In the pain, is God still good?

Adversity is not a discipline we undertake ourselves, but is imposed on us by God as a means of spiritual growth.

As Hebrews 12:10 says, “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.” The purpose of the discipline of adversity, then, is to make us more holy.
- JERRY BRIDGES, The Discipline of Grace

Is God good?

I don’t want to complain. But sometimes I complain anyway. I can’t help it.

I cave in to the temptation to think God isn’t as good as he could be.

Because if God is so good, why doesn’t he lift the veil of depression off my friend who cries out to him for help? Why doesn’t he give clearer direction to a group of his people who are sincerely trying to please him but don’t know which steps to take next? Why doesn’t he remove the pull of addiction from those who long to be released from it, for his own glory?

For crying out loud, why doesn’t he at least provide minimal food for the starving children in Africa?

And in a more personal matter, why doesn’t he make my back pain go away?

He can. He can do all of the above. Without the tiniest drain on his power. With or without human help.

But he hasn’t.

Purpose in pain

And therein lies the greatest struggle many have with believing in him.

In the last chapter of The Discipline of Grace, Jerry Bridges tackles this topic. How does grace meet adversity?

He starts off by saying the discipline of adversity is itself a sign of grace: “God’s discipline, which comes to us in the form of adversity or hardship, is an indication of His loving care, not a token of His disfavor.”

He’s more bold than I am in claiming God indeed delivers the hardships himself. (I still have questions, even after reading this book three times.) But because he believes God’s hand is in every hardship we encounter, it makes him more accepting that there is purpose.

And maybe that’s the saving factor for me, too. That’s what keeps me from turning away from God in anger. If there is—can be—a REASON for all this (regardless of its source), then I can deal with it and still see God as good.

Because I can take pain much better when I know it has a purpose.

All hardship of whatever kind has a disciplinary purpose for us. There is no such thing as pain without a purpose in the life of a believer.

This does not necessarily mean a particular hardship is related to a specific act or habit of sin in our lives.

It does mean that every expression of discipline has as its intended end conformity to the likeness of Christ.

So the purpose is? To make us more like Christ.

Be like Christ

I want to be like Jesus, accepting that God is loving me by allowing my pain. That I can trust him so much that I don’t complain about it. That he can use my pain as fuel for more faith, not less, in his goodness.

That’s who I want to be. I’m not there yet.

But maybe the grace in pain is what will get me there like nothing else will.

It’s brought me this far already and it’s been worth it for the ways I’ve already seen God and know his love for me.

I don’t choose my adversities (for the most part). What I can choose is how I’ll respond (for the most part; I have to depend on him).

If I want to glorify God in my pain,

• I will show grace to others in their pain the way he’s shown grace to me in mine,
• I will thank him for the grace he’s given me thus far and trust more grace is always on the way, and
• I will think of him as good—very, very good—even when I don’t understand.

Is that enough purpose for pain?
That’s enough. For today.
May his grace be sufficient.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

* * *

Maybe that’s not exactly what Bridges is saying at the conclusion of The Discipline of Grace, but maybe he’d agree.

More discussion of chapter 13 at Challie’s

My chapter summaries

More posts on pain

 

Day 31 of . . .

Your right to rest

I am convinced that women today have not been taught, nor do they understand, the biblical principles of rest.

They have somehow bought into the false belief that, for the Christian woman, rest is selfish and unscriptural.

Nothing could be further from the truth!
- DENISE GEORGE, A Woman’s Right to Rest

Right away she lays it out plainly:
women are tired because they’re not resting enough.

But, but, but . . . we women say . . . we have too much to do; we don’t get enough help; people are depending on us, etc.

George says rest anyway.
Jesus did.

And by “rest” she doesn’t just mean prop your feet up and take a nap (although that is one kind of rest—do it when you can!), but she lists fourteen distinct types of biblical rest that women (and men) can incorporate into their daily lives.

14 types of rest

• Physical rest
• Mental & emotional rest
• Trusting soul rest
• Resting in prayer
• Heart rest
• The rest forgiveness gives
• The rest of contentment
• The rest of commitment
• Resting in caretaking
• Resting in beauty, harmony, and peace
• The rest of selected memories
• Resting in friendship
• Resting in times of crisis
• The rest of heavenly assurance

She says not only are we given permission to rest, but it is our right, by our Creator’s design.

And I agree.

Rest is an obvious fruit of grace. If there’s anything we should understand about grace, it’s that it brings a cessation of work. Not just in a physical way (our bodies are created to be be still for 1/3 of our lives), but also in spiritual, mental, emotional, and relational ways.

Spiritual rest or soul-rest is knowing a loving Heavenly Father is in control of every aspect of a woman’s life and that she can completely trust him.

