Latest / Reformed Thinking / Reclaiming the Nation after Occupation: Language, Memory, and Identity in Wartime Ukraine

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Reclaiming the Nation after Occupation: Language, Memory, and Identity in Wartime Ukraine · Reformed Thinking

0:00
You know, usually when you go into a clinic for a medical
0:03
diagnosis, there is this, like, baseline expectation of
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precision. It feels like engineering
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almost. Oh, for sure.
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Yeah. You fall off a ladder, you break
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your arm. The doctor puts the X-ray up on
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the light board, shows you that jagged white line in the bone,
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points at it and says, there it is.
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That is the problem. Right.
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It is a completely binary situation, Yeah.
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It is either broken or it is not.
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The evidence is right there in front of you.
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Broken or not broken. Clean, clear, actionable.
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Welcome, by the way, to a new session of reformed thinking.
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I invite you to pull up a chair, get comfortable, and join this
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conversation. Because as clean and clear as a
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medical X-ray might be, when you step out of the clinic and into
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the world of geopolitics, national identity, and the
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spiritual realities driving human conflict, suddenly that
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X-ray machine just shatters. Yeah, it really does.
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We are looking at a diagnostic landscape today that is honestly
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incredibly murky. The lines blur for a lot of
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observers. Absolute definition of
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diagnostic. Muddy Waters.
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I mean, when people watch the news, the lines between right
1:05
and wrong, oppressor and oppressed, temporal survival and
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eternal reality, will those lines get crossed, smeared and
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confused very quickly? Observers want a simple
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narrative, but human conflict always resists simple
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narratives. Which brings us to our mission
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for today's discussion. We have two very distinct stacks
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of research in front of us, and honestly, at first glance, they
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look like they shouldn't even be in the same room.
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They really don't. One stack is raw on the ground
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sociological data from post occupation in Ukraine.
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We are talking about the hard numbers on language shifts,
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destroyed monuments and civic legislation.
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And the second stack is a heavy, rigorous theological text.
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It looks at these exact same historical events, but frames
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them through the lens of divine Providence, human depravity, and
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the eternal Kingdom of God. Right.
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So our goal is to bring these two together.
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We are going to unpack how words and monuments define a physical
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nation on a map, and what these earthly, violent struggles
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reveal about the human soul's desperate need for a heavenly
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city. It is a massive undertaking, but
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a necessary 1. I think we are taking the
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tangible, earthly data of a society currently in the
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Crucible of war, and we are viewing it through a specific,
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robust theological framework. We are asking what the visible
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data from the streets of Eastern Europe tells us about the
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invisible condition of humanity as a whole.
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OK, let's unpack this, because before we can even look at how a
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wounded national identity is rebuilt, we need to establish
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why the destruction occurred in the first place.
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Right, the root cause. Yeah, we have to move past the
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standard television talking points, you know, the stuff
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about pipelines and buffer zones, and get to the
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theological root. The secular framing from our
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first stack of research says the Ukraine Russia war is a contest
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over territory, sure, but it goes further.
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It argues the conflict is fundamentally about the right to
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narrate a past. The sociological data suggests
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the invasion is driven by Russia's ideological denial that
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Ukraine possesses any distinct historical, linguistic or
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political life independent of Moscow.
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And that sociological source correctly identifies the
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ideological symptoms. It sees the erasure of history.
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It sees the denial of a distinct independent life.
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But the second source, the theological text, provides the
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underlying pathology. This conflict is not a random
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historical accident, and it is not just a disagreement over a
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border. The author brings in the
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Westminster Confession of Faith, specifically chapter 5,
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paragraph one, which states that God directs, disposes, and
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governs all creatures and actions by His wise and holy
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Providence. The text also points to Acts
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17.26, which declares that God has determined the times
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appointed and the bounds of the nation's habitations.
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Wait, I want to pause right there because this is a massive
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claim. We have a secular source saying
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this is a war over the right to exist as a distinct people, and
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we have a theological source agreeing with that, but adding
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that this distinct existence, these specific national borders,
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are actually ordained by God. Precisely.
