A cartoon made me cry. And no, it wasn't Bluey.
Sacred Slang: April 2025.
Imagine.
I always feel weird when people talk about what cartoons they loved as children. I didn’t grow up watching them. I don’t remember my parents discouraging us from watching it and we watched plenty of tv, but I just wasn’t drawn towards animation.
But recently, a cartoon made me cry. And I’m not endorsing this show. I want to repeat: I am not endorsing this show.1
Bojack Horseman, the Netflix animated series, made me cry. Bluey makes me cry too, but not in the same way.
Let me summarize what the show is about: Bojack is a former celebrity actor whose fifteen minutes of fame are up. He’s pretty sad about it all. His success covered up his wounds, he kept hustling, kept running away from the sadness, and he can’t hide any longer. It’s all bubbling up in Bojack. And I’m blubbering up watching it.
Bojack is desperate to cover his vulnerability, shame, and loss with success, but he can’t do it. No matter how hard he tries. And when the veil is removed, when the fig leaves are gone, what does he discover? That he’s actually a bad person. No matter what he does, regardless of his incredible success, he is rotten at the core.
Consider this scene.2 Just take two minutes and watch it.
You can hear his desperation. He needs to know he can still be good. He has to believe there is still time left to make it right. The scene is awkward. Uncomfortable. You might say: “All of Bojack’s deeds are like filthy rags.”
And it makes me cry. Maybe it made you tear up too?
The show is full of these “naked and ashamed” moments. Places where honesty breaks through all attempts to hide. The real truth confronts. Leaving us naked and ashamed. Laid bare before the world.
After they eat from the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve are pathetic. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so heartbreaking. They sew fig leaves to cover their nakedness. Fig leaves. When they hear God walking in the garden, they hide behind trees.
They attempt to hide from the God who created all things - behind created things. It’s pathetic. Tragic. Heartbreaking. Hilarious. And we do the very same thing.
Sin has fractured us so badly that we are born into this world trying to hustle or hide from the rottenness at our core. But we can’t. It is always exposed. It’s just a matter of time.
There is no gospel in Bojack’s world. Hope is mocked. Redemption is a farce. It is peak cynicism.
It’s hard for me to imagine a world in which I don’t have to cover up my shame and sadness with hustle. Like Bojack, I stand alone at a microphone asking, “It’s not too late is it?”
And the truth is: It’s not too late. But I can’t do it on my own. And neither can you.
Interpet.
Psalm 17:15, “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”
Exodus 33:20, “‘But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.’”
It seems we hear two conflicting messages in scripture: It is the highest blessing to see God’s face. And if you see it, you will die. Talk about a high stakes risk/reward dilemma.
It can appear that it’s the best thing to see God’s face: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
Then other times it seems like beholding God in His splendor would just unravel us: “And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)
So, which is it? Is it good to see God or will it destroy us? Well that all depends on who we are - or maybe more specifically - whose we are.
Beholding God is good for the righteous, but bad for the unrighteous. For the righteous one, beholding God is the supreme goal and glory. Nothing is better, because they have been made ready to receive His presence. For the unrighteous, beholding God is judgment awakened. Nothing is worse, because they see the one whom they have rejected.
Theologians call beholding God the “beatific vision.” It is the supremely blessed experience of gazing upon the supremely blessed One. It’s the fulfillment of fellowship with God. But it is only good news if we behold Him in Christ. We are granted the goodness of gazing upon God when we have received the goodness of grace with God in Christ. Only then is beholding God a blessing.
The spiritual practices (bible reading, prayer, spiritual battle, evangelism, etc.) of the Christian life are rooted in our union with Christ, but they are aimed at our beholding of God. We undertake these practices with a goal - to experience more of what God has for us in Christ. But these practices are grounded in an unchangeable reality - that we are freely and forever children of God in Christ.
I wrote Formed for Fellowship (available for preorder now) for this reason: To help Christians anchor the spiritual disciplines in their grounding in Christ while also pointing them towards this great goal of beholding God.
(If you preorder Formed for Fellowship - you get the audiobook for free. Basically a buy one/get one free kind of deal.)
Apply.
Have you heard of the “vibe shift” that is taking place?
What is the shift? Five Features:
People are more willing to go public with their Christian faith
Religious antagonism exchanged for curiosity
Open acceptance/celebration of "traditional" values
A desire for clarity on what is good and what is evil
A common sense exhaustion with obvious lies
This "vibe shift" is going to be televised. And by that I mean it is going to be commercialized, packaged, and sold for consumption. Some are going to want the power, but not the presence.
But they are going to come in at least two varieties: Simons and sons of Sceva.
Let me explain.
