Tag: brokenness

Falling, and Dying?

“I tell you the truth, a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die to make many seeds. But if it never dies, it remains only a single seed.25 Those who love their lives will lose them, but those who hate their lives in this world will keep true life forever.”

John 12:24-25, NCV

 

Often believers are attempting to ‘hear God’ only to bolster their position, reputation, ‘connections’ and prestige.  There’s no talk about falling down and dying as Jesus revealed in John 12.  If I’m extremely occupied with knowing God’s will it will maneuver me into a completely wrong position.  Discipleship was never meant to be a celestial self-improvement plan.

When I get over-concerned about ‘my’ discipleship, acquiring the praise of men and achieving a modicum of honor, I end up ‘missing the boat’.  Life was not meant to profit from, but ‘to fall and die.’  There is a deadly danger of becoming self-aware and self-absorbed.  And this is ‘the spirit of the age’.

Nothing will ever go right if we try to hear the Lord while we avoid falling and dying.  To put it another way.  There can be no resurrection without a crucifixion first.  We must die if we are going to live.  We must become weak before we can understand power.

Will you realign your life to include ‘falling, and dying?’ 

Do you really want to hear Him?  Will you realign your life to include ‘falling, and dying?’  Will you begin to readjust the way you approach yourself and others?Modern popular versions of our faith will almost always lack this ‘death-life’ component.  These versions are often designed to reflect our society.  And we are terribly self-centered.  We will not ever grow and mature unless we consent to ‘falling and dying’.

Beware of the church whose leaders do not ‘limp.’

Beware of the church whose leaders do not ‘limp.’ Dying to self is a challenging and vital component to our faith that will bring us into an astonishing fruitfulness.  That is what happens to those who die–they bring life to others.

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Humility and the Broken Believer

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“…they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone.”

Titus 3:2

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is for me to have no trouble; never to be fretted or vexed or irritated or sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me and when I am blamed or despised.

It is to have a blessed home in the Lord where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace as in a deep sea of calmness when all around is trouble. It is the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ’s redemptive work on Calvary’s cross, manifested in those of His own who are definitely subject to the Holy Spirit.”

—Andrew Murray

As believers who have been broken on the wheel of life, we will sometimes struggle with “the what-ifs”.  What if I could have stayed stable, we ask ourselves.  We are so busy thinking about what-could-of-been and we miss the opportunities we now have as a broken person.  Murray apparently reached a place where he could find peace with whatever happened.

We who struggle with depression, or with mania or delusions have much to deal with.  We are not really accepted by our pastors and church and it seems we fight a very private battle.  It seems that we will never reach our potential. Humility becomes a way to escape many of these issues.

But no matter what happens, through whatever misunderstanding I must endure, peace is found in humbling myself. Without humility there will not be any peace.

Someone once told me, “always try to do someone else’s will rather than your own.”

“How great victory was that which Jonathon must have gained over himself, when he rejoiced to see David raised above him! He discerned the mind of God in David, and had so learned to delight in God, that he did not see in David one who was to outshine him, but another faithful man raised up for God and Israel.”

–Robert C. Chapman

Someone once told me, “always try to do someone else’s will rather than your own.”  I think that is excellent advice.

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Affliction Understood, [Daily Pain]

The 2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner

There is the unquestionable presence of affliction that is present in our lives.  Affliction is the general term for specific instances of trials, tribulations, persecutions, emotional or physical pain and suffering.

The ancient Assyrians used the word for “affliction” as the same word to describe their method of a public execution, which involved being impaled to the ground.  Rocks were gradually piled high until the victim expired.  The combination of being impaled and the rocks piled on you was quite devastating.

And you know what?  That is a terribly specific concept of what afflictions feel like.  Just ask someone, it is exceedingly terrible to be in pain and feel ‘buried’ at the same time.  There is a feeling of suffocating in suffering.  Some have described it, like being ‘hit with a 2×4’. You have just been completely blindsided.

In the letters from the Early Church there was a patentability, or openness when it came to persecution and pain.  The writers of the New Testament operated out of a profound awareness of the pain of the believers of their day.

  • “We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.”   2 Cor. 1:8
  • “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.”  2 Cor. 4:8
  •  “You have greatly encouraged me and made me happy despite all our troubles.”   2 Cor. 7:4

‘The Ostrich Effect’ in Affliction

One of the most extensive arguments concerning ‘affliction’ develops around the nature of the atonement.  The thought is that Jesus died and rose to bless me.  Sin and sickness, poverty or lack are not part of God’s plan for the redeemed.

Now, it is possible to refute this in this little post.  But I will try to nudge you a bit to examine the issues of the Early Church.  Know however that there are many people who will follow the ostrich’s example and bury their heads to avoid reality of affliction.  But, I can understand this impulse– this desire to honor God, even if we “play word games” with our faith.

I also know first-hand that the struggles are hard.  Wrestling with them is a brutal way to live the abundant life.  Failure and frustration are trying to short circuit our faith.  And our faith must be protected and valued.

“Afflictions add to the saints’ glory. The more the diamond is cut, the more it sparkles; the heavier the saints’ cross is, the heavier will be their crown.”

–Thomas Watson

 What Does the Scripture Say About Affliction?

  • “Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.”   1 Peter 4:12
  • “…where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”   Acts 14:22
  • “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.”   John 16:33

“The wisdom of God appears in afflictions. By these He separates the sin which He hates, from the son whom He loves. By these thorns He keeps him from breaking over into Satan’s pleasant pastures, which would fatten him indeed, but only to the slaughter.”  

-James H. Aughey

I want to try to visit this subject again.  We will trust that ‘real light’ will come to our twilight worlds.

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He Will Come and Find You

“The Blind Beggar” by Jules Bastien-Lepage

When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Mark 10:47

What a gritty, hard life Bartimaeus lived.  How terribly desperate and lost he must have felt.  He has spent years and years without any real hope.  The future to him had been emptied of all purpose and meaning.  Life, from his point-of-view was worse than non-existence.  It was brutal and vicious, and when he had bad times he could barely look up.

He had a customary spot beside the busy road.  Routine had become his coping skill.  As a blind man knew that routine kept him from really losing it.  Seated on a dirty mat, he focused in on the voices of the passing crowds.  There seemed many more than usual and Bartimaeus began to try to piece together what was happening.

Someone to the right of him, shouted “Hosanna, Son of David”!  In that stark moment Bartimaeus jumped up and began to shout himself.  He shouted and shouted until he was hoarse.  He waved his hands, desperate to be seen.  There were those around him who told him to sit-down and shut-up.  There were hundreds of people reaching for Jesus, arms outstretched and pleas being made.  In this crazy and confusing scene Bartimaeus will not comply, he must speak, he must, he is desperate!

Jesus doesn’t walk alone, but is mobbed by well-wishers.  But suddenly He stops, Jesus can hear the voice of Bartimaeus.  Jesus wades partly into the jumbled mass and asks someone to bring Bartimaeus into the open.  We see him wriggle through the crowd, he is shaking and he is filthy.  His hair is matted and he has rotting teeth.  He hasn’t bathed for several months.  A filthy rag is wrapped over his eyes.

Is Jesus passing by?  Do you call out for Him? Does he call for you?  He often touches His most needy disciples, outside of the confines of the Church.  Jesus’ travels wherever He wants, He goes where He wills.  Jesus passes by us as we sit in our youth meeting, our marriage counseling or on a short-term missions project to Mexico.  He interrupts and pulls you out of the crowd.  All to heal you, for Himself.

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