptive plan that would run through the full range of human failure, so that when it culminated in Jesus, no one could claim the credit belonged to the family line. The mess isn't an obstacle to the plan. It's the terrain the plan was always designed to cross.

Forty-two broken generations. Yet God never broke His promise. Not once.

What Hope Do We Have

Matthew closes Chapter 1 verses 21-25 (ESV) with the introduction of Jesus, who comes from this wild, unlikely family line. 

> She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The virgin birth isn't a footnote. It's the theological hinge. Every person in the genealogy before this verse inherited the same sinful nature we all have. The line had to be interrupted. Jesus had to be born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit, because the Redeemer had to be fully human yet free from the corruption that runs through every other branch of this family tree. The genealogy explains why the virgin birth was necessary, and the virgin birth explains how the genealogy's pattern of sin could finally be broken.

Spurgeon put it plainly, "Not merely from the punishment of sin, but from sin itself. It is not said that He will save them in their sins, but from their sins."

If God kept every promise through 42 generations of deeply flawed people, what does that say about your anxiety over whether He'll come through in your situation?

D.A. Carson notes that "God with us" in Matthew 1:23 and "I am with you always" in Matthew 28:20 bookend the entire Gospel. The story that begins with a broken genealogy ends with an unbreakable promise of presence.

I don't know about you, but I often feel "less than" or not worthy to be loved and accepted by God, certainly not used by Him. Like those in the genealogy before me, I have chapters in my story I would rather keep in the locked journal than expose.

This didn't surprise God and didn't catch Him off-guard. He knew every name on that list before they were born. He knew their failures before they committed them. And He put them in the line anyway, not because their sin didn't matter, but because His faithfulness is bigger than our failure.

The really mind-blowing part is that he knew from the beginning. It was his predestined plan for Jesus to enter the world from a line of broken, sinful people then to endure the cross to redeem God’s children. From beginning to end, this was by design.

The Uninfluencer Life

So what does it actually look like to live as an Uninfluencer?

It looks like the man who shows up to lead his family after a hard day at work when no one will write about it. It looks like the woman who mentors a younger mom without posting about it. It looks like confessing sin to a trusted friend instead of performing righteousness for an audience. It looks like ordinary faithfulness in obscurity, which is where most of the Christian life actually happens.

The people in Matthew's genealogy didn't know they were in the genealogy. Rahab didn't know her great-great-grandson would be King David. Ruth didn't know she was three generations from the throne. They were just faithful in the ordinary moment in front of them. That was enough. God handled the rest.

> We live in a time where men are encouraged to build platforms, protect their image, and surround themselves with affirmation. Correction is avoided. Accountability is optional. Truth is filtered.

– The Danger of a Self-Made Man, Knotty by Nature

Be faithful where no one sees. Be honest about what's in the locked journal. And trust the God who held every promise through forty-two generations of people who didn't deserve to be in the story.

Neither do we. That's the whole point.

Go be an Uninfluencer. A faithful, ordinary, redeemed child of God.



Challenging Prayer

How often do you pray? How rich is your prayer life? Are you like me and often find yourself praying the same general prayer daily? 

Deep, rich prayer has long been a struggle for me, even with intentional efforts to slow down and expand my prayers beyond surface level. Sure, I pray through the list and pray for our church, leaders, partners, our country, my family, but it more often than not becomes routine instead of a genuine conversation with my Heavenly Father, even when striving hard to do so.

I don’t think this is due to a lack of faith or doubt. I have witnessed God answer countless prayers. I think it is usually more due to busyness, routine, pride, self-reliance, and I have noticed my conversations with people sometimes have the same surface-level tendencies. We talk about the same things and answer the same questions each time.

It is a bit silly (scary?) how easily pride and self-reliance slip back into my life. 

Gratefully, God is gracious to gently remind me that I don’t, in fact, “got this on my own.”

As I have continued through the Precepts Bible Study on Romans 12, it recommended the always helpful idea of praying Scripture back to God. Specifically, Romans 12:9-21:

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.2 Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it3 to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (ESV).

As I consider and pray through this list, I realize how terrifyingly short I fall. Self-reliant? On what? Myself? The irony is that I'm only self-reliant at focusing on myself - that's the limit of my self-reliance. Maybe, it’s helpful if you ask yourself these same questions along with me? 

