Serving Rascals, Clumsy Disciples, and Physically and Mentally Ill Believers with the Unconditional Love of Jesus Christ
–CS Lewis
Psalm 5:11, CSB
Matt. 22:37-39
Love is the ultimate response God is looking for from us. It is the currency of Heaven. The Kingdom’s economy is ‘the gold standard’ of love. It’s the way business gets done in eternity. Love! Without love ruling our lives now, we will arrive there as paupers and beggars. We will disobey Jesus as well.
God is our primary target to love. And the quality of it can be appreciated from its ‘source point’. Heart. Soul. Mind. These are the starting places for our affection. The caliber of our worship is summed up by the word, “all.” That word has a totality, and a significance to it. It further intensifies love to the only acceptable place. Love indeed is the perfect “make-up.” We’re never more beautiful then when we love God or another person.
As disciples who are indeed flawed and broken, we can still find a place where we can minister from. I can’t do a lot anymore, but I can love. Loving God is something I can do, even with my issues. I can always love. I can always give my all, my heart to someone else. I can always love!
And actually, this disability strips my discipleship to a simpler and basic level. At the “lowest common denominator” my faith is still valid and vital. I love Jesus, even when I can’t be a senior pastor or teach at my Bible School anymore. I accept this. I can even rejoice in this new “inadequacy.”
Fifteen years ago I sat waiting for my bus, at King’s Cross in London, England. I was all alone, and I felt it. There was also a strong sense of brokenness that encircled me, I was painfully aware of my disability. I was coming a bit unglued at the enormity of my mental illness. I sat staring at the floor just in front of me. I could do nothing else. All I could do is stare. Stare some more.
But suddenly, in my field of vision, just in front of me, hopped a bird with a crippled foot. Something had damaged him. The thing that profoundly spoke to me was that bird was not at all devastated, not at all. And the Lord spoke to me about that bird, and His comfort pumped right through to my veins. I felt I was right where I was supposed to be. I had become the ‘broken sparrow,’ and amazingly I could still follow. Maybe, even better now, because of my ‘limp’.
Jesus prefers to use the ‘family’ as His methodology to help us grow in Him, Only family can capture the moment. God loves His children.
“Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:35
There is a hidden ‘process’ just lying in wait for us in this verse. The fact that it is there at all borders on our sense of reason. To be a brother, or a sister to Jesus is almost absurd. (And to be a mother is really pushing the envelope.) This verse is a true wonder! Too good to be true for a rascal like me.
But it’s not how we see ourselves, it is how Jesus Christ sees us. He sees us promoted and “and raised us up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Ephesians 2:6). Ideally, family– as it’s designed to be– is in a level of intimacy exceeding all others. I have two younger brothers and in spite of not communicating for months we just ‘tune-in” to each other. When we do meet, it is on the same wavelength.
I’m going to shift gears on you now. I devoutly believe that the Kingdom of God, which includes the Church, “flows” through relationships between people. Some believe it flows through a denomination, or other structure. But it doesn’t.
The Kingdom connects and grows when believers have personal contact with each other. The Church is not chiefly an organization– but it is an “organism.” I value my relationships, because they have life in them! Are you trying hard to do God’s will in an area? Try moving towards personal contact with another. (I find that is often the way God leads me.)
Back to Mark 3:35. “Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” This verse is not for everyone. One doesn’t relate to Jesus on this illustrious level automatically. The promise can only be triggered through obedience. What we do is the evidence of what we believe. (I told you it was too good to be true! :-) ) We ascend into family when we do God’s will. There are no short-cuts to intimacy like this.
But there is no other way to a closer and intimate relation to Him. I think this is true: He has no favorites among His children, only intimates.
Hebrews 12:1
Matthew 18:20
It is easier to run alone, rather than run in a group. Running with others means keeping pace with those around you. Not so fast that you outpace the slower ones, and not so slow that you slow down the group. There are many who simply prefer running without the ‘constraints’ of others. Consider these:
Perhaps this all seems difficult. To be consistent in this kind of running is far too restrictive. It seems more difficult than running alone; there are far too many issues. And yet, I have determined that running with others has its own rewards.
We were never meant to be alone— solitary persons. We were created to engage the personalities of others. We must either slow down or speed up to keep the cohesion of everyone. We may want to speed up the pace a little bit. But if we do, it would mean the separation of the slower runners. But we are meant to run with others.
We will make these decisions on the spur of the ‘racing’ moment. Yet they determine everything. Will I curtail my desire to win, without you? Can I stand at the ‘winners line’ confidently after leaving you far behind?
We belong together. We simply can’t run solo anymore. Mental illness (as well as a physical illness) has a strong tendency to isolate. We find ourselves alone, far more than what is healthy. We make excuses, far more than is appropriate. We determine to advance, or to just ‘give up’ without affecting the other runners.
At times we must ‘gear down’ if we are to run with others. We must stop thinking ‘me’ and start thinking ‘you’. This so militates against our personal preferences. We don’t want to give up our own quest for glory. We still ascribe to the virtue of the ‘first gets the best.’ But at other times an inner voice insists we must speed up to keep the pace.
Yet there is nothing in the scriptures about ‘going it alone.’ There is nothing that would suggest this. Yes, there are individuals, and yes they stand out. But the glacial mass is toward a corporate understanding of the truth– that we will arrive together (carrying one another into Church.)
I would simply suggest that we become aware of our brother and sister who are trying to run next to us. They are working so hard to keep pace. Some even limp trying to keep up. We can’t ‘blow them off.’ We realize that we’re linked with them. We can’t turn away from that. When we do cross the finish line, it will be together.
1 Corinthians 12:27
Broken Believers 