Desperate for Jesus

^{NIV.Luke.8.42b} As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. ⁴³ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵ “Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

⁴⁷ Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

* see also parallel account in Mark 5 25-34

The popular modern worship song “Breathe” ends with these words,

And I I’m desperate for you
And I I’m lost without you.

But how many times do we acknowledge our desperate need for God?

This is the fifth occasion we’ve shared the writing of Matt Tullos. Clicking the link which follows will connect you to his site where this first appeared.

Call Me Desperate

As I read the Gospel, there’s something that stands out in so many narratives and backstories. Jesus loves desperate people. Whether it’s the pleading father, the paralyzed man whose friends tore the roof off a house, or the sufferings of the entire nation of Israel, desperate people always get His attention.

I can remember times when I was so preoccupied with my work, the game, or a task, that my five-year-old son would grab my face with both his hands to assure I was listening. That’s just how absurdly one-track minded I can get. But that was never the case with Jesus. Nobody had to grab Him by the face. The moment the tassels of his prayer garment were touched, He felt her faith connect with His sufficiency. There is absolute power in the faith of a desperate person.

I’ve spent lots of time trying not to appear desperate, while knowing the deep chasm of my own insufficiency. And there is power in desperation. It’s clumsy at times. When I’m desperate, there’s no telling what might come out of my mouth. My prayers are fragmented. Sometimes all I can pray is the oldest one: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me.” In fact, that’s how I start every morning. It centers me on the truth that I have to cry out for mercy. Every morning. Every evening. And a baker’s dozen times a day. “Lord Jesus, Son of God have mercy.” I’m sure there are those who don’t need his mercy as much as I do, but it’s my broken bread and butter.

It brings me back to the woman reaching for the tassels of Jesus. (Luke 8, Mark 5)

A desperate, sick, bankrupt woman fights her way through the crowd to touch Jesus’ cloak. In Mark, we read that she spent everything she had on doctors but things only got worse. I have been there. It’s when you throw money at a problem and the problem’s appetite for money only grows. No one wants “money pit” problems. They’ll bring you to the end of yourself. Who wants that? There comes a time when you aren’t worried about how humiliating you look. You just lay yourself out there in front of God and everybody because you don’t care what anybody thinks. “In front of” is none of your concern.

As soon as she made contact with Him, He knew it and focused all his attention on her. In one moment, we can agree on a number of things about Jesus. He’s never too late, He’s never too busy, and He’s never too burdened to step into the pain of our desperation. Sometimes, He has to bring us into desperation in order for us to diligently seek Him. That’s the whole point of this life and yet we are often too consumed with the crowd to really stop and focus on our ultimate and preeminent King. That’s too bad, because when it comes down to it, every solution for brokenness, our pain and neediness is no more than a touch away.

Lord Jesus, Son of God have mercy. I have so often wanted a self-instigated salvation without the mess and grit of desperation. There is only one hero in my story. Have mercy in my desperation, so that I can more fully revel in your rescue.

The Life and Ministry of Jesus: A Live Transcript

Ten years ago here, we celebrated that BibleGateway.com has added The Voice to its list of available translations. This was a truly different approach to Bible translation. Some immediately resonated with what the translators had in mind and gravitated toward its fresh approach. For others who preferred the traditional approach to scripture, this version took things too far to be considered seriously.

Today, you can still purchase The Voice in hardcover and paperback, but at the time there were various imitation leather editions.

The main distinctive features were:

• The Voice used a screenplay (dramatic) format for dialogue and conversations. One advantage to this style is that it removes the need for lots of repetitive conjunctions and verbs (“he said,” “she replied,” etc.) that slow down reading. It also let the translators use some clever and useful ways to convey key details: for example, in Matthew 8, note the use of stage directions to add detail and clearly identify the audience.
• Words and phrases in italics represented words that aren’t found in the original text, but which are important for bringing out the original intended meaning of the passage. In the words of The Voice translators, this brings out “the nuance of the original, assist[s] in completing ideas, and often provide[s] readers with information that would have been obvious to the original audience. These additions are meant to help the modern reader better understand the text without having to stop and read footnotes or a study guide.” Here’s an example from Romans 6. (For the record, the KJV used this exact technique.)
• Another feature encountered upon reading The Voice is its collection of explanatory material embedded in with the Bible text. These short paragraphs contained devotional material, study notes, background information, and other clarifying detail of the sort that you might typically find in a study Bible or commentary. These notes were placed near the passages they’re expounding on, and are clearly delineated from the text of Scripture as seen in Romans 7.

Note: When The Voice first appeared we ran an excerpt from Romans 5 which you can find here. While The Voice uses boxed and indented sections, that was not possible here. Scripture text in green is a convention we use here at C201, and we tried to use blue for the added sections, but the green and blue is not part of the original formatting of this Bible edition. The passage today really brings out the dramatic reading format.

John 9 – The Voice

John and many people in his community are Jews. As a son of Abraham, his criticism of certain Jewish leaders is not a criticism of a whole people. He’s not stereotyping or making generalizations. “The Jews” he remembers in this passage are a corrupt group of power brokers who conspire against Jesus with the Romans to have Him crucified and who later have John’s own followers expelled from the synagogue. Their behavior may be compared to the behavior of those Israelites condemned by Old Testament prophets. Prophets have the duty—Jeremiah said he had “a fire in his bones” (20:9)—to speak for God and condemn hypocrisy and unbelief wherever it is found, especially when it’s found close to home. That’s what John’s doing when recalling this event.

^{The Voice.Jn.9.1} While walking along the road, Jesus saw a man who was blind since his birth.

Disciples: ² Teacher, who sinned? Who is responsible for this man’s blindness? Did he commit sins that merited this punishment? If not his sins, is it the sins of his parents?

Jesus: ³ Neither. His blindness cannot be explained or traced to any particular person’s sins. He is blind so the deeds of God may be put on display. ⁴ While it is daytime, we must do the works of the One who sent Me. But when the sun sets and night falls, this work is impossible. ⁵ Whenever I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.

⁶ After He said these things, He spat on the ground and mixed saliva and dirt to form mud, which He smeared across the blind man’s eyes.

Jesus (to the blind man): ⁷ Go, wash yourself in the pool of Siloam.

Siloam means “sent,” and its name reminded us that his healing was sent by God. The man went, washed, and returned to Jesus, his eyes now alive with sight. ⁸ Then neighbors and others who knew him were confused to see a man so closely resembling the blind beggar running about.

Townspeople: Isn’t this the man we see every day sitting and begging in the streets?

Others: ⁹ This is the same man.

Still Others: This cannot be him. But this fellow bears an uncanny resemblance to the blind man.

Formerly Blind Man: I am the same man. It’s me!

Townspeople: ¹⁰ How have your lifeless eyes been opened?

Formerly Blind Man: ¹¹ A man named Jesus approached me and made mud from the ground and applied it to my eyes. He then said to me, “Go, wash yourself in the pool of Siloam.” I went and washed, and suddenly I could see.

Townspeople: ¹² Where is this man who healed you?

Formerly Blind Man: I don’t know.

^13-14 The townspeople brought the formerly blind beggar to appear before the Pharisees the same day Jesus healed him, which happened to be on the Sabbath Day. ¹⁵ The Pharisees began questioning him, looking for some explanation for how he could now see.

Formerly Blind Man: He smeared mud on my eyes, and I washed; now I see.

Some Pharisees: ¹⁶ God can’t possibly be behind this man because He is breaking the rules of the Sabbath.

Other Pharisees: How can such a lawbreaking scoundrel do something like this?

The Pharisees were at odds with one another about Jesus and could not agree whether His power came from God or the devil.

Pharisees (to the formerly blind man): ¹⁷ What do you say about this man, about the fact He opened your eyes so you could see?

Formerly Blind Man: I have no doubt—this man is a prophet.

¹⁸ Some of the Jews suspected the whole situation was a charade, that this man was never blind. So they summoned the man’s parents to testify about his condition.

Pharisees: ¹⁹ Is this man your son? Do you testify that he has been blind from birth? How therefore does he now see?

Parents: ²⁰ We can tell you this much: he is our son, and he was born blind. ²¹ But his new sight is a complete mystery to us! We do not know the man who opened his eyes. Why don’t you ask our son? He is old enough to speak for himself.

²² The man’s parents were a bit evasive because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. It had been rumored that anyone who spoke of Jesus as the Anointed One would be expelled from the synagogue. ²³ So they deferred the thorny question to their son, ²⁴ and the Pharisees called on him a second time.

Pharisees: Give God the credit. He’s the One who healed you. All glory belongs to God. We are persuaded this man you speak of is a sinner who defies God.

