When we just can’t make sense of life

I’ve decided this morning that life really doesn’t make sense. We could be spared endless heartache if we stopped thinking that it does, or that it should. Actually, let me rephrase that: Life makes sense, but not in a way that we can understand. In the grand scheme of things, the bigger picture, from God’s standpoint, every part of life makes sense – even cruel, horrible tragedies. I’m going to be honest. As I typed those last words, something in me rose up and screamed “NO!” I love the Lord, and nothing, NOTHING, will change that, but what happened yesterday is a very hard pill to swallow “submissively”. I put that in quotes because what happened can’t be God’s will, yet He allowed it to happen.

Let me tell you about Jonathan. He is a handsome, articulate, funny, kind guy. He’s married to a beautiful woman and has two gorgeous kids. I don’t know them all that well, but from what I can see, they are a shining example of a Christian marriage and family. They are very involved at the church I attend. Actually, Jonathan played a lead role in the Easter Cantata a couple of years ago. He was great.

Yesterday Jonathan died. He and his family were enjoying the last weekend of summer at a lake, and he drowned. I don’t know all the details, and I don’t need to. An emergency prayer alert went out to our church family as he was being airlifted to the hospital, his family taken there by police cruiser. Within a few hours he was gone.

Some of you might say, “well, we can rejoice that Jonathan is with the Lord.” Yes, that’s a reason to rejoice, but the timing isn’t. I can’t begin to imagine the horrible anguish and numb disbelief that his wife and children are feeling, and his extended family. How do they go forward? His wife suddenly a widow, his children instantly deprived of their father?

Please don’t give me a religious response, “the Lord will provide”. Of course He will. I think we say things like that because we’re trying to make sense of something senseless, or we’re trying to reassure ourselves. It’s really quite terrifying to realize how little control we have.

When tragedy strikes, we are often encouraged to speak only positive words, just believe that God will work all things for our good, etc. These things aren’t wrong, but I think the context is. Do we encourage people to avoid expressing negative feelings because it makes us uncomfortable? God can’t heal what we hold back from Him. Some would say that talking honestly about our doubts and anger plays straight into the devil’s hands. I think supressing these things gives him the upper hand and slowly drives a wedge between us and God. The Psalms are a perfect scriptural example of someone (David) expressing all his thoughts and feelings to God. The full spectrum of David’s emotions didn’t seem to trouble God.

We often say, “Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship”, which is absolutely true. In a healthy relationship, the lines of communication are open and there are no forbidden topics. God is strong enough to withstand our questions, doubts and rage. I think it’s part of the healing process to express these things to Him. When we suppress them or pretend they’re not there, God can’t comfort us. I have in mind the picture of a child who has been hurt, running arms outstretched towards Daddy. I feel certain that God is heartbroken for Jonathan’s family, and He wants to comfort them.

Mourning is a process, sometimes a lengthy one. The best gift we can give to Jonathan’s family is to allow them to feel and grieve in an open, honest environment, one that permits questions, doubts and feelings of anger – indeed, any feelings they may have.

God’s Grace in Disguise

I was watching a Christian TV program recently that featured an interview with Brian Doerksen. For those of you who aren’t familiar with him, he’s an acclaimed Christian songwriter and worship leader, and a beautifully humble man. During the interview he talked about two of his children, both of whom are profoundly disabled due to a genetic condition called “fragile X syndrome”. Rather than describing his family situation as a burden, Brian said that these kids know how to give and receive love in a way that “normal” people don’t – and this makes them a huge blessing. He said, “sometimes God’s grace comes in disguise”.

Wow. That is such a great attitude to have in the face of some of the things life throws at us. Actually, if we understand God’s grace, even in a limited way, we realize that we aren’t just saved by grace. We live and breath and have our being in and by grace, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day.

