Sitting on the Sin-Brat

For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind… Rom 7:22-23

Spiritual growth only comes to me with bloody inner violence. I find my old nature is wily and unwilling. One of his tricks is showy enthusiasm for Biblical head knowledge. He encourages me to memorize the B-attitudes and be conversant on their historical interpretations but his slimy goal is preoccupation from ever living out even the first B-attitude, to be poor in spirit.

Another Mr.-Sin-Nature-tactic is to read the Bible too quickly. He will not hold still under the stinging poultice of a few chosen words and instead prefers entertainment by the storyline. I am learning how the real me can tackle the unruly urchin and sit on him.

I begin in a place where I am alone with Jesus. I ask where I need the most heart-work then read no more than a chapter of scripture. How I choose where to read matters little; God can maneuver any method to get me where He wants. I find He consistently points me to exactly what I need. Next, I let the Spirit highlight the handful of words on which He wants me to focus. I wrestle my squirming nature and pin him under those words until he squeals, “I give.” Repentant prayer and brief journaling knock the final wind out of the monster.

I have to repeat this process each morning. After years of letting the sin nature run wild, he thinks he can poke his spoiled nose into every good thought or conversation with Father. Only when I am methodical and strong-handed does he simmer down. As long as I have to co-inhabit with the sin-brat I will not be able to shut him up, but at least Grace forces him to sit in the corner where he belongs. I need Grace in my house at every hour. Not only does Grace pardon my keeping the other unwelcome guest, He also helps me baby-sit the little wretch.

Prayer: Lion of Judah, this is war. Help me overcome myself.

Treasure Rooms

Every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old. Mat 13:52

The room was shaped like a slice of pie; the far end fanned-out wider than the entrance. There were practical chairs, tidy library shelves, and amiable huddles of people chatting. I selected a few books and settled by the fire. They were good literary works, plain but brilliantly true. Conversing with the occupants produced earnest straightforward dialogue. I soon tired of the repetitious topics and noticed a door at the rear.

Amazing. The exit led to an identical, but much larger room. The wedge-shaped space continued expanding from where the wide rear wall of the previous room left off. It was breathtaking. The fireplace and bookshelves were in the same place; however, the décor and furnishings were exquisite. The books contained delightful new discoveries stirred together with familiar facts from the previous room. The discussions buzzed with passion and focus. As stimulating as this room was, there was another door.

Incredible. Another room of the same expanding shape, yet so majestic the others fell out of memory. I could scarcely add anything to the animated talk. I wished I had studied longer in the prior rooms. The people were both wonderful and humble. My mind reeled: how many rooms were there and what could their splendor be like?

Such has been my adventure into the depths of the character of God. I began simply enough, but His beauty quickly outpaced my grasp. At each level, books and conversations have helped me grapple with His splendor around me. What could be more meaningful than penetrating new chambers to discover their glory? They are as exponential in their expansion as they are unending in their number.

Prayer: Oh God, I thrill at the prospects of what I might yet learn about You.

Sermon – The Worthy Lamb Jan 15, 2006

I have a confession about communion. When I close my eyes and meditate on what the bread and the wine represent, I always run into a dead-end trying to figure out how the body and blood of Jesus eliminate my sins. The truth is none of us can fully understand this mystery. It is one of those deep spiritual realities that I must accept without fully grasping it. 1 Corinthians clarifies that we cannot expect to understand everything until we are completed in Paradise.

1 Cor 13:12
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Even though we cannot fully understand the ultimate blood sacrifice, we are nevertheless given minds to grasp as much as we can of this spiritual mystery. So today we are going to explore the precept of blood sacrifice and why the sacrifice of Jesus can cleanse us. After all, if we are basing all our hope in this single act, we should know as much about it as possible.

Covenant God
We need to begin by understanding the constancy of our God.

