“Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, The Message).
Sometimes I wish I knew what Paul’s affliction was. I’ve heard all the possibilities, like poor eyesight and epilepsy. But there’s nothing in Scripture that explicitly spells out what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was that He begged God to have removed. All we know is that God didn’t remove it for a reason.
My takeaway is that God sometimes uses what we think of as our biggest weakness to show forth His perfect strength best. The part about our story or the aspect of our bodies that we most prefer to keep hidden is the very thing God will use to demonstrate His ability to use even our flaws for His glory.
What keeps me humble is that God doesn’t always use what I think He should use in my life. Often, He goes past what I consider my greatest strengths and focuses on what I’m least good at. He magnifies Himself most through my efforts that come across often as the least successful. At least in my own mind.
A true disciple knows that it’s all about God getting the glory, not me. That means that I don’t choose how God uses me as the vehicle for His purposes. That means that I don’t get to be God’s PR man when it comes to how I want others to see me as a servant of Christ. I don’t get to put a spin on how God uses me.
The ultimate point is that God uses His people to point others to Jesus. God uses His people to draw people to Christ and bring more into the Kingdom where He can in turn use them to draw even more. That’s what matters in the end, after all.
“The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love”(Julian of Norwich).
I think one of the biggest turnoffs to faith is people who profess Christ but spend most of their days with sour faces and unpleasant dispositions. If you truly have been made alive by the grace of God, shouldn’t you be filled with joy?
I get that people have bad days, but even on the bad days there is good. Even the worst days have a little bit of good in them. I don’t think people should fake being happy when their lives are falling apart, but I think that people who know the peace of Jesus should live like it and live like it matters because it does.
I knew a man once who was a former pastor and a greeter at a church event I attended weekly. I found out that he was dying from cancer, but every time I asked him how he was doing, he would say he was fine. He never complained or whined. He showed up as long as he was able and served with a smile because he knew that cancer would not have the last word.
Looking back, I feel a bit ashamed because I know I probably complained about my life to a man who was in a battle way worse than anything I’ve ever faced. Still, he was gracious to me. He showed me Jesus in the midst of his own pain and suffering.
My prayer is that I can be like that. I hope I can exude joy so that people around me who don’t know Jesus will want to know where that joy comes from. That’s actually my prayer for all of us. May we be living billboards of grace whose lives preach just as good of a sermon as any words we could ever use. May our words and deeds (not one or the other but both) tell of a good God and a gracious Savior who can save anybody at any time.
I have a few scars. One is on my left hand, a reminder from when I was in a wreck back in the day. I pulled out in front of a full-sized truck, thinking it was a four-way stop. It was not.
Thankfully, I ended up being okay aside from a deep cut on my hand from the dashboard and being generally stiff and sore the next day from the impact. My scar is a reminder of how God saved me from my own foolishness that day.
I remember that Jesus also has scars. His resurrected and glorified body still had the nail piercings on His hands and feet, as well as the wound in His side. Those were the proofs that it was really and truly Jesus raised from the dead.
But also it’s a way of giving value to all those who have scars of their own. Some are more obvious than others. Some are hidden, but some are in places where we can’t hide them. Some of us are ashamed or embarrassed by our scars.
But scars tell a story where you survived. Scars are the reminder of something that could have killed you but didn’t. Scars are proof of a divine intervention. In a way, when you can wear your scars proudly, you identify with Jesus and His own scars.
Most of all, your scars should remind you that Jesus bore the wounds that gave Him the scars for you and for me. He was wounded for our transgressions, as it says in Isaiah 53. By His stripes, we are healed. He bore what we should have born because of our sins, and we get the rewards of a perfect life that should only belong to Jesus. That’s the great exchange. That’s the gospel.
Scars can be something to hide, like those humiliating moments or shameful parts of the past, or they can be part of your testimony. A pastor once said that true healing is evident when that part of your story that you swore you’d never tell anybody becomes the first line of your testimony.
“Do you know what St. Peter says to everyone who tries to get into heaven?” … “Peter says, ‘Don’t you have any scars?’ And when most would respond proudly, ‘Well, no, no I don’t,’ Peter says, ‘Why not? Was there nothing worth fighting for?” (Matthew Perry, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing).