Soul rest also means that she can know with certainty that God loves her and promises to bring good results from the bad things she might experience on a daily basis.

I admit there were times I thought the book makes it sound too easy: just trust in God and voilà, you’ll find rest. Well, yes, but it’s more of a process for me; I still struggle and hurt and ache over painful things that can rob me of rest. I have to fight to not stay in those places when I find myself there (and hopefully I’m learning to linger there less and less).

How to rest

I suppose the author knew those like me need the “how” as well as the “why” about rest, so at the end of each chapter, she offers a series of practical suggestions. They aren’t groundbreaking ideas, but sometimes we need to have repeated, all in one place, what we already know but may feel too tired to come up with ourselves.

For example, under “The Rest of Contentment,” she suggests:

* Make a list of the possessions you own that you could easily live without. Then write down all those essential things you own and thank God for them.

* Go to a quiet place and contemplate Paul’s words in Phil. 4:12. Ponder “the secret” Paul has learned.

* Ponder the word “envy.” Do you envy a friend or neighbor? How is this envy displacing Christ’s rest in your heart? Pray that God will release you from this envy and restore his peace.

The practical suggestions are then followed by “Personal Quiet Time to Rest, Study, Reflect, and Pray,” which includes scriptures to contemplate, questions to reflect upon, prayer suggestions, and room to write down decisions made as a result of reading the chapter.

If you’re doing the book as a group study, that section is followed by yet another at each chapter’s end, “Group Bible Study” which is a shorter version of scriptures to read and questions to discuss.

I thank God for granting me a season of rest as I transition out of my role as a homeschooling mom, so I didn’t have a strong sense of urgency to go deeper with several chapters in this book.

But if you’re at a place of unrest in your life—for whatever reason and of whatever type—this book is sure to address it and help you reestablish equilibrium again through the grace of God.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30

* * *

Day 30 of . . .

THANKS TO LEAFWOOD PUBLISHERS
FOR THE REVIEW COPY OF THIS BOOK

Receive your gift of grace

Our spiritual gifts and the ministries we perform are gifts of God’s grace.

None of us deserves the gifts he or she has been given by God’s undeserved favor to us through Christ.

This means that both the most “worthy” and the most “unworthy” of Christians receive their gifts and their ministries on the same basis. The “unworthy” person surely doesn’t deserve his gift, but neither does the most “worthy.” They both receive them as unmerited favors from God.
- JERRY BRIDGES, Transforming Grace

We listened yesterday to stories of gifts.
Of grace.
Of Spirit. They made me smile and stirred my soul.

His gifts—his graces—live on today.

They are lifted off pages of the Book and engraved on hearts and distributed through humans.

Gifts of grace are birthed fresh in every generation. 
To all who choose to believe.
To those we view as special and to those who call themselves unworthy.

The Giver gives all for his glory. 

Open your hands to receive your portion of the gift.
Use it up fully as you distribute it to others.
Give thanks in all of it.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:4

* * *

Day 29 of . . .

Stretch out in the hammock

Attempts at self-salvation guarantee nothing but exhaustion.
We scamper and scurry, trying to please God,
collecting merit badges and brownie points,
and scowling at anyone who questions
our accomplishments. Call us the
church of hound-dog faces and slumped shoulders.
- MAX LUCADO, Grace

We used to have a hammock. We tied it up at the edge of the woods by the lake. The girls would jump in and play or read a book or just chill.

It meant rest. Ease. Time off.

Like grace. Isn’t it rest? Ease? Time off, too?

These paragraphs on grace by Max Lucado say that to me.

Stop it! Once and for all, enough of this frenzy.
“Your hearts should be strengthened by God’s grace,
not by obeying rules” (Heb. 13:9 NCV).

Jesus does not say, “Come to me, all you
who are perfect and sinless.”

Just the opposite. “Come to Me, all
who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28 NASB).

He invites us to come just as we are, not as we wish we were. Come when we’re tired, worn-out, and need to stretch out.

There is no fine print. A second shoe is not going to drop.
God’s promise has no hidden language.
Let grace happen, for heaven’s sake. No more performing
for God, no more clamoring after God.

Of all the things you must earn in life,
God’s unending affection is not one of them.

You have it.
Stretch yourself out in the hammock of grace.

You can rest now.

He’s got us.
He’ll support us.
Now. Forever.

* * *

More from Max Lucado’s Grace:

• Book review of Grace
• Grace-a-Lot
• Grace is a bottomless pit

Day 28 of . . .

When I see it I am speechless

Have you ever seen his grace so powerfully that it took your breath away?

If not, watch for it. It’s real.

He’s real.

