Don't Skip to the End

 

03/01/2022

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.” 

And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.” And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death," - Revelation 21:1-8

In light of recent events we notice a subject which always arises during times of crisis. Eschatology. You know: the end-times; Daniel; the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ; prophecies. 

It's a time when some will tell you, "If you haven't already been prepping it's too late!" "Preachers” exercise their bible verse memorization skills, discovering portions of God’s word to speak to real-time events. “Prophets” spin world events into such a muddled mess that their eisegesis (look it up - it’s your homework for today) begins to somehow make sense.

It is also a moment when Christians can say some of the most off-handed and inappropriate comments.

A dear friend, Heather, shared a book with us she recently finished. Kate Bowler, an Associate Professor of the History of Christianity in America, at Duke Divinity School, is the author and it is titled: Everything Happens for a Reason - and Other Lies I Have Loved. It is an incredible read containing raw unfiltered emotions, intelligence, love, worry, fear, faith, and even joy - written with biting sarcasm and unwavering hope.

The book details how Dr. Bowler - who is living the dream - is suddenly at the age of 35 struck with the crushing news that she has stage four cancer. She then documents what people - Jesus followers and deniers alike - have to say to her in regards to her situation.

It is sobering and horrifying the words people can use. People can say the most damaging things - never realizing the destruction. One of those lines is: “Everything happens for a reason.”

Really?

Is that what we say to the family of a drunk-driving accident? Is there truly a reason for human trafficking? Can we actually explain away suicide? Or, do we simply look into our Ukrainian friend’s eyes and say, “God has a reason for all of this! Glory!”

Mmmm. No.

However, there may be an even more hurtful response. It is when we begin telling people who are struggling through incredible and unimaginable moments in life that “in the end, God wins!” Or, “Well, at least you have heaven to look forward to.” Ugh.

We love skipping past pain; jumping past hurtful situations. 

To quote a rather precocious little red head:

The sun'll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun.

Just thinkin' about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow ‘til there's none.

When I'm stuck a with day that's gray and lonely I just stick out my chin and grin, and say, oh - The sun'll come out tomorrow so you gotta hang on 'til tomorrow, come what may…

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow, You're always a day away.

Dr. Bowler, meeting with her oncologist, was reminded of a truth we must all latch onto. She writes: “We (her and her oncologist) have both, as it turns out, spent a lot of time walking up to the edges of things, and we are talking about what it means to face facts.” Her doctor responds that the “secret” is: “Don’t skip to the end,” (p. 160).

Don’t skip to the end.

We cannot just live our lives based on what may or may not happen in the future. We can only live our lives based on today. The pain of today. The frustration of today. The crying today. The laughter today. The hope for today. The love for today. And, yes, the evil and troubles of today.

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today,” Matthew 6:34 (NLT). With all that is occurring on this globe - pandemic and invasions included - remember not to skip to the end. Rather, live today. Love today. Hope today. Pray today. Struggle today. Lose today. Win today. 

Perhaps Ira Stanphill understood this truth best. After all, he taught us:

I don't know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day.

I don't borrow from its sunshine, for its skies may turn to gray.

I don't worry o'er the future, for I know what Jesus said,

And today I'll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand;

But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.

Broken Hearts and Suffering: Evidence for God

11-03-2021

I will praise the LORD at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the LORD; let all who are helpless take heart. Come, let us tell of the LORD’s greatness; let us exalt his name together. The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time...the LORD will redeem those who serve him. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. 

Psalm 34:1-3;17-19; 22 (New Living Translation)

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and rescues those whose spirit is crushed...

This week I (Steve) am going to do something I rarely, if ever, do. I am going to rehash a previous work. Actually, it comes from a funeral I was honored to be a part of this morning. Due to time constraints I felt it was necessary to cut quite a bit out of the message I shared with those gathered and I wanted to take what was there and expand on it a bit. Why? Missy and I feel it is a very important message/reminder to those of us who are not doing so well right now - mentally and emotionally.

