Living a Better Story
So in the last episode, we talked about false narratives and some of the, narratives that our our culture can tell us. What is the the better narrative or the better story?
Alex Judd:Yeah. Well, this content certainly is certainly certainly isn't original to me. Right? This content, exists thousands of years ago, but, it's what we get to live into today, I believe. Here's the true story.
Alex Judd:Creation, fall, redemption, restoration.
Ben Loy:I mean, you've already touched on this. Where does that come from?
Alex Judd:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that is the biblical narrative. Right? And so, really, this is kind of an MSO being like, do you believe the Bible is true?
Alex Judd:Because if you believe the Bible is true, the story of the Bible, macro and micro, is creation, fall, redemption, restoration. And here's an even broader question than that, though, that is a little bit mind bending to think about. Do you believe there is a true story of the whole universe? Right? Do you actually believe that there is one true story about why and how all of this actually exists?
Ben Loy:Why is that important to to know?
Alex Judd:Yeah. Yeah. Because you are part of this universe is what I would first say. I I'd be interested to know your kind of thoughts practically on this as well. But what I would say maybe a little bit more detail oriented than that is as human beings, we do not perceive life through the context and lens or perspective of a bunch of isolated events that are in no way connected at all.
Alex Judd:Like, that's not how we perceive life. We perceive life, and there's been a lot of study done on this that I'm certainly not an expert on, but I have experienced it. We perceive life through the lens of a narrative. And because we are wired that way and you cannot turn that off even if you try, it's critically important that that narrative that you're adopting aligns with the true narrative. And then you get into, do you believe there is a true narrative?
Alex Judd:And if you don't believe there's a true narrative, then quite frankly, I would just wanna have a a really long conversation with you about, like, what do you believe then if there's not a narrative? And so you are a narrative seeking creature. Life has a true narrative, and what we're talking about now is a proposed option about what I believe the true narrative actually is and what we believe the true narrative actually is.
Ben Loy:Mhmm. So for those that that do believe there's a true narrative, why is this good news or, like, a better story than what we talked about in the previous episode?
Alex Judd:Well, anything that's true is better is what I would say. And that's not to say that anything that's true is always easy. Some of the hardest truth of my life, it certainly wasn't easy, but I'll never forget a mentor and friend of mine in one of the times of my life that was hardest, he said, there's always beauty in truth. There is always beauty in truth. There's always value in truth.
Alex Judd:That's because truth is what is eternally good and what is eternally right. Right? The truth you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. That is literal, I believe. And so within that, Tim Keller defines wisdom as competence with regard to the realities of life.
Alex Judd:And if wisdom is competence with regard to how life works and we can have access to the overarching narrative for all of life, there's no way you don't start to understand this and not get more wise. Like, you you will it will infect and affect every single thing you do if you actually latch onto and buy into the idea that this is the true story of how life in general works, but also how my life works and how the individual pieces of my life work.
Ben Loy:Mhmm. The heroic narrative, tragedy, and limited luxury, are those doomed to fail? Yes.
Alex Judd:That's what I would say. And I I've never seen an example of how they haven't, which is crazy. You know? It's doomed to fail, but that doesn't mean we don't all try to find out for ourselves is what I would say. Like, we all know.
Alex Judd:It's it's crazy to me the number of podcasts, courses, books, right, talk shows these days that are talking about, man, the things that actually create fulfillment and freedom in life are not the material things that can be gained. Like, but and, like, that will only lead to actually despair and misery if you make those the the end of your life, but we keep presenting it as though it's this absurdly original idea. It's crazy how, like, people are like, I I wanna share something with you that I've got access to that no one else does. It's like, this has been said for a very, very long time. Why?
Alex Judd:Right? What does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul? Right? It's my favorite version of that. Right?
Alex Judd:And, like, it's not a new idea, but we keep trying. And I think what that is alluding to is, like, there is this narrative vacuum that is ready and willing to be filled like that. Right? Like, it wants to be filled. It will be filled.