I saw this testimony on Facebook and I had to share. It’s the power of Jesus to save and transform anybody at any point to be a true disciple. I’m copying and pasting the post but also providing a link to the original post in case you want to check it out as well:
“I get a lot of messages from gay men and women asking me how I came out of homosexuality. Many of them tell me they want out of the lifestyle but they still feel sexually attracted to the same sex. What do I do they say and they all ask that same question.
There is no shame in asking those questions or feeling that way because in His time he will show you.
I didn’t want out of the gay lifestyle when Christ came to me. I was happy being gay. I had a boyfriend. I saw no need to change. Christ came to me while I was yet a sinner and began to deal with my heart FIRST. He came to me FIRST while I was living in my sin. I hadn’t repented or anything when he began to deal with my heart. That’s important to note. So many times we want people to repent at an altar in front of everyone and people don’t even know why they are doing what they are doing or why they are even repenting. As Christians we need to be sensitive to the needs of sinners.
When God began to deal with my heart I began to see in the Word of God where I was wrong about the way that I was living. I still felt gay but I began to read in the Bible things that I didn’t want to do…..BUT YET I began to follow what the Word said and NOT how I felt. And so I repented of my sins but at times I still felt gay.
If you will follow the process of Jesus Christ then he WILL change your life! God gave me a poweful revelation of the Love of God that immediately broke the chains that held me bound to that lifetsyle. I felt instant freedom but I still didn’t feel convicted about it.
After repentance I walked away from a lifestyle that I knew and loved and began to follow after a man that I didn’t know and his name was Jesus…..but still felt gay. I told God that if he would help me that I would never go back to that life and it’s now been 6 years now and I have never one time went back to it and I have never slept with a man since then. Never ever.
It was about 2 years into my walk with Christ after repentance that Jesus began to show me why I was wrong. I’ll never forget the day that conviction came to me over the lifestyle that I once lived. I felt so
ashamed that day. I cried like a baby. 2 years AFTER becoming a Christian Jesus Christ sent a strong conviction to me. Think about that. I felt so grieved that day knowing that I had grieved the heart of Christ with my old sinful lifestyle but it was 2 years later. Why are we rushing new converts?
I am free from that life today, thank you Jesus!!!
Here’s what I want to tell you today. Repent of your sins whatever they are and wait on the Lord. Do all that you know to do according to the Word of God. Don’t live by how you feel but rather by what the Word says and Jesus Christ will lead you into ALL truth.
Christ is a powerful process if you will just follow. He will deliver you in his time….not someone else’s. He has changed my life little by little by little. Not with BIG things but with the smallest things. He’s still changing my life today.
Today I am delivered. Today I am not gay. Today I don’t have the feelings that I used to have. I am free in my mind. I am so thankful to a God who has saved my soul from eternal fire.
Listen to me when you’re coming out of this lifestyle I want to be honest with you…..most Christians do not know how to help you. It’s no fault to them. They just don’t understand AT ALL. If you are putting your trust in man then you are going to be let down. I want to encourage you to TRUST in God and TRUST what the word of God says….with your whole heart. There are mean ministers who slam gay people for that sake of handclaps from the audience. I’ve been in those services. There are mean Christians who hate the way the way you are. There are mean people everywhere especially in the world. Don’t keep living like you are because someone was mean to you. You are seeking something else because when you lay your head on your pillow you feel deep down that something isn’t right.
When you start coming to church you’re doing to deal with all kinds of nonsense but let me tell you what else I found. I found a group of Christian people who know the power of God and how he changes lives. They have loved me while Christ was changing me. They have helped me more than I ever thought possible. You might be surprised who is sitting in your congregation who have been exactly where you are right now. The enemy wants to bring meaness to the forefront but the LOVE of God is the most powerful thing that there is! Jesus loves you even when others don’t. He died for YOU!
Be honest with God. Tell him exactly how you feel. Tell him that you still feel attracted to the same sex. Talk to God. He knows. He understands. Be honest with him but walk away from anything that doesn’t align to his word. Then give him time to bring you OUT of it.