Ann Voskamp, in her profound and brutally honest book The Broken Way describes what it was like to endure enormous personal pain and loss...only to have her feelings and suffering trivialized from the pulpit and by other people in the church. “I wanted to stand up and howl,” she writes: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick...I wanted to stand up and beg: ‘When the church isn’t for the suffering and broken, then the church isn’t for Christ. Because Jesus, with His pierced side, is always on the side of the broken.'”

We don’t elaborate enough on particular points of scripture. This is often by design (we don’t want to discuss the issue) or by default (nobody wants to hear about it). One of those oft neglected truths of the New Testament is the fact that the authors fundamentally believed that Jesus purposefully moved into the lives of those who were affected with grief. Look at Mary and Martha and how he went to them during the loss of their beloved brother Lazarus.

Not only that but one can easily see that the Jesus of the Bible always went to where the suffering was. He never shied away from seeking out those who were crushed by life and rejected by society. Indeed, the wound in His side, the imprint of thorns on his brow, the piercings in his hands all prove that Jesus is always on the side of the suffering, the wounded, the broken.

If you are struggling today let me assure you that Jesus is on your side.

So many people today are encountering moments - even seasons - of mental anguish, physical struggle and emotional turmoil. Sure, some of it is a direct consequence of personal behavior and bad decision-making. Yet, even that should not be an excuse to ridicule or belittle someone who is fighting to stay afloat.

Most of the time, however, those who are agonizing over even simple daily tasks, are not to blame for their current situation. Life happens. Things happen. People happen. It isn’t always pretty, clean or easy to deal with.

Although we do not know exactly what is happening in your life right now, one thing Missy and I agree upon is this: we cannot begin to fathom the pain, the loss, the grief you are encountering right now. Nor you, ours. We can only be there for one another...

Yet, there is something to be said about embracing the pain, the loss and the grief of our lives. It is a sad truth that we mostly spend our time attempting to run away from difficult situations. We try to smooth over the rough, ugly and painful moments of our lives. We even try to hide what we are going through - lying to the world and ourselves, “I’m doing great!”

It can be especially bitter for those who are followers of Jesus who have been told all their lives - by other “Christians” no less - to “Keep a stiff upper lip;” “Don’t let others see you cry;” “Real men don’t cry,” or even, “If you just had more faith you would be able to handle all of this.” Lies. All lies. And, remember, God hates lies.

A secret most Christians do not want you to know is that suffering is an integral part of all our lives. We speak of the joy of Jesus so much (and rightfully so!) we neglect - to our own demise - the comfort of the only One Who truly understands what we are going through. Remember, “Jesus wept.”

And Jesus is weeping with you today. He is weeping for you; what you are going through; what you have lost; what you must deal with.

Not only that, Jesus is in your very midst through the gift of His Holy Spirit. Simultaneously, he is at the right hand of the Father - even now- interceding on your behalf...asking the Father to comfort His children...right where you are.

Euegene Peterson, writing in the foreword of Alan Nelson’s reassuring book, Embracing Brokenness: How God Refines Us Through Life’s Disappointments, confirms a powerful truth I wish to share with you today: “Suffering is not evidence of God’s absence, but of God’s presence, and it is in our experience of being broken that God does his surest and most characteristic salvation work. There is a way to accept, embrace, and deal with suffering that results in a better life, not a worse one, and more of the experience of God, not less. God is working out his salvation in our lives the way he has always worked it out—at the place of brokenness, at the cross of Jesus, and at the very place where we take up our cross.”

You may be broken and suffering, but that is the exact place you can meet Jesus. It is the very place where God’s love and comfort, hope and healing, will reveal themselves to be true and dependable.

How do we know this to be true? It was at the cross of Jesus that the love of all loves, the hope of all hope was given without remorse or regret. To a lost and dying world, to a planet filled with pain and suffering, the God of all creation sent His one and only Son to show He alone can empathize and carry us through. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and rescues those whose spirit is crushed.”

Our hope and prayer is that Jesus would comfort, console and encompass you this day and everyday. May God grant you His strength to endure, His grace to overcome, His peace to continue living. May our heavenly Father fill each of us with His Spirit that we may walk as children of peace, as a people of faith, proclaiming to all who will listen, “...let all who are helpless take heart...the LORD hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles.”

Rewording Bill Withers’ classic song, “Lean on God when you’re not strong…”