The Struggle is Real!

“I’ll listen,” I told the other person who was near tears. “I understand what it means to hurt, to struggle, to feel that kind of disappointment.”  And, I did. The story that poured out was one of missed expectations, broken dreams, and poor choices. My calling as a pastor (the word means ‘shepherd’) is a lot more than standing in front of a congregation preaching a sermon. Far more of my time is spent as an encourager, helping people see past the moment, to find hope and a reason to go ‘steady on.’  

We all struggle.  And, most of us tend to have an idealized perception of somebody’s life that makes our struggle even more difficult. “Why are they so lucky?” we wonder.  It’s a dangerous place in which to linger for long. Envy creeps in and bitterness follows soon after. Paul writes of the “temptation that is common” to the human experience. Evil is real and resists the goodness of God. The sinful nature works against the spiritual creating conflict inside of us that is sometimes feels almost overwhelming. The God-created systems that should help and support us are compromised by sin and often end up oppressing the very ones they should help! The result is that sometimes the struggle grows so intense we almost despair of life itself.  Have you ever said, “I am just so done, so over it all!”?  I am only half-joking on those kind of days when I suggest that I’m going to run away and join the circus. So what can we do? Let’s start with Paul’s inspired words. "No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it." (1 Corinthians 10:13, The Message)  We must not escape into some fantasy about finding heaven on earth! There is no magical solution that takes away the frustrations forever, but there is Power to endure and defeat evil. 

First, we understand that our experience is NOT unique. Others struggle, too!

Second, we bring an important fact to the forefront. God will not abandon us, nor is He unaware of our struggle.

Third, He is invested in our ultimate overcoming.

Why sin and evil are allowed to test us is a question that above my pay grade. Oh, yes, I know many of the arguments, but in the end we simply do not have the capacity to know the mysteries of God’s mind that gave us victory by sending His Son to die and to be raised with assurance of eternal life for all who believe. Why didn’t He just finish off the Devil and establish the Kingdom that we anticipate? Honestly, the question is bigger than me. By faith, I grab hold of the promise of the Cross and the Resurrection and find HOPE that steadies me. And, you can do that, too.

We can spend time whining that ‘life is not fair’ and compare our lot with that of someone else. Or, we can understand that we all face testing and temptation, though in differing ways.  We can, and we must, bring ourselves to a place before Him where we declare His truth – that He is near and that He is here now.  In the middle of it all, we let the Truth inform us so that we always know that He is a good Father who is working to keep us, to help us, to display His eternal power in us and through us. The lie that is as old as human history is that God is just looking for a reason to condemn us. The Truth is that He loves us ‘even while we are sinning.’

David’s prayer shapes a good frame of mind for those of us who struggle. Take this word from the Word and make it your prayer today.

"To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.

No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.
Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long." (Psalm 25:1-5, NIV)  Amen

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Where I Belong

Sometimes it feels like I'm watching

From the outside

Sometimes it feels like I'm breathing

But am I alive

I won't keep searching for answers

That aren't here to find

All I know is I'm not home yet

This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus

This is not where I belong

So when the walls come falling

Down on me

And when I'm lost in the current

Of a raging sea

I have this blessed assurance

Holding me

When the earth shakes

I want to be found in You

When the lights fade

I want to be found in You

Where I belong

Jason Ingram | Jason Roy

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The BEST story ever!

When I sat down in seat 7D, I looked forward to a quiet flight home. It was late in the day and I was worn out after a weekend full of activity and emotion. But, God had different plans. The lady next to me was friendly and engaged me in conversation.  In a few moments she started to talk about the hurt in her heart, a loss that was breaking her, and filling her with anger. She wondered if a person could change, if God cared, how she could move forward with her life. When someone asks me questions like I know that the Lord has created another opportunity for me to do what I love best – to talk about the amazing love of my Abba, the grace of Jesus.

