Within the last two years, two of my friends have been diagnosed with cancer. One lost her battle with the disease a few weeks ago, and the other is still fighting. Sometimes, as a friend, I feel pretty helpless. It's really hard to know what to do. However, recently, the Lord's given me a new perspective on how I can help my friends the most, when I feel the most helpless.
In Mark 2:1-12, Scripture tells us that Jesus had returned to Caperneum and was "in the house." When people found out, "immediately, they gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them not even near the door." It was a packed house with standing room only...literally. The place was filled to capacity.
Or so they thought...
People kept coming to see Jesus, including four men (at least) carrying their paralyzed buddy on a mat. When the men got to the home and found no way in, they didn't take "no" for an answer. They were desperate and determined for their friend to see Jesus; so determined they wouldn't let anything stand in their way...including someone's roof! I'm not kidding. If you haven't read this story before, please read it. It's so heart-wrenching to imagine the desperation on the part of the friends when they realize they couldn't get their friend to Jesus, and it's so exhilarating to picture them not giving in to circumstances - to what seemed to be impossible - but instead devising a plan to reach their goal. They were determined their friend WOULD see the Savior - no matter what.
I wonder if Jesus stopped preaching when the dried mud began to fall. I wonder if the owner of the home stood in amazement as piece by piece, part of his roof was destroyed. Do you think there was an uproar within the group or was it deathly still? Scripture doesn't tell us. However, It does tell us that when the men had "broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying."
The next part is one of my favorite parts, and the whole reason why I'm writing this blog at 3:16 in the morning! Scripture says that "when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.'" There's a lot of meat in that verse, including the fact that Jesus fulfills the ultimate desire of the paralytic, before He fulfills the physical desire, but what I want to focus on is this - whose faith caused Jesus to act? Was it the faith of the paralytic? Look at it again: "When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.'"
Did you see it? Scripture states the faith of the man's friends prompted Christ to act. I'm sure the paralytic had faith in Jesus, as well - which is why he went along with his friends lowering him down through the roof! But in this passage, Jesus was compelled by the faith of this man's friends, so much so that He acted on his behalf and healed him both spiritually and physically.
Since the Lord showed me this passage, I've determined to be a better friend - the type who brings my friends to Jesus for spiritual and physical healing. I've determined not to give up hope, even when all the circumstances and test results say different. I've determined to believe that the God of the universe is big enough to act on behalf of my friends for their ultimate good...and mine, too!
Dearest Jesus, thank You for my friends. Thank You that You have placed me in this life to encourage them and in turn, be encouraged. Thank You that You care more for them than I do. Help me, Lord, to purposefully be a better friend - to always bring my friends to You in prayer and cover them with Your protection, provision, and care. Thank You for their healing...both earthly and ultimate. You are our glorious Prize and the Lifter of our heads. Thank You.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Me - On Being Grumpy!
My head is pounding. My back is aching. My eyes hurt. Yes, I'm sick - and so are three other people in my house! I woke up this way, and regardless of how much medicine or Vick's Vapor Rub I bathe myself in, I'll go to bed this way tonight. It stinks to be sick...and I'm sad to say that most of the people around me know how much I hate to be sick, because my actions and attitudes tell it all. You see, on occasion, when I feel this bad, I decide that it's okay to have a pity party - a party which includes me being miserable and making everyone else around me feel the same way.
I started thinking about my grumpiness today at lunch, rationalizing that because I feel bad, it's okay to be a little less tactful with my tongue. That is, until I began to think about Christ and how He responded to His own discomfort. He was beaten. He was bruised. He was pierced through for my transgressions. He was crushed for my sin. (Is. 53:5). And yet He uttered not a grumpy word. He was oppressed and afflicted, led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open his mouth. (Is. 53:7) Jesus didn't sin in the midst of His incomprehensible discomfort...and neither should I in the midst of my head cold.
Jesus, help me today to live as You lived, here on this earth. Help me to keep my mouth closed and my heart open to You. May my minimal discomfort only draw others to You. I love You, Jesus. I love You.
I started thinking about my grumpiness today at lunch, rationalizing that because I feel bad, it's okay to be a little less tactful with my tongue. That is, until I began to think about Christ and how He responded to His own discomfort. He was beaten. He was bruised. He was pierced through for my transgressions. He was crushed for my sin. (Is. 53:5). And yet He uttered not a grumpy word. He was oppressed and afflicted, led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open his mouth. (Is. 53:7) Jesus didn't sin in the midst of His incomprehensible discomfort...and neither should I in the midst of my head cold.