James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Heb 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Since the very beginning, God has dealt consistently with man. God has always been a covenant God. Covenants between God and man are all through the Bible and God’s covenants have four consistent elements:

Parties
Practices
Promises
Piercing

The major covenants in the Bible are represented in this chart:

Abrahamic- Parties:Abraham/God- Practices: Walk w/ God- Promises: Great nation- Piercing: Circumcision

Isaaiac- Parties: Abraham/God- Practices: Walk w/ God- Promises: Bless all nations- Piercing: Isaac/ram

Mosaic- Parties: Israelites/God- Practices: Ten Commandmnts- Practices: Physical Blessing- Piercong: Anml Sacrifice

New Covenant- Parties: Believers/God- Practices: Discipleship- Promises: Reconciliation- Piercing: Jesus

In each of these covenants, there are specific parties the covenant applied to. There are practices that had to be followed. For instance, Abraham was told to walk in the ways of his God, the Israelites were to practice the Ten Commandments and laws, and we are to follow Jesus. Under promises, Abraham was told he would be a great nation, the Israelites were promised land, crops, and peace. We are promised forgiveness, the Holy Spirit and Paradise. There are usually negative promises as well if the covenant is breeched. The Israelites were warned of many curses, which later came true. We are warned of hell. The piercing, or ratification in covenants is vital. It seals the agreement with blood and makes a symbolic statement that if either party should fail to adhere to their part of the practices, what was done to the sacrifice may be done to them. The common blood ratification in Old Testament covenants was to cut an animal in two. As the vows were made, the parties would walk between the halves.

Gen 15:9-10
9 So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."

10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half… 17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram…

Cutting the animal apart was a vivid reminder of the punishment they were agreeing to should they fail. Perhaps if we went back to this practice when a business deal was made we would clear our courts of fraud cases. If I agree to buy a piece of land I would have to walk with the seller between a gory severed cow and say, “May this happen to me if I cheat you.” It would make me think twice before I missed a mortgage payment.

Jer 34:18-20
The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. 19 The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf, 20 I will hand over to their enemies who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

Connected Covenants
All this background on covenants is important if we want to understand why Jesus was sacrificed on the cross. As we said, God is consistent. It is not as though the precept of a victim dying for our sins suddenly fell out of the sky in 33 AD. Since the very beginning, God abided by covenants. It is amazing how all the covenants are connected. Examples:

Abrahamic Connection
The promises in the Abrahamic covenant are connected to the New Covenant.

Gen 22:17-18
17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

All the nations were blessed because, through Abraham’s offspring, the Jews, God demonstrated He wanted a relationship with a special people, and because Jesus came through Abraham’s descendents. All nations were blessed by Jesus. That is the connection to the New Covenant.

Another example was when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac and at the last minute God provided a substitute ram. 1,800 years before Christ, that action foretold the provision of God’s Son, the Lamb of God, as a substitute for our eternal death for sin under the New Covenant.

Mosaic Connection
The same prophetic connection exists between the covenant of Passover and the New Covenant. Under the Passover covenant, if a lamb was sacrificed and the blood applied to the doorway of the home (symbolic of the doorway to our heart), then death would pass over. That foretold that if we claim the blood of Jesus, the lamb of God, as protection over our heart, then eternal death will pass over us.

Another clear prophetic connection is between the covenant of the fiery serpents, and Christ’s death on the cross. In the wilderness the Israelites sinned and were dying from poisonous snake bites. God told them to raise up a bronze snake on a pole and whoever looked at the snake was healed. This is another foretelling of the coming covenant with Christ where if we look to Him on the cross we are saved.

All the Old Testament covenants were connected to, and culminated in, the New Covenant in Christ.

The New Covenant
In the Old Testament, God foretold of this New Covenant.

Jer 31:31
"The time is coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will make a new covenant…”

Jesus said:

1 Cor 11:25
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."

Hebrews tells us:

Heb 9:15
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

This verse provides an important insight into why the other covenants are connected to the New Covenant. All the other covenants had to roll up into the New Covenant because the piercing used to ratify those covenants could not actually forgive sins.