I found out what coming out of the closet really means….it’s when I came OUT of the world and into His marvelous light!! When I came out of the world I became a new creature in Christ. Old things have passed away and ALL things have become new to me!
I was ‘trans’ formed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2) NOT ‘trans’ formed by mutilating certain body parts. Trans is a Christian word. We are transformed through the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Ghost will lead you into ALL truth! didn’t become gay overnight and I’m thankful that I serve a God who has given me space to make powerful changes in my life.
I am learning what it means to be a man….a Christian man…..because I used to feel like a woman.
“Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw His hand. As long as there is a vessel of grace not yet full to the brim, the oil shall not be stayed. He is a sun ever-shining; He is manna always falling round the camp; He is a rock in the desert, ever sending out streams of life from his smitten side; the rain of his grace is always dropping; the river of his bounty is ever-flowing, and the well-spring of his love is constantly overflowing” (Charles Spurgeon).
I’m not one of those people who believe that with enough faith, you can name and claim vast sums of money, mansions, and other material wealth. I don’t believe God is a celestial genie whose sole purpose is to give us our every wish and whim.
I do believe that God always gives the greatest gift– God gives God.
The greatest blessing isn’t the kind that shows up on a bank account statement. It isn’t one that you list on your income tax returns.
The greatest blessing from God is that serene peace that comes from knowing God will keep every promise toward you and there will never be a moment where you slip out of God’s hand.
The greatest treasures aren’t things. The currency in heaven isn’t gold– it’s love. it’s those who will be there because of your testimony both spoken and lived out. All you can take with you is what you’ve given away, as the line from It’s a Wonderful Life goes.
I’m all for those who are financially successful. I’m all for having nice things. I also know that he who dies with the most toys, still dies, and you can’t take those toys with you.
All you can take is the love of God that you’ve given away.
“There’s far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting. You’re involved in the same kind of struggle you saw me go through, on which you are now getting an updated report in this letter” (Phil. 1:29-30).
Imagine Mr. Fred Rogers in his sweater and sneakers saying something along these lines: Boys and girls, today’s word for the day is suffering. Can you say suffering? Suh-fer-ring.
Most of the time, I am all about the suffering- avoidance mode. I likes my comfort. I don’t likes to suffer in the least.
I think that what drives most of the consumer market is comfort and convenience. That seems to be the American way, especially in American churches.
Still, the American comfortable middle-class Christianity is an anomaly. For most of the world, to proclaim Christ as Lord is to invite suffering. It’s not a matter of if, but when.
If I’m honest, when I read that suffering is a gift, my first thought is where to go to exchange it for something more comfortable and convenient.
But that’s where you and I find God. C. S. Lewis said that God speaks through our pleasures but shouts to us in our pain. Something about suffering clarifies our perspective and gives us better eyes to see God with.
Also, there is no better testimony than seeing someone willing to sacrifice for their faith. Anyone can believe in something that benefits them tangibly, but it’s quite another when you give up family, houses, and land for what you believe. Jesus Himself said that those people would be rewarded a thousand-times over for what they lose, but the loss is still very much present and real.
Christians all over the world are literally laying down their lives for the Gospel. I believe that the day is coming soon when believers in America will face the choice of denying Christ or death. Maybe not in my lifetime, but soon enough.
Will you and I choose suffering to advance the Gospel? Will we choose the painful path if it means that Jesus is glorified in us?
I pray our answer to both these questions is a resounding YES.
“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction” (Cynthia Occelli).
“Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal” (John 12:24-25).
“If my life is broken when given to Jesus; it is because pieces will feed a multitude, while a loaf will only satisfy only a little lad” (Elisabeth Elliot).
“There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in” (Leonard Cohen).
Only God can take brokenness and make it beautiful.
The old saying goes that broken pieces make the best stained glass windows, and I believe that broken lives are the ones God uses to shine through most brightly.
Will you hide your brokenness in shame or will you let it be your testimony of how God’s strength is perfected in weakness?