Speechless
Free Chapel
LYRICS

Unending but always on time
Unfailing but never unkind
Unmerited favor is mine
Undeserving oh but I receive

CHORUS:
Your grace Lord Your grace
Oh I need it I receive it
I'm amazed so amazed
When I see it I am speechless
You take my breath away
You take my breath away

Unending but always on time
Unfailing but never unkind
Unmerited favor is mine
Undeserving oh but I receive Your, I receive

CHORUS

And You breathe life into me
I'm nothing without You
Without grace where would I be
I'm nowhere without You
[x2]

I'm nowhere without You

Your grace, Your grace, Your grace

CHORUS

And You breathe life into me
I'm nothing without You
Without grace where would I be
I'm nowhere without You

'Cause You take my breath away
You take my breath away
'Cause You take my breath away

* * *

Day 27 of . . .

Grace meets need

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

Where do you need grace today?

God has already wrapped up a personalized bundle of grace, just for you.

It’s waiting for you when you get there.

So he [God] supplies perfectly measured grace to meet the needs of the godly.

For daily needs there is daily grace; for sudden needs, sudden grace; for overwhelming need, overwhelming grace.

God’s grace is given wonderfully, but not wastefully; freely but not foolishly; bountifully but not blindly.
- JOHN BLANCHARD

May your needs run into his grace in just the right way for you to give him honor.

To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Philippians 4:20

* * *

Day 26 of . . .

Watch and pray

Our greatest source of temptation dwells within us.
- JERRY BRIDGES

Watch & pray about your weaknesses

To stay alert to situations that expose you to your greatest temptations, Jerry Bridges suggests identifying your vulnerable areas so you can commit to pray over them.

Then choose applicable scriptures to memorize and repeat to yourself to further strengthen you against your particular temptation.

Watch & pray about your strengths

But also be aware of your strengths—they, too, can be breeding grounds for temptation.

When we think we’re too strong to fall, well, we know what can happen (1 Corinthians 10:12). (Haven’t we seen it enough in ourselves already and in those around us?) These are often areas we stop watching because we’ve become overconfident about our own abilities.

When we trust in our own strength, we forget about how dependent we are upon God. As John Owen said, “When [indwelling sin] is least felt, it is in fact most powerful.”

Our only safeguard is a sense of deep humility as we realize how powerful indwelling sin still is.

Never begin to think there are areas of temptation where you don’t need to be on your guard. That could be your downfall.
- JERRY BRIDGES

Watch & pray about the little things

I know what they are for me; you know what they are for you. A tiny annoyance here, a gloating of revenge there. Selfishness, laziness, pride. All seemingly small matters. Or so we fool ourselves into thinking.

But the truth is, it is in the minutiae of life where most of us live day after day.

We seldom have to say no to an outright temptation to adultery. We often have to say no to the temptation to the lustful look or thought.

And as some unknown person has said, “He that despises little things shall fall little by little.”
- JERRY BRIDGES

Bridges tells he handles the little things by praying, “Lord, keep me on a short leash.” He knows that if he doesn’t get away with the little sins, they won’t grow into larger and messier ones.

Watch & pray for God’s glory

Also remember your goal as you focus on offensive strategies. 

How can you enhance your spiritual life? How can you promote the spiritual well-being of other believers? How can you do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31)?

We can meditate on God through his Word (Psalm 119:11). We can stay in close contact with him (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We can ask him to deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13).

And as always, we can return our focus on the gospel. Because we’ve been forgiven, we can face up to our sins and lay them at the foot of the cross. We can know we’re cleansed by the blood of Jesus and pursue holiness through the freedom and strength and grace we have through Christ .

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Matthew 26:41

* * *

Thoughts from Chapter 12, The Discipline of Watching, in The Discipline of Grace

My summaries on Chapters 1-11
More discussion on Chapter 12 at Challies

Day 25 of . . .

“Grace” by Max Lucado — Book review

Grace is God’s best idea.

His decision to ravage a people by love, to rescue passionately, and to restore justly—what rivals it?

Of all his wondrous works, grace, in my estimation, is the magnum opus.
- MAX LUCADO

Oh, I think Max Lucado gets it!
Grace!
Not that his other books haven’t pointed to it for years, but this one looks it straight in the eye and never blinks.

And don’t think he’ll give you wimpy grace here. This is the real thing in all its bold, loud, audacious flavors.

Here’s my hunch: we’ve settled for wimpy grace. It politely occupies a phrase in a hymn, fits nicely on a church sign. Never causes trouble or demands a response. When asked, “Do you believe in grace?” who could say no?

This book asks a deeper question:

Have you been changed by grace? Shaped by grace? Strengthened by grace? Emboldened by grace? Softened by grace? Snatched by the nape of your neck and shaken to your senses by grace? God’s grace has a drenching about it. A wildness about it. Grace comes after you. It rewires you. From insecure to God secure.

. . . Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off.

Page after page, chapter after chapter, Lucado fleshes out what grace looks like in the person of Jesus Christ and all its beautiful aftereffects.

The best review I can give is to step back and let you read more of the words for yourself:

Grace is God as heart surgeon, cracking open your chest, removing your heart—poisoned as it is with pride and pain—and replacing it with his own.

Rather than tell you to change, he creates the change.

Do you clean up so he can accept you? No, he accepts you and begins cleaning you up. His dream isn’t just to get you into heaven but to get heaven into you.

---

Of all the things you must earn in life, God’s unending affection is not one of them. You have it. Stretch yourself out in the hammock of grace.

You can rest now.

Get the picture? Not yet? Okay, here’s a little more. . .

---

He dispenses his goodness not with an eyedropper but with a fire hydrant. Your heart is a Dixie cup, and his grace is the Mediterranean Sea.

You simply can’t contain it all.

So let it bubble over. Spill out. Pour forth. “Freely have you received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8 NIV).

---

Grace. Let it, let him, so seep into the crusty cracks of your life that everything softens. Then let it, let him, bubble to the surface, like a spring in the Sahara, in words of kindness and deeds of generosity.

God will change you, my friend. You are a trophy of his kindness, a partaker of his mission. Not perfect by any means but closer to perfection than you’ve ever been. Steadily stronger, gradually better, certainly closer.

This happens when grace happens. May it happen to you.

After reading this book, if you didn’t appreciate God’s gift of grace before, certainly you can see it clearer now.

Let grace—let Jesus—happen to you, too.

* * *

Day 24 of . . .

THANKS TO THOMAS NELSON
FOR THE REVIEW COPY OF THIS BOOK

What’s on your nightstand? Oct ‘12

So far, I’m still sticking to my Fall reading list. I’ve added one new book not on my original list, but I left room for three, so all is well.

Since I’m in 31 Days of Grace, here’s how I’m finding grace on my nightstand.

Just started

Evolving in Monkey Town
   How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions
by Rachel Held Evans

Because Rachel has a new book coming out shortly that I want to read, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, and she’s already getting slammed by some who’ve read it (and some who haven’t—where’s the grace in that? I’m reminded of the Rob Bell brouhaha), I want to see for myself where she’s coming from by reading her first book. Learning people’s backstory is often a helpful prerequisite to extending grace, yes?

Pain
   The Gift Nobody Wants
by Paul Brand, Philip Yancey

How can there be grace in pain? Dr. Paul Brand writing about his work with lepers—they lose sensations of pain—is fascinating. A re-read. And well worth the time again.

 

A Woman’s Right to Rest
   Fourteen Types of Biblical Rest that Can Transform Your Life
by Denise George

Rest is one of our most tangible gifts of God’s grace. This book helps you understand how to receive and practice it.

I am convinced that women today have not been taught, nor do they understand, the biblical principles of rest. They have somehow bought into the false belief that, for the Christian woman, rest is selfish and unscriptural.
- DENISE GEORGE

The Twisted Scriptures
by W. Carl Ketcherside

Ketcherside wants to untwist some scriptures that tie people in knots. So far I detect a great desire to show grace to those who hold different opinions on gray matters.

Unity is not conformity but community. ...Being human, there is only one type of unity possible for us, and that is unity in diversity. If we do not accept this form of unity there is no other for us. We are not one in opinion, but one in Christ Jesus.
- CARL KETCHERSIDE

Still reading

Unshakeable Faith
   8 Traits for Rock-Solid Living
by Kathy Howard

While all the apostles were shown amazing grace, we often celebrate the grace shown to Peter the most. This book journeys through eight traits of Peter’s faith that we’d be wise to imitate. We’re studying this book together for our fall study at Do Not Depart.

Finished

Divergent
   Book 1
by Veronica Roth

A Hunger Games-type book. A gripping novel that I couldn’t put down. (Insurgent is Book 2; I’m holding off checking it out until I know I can spend dedicated time reading.) It’s usually easy to find grace play an important role in these dystopian novels; no exception here.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot

Excellently told story! It revolves as much around Henrietta Lacks’ daughter as Henrietta Lacks herself, the cancer victim whose cells have been used prolifically for over 60 years. It also testifies to the incredible gift of dedication from author Rebecca Skloot to get this story told accurately and honorably.

Grace
   More than We Deserve, Greater than We Imagine
by Max Lucado

The whole book is about grace, in typically beautiful Lucado style. Bible stories; personal anecdotes; heart-warming stories; quotable, truth-filled sound bites.