Formerly Blind Man: ²⁵ If this man is a sinner, I don’t know. I am not qualified to say. I only know one thing: I was blind, and now I see.

Pharisees: ²⁶ What did He do to you? How did He give you sight?

Formerly Blind Man: ²⁷ Listen, I’ve already answered all these questions, and you don’t like my answers. Do you really need me to say it all over again? Are you thinking about joining up with Him and becoming His followers?

Pharisees (berating him): ²⁸ You’re one of His followers, but we follow Moses. ²⁹ We have confidence that God spoke to Moses, but this man you speak of is a mystery; we don’t even know where He comes from.

Formerly Blind Man: ³⁰ Isn’t it ironic that you, our religious leaders, don’t even know where He comes from; yet He gave me sight! ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does respond and work through those who worship Him and do His will. ³² No one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of any person blind from birth. ³³ This man must come from God; otherwise, this miracle would not be possible. Only God can do such things.

Pharisees: ³⁴ You were born under a cloud of sin. How can you, of all people, lecture us?

The religious leaders banished him from their presence. ³⁵ Jesus heard what had happened and sought out the man.

Jesus: Do you believe in the Son of Man?

Formerly Blind Man: ³⁶ I want to believe, Lord. Who is He?

Jesus: ³⁷ You have seen His face with your new eyes, and you are talking to Him now.

Formerly Blind Man: ³⁸ Lord, I do believe.

The man bowed low to worship Jesus.

Jesus: ³⁹ I have entered this world to announce a verdict that changes everything. Now those without sight may begin to see, and those who see may become blind.

Some Pharisees (who overheard Jesus): ⁴⁰ Surely we are not blind, are we?

Jesus: ⁴¹ If you were blind, you would be without sin. But because you claim you can see, your sin is ever present.

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The Voice Bible is Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society. Thanks to HarperCollins Christian Products for permission to occasionally run excerpts of their products. Normally, these excerpts focus on new releases and are normally limited to 600 words, so if we’re asked to scale this one back we will. Enjoy it while it’s here.

Your Faith Has Made You Unwell

Because Clarke Dixon is a weekly regular here, he doesn’t usually get an introduction. Today, I thought I’d mix things up a bit. Clarke is a pastor in Ontario, Canada, and also a good friend. He blogs his sermon from the previous week at Thinking Through Scripture. His church is currently working through The One Year Bible (various translations), and he is preaching from the New Testament portions. As we say so often, click the title which follows to read this at source.

Thinking Through Mark 10:46-52

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Mark 10:46-52 (NRSV)

“Your faith has made you well.” So said Jesus to Bartimaeus. I suspect that Jesus may want to say to some of us today:
“Your faith has made you unwell.”

Faith can make us unwell when we get the wrong ideas stuck in our heads and we live in constant fear. I’m not good enough. I don’t have enough faith. Or we live judgemental lives. Those people are not good enough. We are barely scratching the surface here, but whether it makes us ugly in our emotional well-being, or ugly in our relationships, faith has the power to make us unwell.

So what does it look like to have a faith that makes us well? Bartimaeus will help us think through that question.

Bartimaeus asked for help

Of course Bartimaeus asked for help since he was blind and wanted to see. Sure, he wanted to see as anyone in his situation would. However, not everyone would want the upheaval of life that would come along with such a miracle. The status quo might be awful, but at least it is known, safe, and in a way, comfortable.

Bartimaeus was not wiling to stay with the status quo. Contrast that with the spiritual leaders who were trying hard to protect the status quo, who did not want to see things from a new perspective.

Do we have the kind of faith that looks to get the best perspective? A faith that has initiative, that is willing to embrace change? Or do we get comfortable with the status quo?

A faith that makes us unwell embraces the status quo.

Bartimaeus did not listen to the crowd

The crowd tried to shut Bartimaeus down. He tried all the harder to get the attention of Jesus. Embracing change is hard enough but it is even harder when the people around us try to shut us down. It is hard for the addict to break the addiction in the company of other addicts. The people around us can keep us in the status quo.

That is how cults work, surrounding people who might think differently on their own with people who are too afraid to think differently. Sadly, some churches may be closer to a cult than a community gathered around Jesus.

Do we have the kind of faith that yearns for growth and is willing to embrace change, or do we allow the crowds around us to draw us back to the status quo?

A faith that makes us unwell listens to the crowds.

Bartimaeus had wisdom in knowing what to ask for

Jesus asked Bartimaeus, “what do you want me to do for you?” Contrast that with the request of the disciples:

And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”

Mark 10:36-37 (NRSV)

Let us imagine how the spiritual leaders might have responded if Jesus asked what he could do for them; something like “Go fly a kite.”

Do we know what to ask for? Do we have wisdom in our asking, in what we are seeking help on? Or do we have a one track mind like the disciples. Or worse, blind spots like the religious leaders? Do we have the kind of faith that seeks light on our blind spots? Or do we just live with assumptions, assuming the status quo is just fine?

A faith that makes us unwell lacks wisdom in knowing what to ask for.

Bartimaeus knew whom to ask

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Mark 10:47 (NRSV)

“Have mercy on me.” While Bartimaeus may have said that to anyone and everyone who passed by, he knew that asking it of Jesus would be life changing in a way that some coins thrown his way would not be. “Son of David” is not likely how he addressed anyone and everyone that passed by. Bartimaeus had insight into the unique identity of Jesus. Jesus was the one who could destroy the status quo.

When we celebrate the Lord’s Table we are reminded that Jesus changes everything for us. This man, being God with us, will have mercy. Do we have the wisdom to go Jesus? Or do we depend too much on religion and religious leaders who themselves are comfortable with the status quo?

A faith that makes us unwell lacks wisdom in where to look for help.

Conclusion

Does your faith make you well or unwell? Perhaps it might be a bit of both and faith has brought both beauty and ugliness to your soul. May Jesus say of us “your faith has made you well.”

 

When Things are Better, but Not Best

Today we’re thrilled to have another new writer to introduce to you. Melissa Tsingano lives near Sydney, Australia and writes at Heavenly Whispers. Have you ever prayed and received an answer, but wondered if it was the fullest answer? Or wondered if it would be wrong to ask God again about the same thing? That’s the theme of today’s devotional. Click the title which follows to read it on her blog.

S E E I N G

As Christians we are not only to live with a self-consciousness, but we are also to be God conscious.  In order for us to be able to do that, we first need to be able to see. It’s one thing to read the Bible and know that you have areas that need Jesus, it’s another to see it and acknowledge it.

There was a time when I was living beneath the life that God had planned for me. I knew what the Bible said, I could quote some scriptures for you but I was not fully seeing myself in them. I went to watch the movie Noah. While watching that movie, instead of seeing the rebellious people as characters in a movie, God opened my eyes, and I could see myself in them. I could see me. I could see where I had hurt God and people and where I had gone wrong. My eyes were open.

From that moment in the movie theatre I went home, I prayed, and my life has not been the same since. Step by step, day by day God brought my life back on track. We cannot underestimate the value of seeing.

Mark 8:22:25 “When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, begging him to touch him and heal him. So Jesus led him, as his sighted guide, outside the village. He placed his saliva on the man’s eyes and covered them with his hands.  Then he asked him, “Now do you see anything?” “Yes,” he said. “My sight is coming back! I’m beginning to see people, but they look like trees—walking trees.” Jesus put his hands over the man’s eyes a second time and made him look up. The man opened his eyes wide and he could see everything perfectly. His eyesight was completely restored!”

When we first come to Jesus, we are like the blind man. We know we need help. We know we need Jesus. Then we get saved. We are not as blind as we were before, but we don’t see fully either. Some people are content to live that way. In fact, most people settle there. They are better than they were before, and they did have an encounter with Jesus so seeing men as trees must be as good as it gets. But no. Salvation is only the beginning.

We cannot be too timid to approach God and ask Him to touch us again. We cannot “hide” our condition from God. He knows our condition, but He waits for us to realize that something is not right. For as long as we are comfortable seeing men as trees, living life beneath what God has for us, we won’t recognize our need for God and if we don’t recognize our need for God, we don’t get to experience all that God has for us. The blind man after the first touch when Jesus asked, “do you see anything” could have said, “Yes, my sight is back.” And left it there. Went home, better but not quite where he was meant to be.

Instead, he was honest with God. He didn’t give up or settle thinking, “this is as good as it gets.” No. He said to Jesus in effect, I am better than I was, but I know I am not where I should be.

That’s where a lot of us are. Better than we were but not where we should be. Being able to see means you see your condition as it is, not as you want it to be. It means being sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He says, “Perhaps you should not have said that to that person,” and recognizing that He’s right. There’s room for growth in us. There is room for growth in me.