Alex Judd:You will not live without that vacuum being filled. And unless you're intentional about filling that vacuum that's in your mind, heart, and soul with what is true, something false will take its place, and that will guide your life. Mhmm.
Ben Loy:You mentioned that Tim Keller quote, which I love. But another way that I've heard you say this is wisdom is going with the grain of the universe. I'm not sure if that's something you've stayed like, you came up with or you you heard from someone else, but, can you, yeah, explain that a little bit more?
Alex Judd:Yeah. It's not original to me. But Yeah. I've now said it a few times, so maybe I can say, like, I've always said. Right?
Alex Judd:Yeah. No. So so think about the grain. Right? When the grain of a piece of wood, when you rub your hand along the grain of a piece of wood, it's incredibly smooth.
Alex Judd:Right? When you rub against the grain, what happens? You get splinters, and that's what happens whenever we try to operate in a way that is opposed to the way the universe, the world, and life was structured, we're going to get relational, situational, circumstantial splinters, and a lot of them can be avoided. We just need to have wisdom about how life actually works.
Ben Loy:Would you perceive those splinters to be a result of God's grace or of his judgment?
Alex Judd:Feels like a leading question, Ben. Yes. Okay. Is what I would say. Right?
Alex Judd:You know, it's possible to reconceptualize that question as is it truth or is it grace? And it's like, well, you can't have grace without truth, and you can't have you can't have truth without grace. Right? Like, we can't handle the truth in totality unless we have the grace of God because we live apart from the truth so often. But thanks to the grace of God, we can collide with truth, recognize how we're living in a way that's deviated from it, and realign ourselves to truth.
Alex Judd:And that in itself is a grace Mhmm. Is what I would say there. But I what are your thoughts there?
Ben Loy:I think of, like, the way that God designed our world to operate within this story, just like you said with the wood analogy, which is why I think I like it so much, just when you're operating in alignment with that. Like, you're making room for the Lord to work in your life in a way that leads to human flourishing and and how he designed things to be. And anytime you step outside of that, like, I think his grace is that there are real consequences to our actions in the way in which, when we do step outside of that, like, suffering or or difficulty. I also think, like, on the on the judgment side of things, there's also times when God steps in and and and and says, like, no. I'm gonna stop you right here.
Ben Loy:And so I would say it's like a balance between the grace that he gives us to create to have created a world that has, just realities that he's put into place of, like, hey. If you do this, like, this this may happen, right, or this will happen. And then also a god that loves us intentionally and individually enough to to steer us when we've gotten off track, at an individual level.
Alex Judd:And is absurdly patient. Absurdly patient. Miraculously patient. That kind of already gets to the practicality of this episode, particularly for, well, for everyone, but particularly for business leaders. It is, do you believe you were created to live with shalom, peace, wholeness, to flourish, and to help others flourish, and to have a sense of harmony?
Alex Judd:Do you believe that's what you were created for? I I actually do, and we're gonna get more into that here in just a second. And so if there's parts of your life where you're not experiencing that, flourishing, the flourishing of others, shalom, peace, what's the story that you are adopting about those areas of your life? Because oftentimes when we're experiencing dissonance, chronic stress, or incredible disunity or or misery, the opposite, or despair, the opposite of human flourishing. Right?
Alex Judd:A lot of times, it's because it's contextualized in the wrong story. Because circumstantially, even it's not necessarily gonna circumstantially change things going on around you, but if you've got the right story, it will it will radically transform the way that you perceive and then respond to those circumstances. And so, you know, what I would tell people is audit your life. Look at your life. Is there an area where you are not experiencing what you were created for?
Alex Judd:And and in that area, it's probably strike time to start saying, how am I living out of alignment with what I was created for, which is really what we're getting into in this episode. Mhmm.
Ben Loy:So you've already mentioned, I guess, the four four stages or themes of this story, creation, fall, redemption, restoration. Let's dive into creation. How does this apply to business owners and leaders and and and just the idea of a narrative in general?
Alex Judd:Yeah. Let's go existential and then bring it all the way down to practical. Existential. Do you believe the universe was created by nothing or from nothing? The way you answer that question is critically important.
