Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stonestreet. This past weekend, a pair of events drew global audiences. The opening ceremonies of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Super Bowl 60 in San Francisco are just the most recent installments of events that have become contemporary cultural flashpoints and which feature the clash of worldviews. And thankfully, this year's opening ceremonies were quite tame compared to recent Olympic Games, especially what happened in 2024 in Paris.
This year, Grammy Award winner Mariah Carey performed the Italian classic Valare, which evoked much online discussion about whether or not she was actually singing. And with that as the biggest controversy, parents could breathe a sigh of relief and say to themselves, well, at least it wasn't Paris. All of which is a good lesson for future host nations. just avoid overt desecration of things that much of the world considers to be holy. Instead, as the iconic Olympic rings came together in the arena, NBC announcers noted how these games focused on harmony between seemingly dueling ideals, symbolizing an emerging global unity.
Now, across the globe, Seattle fans were quite happy, but really the pre- and post-game buzz surrounding the Super Bowl was about the dueling halftime shows, not the game. The NFL's official halftime show was headlined by Bad Bunny. An alternative show produced by Turning Point USA was described as entertainment without parents having to worry about shielding their children's eyes. Of course, that's a very real concern ever since the infamous 2004 wardrobe malfunction and the several provocative performances that have taken place since Now many noted the irony that it was Kid Rock that was the family alternative but he was The Bad Bunny performance featured homoeroticism and for those who understood Spanish, sexually charged lyrics. As expressions of worldviews, both the opening ceremonies and the Super Bowl, in distinct ways, demonstrate a reality about the human condition, that God made people to yearn for something larger than themselves, that longing, which can take the form of athletic struggle and triumph or national pride or an idealized vision of global harmony, is all embedded in humanity's created nature.
As C.S. Lewis observed in mere Christianity, creatures are not born with desires unless satisfactions for those desires exist.
So if I find in myself a desire which no expression in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world, end quote. And the Olympic ceremonies especially reflected that human longing. The theme of peace and the joining of the rings presented a dream for harmony and unity, a kind that recalled the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, in which John Lennon's Imagine served as a theme song of the opening ceremonies. Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, no religion too. The song, which is often played at nostalgic cultural moments, captures the utopian vision of progressivism, a world without borders, conflict, or transcendent authority in which humanity is perfectible and the human nature inherently good.
Of course, the dissonance between that song and the reality of the human condition is palpable, especially given that nation that was hosting those Olympics At the time Beijing was actively persecuting Uyghur Muslims clamping down on Christian churches and violating its 50 agreement about Hong Kong In fact from the Tower of Babel onward history is full of the futility and dangers of seeking unity above anything and everything else. And often it's sought by trying to replace God with government. Scripture describes how God has put eternity into man's heart, how creation is groaning, waiting for Christ's redemption to be made complete.
So what humanity actually longs for is not a utopia. It's for our creator. When that longing is sought outside of Christ, it manifests in what is profane, idolatrous, dangerous, and yes, futile. Unity and cooperation are certainly high ideals, but they remain fleeting and incomplete whenever they are pursued apart from God. Christians have the opportunity to bring clarity and to bring meaning to our human longings.
As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5, Christ reconciled us to himself and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Christians who are anchored in the truth of what Christ has accomplished and the assurance that he's making all things new are empowered to be faithfully engaged with this world. In fact, C.S. Lewis also captured the paradox that intentional and continual looking to the eternal does not mean we are to leave the present world as it is. if you read history, he went on to write, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next world.
And that's because humans always hunger for more meaning, for more purpose, and more transcendence than fleeting spectacles like the Olympics or the Super Bowl can provide. And today, in addition to those deep-seated longings that are etched into every human heart are the failed utopian visions all around us the ones that promise what they could never deliver So Christians have both an opportunity and a responsibility to respond with courage and clarity to point people to the true reconciler of their souls, the prince of true peace. Only Jesus Christ is able to satisfy that eternity that God has placed inside all of us. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stonestreet with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored by Andrew Carrico.
If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And for more resources and to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org. Hey, John Stone Street here.
So many people tell us that Breakpoint has shaped how they think about the world. Praise God. The Bible's clear that God has put us in this time and in this place in human history. And that means we need to understand what's going on in the world around us. but it's not enough to just understand a Christian worldview.
We're called to live it out, and that's what Truth Rising, the study, is for. This free four-part small group study is the follow-up to the Truth Rising documentary. It walks through God's game plan for engaging this civilizational moment with a big enough worldview centered on the essential aspects of a courageous faith, hope, truth, identity, and calling. Each part of the study features both a teaching segment and a story of courage. Join the thousands committed to cultivating a courageous faith by going through Truth Rising, the study.
You can access it for free today at colsoncenter.org slash study. That's colsoncenter.org slash study.