It’s easy to see God’s grace when something happens that we like. “Wow! God is so awesome! I needed extra money this month to make ends meet, and someone at church just blessed me with a cheque for (fill in the blank)!” But grace doesn’t mean getting our own way all the time, or getting everything we want. Why? Because God sees things we can’t see, and His main priority isn’t our comfort and happiness.

Think about the story of King David’s sin with Bathsheba. He was the most powerful man in Israel. He started out as a humble shepherd boy, but apparently power went to his head. He saw Bathsheba, had her summoned, and slept with her. Then he tried to cover up his sin by arranging for her husband, Uriah, to be killed in battle. In a rather understated fashion, the Bible reads, “the thing David had done displeased the LORD”.

If you’re familiar with the story, you know that Nathan the prophet confronts David. I love what the Bible says: “The LORD sent Nathan to David”. (2 Samuel 12:1) I’m sure David would’ve preferred if his cover-up plan had worked, but God sent Nathan to David because He loved him – and because David’s sin put the whole nation at risk. Sometimes God’s grace comes in disguise.

I’m experiencing God’s grace in disguise in my own life right now. I’m returning to work shortly, and I can’t say I’m jumping up and down for joy at the idea. I’ve been off for almost 10 months. I like my job, but I like what I’ve been doing in the last ten months better – exploring my creative side, stepping into ministry through the natural and spiritual gifts God has so graciously blessed me with. (there’s that word!) So I find myself worrying, wondering – what are you doing, God?

I hear Brian Doerksen’s words: “Sometimes God’s grace comes in disguise”. God’s plans and dreams and hopes for us exceed anything we can conjure up ourselves. Put another way, He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20) According to His power, by His grace, for His glory.

God opens doors that no one can shut, and closes doors that no one can open. In the interim, I know that His grace is sufficient for me, for His power is made perfect in weakness. What is weakness? The realization that without Him, we can do nothing. When I am weak, then I am strong. It’s really liberating to let myself be weak in His arms. Makes me think of something Jesus said – “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Is there anything unwelcome or perplexing happening in your life right now? Has somebody confronted you with something you don’t want to hear? Don’t be too quick to dismiss every obstacle as “an attack of the enemy”. It could be God’s grace in disguise.

Love can build a bridge

My post today is part of a larger initiative of more than 70 bloggers all sharing their thoughts on how to ‘bridge the gap’ between Christians and gay people. You can check out the other links at www.btgproject.blogspot.com

A good friend of mine visited me yesterday. She was in town for a few days, and it was great to have the chance to just hang out together. She’s one of those seriously fun people who loves to laugh. We share the same dry, off-the-wall sense of humour. Needless to say, we did quite a bit of laughing! I’m still smiling at the thought of it.

My friend committed her life to Christ as an adult, much like I did. Though our backgrounds are different in many ways, we do have one important thing in common: We both came to know Jesus through our desperation, tired of hungering for love and being hurt and disappointed again and again. I suppose you could say we were looking for love in all the wrong places. She looked for love in the arms of men. I looked for it in the arms of women. We both found it in the arms of Jesus.

There’s no denying that bridging the gap between Christians and gay people is challenging. On the one hand, there are Christians who are so threatened by the idea of reaching out to gays that they won’t even consider it. On the other, some gay people make it their mission in life to be as “in your face” as possible about their sexuality, particularly around people who consider homosexuality sinful. I think both of these postures are born out of fear, hurt and misunderstanding. It’s heartening to know that there are people in between the two extremes.

One of the songs my friend and I sang together yesterday was “Love can build a bridge”. It was recorded back in the 1980’s by the Judds, a mother/daughter country duo. Some of you may get to this point in my post and think, “is this the best response you can come up with to the question at hand?” Well, yes and no. Here are the words to the chorus of “Love can build a bridge”, in case you’re not a country music fan:

Love can build a bridge,
between your heart and mine.
Love can build a bridge,
don’t you think it’s time,
don’t you think it’s time.

