Tearing through the roof

I have struggled for years with chronic back pain, probably due to a combination of scoliosis, poor posture, and stress.  It's not something I enjoy, of course; but it is something that I have learned to live with, and I don't really even think about it much anymore.  It's just  become a part of who I am.

But anyway, some friends of mine heard about my back pain, and decided that they wanted to pray over me and ask the Lord to heal me.  So we met together on campus in the middle of the day, and just read the Bible and talked and prayed together.  It was really a special time.

One of the passages that we read was from Luke 5, in which Jesus healed the paralytic.  As I was sitting there reading this story with my friends, something seemed to almost jump off of the page to me - the incredible faith of the paralytic's friends.

This man had probably lived with his paralysis for many years.  It's likely (or at least highly plausible) that he, like me, had learned to live with his disability.  It's not that he didn't have faith in God; it's more along the lines that he had just come to accept that this was his lot in life.  In fact, he actually did show faith in Jesus when he immediately obeyed Jesus' command to stand up, take up his mat, and go home.

But it was the faith of his friends who were instrumental in bringing him (literally!) to healing.  It was the faith of his friends who brought him on the pallet to Jesus in the first place.  And it was the faith of his friends who, when they found that they could not enter the house because of the crowds, literally tore the roof off of the house in their zeal to see their friend healed.  

Is there someone in your life who needs healing?  Maybe someone who has struggled with something for so long that it has almost become a part of them?  Have they prayed for healing and for release, to no avail?  It doesn't have to be something physical - God can bring about all types of healing, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.  But perhaps the reason that they are still waiting on God to move it not because of a lack of faith on their part, but rather on yours.

God made us for community.  He made us to bear each other's burdens.  He made us to take care of and look out for each other.  Like the paralytic's friends, He wants us to bring to Him those who do not have the strength to do so themselves.  Who in your life is needing you to help them tear through the roof and lay themselves at the feet of Jesus?

Luke 5:17-26

¹⁷ One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. ¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹ When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

²⁰ When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²² Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?²⁴ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.²⁶ Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Persistence

It's finally November!  To me, the onset of November has always symbolized one thing - Thanksgiving!  There are many things about early November that I've always enjoyed.  I love the change of weather, the fall decorations, the anticipation of celebrating both Christmas and my 3 little siblings' birthdays; but most of all, at the beginning of November, the excitement that looms most in my mind is that of Thanksgiving.

Every holiday, in my opinion, has its own magic, and Thanksgiving is no exception.  The fun times spent with my mother cooking yummy things all day, the delicious smells that permeate the house, the relaxing and happy atmosphere, the sight of my entire family all together again; Thanksgiving holds a special place in my heart, indeed.

I thought it fitting, as I was waxing nostalgic about the holiday, to look up its origins.  I was surprised by what I found.  While the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, it would be hundreds of years later before it was observed by every state in the nation.  This was largely due to the efforts of one woman, Sarah Josepha Hale.  She campaigned and wrote letters to politicians - including 5 spearate presidents - trying to make it an official holiday, for nearly forty years!  She finally succeeded under President Lincoln's administration.

Can you imagine?  Spending 40 years working for something you believe in, and not seeing any results until the end?  What if she had stopped writing letters after 5 years, or 10, or 20?  November might be a very different month in America.  Her persistence is inspiring to me, to say the least.

I wonder if we would be that persistent in going after the things that God has placed on our hearts.  Of course we know in our heads that God will never leave us, and that He is always working behind the scenes for our good.  And, in many cases, we also know that God has called us to do something in particular, too.  But we want it done on our timetable, and if it doesn't happen within that particular timeframe, so often we give up, assuming that we must have misheard God, or maybe He just changed His mind and didn't tell us.

But God is not a God of confusion.  He will not lead you wandering around with no direction.  Even when the Israelites were in the desert, they had the pillars of cloud and fire to tell them exactly where they needed to go.  So if you are feeling discouraged, if you are feeling like what God has called you to do will never happen, take heart!  Remember that He is always with you, He will always guide you, He will always take care of you; sometimes it just takes a lot of persistence and patience to see the results!

Deuteronomy 29:1-6

These are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb. 2 Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. 3 With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. 5 Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. 6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.”
  