Do I:

  • Genuinely love others?

  • Truly abhor what is evil and hold fast to what is good?

  • Love one another with brotherly affection?

  • Outdo one another in showing honor?

  • Avoid slothfulness and serve the Lord fervently?

  • Rejoice in hope, exercise patience in tribulation?

  • Pray constantly? 

  • Contribute to the needs of others and show hospitality? 

Then, the list gets tougher! Do I:

  • Bless those who persecute me and not curse them?

  • Live in harmony with one another? 

  • Avoid haughtiness and associate with the lowly?

  • Live humbly and avoid being wise in my own sight? 

  • Don’t react and repay evil for evil but do the honorable thing for all to see?

  • Live peaceably with everyone? 

  • Never want retribution but fully rely on God for vengeance?

  • Feed and provide drinks to my enemy? 

  • Resist temptation and evil and overcome it with good?

There are very few times when I long to go back to my school days, but I wouldn’t mind getting graded on a curve for these. I score tragically low on this list. 

Here was the eye-opening truth to me this morning. I cannot score higher. At least, not on my own. I am an ordinary guy, not a Super Saint. And, that is the point. I am a broken and sinful person. 

The list is self-defeating. I cannot try harder, be a ‘better’ or ‘good’ person and satisfy the list and that’s the point. 

If I could focus all my effort and achieve some of these things, I would fail anyway. Why? Because succeeding by my own effort would make me wise in my own sight. I'd become prideful, glory in myself, pray less, and fail at other items on the list. 

Thank God he doesn’t require me to do this of my own efforts and ability. There is literally no possible way for me to achieve a perfect score. But, God sent Jesus to take my horrifically low score on this, and the rest of my sinful life, and through his death, burial, resurrection, ascension, defeating Satan, sin and death, he  gives me His perfect score! 

Then, as Paul started in Romans 12, through the transformation of my mind (12:2), through dependence on God, prayer, the power of the Holy Spirit, I can humbly live this reality for the glory of God.  

Thad Cardine has a great section in this post (he also has a helpful framework on how to execute scripture focused prayer - PDF download):

This lesson in the Precepts study ends with, “This will be an assignment blessed of God if you will take the time to do it. Devote yourself to prayer.”


Charisma

When I think of charisma, James Dean pops into my head. He exudes a smooth, polished, confident, demeanor. Or, if you just said who!? Maybe, Gerard Butler or The Rock, especially The Rock’s character from Jumanji, are a better example. 

Throughout my life, I have longed to have charisma. I wanted to be the guy that walked in the room and have everyone fall silent wondering what eloquence and grace would roll off my tongue. I mean, I could be the next James Bond, right? Unfortunately, I cannot even come close to faking Sean Connery’s accent, and yes, let’s be real with each other. He was by far the best James Bond. 

Imagine my shock and surprise when studying Romans 12 this morning, when Paul says I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith I that God has assigned (Romans 12:3 ESV.) 

So much for my James Bond dreams, thanks Paul! 

Paul continues in Romans 12:4-8 to talk about spiritual gifts. It was actually enlightening to read through the first 8 verses, then go back and study them in sections, then put it all back together. 

A brief summary outline of 1-8, reveals:

  • v1 Paul appealing to the Gentile believers to present their bodies to God as a sacrifice, holy and acceptable;

  • v2 Don’t be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind

    • by testing you may discern the will of God, what is good, and acceptable, and perfect

  • v3 mentioned above don’t think to highly of yourself, but be realistic and consider the measure of faith God has assigned you

  • v4-5 we are one body with many members all with a different function; we are all individually members of one another

  • v6 with different spiritual gifts according to the grace given us

  • v6-8 use the gift you are given to the fullest extent 

Wait Paul, so you are saying there’s a chance! Did you see it? I didn’t either, at first, until the Precepts study (which I again highly recommend) led me to look up the Greek word for “gift.”

The word:

χάρισμα (charisma), n. neut. something graciously given; a gift. Something that is freely given on account of favor and kindness.

Charisma! Paul is saying that God has blessed me with charisma! Ok, so maybe not the James Dean, suave, cool, magnetic kind of charisma, but charisma nonetheless. And, honestly, I’m good with that. My wife may disagree, but hey, there wasn’t much false advertisement in that deal, I’m pretty sure she knew what she was getting, sorry babe. 