I told her the story from Luke's Gospel, chapter 15, Jesus’ parables about lost things! The best of those 'lost' stories is that one that we often refer to as the story of the Prodigal Son. The young man lost his sense, lost his way, lost his fortune, and lost his love for family! He was in terrible shape, to all appearance beyond hope.  But, there was a Waiting Father at home whose love remained strong.  When the son hit bottom, a good Jewish boy taking care of pigs, the memory of the Father's house pulled at his heart until he said, "I will go home to my father!"  Jesus tells us that this man thought he was unloved but hoped to make a deal just to be near the old home place. “Dad, I’ve been a real fool, unworthy. Can I just work for you?”   

When I told my new friend the rest of the story, my voice was filled with emotion. I am always moved when I say these words because they are an expression of a love so rare, but so longed for. “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him." (Luke 15:20, NLT)  There it is – the story of every person. We took the life God invested in us, went off to do our own thing, then hoped that we could make a deal with God to regain His favor. But, He will not play that game. Instead, “immense in mercy” He reaches out to us, fully forgiving, loving, and brings us back into His family.  The Enemy of God whispers the Lie to lost ones - "God does not care for you.  He's abandoned the search.   You're abandoned, alone - and you're so lost, you can never go home!"  Don't believe it!  The Waiting Father and the Searching Spirit are looking for the lost.   The love of heaven beckons us to turn toward home and guides us back to the Way.  John overflows with amazement when he explains- “This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.” (1 John 4:9-10, MSG)

Christian, have you wandered or wavered again?  Maybe worse than that, you have willfully chosen to break away from the way you know God has for you? 

"Go home today!"    Tell Him you're sorry, own the failure without excuse and He'll embrace you again.

Friend, maybe you're reading this from a place of loneliness or even despair, feeling very lost!   You don't have to live that way.  Invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you, to guide you home, and let God love you

to wholeness.    Here's a word from the Word -  Read it prayerfully, carefully. Rejoice in the wonder of the amazing grace that found you!

"It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin.

You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live.

You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience.

We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat.

It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us.

Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us.

He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!" (Ephesians 2:1-5, The Message)

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This Is Amazing Grace

Who breaks the power of sin and darkness?

Whose love is mighty and so much stronger?

The King of Glory, the King above all kings.

Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder?

Who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder?

The King of Glory, the King above all kings.

(Yeah) (Oh) This is amazing grace.

This is unfailing love,

That You would take my place,

That You would bear my cross.

You laid down Your life

That I would be set free.

Oh Jesus, I sing for all that You've done for me.

Who brings our chaos back into order?

Who makes the orphan a son and daughter?

The King of Glory, the King of Glory.

Who rules the nations with truth and justice?

Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance?

The King of Glory, the King above all kings.

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

Worthy is the King who conquered the grave.

Jeremy Riddle | Josh Farro | Phil Wickham

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One Flesh

On Saturday, I consecrated a marriage. It was my privilege to hear vows made and to confirm them before God and others.  Then, I added a blessing, in the Name of Jesus Christ. What happened there was, is, and will be - until one of those who made a covenant that day dies – a promise that was written down in Heaven. Sacred marriage is so much more than a contract between two people that gives them legal rights. It is not merely an occasion to publicly note mutual attraction “as long as we both shall love” it is a holy act, making one of two.

In the story of Genesis, there is this teachable moment. Read it with wonder!  Unlike the rest of creation that had male and female, Adam stood alone. "But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." (Genesis 2:20-24, NIV)  Adam needed a complement to be whole. God made that one who completed the human identity from the same material as Adam. And, in their union, they became ‘one flesh.’  If you only read a reference to the act of sexual intercourse, think again.

Marriage creates a whole new living thing – one man, one woman together becoming one. “Jerry, that is not good math." True enough,  but it is God’s wisdom! God says that ‘me’ turns into ‘we.’ Everything about those two persons that once existed individually is enveloped in a new identity as a unit. Lives blend, personalities mesh, gifts complement, and love grows. Before you snort cynically about the romanticism of that, you must remember that godly marriage of two individuals filled with God’s Spirit is qualitatively different than the ‘marriage’ ideas of our culture. A couple who desires to become most deeply intimate will grow together emotionally, sexually, and spiritually. Perhaps all that sounds too high, too hard for mere mortals to aspire to.