Freedom in Christ

Growing up, I had a very set notion of what "freedom in Christ" meant.  In my mind, it was applied on more of an ad hoc basis - God had forgiven you for whatever sins you had committed in the past, and would forgive you for whatever future sins you might also commit.  Some people even took this a step further, and looked at the concept of "freedom in Christ" as more of a get-out-of-jail-free card - "I can do anything I want," they rationalized, "because I know that God will always forgive me."  Perhaps that ideology was what the church had taught me, perhaps that was a product of myself, but that was where I was, regardless.

But the Lord meant for us to have such a greater freedom than that.  He meant for us to have freedom from our diseases.  He meant for us to have freedom from sorrow.  He meant for us to have freedom from condemnation.  He even meant for us to have freedom from sin, not just forgiveness of it.

How do we have freedom from sin?  We get it from the renewing of our mind, as He talks about in Romans 12:2.  Freedom in Christ means that we no longer want to "toe the line" between godly and ungodly behavior.  It means that He has given us a new heart, a new mind, a new desire for Him and His precepts.  It means that we now have the Holy Spirit living within us, who can prick our conscience even before we sin.  It means that we have Him as a guide to our lives, so that we no longer have to worry about whether we are making the right choices or not.

God never wanted the law to condemn us.  He wanted it to show us the path to true freedom - faith in Jesus Christ.  No one is perfect.  But because of the freedom that Christ has given us, we don't have to be.  He's constantly making us more and more like Him every single day.

Galatians 3:7-29

7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.

21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Purifying the water

What do you think of when you think of salt water?  Perhaps you think of the beach, of friend and sand and fun in the sun.  Maybe it's the cynic in me, or possibly too many science courses, but when I think of salt water I think of many of its more negative properties.  Salt water is corrosive and leaves many undesirable mineral buildups.  It is unfit to drink, and requires filtration through expensive purification systems in order to become usable for drinking or washing.  It can sometimes leave a slimy film on one's skin if bathed in, and is difficult to remove with normal soaps.  Salt and water combined is not really a very desirable combination.

Our lives can be thought of as saltwater, in a way.  The water is our life the way it is supposed to be - clean, pure, unadulterated.  But then all this salt, all of this other yucky stuff, gets added to the mix and clouds up the picture.  The salt can symbolize many things - our past, our insecurities, our mistakes, our regrets, our flaws - but whatever it symbolizes, the point is that it has made our lives not as pure or as healthy as they could be.

If you look at salt and water separately, however, you see a very different picture. In the Bible, we see many uses of salt.  It was used as a preserver, and as a way to flavor and season bland foods.  It was sometimes given as an offering to the Lord at the temple.  Even to this day, it is eaten in many cultures as a sign of friendship.  In other words, salt by itself is a very good thing.  

You may feel like your life is just a pool of saltwater, murky and cloudy and unfit for anything good.  Your past failures and insecurities may seem so impossibly insurmountable and overwhelming, that there's no way you do ever do something useful for God's kindgom.  But God wants to separate the salt from the water in your life.  He wants to give you a new lease on life, one in which even your flaws and failures can be used to give light to others and to showcase His power in your life.

In 2 Kings 2, we even see an instance of God actually using salt to heal diseased water.  What a beautiful picture of redemption.  Not only does God heal the water - He does it by making it salt water. God doesn't expect you to come to Him without a past, without hurts, without things that you can't imagine ever overcoming.  He just wants you to come to Him.  He can purify you.  He can make you new.  He can take your murky saltwater, and turn it into cleansing water and healing salt.  Will you let Him?

2 Kings 2:19-22

19 The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.” 20 “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’” 22 And the water has remained pure to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken. 

Taking stock

My some friends of mine did an interesting experiment a few weeks ago.  They told everyone to pray and bring whatever cooking ingredient they felt the Lord was prompting them to bring, and then made something out of the resulting hodgepodge of foods.  It was a fun night, and really quite a riot to see the stuff people brought, as well as the ending concoction.  It wasn't nearly as toxic as it could have been - we all got there, took stock of our inventory, and made what we could with what we had.

It's easy to do the same thing with our own lives.  We look at what the Lord has given us, take stock of our talents and deficiencies, and then make an assessment of what we could do with what we have for God's kingdom.  The problem is, in our eyes we almost always come up short.  So often we excuse ourselves from God's greater vision, because we don't think that we have enough to work with.  Paralyzed by insecurities, we sit back and allow the enemy to neutralize our abilities and the effect that they could have on eternity.