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And that leads to a very firm rejection of modern secular
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academic frameworks by the theological author.
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The text argues that constructs like critical race theory or
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Marxist intersectionality completely fail to explain the
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true root of the bloodshed we are seeing.
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Because those secular theories try to categorize all human
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suffering into very modern paradigms, right?
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Yes. They do Like they want to divide
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everyone into systemic oppressors and the oppressed
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based strictly on economics, class or racial hierarchies.
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Yes, the theological text argues, those theories strip
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humanity of moral agency and ignore the fundamental issue of
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sin. Instead, the author asserts that
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an unprovoked invasion is a direct manifestation of total
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depravity. I'm going to stop you again,
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because for the listener who isn't spending their weekends
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reading Purits and theology, Total Depravity sounds like a
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horror movie title. Oh, absolutely does.
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It doesn't mean humans are as evil as they could possibly be
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at every single second of the day, right?
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It means there's no part of human nature, our mind, our
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will, our affections that isn't infected by an underlying
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selfishness and rebellion against God.
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That is a highly accurate clarification.
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Total depravity means the infection has reached every part
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of the system. The text quotes Jeremiah 17.9,
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noting that the heart is deceitful above all things and
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desperately sick. It also references James 4,
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which asks a very blunt question.
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Where do wars and fights come from?
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James answers that they come from the desires for pleasure,
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that war in your members. The unregenerate human heart
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possesses A relentless lust for dominion.
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When you take that inherent lust for dominion and you arm it with
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the machinery of modern state tanks, artillery, state, read
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media, you get unprovoked aggression.
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I look at it like a massive dam failure.
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Imagine a town flooded because a colossal concrete dam burst.
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You have secular theorists standing around in the
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floodwaters trying to blame the weather patterns, or they are
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measuring the unexpected volume of rain that week.
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But the theological view points out that the concrete of the dam
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was rotten from the inside out long before the rain ever
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started. The human heart's inherent
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sinfulness is the rot. That is what makes tyranny and
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violence inevitable when the pressure rises.
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What is fascinating here is how the source contrast this robust
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biblical view with liberal theology.
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Liberal theology often downplays the severity of original sin and
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prefers to view humanity as inherently good, but perhaps
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misguided by bad environments. So liberal theology assumes if
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we just give everyone better education and better economic
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opportunities, we will eventually eradicate war.
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Yes, that is the humanistic optimism baked into liberal
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theology. But the author points out that
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this worldview completely shatters when faced with
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reality. Liberal theology fails to offer
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any coherent answers. When you were standing in front
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of the mass graves of Bucha, we're looking at the rubble of a
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leveled city like Mariupol. It can only offer empty
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platitudes. It cannot explain the sheer
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malice. Whereas a rigorous biblical
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worldview anticipates this exact kind of fallen human behavior.
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It does not blink in the face of atrocities because it
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understands what the unregenerate human heart is
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fully capable of when civil restraints are removed.
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So we have established that human conflict stems from a
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fallen nature. Now the conversation shifts to
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how this conflict plays out on the ground, in the actual
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streets, schools and homes of a nation under fire.
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The most immediate boundary drawn by a society under threat
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is the language it speaks. Here is where it gets really
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interesting. Our first source share striking
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statistics from the Rosenkopf Center gathered in June 20, 2478
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percent respondents now name Ukrainian as their native
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language. That is up from 52% back in
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2006. That's a huge jump.
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Meanwhile, those naming Russian as their native language dropped
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from 31% down to just 6%. Additionally, 72% of people use
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only or mostly Ukrainian outside the home.
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This is a massive structural shift in how people communicate
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daily. It is a staggering demographic
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realignment, and the sociological source
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contextualizes this by pointing out reports from Human Rights
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Watch. When the occupying forces take
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over a territory, what is the first thing they do?
