Arrogance, Sin, and Self-Centered Individualism; The Path to Loneliness

Sin is alienating in its natural state.  It will not share the spotlight with anyone or anything else.  When we embrace sin, in any form, we are creating a space between us and others...and ultimately God.  The choice to sin is rooted in a false perception that whatever this particular behavior is will show our "independence" and freedom from being told what to do.  This lie we tell ourselves also convinces us that WE are the ones in control.  Sinning is the active manifestation of a heart that wants to prove to itself that it really is in the drivers seat of life. 

Let me use an extreme example to illustrate this falsehood of "being in control"....

A young man wants to be independent from the oppressive and old fashioned rules of his parents/school/boss so he decides to try cocaine.  While there probably was not a moment where this young man thought, "I'll show them who is really in charge by doing coke!", at the very heart of this choice is this subconscious rebellion.  At first the experience feels liberating, power creating, and exciting.  So he does it again...and again....and again.   Before long(if not immediately as in some cases) this young man is hooked.  Who is really making choices in the addicts life?  The addiction...NOT the addict.  The desire to prove "independence" actually leads to debilitating DEPENDANCE. 

Addicts don't have many friends.  They can only be with people who are at the same place as them.  Addicted and destructive.  And those relationships only last as long as they are the "same place".  When the other person either can support, justify, or, participate in the addiction you can be with them.  When, for any reason, they no longer support your particular behavior, the relationships ends.  Addicts do not want to spend time with people who are not addicts(creates a sense of guilt), or, people who are worse addicts then themselves(so they can self-righteously judge how bad THEY are).  Relationships get narrowed down to only those who are exactly as messed up as you.

If you have ever watched the show, "Intervention"(about confronting addicts) there are a few common statements and mindsets that the addicts exhibit. 

1)  They don't have a problem(unless talking about their problem will get them something)

2)  It is in someway someone else's fault; parents, friends, boss, spouse

3)  Whatever problem they might have could simply be solved by the people in their life being more supportive. 

4)  They are fiercely protective of their "independence".  The thing that makes them the most angry is how they perceive everyone trying to "control" them.  As if they are currently the ones in control.....


In Malachi 3, starting in verse 13 God calls out Israel for this very sort of heart attitude and behavior.  After spending a big chunk of the book detailing how horrible Israel's sin has been, He points out that they are sitting around blaming God for their choices.  Their argument is basically, what's the point of being good, 1) You can't tell us what to do, and, 2) It's not like you are going to do anything about it anyways.....Bad people are clearly having all the fun, we are tired of all these boring rules.

In verse 16 we get an interesting juxtaposition from the words and attitude from verse 13.  "Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other".  The language and paragraph structure would make the case that those described in verse 16(God fearers) were part of the bunch of people complaining to God in verse 13.  But with a very important difference....

While their initial response(seemingly) was to go along with everyone else's sinful attitude, they moved past that and THEN(used to indicate a progression of the timeline to show that it is directly following the previous event) talked amongst themselves.  The passage doesn't give any specifics about what they did talk about, but it does have an interesting statement.  God noticed this behavior and their names were written in the scroll of remembrance and God would keep them as His.

So what's the big difference and deal here?  How does just 'talk amongst yourselves" lead to being God's?!?!

The key difference between the sin of verse 13(speaking out against God and embracing sin) is that the people described in verse 16 took that temptation to follow everyone else to selfish sin, moved past it, and found God fearing friends to talk through their struggle and have it be shaped by God's truth, not personal desires. 

The path of sin is one where we remove ourselves from fellowship.  We want to be mad and self-righteous about our behavior.  To blame everyone and everything else.  The only people we want around are those who are going to agree with us.  Anything else is offensive and annoying. 

The path of healing and righteousness is through God centered truth that is encouraged and challenged by those in your life.  It requires laying down self-centeredness and, together, seeking God centered truth.  This leads to deeper fellowship and friendship because the whole premise of the relationship is built upon not individual desires, but Godly desires.  Since it isn't about us in the first place, it creates a space where we can also be about others. 

Today we tell people that the only way to be a good friend to someone else is by accepting them just as they are.  Which becomes translated as, "Celebrate whatever they do, and, never say anything negative about their choices......"  The only people in Malachi that are shown in fellowship(friendship) with each other are those who are talking about God's truth together.  Everyone else in Malachi is just presented as selfishly complaining to God and ignoring their sin.....NEVER with someone else...just alone....