Heb 10:1-4
10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

The old covenants only shadowed the one perfect and complete covenant, the New Covenant.

It Hinges on Jesus
Why is the New Covenant the perfect and final one? Because of who the One sacrificed was. It all hinges on who Jesus is. A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with an unbeliever about the unpopular claim of Christians that Jesus is the only door to God. To him, that claim smacked of pride, exclusivity, and narrowness. First, I pointed out that it is not a claim that Christians came up with but one that Jesus Himself made.

John 14:6
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 10:7-9
"I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved…”

Secondly, I pointed out to my friend that Jesus is part of God through the Trinity. Several times Jesus said things like:

John 10:30
“I and the Father are one.”

Heb 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

In His mercy, God can make some accommodation for those who never have the opportunity to hear the name of Jesus or the gospel. There is some scriptural support that Christ is made available to some after death. However, woe to the stubborn soul who hears the gospel and rejects Jesus. They are not rejecting just a man, or a great teacher, or a prophet; they are rejecting a part of God Himself. No wonder hell is reserved for unbelievers who have condemned themselves.

John 3:16-19
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. (Now, here comes the real reason some choose unbelief) 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Jesus alone was uniquely qualified to be the ultimate sacrifice. He is the only one in the universe worthy to unlock this incredible mystery of how the sins of all mankind can be transferred to part of the Trinity and there be extinguished. In the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis calls this the deep magic. This deep spiritual mystery is unlocked by understanding:

1) God’s consistency in covenants through history and
2) by understanding who Jesus is.

Jesus is the Key. He alone is worthy to unlock the scroll and open the mystery and power of sacrifice.

We will conclude today by reading chapter 5 of Revelation, then moving directly into a prayer of worship.

Rev 5

5:1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song:

"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."

11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang:

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:

"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!"

14 The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Prayer

Faith From Small Things

Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Jhn 20:29

The space around them suffused with a Presence of holy goodness so tangible it felt liquid rather than air. An intoxicating radiance danced through their bodies and blew waves of goose bumps across their skin. Moses on the cleft of the rock, Solomon in the glory-filled temple, the apostles atop the Mount of Transfiguration, John deep into an apocalyptic trance: encounters with the glory of God that cast spiritual giants from the molds of clay mortals.

Now here I come as common a duffer as any who lived. Secretly I long for my own radical encounter with God. But who am I that I should ask? I am the pathetic sap who cannot keep clean thoughts for three minutes running. Yet Jesus offers me a blessing in faith that can exceed what Moses and Elijah received. He says it comes of believing without seeing. What those who behold undeniable miracles have is not faith; it is experience. Faith is what pleases God (Heb 11:6). I want to be a child that makes Abba Daddy glad. He wants a child with faith born of a trusting and loving heart instead of compelled by miracles. God desires that we love Him, not His pyrotechnics.

I spoke with the Lord on this theme as I performed one of those unspectacular but precious life tasks: walking my 17-month-old grandson in the park. Jesus demonstrated how I could engage as much of His glory in that small moment as in any Mount-Carmel-fire-from-heaven extravaganza. It is beside the calm waters of a simple life where whispers of God’s truth are heard the loudest. The impartations of God’s character through my time with little Jaden were of the kind that penetrate the most deeply. If I can get my heart to look for encounters with God in each bite of plain daily bread, a faith more precious than Moses’ may grow.

Prayer: Lord, give me heroic faith through small things.

Sermon – Casting Off Weights Jan 8, 2006

Two Hearts Fully Committed
While Dani and I were away in Central California we attended a Hungarian New Year’s Eve party and met a couple with an extraordinary story. A few years ago, this young woman named Leah learned she had a brain tumor. The doctor declared it inoperable and recommended radiation treatment. Leah was strong in her faith and sure she was going to Paradise so she refused treatments. The doctor strongly disagreed with her decision and told her she was foolish. He then wanted to prescribe pain meds to carry her to the end, which he assured her would be in less than six months. Leah wanted to go to Bible College in Hungary and sold all her possessions in preparation for death or Bible College; whichever came was fine with her. Christians and churches all over the world began praying.