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They target the language. Russian authorities forced
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Russian curricula into the local schools, they actively suppress
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Ukrainian online classes. They seized and destroyed
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Ukrainian books, and they made the Russian language a literal
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loyalty test. Speaking Ukrainian became a
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punishable act of resistance. Think about the cognitive
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friction of that for a second. Imagine you wake up tomorrow and
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you realize the language you grew up speaking to your mother
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is now being used by an invading army to justify bombing your
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neighborhood. Yeah, that would be terrifying.
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You would probably drop that language overnight too.
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I look at this linguistic shift almost like an IT department
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changing a computer networks operating system during an act
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of cyberattack to block a hacker.
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It is an act of defense mechanism when the invader uses
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their language to claim you belong to them.
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Switching your language blocks that claim you are literally
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unlearning a mother tongue to protect your house.
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The human effort required for that shift is monumental.
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Now bring in the theological framework from our second
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source. The text introduces the concept
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of Babel from Genesis 11. Most people read the story of
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the Tower of Babel strictly as a story of punishment.
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Humanity rebelled, so God confused their languages.
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Right, like a divine penalty for arrogance.
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But the theological text argues it was also an act of severe
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grace. At Babel, God used language as a
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judgement, yes, but also as a mechanism to forcibly disperse
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rebellious humanity to fulfill his original mandate to fill the
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earth. He prevented them from
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centralizing their rebellion. That is a really interesting way
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to frame it. And the text also highlights the
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Greek word ethnos, which appears throughout the New Testament to
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describe distinct people groups bound by shared custers, lineage
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and language. The argument here is that
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language is a God ordained boundary marker.
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It prevents the kind of homogenized imperial tyranny
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that humans naturally try to build.
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The source takes it a step further, making a spiritual
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comparison which I found totally fascinating.
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It does. The author draws a parallel
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between a nation rejecting an oppressor's language and the
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biblical command for believers to separate from theological
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error or idolatry. The text sites 2nd Corinthians
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6.17 the call to come out and be separate, and Jude 3 the command
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to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the
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Saints. So the author is saying that
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changing your daily book is to a church purging false teaching
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from its pulpit. Yes.
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The theological argument is that rejecting an artificial
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brotherhood built on subjugation is a legitimate, necessary
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defense of the boundaries God has appointed for a specific
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ethnos. It is a rejection of a false
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unity. I have to ask a question here
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though, and I am genuinely struggling with this part.
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If a state mandates a language to fight oppression, how do they
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avoid becoming oppressive to their own citizens?
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That is the big question. Let's be real, there are
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millions of people in Ukraine who grew up speaking Russian,
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who still speak Russian, but are fighting in the Ukrainian army
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right now. They are volunteering, they are
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delivering supplies. They are bleeding for their
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country. How does the state mandate a
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national language without alienating the guy in the
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trenches whose internal monologue is still in Russian?
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That is the tightrope the government has to walk, and the
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sociological source answers that by calling for civic patients.
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A state language creates equality when it invites people
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into a common public sphere, but the application has to be highly
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targeted. The policy must target the
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imperial force of the Russian state apparatus, not the
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individual citizen. Give me an example of what that
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looks like in practice. It means the state requires
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Ukrainian competence for public institutions, for the courts,
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for official documents and for the education system that
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ensures national sovereignty. But it must implement this with
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humanity. Civic patience means the law
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does not target a bilingual soldiers prayer in the trenches.
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It does not target a grandmother's accent in a rural
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village. It targets the use of language
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as a weapon of assimilation. You distinguish between the
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imperial project of the enemy and the complex personal
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biographies of your own people. You give the population time to
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adjust their operating system, to use your analogy, rather than
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punishing them for the hardware they were born with.
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OK, that makes sense. Words define the present
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boundary of a people. If changing your daily language
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is how you block the enemy from hacking your present, how do you
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block them from hacking your past?
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Because that is the next logical target.
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Oh, without a doubt. They don't just want your
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streets, they want your history books.
