Beautiful Suffering

Last year a good friend of mine was going though a really difficult struggle in her life. I sympathized with her heartache but simply didn't know how to comfort her other than pointing her back to Jesus- because he does a far better job being compassionate than I ever have or ever will. I do remember during my prayer time for her I asked the Lord to just give me a glimpse of her pain, her plight. I wanted to understand more fully because I cared for her enough to want to share in suffering with her just to be able to identify more with the nature of her heart.

That's the thing about Love- It's willing to suffer just to get closer to your heart. It's willing to want to go deeper in pain and suffer on behalf of relating to you. After all- that's what Jesus did, that's why he came. He came to suffer in hopes that we would see how his suffering related to our lives- that his sacrifice had everything to do with his Love and compassion but that's not the end of the story.
The suffering our savior encountered on that cross -ONCE AND FOR ALL- (Read that again) gave us power. His power, the same power that Raised Jesus from the dead now lives in us if we Trust Jesus with our lives.

 "I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms." Eph 1:19-20 

So if we have this power, how can we begin to understand how to use it... What to do with it? First the revelation of this power should not allow us to boast in ourselves rather in the giver of life. We must remember in his death and baptism we died with him, and in his resurrection we will rise with him in new life in his righteousness. ((Romans 6)) Now, no longer do our stains of sin seep though the surface because we have a robe of righteousness that covers and that robe is the Suffering of Christ. 

So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. 1peter 4:1 

So it turns out not only do we have power over death, we have power over sin! The Lord has been gently reminding me of this fact lately. I know my life has been splattered with sin's signature stink and I continue to need an abundance of Grace which Jesus is so gracious to present to me, but it doesn't end there. His signature is one of grace and love beyond all compare - it cannot be revoked if our hearts are postured toward the son.

We are victorious over sin. That doesn't mean we won't ever sin rather it's our posture. We can claim victory over sin that has dragged us down into the pits more than once. The sins we hide and push away-- ashamed that an evil can exist as such in our hearts- so we "run" from God and "hide" our failings.

He gives us a way out, a way for sinners- A victory over those secret things- Over the failures that we can hardly verbalize. He has given us this because he loves us. He suffered so that we would have VICTORY over such things.

 "Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us." Romans 8:37 

This past week I was reminded about these secret things by our very own Moto driver here. He had been acting off lately so I pulled him over and asked (In broken Creole mind you) if he would share with me what was bothering him. He went on this whole long explanation about how everyone has secrets and that he simply could not share with me. I reminded him that even if he could not share those secret things with me he can share those things with Jesus because he already knows what's going on in his heart. I was praying he could understand how the victory of Jesus was meant to give us victory as well though the burden being poured out onto Jesus-- It's great news!

I've recently been faced with an Idol that I had NO idea that existed in my heart. I was so burdened that in the face of this sin I took it to the father and he called me to fast.... Only I failed. I heard the Lord say I was to fast and seek his face and starve the Idol in my heart but I turned again from his precious face and into the arms of the Idol I fed. Such heartache I encountered. I am grateful that he picks us up from our heartache and turns us to the father who says look to my son.

 "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day." John 6:40 

That heartache was such as when I was suffering not long ago as a response to my prayer nearly a year earlier to experience some of my friends suffering. I realized amidst the trial that this struggle was to open my eyes and give me compassion not just for my friend but also for a sliver of the suffering encountered on the cross. It certainly doesn't compare, but remembering his suffering for my freedom and victory gave me hope that this desert would become an opportunity to share in Christ's death and resurrection. It's a strange thing to feel so convicted, lost, deserted then remember with great grace- this must have been the tip of the iceberg of what Christ felt for us all that day he was lead to Calvary. <He must increase I must decrease> As for my Idol, the battle isn't over I am afraid I will fight that until the day I meet the one who suffered on our behalf but I do have great confidence in his blood's power in my life as I claim victory over sin. All sin, "small sin" ugly sin, hidden sin, blatant sin, comforting sin, sins of omission, sins of commission, sins of old, any and all sin. I remember that sin does not have the final word. He already spoke those words....

                                 "It is FINISHED" John 19:29-30

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Flaking Skin (Sin)

As I am sitting on my hard tile floor, I pick off the dead- sunburnt skin from my shoulder. I look on the ground and become increasingly disgusted by the sight of my brown sun drenched thirsty skin just sitting on my floor. I go get the broom and sweep it up for what seams like the 100th time this week.

