The Terminal Illness, Part II

Look to a man in the midst of doubt and danger and you will learn in his hour of adversity what he really is
. . . the mask is torn off and reality remains.
—Lucretius, Roman philosopher

In my last post I attempted to make the point that God is on a mission in each of our lives.  He is for us at all moments in all places for all time.  In this post we are going to explore some of the unexpected implications for that, particularly when it comes to suffering and hardship.

While I was in India last month, I would go to the roof of our hotel in the morning to pray for the country, for the city, for its people, and for myself.  One morning I had a great sense that the Lord wants to take me to another level with Himself and that I've been resisting that work in me.  So, I prayed a very dangerous prayer that He has been quite faithful to answer of late.  I prayed that, if there are things He wants to rework in me and if the only way to change those things is through suffering, then Lord, make me suffer and to learn through it.

My prayer spot on the roof of our hotel in India.

Since then, I have experienced nothing but trials.  These have occurred at home, at work, through our church, and just in general.  It is through the flames of our trials that our true self is revealed, and what is being revealed isn't pretty.  Unfortunately my tendency too often is to try to fix things on my own or pull away from the Lord in my anxiety, but what He really wants in those times is for me to run to His arms for my peace.

1 Peter 4:12-13

¹² Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. ¹³ Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.

Nobody enjoys looking weak or uncertain, and we especially don't like being exposed as who we really are in front of others.  I have discovered in life that much of what you and I see in each other each day is a mask.  We present to each other what we want other people to see, not necessarily a true picture of who we are.  I realized this years ago after spending my whole life in what you'd call church culture.  Many people who regularly attend church show a put-together and presentable side every Sunday, and the rest of the week they look and act like different people.  I have been part of that masquerade as well.

Yet God sees through any mask we may put up to others.  He's not deceived by our attempts to look like we have it all together, nor is he misled by what we say about ourselves to others.  He sees us as who we are and is not satisfied to leave us in that state.

So what is God's purpose for your life?  For my life?  When I ask people that question, even to this day I get a response of "I don't know" or "I'm still trying to find that out."  That indicates that we are looking for purpose in actions rather than purpose in being reborn.  For example, some are on the lookout for if the Lord will send them into an overseas mission field as their purpose.  Others seek purpose in the work that the Lord has them do, and are trying to find that one place where everything fits like a glove.  Still others look for purpose in finding the right person to marry.

I would submit to you that God's purpose for your life is to make you more like Himself, and that comes by knowing Him better and better.  And He's going to spend your entire life trying to get you to that point.  Like I had quoted in the last post, God is more interested in who you are becoming than he is in what you are doing.

The Apostle Paul said it this way in Romans 8:35-37:

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”^[a]) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

When we experience difficulties in life, we tend to doubt God first or assume that the circumstances are going against what He wants for our life.  Surely God wouldn't want trouble and difficulties for us!  But what if He does?  What if by introducing difficulties into your life He is making you into a new man or woman?

If we accept the passage above at face value, difficult times in our lives are NOT an indicator that God is absent or that we are being punished.  They also are not an indicator that we are separated from the love of Jesus.  In fact, Paul goes so far as to say that we are loved in spite of these things being in our lives.  How is it that a loving God could allow trials and difficulties?

If you will accept that (a) you and I have the terminal illness of sin which will lead to our eventual death and that (b) God isn't satisfied to leave us in that state, you are starting to get the picture.  The pathway to being miraculously healed is one of trial and pain.  The way to life is via death.

What??

What are you like when the pressure in your life increases from just a warming to the point where things are about to boil over?  For me, I get impatient and irritable with those around me and tend to withdraw from others.  I become overcome with worry and let it keep me up at all hours, which further isolates me from others.  It's easier to hide so that the masquerade can continue.  But my actions in being irritable and overcome with worry are sinful.  Why?  Because in being irritable I'm not loving others as I love myself (important command number 2 from Jesus), and in worrying I'm idolizing myself because I think that by worrying I can solve my own problems rather than going to the Lord with it.

God isn't satisfied with the way you and I act in those moments.  That's because His desire is that His glory shine through us at all moments with all people for all time.  As C.S. Lewis so aptly put it, we aren't here to be nice people.  We're supposed to be new men.  That means we should be different from the rest of the world.

So how do you train a person who becomes withdrawn, irritable, and worried during difficult times to be more like Jesus in those moments?  You give them more trials and more difficulties so that they HAVE to run to Jesus for strength during those moments.  Only in times like those will Christ shine in your life so brightly that others take notice.  It isn't in the easy times that Jesus looks like an interesting leader to follow.  It's in the hard times, when you endure under trial, persecution, difficulty, calamity, and disaster, and yet you still are able to praise God for who He is.  That, friends, is enticing because the world doesn't have anything like that.

James 1:2-3

² Dear brothers and sisters,^[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. ³ For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ⁴ So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

You and I have a choice to make each day in whether we will accept the trials and difficulties that the Lord brings our way and let Him shine in those moments, or whether we won't.  However, God's purpose in all of these things is to bring you closer to Himself.  He is on a mission to remake you that will take the rest of your life.  He loves you so much that He'd do that in your life, not as a thing to frustrate you but instead because He knows what is good for you.  And in the midst of these things, you are able to shine brightly for Him without even knowing it, because in His grace he is doing a work in you that everyone around you can see.