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We have to look at physical monuments and historical
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narratives. The physical toll on Ukraine's
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cultural heritage is massive. Our source notes that UNESCO
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verified damage to 526 cultural sites by April 2026.
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This includes museums, religious sites, archives and libraries.
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And we have to pause and consider what a destroyed
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archive actually means. We're not just talking about a
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damaged brick building. We're talking about centuries of
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birth records, marriage certificates, poetry and local
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history turned to ash and blowing through the streets.
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It's tragic. The occupiers are actively
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stealing archives and rewriting history textbooks in the
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territories they control. Why focus so heavily on the
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history textbooks? Why do they care what a fifth
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grader learns about the 1800s? Because an occupier understands
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that controlling the present requires overwriting the past.
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If you can alter a nation's memory, you manufacture their
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consent. You convince the children that
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they never had an independent identity, that they always
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belong to the Empire. You make the past
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unintelligible, so the only logical future is submission to
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the invading force. Ukraine has responded
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legislatively to this threat. The source details a 2023 law
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focused on decolonizing toponymy.
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Toponymy just means place names, street names, parks, city
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squares. They are systematically changing
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geographical markers that honor Russian imperial figures.
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There is also a 2025 law on national memory politics aimed
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at restoring and preserving A distinct Ukrainian narrative.
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Think about the physical act of this.
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Imagine a city worker in a high visibility vest taking a wrench
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to a street sign that has honored a Russian general for
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100 years, taking it down and putting up a sign honoring a
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local poet. It is an incredibly visceral act
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of reclaiming identity. It is a physical manifestation
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of a psychological shift. Yeah, and the theological text
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provides a brilliant lens for understanding why this is so
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critical. The author introduces the Hebrew
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concept of Zakhar, which means to remember.
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But in the Old Testament, remembering isn't just
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nostalgia, right? It isn't just looking at an old
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photograph and feeling sad. No, Zakhar is a highly action
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oriented word. It is covenantal.
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In Deuteronomy 5.15, God commands Israel to remember that
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they were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord brought them out
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with a mighty hand. This kind of memory dictates
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future action. Because they remember their
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deliverance, they must obey the Sabbath.
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Because they remember they were oppressed, they must treat the
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foreigner among them with justice.
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Biblical memory is a demand for covenantal faithfulness.
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But the text contrast that biblical model with the secular
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model of memory. How does a secular nation build
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its memory? The source points out that
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secular memory often anchors identity in shared historical
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trauma from modern Ukraine. That means the Stalin engineered
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Holodomor of the 1930s. Let's touch on that briefly
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because it is crucial context. The Holodomor was a man made
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famine where millions of Ukrainians were deliberately
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starved to death by the Soviet regime to crush the independence
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movement and force agricultural collectivization.
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Yes, it is a generational scar and now you have the current
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siege of cities like Mariupol to that historical Ledger.
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Collective trauma binds a people together.
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When a nation bleeds together, they remember together, and that
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shared memory forges their identity as a distinct ethnos.
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The secular state build monuments to this grief.
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To say we survived this, therefore we are a people.
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Which brings up a very serious challenge.
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I read the section of the source and I thought, is it possible
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for a wounded society to rebuild its history without that immense
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grief turning into blind hatred, or worse, turning into a new
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false myth where the nation views itself as entirely
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flawless? Connect this to the bigger
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picture. The theological source offers a
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severe warning right here. The text brings in John Calvin's
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concept of the human heart as an idol factory.
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An idol factory, meaning we are constantly manufacturing things
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to worship other than God. Yes.
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The author argues that while defending a nation's history
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against an unjust aggressor is a valid and necessary civil
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function, there is a massive danger of state idolatry.
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A wounded nation bonded by trauma can easily elevate its
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own identity, its martyrs, and its historical suffering to the
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level of a secular religion. They begin to worship the
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state's survival instead of the Creator.