You and I need friends who do not accept and encourage sin.  Those are the friendships that lead to loneliness.  When we are encouraged to be selfish, we are ultimately going to be selfish...and friendless.  True friendship are those who will not accept sin in your life, but will stand right with you no matter how dirty it might be and talk to you about God's truth. 

Tired of being lonely.  Stop looking for people who don't love you enough to speak truth.   

     

Start asking yourself, are the people in your life really friends, or, are they "enemies"

Irritable Bowels and Sanctification

What separates successful writers and bloggers from those who are unsuccessful?  Honesty.  Well, honesty and having interesting things to say.  Well, I can do honesty.  Real, deep, shocking honesty. 

About 10 years ago I was at work when I began to experience debilitating pain in my side and stomach.  It was so bad that I wasn't able to stand up straight and any type of movement caused more pain.  My coworker, who was studying medicine, assured me that it must be a hernia.  As someone who regularly proves his manliness by lifting and tossing around absurdly heavy items, I agreed with his assessment.  Off to the ER I went.

After a few gentle prods and some basic questions the doctor had me go in for an x-ray to see the extent of the damage.  About an hour later my doctor and nurse had wry smiles on their faces as they intently studied my x-ray images.  While trying to not laugh, my doctor informed me that I did not have a hernia, I was just full of crap.  Literal crap.  Full of it.  Blocked up in my intestines. 

My mothers response was simply to say that she could have told me that without a visit to the ER.....

For a number of years I had always had stomach annoyances.  But I finally had an answer to why I never felt quite right.  I was all backed up and had the ambiguously defined, IBS, or, Irritable Bowel Syndrome. 

It is really hard to nail down the exact causes for IBS.  It is sort of like saying you have a head ache in your stomach.  It is often used as a catch all that helps describe most non-diagnosable stomach maladies.  But the one consistent solution and approach to addressing the problem is diet.  Cut out unhealthy carbs, sugars, and add fibrous veggies and lots of water. 

Over the course of the last decade I have slowly gotten better and better at maintaining a healthy diet.  Since my kids have been born I have been really good at it.  I follow a mostly low-carb diet and drink an inhuman amount of water every day.  Also, I take an extreme fiber powder in a large bottle of water twice a day.  It is a fiber powder made out of psylum husk powder....yummmmmmy. 

This radical behavior change has had two significant benefits:  1) I rarely have stomach issues  2)  I have lost a ton of weight...At my largest I was about 285...Today I am 190.  The original goal was not to lose weight, I just wanted the pain to stop.  But the weight loss has been a wonderful and significant bonus.  The weight loss aspect of a "safe" diet helps in maintaining the diet.

Sin is like IBS.  It causes pain, it takes away your peace, it can literally double you over as it "backs up" your spiritual body.  And the process of dealing with it is very similar.

1)  You have to directly address it when you find discover it.

The first thing my doctor did for me was give me a prescription for a mega-strength laxative.  When I asked him if I would notice it was working he laughed and said, "There will be NO question about it".  He was right.  And I felt a thousand times better.  I could stand up straight, I could lift things, I no longer had the sense of constant cramping.

The first step with dealing with sin is confession.  Like a prescription laxative you gotta get that stuff out.  As long as it is just festering inside of you it will affect everything you try to do.  It is a handicap that can bring you to your knees.  And, like the laxative, confession is just the beginning.  A non-negotiable first step, but not the permanent solution.

2)  You have to change your "diet"

How I used to eat didn't cause me to have IBS, but it played right into the inborn problems that already existed within me.  If I didn't want to end up in the hospital again being laughed at as a doctor looked at my x-ray, I had to radically overhaul my diet.  Out goes the junk, and in comes the fresh veggies and lean meats.

The theological term for this ongoing life change is Sanctification.  It means the ongoing lifestyle change that leads to becoming more and more Christ like.  And sanctification doesn't just mean adding a bit of good to the bad, it means eliminating the bad and adding the good.  I am sure it would have been somewhat helpful to do nothing more than adding broccoli to my diet.  But as long as I insisted on eating all the other bad stuff, the broccoli would always be on the losing side of the bowel battle. 

Often we don't want to actually eliminate sinful behavior.  We just try to add some extra religion to the diet.  It's like having a salad with your triple thick extra large milkshake.  Not going to do too much positive for you.  Ironically, we then get frustrated and say, "This just isn't working!!"  And quit eating salads all together, because, seriously, what's the point if it isn't helping!?!?