I have a book called The Valley of Vision. It’s essentially a collection of really old, i.e. 1600’s Puritan prayers. I chose one of them at random to share with you (and because it’s just so freakin’ awesome).
“Heavenly Father, if I should suffer need, and go unclothed, and be in poverty, make my heart prize Your love, know it, be constrained by it, though I be denied all blessings. It is Your mercy to afflict and try me with wants, for by these trials I see my sins, and desire severance from them. Let me willingly accept misery, sorrows, temptations, if I can thereby feel sin as the greatest evil, and be delivered from it with gratitude to You, acknowledging this as the highest testimony of Your love.
When Your Son, Jesus, came into my soul instead of sin He became more dear to me than sin had formerly been; His kindly rule replaced sin’s tyranny. Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labour to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and He must become to me more than vile lust had been; that His sweetness, power, life may be there. Thus I must seek a grace from Him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from Himself.
When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live; that in myself I find insufficiency and no rest, but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace; that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good, but in Christ I have ability to do all things. Though now I have His graces in part, I shall shortly have them perfectly in that state where You will show Yourself fully reconciled, and alone sufficient, efficient, loving me completely, with sin abolished. O Lord, hasten that day.”
Tuesdays are awkward. They’re those misfit days between the dreaded Mondays and the (I think) vastly overrated Hump Days known as Wednesday.
But for me, Tuesdays are my favorite. That’s because Kairos is on Tuesday.
I’ve been involved with Kairos for 8 years. I’ve volunteered as a greeter for almost as long. I’ve seen lots of people come and go and been through quite a lot in that timespan.
The attendance numbers have soared way up, plummeted back to earth, then achieved a sort of happy medium. The teaching and music have remained consistently good.
The latest series was Letters to Me. It was based on the idea of what you might tell your younger self if you could somehow get hold of pen, paper, and a time machine. Or a 1985 DeLorean.
Probably, you’d tell yourself to avoid some people. You’d tell yourself not to do some things and not to go certain places.
I love the idea that there’s nothing in your past that is irredeemable. There’s nothing God can’t use and nothing God can’t turn into something good. Just ask Joseph. Or Jacob. Or Abraham.
My favorite line from Kairos is the one that says that God can take that worst moment of your life, the one you swore up and down that you would never tell ANYBODY about, and make it the very first line of your testimony.
If you’re ever in the Nashville area on a Tuesday night, check out Kairos. It’s at 7 pm in Hudson Hall at Brentwood Baptist Church, located off I-65 exit 71. It’s kinda hard to miss.
God willing, I plan to be there for at least the next 8 years.
I think there’s a common belief among evangelicals that every problem can be solved by praying more and having more faith. Sometimes that’s true, but sometimes it’s not.
Sometimes, you need a little help.
Some people have anxiety that won’t go away, no matter how much praying they do. Some people have depression that all the faith in the world can’t lift.
That’s why there’s doctors and medication. Because sometimes your brain just doesn’t work right. Sometimes you have a chemical imbalance or synapses misfiring, and you need help.
I do think that a lot of issues are spiritual in nature and I really truly believe that God can heal. I also believe God put it in the hearts of men and women to help cure people of physical and mental ailments. God sometimes chooses to cure through human hands.
I don’t like the term “mental illness.” As a pastor said, it gives the impression that your malady is all in your head. But, as he went on to say, a broken mind is just as broken in a very real sense as a broken limb.
As of today, I am taking medication for generalized anxiety disorder (with obsessive thinking that I can’t shut off thrown in). I can’t wait to be myself again, to not live under a constant state of anxiety and to finally be able to listen to myself think for once.
It’s not a shameful thing to admit you need help. Or that you need drugs to function normally (prescribed over-the-counter drugs taken according to the instructions).
It doesn’t mean you’re less of a person or less of a Christian if you struggle with depression or anxiety or are bipolar. In fact, your struggles will give you a testimony to reach people for Christ that most people can’t touch. You will be able to use your pain and sttuggles to help someone else through theirs.
And by the way, normal is just average. Don’t be normal. Be spectacular. Be extraordinary.
As Christians we need to be sensitive to the needs of sinners.
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