Now that I am returning to reality, the thing I am really excited about is being ordinary. I have encountered this word a lot over the last year. So much so that it finally caught my attention and I am focusing on it as my ‘word of the year’ for 2026. 

One of my absolute favorite sections of Scripture has long been Hebrews 11:32–34:

“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight” (ESV).

I love how this describes a bunch of ordinary guys whom God uses for extraordinary things. They were normal, everyday dudes other than the fact that they were extraordinarily faithful. I may do a study and write about them individually, that sounds fun, we’ll see. But, the main thing I want to focus on for now is that they were ordinary, though immensely faithful, and God blessed them with charisma or spiritual gifts they used to do the will of God. 

This gives me great hope. Prayerfully, it does you, as well. I have often had thoughts throughout my life of:

  • I have screwed up too much;

  • I don’t have any special skills;

  • I’m not a super saint;

  • I don’t do most things well;

  • and others, with which, I’m sure you can relate.

How could God possibly use a guy like me, with a history like mine, that has no formal theological training, that…

He can because he is God. Because he has demonstrated throughout history, more often than not, that ordinary, not perfect men, are who he uses. There are countless stories throughout the Bible of God using improbable men in impossible situations for His glory. 

For years, I have felt God tell me to write. Like Moses, I counter with excuses and arguments: I’m not a good writer, God! I’m not a scholar, you know that! I’m not eloquent. I’m not…

God says, you are correct, sir! You are none of those things. But, you can be faithful. And, faithfulness is all I require. 

This is my ordinary faithfulness. I pray that God would use it to encourage other men, as well to take steps of their own ordinary faithfulness for His glory. 

Incidentally, I completed a spiritual gifts assessment a few years ago and my top two gifts were teaching and encouragement which seem to fit with this perceived call. 

I have a professional mentor who challenged me over the last few months to identify what Simon Sinek would call my “Why.” Or, in Japanese culture, ikigai (/ˈikiˌɡaɪ/) as "a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living". More generally, it may refer to something that brings pleasure or fulfillment. In Christianity, it might be thought of as a transcendent cause. The idea is to identify that thing in your life that is bigger than yourself that drives you.

Historically, I have completed exercises to identify my values, vision, and purpose and had gotten somewhat close to this, but never nailed it down specifically. Through this challenge, I did. 

My “why” or ikigai is to Awaken potential in others that they can't see themselves. The idea isn’t in some self-help-motivational-speaker kind of way, but to help men find that thing. The thing burning inside of them. The charisma. The thought energizes me like crazy: to help men find their gift and to use it to the full for God’s glory. 

Context and the Illusion of Privacy

Image Source: Gemini Nano Banana

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)

The rise of Artificial Intelligence has made the data we generate—from fitness apps to smart devices—immediately contextualized and weaponized. The traditional idea of privacy is an illusion, as individuals are constantly tracked and monitored by corporations and, increasingly, by powerful open-source intelligence tools accessible to anyone. The core advantage in the age of AI is context, and because that context is built upon our sensitive information, the personal responsibility to learn, understand, and defend against privacy threats has become paramount for every individual.

BLUF Summary created Gemini

It is a bit of a dreary day. It is a cold, energy-zapping, winter day. The scenery out my window reveals the mid-western Winter brand of Monochrome Grey™. 

I’m nearing the end of the work day, you know the time, just after the infamous 2:30 PM crash, right before the evening rush of activities starts. It is approaching my time slot for my workout. I am not feeling like working out today due to the weather, insanity of the day, or a hundred other excuses I could come up with.

I glance at my Apple Watch to do a time check and notice…hmm, that is new. 

There is a new little icon at the bottom that looks like…my Apple Fitness Strength Training button. It is. It is a bit faint, but definitive. 

I haven’t set a reminder or alarm. My Fitness app, presumably Siri-powered, has learned my every-other-day rhythm of strength training around 4:30 PM and is now gently nudging me that it is time! 

Multiple thoughts and feelings flash through my mind…Wow, impressive. Wait what!? I mean, it’s not that hard to recognize patterns, but it’s watching! Of course, it’s watching and tracking, that is what it does! Dang it, that means they are (obviously, but this is in-my-face obvious) tracking everything I do. I mean, I know this, it is essentially my job and what I do, but it’s Apple, it’s private, right? Right!?