More verb than noun, more present tense than past tense, grace didn’t just happen; it happens. Grace happens here. The same work God did through Christ long ago on a cross is the work God does through Christ right now in you. Let him do his work. Let grace trump your arrest record, critics, and guilty conscience.
- MAX LUCADO

I’m Still Your Mother
   How to Get Along with Your Grown-Up Children for the Rest of Your Life
by Dr. Jane Adams

What I was reminded of is that our grown children need our support, not our regret. Give yourself grace for past parenting fumbles, and concentrate on being the best ally you can be now.

Instead of talking and telling, listen and question; rather than direct them in how you would do it, coach them to come up with strategies of their own devising. Be brief and not longwinded, back off if they tell you to or if you’re repeating yourself, and avoid after-the-fact criticisms.
- A MOTHER’S COMMENT

Tell to Win
   Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story
by Peter Guber

An eclectic assortment of stories about “story” from an executive in the entertainment industry. One of the tidbits: be present. When it really matters, do what you can to be in the same room with those you’re talking to.

If You Want to Write
   A Book about Art, Independence, and Spirit
by Brenda Ueland

Another eclectic gathering of advice, in this one about writing and loving and living. I didn’t always agree, but did find a grain of truth in most everything. For example (and you will have to work past the secular worldview here to find the nugget of “listen to others!”):

“...the only way to love a person is not, as the stereotyped Christian notion is, to coddle them and bring them soup when they are sick, but by listening to them and seeing and believing in the god, in the poet, in them.”
– BRENDA UELAND

Do the Work
by Steven Pressfield

This short book is to inspire you to stop overthinking and start doing. Although not written from a Christian perspective, it’s filled with examples of extending grace to yourself to get things done. For example, is there not great spiritual truth in this statement?

The deeper the source we work from, the better our stuff will be—and the more transformative it will be for us and for those we share it with.

Branded
   Sharing Jesus with a Consumer Culture
by Tim Sinclair

I admit I didn’t have high expectations for this book (why? I don’t know), but it was actually very good. Toward the back of the book, Sinclair puts twenty-two “what if” questions on the whiteboard for our consideration, ideas that might reach a disconnected world in a way that our current church system is not. Here are some examples (note: I’m reducing several pages into one paragraph):

What if we spent a week with our family in Honduras or Haiti instead of Orlando or the Ozarks? What if we adopted a no-health-related-prayer-requests rule for a time? What if we started Grubby Sunday at church? What if we were intentional about befriending those people many Christians consider unlovely? What if we sold our church’s building? What if we regularly met with atheists, agnostics, and people of non-Christian religions with the sole purpose of having them share their faith with us? What if we had to do all the listening?
- TIM SINCLAIR

Organized Simplicity
   The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living
by Tsh Oxenreider

This book is a great blend of theory and how-to. It comes at a perfect time for me as I’m adjusting my house (and mind) to an empty nest after twenty years of homeschooling. Oxenreider’s encouragement to create a family mission statement is just as important as her practical tips for cleaning up clutter.

Simple living is a state of mind. It’s a choice to not let the consumer-driven culture dictate how you live, what you invest in, and how you spend your valuable resources.
- TSH OXENREIDER

Sarah’s Key
by Tatiana de Rosnay

This novel made me cry, both at the horrendous events and at the grace among them. It blended so perfectly a story from 1942 Nazi rule in Paris with a modern story sixty years later. The excellence with which de Rosnay writes is beautiful in itself, but the story is one that would tug at any heart. It’s been weeks since I read it but it still is holding on to me.

* * *

What book have you read lately?

 

Day 23 of . . .

Shaking off the shackles

The police car is coming up in my rear view mirror. I instinctively slow down. 

As it pulls closer, I see the driver is not alone. In the back seat is a young man, maybe 18 years old, white, slick-headed.

The kid isn’t talking. He’s looking around, maybe at other cars, maybe at people walking freely on the outside. Maybe one last time. 

I watch him look. I wonder what he’s thinking. Is he hopeful he’ll be set free soon? Or does he feel sick to his stomach, wondering if he’s so busted for something stupid he did that will lead to a life in jail?

If he could relive his last 24 hours (or whatever time span that got him most in trouble), would he do things differently? Would he exchange past decisions for future freedom?

I think a lot about freedom these days. I thank a lot for freedom.

Jeff and I have this thing now: whenever we hear of a lock-down situation (it could be anything, but we’re particularly sensitive to religious cases), we’ll look at each other, shake off our imaginary shackles, and proclaim, “Free!” with a grateful heart.

Because as believers in Christ, we are free. And even though we’ve both been liberated for years, lately we’re exploring our freedom down new avenues. And loving it. 