Alex Judd:If you believe that there was nothing and that nothing, whatever nothing is, created all of this, you and I have some philosophical differences is what I would say. I I don't believe in the virgin birth of the universe. I believe it was created from nothing, like there was nothing, and then God created. Right? It's the first verb in the Bible for a reason.
Alex Judd:And if you don't believe God created, you've got a lot of explaining to do. It's what I would say. And and I'm not saying that in a hostile way. I'm just saying, like, you're gonna have to explain me how you how you square this because I just don't think that everything I see every single day is pawn scum evolved to a higher level order that coincidentally and circumstantially in a very lucky way came to pass. I just I don't buy it.
Alex Judd:And I I've I've never actually looked in-depth into that subject and been more convinced that that's the case. I've actually been less convinced every time I look more into the subject. So do you believe it was created? My answer to that would be yes. I believe it was created by what?
Alex Judd:I believe it was created by God. And within that, you would say, okay. Well, why? And that brings a really, really good question. It's like, man, God created the heavens and the earth, and he went about you know, you can read Genesis one, creating all the things that we get to experience every single day, and he said it was good.
Alex Judd:It was good. It was good. It good. Was And then at the end, he said it was very good. Right?
Alex Judd:And so just understanding that all of life was created, human beings were created, and it was very good, and allowing that to inform your worldview and the way you view your business is transformational. Mhmm. Right? And should have us walking around with a sense of purpose and meaning for everything that we do because, practically, what that means is you, your business, your family, everything you do every single day, they're not an accident. Mhmm.
Alex Judd:Right? You have a spot in this crazy time in human history, in this crazy unique sector of the universe that should not exist if we were just referring to probability and science. And so, you know, we should have our eyes open to that reality.
Ben Loy:Mhmm. What what does that look like from, like, a more a more practical level of, like, God created the world, and then as his creations and and being created in his image, like, how does that play out more practically in our lives when we really lean into that reality?
Alex Judd:Yeah. I mean, you used the phrase created in his image. Right? Imago Dei is what what that is, and and that should blow our minds. Right?
Alex Judd:That I was reading this recently that there's a distinction between divinity and deity. So deity is part of the nature and essence of God. Right? God is deity. Mhmm.
Alex Judd:But divine is an attribute, and there is divine or divinity in each of us. Right? And so, like, God placed a part of himself and modeled who we are based on who he is. We are not a deity, but there is an element of divinity in us, and we have that capability within us. The thing that that also affects is it's in everyone else also.
Alex Judd:And and then, man, Genesis goes on to refer to the fact that, we've been charged with this opportunity to uncover the creative potential that he embedded in the world. So, you know, it's interesting to think about this. Like, God never made a table. God made trees, and then he made human beings. And human beings with all of their creative potential and energy said, man, it would be good if that became something that we could sit at, put food on, and engage as a family around.
Alex Judd:Right? Human beings co partnered with God to uncover the potential that was hidden in creation, and, like, you could apply that to tables, but you could also apply it to businesses and to buildings and to structures and institutions. And when we realize that, man, anything that we do that is creative can be contextualized as partnership with God to uncover the potential that he embedded in the world that we live in, I mean, every day is this adventure. Right? You should live we should all live with our eyes open to, like, what is the creative potential that's embedded in this day right now that I get to go uncover?
Ben Loy:How does that help people find purpose when they're working in their business or, you know, leading a team or or whatever it is?
Alex Judd:Yeah. It's almost like how does it not help you find find purpose in some ways? A competing overarching philosophy with this would be nihilism, which is everything everything is meaningless. None of this matters, and there's nothing really beyond the materialistic world that we can tangibly touch and experience. Right?
Alex Judd:And that I mean, that's actually a pretty overarching philosophy for a lot of people today. Right? That is the opposite of meaning because you are literally saying my life philosophy is that none of this matters, and the minute my heart flatlines, it all goes away anyway. Right? What we're saying is, man, not only is it none of this matters, it's actually all of this matters.
Alex Judd:Mhmm. Like, everything that exists. Everything. Everything. Everything that exists was created.