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I see it like someone breaking into your home not just to steal
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the TV, but to burn all the family photo albums so the
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children forget who they are. You have to fight the intruder,
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obviously, but the warning is do not let your justified defense
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of your home turn your home into a false God.
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Spot on. The source quotes first Peter
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1.24, noting that all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man
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is like the flower of grass. The grass Withers and the flower
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falls away. The monuments of stone erected
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in any capital city, whether it is Kiev, Moscow, Washington or
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London, will eventually crumble to dust.
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Right, they all do eventually. The theological argument is that
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the trauma of war should point individuals to remember their
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Creator, as stated in Ecclesiastes 12.1.
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It should expose the fragility of human existence rather than
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convincing a population to place their eternal hope in a national
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myth. Earthly memory defends the civil
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society, which is good, but it cannot save the human soul.
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So with language and memory established as the raw
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materials, the discussion naturally turns to the actual
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structure being built, the post occupation nation.
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But we also have to look at the limits of that earthly
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structure. Our first source gives us more
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data from the 2024 Rasmkov survey. 91% of respondents are
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proud of their Ukrainian citizenship.
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But here is the fascinating part. 46% support a civic
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definition of the nation rather than a strict ethnic 1.
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We should define that difference because it is vital.
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And ethnic definition says you are only truly part of the
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nation if you share the specific bloodline, the specific
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ancestral heritage. Right, which historically leads
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to all sorts of horrific exclusion.
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A civic definition, however, includes Russian speaking
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patriots, Crimean Tatars, Jews, Roma, and anyone else who shares
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loyalty to the state and its democratic values.
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The fact that nearly half the country supports a civic
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definition in the middle of an existential war is incredibly
18:50
revealing. That civic inclusion is vital
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for their survival. It prevents the society from
18:55
fracturing from the inside. But the practical difficulties
18:58
of deoccupation are massive. As areas are liberated by the
19:02
military, the state has to come in and establish justice.
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They have to distinguish between leadership, collaboration with
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the enemy and coerced survival. Put the listener in those shoes
19:13
for a second. Imagine you are a utility worker
19:16
in a town that got occupied. You kept the water running so
19:19
your neighbors wouldn't die of thirst, but to do that you had
19:22
to take a paycheck from the occupying Russian authority.
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Yeah, you didn't have a choice. Or imagine you are a school
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teacher who kept teaching math just to give the kids some sense
19:31
of normalcy, but an armed soldier was standing in the
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hallway making sure you use their approved textbook.
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When the Ukrainian army liberates that town, how does
19:40
the state judge you? Are you a traitor or did you
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just do what you had to do to feed your family under threat of
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death? It is an incredibly difficult,
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ethical, and legal not to untangle.
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You are trying to rebuild a cohesive society where some
19:54
people actively hid flags and sabotage the enemy and others
19:58
took Russian passports simply to get access to insulin at the
20:01
pharmacy. The state has to establish a
20:03
perimeter of safety and justice that accounts for that massive
20:07
Gray area. So what does this all mean?
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I compare this nation building effort to setting up a
20:14
neighborhood watch perimeter. You organize your neighbors, you
20:17
set up rules, you secure the borders of your street, and you
20:19
identify the threats. It provides crucial physical
20:22
safety for all the residents on the street.
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It is a good and necessary thing, but that neighborhood
20:27
watch perimeter does absolutely nothing to cure a terminal
20:30
illness inside one of the houses.
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The physical security does not solve the internal decay.
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That is a brilliant comparison. The theological source overlays
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this exact dynamic with Agustin's famous distinction
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between the earthly city and the city of God.
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Augustine wrote about this while Rome was literally falling to
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the Visigoths. The earthly city.
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The civil government is necessary for temporal justice.
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It restrains evil. It pays the roads, it runs the
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courts, but it is passing away. It is temporary.
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The city of God, comprised of the redeemed, is eternal.
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And the source gets very specific about this theology,
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right? It outlines A dispensational and
21:07
premillennial view. Let's break those terms down so
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we don't lose anyone. Let's do that in broad terms, a
21:12
dispensational premillennial view argues that God has
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distinct plans for national Israel and for the New Testament
21:19
church. They are not the same entity.