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Second Helping: Here’s another post from the same author. We all want to avoid pain, but confronting things that need to change is needed for inward transformation. And it can help us avoid the pain of the path we may be taking. Click here to Read Come On In.

The Surprise, the Scandal, of Jesus

That Time Jesus Gave a Woman the Cold Shoulder

by Clarke Dixon

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Gentile [Greek: Canaanite] woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.”
But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”
Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.”
But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!”
Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”

Matthew 15:21-26 (NLT)

We might be surprised to find that Jesus gave this woman the silent treatment. Then to make matters worse he denied her request with a put-down! As surprising as this might be, this incident had a much greater surprise for the earliest readers of Matthew’s account of Jesus.

What shocked people then was not what shocks us now. In fact when Jesus gave this woman the silent treatment, he did what anyone in that time and place would have expected Jesus to do. There was a common belief that God had given the land to the descendants of Israel. Here, however, was a descendant of Canaan. Beliefs lead to attitudes, and while there was an attitude of disgust toward foreigners generally there was an even worse attitude toward the indigenous peoples. This Canaanite was a reminder of the failure of the descendants of Israel to completely take the promised land.

That Jesus gave this women the silent treatment was not a surprise. Indeed the disciples thought she should be driven away, betraying the belief that her people should have been driven out hundreds of years earlier. What was shocking here is that Jesus engaged in conversation. What was even more shocking is that Jesus commended her faith and granted the miracle.

She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”
“Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.

Matthew 15:27-28 (NLT)

Let us take note that this descendant from Canaan gave no hint that she wanted to break with her people and identify with the descendants of Israel instead. The faith that Jesus commended was not faith in the Jewish religion, but in Jesus himself. That was truly shocking!

Let us take note also, that Jesus did not instruct the Canaanite woman to become Jewish, to identify with the descendants of Israel, to make their, and his, religion hers. Rather he does a good deed, an act of love; he healed her daughter. As shocking as Jesus’ cold shoulder might be to us today, the positive engagement with Jesus, and the affirmation of a Canaanite woman’s faith in himself is what was truly shocking at the time of the incident.

Some of our church members are following along with me in reading through the New Testament using the One Year Bible. In our readings this past week there have been a lot of surprises on top of this incident with the Canaanite woman. Jesus walked on water leading the disciples to connect Jesus with the divine: “You really are the Son of God!” (Matthew 14:2 NLT). Jesus taught that character was more important than ritual purity leading the Pharisees to be offended (Matthew 15:1-20).

The word for offence in the Greek is a word that has come into our English language; scandal. Jesus was not just full of surprises, he was full of scandal too. In a further surprise for the earliest readers, Jesus brought clarity about his identity with Peter’s confession that he is the Christ, the Messiah (Matthew 16:13-19). So surprising, so scandalous, and so dangerous, was this idea, that Jesus told the disciples not to tell anyone (Matthew 16:20).

Then there was that weird incident we call the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9) where it was made evident that Jesus is greater than the law, represented by Moses, and the prophets, represented by Elijah. What, or who, can be greater than the law and prophets other than God? Again another surprise, another scandalous thought, another dangerous idea.

Matthew will go on to tell us more shocking things than these, such as Jesus being killed, usually a sign that one is not the Messiah, and that Jesus rose from the dead, a sign that Jesus is not your usual idea of a Messiah. And never mind healing a Canaanite women, the Book of Matthew ends with a huge surprise:

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 (NLT)

Everyone is invited to this party, including Canaanite women!

So what does this have to do with us today?

First, do we feel the shock, the scandal of Jesus? Or have we become rather blasé about it all?

Have we become so accustomed to the stories of Jesus that they have lost their shock value? Have we become so accustomed to the teaching of Jesus that nothing surprises us? Perhaps we need to put ourselves back into the shoes of the first readers of Matthew’s Gospel, or the people actually there with Jesus at that time, and be shocked.

Or are we not shocked by Jesus because he is not at the centre of our faith? Perhaps some of us need to pay less attention to Paul, or Calvin, or (insert your favourite Christian teacher here), and pay more attention to Jesus?

Or is it possible that we have just fallen into Christianity because we are Canadian and there happens to be a lot of Christianity in Canada? Or our parents and grandparents just happen to be Christians so we just happen to be Christians too? Is Christianity a religion we subscribe to, a box we tick off in a census, or is God the God who has shocked us and rocked our world in Jesus? If Jesus has truly shocked us we will not want to hold onto Christianity as a religion we practice, but to Jesus as the anchor for our souls, the wisdom for our lives, and the hope for our future.

Have we experienced the scandal of divine love?

Some think the idea of divine love is crazy and scandalous because of suffering. With all the troubles of this world and this life, how could anyone believe there is a God who is for us and not against us? Yet beauty has a habit of breaking through. There was great ugliness when hateful people strung Jesus up on a cross. Yet beauty broke through. That was a surprise.

Some think the idea of divine love us crazy and scandalous because divine judgement might seem to be more important and makes more sense. But in Jesus “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” becomes “’this is my body broken for you,’ and I’m not going to break your body. ‘This is my blood shed for the forgiveness of your sins’ and I’m not going to shed your blood.” That was a surprise.

Do we have the audacity to believe in divine love, that God is, and that God is for us and not against us?

Second, do we continue the shock, the scandal of it all?

Does it ever surprise people that we are for them and not against them?

In Conclusion

It is possible that we have made Jesus, and Christianity, boring. What has been shocking in our society is not Jesus and the idea of divine love, but unmarked graves in religious residential schools and pastors whose sins have found them out.

Let us get back to the most surprising, the most shocking, the most scandal ridden person in all of human history – Jesus. Let us follow in his footsteps with some surprises of our own.

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Before they appear here, Ontario, Canada pastor Clarke Dixon’s condensed sermons appear at his blog, Thinking Through Scripture.

First Century Cancel Culture

A couple of times in our earlier years we featured the writing of Claire in New Zealand at the blog One Passion, One Devotion. I’m not sure how we broke that continuity, but today, after a long break we’re catching up. Click the title which follows to link to this article at its source, and then click that blog’s header for some really excellent articles.

Influenced – Blind Bartimaeus

You don’t have to be on the internet for more than 2 minutes to know about cancel culture. Some of its valid – they should cancel certain people for certain things – but others you’re like,  ‘Come on!’ …

Let’s jump into the bible and see where the crowd tried to cancel someone and how they didn’t let that crowd influence them and stop them from encountering Jesus.

Mark 10

Jesus and his disciples went to Jericho. And as they were leaving, they were followed by a large crowd. A blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting beside the road. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus from Nazareth, he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” ⁴⁸ Many people told the man to stop, but he shouted even louder, “Son of David, have pity on me!”

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him over!”

They called out to the blind man and said, “Don’t be afraid! Come on! He is calling for you.” ⁵⁰ The man threw off his coat as he jumped up and ran to Jesus.

⁵¹ Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind man answered, “Master, I want to see!”

⁵² Jesus told him, “You may go. Your eyes are healed because of your faith.”

At once the man could see, and he went down the road with Jesus.

I love it when we read the bible – it’s not just a story locked into the pages – it’s God showing us what He is like and what He can do and we can ask Him to speak and show us what He wants to say today about our lives and what He wants to do to and through us.

So Jesus has been in Jericho – doing miracles, healing people, teaching.  Because of this a large crowd had started following Him.  He’s the man, He’s amazing.

But there is a difference between following Jesus in the crowd and being a follower of Jesus.

The crowd were buzzed about all the cool stuff Jesus was doing.  But followers declared Jesus was Master, Lord, Saviour and their lives completely changed because of His influence.

So Jesus is leaving Jericho and the crowd is following.  Crowds are noisy right – unless you’re in one doing a minute’s silence – there is always some level of noise.  People talking. People yelling. People moving.  In this case there were probably people bustling to get closer to Jesus, to hear what He was saying or to get Him to touch them and heal them.

There is a blind man sitting by the road – this was his spot where he would have been dropped off every day, or maybe he slept here, and it was where he would beg for money and food.   They didn’t have health insurance or disability allowances back in those days.  Bartimaeus heard all the noise and the buzz of the crowd and asked someone what is going on? What’s happening?

When he was told Jesus was walking past he called out loudly JESUS SON OF DAVID, HAVE PITY ON ME!

What he is saying here is important.  Son of David is one of those spiritual titles for who Jesus is – that he is the son of God, the messiah.  So Bartimaeus KNOWS who Jesus is, he knows his true identity.    He has heard of his great fame, he has heard of the great things that Jesus has done and he has made up his mind that this is the one who has the power to change his life and heal him.  He has made up his mind that this is God Almighty.