It is the best answer I can come up with, in the sense that it’s the only answer to our lost condition, whether we identify ourselves as gay, straight, or somewhere in between. It’s the same answer given in the beautiful simplicity of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” If you’re a Christian and you don’t include gay people in the “whosoever” category, then I would gently suggest that you are underestimating God’s grace. If you’re gay and you’ve written off Christianity because you’ve been hurt by people in the church, I hope you won’t write Jesus off. God doesn’t affirm any of us on the basis of our behaviour, because we’re all sinners. He affirms us based on the “whosoever will believe in Him” part of John 3:16. In the same way, none of us can measure up to God’s standard of holiness. We all fall short in many ways. The grace that saves us is the same grace that enables us to grow in purity and obedience once we have accepted His gift of salvation.

You’ll notice that I haven’t addressed the issue of whether or not homosexual behaviour is sinful, and that’s deliberate. It’s not because I don’t have an opinion. I haven’t addressed it because I think if we truly want to bridge the gap between Christians and gay people, or indeed with anyone who doesn’t share our beliefs, we need to keep the horse before the cart.

If you’re a Christian trying to reach out to a gay person, and the first thing you say after “God loves you”, is “homosexuality is an abomination in His eyes”, then your cart has already toppled into the ditch. I believe when we take this approach, making sure our theological position is stated at the outset, we aren’t really motivated by love – we’re motivated by fear. The reality is, most gay people already know what the Bible says about homosexuality. If you feel compelled to tell them, consider how lovingly Jesus dealt with the woman caught in adultery in John 8. And remember that it’s His kindness that leads us to repentance – all of us.

When I left my gay identity behind, it wasn’t because well-meaning Christians persuaded me to. It happened because the Holy Spirit wooed me, gently changing how I saw myself and others. I found the love I had been longing for in Jesus. In the process, I discovered (and am discovering) my true self. I’m very glad to say that His love has been expressed to me over the years through Christians. They offered the same grace and patience we all need, and trusted God to change me. Their love bridged the gap in my life.

So, when you think about it, God has already built a bridge. Don’t you think it’s time for us to walk across it by loving all people the way Jesus does?

Without Him, we are “them”

I love the fact that Jesus wasn’t afraid to identify Himself with us. It’s the reason He came, of course – to identify so completely with us that He actually took the guilt of our sin upon Himself on the cross. He went way beyond what any of us would do for another person, even someone we really love. But think about His day-to-day existence 2000 years ago. He was all about identifying Himself with broken, lost, sinful ‘outcasts’. The Pharisees thought they were hurling insults when they accused Jesus of being “a friend of sinners”. Man, those words are sweet music to my ears!! Jesus, my friend! I worry sometimes that we, as the church, have forgotten who we were, or who we are, without Jesus. You know, when we talk about someone in that gossipy, condescending tone, a sort of thinly disguised self-righteousness that we convince ourselves is okay as long as we say, “we need to pray for them”. Them? We are them. Or at least, without Him, we are them.

We all say we want to be more like Jesus. We sing the words, “Lord, I wanna be more like you… I want to be a vessel You flow through…” That’s great. I sing those words and I sincerely mean them. But when push comes to shove, do we really want to be more like Him? To what extent? Are we prepared to be spit upon and beaten, humiliated, betrayed, deserted, mocked, shamed, unjustly accused and executed? Maybe in some parts of the world, but I doubt very many of us here would put up with that for anybody’s sake, let alone Christ’s.

Think about some of the people He came in contact with during His earthly ministry. The raving, demon possessed man in Luke 8. When Jesus was confronted by him as He stepped ashore, did He get back into His boat and row away? Of course not. He was very hands on when He healed people. He wasn’t afraid he was going to “catch” something, or afraid of being gossiped about for touching sinners. He didn’t see us as “them”. He abased Himself, coming down to our level in order to lift us up to His.

