Getting to the Other Side of Loss and Grief part two

THEOLOGICAL TRUTHS TO CHEW ON WHEN YOU ARE READY. 

If you are in the midst of an excruciating period of life, you may not be able to receive some of this.  “True” is not always “helpful”.   (See my reaction to “She’s in a better place” in part one of this.)  When you are between the floods of trouble is the time it is the most helpful to consider these truths and store them up for the hard times.

Lamentations 3:31-33  ³¹ For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.

 ³² Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.

 ³³ For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. (Lam 3:31-33 NIV)

            HE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU & NEVER FORSAKE YOU – HE WILL BE WITH YOU TO THE END OF THE AGE!!

“Though HE brings grief…”  = God is Sovereign in all the circumstances of life, yet He is loving and wise!  “When God allows you to go in the furnace of affliction He keeps His hand on the thermostat and His eye on the timer.”

Romans 8:28 ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV)

            All things are NOT good.  Some are wrong, hurtful, tragic, even evil.  But God promises His children He will eventually work some good even out of this things!  If God causes it or allows it in the life of a believer, He will redeem it in some way at some time.

2 Cor. 1:4 ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

One reason God allows us to suffer is it makes us better able to help others when they suffer!  Often when someone is suffering they can receive help best from one who has walked a similar valley.  After my first wife’s death, when I encountered believers who had lost a spouse at an early age I really listened to what they had to say!  One minister and wife who had each been widowed were especially helpful to me.  Wounded healers are usually the best healers!  Let God minister out your brokenness to other broken people.

1 Peter 5:10 ¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (ESV)

Romans 8:18 ¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

This really is not our home!  The best is yet to come.  If your faith is in Christ, a new Heaven and a new Earth are being prepared for you.  There we will have no sorrow, no sickness, no death.  God will be in our midst and He will be our God and we shall be His people!

 

Amen and amen!

 

What Does the Atomic Bomb Have to Do with Human Nature, Theology and Your Marriage? ... (or Glory, Shame, and Hope)

Genesis one declares that the first humans were created in the image and likeness of God.  That is an unbelievably complex and profound statement.  In Genesis three we are told about the entry of sin into human experience.  In stark and frightening terms the inspired writer informs us that in some sense Adam and Eve died the moment they broke covenant with God by eating from the forbidden tree.  

I believe when these two events (creation and fall) are viewed through the lens of the rest of Holy Scripture we see that now we are fractured image bearers.  We still bear the image and likeness of Almighty God, yet that image has been marred, twisted, contorted into sometimes nightmarish shapes.  Adolph Hitler shows the image of God in inspiring and powerfully leading a nation in a new direction.  But the direction is hellish and demonic!  In the same time period teams of scientist in the United States working on the Manhattan Project brought into fruition nuclear technology.  This technology begins to get into the very building blocks of creation!  The first use of that technology is a bomb.  A bomb that may well have saved the precious lives of many American servicemen yet took the equally precious lives of 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki, Japan.  Such tremendous knowledge and learning that yielded a technology with awesomely wonderful and fearful potential.  Created by fractured image bearers.

In each of our lives we are fractured image bearers with wonderful and fearful potential.  We are capable of kindness, unselfishness, deceit, cruelty, generosity, and insensitivity.  And sometimes all of the above in the same day!  

At our best we try to minimize or even eradicate the evil inside of us.  Often we try to hide it from others, and even ourselves.  We use various defense mechanisms to do this.  Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV), “The heart is deceitful above all things,   and desperately sick;   who can understand it?”  

Let me suggest some practical applications of these truths:

#1 We should not be surprised that we (and everyone around us) are a confusing mish mash of excellence and failure.  Sometimes we will shine, but at other times we will fall flat on our faces.

#2 We should not be surprised that marriage takes a lot of work.  Every marriage involves bringing two broken image bearers together with all their mix of glory and fallenness.  AND these broken image bearers were raised by other broken image bearers and live in a world of fallen image bearers.  So why does anyone think “If I just find the right person, marriage will be easy”?  My friend, you and I are so messed up even if we find “the right person” THEY will have to work to make being married to us work!

#3 We are utterly and completely dependent on the grace of God in Christ Jesus for lasting joy and satisfaction in this life (as well as eternal life in the life to come).

#4 Sometimes we need the help of other fractured image bearers, who are trying to humbly lean on God’s grace, to help us deal with the pain, frustration, and confusion of this life.  An objective voice that is led by the Word and the Spirit can be of great help along the way.

A Personal Reflection on Approaching 60

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. “ Psalms 90:12, KJV

In a few weeks I will be turning 60 years old. Approaching this milestone has provoked some soul searching and reevaluation. I don’t know if God will give me 25 more years or 25 more seconds! I think I have usually done a fair job of investing my life for Him and redeeming opportunities, but only fair, I could have done better. I regret that. I seek to repent of the failures, the selfishness, the short sightedness. Grace to move ahead with better focus and more child like trust in God seems to be my number one need as I look ahead to how ever much time God grants.

Up to now, God has blessed me with excellent health and strength. I know that can be snuffed out in an instant – I’ve seen it happen to others. In such extremely uncertain economic times I figure if God continues to bless me with health I can work full-time another 10 – 15 years, if work stays available. Serving in small churches has not allowed building any retirement to speak of. But I am trusting God will somehow provide, as He always has. I fear we may be entering a time in which those who have built substantial retirements may be no better off than those of us who have not. The markets may continue to slide. The dollar could become virtually worthless. BUT WHATEVER HAPPEN GOD WILL STILL PROVIDE FOR HIS CHILDREN! Any suffering He allows (physical, emotional, economic) will be designed for our good to shape us more like Jesus (Romans 8:28 is still on the books!)

I had the privilege of preaching every Sunday for most of 30 years and off and on the past 10 years. (I still hope the Lord will choose to give me a full time pulpit again!) Looking back on many poor sermons and hopefully a few good ones, the core of the burden God laid on my heart is this: God’s children need to seek Him with all their hearts and stop the silly games we too often play! Open your heart to His love and grace in Christ Jesus. Take your sin more seriously than you take your neighbor’s sin. Beg for the grace to live in a way that honors and pleases the Father, Son , and Holy Spirit!

Doctrine and theology are important. The outward forms of how we worship are not insignificant. But what is essential is faith and relationship with God. That starts with trust in the simple Gospel: Our destiny will be determined by whether we are trusting in Jesus Christ or not. He is God who became man, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for all the sin of every person who will turn from their sin trust in Him and believe He is risen from the dead. Whether it is you or I, or the Pope or Billy Graham, all that will count at that moment is whether we are trusting that simple Gospel. (Turning from sin doesn’t mean being perfect or sinless. It means agreeing with God your sin IS sin, it ain’t acceptable, and you seek His help to stop it!)

But that is just the essential beginning! Our Father earnestly desires that we grow in worship, in heart knowledge of Him (see John 4:23, 24; Philippians 3:10).

When God takes me home I hope that the few who remember me and care will think something like this, “He tried to point others to Jesus.”

Peace!