And the crowd tried to cancel him. They told him to sit down and shut up.  They tried to block him from meeting Jesus.

Sometimes when we’re Christians people will tell us to sit down and shut up.  The world have tried to cancel Christians and call us intolerant and narrow minded.

They’ll try to cancel us because sometimes what we believe is counter cultural.  It’s upside down to the world.

It’s bless your enemies instead of get vengeance.

It’s serve not be served.

It’s deny yourself instead of follow your heart.

It’s righteousness and holiness instead of whatever feels good.

It’s purity instead of player.

It’s self control instead of whatever I want I want it now.

It’s seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness instead of building my own kingdom.

It’s grace instead of guilt, hope instead of hopelessness.

Disclaimer here:  Being a Christian isn’t about rules and to do and to do don’t lists.  It’s about a relationship with God, its about peace with God, and when its like that we make God our greatest influencer because we see He’s worth it and His way of living, while hard and upside down sometimes, we do it in response of how good and loving God is.  Knowing Him is worth everything.

Bartimaeus didn’t let the crowd cancel him. In fact, he got louder. He called out even louder.

The cool thing is that over all the noise of the crowd Jesus heard Bartimaeous.  There would have been hundreds of people potentially calling out His name, but there was something about this man calling that grabbed His attention.

Have you ever thought about how God hears us when we pray even if the 8 billion people on the planet all prayed at the same time? He cares about you and what you have to pray.  Prayer doesn’t have to be special words at special times, it is us talking to God, listening to God and about us connecting heart to heart.  We can be honest about how we’re feeling.  If you read Psalms you’ll see often that David, author of probably over half of them, talks about how life sucks, how he feels like he’s drowning, that everyone is against him, that he’s alone, scared, frustrated, angry.  They’re emotional!  They’re raw!  But he always ends it by realizing that in it all, despite how he feels, in the middle of the mess, God is right there, God rescues Him, we can call out to Him and He will hear and respond.  God hears you when you pray.  If we could see what happens when we prayed, how God turns His attention to us we would want to pray more.  If we could see angels move in response to our prayers, we would want to pray more more more.

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him over!”

They called out to the blind man and said, “Don’t be afraid! Come on! He is calling for you.” ⁵⁰ The man threw off his coat as he jumped up and ran to Jesus.

Now I want to pause here and point something out.  Minor details in the bible can have major meaning.

Bartimaeus threw off his cloak and jumped up and ran to Jesus.

That cloak wasn’t just a jacket, wasn’t just a jumper, wasn’t just a hoodie or an item of clothes.  It was an item of clothing, a cloak that defined that he was a beggar.  It was like his permission slip to be sitting there asking for money.  If you were wearing a cloak like that it showed the people around you that you were a beggar.  It was his identity.  In biblical days, being blind was often seen as a curse. There was really no way to support yourself financially, so beggars were given cloaks, which gave them permission to beg. Beggars were defined as such by the cloak they wore. Usually, the cloak was the beggar’s one and only possession and their only source of income.

Bartimaeus threw off his cloak. He threw off his old way of life. He threw off his comfort zone. He was done being defined as a beggar. He didn’t just toss aside a jacket or sweater, this was life or death. It was sink or swim time; either he was going to be healed or he would have nothing. His faith was remarkable; he was so desperate for change he went to Jesus expecting a miracle.

When he encountered Jesus he threw it off and left it behind.  Jesus changes us – he gives us a brand new start.  He takes off our old life and gives us a new one.

It’s like how we talked about last week with our panel – God gets to define our life.  He gets to say how we do it.  He gets to say leave this behind and live differently because He is good, wise, great and most importantly because He loves us.

So Bartimaeus meets Jesus.

⁵¹ Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man answered, “Master, I want to see!”
⁵² Jesus told him, “You may go. Your eyes are healed because of your faith.”
At once the man could see, and he went down the road with Jesus.

What do you want me to do for you?  Surely Jesus could tell this man was blind?

But He asked.

Loaded question potentially.

He’s asking the blind man what do you expect me to do?  What do you believe I can do?   What do you have faith in?

Jesus asks us the same question.

What do you believe I can do?  What do you want me to do for you?

Now we don’t turn this into a Christmas list for Santa situation where we reply with our wish list, a Lamborghini, to be 5 foot 5, doc martin boots, a swimming pool….

Psalm 37:4 says Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Philippians 2:13 says: for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

It’s like God places His dreams in our heart and the Holy Spirit transforms us that our desires become His desires and His desires become our desires.  It is God at work in us to make us willing to do His will.

But its also an invitation.

What do you want me to do for you?

How big can you believe God for?   How big can you dream?  How big can your vision be?

God wants to do amazing things to and through our lives.  We are not made for normal.  We are not made to blend in.   We follow an amazing God who is the creator of the universe, who loves us so much that He gave His son Jesus to make the way for us to have peace with God.   Nothing is impossible for God.

So how do we make this real in our lives?
1.  Position yourself where Jesus is – Bartimaeus was on the main road where everyone has to pass through.  In the same way, get yourself where God is.  River Youth.  Camp.  The Guys Group, Glow  Church.  We don’t put these on just because we like to have fun together, but because we believe that when you position yourself where God is you meet Him and He changes your life.

2.  Call out to God.  The bible says that everyone who calls out to God will be saved. Calling out to God can look like prayer, can look like worship, can look like getting prayed for, can look like fasting.

3.  Leave the old behind and follow Him.  Bartimaeus threw off his cloak and left that identity behind and left everything that was familiar to follow Jesus.  He became a disciple.

God is inviting each one of us into that adventure.

The challenge is the same.

Will we see Jesus for who He really is?

Will we fight the cancel of the crowd telling us that this is crazy?

Will we hear Jesus calling us to come closer?

Will we believe He can do what He can do?

Will we throw off our old life and follow Him?

Bible Teaching on Chronic Pain

Today we played the search engine game so you don’t have to. Here’s what we found on the first three pages of results.

From the website Faith and Health Connection a look at Psalm 38 from the NLT with key words emphasized:

1 O Lord, don’t rebuke me in your anger
    or discipline me in your rage!
2 Your arrows have struck deep,
    and your blows are crushing me.
3 Because of your anger, my whole body is sick;
    my health is broken because of my sins.
4 My guilt overwhelms me—
    it is a burden too heavy to bear.
5 My wounds fester and stink
    because of my foolish sins.
6 I am bent over and racked with pain.
    All day long I walk around filled with grief.
7 A raging fever burns within me,
    and my health is broken.
8 I am exhausted and completely crushed.
    My groans come from an anguished heart.

9 You know what I long for, Lord;
    you hear my every sigh.
10 My heart beats wildly, my strength fails,
    and I am going blind.
11 My loved ones and friends stay away, fearing my disease.
    Even my own family stands at a distance……

17 I am on the verge of collapse,
facing constant pain.  

The writers there also note that verse 3 and verse 5 attributes the suffering to sin; noting that:

[S]ometimes the pain can be caused because a person is in internal conflict with God and/or with them self because they have sinned or are living in intentional sin. This internal conflict can cause tension in the muscles and other body tissues. This soft tissue tension can sometimes compress the tissue or bone against nearby nerves and can result in pain. Sometimes chronic pain… [I]f the pain is rooted in the inner conflict or guilt that stems from sin, the treatment or pill may well not cure the pain.

From the website Beyond Today:

It is easy to assume that if one seeks to live by God’s will and loves Him, God will always relieve that one’s physical suffering. Yet, there you (or those you know and love) are—still bound by pain, disease or disability. Does the lack of physical relief mean that there is something wrong spiritually?

I would like to take you on a brief survey of the Psalms of the Bible to challenge that assumption. Many of us regularly read the Psalms for comfort and encouragement, but I wonder how many have noticed that several of these beloved songs, speak about people of faith who suffer from chronic illnesses.

Before looking into Psalms, let’s lay a little groundwork with two references from the second letter to the Corinthian Christians. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, the apostle Paul assures his readers that they—these are Christians, remember—have the opportunity to experience spiritual comfort from God when they endure troubles. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Therein lies a concept that is foreign to many: Christians can have enduring and chronic troubles…

The writer then goes into a detailed look at quite a number of Psalms. This is an excellent article.

The website GotQuestions.org (which we use frequently here) has several articles which address questions surrounding pain and suffering. In this article they state:

The word “pain” or some form of it appears over 70 times in Scripture. The word’s first usage explains the origin of pain in childbirth: “To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you’” (Genesis 3:16, NASB). The context here is that Adam and Eve had sinned and the pain of childbirth is one of the consequences of sin. Because of sin, the whole earth was cursed, and death entered in as a result (Romans 5:12). So, it may be concluded that pain is one of the many results of the original sin.