Alex Judd:And because it was all created, there is a for or a so that associated with everything that exists. And if everything was created, it was for a reason. And literally, when you say for a reason, you are now talking about purpose. So so there's nothing that you ever engage with at your work regardless of what you do, whether you're the person that I mean, I worked with the company once that their job was delivering porta potties to large events and then picking them up, cleaning them out, and delivering them to a next event. This guy was so passionate.
Alex Judd:He was so engaged. He he believes so much in the work that they were doing, and it's like he gets it because he he realizes, man, this is in some way connected to God's creative design for the universe, and this is the role that I've been given to play. And by the way, he's a multi, multi, multimillionaire because he's willing to do what no one else is. Praise God.
Ben Loy:Yeah. That makes me think of Jim Mullins
Alex Judd:Yeah.
Ben Loy:The book he wrote, Symphony of Mission.
Alex Judd:And
Ben Loy:an example he uses is of, like, a it's of a garbage man, in a city and, like, how, like, the moment that he was able to attach his his work to God's work and God's design was the moment that he found so much more purpose in what he did. And I guess in that context, it was like, God is a God of order and cleanliness, and, like, I get to participate in, like, helping a city of people maintain and and and clean, like, their city. And and, obviously, within that, the reality is, like, reduced disease and and all of those other things. And it's like, wow. You actually can tie that, like, directly to how God has designed the world and how you're contributing to that, it's it's pretty cool because anyone else could wake up on a on a Tuesday morning as a garbage man and go, oh, like, gotta run these routes and do and, know, pick up people's rejects and things like that.
Ben Loy:And, yeah, just I just thought it was such a cool picture of, like, oh, yeah. You're you're tying this super undesirable work directly to the order in which God created things.
Alex Judd:It's so good. And and doing that for yourself and others, I believe, is a leadership superpower. Steven Mansfield is a historian that once told me, he said, Alex, the greatest leaders have the capacity to lift people's eyes 10 degrees above the horizon. So most of us are just looking down at the horizon, just looking at the next thing that we have to do or need to do or what the job is. And he's what he's saying is the greatest leaders are the ones that can help people, not do it for them, but can help people connect the dots to this is how this is connecting to something higher than what you are right now or where you're at right now.
Alex Judd:And you can't do that for other people unless you do it for yourself. Yeah. Right? And so one challenge associated with this is look at your calendar today and have the audacity to connect the dots 10 degrees above horizon. And to even just ask the question, nothing that exists on this calendar today wasn't created.
Alex Judd:It was all created. It all exists for a reason. What does God have for that meeting? What does God have for that call? What does God have for that appointment?
Alex Judd:What does God have for that strategy time? Right? Because if it was created, it was created for a reason. And when we get in on that reason, then we start to go with the grain of the universe.
Ben Loy:Let's move on to the the lighter topic, the fall. Yeah.
Alex Judd:I like the sarcasm there. Very good. Yeah. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God is what scripture says. Right?
Alex Judd:And so, you know, it's so so so fascinating that the Greek word that's often used for sin is hamartia, which is an archery term that means to miss the mark. Mhmm. And that's so helpful as a word picture because it's like, what is sin? Sin is means that things are not as they should be. Now culturally, we have a very, hard time with the word sin because the minute you say things are not as they should be, you are conveying that there's things as they should be, which is giving a philosophy and theology of creation.
Alex Judd:Right? You cannot say things are not as they should be unless you have a philosophy and theology of creation. You can't do it. And so the minute we get into a conversation about sin, it is a natural prerequisite to have a theology of creation and and a a theology of moral creation as well that there's good, right, beautiful, and true. There's also evil, impure, false, and bad, and ugly.
Alex Judd:Right? Mhmm. And unless you absorb and understand that we live in a moral universe that was created, then you'll never be able to say with intellectual honesty, that's not as it should be. Mhmm. But when we do adopt that mental and moral framework, what we then start to understand is a fall is quickly or the fall is quickly part of the biblical narrative, and what that should teach us is we should not be surprised by brokenness.