But focusing on what we lack makes us forget about God's all-sufficiency.  It makes us forget that what we have - whatever it may be - is more than enough for God.  God has a history of using people who have little to give.  He used Moses' simple staff to part the Red Sea.  He used 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed thousands of people.  He used a jar of oil to save a widow and her sons from destitution and slavery.

The next time that you take stock of your life, don't convince yourself that you don't have what you need to be used by God.  God can use anything and everything.  Ask God what it is that you have right now, and be obedient with that.  Instead of saying, "I can't," start asking God to use what you have right now.  Your greatest weakness may be God's greatest opportunity.

1 Kings 4:1-7

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” 2 Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.” 3 Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.” 5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. 6 When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.” But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing. 7 She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

Something worse, something better

I have an A-type personality, a very analytical mind.  I'm always considering my options, thinking about future choices, trying to pick the best choice for both the long run and short-run.  I'm constantly weighing pros and cons, making "what-if" contingencies and scenarios in my mind.

In all honestly, I probably do that too much.  There's a point when you really need to just let go and live, and that's something that God is teaching me more about daily.  But that's not the point that I'm trying to make today.  I was reading in John 5, about the crippled man that Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda, and something that Jesus said really struck me.  "Stop sinning," He said, "or something worse may happen to you."

Really?  What could be worse than what had already happened to the man?  He had been an invalid for 38 years.  For 38 years, he had been forced to watch as countless others were healed in the pools of Bethesda, while he sat on the edge, unable to get into the waters because he had no one to help him in.

The wheels of my analytical mind starting turning.  What could possibly be worse than that?  Forced to take a backseat in your own life for almost 4 decades, while the rest of the world literally passed you by.  To me, that seems like the worst fate on this earth imaginable.

But Jesus wasn't making a statement about life on this earth.  He was making a spiritual statement.  Some may say that Jesus' words may be interpreted to mean that we deserve whatever bad things happen to us because of the sins that we have committed.  But I think it's saying something else.  What's worth than a life without legs and mobility?  A life without Jesus.  Why would the man's life have been worse if he had kept sinning?  Because he would have been without Jesus.  No matter what you may be going through, it can always get worse if you don't have Jesus in your life.  But don't let that get you down...because if you DO have Jesus, it can - and will - always get better.

John 5:1-15

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” 11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” 12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” 13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. 14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Good enough

Have you ever avoided something because you felt that you weren't good enough?  Avoided going to college or taking a particularly difficult class because you weren't smart enough, slathered on the makeup and sexy clothes because you weren't pretty enough, refused to enter a contest because you weren't talented enough?  Have you ever not spoken to someone about Jesus because you weren't a good enough public speaker, or declined an invitation to teach or preach because you weren't godly enough?

We've all done that.  We've all told ourselves, at one time in our lives or perhaps many times, that we're not _______ enough - fill in the blank with any positive adjective that applies.  But at the root of it all, is the feeling that we are not good enough, the feeling that we are in some way inadequate or deficient, and therefore unqualified to do big things for Christ.

This is one of the devil's most colossal lies of our time.  He has somehow convinced an entire generation that they are not good enough for God's kingdom, when God's word clearly says the opposite.  When God created man and woman in the garden of Eden, He said that it was "very good."  In Christ, you are more than enough, you are a conqueror - and God has equipped you to accomplish everything that He has called you to do.

Somehow we've gotten it into our heads that we have to be perfect before we can be used by God, that we have to have our lives together before we can serve His kingdom.  But by believing that, we have effectively neutralized our entire lives.  We will never have it all together - we will always be imperfect people in an imperfect world.

But God doesn't call us because we are particularly gifted, or talented, or intelligent, or articulate, or even godly.  He calls us because we are willing to be obedient and follow His lead.  God doesn't call the qualified.  He qualifies the called.  So whatever your insecurity may be, whatever lie the enemy has convinced you of - I'm not a good student, I'm not a good Christian, I'm not a good wife, I'm not a good father, I'm not a good cook, I'm not a good friend - whatever the lie may be, lay it down at the feet of Jesus.  The only thing you need to be good enough is a new birth and life in Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:10-16

10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?