The boys and I, even the youngest, have had conversations where even they have noticed that Google is always listening. They had been asking Google Home questions, those always-on eavesdropping devices most of us have littered throughout our house, waiting eagerly for us to chat with - whatever brand. I blew their minds a bit when I told them it wasn’t just the stations but our phones, tablets, even some TVs that listen and monitor. None of them are fans of that idea, though they use them almost constantly. Sound familiar? 

As I am working out, I reflect on my Apple Watch encouraging me to do so. I guess it was helpful, here I am. The little Apple move rings are just the right amount of gamification. I’m not into the badges thing but I do like the Seinfeld approach of not-breaking-the-chain to maintain habits. This little mental bump from Apple was the motivation necessary to get me past the inertia.

This personalized push toward fitness is useful, but it leads to a deeper, more troubling thought. But! Wait! What if they start (if they haven’t already) sharing or selling my information to my insurance company? I mean, obviously, my health insurance company is excited about giving me a “discount” for maintaining my fitness regimen for my own well-being, not their bottom-line. Oh no, what if I stop working out? Will my premiums go up?  

This is absurd. Stop, I tell myself. You are working out to maintain health, yet now stressing over this, which is not healthy. But, it is an increasingly important topic we need to be thoughtful about. 

A journalist, in 2020, went through some extra steps as an exercise, to see if they could avoid all the big tech companies and it was virtually impossible. That was five years ago. They're pervasive.

I'm not picking on big tech, in fact, they have a vested interest in protecting our information over smaller companies. Big tech may sell our data, which is frustrating, but we still have some ability to opt out of that as difficult and limiting as that may be.

We implicitly have greater trust in smaller companies, but they don't have the risk of losing enormous revenue or as stringent contractual obligations to protect our data in a lot of cases. This is even more severe as we consider newer small AI tools. 

Privacy and the illusion of it is such an elusive concept most of us care deeply about. 

When considering who “owns” our personal data and information, it has been said the idea of ownership depends on the country:

  • China - the country owns your data
  • America - the corporations own your data
  • Europe - you own your data (see GDPR, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.)

Even the EU is relaxing what was considered to be the Gold Standard for Privacy and their unwavering dedication to maintaining it. 

The global debate on ownership and regulation sets the stage for the next topic: the core advantage in the age of AI.

Context is King

Google (Gemini) lagged in the AI race for a long time. But! They have such context on people because of the millions of users through their suite of apps, search, and integrations with other apps they propelled to the leaderboard in an instant. 

It is staggering to consider how much information Google has on us. I often joke, which is probably not as much of a joke as I think it is, that Google knows more about me than I know about myself. Even if you don’t use the Google ecosystem as heavily as I have, Google has enveloped us into their world through dominating search for decades. 

For many years now, it has been said that data is the “new oil” when considering potential revenue generation. The OODA blog offers a more aggressive analogy:

Broadly speaking, a weapon is anything that provides an advantage over an adversary. In this context, data is, and always has been, a weapon. This post, part of our Intelligent Enterprise series, focuses on how to take more proactive action in use of data as a weapon.

However, to truly understand data's power, a crucial delineation is necessary. Data, by itself, is not that valuable; it only becomes a 'weapon' when imbued with context by AI.

It is becoming more apparent as AI continues to iterate that context is the ammunition for the weapon. Context is king. Data may be the new oil, but if tools can gain context they become insanely powerful. Unfortunately, the context comes from our sensitive information. While we gain capability, we lose the illusion of privacy.

> Data is the new oil; but knowledge is power

Since the advent of social media and the concept of applications, the way we engage with technology has changed. For years now, we have had “free” apps. It has long been said if you are not paying for the product, you are the product! We are just beginning to see the ramifications of this reality. 

Historically, our personal data was stored in these applications with Big Technology Companies (Meta, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) but it was somewhat difficult for them to contextualize or operationalize that data. There were risks but at the time, it was more a risk of them selling large datasets to data brokers or breaching our data, which did happen numerous times, like with Cambridge Analytica.

With the power of AI, these datasets are now able to be immediately contextualized and that data now becomes information or knowledge and is incredibly powerful and valuable. 

Previously, if I wanted to find something, I had to search or manually filter through datasets. It was doable but cumbersome. With AI, it takes seconds for it to analyze, aggregate, and relate it.