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Therefore, the Church is completely distinct from any
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earthly nation. So under this view, no modern
21:27
secular nation acts as the earthly Kingdom of God.
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Not Ukraine, not Russia, not the United States, not the United
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Kingdom. None of them hold a special
21:35
divine covenant status like Old Testament Israel did.
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Correct. Which means you cannot conflate
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political victory with spiritual victory.
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The source uses a very specific theological analogy here
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regarding boundary markers. Use the analogy of believers
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baptism. Wait, how does baptism connect
21:51
to geopolitics? Well, in that theological
21:53
tradition, baptism is a visible boundary marker.
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It separates the justified believer from the unregenerate
21:58
world. It is a public declaration of a
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spiritual reality. The author argues that the
22:04
rejection of Soviet monuments and Russian cultural hegemony
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acts as a physical geopolitical boundary marker for the
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Ukrainian people. Tearing down a statue of Lenin
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separates the oppressed from the oppressor in the visible earthly
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realm. I'm struggling with this part
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though. You were saying political
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liberation does not equal spiritual salvation.
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But to the guy in the trenches who just got his town back,
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isn't that freedom enough for right now?
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How does the text justify telling someone holding a newly
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reclaimed passport that they are still fundamentally in need of
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rescue? Because the text makes a fierce
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rejection of what it calls the social gospel.
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The idea that fixing society's problems, poverty, war,
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inequality is the actual gospel. Yes, the author clarifies that
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political liberation is a massive civil good, but it is
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not spiritual salvation. You can secure the borders of
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your nation. You can establish the most just
22:56
court system in history. But the unregenerate heart of
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every citizen is still, as Ephesians 2.2 describes,
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operating under the Prince who rules the air.
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The theological argument is that true freedom, eternal freedom,
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requires the imputed righteousness of Christ.
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Let's define imputed righteousness really quick.
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It means that a person cannot generate their own perfection or
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their own right standing before God, no matter how bravely they
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fought for their country. They need the perfect
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righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to their account,
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received by faith alone. Escaping a human dictator does
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not exempt an individual from standing before the righteous
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judgement of the Creator. You can be politically free and
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seriously dead at the exact same time.
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Pulling back from the immediate policy challenges, we need to
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take a macro view of human history.
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We are witnessing an incredible historical moment right now.
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International groups like the Council of Europe and the UN
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Human Rights Office are watching this unfold in real time.
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Think about the stakes. The stakes are huge.
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If Ukraine succeeds, it proves a society can throw off massive
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imperial domination without resorting to vicious ethnic
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exclusivity. It proves they can build a
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functioning democratic state based on shared civic values and
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a reclaimed language, even while under fire.
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It would be a monumental achievement in the civil sphere,
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but the theological Source brings the entire conversation
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to its climax. By looking past the current
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century, the author mentions historical figures like Charles
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Spurgeon and Paul Washer to point out the absolute
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transients of all earthly empires.
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The Graveyard of Empire. Yes.
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Think about the Babylonian Empire, the Roman Empire, the
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Soviet machine. They all built massive
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structures. They burnt them with the blood
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and sweat of the oppressed. They seemed invincible in their
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prime, and they were all swept away by divine justice.
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They are dust. It is like watching people
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proudly building massive, intricate sandcastles on the
24:48
beach, completely ignoring the fact that the tide is already
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coming in. The arrogance of invading
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empires assumes their borders, their tanks and their language
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mandates will last forever, but the tide of divine Providence
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always washes them out. This brings in the crucial
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theological distinction between the law and the gospel.
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The source argues that the horrors of war act as the
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terrifying megaphone of God's law.
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Explain that How does a bombing raid act as a megaphone for the
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law? Because war exposes the absolute
25:18
bankruptcy of humanistic optimism.
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The law demands perfect love for God and neighbor.