…[M]edically we know that pain is a gift. Without it we would not know when we needed medical attention. In fact, the absence of pain is one of the problems associated with leprosy. Children would never learn that touching a hot stove is a bad idea, nor would we be alerted to a dangerous medical condition without the pain associated with it. Spiritually speaking, one of the benefits of pain is expressed by James: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (James 1:2-3). According to James, when we endure painful trials, we can take joy in knowing that God is at work in us to produce endurance and Christ-like character. This applies to mental, emotional, and spiritual pain as well as to physical pain.

… Consider what Paul said: “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul was speaking of a “thorn in his flesh” that was troubling him. We don’t know what it was, but it seemed to have been painful for Paul. He recognized that God’s grace was being given to him so he could endure…

It’s not fair to lift too much content from GotQuestions.org and you really need to visit their website to read all of the article above, and especially the one below, in full. If this subject touches you at a point of need right now, I really want to encourage you to read all of the article excerpted below. Click to read this article in full.

…When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He gained renown for healing the crippled and the chronically ill (Matthew 4:23). He sometimes went out of His way to alleviate the chronic pain of an individual, revealing His compassion for the suffering (Luke 13:10–12; Matthew 9:20–22). Jesus said that He did nothing of His own accord, but only what He saw His Father doing (John 5:19; 14:10), so from this we learn that the Father also has great compassion on those who suffer and can heal them.

But pain relief was not Jesus’ main mission; nor is it the Father’s. Sometimes chronic pain is the result of sin or foolishness. Sometimes it is merely the fallout from living in mortal, imperfect bodies in a fallen, broken world. Whatever the case, our suffering is not wasted. God has a purpose in it. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him about a man born blind, Jesus replied, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:1–7). He then healed the man, but only after the man had suffered from blindness his whole life up to that point. So Jesus’ attention to the chronically ill shows us that God knows about our chronic pain and cares that we suffer. However, for reasons known only to Him, He often allows what He hates to accomplish what He loves…

The website Vibrant Christian Living links to 19 different verses about experiencing joy in the middle of pain. Perhaps some of these apply in a more general sense, and some didn’t resonate with me on this particular subject, but I appreciated their intent, which is that on our journey with Christ we would be able to possess an underlying, abiding joy. Their version of choice is the New Living Translation:

^Romans.5.3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. ⁴ And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

^John.16.33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

^Col.1.11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy

^1Peter.4.12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.

With a little imagination, you can figure out why I chose this topic today. Your prayers are appreciated!

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Worship music video: Yesterday, I posted for the first time in several months at our flagship blog, Thinking Out Loud. I was writing about a worship song which has impressed me (and others) and it really fits today’s theme as well. Because the song is 8 minutes long, the article is called A Worship Song I Can’t Edit.

Taste and See, Go and Tell

Someone once shared with me that part one of the Gospel is “taste and see” and part two is “go and tell.” Another way of saying this, “freely you have received, now freely give.”

^{NIV.Luke.6.17} He [Jesus] went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

We present devotionals here from a variety of sources. Today we’re with Jerry Robinson, who is one of the three writers at Reflections of a Lay Catholic. If you click the title which follows you can read this where it first appeared.

Is Your Faith Contagious?

In today’s Gospel, Luke 6:12-19, Luke tells of the great multitude of people who sought out Jesus to be healed of their diseases and to be cured of the torment of unclean spirits.  Luke doesn’t elaborate on how this great multitude of people learned about Jesus’ healing.  But, I suspect it happened by word of mouth, by those who heralded the healing and curing power of Jesus to their family and friends.

Reflecting on this passage, I related to the poor tormented souls as I recalled a time when I was overwhelmed by stress and the exigencies of life which brought so much unhappiness.  I wasn’t looking for Jesus to cure me, but I let friends who knew I needed Him carry me to His emergency room, an ER with zero wait time!

So, I ask myself today, have I been one of those friends who, after being cured, or having witnessed His healing, made the effort to tell others who need Him?  I can say “Yes”, but reservedly.  This blog is one way I get the word out.  I evangelize through spiritually mentoring other men to develop their interior lives and their relationships with Jesus.  I share my faith in small groups with other men who already have a strong faith.  But, do I reach out effectively and proclaim the Good News to those who have not heard it or are indifferent to it?  Is my faith contagious?  I think I can do better.

How about you?  Is your faith contagious?  In what ways do you tell others about Jesus and His saving grace?  How might you do better?

“Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your constant presence in my life.  Lord, open my heart to new ways to bring others to You, and, through Your grace, help me to realize the virtue of fortitude I need to be outgoing in bringing Your Word to others.  Help me, Jesus, to live my life in a way that others want some of what I have.  Amen.”

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©2013-2022 Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reposting and sharing of material in its full and original content is permitted, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author(s) and Reflections of a Lay Catholic.

The Ministry of Touch

Today we’re back highlighting the writing of Jennifer Arimborgo who writes faithfully at Feeding on Jesus. Clicking the link in the title which follows will take you to where this first appeared, as well as some reader comments.

Just One Touch

“Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’” (Mark 1:41, NIV).

The other day, my oldest daughter Ester was sitting in my room looking like she could use some love. Under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, I put my hand on her cheek and held it there. I didn’t say anything at first, so she looked at me curiously. “Jesus healed people with just one touch,” I explained affectionately. “I’m ministering to you.” Profound contentment instantly spread across her face. She closed her eyes and soaked in the contact with me.

Over and over throughout His recorded three years of ministry, Jesus reached out and physically touched people. The story above out of Mark is particularly moving because of the shunning this man had deeply internalized for the duration of his illness. Being a leper meant that he was forced to stay away from society and urgently cry out “Unclean!” to warn others of his unwanted presence. I can’t even begin to imagine the weight of loneliness and shame that had come to define his everyday existence.

Jesus saw him. He didn’t just see a diseased man, though. He saw right into the depths of the wretched man’s soul. He saw all his pain, and His entire being stirred with intense, visceral compassion. And He touched him. He touched the man that no one wanted to touch, that no one wanted to be close to. He cut right through all the barriers that had closed him out from human kindness and warmth. With just one touch. With that touch, He ministered not only supernatural healing to the man’s physical frame – but also indescribably profound restoration to his inner being.

The Lord has been speaking to me about ministering to others through touch. Just one touch, directed and anointed by the Holy Spirit, can transform someone’s life. I want to encourage you, too, to listen in carefully to the Spirit for His nudges to minister touch to people that He brings across your path. A simple hand briefly on someone’s shoulder, accompanied by a genuine, compassionate smile, could indelibly mark their heart with a deeper understanding of God’s love.

Don’t just limit it to a physical touch, though. Continue to focus in on Holy Spirit in that moment. Where your hand touches, use the eyes of your heart. Watch what He is doing. Focus on His power flowing through your spirit and into that person. Expect Him to move through you each time you are obedient to His prompting in this way. He loves it when you are expectant! He delights to minister His love and healing to His precious ones, through your hands.

A caveat here – of course, we don’t want to go around touching everyone and anyone. If you are uncertain, err on the side of caution. It’s important to be very sensitive to whether touch is welcomed or not by the individual. Particularly when people have suffered abuse, touch can be a very difficult area. Be attentive, gentle, and careful to listen to Holy Spirit, watching the person’s body language. Being led by Him is of utmost importance.

As long as you keep that in mind: “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32, NKJV). Don’t be afraid. People, especially wounded ones, deeply need to be touched. Be confident – Holy Spirit has a specific plan for reaching out to them. He will faithfully guide you as you ask Him to and lean into His leading! Daddy is longing to pour His gentle, healing love through your heart and through your hands.

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Do you remember a particular occasion when someone’s hand on your shoulder – for just a brief moment – was life-giving in a striking way? [If you wish to share one, click the link in the title above and add your comment to Jennifer’s blog.]

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This very morning, Jennifer began a multi-part study titled A Body He Has Prepared for You. The link is to part one.

 

A Part of the Genesis Story I’d Missed

The early chapters of Genesis are so foundational, it’s hard for me to believe that as early as chapter four, there’s a scene I had skipped over; that is, until today when our guest writer brought it to my attention.

^NLT.Gen.4.14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

¹⁵ The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.

^NLT.Gen.4.23 One day Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
listen to me, you wives of Lamech.
I have killed a man who attacked me,
a young man who wounded me.

²⁴ If someone who kills Cain is punished seven times,
then the one who kills me will be punished seventy-seven times!”