Alex Judd:We should not be surprised by imperfection. We should not be surprised by betrayal. We should not be surprised by sickness and death. We should mourn it. We should be devastated by it, but we should not be surprised by it.
Alex Judd:If you are adopting the narrative lens of creation, fall, redemption, restoration, when bad things happen, which they most definitely will, you should mourn it, weep for it, be devastated by it, respond to it, but you should not be surprised by it.
Ben Loy:What does it mean have joy through all of those emotions?
Alex Judd:It's almost hard to answer that question without jumping too far away or ahead. I guess what I would maybe hit home on is, you know, the most famous sermon Jesus ever gave is the sermon on the mount, and his second sentence that he felt like this is his first sentence was blessed in the blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's where he wanted to start, and talk about a hook. Right? And then his follow-up sentence is blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
Alex Judd:And there are a lot of different ways you could look at that. One of the ways that I found really helpful is, man, if you're the person that looks at life leadership and business through the lens of it's all good, and and you don't have any ability to deal with the things that are really challenging and tough, so you live through the lens of denial. Right? It's all good. Right?
Alex Judd:Like, there's a cancer diagnosis, and you're like, well, we gotta focus on what we can control. It's all good. Right? You know, a team member that you've worked with for twenty years betrays you and leaves the company. All we can do is focus on moving forward.
Alex Judd:It's all good. Right? There's incredible dysfunction in your family and brokenness in your family. We can't talk about that because we can't deal with that. It's all good.
Alex Judd:Right? You're you're not mourning. Blessed are those who mourn. And because you're not mourning the brokenness that you are experiencing every single day, you can't be comforted To the degree that you are saying it's all good and you're denying the brokenness that is really real, Jesus can't comfort you because you're not willing to receive it. Have you ever tried to put your arm around someone that is unwilling to receive comfort?
Alex Judd:It it doesn't work. Mhmm. Right? And so we've gotta be willing to say it is most definitely not all good. Now this is not passive pessimism that results in the tragedy narrative that we talked about in the last episode because of the next movement.
Alex Judd:That's why you can't take any of these movements individually. They're not isolated. Right? But what this is is a reckoning with reality to say there is brokenness. There is imperfection.
Alex Judd:There is fallibility, sure, out in the world, but also in my heart, and it is most definitely not all good.
Ben Loy:It reminds me. I once heard a, he was a psychologist. He was talking about the process of, like, walking people through grief, and he used the the weekend of the resurrection as, like, an example of of the sort of stages of grief. And so he particularly honed in on the fact that, like, there was a moment when Jesus died, they buried him, and the disciples were huddled in a room terrified and confused. And that went on for a couple days.
Ben Loy:And this this moment where it's like in God's timing, he rose. And oftentimes, our inclination, because it's uncomfortable, can be to try to push people towards the resurrection, you know, or the hope or move move beyond the grief and the hard and really I mean, God calls us to weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn. Like, sitting with people on Friday, like, after Jesus has died in the grief, in the hurt, and and walking them through that as opposed to just rushing them to the end.
Alex Judd:And you can't do that for others unless you've had like, if you've allowed, Christ to do that for you is what I believe Yeah. And other people for that matter. But, you know, what makes think of is, like, we live in a limited luxury culture, and we live in a heroic adventure culture that very much rewards and optimizes for it's all good. It's, probably as easy as it's ever been to live that way, right, up until nine eleven occurs, and, like, a a massive brick is thrown through your, delusions of the fact that the world is all good. And what's crazy is nine eleven happens, the Charlie Kirk assassination happens, and what do we see?
Alex Judd:The next Sunday, church attendance nationally goes way up. I think it's because people's delusions were shattered, and they're now like, how do I explain this? Mhmm. What the I mean, honestly, what the hell is going on right now? Mhmm.
Alex Judd:And my limited luxury narrative no longer works for what's actually going on. It is insufficient for this moment in time. It's really insufficient for every moment in time. It's just become punctuated in this moment. And so we need a better story, and praise God, that's what churches provide is a better story that actually aligns with the really devastating reality of the things that happen in our broken and fallen world.