 

Matthew 5:14-16New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

The Terminal Illness, Part I

A recent view of Puget Sound from Everett during low tide.  The Olympic Mountains can be seen in the distance.

God is for you.  Sometimes you and I need to repeat that phrase over and over again, not because it isn't true, but because we don't always believe it is true.

I recently read a quote that I think really gets to the heart of the matter.

God is more concerned about who I'm becoming that about what I'm doing. 

If you really take that bit of wisdom to heart, it will change the way you see your walk with the Lord.  But this isn't just something that was made up and sounds correct.  It is a theme supported by the entirety of the Bible.

You and I all are terminally ill with a deadly disease.  This disease has infected every single cell in our bodies.  It has permeated every muscle, joint, organ, appendage, and nerve.  Without proper medical attention for this disease, you and I will die.  God knows this and has a plan to eradicate this disease from our bodies once and for all time.  However, the way to get rid of it takes time and is a hard path to go down.  The disease I refer to, of course, is sin.

Our problem is that we make light of our own complete and utter hopelessness without the help that Jesus provided.  We think that if our bank accounts have a certain amount in them, we are safe from harm and are "blessed."  We think that if we can get that certain job or position, our lives will smooth out and we can "relax."  We think that if we can find a certain neighborhood to live in, our stress level will go down and things will improve.  Some of us think that if we can find a way to serve in the community more often or with greater things that we will achieve a higher moral state.  Perhaps if we would just take it easy more often our lives will be better and we will be more adjusted.  Yet none of these things have the power to cure our disease.  In fact, some of these things are an outward symptom of the disease and its spread, and we feed into it in the same way that a cancer patient can feed the disease by eating more carbohydrates.

The Lord knows that our real problem, our only problem, the disease we will die from, is sin.  We can't ever be free of it's grip as long as we are here on Earth.  It shows itself in our lives every single day in spite of our best efforts.  Doing good deeds won't cure it.  Building up wealth will not make it disappear.  Attending church will have no effect on its own in making it lessen or go away.  More rest will not help our bodies to fight it more effectively.  It is here to stay.

Our only hope lies in what Jesus did more than 2,000 years ago, long before you and I even had a chance to know Him.  He chose us before we chose him, and He did it because He knew we were utterly hopeless without the help that only He could provide.  He knew that our actions in life to make things right with God wouldn't actually fix the problem (see his interactions with the Pharisees) so He took the only action that would matter in sacrificing Himself on our behalf.

In Romans 8:31-34, the Apostle Paul says this about our condition:

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? ³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

The best indicator you and I have that God is for us is by seeing what He did to address our greatest need.  He gave himself up for us, and because of that He is for us.

According to the Apostle Paul, the only indicator of God being for us, and the only one of importance, is that he made and completed a plan to eradicate the effects of this disease from us forever and ever.  We as humans tend to go back to our set of earthly problems though.  We usually say it like this:

• My life isn't as smooth as it should be.  God must be absent.
• I lost (fill in the blank) to death.  I am alone and God is silent.
• Lost my job last week and have no prospect for anything new.  God doesn't care.
• We weren't able to get that (house, car, job, tangible thing) that we wanted.  God knew I wanted that and didn't deliver, so He must be upset with me.

We say these things because we have no understanding of what our greatest need is.  The greatest need you and I have isn't comfort, and the Lord knows that.  In fact, I'd argue that He's not particularly interested in your comfort at all.  The American Church has a very hard time with that concept because our society is so wrapped up in getting comfort for ourselves, but that's a path that actually takes the person further and further from the Lord.  Our greatest need is to be saved from our own sin because there is literally nothing we can do about it on our own.  Someone else, someone perfect, has to intervene on our behalf. 

And intervene He did!  If I take that Romans passage literally, I see a picture of Jesus who not only died for me, but who rose from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father.  The right hand of a king is the special spot reserved for advisors with special wisdom and influence.  I picture Jesus sitting next to the Father right at this moment, speaking to him about...me.  

"See your servant Paul down there?  I know he was just impatient with his kids.  I'm covering that."

"I know he is distracted and is building his own kingdom at this moment.  I'm covering that too, and will deal with him.  I will show him the new direction he must take."

I'm sure this account of what happens in Heaven doesn't in any way do it justice.  I'll never completely understand how Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are all part of the same being.  Yet it brings me great comfort that someone up there, someone with supreme influence and authority, is intervening on my behalf.  And it's being done only because He chooses to do it, not by my own merit or activities.  That takes the pressure off me, but even more than that it reminds me of just how much I am loved.

But I am not special.  These things are offered to anyone who will just believe and follow.  When it comes to God's Kingdom, you and I are equals if we will just believe. 

In the next post, we're going to delve into this further, closely examining the reason behind difficulties in our lives.  God has a purpose in those too.