Today we’re introducing you to a writer who goes by Swaying Leaf who blogs at Reflections: Life, Death, Living and Dying. Clicking the header which follows will take you to where this devotional first appeared.

Revenge and Hurt in Genesis

I am reading in Genesis 4:23-24. Then Lamech (who is the great great great great grandson) of Cain said to his wives: “Adam and Zillow (he had 2 wives), hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listens to my speech! (he really wants to be heard).
For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged seven fold, then Lamech seventy-seven fold.

This is interesting because when we look at the origin of the seven fold, it started in Genesis 4:14-15. Cain was being cast out as a fugitive, and he was afraid that people will kill him and he told the Lord about it. The Lord, despite Cain’s murder of his brother promised him it will not happen in verse 15: And the Lord said to him (Cain), Therefore, whoever kills Cain, Vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain lest anyone finding him shall kill him.

There are many things in this chapter which I don’t fully understand. As far as I knew, there was only Cain and Abel at that time. Why then did Cain fear people wound kill him. Also, how did he build a city with so little people. These thoughts aside, something stood out clearly. The beginning of vengeance and hurt, and the difference between Man and God.

Remember that Cain murdered Abel and God punished Cain by casting him out. But God in his mercy and kindness and love (this was before the 10 commandments), did not kill Cain. Not only did he not kill Cain, he protected Cain with a mark to prevent others from Killing him.

Cain then dwelled (I assume without the presences of the Lord) and this went on for 5 generations till it reaches Lamech. And what happens after five generations without the Lord. Lamech took the one promise of protection from the Lord, and made it into a vengeful practice of pay back. Lamech admitted to killing someone who wounded him and killing a young man who hurt him. I would assume that hurt is less severe than wounded, or may be non physical). But either way, he killed the people who hurt him. This is how the world have developed: Kill the one who hurt you. Not only that, he took upon God’s word and added it into his own commandment that he shall be avenged seventy-seven fold.

In both Cain and Lamech, they both feared for their lives. Cain killed his brother out of fear of losing favor with God and begged God to protect him. Lamech killed the others for hurting him and commandment his wife’s to avenge him if he is killed. Cain didn’t want to die, Lamech wasn’t as concern about dying as he is about revenge.

This reminds us that when we start losing intimacy with the love and kindness of God, we can turn into very harsh people looking to ‘kill anyone who hurts’. This does not have to be actual physical killing. This includes killing people by demanding that they be perfect, punishing them with words or deeds, not in order to love them to change, but in order that they learn thru pain.

Be careful too because all these can be done using God’s words as well. As you can tell from Lamech, it is easy to take parts of God’s words and justify our harshness on others (and ourselves). But God is not such a God, God is a God who loves, who yearns to be close and who changes people thru Grace. There will be natural laws of consequences when we do wrong, but God is not one who is vengeful and hurt you more and kill you if hurt.

Let us remind ourselves the next time someone hurts us, hold back the fleshy desire to kill them or hurt them more. Let God instead heal your wound, soothe your hurt and protect you. He loves you. You are wanted. You are loved, even when you are hurt, even if you have hurt others. I am wanted, I am loved, Even when I am hurt, even when I have hurt others.

 

 

Healing as the Reversal of Sickness

Is it “health and wealth gospel” or “prosperity gospel” to believe that God never wants you to be sick, even for a day? How you answer that question says as much about your belief about God than it does about your take on particular doctrines. I am well aware that the realities of life come crowding in on us constantly, but I also find it helpful, hopeful and inspiring to be reminded of the spiritual realities of various infirmities, and the way scripture views sickness in an overall, general sense.

So while this may be a bit too Charismatic for some of you, I hope you’ll take the time to let it speak to you. Oshea Davis is today’s writer, and clicking the header which follows will take you to where it first appeared.

Think On These Things: Think on Healing & Miracles

“Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are pleasing, whatever things are commendable, if there is any excellence of character and if anything, praiseworthy, think about these things. And the things which you have learned and received and heard about and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you,”
Philippians 4:8-9 LEB.

Thoughts of sickness are a lie against the promise of God; thoughts of sickness are not honorable, not right and they are not pure of heart. Thoughts of sickness are not pleasing, and not commendable. They are not excellence of character and or praiseworthy.

Thoughts of Healing are an agreement that the promises of God are true. They are honorable. Thoughts of healing are right, are pure and pleasing. Thoughts of healing are commendable, and they are excellence of character. Thoughts of healing are praiseworthy.

Does this sound strange to you? If it does you are out of touch with reality; you do not know God, the gospel or scripture.

Healing is part of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, (Isaiah 53:4, Matthew 8:17); it is by biblical definition part of the gospel. The gospel is good, it is trustworthy, praiseworthy, excellent, and so forth.

Sin is not good, not praiseworthy, not excellent and so forth. For a Christian forgiveness of all their sins by Jesus’ finished work is a stepping stone; a doorway into the next life. To stay at this doorway, means you do not believe you are forgiven, which is why you never enter into or believe the gospel. The only correct way for a Christian to think of sin, is being already judged and buried in Jesus’ death. Sin, death and judgment are behind the Christian. Value, unmerited favor and joy is before the Christian.

Hebrews 10:2-3 says that the Old Testament yearly sacrifices reminded the minds and thoughts of the practitioners of their sin. The writer of Hebrews says this was not a good thing for the mind to be reminded of our sins. To be reminded of ones sins, if you are indeed forgiven, is not excellent or praiseworthy. They were reminded of their sins, because Christ had not yet come. Hebrews later states that Jesus once and for all removes our sins from us. The pragmatic implication is that our minds and thoughts are not reminded about or sins; rather, we are reminded of our new identity in Christ.

We are the righteousness of God and co-heirs with Jesus. By His great love we are children of God.  Thus, it is not a good thing to be mindful and dwell on your sins. You are to be renewed by thinking about Jesus, and who are “presently” in Him. This is praiseworthy and excellent.

Paul says in Romans 6 we are to assent that we were buried in Jesus’ death. Our sin, by His atonement, was dealt with and buried. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, that we at one time knew Jesus from a human point of view, but we do NOT know Him this way any longer.  He is on the throne, ruling and pouring out the baptism of the Spirit. Our thoughts are to be on this present reality of Jesus. Paul extends this to us. The old man is gone, with all our sin and judgment for that sin. Our new creation is our present reality, and this is where our thoughts ought to be. Thus to “think on these things,” is not thinking about our sin, but how righteous God sees us as. God interacts with us, as the righteousness of God.

The pragmatic application is if your circumstances or Satan tries to remind you of your sins, you are not indulge this temptation by thinking about your sins; rather, you are put off this old-man way of thinking, and put on the new-man, who thinks about how completely forgiven he is and how boldly he can march into the throne room of God and ask and receive.

The same is true for healing and sickness. Sickness is part of curses of Adam and of the Law (Deut. 28). Jesus, by substitutionary atonement, became our curses. Jesus was nailed to our curses of sickness. Even when leapers who needed to be healed, under the Law, a blood sacrifice was given. Healing is shown under the Law, that a substitutionary sacrifice is needed. Jesus was our substitutionary sacrifice to redeem us from all sickness.  Isaiah 53:4 says Jesus “bore” (same word for the substitution atonement for the escape goat in Lev. 16) sickness and pains.[1]

Curses are not honorable, excellence, praiseworthy, etc. And yet, sickness is a curse.

Sickness is a curse; it is not excellent.
Sickness is a curse; it is not praiseworthy.
Sickness is a curse; it is not honorable.
Sickness is a curse; it is not “true” regarding what God has promised.

When tempted by circumstances and the devil to keep rehearsing your sickness over and over in your mind, do not sin by doing this; rather, be obedient and put on the new-man who thinks on the finished work of Jesus who bore all your sickness and pains, who was nailed to your sickness and how these died with Him, on His body, so that you are freed and released from all of them. God is for your body, so much so, He made it part of the gospel. He is the God who heals you.

To indulge on thoughts of your sins or sickness is in direct disobedience of the Scripture commanding us to “think on these things.” Rejoice! You are commanded to think on righteousness, healing, blessings, miracles, peace with God, Joy and unending unmerited favor upon you.  Rejoice.

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[1] For more see, Christ our Healer. FF Bosworth.

Losing Discretion to Short-Sightedness

^{NIV.Mark.5.21} When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. ²² Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. ²³ He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” ^24a So Jesus went with him.

^24b A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

[continue reading here]

This is our third time with Lily Pierce and her blog Retrospective Lily and although the blog has been inactive for many months, this is a good article which we hadn’t shared the last time. Click the header which follows to read it on her page.

