In chains and liberated!

A friend wrote a letter about her son whose body is wasting away from a little-known disease called LEMS. She expressed a remarkably poignant thought that I wanted to share.

"It's so true that if we are to suffer well we must have good theology. Hard questions do arise, and we are compelled to press into the character of God and His purposes. However, in trying to gain that, I am reminded that God is not so much interested in changing our perspective on suffering as He is in changing us."

In part, this is my response motivated by a providential encounter with an extraordinary man:

"AMEN to that, sister! And yet, He is still deeply concerned about forming our understanding of suffering through the process of changing our hearts!

I wanted to share a story with you. I was sitting in front of the school today (as I am known to do) and a man with a walker emerged from the breezeway. I literally jumped out of my cart to ask of his business and also to offer my help if necessary. He was deeply scarred in many places and could barely shuffle along although his balance was good. He may have been near 40.

I introduced myself so he gave me his name of Ross. We shook hands as he launched into a spiel about how he had basically been a hedonist in his younger life and had gotten into a horrible, drunk accident that almost killed him. He gave many gory details of a well-memorized speech on himself and the statistics. It took years for physical therapy to get him back to being able to walk again, let alone speak.

He mentioned to me that he had been a prisoner trapped in his own body to which I responded by asking, "Are you still a prisoner in your own body?" He said that he was not and I (meaning to share the Lord with him) replied "Praise God!" His eyes lit up and we launched into a conversation about God's goodness and His amazing promises. I was thankful to hear that he was saved and had the promise of an end to his physical infirmities at the resurrection."

After sending the above letter back to my friend I was happy to recall some deep wisdom about the resurrection and the giving of good gifts to those who cannot repay them. Check it out:

Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." ~Luke 14:12-15

Can you see? This is the gift that all of us who are imprisoned in these bodies of sin and death long for! We seek a release that can only be found in a loving God who invites us to Him when we are broken with nothing to bring but needy hands. His love for us is so great that He is overjoyed when we give him our chains in exchange for His riches!

Living without fear in the face of suffering.

A friend of mine told me a joke today. Two men are stranded on a remote Pacific island after their plane crashes. One of the men bemoans their fate and shouts "we are finished" to the sky. "We'll never make it out alive" he groans! The second man gently urges him not to worry.

"Why?"

"Because I make $1,000,000 a month," comes the response.

"OH NO!" the whiner says. "We're doomed!"

"No we're not" is the calm response of the first man. "I make $1,000,000 dollars a month!"

"How in the world does that help us when we're stranded?" comes the choked cry.

"Because I tithe 10% and there's no freaking way my pastor is losing all that money!"

I'm going to try to weave a thought with this illustration. It has nothing to do with tithing and everything to do with a seemingly unnatural lack of fear in the face of certain death. It is not about what we can expect for our actions but what we have been granted by the actions of another.

There are two types of people who don't fear death: The fool and those who are justified in Christ...and the fool is lying. Empirically, death is the mortal enemy of all and the implications of that enemy lead us only to a fearful expectation of judgment and raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (Hebrews 10)

In a perfect creation, death could not exist simply because there could be no decay. The supreme existence could not by nature fall into ruin. In such a life, we would reap a consummate harvest from every ounce of labor we committed ourselves to. But in the circle of life of this world death is the rot that bides its time in the marrow of every bone. This rot of decay is thus our greatest fear because our mortality proves our brokenness and sin.

Enter glorification: It is the most generous promise offered by God, through Christ, to mankind for in it we have the covenant of a perfect renewal for all of creation. The hope of glory is our triumph over sin's curse of the flesh. So what is the proof of this hope? This is where the true circle of life makes its full turn. The mast upon which it rotates is greased by the Christian's suffering in this world. Thus we rejoice, for having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. (Romans 5)

The truest sign of the world's judgment then is this: That the Christian who suffers for righteousness' sake finds hope in his promised glorification and proves the condemnation of the world. To rephrase Philippians 1, "You are not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake."

Addicts.

Two young women at my school are addicts. One thrives on anger and the other finds acceptance in drugs. How do I know this? They told me. Now for the story! My first meeting with them was detailed in a previous blog post titled "YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT"! After that encounter, I applied myself to pray for a conversation with the girls. I knew I would get one.

A couple weeks later, after school had been dismissed, Angry was standing at the corner waiting for her drunken father to show up. Seeing the chance to fulfill my prayer I approached her with the light-hearted comment, "I never got to introduce myself before yelling at you." I reached out my hand and she accepted it with a smile on her lips and a name on her tongue. Not what I expected! We only shared some simple small talk but it was a beginning!

I began seeing the two girls at school more often and gave a smile and "good morning" to them when I saw them. Knowing I didn't hate them, they returned the favor. This continued up until a few weeks ago when they came out of their class all riled up. I happened to be in front of the school and they walked my way with what can only be described as "the look".

Miss Addict suffers from what I can only be described as diarrhea of the mouth. In other words, she has no filter between her brain and her tongue. She immediately jumped into a conversation with me about all the problems she and miss Angry suffered from. This is how I came to know of their troubles. I listened and made some comments suggesting that I understood what she was talking about. In truth, I did understand, being a spiteful addict myself. I have been to group meetings to fight it. Maybe we will get into that another time! Suffice to say that my sins lined up very effectively with theirs. The girls went on their way after setting their dark, not-so-secret secrets on the table in front of me.

I prayed for them some more and today the addict showed up, sans miss Angry. "I'm moving to Tennessee," she said. Some small talk later, I simply said that I would, "pray to the Guy upstairs" for her. "Thank you" she said. Fifteen minutes later, both exit to the front of the school. Seeing them both together, I asked how anger management and the addictions were coming along. With a shrug and an "All right" I responded with a chuckle and told them a joke from Alcoholics Anonymous circles: You know you've only recovered from alcohol when you've given up the coffee and the cigarettes. I told them that I knew it wasn't going well because, no matter how much progress they had made on one point of anger or addiction, they simply fortified another segment of it. " 'Progress' is often a transfer from one bad thing to another" I said.

With agreement between us, miss Angry and miss Addict began to walk off. That's when I did it. That's when I tossed the subtle bomb at them with the comment, "You know, there is only one way that you can be healed." With a turn, miss Addict asked, "Oh yeah? What is that?"


"To know a God who can fix your heart."

"I need to have that," she murmured as she turned away.

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
~Acts 4:12