What does Simon want? He hears the gospel. He believes. He is baptized. And when he sees the power of the Spirit on display, he wants to buy it. He offers the apostles some $$$ and says, "Give me this power also..." (Acts 8) But obviously: the Spirit isn't for sell.
Peter rebukes him: "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours..." And praise God! Simon does exactly this, asking them: "Pray for me to the Lord..."
Good news! Simon sees the power of God and he wants a piece, but he doesn't know what he doesn't know. He needs direction, discipleship, and a strong word. Peter calls him out and Simon is redirected. Some, in this vibe shift, are going to want the power on their own terms. We have to be willing to put our hands on the shoulder of these individuals and say, "I see what's happening - there is a better way."
But the sons of Sceva are different. These itinerant Jewish exorcists want to mimic the power they see displayed among the apostles - but it seems like they want the power without the submission. They want to cast out demons in a name to which they have not given allegiance.
The power has shifted and they want in on the action. So all of a sudden they shift their game plan: "Why don't we try some exorcisms in the name of Jesus? Seems to be working for Paul." Purely tactical for the sons. One bumper sticker replaced with another. It doesn't work well for them.
In this "vibe shift" we are going to have Simons: People who place their faith in Christ and are baptized. They are going to see the power of God on display and may put their foot in their mouth as they look to walk in it - but they just need some direction/discipleship.
We are also going to have some sons of Sceva: People who want the associational benefits of Christianity but none of the surrender of self. They will want the power, but not the presence.
Learning to discern the difference will be crucial for the church.
(More on this in a future Sacred Slang - with an interesting case study between Kanye West and Bob Dylan.)
Curate.
Citizens is doing something very interesting with their new music. Strongly recommend you check them out.
A very powerful article from Plough on “Why Pastors Like Me Burn Out.”
Sometimes humanity breaks through the banality of it all - like when Madden Orlovsky sang this week on ESPN. (Madden is the son of the guy in the suit and he was there for autism awareness day.) I love how his dad looks at him. It’s a shadow of the Father’s face for those in Christ.
Interrogate.
Each month I answer a reader submitted question. If you want to leave a question for a future newsletter - just drop it in the comments to this post. This month’s question comes from Ryan: What three non-Christian books do you think are essential reading for Christians?
Why read non-Christian books at all? Christians are the heirs of God’s authoritative word, but we are also participants in a great conversation that stretches across the globe and throughout history. There have been many voices in this great conversation and becoming a good dialogue partner involves listening.
The Republic by Plato || One philosopher said that “all of philosophy is a series of footnotes on Plato.” That’s how important he is to the great conversation. The Republic is his most important and influential work. If you read this, you will basically have read “the bible” for philosophy.
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle || Two ancients in a list of three may seem like a stretch, but this work on ethics has had a lasting imprint on western culture. Reading this book is like getting to the ground floor of what it has traditionally meant to be “good” or “bad” in western civilization.
Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche || If you read this - you’ve read the most meaningful attack on Christianity that exists. If I wasn’t a Christian, I’d be a Nietzschean. In my view, it’s the only alternative if the resurrection isn’t true. I think about reading Nietzsche like defeating a challenging boss in a video game - once you’ve beat him, the game is over, you’ve won.
Honorable mention: The Quran. || I’ve said that the Quran is like a 5,000 piece puzzle with 1/3 of the pieces missing. Despite its lack of internal coherence and external evidences, it is the authoritative text for the second largest (and fastest growing) religion in the world. You don’t have to be afraid of the Quran.
Horizon.
I have a kids picture book coming out about the gospel + the armor of God. And it has dragons. Here is a little teaser (low res). You’ll be the first to know when it’s available for preorder.
The Deep Discipleship Program has officially launched into the world! This is a theological discipleship curriculum that can be used by a small group, whole church, home school co-op, or even a single individual. Our friends at MBTS have decided that if you complete it - they will give you your first class at MBTS for free. So it more than pays for itself.
Recently took some time to chat with Steph Thurling on the “Christian Parenting Podcast” about union with Christ, identity, and raising children. You can listen in here.
If you haven’t had a chance yet to check out my book on union with Christ - in February I released a book entitled Home with God: Our Union with Christ. It’s the most important thing I will ever write. And it’s massively discounted right now.
I have to say this because any time a Christian leader references a cultural artifact that they find objectionable, people feel the need to make sure that everyone knows this Christian leader is a worse person than them.
I was actually able to sneak a portion of this scene into my new book Formed for Fellowship. I think I’m only person in the history of B&H that was able to get a Bojack Horseman quote into a book.
Great work! Shame is really misunderstood in our culture and especially among Christians. Being forgiven is not enough, it's good news but only half the gospel.