If we love Jesus, I mean really love Him, we can show it by identifying with Him. He identified with our sin and shame. We have a responsibility to identify with every sinful expression of humanity that we encounter. I don’t mean we should get involved in the sin, but we need to actively embrace “sinners” because we understand that God’s grace is the only thing that can lift us out of our shared pit of broken humanity. All it takes is His love, a gift He has given us to share. We can show our gratitude by identifying with Him – Jesus, our friend, a friend of sinners.

Turning our lives inside out

I’ve been thinking about how the Lord turns our lives inside out for the benefit of others, if we let Him. The treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, are some of the most powerful ‘ministry tools’ we have. It’s not easy to do, of course, because we have our reputations to uphold. But whoever saves his life will lose it, and whoever loses it for Jesus’ sake will find purposeful, abundant, eternal life.

A few weeks back, I was getting dressed and had something quite bizarre happen. I put my camisole on, then a blouse over top. As I was brushing my teeth, I noticed that the blouse was inside out! I laughed at myself, thinking how stunned that was. So I took it off to reverse it, and the camisole was inside out too!! Now I was really laughing. But then I heard the Holy Spirit say, “just like your clothes are inside out, I want you to turn your life inside out.” 

Isn’t turning our lives inside out the least we can do, in view of God’s mercy? Jesus, God covered in flesh, turned Himself inside out for us on the cross. I’m praying about what turning myself inside out means. I guess it doesn’t mean exactly the same thing for everyone, but the principal is the same.

I had a discussion with a friend from church recently and she told me about her brother, who is gay. It was a beautiful conversation. She talked about how she couldn’t help loving her brother’s boyfriend, even though she didn’t think she’d be able to. One of the things she mentioned that really impacted me is that Christians who have a gay loved one are often ‘in the closet’ about it at church. I guess they feel shame and a sense of fear of what other Christians will think. It shouldn’t be like that. If we can’t be honest and open in the family of God, where can we be?

And that ties in with turning our lives inside out. Allowing God to use our life as an open book lets others see the miracle of His healing power. Lots of things stop us from being this vulnerable. Fear is a big one. Personally, I couldn’t do it before because I was paralyzed by shame. Shame is like cancer. It was lodged there right at the core of my identity, tainting everything about me, continually metastasizing & causing all sorts of secondary problems. How Jesus healed my shame, I’ll never understand on this side of heaven. But healing is so much more than focusing on the individual struggles we face. It requires His touch in the very centre of who we are. That’s why simply trying to change our outward behaviour doesn’t work. If it did, we could overcome sin by our own efforts. Sinful behaviour is the visible evidence that we need radical heart surgery. God alone can go that deep, healing the whole person.

Sometimes He heals instantly and completely, sometimes healing is a life-long process. Whatever is most beneficial from the standpoint of eternity is what He does. And He doesn’t always heal every malady or problem. I wish He did! I would love to be able to taste food, to smell flowers, to live without the musical accompaniment in my left ear. (all results of a head injury I sustained six months ago – my survival is a miracle) I wish He would completely remove every longing my flesh has for things that displease Him. 

And you know what? I’m confident that He can do all the things I’ve mentioned, and more. And He is at work in me, changing & molding and transforming me all the time, making me fit for service. I don’t want my focus to be on ‘getting healed’, because if it is, I can’t focus on Him. And if I’m not focused on Him… what’s the point?

Indelibly Marked

Have you ever watched the PBS television show, Antiques Roadshow? The basic concept of the show is this: A team of experts and appraisers travel to a city, set up in a large venue such as a convention centre, and invite people to bring in their antiques, collectibles and family heirlooms to be appraised. Sometimes people bring an object that they think is valuable, and it ends up being worthless junk. At other times the item turns out to be extremely valuable, beyond the owner’s wildest dreams.

