October 2011
Friends,
Fall is my very favorite time of year. It usually keeps me in a state of awe and wonder at how God created the seasons and beautiful colors and smells that go with each one. Yellow and purple wildflowers to blend perfectly with the changing leaves. Pumpkins, apples and gourds being harvested just when they will contrast best with their surroundings. The smell of crisp air and falling leaves. But, this week I have been feeling a little down as I’ve been noticing all around me the effects of sin on our earth. We’ve been caring for my mother-in-law who is suffering from various ailments as she ages. As she says, “getting old isn’t for sissies.” I passed a lady in the hallway where she lives the other day; she was using a walker to shuffle slowly along. I felt my straight spine, my quick step, my healthy breathing as I passed her. She said, “I wish I felt as spry as you look.” I just wanted to weep as I thought, “I wish you did, too.” It is so incredibly painful and difficult to watch someone suffer and know that it isn’t going to get better in this life. We also have a friend whose home was broken into last week for the third time. I ache for her. She must feel violated and afraid. How does she get to sleep at night knowing it might happen again?
One of my favorite places to be is on our back porch, which backs up to some woods. It’s where I most enjoy spending time with my Father. It’s also where I hear Him best because it’s quiet and I’m not distracted by the things I think I should be busy with instead. He showed me clearly this morning the contrast between the death we see in our world and the life He has put here. I saw dead bugs caught in spider webs, dead limbs hanging from trees in the woods, rusted and dirty stuff outside, and our old cat limping along in obvious pain. But, I also saw beautiful colors starting to come into the edges of the leaves. Birds singing. Flowers blooming. A cool breeze across my face. And in my lap, the precious Word of God, promising new life after this one if we just follow Jesus while we’re here. He means for US to be a light to a dying world, a sharp contrast to the darkness and destruction around us. We feel and see the wages of our sin and the sin of others every single day. But… there is a hope that cannot be destroyed. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Our Father doesn’t want us to focus our attention on the darkness and let it discourage us, depress us, make us afraid. These feelings are not of Him. He wants us to see the contrasting Light that He offers, and to have a passion for showing it to others. In Lamentations, Jeremiah laments for two and a half chapters about the destruction of his homeland and the sorrow of his people. Then, in the middle of chapter 3, all of a sudden, he offers hopefulness.
Lamentations 3:21-24 – Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
When you observe the darkness, and when you feel mired in the wages of sin, friends, don’t neglect to also see the light. John 1:5 says “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The darkness cannot ever overcome the light of God, evil cannot overcome good. And, if we are walking through life with Jesus, we cannot be destroyed. In 2 Corinthians 4:6-18, Paul encouraged his friends in Corinth who were going through lots of conflict among themselves:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
One of the ways we die to our flesh daily is to fight the temptation to feel afraid, discouraged, defeated. Yes, we are wasting away and so is everyone around us. This earth is wasting away. But this isn’t the end. Thank You, Lord, this isn’t the end. Paul called our hardships in this life “light and momentary troubles,” because he knew deep in his soul that there is so much more for us beyond present circumstances. Compared to a glorious eternity with a loving Father, our circumstances are most definitely light and momentary. Friends, I hope that if you don’t already, you will come to know deep in your soul that God loves you and wants so much more for you than what you see in this world.
Matthew 6:19-21 – Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Yes, He allows evil and death, but He does not want those things or cause them. Those are the result of our choices from the beginning. He gives us great gifts and much goodness and light if we just look for it. He didn’t destroy the earth. He could have made us take the wages of sin in full, He could have destroyed humanity long ago. But, He left for us much beauty in the world around us. He left for us other people to go through our lives with. He left for us a mission to be a part of. And, most amazingly, He allowed His own Son to take the wages of our sin on Himself. That is as far from light and momentary as the east is from the west.
Love to you all,
Hebrews 13:16 “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pl