We don’t have to ride in the back of a police car for sins we committed in our past or may commit in our future. While we’re still subject to consequences for our conduct, we’ve been released from an eternal sentence of doom. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

It’s not about us keeping or breaking rules; it’s about living our lives with a higher purpose—a redeemed purpose—through the Spirit who’s alive in us for God’s glory.

Being pardoned when we deserved to go to jail inspires us to pursue holy lives.

I’ll likely never know what happens to the boy in the back of the police car. Maybe he’ll turn his life around and find freedom like I know. By grace, he has that option, whether or not he serves time behind bars.

Because true Freedom is an inside job. I pray he finds Him. 

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:36

[Eddie James Ministries – shaking off the shackles]

* * *

Day 22 of . . .

3 ways to suffer with grace

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.
Philippians 1:29

God’s gospel-purpose for us

We know that believing is a blessing. And has purpose.

But suffering? Really, Paul?

The apostle Paul was no stranger to suffering. And his Philippian audience knew it. Not only was Paul writing this letter while under house arrest in Rome, but earlier in their very town of Philippi—a wealthy Roman colony—he and Silas had been dragged into the marketplace, stripped, beaten, and locked in stocks (Acts 16:19-24).

So when he writes “you’ve been given the privilege” not only to believe, but to suffer, he knows what he’s talking about.

And he expected them to suffer with grace. For a reason. Us, too?

There is a way to live that shows God’s good news (i.e., gospel) really is good. Stand united; keep the faith; suffer with confidence. Then it will be clear that we’ve been delivered (Philippians 1:28).

But how?

Do we flinch when danger shows up? Do we get scared at the possibilities of all the things that can go wrong in a life—even “little” things like a stomach bug or a car breaking down or an overscheduled week?

Here are three ways to suffer with grace against enemies:

1. Don’t be a loner.

Stick with the team.

Can we live in agreement? Can we be so single-focused on the grace of Jesus that people will look at believers and think, “That’s amazing!”? Yes, we can!

We’re not designed to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps when troubles come, but rather we’re gifted with other believers with whom we lock arms (Philippians 1:27).

2. Don’t let enemies intimidate you.

Place your confidence in Christ.

We reflect glory to God when we’re not intimidated by our problems (Philippians 1:28). Not because we have all the solutions, but because the Lord has and will continue to give us the gifts of grace we need. He will rescue us. Not from troubles. But through troubles.

God was faithful to Paul in his conflicts. He’ll be faithful to us in ours.

3. Don’t despise suffering.

Consider it a blessing.

This one is hard. But when Paul said that sufferings had “been granted to you,” he used the Greek word charizomai, which literally means “to grant as a favor, gratuitously, in kindness” (Philippians 1:29).

Paul counted it a privilege to suffer for Christ (Philippians 3:8), not a curse to shrink back from. The value of knowing Christ is worth it all. We see that throughout Philippians.

So let’s ask the Lord—no, plead with the Lord—to give us more unity, courage, and gratitude so the world will look at us and say, “Wow, God!”

He’ll give us the grace we need to suffer well.

* * *

Day 21 of . . .

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT Do Not Depart
REVISED HERE FOR THE ARCHIVES

Grace – Tenth Avenue North

I’m really enjoying Tenth Avenue North’s latest CD, The Struggle. This song about grace is one of my favorites:

Grace, only grace
Can roll your dead heart’s stone away
Grace, only grace
Can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways

Grace
Tenth Avenue North
LYRICS

Oh can you hear, hear mercy sing
She cries to bitter hearts, end your suffering
Oh, please let go, give up your fight
Holding back your love, it never made things right
It’s gonna be okay, okay tonight

CHORUS:
Grace, only grace
Can roll your dead heart’s stone away
Grace, only grace
Can move us to a rhythm that will change our ways

Oh listen to love and let pride hit the ground
If joy is the armor it can’t be broken down
But if hate is the fuel no one will win
When we love ‘til we're empty that’s where life begins

CHORUS

Grace, grace, come and move me
Oh come and move me now
Grace, grace, only you can lift up what holds me down

CHORUS

Come move me to that rhythm and come change my name

* * *

Day 20 of . . .

Intersections of grace

Outside a church building near my house yesterday, two young boys were playing as their moms were talking. One boy pulled out the car sunshade from his mom's dashboard and, as boys are apt to do, turned it into a toy.

At my house, we were loading up Jeff's truck for a weekend trip to Auburn. In the cab, we packed suitcases and snacks. In the bed, a ladder for reaching Jenna's leaf-filled gutters when we arrived at her trailer.

At the church building, the sunshade-now-frisbee tournament was in full swing. So full that one throw went so high that the sunshade landed on the roof of the building.

In the meantime, we backed out of our garage for one final errand before heading south—to buy two tickets at a local church for a Brandon Heath concert there next week.

