Monday, April 21, 2008

I Feel Your Pain

H.G Wells on his 65th birthday confessed to the amazement of his "friends", "I am sixty-five, and I am lonely and have never found peace." Someone has determined that a city is a place where people are lonely together. The staggering feelings of being alone are not relegated only to those who do not know the Lord. The famous Southern Baptist missionary Lottie Moon said when reflecting on her work, "I hope no missionary will ever be as lonely as I have been." Loneliness is a pain that no words can describe.

You might be surprised to know that Jesus experienced loneliness like no other soul ever has. Most often we picture Jesus with throngs of people around Him, His close friends, and His inner circle, yet at the end of His life loneliness reigned. It is true that Jesus our Savior relates to our physical pain, but it is also true that He understands our emotional pain as well.

As I read Mark 14 and the events that took place in the Garden of Gethsemane, I am astounded at the range of emotions that Jesus displays. He truly was fully human at the deepest level-emotionally. A crucifix can remind us that Jesus was God in flesh, which is why the crucifix came into being in the 4th century, but only the words of Jesus can remind us that He was human at the emotional level as well.

The Scriptures tell us that: They came to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took Peter James and John along with him, and began to be deeply distressed and troubled. Jesus knows what is coming and in this dark hour, He desires to have people with Him. I find it quite touching that he took His disciples with Him, and then once He got them settled, He asked His three closest friends to go a little further with Him. Jesus did not want to be alone. He wanted human companionship and comfort.

Mark tells us that Jesus was deeply distressed and that he was overwhelmed in his soul. There can be many reasons for these feelings but one thing is for sure, Jesus was dreading the total isolation that He was going to endure in His death. He was going to be deserted by His followers and closest friends. He was going to have His own Father turn away from Him while hanging on the cross-a loneliness that goes beyond our imagination!

I believe it was St. John of the Cross that came up with the expression for this kind of emotional pain calling it, "The dark night of the soul." There comes a time in each of us when we see only clouds and feel nothing but despair. One brother was honest enough to write, "God's people have no assurances that the dark experiences of life will be held at bay, much less that God will provide some sort of running commentary on the meaning of the each day's allotment of confusion, boredom, pain, or achievement."

No, the sun does not always shine for those who are followers of Jesus Christ. Suffering and pain come to us to do the work of God's formation of our lives and character. Not all adversity in life comes from dark and sinister forces that want to destroy us. Some pain comes from the hand of God in order to bring growth in our lives. Isolation is painful but it reveals a great deal about our frailty. There is nothing like loneliness to make you realize that being an island goes against God's plan for us.

If you are facing loneliness today, you must first admit your loneliness to yourself. Evaluate your loneliness and how you got to the point where you are. Jesus realized His friends could not feel His pain, so He left them alone and went to pray to His Father. His Father could understand. Have you ever confessed to God and to Jesus that you are lonely? Have you ever told them how much it hurts? Have you ever written a letter to your Father explaining just how you feel?

As an introvert myself, the one thing I know is that if I want friendships (and I do) I have to go and make them. People rarely reach out to one another, even at church. Have you ever been a visitor at a church? Wow, talk about a lonely feeling-all those people yet no one talks to you. The only way to overcome this is to show yourself friendly. You have to get involved and meet people. And at the same time you also have to be careful of trying so hard that you wear people out. If people are avoiding you, maybe it's because you have gone beyond friendly to the point of irritation.

I want you to take comfort today knowing that Jesus experienced the range of emotions that you experience. In the garden, Jesus got upset, discouraged, and depressed that His best friends could not stay awake and pray for Him. In this passage, Jesus says the famous words, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Jesus, the creator of our flesh and spirit knows exactly how we operate. He knows the weakness of the flesh and the weakness of our spirit.

Let Jesus, through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, minister to your spirit today. Pour out your heart and ask the Spirit to not only comfort you, but also sustain you, and give you wisdom as to how to move out of your loneliness. Remember, you are not alone, and you never have been. God is always with you and every brother and sister has experienced those same emotions. Receive comfort, receive the Lord and comfort someone else today as well.

God bless you,

Dan

Copyright 2008 Eternity Minded Ministries

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Be Gentle

The following is an excerpt from Dan Owens book A Joy That Is Real, Chapter 19

The Romans didn't like the word gentle any more than they liked the word humble. It symbolized weakness and frailty.

Paul says that our gentleness should be evident to everyone. The older I get, the harder I find it is to be gentle and patient - especially when I'm out on the freeway. There's always that person sitting in the fast lane doing the speed limit, backing up traffic for three miles. I find myself getting irritated at that point.

Jesus was the ultimate example of this attribute. First Peter 2:23 says, "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats." The prophet Isaiah tells us that Jesus allowed himself to be led like a lamb to the slaughter (53:7).