As with any tool, there is always the potential to use it for good or otherwise. There are a lot of positives stemming from our current infantile maturity of AI development around healthcare, business, even empowering individuals to become entrepreneurs when they may have otherwise been prevented, or virtually every other area of life. Unfortunately, there are similar opposite results in threats to privacy, safety, and business. 

I Don’t Have Anything to Hide

1…20, ready-or-not, here [A]I come! 

The days of believing we can simply keep to ourselves, fly under-the-radar, and believe we will be safe, secure, and have an expectation of privacy are long passed. 

Everyone now has something to hide. Well, maybe that is not fair. If you are truly a lone wolf, don’t have family or anyone you care about, live in the middle of the woods on some remote mountain in the middle of a country that has no internet, hunt for food and don’t rely on money or other social resources, maybe you don’t have anything to hide. I would argue the rest of us do. 

If you really do not think you have anything to hide, let me perform an open source intelligence investigation on you where I will likely find things like: your birthday, everywhere you ever lived, most of your relatives - probably some people you didn’t even know were relatives, acquaintances, criminal records, and so much more. Then we can just post that in an upcoming article. Any takers? 

Let’s consider some threats and attacks over the last year and those on the immediate horizon :

  • Not to mention the terrifying concept of brain implants this necessitates an entirely different post

    • We cannot secure our email accounts, but sure, let’s implant a computer in our brain

    • To be fair, it has been amazingly helpful for the initial recipient of Elon Musk’s implant

    • It is an incredibly slippery slope

    • Mitigations:

      • Just don’t! 

There are many, many other things we could look at, but I think you get the idea. The unfortunate reality is most of you won’t do this. You might read this and have the appropriate terrified reaction…for a day or two. Our economic system is designed to create inertia around this type of activity. We call it “stickiness".” We want you to stick around, use the apps, give us all your data, it is revenue generating! 

A few of you might, I hope, set aside 10-15 minutes per week and find a few things to do in the Awesome Privacy checklist, like setting up credit monitoring, lock down privacy settings on your social media, etc. 

A Path Forward

You may be wondering where we go from here. As I mentioned earlier, technology, even AI,  is a tool that has both positive and negative implications. 

Burying our head in the sand has never proved to be an effective option. It is more important than ever to understand this technology to be prepared to navigate our future successfully.

It is imperative we embrace, learn and thoughtfully engage in this new world. Ivaylo Durmonski rightly argues Critical Thinking is fundamental. 

The ability to operationalize information, weaponize Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) findings, and execute Deep Fake and Social Engineering attacks is unprecedented. It is no longer Nation States, though their power increases exponentially, that have the exclusive capability to surveil, track, or exploit individuals, but through Open Source tools, education and AI empowerment, anyone can become their own single-entity “intelligence agency.”    

The responsibility lies within ourselves to become our own defenders. The effort required for a non-technologist, everyday person is going to make Sisyphus’ struggle seem simple.  

There are alternatives like the Fediverse for social media and applications. While I enjoy self-hosting applications and tinkering with technology, the friction is going to prevent adoption from normal, everyday users. 

I do think we can thoughtfully engage , learn, and positively use these tools. The opportunity to learn is unprecedented. We literally have the best tutors in the world at our disposal who can teach us any topic we want to know, probably at an expert level. 

There will certainly be great advances in many areas and improve various aspects of life. 

I think the best thing we can do is learn, understand, and become aware of what is possible and share that information to empower others. 

I’m excited to see what you learn. Let me know in the comments what you are working on. I’ll have more for you soon on things I am doing. 

And, my workout was great, I feel much better. Thanks for the reminder, Apple. 

Faith Starts in the Heart

Image Source: Gemini Nano Banana

Where does your faith come from? 

I'd like to briefly explore faith with you as I work through some of my reading and studying this morning. This isn't intended to be an exhaustive evaluation or study on faith, but hopefully, a helpful stimulus for you to think through your own faith. 

I am working through the Precepts study of Matthew chapters 14 and 15 (side note: if you have not done a Precept (https://www.precept.org) study, I highly recommend them, I am thoroughly enjoying them.)