Embrace Holy Interruptions & Be Gracious

This past Sunday, I had been asked to preach at a local Methodist church (due to my Lay Servant School training) while they transition to a new pastor. Fortunately, my own church meets early, and since the churches are in the same small town, I got to attend my church before giving the sermon at the other one.

The lectionary this past week featured Mark 5:21-43, which tells of Jesus’s encounters with Jairus and an unnamed woman as He and the disciples travel through a village. Jairus’s daughter is sick, so beckons Jesus for help. The unnamed woman also seeks healing, but rather than throwing herself at Jesus’s mercy, she simply finds Him in the crowd and touches His garment.

My pastor spoke about “holy interruptions,” which I thought was an intriguing takeaway. These stories are technically interruptions to whatever Jesus and His disciples had been on the way to do. If we look outside of ourselves and take the time to really see people and situations around us, and if we actively try to follow the Spirit, we might find that God constantly throws “holy interruptions” in our path–conversations and actions we didn’t intend/expect to have/take…but they were meant to be. Another word that’s often used for these instances is “divine intervention/interaction.”

I think of the good samaritan story here. The priest and the Levite missed the holy interruption God put before them because they were in a hurry…because they were putting their convenience before others’ suffering…because they were too stringent about the rules/laws.

It’s perfectly possible to justify their actions by pointing to said laws. Yes, it’s true that one would be ceremonially unclean for several days if they touched a dead or dying person, which would be especially inconvenient for a priest or Levite. But there are also laws about caring for your neighbor. God had already modeled unconditional love to them. So, to me, it’s a matter of discretion. They should’ve known helping a neighbor in dire need would be worth not being allowed to enter the place of worship temporarily.

We, too, often lack discretion…mostly out of selfishness or short-sightedness. The combination of those qualities causes us to lack generosity with time, money, grace, love, patience, peacemaking, forgiveness, etc.

I’m not going to call my grandma back because she’ll keep me on the phone an hour (But once she’s gone, will I lament how I clung so hard to my time instead of sharing it with her?) That friend hasn’t apologized, so why should I be the one to initiate reconciliation? (But once they’re gone, will I regret holding that grudge?) My fiance always leaves the coffee table a wreck, and the fact that I have to straighten it up makes me naggy and resentful. (But in the grand scheme of things, is it reallyyy THAT big of a deal? If he got in an accident tomorrow, would that matter to me anymore?)

Remembering that we all die and life is short, fragile, and unpredictable grounds me. Be joyful, be generous, love hard, forgive swiftly, all that jazz. Easier said than done, but yeah, worthy goals.

Anyway, my pastor also talked about peace. When Jesus tells the woman to go in peace, He doesn’t just mean to be well and be blessed. He means, “go in salvation.” Jesus offers peace that passes understanding. In my message, I discussed how Jesus offers HOPE to hopeless and desperate people.

It was an emotional morning. I got teary-eyed several times during my home church service and rode on the verge of choking up through my sermon. To me, this is one of the most stirring stories in the Gospels, period. And it’s ripe with important lessons on peace, hope, faith, mercy, healing, compassion, and more.

I’m thankful for that beautiful story and thankful I can write out my thoughts on it. Writing is a therapeutic exercise in reflection. I needed a little break, to remind myself that this is a hobby instead of a job–I’m not obligated to post week unless I want to–but I’m happy to be back.

In honor of today’s topic, shalom!

Do We Really Want to Change?

^{NLT.John.5.1.} Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. ² Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. ³ Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. ⁵ One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”   [click here to read the full account]

Today’s featured writer was recommended to us by a writer who has already appeared here a few times. The blog is called It’s a God Thing. Clicking the header below will take you to where we sourced it. There are also a number of other recent articles you might want to explore.

Will you take up your mat and walk?

I love this re-telling of Jesus healing the paralytic in John 5. It is by author John Eldredge, and appears in his book Desire:

“The shriveled figure lay in the sun like a pile of rags dumped there by accident. It hardly appeared to be human. But those who used the gate to go in and out of Jerusalem recognized him. He was disabled, dropped off there every morning by someone in his family, and picked up again at the end of the day.

A rumor was going around that sometimes (no one really knew when) an angel would stir the waters, and the first one in would be healed. Sort of a lottery, if you will. And as with every lottery, the desperate gathered round, hoping for a miracle. It had been so long since anyone had actually spoken to him, he thought the question was meant for someone else.

Squinting upward into the sun, he didn’t recognize the figure standing above him. The misshapen man asked the fellow to repeat himself; perhaps he had misheard. Although the voice was kind, the question felt harsh, even cruel. “Do you want to get well?”

He sat speechless, blinking into the sun. Slowly, the words seeped into his consciousness, like a voice calling him out of a dream. Do I want to get well? Slowly, like a wheel long rusted, his mind began to turn over. What kind of question is that? Why else would I be lying here? Why else would I have spent every day for the past thirty-eight seasons lying here? He is mocking me.

But now that his vision had adjusted to the glare, he could see the inquisitor’s face, his eyes. The face was as kind as the voice he heard. Apparently, the man meant what he said, and he was waiting for an answer. “Do you want to get well? What is it that you want?”

It was Jesus who posed the question, so there must be something we’re missing here. He is love incarnate. Why did he ask the paraplegic such an embarrassing question?”

And it does seem an obvious, strange question. But I think what Jesus is doing here, as John Eldredge draws out in the book – is asking the man to take ownership. Does he want to get well… or does he want to stay as he is?

You might say, ‘Of course he wants to get well!’ But sometimes we are so accustomed to living a certain way that we become set in our ways. We take on the identity of a self-sacrificial mum or a wounded soldier or a perpetual procrastinator… We become comfortable in our jail cell, so to speak. We talk so much about our struggles that they almost become who we are. Instead of seeking change or growth, or following our dreams… we maintain the status quo.

Do I want to get ‘well’? What areas in my life do I really want Jesus to help me with? May I never stop asking him for his leading in my life, his shaping of my plans. He is more than able to heal (while he may not choose to in the way we might think). He is also able to change, to guide, and transform, no matter how old or whatever life situation we are in… We are always part of his plan. But he does want us to ask. To be participators in the process.

After Jesus asks the paralyzed man if he wants to get well, he offers excuses and complaints about his life. But Jesus simply says to him: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” He was cured straight away, and he did – he picked up his mat and walked. And later, he told other people about what Jesus had done.

Perhaps all God asks of me right now is willingness. Willingness to trust him with what I have, and follow. To be open to his calling, even if it’s different to what I had in mind. His plans. His promises. His joy and peace! To simply pick up my mat and walk.

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There’s another article by the same writer that I think some of you might appreciate. It’s not a Bible study per se, but if the title intrigues you, check out The Morning I Became a World Changer, an essay on human trafficking.

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Here at Christianity 201, Friday marks our 12th Birthday! That’s 12 years of providing a daily devotional, 7 days a week, 12 months of the year. I don’t get a lot of feedback, and can only trust that these are beneficial for those of you who continue to subscribe and those who drop by periodically to see what we’ve been up to!

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If you need some lighter reading, feel free to check out page one of Ruth’s advanced essay in theological graduate studies, Cats in the Bible.

When Everyone Is So Certain

Thinking Through Luke 6:17-26

by Clarke Dixon

Is it just me, or is everyone convinced they are right and everyone else is wrong? For uncertain times there sure is a lot of certitude. How are we supposed to be sure of anything when everyone seems so sure of everything yet can agree on nothing? Our Scripture Focus today will help us find our way.

In today’s Scripture Focus Jesus challenged two things that many people were certain about.

First, Jesus challenged people’s assumptions about about how God works.

Then looking up at His disciples, He said:
You who are poor are blessed,
because the kingdom of God is yours.
You who are now hungry are blessed,
because you will be filled.
You who now weep are blessed,
because you will laugh…

But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your comfort.
Woe to you who are now full,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are now laughing,
for you will mourn and weep.

Luke 6:20,21,24,25 (HCSB)

It was well known in those days that if you obeyed God, things would go well for you and you would be blessed. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t. Therefore the assumption was that the rich, the well-fed, the happy were obviously those who were well deserving of God’s blessings. The poor, the hungry, the unhappy, were obviously those who didn’t deserve God’s blessings. Many people think this way today.

Jesus challenged all that; “Blessed are the poor.” Discerning who is blessed by God and who is not goes way beyond merely looking at who seems to be doing well in life right now. There is something much deeper going on. That is not how God works.

So how did everyone get it wrong and could they have have done better?