Your spiritual life is not going to change because you sprinkled in some Jesus.  The diet needs to change.  Maybe you even try to go 50-50, but in the end, unhealthy always wins.  Sin is an addiction.  To self, to pride, to rebellion, to destructive behaviors.  Could you imagine a meth addict trying to beat their addiction by drinking more water and going for a jog....right after smoking meth???  That is what we do spiritually.  And it NEVER works.

3)   You have to regularly "purge"

I don't drink heavy duty fiber every day because it is so scrumptious.  Drinking fiber keeps me ahead of the game.  It doesn't let things slowly build up in my stomach.  I am not perfect at only eating that which is good.  Keeping a healthy dose of fiber in my routine helps me stay on a healthy path.

Confession is not a one time thing.  It needs to be the first-step, but the ongoing work of sanctification requires regular confession.  You have to keep cleaning house so that your healthy diet does what it is going to do.  When we believe the lie that we already "dealt" with all of that "back then" we are allowing sin to creep its way right back in. 

Purging/confessing has an added benefit.  It staves off relapses.  Sin IS addiction.  Eating unhealthy IS an addiction.  Fiber helps clear out my system so it doesn't set off triggers that make me want to eat a whole sleeve of girl scout cookies.  Confession keeps me from falling back into old habits that control me. 


When we actually begin to address our pain there is a correlated benefit.  We start to "look" better.  I changed my diet and drink fiber because I was in pain.  Losing weight is an amazing benefit.  But it wasn't the goal.  And, when I really got serious about losing weight as well, the bowel problems basically became non-existent. 

Dealing with sin directly begins the process of healing.  And it changes more than just your pain.  It changes you.  But it takes commitment.  Every time I indulge in something "bad" for me, I can feel my problems coming back.  Now, though, I know what to do.  I hop right back on top of that wagon and get on track.  I have been sick, and I have been well.  I will choose being well every single time.

How is your spiritual life?  Are you in pain, doubled over, feeling like you are full of crap?  Confess, change your behavior, and, keep confessing.  It can be difficult to adjust to at first, but one day you will look back and ask yourself, "What took me so long?!?!"

2 Steps forward, 2 Steps back

What The Kingdom of God Looks Like

Matthew 10:7-8
As you go, preach this message, "the kingdom of heaven is near".  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.

In case you haven't noticed, there is a lot of terrible things going on.  Disease, war, genocide, depression, death.  Whatever your personal belief system there is something intrinsic to our innermost being that cries out against the darkness.  We can argue philosophies and worldviews until we are blue in the face, but it doesn't change this simple reality;  Somehow this world is full of brokenness. 

Our beliefs have to ultimately answer this question;  Why is what I sense should be so, is not so?  In a comfortable western civilized world we can hold onto incomplete answers because we never have to really face the most difficult of circumstances.  From the safety of wealth, materialism, white picket fences and 2.5 kids, we can avoid asking ourselves the difficult questions.

Our answers also have to be helpful to those who are suffering.  Even if we feel we can wrap up our viewpoint with a tidy little bow in the case of our own existence, can your answer bring comfort to those who are in the deepest pains that a broken world can give them?

A few years ago I read a book by the Dali Lama that started by summing up his driving life philosophy and purpose of life.  He said it was to be happy.  That each of us has a purpose to seek happiness, in ourselves and others.  That this is the ultimate purpose of our existence.  If we can find happiness and assist someone else on their path towards happiness, we have led a successful life.

Have you ever noticed where the Dali Lama does the majority of his teaching and work?  Comfortable western democracies.  Speaking to a bunch of the most privileged individuals in the history of the world.  Our modern universities love to host this "great" leader, because this view point perfectly aligns with the bubble we want to exist in.  Whatever makes you happy is what is important.  And happiness is only a new toy, job, or relationship away.  I CAN find my own way to happiness!!!!

You know where you don't often(if ever) see the Dali Lama talking like this?  The aids orphanages of sub-Saharan Africa.  Where the only thing these dying children can look forward to is maybe a bit less pain tomorrow then they felt today.  A philosophy of self-centered and defined ambiguous concepts like "happiness" does not bring much comfort to those in the greatest need.

Jesus has a very simple command to His disciples in Matthew.  Go and preach that the kingdom(of God) is near.  What does that even mean?

Everything that we recognize as wrong, broken, evil, is exactly what we think it is; wrong, broken, evil.  When our hearts cry out that this can't be the way it is, we are speaking truth to ourselves.  We were not created for pain, loneliness, loss, death.  You have been created for peace, fellowship, life.  When God brought forth life from nothingness it was made to be good.  YOU were designed for good things. 