My study this morning was on Matthew 15:10-20 (All Scripture references are ESV.):

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (ESV)

A few things stood out to me, especially when expanding to a bit larger section of Matthew chapters 14 and 15:

  • The Pharisees were offended that the disciples didn't follow the tradition of washing their hands before they ate.
  • Jesus rebukes the Pharisees telling them it is not what goes into their mouth that defiles them. What they put in their mouth passes through the body and is excreted. It is what comes out of the mouth that defiles them, because that comes out of the heart. 
  • The Pharisees held to the tradition of men, teaching the commandments of men as doctrine, over the Word of God.

It made me think, along with some other reading and questions that I came across, maybe it is helpful to start with figuring out what my definition of faith is. 

The Precept study provided a nudge to think about this by asking the question, "How would you describe faith or explain it to another person?"

What Faith Isn't

Maybe it is helpful to explore what faith isn't first? Here is a short consideration of what faith is not.

We seemingly don't have to have much faith in things we can determine with our senses: 

  • If I can see something, it is typically real - AI arguments aside, that is a whole other discussion. 
  • If I can smell something, it is almost always real (my sons demonstrate this well)
  • If I can hear something, again, AI aside, it is likely real
  • If I can touch something, it is almost certainly real
  • If I can taste it, oh, this is a bit of a tough one with processed food, I guess at least, we can say it exists

Faith isn't believing in something that is immediately able to be experienced. I don't need strong faith to believe if the ladder falls over while I am putting up Christmas lights I am rapidly going to approach the ground. Yes, I am afraid of heights. Or, as it is more comically said, I'm not afraid of heights, I'm afraid of the impact. 

Faith isn't compliance. I don't have to have faith to comply with the law, though I do have to be obedient to do so. 

Faith isn't just a feeling. I feel lots of things, that doesn't necessarily mean I believe them or place trust in them. 

A couple of days ago in my study, I was working through Matthew 14:22-33, a passage I'm sure you are familiar with. It is where Jesus walks on water to the disciples who were in a boat in the middle of a storm. Peter, wanting to confirm it is Jesus, tells him if it is you Jesus, command me to get out an walk on the water. Jesus does. For a moment, when Peter's eyes are locked on Jesus, he does indeed walk on the water. However, when his focus shifts to the storm blown waves, he begins sinking. Jesus says in v31b, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

If faith is not these things, what is faith?

What Faith Is

When I encountered the question mentioned above, "how would you describe faith or explain it to another person," I had an immediate, but shallow response. About three seconds later, I was like oh, uhh, that is going to take some effort and maybe, I don't really know? 

I mean, I know. Don't you? This is one of those things that we "intuitively" know but struggle to explain why. Or, maybe that is just me. 

Even before coming to know Jesus personally, I had faith that God existed for as long as I can remember. I also, mistakenly, remember wanting him not to interfere with the happiness I was looking for in life. Well, that was a miss. But again, a different story for a different time. The point is I just sort of *knew* that God is God. 

Scripture presents a multifaceted understanding of faith that goes far beyond mere intellectual assent. Faith fundamentally “comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17), suggesting it is a dynamic, responsive relationship rather than a static concept. It is defined as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” and critically, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb 10:38–11:40).

The Logos Bible App had a helpful paragraph: 

> Importantly, faith is not passive—it requires active demonstration. James provocatively argues that “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” and challenges believers to “show me your faith by your works.” He bluntly states that “faith apart from works is useless” (James 2:14–26). Yet simultaneously, faith is a gift—“by grace you have been saved through faith... not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). Ultimately, faith is lived “in the Son of God,” with Jesus himself being the “founder and perfecter of our faith” (Gal 2:20); (Heb. 12:2). “Faith is not about perfect performance, but persistent trust.”

According to this, faith is, at least, includes this:

  • Active
  • A gift
  • Jesus is the founder *and* perfecter of it
  • It is not about performance but trust

Similarly, my pastor often says, it is not about the size of your faith, but the object of it, which echos Matthew 17:20: He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

There are many other verses that help us understand, a few: 

One of my favorite sections of Scripture is Hebrews 11:30-35 when discussing the heroes of faith:

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.

The passage above is so encouraging to me because it tells so many stories of ordinary men who through faith were brought through so much adversity. 

From the BetterMornings Devo, by BetterMan (these are always great, but the December 1st devotion was timely for me):

Puritan William Gurnall captured this tension perfectly: "God often brings His people into such a condition that they can see no deliverance but His."