This isn't my first sunburn. Growing up in Florida I'm pretty accustom to the fact that the sun's rays can do some serious damage and yet somehow I applied my sunscreen a little less than liberally on my last trip to the beach. I look at my speckled skin in the mirror, some fresh new pinkish white skin and other blotches of flaky dead and dying skin. It's amazing what our bodies were created to do. I was curious the amount of skin our bodies shed on their own with no sun exposure so I did some really legit research and google'd it. The results were pretty amazing- in just a single day our skin sheds about 14 million particles of skin so in just a year that makes about 1.5 pounds of skin. Yea, it's kinda gross but think about it for a second, we are constantly becoming new. Every Skin particle that falls from our bodies is replaced with new fresh skin underneath, it's incredible!!

I was thinking about how even simple functions of our bodies are are made for call us to look to the Lord with wonder and amazement. There is something deeper here. Even simply breathing is a miracle in itself- maybe it's because I'm not a medical person and don't understand all the inter-workings of our bodies but I think there is a greater reason for the unknown- for the mystery of life to send us in pursuit of the creator of life.

I was reading Romans 8 today and a this verse stood out "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the rigthetious requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:3-4) 

Now remember my flaking skin? That burn that was so bad, the relief as it turns out, is loss of flesh. Isn't it so with sinfulness. The result of a big sin (or little for that matter), a heart that has deceived, a mind that has wandered, a flesh in pursuit of our own demise is always a loss. We must lose the flesh in order to gain newness. I don't think this verse will ever get old to me 2 cor 5:17 "Therefore If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold, the new has come"  because I need that new layer of skin each day. The layer of skin flaking off all my sinfulness so that I can walk according to the spirit. The reminder is simple, we must remember to look at our flesh to see the burn we are causing when we don't walk by the spirit as we should. Even when the skin hurts- like after a sunburn repentance is so much sweeter and we gain a new layer of skin to protect us. 

One called Grace. 

We all need this layer to not only continually protect us but also to point us back to something we cannot do for ourselves- cover our dying flesh in grace. We don't deserve new skin when we have been walking for so long in our flesh, refusing to flake off the pieces so dear to us. Idols can be clung to our skin like glue and we are deceived when we think that if we flake that little piece of skin (sin) off we will never have a covering there (better protect ourselves with death) so we hide our dying flesh away as it rots and we begin to smell.

Romans 8 also says "to set the mind on flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is LIFE AND PEACE."

Our flesh says- "look at me!! Even though my layers are weak and flimsy (I will pretend to be strong) I'm still more attractive than newness." Or even our self-denial saying "I still don't think it's time for us to part, I am still a part of you, you cannot escape me." Colossians puts it rather bluntly "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."  We must remember that the very flesh we are living in must be put to death in order to find newness of life. Take those scales of sinfulness and flake them off one by one in order to receive a newness of life, to walk in the Spirit covered by Grace.

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." 2 Cor 7:10 also makes it plain that our burnt dying skin will only bring us what a dying thing can- death. 

The good news is we have an option and repentance is that option- we can be lead to salvation and the newness of our flesh in a Godly sorrow of the sinfulness. We must remember that repentance is a sweet thing, it's from the Lord, Leads to life, ends in Joy, looks to Jesus, is a blessing and Leads to new identity in Christ.  I say this and urge you to remember the very first chapter of Romans 8  "If you are in Christ there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus." Conviction and Condemnation are two very different things. Condemnation is from Satan, leads to despair and ends in sorrow, no wonder the liar wants to convince you that conviction brings you these things, but that is simply not true.

The funny thing about this sunburn also is that because I don't have a full length mirror I have no idea where I am pealing. In the places I can see  such as my arms, those places are rather easy to tear away the old skin and reveal the new, but I cannot see my back... I have no vision there. I need another person to point out, even help me flake off the useless dead skin in order to reveal the newness aching to come to the surface. It's the very same thing with our sin. I think many of us are too scared or grossed out by their own flesh to ask for help because if we can't see it, maybe it doesn't need to be bothered with...right?

The reality is the less we see the more we have need for vision, we need all the help we can get when it comes to the areas of sin we cannot see. That's when a sister points out your pride and you look at them like, NO I AM NOT BURNT THERE (ha, ha). Or when we Point to another persons pealing skin but miss altogether the flesh rotting on our own backs because we refuse to see. Don't let a lack of vision keep you from shedding that weight. Jesus wants to take it... all the dead,scaly and gross flesh. He wants it all, not just what we can see and that's why we need a community of sunburnt people to call out in a loving way where dying flesh needs to be removed so new flesh can take place. New flesh covered in Grace and filled with the Spirit!! Come Join me, sit in the sun and remember how we can protect ourselves from our own flesh by looking to the newness offered in Christ Jesus.

"Behold I am making all things new. Write this down for these words are trustworthy and true!" Rev. 21:5