One of the boys was now shimmying up the downspout to reach the roof. No luck. One of the moms was heading into the church office to ask for a . . .

“Hey!” A lady flagged us down as we pulled into the church parking lot. We looked up in surprise. “You have a ladder in your truck!”

Yes. And?

She pointed to the roof. We saw the sunshade.

As Jeff pulled out his ladder for the rescue, I walked into the church office to buy concert tickets. My friend Terri was on the phone, trying to locate a . . .

“Ladder?” I interrupted. “We've got that covered.”

Actually God had it covered. The intersection of the boys' dilemma and our arrival was no coincidence. God doesn't always reveal these points so plainly, but this time he did.  And in doing so, he made us all smile.

An intersection of grace. A dot on life’s graph, pointing to a Designer. A perfectly-timed situation worth marveling over. 

A small glimpse of grace.
A vivid view of God.

* * *

Day 19 of . . .

Holiness — One choice at a time

Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, used to say, “You are going to be what you are now becoming.”

And what you are now becoming is dependent on the choices you make.
JERRY BRIDGES, The Discipline of Grace

Here’s my problem:
I can make bad choices.

(That’s one of my problems anyway. Other people making bad choices can also be a problem.)

But what God is telling me is I am to be holy, for he is holy (1 Peter 1:16). I’m responsible for my decisions.

What does holy look like?

If holiness means set apart for a purpose, consecrated for a cause, my holiness means I live with intention, with a goal to glorify God, in whatever I do.

It’s not just being nice.
    Unbelievers can be nice.
It’s not just obeying rules.
    Hypocrites can do that.
It’s not just believing there’s one God.
    Even demons know and shudder (James 2:19).

Being holy means I use my life to make God look good. I brag on him. I reflect honor to him.  

How do I get holy?

Certainly not on my own. Even after my heart replacement, I still need a daily infusion of power through the Spirit to make right choices with right motives.

And I need exercise. NOT just a spiritual to-do list:

• Read Bible. Check.
• Pray for others. Check.
• Serve the community. Check.

All good, but never good enough.

I need training for righteousness, the daily decisions of one right choice after another until they link up to make a habit, then welded together to make a life.

One relationship at a time.
One conversation at a time.
One attitude at a time.

. . . until what pleases God, pleases me. And what hurts God, hurts me.

I trust his grace to make it happen in me as I turn my choices over to him. Trusting he’ll give me my heart’s desires if I’ll just give him my heart (Psalm 37:4).

Christ makes me righteous, but I choose whether or not to behave that way.

Only by his grace, I can exercise for holiness. I can take thoughts captive for obedience (2 Corinthians 10:5). I can train to be a warrior princess (READ THIS BY AMY).

One choice at a time.

* * *

Thoughts after reading Chapter 11, The Discipline of Choice

My summaries on Chapters 1-10

Read what others are saying at Challies

Day 18 of . . .

Stronger than you think

I don’t understand how grace works. After the apostle Paul begged the Lord three times to take away his handicap, he received this answer instead,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

But whether or not I understand it, I want to believe it, and if his grace is proved plenty in my lack, I want to embrace it.   

So what am I to do with Les Parrott’s new book, You’re Stronger than You Think?

Am I?

Or is Christ? Thankfully, Parrott writes as a fellow believer that the Lord is our source of strength. He divides his book into three ways we tap into that source: through our mind, our heart, and our soul.

The Power of Your Mind

As one who can specialize in analyzing, I appreciate Parrott’s admonition here to stop that.

You may think you’re gaining valuable insight by analyzing every detail, but you’re not. Overthinking is not your friend. It makes your mind tense, keeps you stuck in your head, and immobilizes your motivations.

There’s a difference between thinking rationally versus reasoning excessively. The latter leads to a cluttered mind that becomes burdened and sluggish. Instead, clearing our mind of overstimulation can open us up to the grace of hearing the still, small voice of God (or maybe his loud one!) and of receiving his answers in true strength.

The Power of Your Heart

The paradox of finding our strength when we own our weakness isn’t just psychological mumbo-jumbo. Hiding or ignoring our weaknesses can make them stronger, but exposing them to the Light can bring healing. God often teaches us our most valuable lessons when we’re at our lowest points.

Trying to go it alone can sabotage our heart’s power. God made us to be a people who connect, and in those connections—with others and with him—we find common strength.

We are most real when we are most known and loved. And here’s the secret: The more real we become, the more love we experience. And the more love we experience, the more real we become.

The Power of Your Soul

Emptying ourselves—surrendering—is not giving up, but is our greatest opportunity to fill up. In losing our life for Love’s sake, we find it. Parrott says,

Emptied of what? Of the burden we so often carry—the burden of needing to get our own way. It’s the burden and tension of holding on to our lives with clenched fists.