The Bible says that when God created the earth and everything in it, one part of His handiwork stood apart from the rest – human beings. “Then God said, ‘let us make man in our image, in our likeness’…” (Genesis 1:26) When God created humans, He marked us with His likeness, His “maker’s mark”. You could even say that we bear His “hallmark”, in that at creation, humans were pure. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, the purity of God’s creation was corrupted, and we see the results in the world today. Corrupted though it may be, God’s image still marks us indelibly. Even people who say they don’t believe in God usually have an innate sense of right and wrong. Paul talks about this in Romans 1:18-23:

“But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.”

What Paul is suggesting is that disobedience has its roots in our view of God and of ourselves. Considering what happened in the Garden of Eden, this seems to be true. The serpent planted seeds of suspicion and mistrust in Eve’s mind. This caused her to see God differently, and to question His motives. As a result she pushed God off the throne and took matters into her own hands. We know the rest of the story. “People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him…” Paul goes on to say, “they traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand”. In other words, we have a built-in tendency to accept (or even prefer) counterfeits – idols – though ‘the real thing’ is obvious and readily available.

If disobedience has its roots in our view of God, then a good question to ask on a regular basis is, “How great is our God?” Though God has nothing to prove, I think He provides plenty of opportunities for us to see how great He is. Some of us miss these opportunities because we’re too busy or we’re not paying attention. Others are so ensnared in pride and rebellion that we refuse to give God His rightful place in our lives. Our anthem is “my way or the highway”. Unfortunately, we don’t see the inevitable head-on collision coming until it’s too late.

God loves us and He has our best interests at heart. When we want something and He says, “no”, He isn’t trying to deprive us, He’s trying to protect us. His perspective on our lives takes into consideration factors we aren’t even aware of. The thing we think we want could end up destroying us. There are also times when God says “wait”. This can be at least as hard as hearing “no”.

When I struggle with giving God the ‘final say’ in my life, I find great comfort in knowing that though He didn’t sin, Jesus was tempted and tried. The night before His crucifixion, He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) Like us,  Jesus had desires. Unlike us, He consistently submitted them to God.

Lord, help us to worship you with our submission and obedience, even when we don’t understand. We choose to believe that You know what’s best in every circumstance of our lives.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5,6)

Journey-mates

The journey we’re on in life isn’t meant to be walked alone. From the earliest chapters of the Bible we learn that God made us to be in relationships. After creating a multitude of animals and the first human being, He said, “It’s not good for the man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” (Genesis 2:18, The Message) He created Eve to meet the need in Adam’s heart and life for companionship – a need that no animal could meet.

We usually think of the above passage of scripture as referring only to marriage, but it contains a principle with broader implications. Part of how we bear God’s image is in this need for connection and companionship. We know God is intensely relational, partly because He has existed as the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – from before the beginning of time. But perhaps more significantly, we know it because of the enormous price He paid to repair our fractured relationship with Him. He longed to restore fellowship with His lost image-bearers so intensely that He came, willingly, and died for us on a cross. This is what Jesus means when He says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, NIV)

Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we become journey-mates with Him and with all other Christians, regardless of ethnicity, skin colour, language or background. The wonderful thing about journeying with Jesus is the way He’s able to take any life, any person with a willing heart, and turn that life into something worthwhile and God-honouring. He doesn’t pick and choose His journey-mates, opting to walk only with a select few: He will take anyone who is willing to “walk the walk” with Him. This is the same attitude we should have towards each other. What will the journey with Jesus be like? Read what He says:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28, The Message)

Going to seed

 

Walking like Jesus walked means being open to interruptions. Not just open to them, but expecting them. Have you noticed that He was never too busy for people? Those burning questions we ask – “why am I here?” “what’s my purpose in life?” “what is God calling me to do?” – can be answered in one phrase: We’re here to go to seed.

When you hear the phrase “going to seed”, what image does it conjure up? If you’re into gardening you probably picture a straggly looking petunia, well past its prime. By the time something has gone to seed, we write it off as old, unattractive, barren. But going to seed is exactly what Jesus did, and what He calls us to do.