If it made sense, you'd trust the plan. Because it doesn't, you're forced to trust God. Often the very moments that feel the most unreasonable are the exact moments where God is building the most unshakable faith.

These quotes were very helpful for me to better understand how to communicate what I intuitively *knew* about faith. 

Ok great, now what? We have seen what faith isn't and what faith is, but where, or in whom, does our faith belong? 

Where does your faith come from?

There are, obviously, many options available to us. Marketing departments work very hard to remind us that buying that next thing will satisfy - no offense to my friends in Marketing. You do great work, often too good of work. I have seen what happens when I try to live out life on my own terms, chasing the worldly things I thought would bring happiness. (Hint: that never ends well.) I have followed my feelings with a similar result. 

It took awhile, but I finally came to discover that faith that led to joy is only found in Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of my faith. Jesus captured my heart and continues to transform my heart. In Ezekiel 36:26, God promises, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Now, my faith rightly comes from my heart. 

YouTube Music notified me of a new song while writing this, "Ain't Got Enough Faith" by Conner Smith, which I think sums up my journey well:

*When it comes to thinking someone’s up there looking down
Well buddy, I’ve got to
‘Cause I ain’t got enough faith not to*

As I continue in the Precept study, it then asked the harder question. 

It is a question that invites introspection and examination; a couple of things I regularly find difficult. I would like to extend that invitation to you. You're welcome. Take a few moments. Even just a couple. Find a silent space without distractions or interruptions and ask yourself.

Is your Christian walk more governed by a traditional code of dos and don'ts or by the clear commandments and teachings of the Word of God? Don't answer this off the cuff—think it through.

As you consider that question, ask God. Regardless of where you are in your faith journey, God is listening and cares. He invites us to seek the truth and is faithful to answer. 

Manhood Journey, another valuable resource I would recommend, invites us to take a couple more minutes and pray through Colossians as we engage in our daily routines:

Colossians 2:6-7:

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:6-7 calls us to walk in Christ, rooted and built up in Him, and abounding in thanksgiving. This week, connect a simple prayer to something "ordinary"-your morning coffee, commute, or dog walk. Pray something like: "Jesus, I'm walking with You."

---

Sources: 

AI Awareness and Detection Tips

Image Source: Nano Banana Pro - Google Gemini

Outline

  • Intro: Question Reality 
  • Network Chuck video - please take 20-minutes to watch this! 
  • Detection Tools and Tips

Question Reality

We have been inserted into a battle we cannot win, at least, without awareness and tools.

While AI has been around in various aspects for decades, Generative AI went mainstream in late 2022 when OpenAI released ChatGPT. At its initial appearance, it was quaint, quirky, and qualitatively obvious. We could have it write something or even create crude images that were painfully obvious that they were AI generated. 

In three short years, it has improved so drastically, it is impossible in many cases, to detect AI generated content from human created content. At the moment, the #1 song on the Country Top 40, is by AI.

A small example of an AI generated image that appears convincingly real, is the banner image for this post. Nano Banana, a tool by Google Gemini updated a couple of weeks ago and is mind-bending powerful. 

The image was generated in a few seconds using a prompt:

Create a hyper-realistic, ultra-sharp, full-color large-format image featuring a massive group of celebrities from different eras, all standing together in a single wide cinematic frame. The image must look like a perfectly photographed editorial cover with impeccable lighting, lifelike skin texture, micro-details of hair, pores, reflections, and fabric fibers.

GENERAL STYLE & MOOD: Photorealistic, 8k, shallow depth of field, soft natural fill light + strong golden rim light. High dynamic range, calibrated color grading. Skin tones perfectly accurate. Crisp fabric detail with individual threads visible. Balanced composition, slightly wide-angle lens (35mm), center-weighted. All celebrities interacting naturally, smiling, posing, or conversing. Minimal background noise, but with enough world-building to feel real.

THE ENVIRONMENT: A luxurious open-air rooftop terrace at sunset overlooking a modern city skyline. Elements include: Warm golden light wrapping around silhouettes. Polished marble.

It is unsettling to me that this technology has advanced so quickly, even reading and studying it constantly, it is virtually impossible for me to keep up. My desire is to engage, educate, and empower others to understand this technology and be able to protect themselves. See video below.
 