I was in a restaurant with a couple of other men. As we sat conversing, a young woman with a physical handicap walked up to our table. She was trying to sell us something. Some of the guys at our table began questioning her and making fun of her. I watched as she answered their questions and was gracious to them.

Her gentleness convicted me, so I took a closer look at what she was selling. She had made little placards with sayings on them, and one read, "People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges." It looked interesting, so I said, "I'll take three of these." I took out my wallet and gave her some money, and she thanked me and left.

The following Sunday I was preaching at my church, and I looked down and there in the front row sat the same young woman. She smiled at me and I smiled back. I was struck with the realization that if I had been rude to her and said mean things, I would have been feeling pretty bad about myself right then. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit had prompted me to respond with gentleness.

Being gentle means that we yield our personal rights for the consideration of others. Paul also says to be gentle because the Lord could return at any time.

God bless you,

Dan

Copyright 2008 Eternity Minded Ministries

Monday, April 7, 2008

Joy In Prayer

The following devotion is from A Joy That is Real by Daniel Owens, Chapter 19

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:4-7

One summer when I was a youth pastor, we took a group of high school students to a lake in the Sierra Mountains. The lake had a pontoon dock in the middle of it, so one of the other adults joined me in rowing out to reach the dock. We were fully dressed and didn't have our swimsuits on. Once we reached our destination, we tied up the boat and jumped onto the floating dock.

As soon as our feet hit the boards, we noticed something. There was a little hole in the middle of the dock, and out of it came hundreds of buzzing yellow jackets, disturbed from their slumber. I got stung eight or nine times before I could even hit the water. Without thinking about our clothes, we jumped in the water and literally swam the boat back to shore. We couldn't even get in the boat because the bees were everywhere.

Bees really make you move, as we found out. How many people have been in accidents because they were swatting at a bee inside the car? One little bee that could easily be squished will make a person go crazy. Some people are allergic to bee stings, so they have an excuse, but I don't know about the rest of us. Bees certainly get you moving.

In this passage we have a beehive of imperatives that Paul gives us to live by. They should get us moving as well. These verbs are in the imperative tense, which means that they are commands or obligatory duties. Your boss might say, "It is imperative for you to be at work by 7:00 a.m. so you don't lose your job." Here Paul is saying, "It is imperative that you do these things so that you can experience the peace of God."

The Message paraphrase by Eugene Peterson says: "Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute! Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."

Be Joyful
Paul gives his first imperative twice: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" This is a present active imperative, which means "do it right now!" Right now, even in the midst of suffering, in the midst of the disunity in the church because of the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche, Paul wants the Philippians to rejoice.

We have all had situations in our lives when we have found it difficult to be joyful. When we experience disappointment, when people hurt us, or when our lives are full of trials or grief, we don't really feel like rejoicing.

One of the things we need to do in the midst of difficult situations is look for God. Do you see him in the suffering you are going through? Do you understand what he's trying to accomplish in and through your life? Is God making you stronger?

A seventeenth-century preacher named Jeremiah Burroughs wrote an incredible book called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. In it he explains why believers should be filled with joy no matter what their circumstances are. He gives a few reasons why Christians should be content and not have a complaining spirit.

First, complaining is a particularly serious offense in light of how we have been so greatly blessed--especially when we complain about trivial things.

I was standing in line at the bank, and the man behind me started complaining about the bank and the long line. He continued on in such a loud voice that he soon drew others into the conversation. After listening for a while, I turned around and said, "Listen, this bank is open six days a week. In some countries, the bank is only open one day a week, if that. Our money is insured by the federal government--we know it's worth the same this week as it was last week. There are plenty of countries where the government steals your money whenever they want to. I think we're pretty fortunate."

Second, Burroughs says that complaining is especially serious when done by those to whom God has been so gracious, because our troubles are often a part of God's plan to humble us.

Joy is the mark of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It convicts me even to write that. Yet I believe that joy is not based on temperament, personality, or feelings, but on how we let the indwelling Holy Spirit control our lives.

In times past, we were taught that Christians should be solemn. You may have been raised in that way. In the past, Christians walked into church without any laughing or greeting each other, sat down, and quietly listened to ministers who would not even smile from the pulpit because it was God's house.

In parts of that, we were on the right track. God is holy, and we should revere and respect him. However, we sometimes treat the physical house better than we treat our own bodies. Scripture says that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). He lives inside of us, not in a building made by man.

Do we shine the truth joyfully in our lives? Do we rejoice in the Lord during difficult times because we know God is at work in us? Paul could say "rejoice"--even from prison.

God bless you,

Dan

Copyright 2008 Eternity Minded Ministries