Think about the plant analogy some more. God is the Master Gardener. He plants us where He wants us. He waters us, feeds us, prunes us. Under His care we grow, absorbing and reflecting His light. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made”, as Psalm 139 puts it. But our purpose is more than skin deep. God wants us to reproduce, just like a plant – by going to seed, a process of dying in order that new life can spring forth. Listen to what Jesus said as He looked toward the cross:

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24, NIV)

Some of the deepest satisfaction in life can come from knowing that we’re going to seed. Every day we have fresh opportunities to sow seeds on God’s behalf. Whether or not we do depends to a large extent on our attitude. Do we see others as “bit players” in our life, there to meet our needs, or as precious individuals whom God has placed in our path, so that we can bless them? The next time you are served by someone – for example, at a restaurant – consider the possibility that God may want you to serve them.

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” ~ Jesus, speaking to His disciples
(Matthew 20:26-28, NIV)

The three-legged race

I haven’t thought about three-legged races for ages. In fact, it’s been so long that I couldn’t even remember what they were called. I was talking to a friend about the different gifts we have in the Body of Christ, and how they fit together according to God’s plans and purposes. As we spoke, I suddenly saw this image in my head of two people running side by side, rather clumsily, with the left leg of one tied to the right leg of the other, adjacent arms draped over each other’s shoulders for support. If any picture is worth a thousand words, surely this one is. 

There are a few interesting things about the three-legged race. For starters, calling it a “race” is probably a bit misleading. The objective is ostensibly to cross the finish line first, but doing so doesn’t require speed as much as it requires cooperation.

Another thing that becomes clear after a few failed attempts is that being paired with someone of roughly the same height makes your job a lot easier. A large discrepancy in this area pretty much guarantees that you’ll crash to the ground before the finish line. As a result, watching a mismatched pair can be pretty comical, as long as no one gets hurt.

The Bible often uses “the race” as a metaphor for life, and more specifically, for the Christian life. For example, in Hebrews 12 we are admonished to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us”. In 1 Corinthians 9:24 Paul tells us to “run in such a way as to get the prize”. To the Galatians, who had been led away from the simple message of salvation by grace through faith, he says, “you were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” Even the Old Testament mentions the subject. In Ecclesiastes 9:11 it says, “The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong”. Doesn’t this contradict our culture’s notion of independence, competition, and hard work – the “you can be anything you want if you work hard enough” belief system we have in North America?

“So what’s wrong with that?” you may ask. Actually, there’s a lot right with it. The foundation of our country was poured by people who believed in hard work and sacrifice, and they believed that God would reward them in due time. It’s worth remembering that many of them came from countries where their “lot in life” was pretty much determined by their parents’ class background. No amount of hard work could lift someone in 19th century England from being a scullery maid at Buckingham Palace to being the Queen.

What comes to mind when you think of a race? Do you have visions of super-fast, uber-muscular athletes running at the Olympics? I guess that’s what I think of. I was one of those sporty girls growing up, and my family was (and is) pretty competitive. The expression, “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”, might exaggerate somewhat the degree to which winning mattered, but only marginally. Being first, winning, and being the best were all highly prized in my family.

So when God talks about our life being a race, what picture do you think He has in mind? When He tells us to “run in such a way as to get the prize”, is He telling us to trample over anyone who gets in our way, to do whatever it takes to cross that line in first place? Of course not, you say. You’re right, He can’t possibly have that in mind, because God’s ways and His priorities are upside-down compared to ours. He says things like “the first will be last and the last will be first” and “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave”.

The three-legged race can add much to our understanding of what God means when He tells us to “run in such a way as to get the prize”. Here are a few characteristics worth pondering. The three-legged race:

• cannot be run alone, unless you have three legs;
• is less about speed than it is about timing and coordination;
• is easier if you are “equally yoked”;
• can result in pain and/or embarrassment if you aren’t;
• requires cooperation and a unity of purpose – you must be heading in the same direction;
• takes humility – when pride rears its ugly head, you’re bound to end up on the ground;
• isn’t well suited to rugged individualists;
• has as its main objective not falling over. Crossing the finish line is secondary;
• is a learning process. Early attempts at moving forward together will likely be clumsy and uncoordinated. You will improve with practice if you don’t give up.