The prevailing understanding seems to lean heavily on the Book of Deuteronomy where we find lists of blessings and curses for God’s people. If the people as a nation obeyed God, they would be blessed, if they didn’t, they wouldn’t. When Jesus spoke about blessings and woes he was probably intending for people to make that connection with Deuteronomy. Yet what he said was very different, and challenged their assumptions.

Assumptions could have been challenged earlier if people paid more attention to other parts of the Bible, like the Book of Job. The Book of Job is a rather long drama that asks the question, why do good people suffer while bad people flourish? The Book of Job is not really about the about the answer to that question but rather the validity of that question. It challenges the notion that you can tell if a person is blessed by God by looking at whether they are winning in life or not. Look around, good people sometimes do suffer, evil people sometimes do flourish. Perhaps the conclusions people jumped to by reading Deuteronomy could have been challenged by looking wider and being challenged by Job before being challenged by Jesus.

Looking wider and becoming aware of other viewpoints is key for us today as we navigate this era of certitude.

We can dig deep on any given topic, but we also must look around. As we do so, we are not seeking more reasons to stick to our guns, but greater wisdom, insight, and understanding, allowing our assumptions to be challenged. Doing so may or may not lead us to change our minds, but either way it will allow us to better understand the minds of others.

Some people think they are digging deep, doing research on a topic, but what that looks like is reading article after article that are written from the same perspective, that start from the same assumptions, that support the same conclusions. We call this being in an echo chamber where every voice is echoing the same thing. Sometimes our choice of echo chamber is based on wanting to hear from “experts” what we would want to say if we were the experts. Sometimes digging deeper just gets you into a bigger hole that is harder to get out of. We also need to look around. Other voices are important. We need the conclusions we jump to by reading Deuteronomy to be challenged by reading Job.

Think of how much better this world would be if we all let our assumptions be challenged, if we all sought wisdom, insight, and deep understanding rather than simply seeking confirmation of what we think we know.

Jesus challenged people’s assumptions about about how God works, about how life works. As a matter of prayer we might want to pause and ask the Lord to challenge us about our assumptions and whatever false conclusions we may have arrived at, or been pushed into.

Second, Jesus challenged the assumption that he, Jesus, was not from God.

You are blessed when people hate you,
when they exclude you, insult you,
and slander your name as evil
because of the Son of Man. [i.e. Jesus]
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! Take note — your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets…

Woe to you
when all people speak well of you,
for this is the way their ancestors
used to treat the false prophets.

Luke 6:22,23,26 (HCSB emphasis, clarification added)

Here Jesus pointed out how former generations had got it wrong. They often persecuted the true prophets who were from God, and rewarded the false prophets who were not.

When the religious leaders heard Jesus they were operating with a big assumption, namely, that anyone coming from God would live, teach, and act according to their understanding of the Scriptures. So, anyone healing on a Sabbath, something Jesus was prone to do, was obviously not from God. Jesus said and did many other things that got under their skin. Their attitude was: “Jesus can’t possibly be from God if he does not look, act, and think, just like we do.”

There was at least one religious leader who managed to challenge that assumption:

There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Him at night and said, “ Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him.”

John 3:1-2 (HCSB)

Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, likely in secret because his openness to Jesus would not have gone over well with the other Pharisees. How many of us keep our thoughts secret out of fear of people jumping all over us for challenging assumptions?

Nicodemus was willing to allow his assumptions, as a Pharisee, to be challenged. And it was to Nicodemus that those most famous of words were said:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

John 3:16 (NRSV)

Some scholars see this verse, and those that follow, not as the words of Jesus, but as the writer’s comment on the important things Jesus said to Nicodemus. Nevertheless, do our assumptions keep us from hearing about God’s love for the world and for us? Assumptions like “miracles don’t happen,” “Jesus couldn’t have risen from the dead because people don’t rise from the dead,” or “The Bible is just all made up stories.”

Might assumptions keep us from learning important truths about Jesus, God, God’s grace and love, and God’s kingdom? Might assumptions keep us from learning important truths that lead us to life, to the Giver of life? Might assumptions keep those of us who follow Jesus from following more closely?

Might assumptions keep us from learning important truths about people and the way things work? It might be assumptions around mental health, race relations, viruses and vaccines. We might have assumptions about Muslims, atheists, Christians, truckers, health care workers, youth, seniors, people who are LGBTQ+, politicians, and yes, pastors. If I had a penny for every time someone has said to me “you are a pastor and you ride a motorcycle?”!

Jesus challenged people’s assumptions about their beliefs about whether or not he, Jesus, was from God. Perhaps we should pause and ask if Jesus would challenge our assumptions about who he is and he is about. While we are at it, perhaps we should challenge the assumptions we make about everyone else too. And then there are the assumptions we make about ourselves.

In Summary

In our society today there are many deeply held convictions. Deeply held convictions are no guarantee of deep insight. As we allow our assumptions to be challenged, as we listen to other voices, it will make a big difference. Let us be wise, seeking insight, knowledge, and understanding, on anything and everything, and of everyone, including ourselves. Let us especially seek insight where it matters most, about God and God’s love for us in Christ.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)

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In addition to formatting Clarke’s “Shrunk Sermon” notes for several years, for the past 24 months I’ve also been tuned into his church’s online “Worship Expression.” For the sermon portion of this week’s, on which this article was based, click this link.

Troubles, Distress and the Pains of Life

^NIV.Ps.77.1 I cried out to God for help;
    I cried out to God to hear me.
² When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
    at night I stretched out untiring hands,
    and I would not be comforted.

³ I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
    I meditated, and my spirit grew faint…

^…10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
    the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
¹² I will consider all your works
    and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

¹³ Your ways, God, are holy.
    What god is as great as our God?

Four years ago when we launched our Sunday Worship series of devotions, we discovered the blog Ascents written by Tim Adams. Today’s thoughts are gathered from two things he posted, the first in October, 2019, and the second in March, 2021. Clicking the post titles which follow will take you there directly.

Psalm 77 – Remember God

This psalm consists of four stanzas, each separated by the Hebrew word Selah. In the first two, Asaph is focused on the trials and tribulations of the Hebrew people. Here he asks if God has turned away from His people forever. In the third stanza his focus moves from the troubles around him to the Lord and all that God has done for his children. The final stanza, he offers praise to God for His power, sovereignty, and glory.

In this song Asaph is a troubled soul. While it’s unclear what is specifically happening to cause his grief, it is clear that his concerns are not only for himself, but also for the nation. It’s not that he isn’t mindful of God’s graciousness to Israel, it’s just that remembering doesn’t lift the cloud over him.

It can be the same for us, can’t it? In the midst of a storm, we remind ourselves of the love and power of God, but that doesn’t always make us feel better because it doesn’t make the storm go away. The problem may be that our perspective needs to change. Just as in the picture, the tornado and the rainbow can seemingly converge at the same spot–right where we are.

Psalm 77:10 is where Asaph’s perspective changes. “Then I said, “It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed.” He remembers who God is and what He has done. Suddenly his lamentations turn to praise. The trial has not abated for him, just his grief.

God does not promise that life will be easy, or that He will always take away our trials. But, He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us. He may not always calm the storm, but He will give us all we need to weather it.

“Sometimes He holds us close,
and lets the wind and waves go wild;
Sometimes He calms the storm
and other times He calms His child.”
–Kevin Stokes and Tony Wood.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 – The Minor Pains of Life

“Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal,” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18).

I remember, as a young man, watching TV with my grandmother.  I remember a certain commercial that would upset her whenever it came on. It was advertising a particular pain medication that claimed to relieve the minor pains of arthritis.  She would get so angry at the phrase “minor pains of arthritis.”  I would suggest that the drug likely only affected the arthritis pains that were minor.  She would say, “There’s no such thing!”.

Life’s afflictions never seem minor when we are in the midst of them.  They absorb our attention, takeover our thoughts, and easily become the only things that matter.  But here, Paul is suggesting that we view our various trials with an eternal perspective.  He is saying that, because God’s grace abounds—what “therefore” is there for—we should not allow our trials, which are temporal, to take us captive to the pain and cause us to lose our joy over the reality of eternal glory in Christ.  Paul is teaching us that the temporary pains of afflictions and trials are actually serving an eternal, divine purpose by producing in us a greater anticipation for this eternal glory.  The greater the pain, the greater the anticipation.

Pain and affliction are real, but when we recognize that these various trials are temporary and we place our focus on eternity with Christ, we truly experience what it means to abide in Him and live fruitful lives in the midst of this life’s troubles, (John 15:4*). By focusing on eternity we can truly know the fullness of joy in Christ (Psalm 16:11**).

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*”I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. … No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. – John 15:4

**You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. – Psalm 16:11