Does the thought of committing yourself to another person to love for life, send shivers down your spine? Good! When Jesus spoke to His disciples of the high view of marriage, of the permanent bonds of marriage, except for infidelity, they too were daunted. Their humanness makes me smile - "The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” (Matthew 19:10, NIV)  We begin true marriage with surrender to Christ and earnest prayer for the Spirit to transform us. Our first prayer is not “Lord, change her (him)!”  It is “Lord, make me like Jesus!”

Marriage is the place where we learn best to die to Self, where love (the real thing, not the faux thing of infatuation) matures. Those who commit themselves to Christ, who make Him the Lord to whom they mutually submit, can discover the mysterious, amazing, satisfying emergence of a true ‘one flesh’ identity. As each seeks the Kingdom of God intently, together they can find a kind of intimacy too beautiful to describe. Whether you are married a day, a year, or a decade – Christian, you can pray to become one with your spouse. Will you?  Will you seek their best over your own? Will you learn to live authentically, growing in grace, forgiving, accepting love, giving love?

Here is a word from the Word. I encourage you not to make the Scripture subservient to your ‘understanding,’ but rather to let this wisdom inform your mind and heart.

"Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another. Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.

Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage. No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body.

And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband." (Ephesians 5:21-33, The Message)

Jesus be radiantly visible in our marriages. Make them vibrant with love that is beautifully honoring to our high and holy calling as children of God. Amen.

Blind Spot!

As I prepared to change lanes, I heard a horn sound a warning. After I took a second look to my left, I saw another car just behind my vehicle. Though I had checked my mirror, it had remained invisible, in a ‘blind spot.’ As the driver passed by, I waved a friendly greeting hoping he understood that I was thankful for his vigilance that kept us from colliding.

We have ‘blind spots’ in other areas of life, too. We fail to see a trend developing in our marriage that could prove destructive if we fail to alter our ways.  We miss behavioral changes in our kids until there is a serious issue that requires much more effort to correct.  Spiritual apathy creeps up on us, but we are unaware until we realize we are no longer praying, worshipping, hungry for the Presence of God.  David knew the danger of these kinds of blind spots and he prayed - "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life." (Psalm 139:23-24, NLT) What a prayer! “Examine my thoughts. Point out things that offend. Lead me!”

Life is busy, responsibilities multiply, distractions come at us by the thousands- really. That is why we need, more than ever, to make time with the Lord a priority choice. On a daily basis, and preferably not when we are drifting off to sleep, we need to quiet our mind and heart in prayerful reflection, so that we can hear the Spirit’s invitation. It demands more than a moment, more than a hurried prayer. In that place, where we talk with Him and listen, He shows us our heart.  

People wonder why Sunday worship is so important. “Pastor, I can meet God at the beach, in the woods, on the golf course.” Well, of course, you can. He is everywhere. But, He directs us to gather together for worship that pulls us out of our own space, to be part of a community of Christians that helps to keep us from falling victim to some tragic thing that comes at us from a blind spot. As we approach the Lord’s Table, it is a time to go deep, to think, to respond.  Paul says, "Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe. If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences." (1 Corinthians 11:27-29, The Message)

We must be authentic persons, too. Self-deception grows when we wear masks, pretending to be more than we are, or try to earn the approval of others with choices that are not supported by our convictions and commitments. Do you know yourself?  Are you aware of the strengths and gifts that God has given you? Are you equally aware of the weaknesses that create openings for temptation and potential failure? Or, are you cruising along in a blind spot, a danger to yourself and others? Jesus had only condemnation for those religious professionals of His day whose inner lives did not match their outward profession! He said, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  (Matthew 15:7-8, NLT)

Make this word from the Word your prayer and hear His promise.

"Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." (Psalm 119:18, NIV)

“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. … Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see!" (Isaiah 42:6-8, 18, NIV)

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See you next week.  I’ll be taking a break from writing.

THANK YOU for reading along each day.