After a few months, the doctor called Leah to his office. He said he had to discuss something that could only be handled in person. When she arrived, the doctor showed her the scan of the large tumor, then the scan taken more recently. It revealed no tumor. Somewhere during the week between the two scans, the tumor had disappeared. About four months later, the doctor gave his heart to Christ and left his practice for the mission field.

Leah went to Hungary to the Bible College where my sister works and where I went in July. There she met a Hungarian young man named Balazs. He also had cancer - fast spreading testicular cancer. The doctors told him even with surgery and chemo he had only a 10 percent chance of surviving. As the cancer wasted his body down until he could wrap a hand around his thigh, a strong solid peace from God grew in his heart. The closer Balazs came to death, the more pronounced the peace became. It surprised him in its intensity and repeatedly he asked God, “What is this peace?” God answered by giving him many verses such as:

Isa 9:6-7
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.

The peace grew to be so strong he began praying to die so he could see Jesus, the Source of his peace. After surgery, the cancer quickly returned. After the second chemo treatment, Balazs stopped all medical treatments and trusted himself to the Lord. Again, the doctors called him foolish and pointed out it was illegal in Hungary to practice voluntary euthanasia. However, Balazs had achieved total peace and trusted in God no matter what the outcome. Miraculously, he was cured of all cancer including any scarring from the lesions. Leah and Balazs married in Hungary and have one year left before they both graduate from Bible College.

It occurred to me as I listened to their stories that these two are in a unique spiritual position while in their early twenties. They have already been up to the gate that leads to the next life and discovered that is exactly where they want to be. They can never again be afraid of what is ahead. Nothing that happens in this life will compare to where they have already been. The bottom line is, they have no earthly barriers between them and Jesus. I realized that is precisely where I would like to live.

Meanwhile, the doctors are now saying the impossible has happened again. Balazs' sperm cells are alive and swimming; they are able to have children.

What Holds Us Back?
The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to examine our hearts to discover how we can become like Leah and Balazs with nothing earthly between Jesus and us. So the question at hand is, what is it that holds me back from living fully for Christ? What is it that holds you back? The obvious answer is sin holds us back. However, we all know how sin messes up our walk with Jesus. We have all heard plenty of sermons and read books about how greed, drunkenness, hatred, jealousy, theft, lying, drugs, sexual sin, and the rest can ruin a Christian’s faith. I know my sin and you know yours and hopefully we are doing all we can to employ Christ’s strength to fight those temptations. We will all continue to wrestle against sin until we die. I don’t want to talk today about sin. There is something else keeping us from a perfect walk with Jesus.

Heb 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Notice Hebrews says we need to throw off everything that hinders AND the sin that entangles. There are two different hindrances. In addition to sin there is also, “everything that hinders.”

For the phrase “everything that hinders,” the original Greek version of the Bible uses the word euperistatos (yoo-per-is'-tat-os). It is a compound of several other words and means, “standing around thwarting a racing competitor in every direction.” I get the impression of a football player trying to run downfield and an opposing cornerback blocking and slowing him down no matter what direction he tries to go.

The Living Bible puts it this way:

Heb 12:1
Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back… TLB

It is euperistatos that slows us down and sin that holds us back.

The Message puts is like this:

Heb 12:1
Do you see what this means--all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running--and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. MSG

No extra spiritual fat. So you can already see where this message is leading—to a New Year’s resolution for another diet. However, this is a spiritual diet. There are things in my life that qualify as spiritual fat. These are not open sins, but they cause unnecessary fatty weight that slows me down. I don’t move to Jesus as fast as I could, I don’t enjoy full-on closeness with Him because of these unnecessary weights.