While not easy, and never to be done under our own power, surrendering a life of soul safety means picking up a life of risk. And therein lies more passion—and strength—for our souls.

Passion does not produce commitment. Commitment produces passion.

Once you give yourself to a person or a project, you become passionate. It’s not the other way around. Your commitment fuels a devotion and a passion that last long after the average person has given up.

Parrott suggests these practical ways to make this real: release your burden, bless your pain, start a gratitude journal, make a plan for being less helpless, quit playing it safe, do it anyway, and take a bold step.

What is our source of power to accomplish any of these things? The grace of God. And how do we make peace with being too weak on our own? The grace of God

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13

* * *

THANKS TO TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHING
FOR THE COMPLIMENTARY COPY OF THIS BOOK

Day 17 of . . .

Grace never runs dry

“Stop asking so much!
My grace reservoir is running dry.”

Heaven knows no such words.

God has enough grace to solve every dilemma you face, wipe every tear you cry, and answer every question you have.

Would we expect anything less from God? Send his Son to die for us and not send his power to sustain us?

Paul found such logic impossible: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32 NIV).
- MAX LUCADO, Grace

His grace is a bottomless pit?

Dare we believe it?

* * *

Day 16 of . . .

your grace looks different than mine

i don’t know what to do with larry.

when it’s 42° tonight and i put my pampered head on my contoured pillow, my mind will turn over what larry said.

he's from tennessee and hopes to move back to pulaski in april if he can get his checks coming in again, so says his lawyer man, and i wonder where he’d pick them up if they came.

i tell larry it’s cold today! and larry says, “cold? cold is when snow is up to here and you’re throwing hay out to feed the cows; this ain’t cold,” but he smiles when he says it so i smile back even though i feel all wimpy inside with my red nose and without thinking i pull my gray scarf a little tighter around my neck with my gloved hands to keep the goose bumps from showing.

i ask where he spends his nights. he has three choices, he says. salvation army is one, the rescue mission is another, but his favorite? see that bridge over there? i see it. that’s the one. (the one i drive my air-conditioned and heated car over when i'm going from here to there doing this and that for me and mine.)

i ask him why because even though my mind can’t fathom sleeping at the salvation army or rescue mission it sure can’t imagine stealing a wink under a bridge. so larry tells me. at the other two places you gotta room full of men and when you get a room full of men...well, with a twinkle in his eye, he waves his hand in front of his nose...and laughs. i understand what he means and i laugh too.

wouldn’t i rather sleep in the open air than in a room full of smelly men even if i were one of them? i get that as much as a princess can.

but how do you stay warm at night, larry? i stay plenty warm, he says. i have two thick blankets and a mattress because i'm not gonna sleep on this hard ground.

oh.

and i zip up my jacket a little higher trying not to shiver too noticeably.

he pulls something out of his pocket and offers me a cigar from his box of 3 for 99 cents. but i tell him no thanks because that’s one habit i never started and i hear it’s real hard to quit so i don’t want to start now. he knows and says they’re good anyway but the only bad thing is the label says “good times” when it should say “hard times,” and i don’t doubt larry.

but if grace doesn’t play favorites i wonder why larry’s grace looks so small compared to the blessings i rake in every day?

i can justify and say (in my head) larry made bad choices and that’s why bad things happen to him and why he sleeps under a bridge while i sleep in a king-sized bed with an electric blanket and i'd be partly right.

but i don’t want to feel superior about my good choices and think secretly i earned these things i have because i worked hard walking through three stores to find the right shade of green for my bedding to match the sage green on my walls.

maybe grace looks different to different people and i don’t have to feel guilty about mine but just pass it along when i can, even when it doesn’t make sense, even when all i'm doing is putting a top on a bowl of chili for larry to take back to the bridge. it doesn’t seem like much grace to show a fellow journeyman.

maybe grace is bigger than a network of clean people with decent jobs and garaged homes in the ‘burbs and kids on scholarship at the university.

and maybe grace is even bigger than cigar-smoking men on dirty mattresses in fresh-air homes that cars drive over all night under the stars.

i want to look around me for God’s sake and see he shows grace to all his creatures except in different ways and grace flows from one to another and back again and we’re never the same in the crossing.

by grace let me touch and pray and thank and question and wonder and ache and laugh and praise and do it all again tomorrow.

and larry...i still don’t know what to do with larry except to know he’s there and he’s real and my God is showing him grace too, through us but also to us, even though his grace looks way different from my grace and i'd rather keep mine, thank you very much.

our grace in common is more than i know because God loves not one more than the other and he intersected our journeys on a cold saturday morning to show us both his love the same.

i don’t know. i don’t have to. may grace be grace.

* * *

Day 15 of . . .