Even as we cry out against the injustice and evil in the world our own words condemn us.  In Malachi God illustrates how this is:

"You have wearied the Lord with your words
How have we wearied him YOU ask
By Saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and is pleased with them", and, "Where is the God of Justice"
    -Malachi 2:17

On one hand we want to celebrate and justify our own injustice and sin, but, then turn right around and be angry at God not punishing those other sins we are offended personally by.  We want God to judge and deal with the murderer, but want Him to be ok with our lying. 

At the heart of our broken world is this truth; we have broken ourselves, and we break others. 

So what is the kingdom of heaven?

It is the promise of what God will bring about to set all things right for all time.  In God's kindgdom there will be no pain and death and every tear will be wiped away.  The brokenness that we see and experience every day will be healed perfectly and permanently.  God is not silent in the midst of our pain.  But He is patient. 

The ministry that Jesus sent His disciples to was two parts; Proclaim and heal.

That is still our ministry today.  To proclaim the promise and the hope of the Kingdom, and, to foreshadow and prove its promise by how we serve, love and heal a broken world. 

The power of the Gospel is not found in fancy words and clever slogans.  It is found in the lives that are forever changed by the foreshadowing work of the coming Kingdom.  And God desires for your life to be a living testimony to that promise.  Where are you hurting, where you lonely, where are you lost?  God is calling you to healing.  Maybe not in just the way you would think, but in a way that changes everything about you and proclaims to those around you the truth of the Gospel. 

No matter what it is that is you are broken by, or, in, it can be healed.  Because that is the Kingdom of God.  Alive and moving.  But here is where we have to get honest with ourselves.  The following verses in Matthew 10 have a chilling instruction.  If they(those you go to) won't let you proclaim the Gospel, leave them alone. 

Right now, the Kingdom is announcing its coming to you.  Are you willing to welcome it in?  

This really struck me.  We love to wax poetically about what our lives mean, while at the same time pretending we aren't exactly what we are criticizing. 

Help by Asking for Help

Sin and pain have a way of turning us into hermits.  When something is wrong in our lives our first tendency is to hide it away.  This happens because we; 1) Hope it goes away  2) We feel embarrassed/ashamed  3) Think we are all alone.  All three responses generally occur together.  It can be so embarrassing and painful that we just want to hide away until it works itself out.  And we believe a terrible lie that this is a journey that we have to take by ourselves. 

This approach guarantees one result.....It never gets better.

And this approach is a terrible lie.

Not one of us is capable of pulling ourselves up out of our funk in a meaningful and lasting way.  We are in desperate need of people to hear us and help us.  As long as we hide our problem from those who love us, and, ourselves, it will only serve to slowly rot us away from the inside.  Like gangrene of the soul, sin and pain that are not dealt with eat away at us and cause ever increasing anguish and sin.

But, on the other hand, when we reject those three responses we have the opportunity to heal.  And we become a source of healing for others.

Matthew 9:18-22
¹⁸ While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
²⁰ Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. ²¹ She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
²² Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.

This father was hurting and suffering, as a leader in the Synagogue, he is probably pretty aware that Jesus wasn't the most popular person amongst the leadership.  But he didn't care what asking for help might cost him, he needed it, so he went to the one place he could get it. 

Here is where, for me the story gets interesting.  We think that this is a little narrative to show how this mans faith in Jesus would lead to his daughter getting healed(which it does).  And right in the midst of this guys story, a suffering woman sees Jesus and goes to him for help also. 

Her journey to seek healing was a bit "easier" than the synagogue leader.  She was already at rock bottom and obviously not a synagogue leader.  She didn't have to make a big scene to get Jesus' attention.  She just had to be there while Jesus was on his way to heal the mans daughter.  This mans plea for help, his transparency, his risk to expose himself, initiated the events that led this woman to her own healing.

When I was in college I was a typical 20 year old male.  I was dumb, loud, full of myself, and a real ladies man......ok, the last part wasn't true.  And, like a lot of other 20 year old guys I was struggling with issues related to sexual sin.  I sat down with the guy who led my bible study and discipled me and had a long conversation about what was going on.  He challenged me to share where I was at with the rest of my peers at our next bible study.  A group of 12-14 other 20 year old guys who looked up to me as another leader and a great example of being a super Christian.  This did not sound so comfortable to me.  How would they view me, I had presented myself as having it all together.  But now they would know I wasn't perfect. 