For clarity, I use AI quite a bit. It is incredible technology. My thoughts and writing are my own, though may be cleaned-up, edited, grammar fixes, etc. by AI. But, I use AI in a lot of other ways that I will share in other posts, but a small example, one of my sons is beginning to get curious about technology. We built a Bible Trivia Game in about five minutes using ChatGPT and Antigravity. 

Network Chuck

Summary: 

Network Chuck is one of my favorite content creators for technology. He is funny, entertaining, shares my love for coffee, breaks technical topics down to a digestible level, is a brother-in-Christ.

This video has some excellent content. It is a bit different style than the majority of his videos. it is an interview-style exploring topics with some folks form BitDefender. If you need anti-virus, BitDefender is a solid choice - not an advertisement, just a side note. 

I really want you, even if you aren't into technology, to spend 20 minutes to watch this video. He touches on some important topics. There is some techy content, but he explains it very well. Most importantly, I want you to pay the most attention to the content around Deep Fake attacks with AI. I'll give you some tools and tips at the bottom of the post to help defend yourself. 

My Highlights:

Video below my highlights if you want to just skip to that.

Ransomware payments:

If you talk to law enforcement, which also has access to the actual databases of people who paid, the real number is closer to 70%. Think about that. Small businesses, families, grandmothers—your grandmother—paying $600 or more that they cannot afford.

Voice-cloning scams:

We have seen voice cloning used in scams, especially ones attempting to mimic family members or friends. It only takes eight seconds of your voice to clone it. Imagine your mom getting a call that sounds exactly like you saying, “I’m in trouble. I need money.”

AI honeypots catching scammers:

In the video, Roz calls an AI honeypot pretending to be a scammer. The AI plays the victim—and even has personality. It proceeds to engage the scammer just like a real person would.

Multi–touch-point attack detection:

Scammers now start a scam on WhatsApp, then continue it in your browser, then switch to phone. Banks added obfuscation so screens shared from a phone show as blank, but scammers adapted: “Don’t do it on your phone. Open it in your browser instead.”

Heartbreaking ransomware case:

A couple in Syria had their single family computer infected. They could not pay the $350 ransom—which may as well have been $35,000. What made this case devastating was that the attackers were holding hostage the only remaining photos of their two children who had died in the war. These criminals were extorting them using the last memories of their children.

Cybersecurity as a human right:

Cybersecurity should be a fundamental human right—just like liberty and critical thinking. It should not be conditioned by money. Once people realize how deeply digital life affects their physical life, they understand the need to secure it.

Detection Tools and Tips

There are quite a few takeaways that we can glean from his video. Also, as he mentions, protecting ourselves from attackers is always a cat-and-mouse game. With that, here are some helpful things you can do to protect yourself and your family. I will constantly be adding content, tools, and tips on this. My desire is to give you quick, easy wins to improve your security posture. 
  • Be careful what you post on platforms without required authorization - we will talk about OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) in future posts
  • Use pass phrases instead of passwords, e.g. "cow jump moon" (don't use that) is much more secure than "Winter2025!"
  • Use multi-factor authentication everywhere (NEVER give your code to anyone)
  • Use a password manager, there are a lot of great options, a couple of my favorite, easy-to-use options are:
    • BitWarden - free options, cross platform
    • Apple Password manager - built in to iOS devices
  • Use passkeys where available
    • These use biometric authentication (fingerprint, facial recognition, etc.) reduces friction and improves security - win win!
  • Question everything
  • Use extreme caution when clicking on anything, opening attachments - double and triple check
  • Always verify - never call a number in an email, look it up in Google or other source and verify legitimacy
  • Have a family code word - yes, it is crazy we are here, but in the event of a deep fake voice attack a code word will be helpful
  • NEVER give an unknown person remote access to your computer
  • Google, Microsoft, the IRS or anyone else will call you out-of-the-blue and request access to your computer
  • If they do, hang up. Look up their number elsewhere and call them back
  • Deep Fake verification tools - these are new and not completely dependable, but a good first step
  • https://scanner.deepware.ai/ 
  • https://deepfakedetection.io/deepfake-image-detection
  • Make backups of your important information and keep it disconnected from your network; use cloud storage
  • Incredibly good, easy-to-use tool to work through improving your home security https://digital-defense.io/

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