Ben Loy:So what gives you hope in those moments?
Alex Judd:The third movement is what I would say. So creation, like, this was created for a reason, for a design, for thriving, for flourishing. Then there's the fall. We have deviated from that. There is brokenness.
Alex Judd:There is imperfections. Things are not as they should be. That's what sin is. And what gives anyone hope in that situation? Well, I don't think you can have hope unless you have the third move movement, which is redemption.
Ben Loy:Right?
Alex Judd:And you can talk about redemption archetypally. You can talk about redemption in a macro and general way, but biblically, redemption is personal. Right. And I actually think that talking about it just archetypally or just generally is insufficient to what you will actually need. I think you need a narrative of personal redemption.
Alex Judd:I really believe that because I've experienced that. And so how is it how is it personal? The worst thing that could ever happen in the history of the universe happened to the person that least deserved it. Mhmm. Right?
Alex Judd:The the person that was best of all of us had the worst possible thing happen to them. And the reason behind that, is so that he could rise again. Right? Because that terrible situation was redeemed, and it didn't end, you know, after he was put inside a tomb. He got up.
Alex Judd:Right? That's the story of Easter. And because he got up, if there's hope on the back end of that, there is hope in everything. There is not a single thing as bad as that that could ever possibly happen in my life or in this world, and because that happened, anything is possible. Praise god for that.
Alex Judd:And because our hope is grounded in what I believe is the true story of Jesus Christ living, dying, and rising again, well, then what I face every single day has the seeds of redemption in all of the brokenness that I experience.
Ben Loy:So as a leader, what does it practically look like to both acknowledge the fall and the brokenness and also, like, point people towards the hope that that redemption offers?
Alex Judd:Yeah. Hopeful realism is what I would say. You know, there are a lot of leaders out there that, like, people might even describe them as, oh, you're so positive. You're you're you're so optimistic. Right?
Alex Judd:And in reality, they're just super afraid. And what they're afraid of is dealing with what's actually real, having the hard conversations, acknowledging the brokenness in their organization, dealing with drama. Right? Acknowledging that there are outcomes that they can't control. They're afraid of all that, so they just deny it.
Alex Judd:Mhmm. And we look at that person and say they're positive. Unfortunately, that's gonna run out of steam. Like, that's not ultimately going to work. And so the hopeful realist leader is able to say, man, there's some really hard things with running a small growing business.
Alex Judd:There's some really hard things with working with people that can be incredibly inconsistent. There's some really hard things about being betrayed. There's some really hard things about not being able to control the outcomes. There's some really hard things about the fact that AI is moving into the marketplace now, and people will lose their jobs. There are hard things associated with all of that.
Alex Judd:I can name all of that and say, I still have hope. I am not I am not so terrified of that stuff that I can't acknowledge it. I can name all of that, look it dead in the eye, and say, because Jesus got up, I still have hope.
Ben Loy:Praise God. I've been, thinking a lot on this verse from Romans five recently, and and the verse and the chapter really are pointing towards, like, the hope that we have in Jesus. Mhmm. But there's this sequence when it when it comes to suffering and affliction, that I've, yeah, I've just been, like, thinking a lot about. And it's affliction leads to endurance.
Ben Loy:Endurance leads to proving character, and proving character leads to hope. And, like, that is, like, the hope that we have in Jesus. And so I just like the purpose behind it all being, like, oh, we're experiencing brokenness. We're experiencing a a result of the fall, but, like, the ultimate purpose is that so we can have a deeper understanding of the hope that we have through Jesus and through the victory that he declared when he rose from the dead, it's just been something I've been reflecting on a lot.
Alex Judd:Yeah. You know, when you're marathon training, one of the clicks, the mental clicks that occurred for me a handful of years ago is when you go on a training run and it starts to get really hard to where you wanna quit. Like, you're you're doing 22 miles on a Saturday morning before everyone wakes up. You really wanna stop, right, at mile 21 or whatever. Like, that's where all the good stuff is.
Alex Judd:Mhmm. Right? Like, that's the quote, unquote affliction. Right? Like, that's the pain.