So, that next study, I asked if I could share something.  I proceeded to share everything I was struggling with and ask for forgiveness for not being honest about it and presenting myself as someone I wasn't.....a "got it all together" Christian.  What happened next shocked me.  Over the next 2 hours EVERY single guy in that room shared a similar story.  They had all been, like me, trying to just deal with it themselves and pretending everything was ok. 

From that time on it became one of the closest knit and honest groups I have ever been a part of.  God did great things in the lives of those guys.  A few are missionaries, a few work in other ministry roles, and all of them are walking with the Lord over a decade later.

I was so worried about me that I was missing out on a couple of awesome opportunities:

1)  I now had the support and transparency I needed to walk by faith and not in sin.  There was no more hiding and rotting away.  The actual help and encouragement I needed was now available because people actually knew what I needed!

2)  My willingness to initiate and be honest with my struggles gave each of those other guys "permission" to be honest about their own.  We had all been sitting in that room with the SAME PROBLEMS believing we must surely be the only person with a problem.  Which only made us feel worse about ourselves, which led to more "hiding".   


What are you struggling with in your life right now?  Sexual sin?  Relationship issues?  Financial distress?  Health problems?   

Stop believing you have to try to fix it yourself.  It is a lie. 

Stop believing that this is just the way it is and you might as well resign yourself to the problem.  This is an even worse lie.

The same power that raised Christ from the dead is the very power that can raise your burdened soul up from the grave it is trying to throw you in. 

We are not defined by our struggles and our problems.  We do not have to be controlled by the unhealthy drives that sometimes consume us. 

But we don't break those chains by keeping our head in the sand, or, just barreling forward on our own.

People in your life desperately need you.  Not to fix them, but for you to be honest with them about what is going on in your life.  You will be blown away by what doors are opened when we get transparent about what is going on in our lives.

Do you want to get better?  Do you want to see others in your life get better?  Then go ask for help, lay it all out there and run to the Cross.

If this is the kind of "help" you are being offered, this is one you can ignore......

  

The Cost of Healing

Matthew 8:34
³⁴ Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

You know what my kids love?  Band aids.  You know what my kids hate?  Taking them off. 

No matter how gentle you pull, how loose it is to start with, my son screams as if we are stabbing him....even before we remove it.  You can't keep a band aid on forever.  At some point, for the healing and fresh air, you have to remove it.  But it stings like the dickens.  I am in my 30's and still cringe at the moment right before I take one off of myself. 

You know what I love?  Not having the flu.  You know what I hate?  Shots.  Needles.  Any sort of pointy and stabby pain giving device.  My wife thinks I am ridiculous.  As a nurse she loves stabbing people with needles, and can even set herself up with a blood draw without blinking.  The pain I am afraid of is pretty much 99% in my head.  And for some reason, I would, for a moment, rather be sick then experience that pain.....that is mostly in my head.

In this passage of Matthew we see Jesus arrive in the region Gadarenes.  Upon disembarking from His boat He is greeted by violent and crazed demon possessed men.  It tells us that they are so violent that no one can even pass through this area.  So, a whole region purposely avoids even venturing near where these men are.  It is sort of like Detroit.....  No one wants to be there, and no one is willing to do anything about it. 

Jesus, being God and all, deals with the demons quite simply.  He casts them out of the men and sends them into a bunch of pigs nearby.  The pigs, now themselves possessed by demons, throw themselves to their deaths off of a cliff.

Here we have a whole region paralyzed by fear of what these violent men were doing.  Two men had shut down reasonable travel for all the inhabitants of the area.  And how did the people respond to this fantastic miracle?  They begged Jesus to leave.

The deed was done.  The pigs were dead and the men were no longer violently possessed lunatics.  Why would they want Jesus to leave now? 

They were afraid of what else He might heal.

We become comfortable in our uncomfortableness.  The cost of moving forward feels to great too do more than just sit right where we are.  These men had ruined the comfort of the region for who knows how long.  And, instead of being glad of the miracle, the people are worried that Jesus might just keep on fixing problems.

Sin has a cost.  Healing has a cost as well.  Why hadn't these people done something previously about the problem?  It was just much easier to pretend that part of town didn't exist anymore.  So, while they weren't happy about it, they became comfortable with it.  The healing Jesus offered took something away from them.  You can replace pigs though.  You can't replace a missing chunk of your town.  But they didn't care. 