Once we become children of God, there’s a way in which we are joined together just as if we were running a three-legged race. Romans 12:4, 5 says, “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Our purpose in life shifts radically once we become part of God’s family. It’s no longer about me, my goals and desires, or even my happiness. It’s about being part of a coordinated, unified effort to share God’s love and His message of salvation with the world. 

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD”
(Zechariah 4:6)

For what we’re about to receive…

Although my family didn’t attend church while I was growing up, we did have one tradition that echoed our protestant heritage. Every Sunday dinner, we said grace. It was a prayer that many of you will recognize: “For what we’re about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful”. In my young mind, I thought that somehow, reciting these words – hands folded, eyes closed – was a necessary accompaniment to roast beef and yorkshire pudding. It was a special meal, true enough, and we ate it at the dining room table instead of in the kitchen, using the good china and silverware. It never crossed my mind to consider why we didn’t ask God to make us truly thankful for dinner the rest of the week.

Now that I’ve grown up and have had the life-altering experience of falling in love with Jesus, these early memories are especially precious to me. I love to imagine that although I had no real idea what I was praying or to whom, God was smiling down on the scene in our dining room each Sunday. He knew that one day I would know Him well. He knew that as I surrendered my life to Him, I would be thankful in ways that would’ve been incomprehensible to me not long ago.

If you think about the words of that prayer, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. It’s easy to say, “for what we’re about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful” when you’re anticipating something good, delicious or desirable. But can we pray the same words when what we’re about to receive is unclear or frightening? We think we know what will happen tomorrow – we make plans, expect certain things to happen in a certain way. When things don’t go as we had hoped, it can be pretty unsettling. We may even feel annoyed with God. “Lord, don’t You love me? Then why don’t You (fill in the blank)?” Can we trust Him enough to surrender our plans, fears and doubts, and let Him use the hard, barren seasons of life to change us? Can we accept the words of Romans 8:28, “and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”, when the things He is working in and through are deeply painful?

Maybe the issue here is really about control. Who is in control in my life? Am I ‘god’, or is God in charge? Do I trust Him to order my steps, not just in words, but in how I react when I don’t get my own way, when I don’t understand what’s happening and I wonder where He is? Our life on earth is a tiny blip on the radar screen of eternity. This is where we learn to trust God, to love and give and serve with gratitude for the life He has given us. It’s the training ground for our real life, which begins after we die.

Lord, make us truly thankful in every circumstance. Help us to understand the inexpressible magnitude of Your love for us, a love that always has our best interests at heart. That doesn’t mean our lives will be free of pain and suffering. What it does mean is that You will be with us in every trial, every dark hour, and that You really do work all things for the good of those who love You and are called according to Your purpose – Your purpose, not ours. As much as we might like to think that His purpose revolves around our comfort and well being, God’s perspective is quite different. He sees the big picture in a way we can’t possibly comprehend. He is much more concerned with our growth and transformation than He is with giving us everything we want in this life.

Have you recently received something in your life that is unwelcome – bad news, sickness, the loss of a job, a broken relationship? One of the keys to getting through life’s hard times is to keep your focus on God. A favourite scripture of mine is Hebrews 12:2 – “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus was in very nature God, but He humbled himself, coming to earth as a human being. He understands our weakness; the Bible describes Him as “a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering”. As He approached Calvary, the scriptures say, “and being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly…Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42,44)

Jesus knew that His submission to God’s will was necessary to fulfill a larger plan. If you find yourself in a dark valley, facing a cup you don’t want to drink, pray for deliverance, but even more, pray for endurance. God will carry us through life’s valleys if we continue to trust in His goodness. When we view challenging circumstances this way, we can find real comfort in the words Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”