One of my favorite things about kids is their authenticity. When they are scared, they cry and ask to be held. When they are happy, they will giggle and dance. Rarely do they attempt to hide their feelings. This often leads them to say ‘the darndest things’. One such incident happened yesterday when I was cleaning a glass door that leads into a classroom. A little boy watched contemplatively while I sprayed Windex and wiped it down. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, he blurted out, “Why are you doing that?”
“Because I’m cleaning off the smudges.”
“Why?” (his favorite question)
“Because it’s dirty.”
“For my mommy?”
Now this was cute. All I could respond with was “Um, sure!” But this got me thinking.The only thing the little boy was concerned with was pleasing his parents.
Shouldn’t we be this committed to God? So obsessed with Him that the mundane tasks are for His glory? Do we wash windows in a way that would make Him smile? Is His approval what we crave most?
Maybe this is what Jesus meant when he told the bickering disciples to humble themselves like a child (Matthew 18:4). To perform for an audience of One, knowing that His opinion is all that matters.
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." --Matthew 18:1-4
Friday, June 24, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
When life gives you lemons..
Why do bad things happen to good people?—this question had wormed its way into the heart of every man. This subject seems to be especially difficult for Christians, who wonder why a loving God let them suffer this way.
Suffering is everywhere. If its ugly hand isn’t touching our own lives, it is gripping the lives of our friends and family. During times of despair, we often cling to the phrase, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” This never seems to do the trick, however. It leaves us feeling pathetically weak, because deep down we know that we are too feeble for the task at hand. With sinking hearts we resign ourselves to waiting out the storm.
Is there a better way? I submit that there is. We first must establish why suffering happens. As humans, we are utterly sinful and live in a world that makes no attempt to clean up its act. Our suffering either stems directly from us or is indirectly inflicted on us by other people. To put it another way, our suffering does not come from God. This is made clear in James 1:17, which clearly states that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
But does God let tragedies happen to us? Yes. Will they seem like mountains threatening to crush us? Yes. Will we be able to handle them? No. That’s the beautiful thing about God grace. When suffering happens, we have no other choice than to rely on Him—because He can handle it. He won’t always make the pain go away. The thorn in our flesh may seem like it is going to consume us. Yet it is during this time we learn that God is the ultimate Physician, healing what we thought was beyond recovery.
Pain is no fun, end of story. But when we fall down, we might just realize that we should have been on our knees the whole time.
“Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.”
--Psalm 27:14
Suffering is everywhere. If its ugly hand isn’t touching our own lives, it is gripping the lives of our friends and family. During times of despair, we often cling to the phrase, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” This never seems to do the trick, however. It leaves us feeling pathetically weak, because deep down we know that we are too feeble for the task at hand. With sinking hearts we resign ourselves to waiting out the storm.
Is there a better way? I submit that there is. We first must establish why suffering happens. As humans, we are utterly sinful and live in a world that makes no attempt to clean up its act. Our suffering either stems directly from us or is indirectly inflicted on us by other people. To put it another way, our suffering does not come from God. This is made clear in James 1:17, which clearly states that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
But does God let tragedies happen to us? Yes. Will they seem like mountains threatening to crush us? Yes. Will we be able to handle them? No. That’s the beautiful thing about God grace. When suffering happens, we have no other choice than to rely on Him—because He can handle it. He won’t always make the pain go away. The thorn in our flesh may seem like it is going to consume us. Yet it is during this time we learn that God is the ultimate Physician, healing what we thought was beyond recovery.
Pain is no fun, end of story. But when we fall down, we might just realize that we should have been on our knees the whole time.
“Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.”
--Psalm 27:14
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