Alex Judd:And you know, like, literally the reason why I'm experiencing pain right now is because endurance is being built. And then when we, you know, jump from marathon running to life, we know that when there's pain, endurance is being built, and we know that the act of building endurance creates character. Mhmm. Well, then that type of character is the type of person that is able to look at similar things that are really hard in their life or others and able to have hope and hang on to it. Mhmm.
Alex Judd:It only happens with the fire. Mhmm. Right? It it it only gets refined with the fire. And so I love that you brought up that verse because that verse literally puts words to what we all, I believe, experience, which is affliction, endurance, character, hope.
Ben Loy:And, really, when you take that into consideration with the fact that, like, Jesus suffered and died and then rose. Like, I think sometimes we glaze over the suffered and died part. Like, we don't really rest on, like, what he went through and the fact that he did not deserve it. And, I I have some friends who, like, every Easter Lent season will watch the passion of the Christ, and I just think it's, like, it's such a good practice to have because it's like, oh, yeah. I I I'm, like, watching this this artistic, like, representation of, like, what Jesus went through in those moments, and it just gives you it makes you sit in it for a little bit longer before moving on to Easter Sunday.
Alex Judd:Yeah. Yeah. If you think of, like, a few years before Jesus' crucifixion, take someone from that time period and transport them to the time that we live in right now and just have them walk around a typical Christian home, what what would they notice? I think they would be pretty shocked at, like, these really nice joyful people having a torture device on their wall. They wear a necklace with a torture device on it.
Alex Judd:They talk about the power of the torture device, and they're smiling whenever they talk about it. And what I'm talking about there is the cross. Right? Because that's what the cross was up until resurrection. Mhmm.
Alex Judd:Right? And and we now see the cross, and we see redemption, but, man, there's power in also seeing it as the the exact point, like, the the literal epicenter of the fall. Right? That, praise god, was redeemed. And if we just focus on rising again Easter Sunday, but we miss the devastation of Good Friday, that is a theological interpretation of the bible that will have ramifications in our life.
Alex Judd:Mhmm. It's it it it there's no way that doesn't pragmatically work out out in the way you think, the way you speak, and the way you act. And so understanding fall and redemption, you cannot have one without the other.
Ben Loy:Mhmm. So creation, fall, redemption, restoration is the last the last movement. And what is the difference between redemption and restoration? What is the tension that is held there, and why is it important?
Alex Judd:Well, if people are more interested in this, I mean, the the person I would recommend reading and getting into would be N. T. Wright because he's the one that has most transformed my understanding of heaven. But, I guess, to use a lighter example, I use one that, Jim Mullins, who we've talked about before in this conversation. He said, man, a lot of times, people perceive life as like this basketball game, and your team is clearly losing the basketball game.
Alex Judd:Like, it's not going well. And so eventually, it's clear that this is not going well, and it's not going where it's supposed to go. So you just put down the ball, leave, and blow up the stadium on your way out. Right? And he's like, that's like people's actual perspective, or that's people's actual theology of what's happening to the world.
Alex Judd:Like, they think the world is going to hell in a handbasket. It's already lost. Thank God I've got Jesus. I'm out of here. And it's like, that is not biblical at all.
Alex Judd:That's not correct at all. Right? The reality is there is brokenness. There is sin, but sin was defeated at the cross, but that doesn't mean that it's completely obliterated from the earth right now. What what it means is that it's it lost its power if we accept the fact that Jesus Christ died for that sin, and we accept him as our savior.
Alex Judd:It's hard to be saved if you don't accept the savior. Right? But within that, we live in what N. T. Wright would refer to as the already, but not yet.
Alex Judd:Right? So victory has occurred. It's a done deal. It's sealed. Praise God for that.
Alex Judd:We should have a worship service right now. And yet there is still brokenness in the world because Jesus said, I am coming back. But it's new heavens and new earth, and it's not gonna be heaven with zero contextual evidence that earth ever existed. It's gonna be heaven invading the earth and remaking and restoring all that is good, right, beautiful, and true about the earth so that it could be what it was actually created for in the first place. That's what restoration actually is, and we are on this trajectory of being a part of ambassadors of restoration coming to pass in part now, but eventually, ultimately.
