Why “We Are UNWavering”

When our kids were quite young, I served with a global mission organization.  And while we lived in Colorado Springs, and the ministry was headquartered there, it seemed that very little happened in Colorado Springs.  The ministry was “out there.”  And so, my role had me on the road nearly every other week.  I was traveling often, and my wife, Heather, was home raising three young children, often exhausted.

Well, it was one of those long weeks and Heather had hit her limit.  You know what I’m talking about.  That Saturday morning, after I had returned home the night before, she asked if I would take the kids to breakfast so she could sleep in.  I got up early with the kids, and off we drove to the McDonald’s drive-through.

Now some of you will remember when you could buy a newspaper from a newspaper stand.  And as it turned out, this particular McDonalds had a USA Today newspaper stand in the drive-through line for those waiting to place their order.

So, we’re in the drive-through line and the car in front of us moved forward and so I inched forward, too. Maybe out of sheer exhaustion, my mind and body in some other time zone, or simply not paying attention, but I rolled down my window and began placing my order.  “Good morning, I’d like three Egg McMuffins with cheese, hash browns, and orange juice, please.”  No response.  I was irritated.  So, I tightened the grip on the steering wheel, raised my voice a notch.  “Excuse me?  Did you get my order?  I’d like three Egg McMuffins with hash browns and orange juice.”  Still no response, except now rolling laughter from the back of the van.  All three of our kids were in hysterics, and then something from our oldest son, like, “Uh, Dad, you’re talking to the newspaper stand.”

What a moment!  No doubt you’ve had these as well.  But there’s an important lesson: whether we’re just tired, discontent, angry, or not staying focused, we can drift, misdirect our attention and lose our focus. When we lose our focus, we lose our way, and when we lose our way, we lose our mission.  There’s a lot more at stake than Egg McMuffins, hash browns, orange juice, and my pride.

Every person, every ministry, every marriage, every family is susceptible to losing their way and their mission.  The well-known hymn, “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing,” gently warns us with these words:

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love.

Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it

Seal it for thy courts above.”

We can laugh, and should laugh, when someone places their drive-through order at a newspaper stand; but it’s no laughing matter when we (mis)place our attention and affections anywhere except on the Triune God and live a life of obedient submission to His Word, and to his calling to serve the world.

Last year, as a community, we renewed our commitment to Northwestern’s mission with one simple phrase: “We Are UNWavering,” which, by the way, is now trademarked.  No one else can use it.

Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (ESV).  Other translations of the Greek word “akline,” include words like resolutely, firmly, unswervingly, unyieldingly, unflinching, strong and unshaking.  You get the point.

So, what does “We Are UNWavering” mean, and how will we as a Christian university and a Christian media enterprise enact our renewed commitment?

“We Are UNWavering” means two very important things and both are essential for Northwestern to maintain fidelity to our 123-year-old mission and to maintain focus on our Vision 2030.

First, UNWavering means that we will pursue an UNWavering love for God’s Word.  I see three places in Scripture where God breathed.  Genesis 2:7 reads, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”  Second, the Apostle John tells us that the risen Christ breathed on the disciples, and they received the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-22).  And third, the Apostle Paul affirmed that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness…” (2 Timothy 3:16).  So, God breathed life into Adam, the Holy Spirit into the disciples, and the Holy Scriptures flawlessly into the minds of each writer.

Therefore, an UNWavering love for God’s Word begins with a high view of the Bible.  We have every scholarly, practical, and experiential reason to claim and proclaim the inerrancy, infallibility, and authority of God’s Word. 

In every academic discipline, God’s Word is the primary text and the lens through which we pursue every academic endeavor of learning, teaching, service, and research.  We affirm the primacy and supremacy of Scripture in our Philosophy of Education, which boldly states,

“Based on an intimate knowledge of the Word of God and a deep, growing relationship with Jesus Christ, all other knowledge is interpreted in its proper and accurate perspective.  The study of the Bible and theology and the practice of personal spiritual disciplines is the foundation upon which all other academic disciplines rest.”  Furthermore, “When the apparent truths of an academic discipline conflict with the truth of God’s Word, we put our trust in God’s revealed truth in the Bible.”