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War is the ultimate visible proof that humanity utterly
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fails that standard. It proves that human nature is
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fatally flawed and that no amount of earthly government,
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education or diplomacy can eradicate evil.
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Yeah, that makes sense. The law crushes any hope we have
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in our own inherent goodness. When you see a destroyed
25:40
hospital, you are seeing the indisputable evidence of total
25:44
depravity. It strips away the illusion that
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we are just a few policy tweaks away from a utopia.
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So if the law crushes us by exposing our depravity through
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the reality of war, what does the source offer as the
25:57
solution? The Gospel.
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The text points to substitutionary atonement as the
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sole source of true peace. Substitutionary atonement,
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meaning Jesus Christ stepping in as a substitute, taking the
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divine wrath and punishment that our depravity earns.
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That we can be reconciled to God, Yes.
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The author directs the reader toward the pre tribulational
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premillennial return of Christ. The text references Isaiah 2.4,
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looking forward to the literal day when the true King returns,
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judges the nations with perfect equity, and swords are finally
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beaten into plowshares. True, lasting geopolitical peace
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only arrives when the Prince of Peace physically reigns.
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I want to make this intensely practical for the person
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listening right now. When you, the listener, look at
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the Evening News and you see borders changing violently,
26:41
cities turn to rubble, and political leaders threatening
26:44
nuclear escalation, what should your internal reaction be?
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How do we process that without falling into despair or
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political fanaticism? This raises an interesting
26:53
question about how we process current events through a
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biblical lens. The theological source concludes
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that we should experience a dual reality.
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On one hand, Romans 13 validates the desire for earthly justice.
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It is right to support the defense of the vulnerable.
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It is right to want civil authorities to punish evil
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doers. It is right to want an oppressed
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nation to achieve liberty and secure its borders.
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We should advocate for justice in the earthly city.
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So we don't just check out and say, well it's all burning
27:22
anyway, who cares? No, fatalism is not a biblical
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option. But simultaneously there must be
27:28
a total reliance on the gospel. Realizing that earthly
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citizenship is just a vapor, it vanishes.
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The courage on a battlefield, while incredibly honorable in
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the civil sphere, cannot atone for sins against the Creator.
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The listener should feel a deep compassion for the physical
27:43
suffering of the oppressed, coupled with an urgent
27:46
recognition that every human being needs the gospel of Jesus
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Christ above all else. We have covered incredible
27:51
ground today. Synthesizing these texts reveals
27:54
a massive duality in how we view the world on the physical,
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earthly level. A nation must secure its
28:00
language, evidence its history, and protect its citizens to
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survive. Yeah, they have to.
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The sociological data we looked at proves that Ukraine is doing
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exactly this. They are reclaiming words,
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tearing down imperial monuments and trying to balance the
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demands of justice with the necessity of civic inclusion.
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It is a historic effort. And yet simultaneously, the
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theological framework acts as a mirror held up to that
28:24
sociological data. All human conflict, every
28:28
destroyed building, and every rewritten textbook shows
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humanity's desperate, unavoidable need for an eternal
28:34
king. The earthly struggle is a vivid,
28:37
tragic illustration of the underlying spiritual condition.
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The boundaries of language and the monuments of memory are
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absolutely necessary for survival today.
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We need them to function, but they offer no eternal security.
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I want to leave you, the listener, with a final lingering
28:51
thought to ponder as you step back into your day, whether you
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are driving, working, or just sitting at home.
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It's a heavy thought. We've spent this time analyzing
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the physical and cultural monuments an entire nation is
29:03
fighting to secure against overwhelming odds.
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But when the monuments of our current generation, the
29:09
governments, the borders, the street signs eventually turn to
29:11
dust, as all empires do, what are the invisible, eternal
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monuments you are building in your own life today?
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Are you trusting in the fragile sand castles of earthly
29:20
security, or are you resting in the finished work of Christ?
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Thank you for pulling up a chair and joining the session.
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Until next time.