Rich Young Ruler
Do you recall the story of the rich young ruler? He wanted to fully follow God and he asked Jesus what he should do.

Matt 19:16-22
16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"

17 "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

18 "Which ones?" the man inquired.

Jesus replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"

(These are the obvious sins. Next Jesus is going to confront the weights in the man’s life.)

20 "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"

21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

The young man was not sinning, but he had spiritual fat holding him back from a more perfect walk with God. In Mark’s account of this encounter, after the man said, “What do I still lack?” it says:

Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at him and loved him.

I like that. Jesus looks at us today as we want to move beyond just sin and ask, “What else is there? What else is weighing me down from perfect love with Jesus?” and He loves us.

A Unique Opportunity
Like the young ruler, we have non-sinful things weighing us down. In America, we are not normal. We make more than $2 per day and can eat three meals a day if we want to. Most of the world cannot do that. Like the rich young ruler, we have margin in our lives, unnecessary gifts we are free to give back to Jesus or horde to ourselves. We have a unique opportunity to move into a more perfect love of Jesus.

Barnabas
Another example of giving up surplus for the name of Jesus is found in Acts 4:

Acts 4:32-37
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

I get the idea Barnabas was like Leah and Balazs—he did not hold the things of this world precious but willingly gave even his margin to Jesus.

Holding Back
So often, I am a cake-and-eat-it-too Christian. I want to identify with Jesus but I also want to indulge in earthly pleasures while I wait for heaven. I fear I am like Ananias and Sapphira. Let’s read on:

Acts 5:1-4
5:1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.

3 Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."

We all know the outcome of this story; both Ananias and Sapphira fell dead at Peter’s feet. The margin of gifts in my life is like the land of Ananias; it is mine to keep or give as I choose. If I keep it, the joy it brings me in this life is all I’ll ever achieve. If I give it to the name of Jesus, it will yield far richer blessings through eternity. The worst scenario is that I should pretend to be giving all to Jesus, but secretly, I am holding back. Ananias and Sapphira made that error.

This is our opportunity to move out from the crowd around us and strip off whatever weights hold us and hand them to Jesus. We can leverage our surplus margin into service for the kingdom. What is your margin; what are your weights? I cannot answer that for you.

Prayer
For our closing prayer time we will allow some quiet space to examine our hearts before the Lord. What are the weights in our lives? What holds us back from an absolute love affair with Jesus? What can we give back to Him in 2006? Let’s seek Him and gratefully commit what we can.

Third Dimension of Discipline

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. Heb 12:7

I am only now waking out of a nightmare of a monstrous business debt that chased me for eighteen years. It is strange how differently things of the night look by morning light. I feel silly about how terrified I was and how much sleep I lost. Walk with me around a few of my supposed terrors.

See those pointed thorns in my side? In the dark, I thought they were meant to gore me. I see now they were handles God used to pick me up. And those shards of shattered trust in others, I was sure they were for tearing bloody gashes in my heart. Here in the daylight they are only arrows pointing to God. And see there where I was standing? In the darkness of night, I concluded my destination lay behind some hidden exit. All the while, I was standing smack in the middle of my destination. Clinging to the Savior during trials is a destination. It is all very innocent looking in the sunshine. I now laugh and say with the Psalmist, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Ps 119:71).

God exploits the evil in my life for His own good purposes; in fact, that is one of His specialties. He grabs hold of the lining of my suffering and turns it inside out to reveal beauty that I will carry into paradise. In my two-dimensional thinking, I saw life events as either black or white squares. All the black squares resulted from sin while the white squares were good things from God. What I failed to perceive was the third dimension where the squares reach back into cubes. After I or someone else colored the surface of a square black, God came along and backfilled the cube with pure luminescent white. After the error, God poured behind it deep-reaching eternal lessons such as humility, patience, empathy, dependence, and prioritization. Life is not about what is on the surface but what happens in the depth of our spirit.

Prayer: Father, I am glad you love me enough to let me learn through pain.