In today’s world of higher education and an increasingly secular culture adrift of any acknowledgement of absolute truth, statements like these at just about any Christian college or university are rare, and if they do exist, there is often merely a tacit nod or wink to the “out of touch” past.

What is lost is the bold acceptance of the overwhelming scholarly evidence that supports the claim to biblical inerrancy, infallibility, and authority.  Furthermore, holding this position does not narrow our academic or scholarly contribution to the world, but rather expands our contribution to the world.

You see, we believe that biblically faithful academic study, scholarly work, and rigorous inquiry lead to alignment with God’s redemptive work in the world and therefore expands our calling, purpose, and contribution.  We cannot proceed with a faithful contribution to the world apart from a faithful commitment to the Scriptures.

Carl F.H. Henry, the founding editor of Christianity Today wrote, “If we are to make a turning-impact, young evangelicals must become lovers of books and of truth; we need more tough-minded scholars to do battle with the intellectual philistines of our day as Augustine, Luther and Calvin did in theirs.” (From Carl F.H. Henry’s article in Religious Broadcasting titled “Worldview of a Theologian”).  Northwestern students across all disciplines, and now also through the Classical Christian Honors College, are the next generation of leaders who will understand ideas that shape the world, yet have the biblical wisdom, courage, and conviction to make a “turning impact,” as Henry envisioned.

But our UNWavering love for God’s Word has an application, and that’s the second part of what “We Are UNWavering” means: An UNWavering love for God’s world.  In the same way that the Jewish exiles in Babylon were instructed to “seek the peace and prosperity of Babylon (Jeremiah 29:7) we are called to cultivate an UNWavering love for God’s world.

If this makes you a bit uneasy, I get it.  How far are we to love God’s world?  How “close to the sun” are we to fly?  Where might an UNWavering love for God’s world take us?  What worldly temptations might cause us to potentially waver?

In his book, Uneasy Conscience, Carl F.H. Henry concluded, “The evangelical missionary message cannot be measured for success by the number of converts only.  The Christian message has a salting effect upon the earth.  It aims at a recreated society.”  So, truth is truth, all truth is God’s truth, and everything in the Bible is absolutely true.  Now we also know that not everything that is true is contained in the Bible, therefore Christians ought to be the most curious, creative, convicted, confident, and courageous scholars, problem solvers, and practitioners of truth the world has ever known.

In Jeremiah chapter 29, the prophet wrote a letter to a defeated and discouraged group of Jews who had been forcibly taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar.  Not only did they lose everything, but they had also few prospects for any sort of a meaningful life in Babylon under the rule of a brutal, godless, secular, and hedonistic king.  What would you do?  What would I do?  Maybe just fly under the radar and try to preserve something of your family, religion, and traditions.  The last thing you’d want is for you or your kids to be influenced to any degree by Babylonian culture.  Sound familiar?

So how Jeremiah instructed them to live wasn’t particularly encouraging or easy.  But this is what he said: “Build houses and settle down.  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters.  Increase in number there; do not decrease” (Jeremiah 29:4-6).  For the sake of space and time, let me paraphrase these verses: “Keep living life in Babylon just as you would have in Judah.  Don’t change a thing.”

But let’s read on to verse 7.  “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.  Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”  Now Jeremiah tells God’s people to change everything, and risk it all for the shalom of Babylon.  What a crazy idea; what a nutty prophet – except that it was exactly what God wanted.  And not only for His people, but because He loved the Babylon of King Nebuchadnezzar, and He loves the Babylons of the world today.  What an awesome picture of God’s UNWavering love and grace for His people and creation, fallen as we are.  So, we are also called to join God in His redemptive work in the world, with an UNWavering love for God’s world.

As president of the University of Northwestern and Northwestern Media, my commitment is that Northwestern will remain UNWavering evidenced by an UNWavering love for God’s Word and an UNWavering love for God’s world.  This is who we are, and it’s not for sale.

Excerpt from the Northwestern Pilot.