The cost of healing, the pain of healing, is often a problem we just build up in our minds.  And we become so consumed by the fear of how it might feel, or what might happen, that we would rather just not get better.  The other day my son asked if he could just keep his band aid on until he was a grown up!

Don't be mistaken, healing will come with a cost.  But, it is worth it.  The pain we allow ourselves to dwell in is so much greater than the split second of pulling off the band aid.  Or getting the shot.  Or confessing our sin. 

God promises some important things to those on the fence between healing and persisting in pain: 

Matthew 11:30 "My yoke is easy and my burden is light"

Jesus tells us, come walk with me.  It might look heavy, but I am the one carrying the load.  What you are carrying now, by yourself, will grind you down into the dirt.  Do you feel like your problems are grinding you down?  Lay them off, and walk with Jesus.  The act of laying them down might cause your back to hurt...a bit...but then you are free to walk with freedom!

Hebrews 4:15  " For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."

One of the biggest issues we have when facing our own demons is the fear of judgment.  There is no lack of love and empathy for you, no matter your struggle.  Doesn't it feel good to tell someone your problem and know that they couldn't love you anymore...STILL!!  Stop allowing the fear of reactions keep you from embracing Grace.  Unmerited and perfect Grace!

Stop being afraid of healing.  Even the "pain" of healing is so much easier than the ongoing pain of persistent hurt.

Bacon is so cute!

If I Had a Hammer

I Corinthians 1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

One of the greatest life truths about how we operate as people is, "To the man with only a hammer, every problem appears to be a nail!"  Our tendency is to fall back on to what it is we are most comfortable with.  That which we feel we have the most success with. 

For example, if the only thing you know how to do when there is an interpersonal problem is to argue and fight, when there is a problem, your go to place is anger and antagonism.  Whether or not it is the most effective tool for that particular problem, it is what you know, so that's what you do.

Generally speaking, we are very one dimensional as people.  We adopt behaviors and mindsets pretty early on in our development and we stick to them.  Making new choices can be difficult, and, even painful.  So we avoid those.  Even when the "hammer" causes as many problems as it fixes, we keep using it.

A few months ago I went with a team of men to help build a turkey coop for a troubled boys home in rural Ohio.  No one told me that I needed to bring anything.  I really only own a hammer, so I did bring that.  Everyone else brought a truckload(no exaggerating) of power tools and other assorted specialty items.  Needless to say, when we got there, the only help I could provide was on those rare occasions they actually needed something hammered.  I felt pretty silly.

The problem in our lives is not just that we only have one or two tools at our disposal, but that we are constantly facing problems that are in constant flux.  You can clean up one mess, to only find yourself in completely uncharted territory that you still aren't prepared for.  It can feel like we are always playing catch up. 

But what if there was one universal tool that spoke directly to every problem?  One second it is a hammer, the next it is a power drill.  If you could invent that, you would have ALL the money.  Everyone would have a tool bench with this one miraculous tool that adapted to perfectly fit the need.

People are a lot more difficult than nails and screws, wood and metal.  Our hearts are an ever changing, and often hurting, cornucopia of heart ache, old wounds, new frustrations and anxiety.  And we often approach everyones problems with our very limited self-created tools.  And, sometimes it helps, sometimes it.....does the opposite.

There is one tool that is perfectly suited for every problem.

The Cross.

In the very midst of our labyrinthic messes, the Cross comes in and speaks the exact truth that is needed.  Applies the correct salve to the wound.  Picks up the very thing that has fallen apart.

Paul reminds us that the one power we have is that of Christ Crucified.  The cross.  For the very reasons your life is falling apart Christ went to the cross.

Your problems will always change.  What works today, will be broken tomorrow.  How you cope with something now, will fail  you later.  Only the power of the Cross will ultimately satisfy. 

What anger causing you to boil?  Christ died to give you peace.

What resentment is eating you up?  Christ died to bring healing.

What relationships are broken?  Christ died to restore you to fellowship.

What self-hate is destroying you?  Christ died to give you perfect and lavish love.

When we bring our hurts, pains, disappointments and concerns to the Cross, Christ tenderly takes them from our shoulders and hangs them there with Himself.  With Christ they die.  And through Christ you will live. 

If everything feels hopeless, come to the Cross.  Even if you don't believe it fully.  Come to the Cross.

Every problem is a nail.  The hammer is the Cross.

What will you do with the hammer? 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWl2lA7968 (The song)