Jesus, help me today to live as You lived, here on this earth. Help me to keep my mouth closed and my heart open to You. May my minimal discomfort only draw others to You. I love You, Jesus. I love You.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
The "I" in Me
Growing up on a farm, I've come to see gardening as something precious. I vividly remember my daddy walking the fields when I was a kid. Row after row, he'd stop and look...stop and look. I always wondered why he did that. Now, I know. I do the same thing in my own garden - looking for signs of life...for signs of death...for those nasty little critters I've come to dislike SOOO very much.
One day during the gardening season last summer, a friend stopped by to bring me some sweet potato plants. Of course, I HAD to show him my garden. Later that day, I called him for some advice. During the conversation, he said that the plants in my garden were beautiful, but the reason I wasn’t seeing much fruit was probably due to over-fertilization. I simply needed to cut back. He said, "This may sound ugly, but the plants have to think they are dying before they will produce any fruit." In other words, I'd been feeding my plants SO much that they were content and happy to put on new growth...without giving me anything to show for it!
We're like that, aren't we? We’re happy and content to be comfortable. We want to be well-fed, well-watered, and have just the right amount of sunshine, so that we can grow and grow and grow and be seen as the biggest, most beautiful plant in the garden. However, if we shower ourselves in comfort, we'll never produce any fruit for the kingdom.
The very thing that produces fruit in our lives as Christians is not comfort. It's death. Jesus explains this principle by using a parable of the natural world. He said "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24). Just like the grain of wheat that falls to the earth has to die to bear much fruit, so I have to die to myself, in order to produce "much fruit" for Christ.
Now, that doesn't come naturally to me. Dying to myself has to be a decision of my will, because what comes natural to me is to feed the "I," in me. "I" wants what it wants, and it wants it now! "I" wants to be comfortable. "I" wants to be first in line at the grocery store. "I" doesn't want to change the poopy diaper. "I" wants you to do it! "I" wants to let someone know when "I" is unhappy and angry. "I" wants to retaliate when someone wrongs me, instead of letting Christ be my Defender. "I" wants to be patient and loving to those "I" loves...not to those "I" doesn't know! The funny thing about "I"is that it never does anything to produce fruit for Jesus. It just produces more "I."
And that's what people see. If "I" were the one that paid the ultimate price for my life...if "I" were the one that removed my sin and made me free....if "I" were the one to live again, so that I could live eternally in heaven...if "I" did all of that for me, then it wouldn't be so bad to let people see the "I" in me. HOWEVER, "I" didn't do all of those things...only Jesus did. In other words, people don't need to see more "I" in this world...they need to see more "Him."
Jesus, help me to die to myself today and put others first. Help me not to allow my own selfishness to rob me of producing fruit for Your kingdom. May my desires and wants be those of Christ's. Amen.
One day during the gardening season last summer, a friend stopped by to bring me some sweet potato plants. Of course, I HAD to show him my garden. Later that day, I called him for some advice. During the conversation, he said that the plants in my garden were beautiful, but the reason I wasn’t seeing much fruit was probably due to over-fertilization. I simply needed to cut back. He said, "This may sound ugly, but the plants have to think they are dying before they will produce any fruit." In other words, I'd been feeding my plants SO much that they were content and happy to put on new growth...without giving me anything to show for it!
We're like that, aren't we? We’re happy and content to be comfortable. We want to be well-fed, well-watered, and have just the right amount of sunshine, so that we can grow and grow and grow and be seen as the biggest, most beautiful plant in the garden. However, if we shower ourselves in comfort, we'll never produce any fruit for the kingdom.
The very thing that produces fruit in our lives as Christians is not comfort. It's death. Jesus explains this principle by using a parable of the natural world. He said "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24). Just like the grain of wheat that falls to the earth has to die to bear much fruit, so I have to die to myself, in order to produce "much fruit" for Christ.
Now, that doesn't come naturally to me. Dying to myself has to be a decision of my will, because what comes natural to me is to feed the "I," in me. "I" wants what it wants, and it wants it now! "I" wants to be comfortable. "I" wants to be first in line at the grocery store. "I" doesn't want to change the poopy diaper. "I" wants you to do it! "I" wants to let someone know when "I" is unhappy and angry. "I" wants to retaliate when someone wrongs me, instead of letting Christ be my Defender. "I" wants to be patient and loving to those "I" loves...not to those "I" doesn't know! The funny thing about "I"is that it never does anything to produce fruit for Jesus. It just produces more "I."
And that's what people see. If "I" were the one that paid the ultimate price for my life...if "I" were the one that removed my sin and made me free....if "I" were the one to live again, so that I could live eternally in heaven...if "I" did all of that for me, then it wouldn't be so bad to let people see the "I" in me. HOWEVER, "I" didn't do all of those things...only Jesus did. In other words, people don't need to see more "I" in this world...they need to see more "Him."
Jesus, help me to die to myself today and put others first. Help me not to allow my own selfishness to rob me of producing fruit for Your kingdom. May my desires and wants be those of Christ's. Amen.
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