Ben Loy:So how how does that final piece inform, or how should it inform, like, our leadership and how we how we operate?
Alex Judd:I heard, Jordan Peterson once say, maybe it's interesting to think about heaven as that which is perfect and always getting better, which I'm like, do you believe in heaven? I'm not I I don't know if you do, but but regardless, that's an interesting definition. And then you think about it, it's like heaven is that which is most good, right, beautiful, and true. That is the kingdom of God. Right?
Alex Judd:And so if we are supposed to be ambassadors of heaven that are ushering the world we live in towards that day of ultimate restoration, it can be so helpful to sit before your next meeting, to sit before your day, to sit before that conversation with a team member, to sit before a decision that you're about to make, and close your eyes and take a deep breath and say, god, give me a vision of this as most good, right, beautiful, and true. What would this meeting, this conversation, this decision, this action, this business look like if it were most good, right, beautiful, and true? What you're really saying there is give me a vision of heaven. And knowing that we are we are in that not yet right now, so we're never gonna hit it perfectly, but that is our aim. Right?
Alex Judd:That is our north star because, ultimately, that which is good, right, beautiful, and true is what is going to make it through the refining fire to be in the new Earth that we, you know, hopefully, God willing, get to experience and live in.
Ben Loy:Amen. Amen.
Alex Judd:I mean, I hope this episode releases pre Easter because, yeah, like, you know, it's theological. I I think sometimes we use these theological words, and we can forget about the pragmatic implications of them. Mhmm. But you you cannot internalize this story and not have your leadership be affected. Your the way you lead people without a shadow of a doubt will be affected if you choose to immerse yourself in this story and align your life with it.
Ben Loy:Mhmm. Yeah. If there was one thing that you wanted someone to take from this conversation, what was it?
Alex Judd:I guess it's from this one and the previous one. You will have a story. You do not even you will. You do have a story. You are operating through the lens of a narrative right now.
Alex Judd:The story you live in is the story you live out. I would leave this episode and spend legitimate time saying, do I believe that the true story of the whole universe and my life is creation, fall, redemption, restoration? And if the answer to that is no, then you better define what is the narrative because there is a narrative. So you better define what it is, and you better be able to explain it. Because to the degree that you can't explain it, you're gonna experience incredible disharmony internally.
Alex Judd:Internally. Mhmm. If the answer to that is yes, you believe it's the true story of the whole universe and of your life, then the next question becomes, am I living in alignment with that? Or where am I not living in alignment with that? And how do I realign?
Alex Judd:Because that's where you'll experience flourishing, harmony, peace. Not that it will all be perfect, but that you'll be able to contextualize the brokenness with redemption and restoration being on the backside. Praise God. Thanks, Alex. Thanks, Ben.
Alex Judd:Well, there you have it. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode. If you want any of the information or resources that we mentioned, that's all in the show notes. Hey. Before you go, could I ask you for one quick favor?
Alex Judd:Could you subscribe, rate, and review this podcast episode? Your feedback is what helps our team engage in a sequence of never ending improvement. We wanna amplify what's valuable to you and obviously reduce or even remove the things that aren't. Also, you leaving a positive review is what helps us connect with, build trust with, and serve other leaders around the country. So thanks in advance for helping us out on that front.
Alex Judd:Are you a leader that wants to grow your business in a healthy way, serve people exceptionally well, and glorify God in the process? Go to pathforgrowth.com to get more information about our community of impact driven leaders and schedule a call with our team. Hey. Thank you so much to the Path for Growth team, Kyle Cummings and the crew at Pod circle, and the remarkable leaders that are actively engaged in the Path for Growth community. Y'all are the people that make this podcast possible.
Alex Judd:Y'all know this. We're rooting for you. We're praying for you. We wanna see you win. Remember, my strength is not for me.
Alex Judd:Your strength is not for you. Our strength is for service. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
