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Text: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 [Paul says that the scope of his spiritual experiences has not exempted him from adversity, but almost necessitated them] ● My experiences over the past several days have reinforced a conclusion that I reached several years ago: “I don’t want to live in a world where everyone gets what they deserve” [likely, the reasons for my conclusion are obvious]. I recognize that even my own demands for justice are always made within the context of my own failure. ● It’s not that I don’t want to be held responsible for my actions, but that I don’t want to be forever restricted by them! ● Thinking that we always get what we deserve is certainly a logical explanation for the consequences of all the really stupid stuff we do; but, it can also lead me to assume that all the really good stuff that happens is God’s way of ‘throwin’ me a bone’ for my exceptional efforts. Neither seems the best approach. “Human weakness always shines the light on God’s grace.” ● Our theology (as it is stated) declares that in our weakness, we trust God for strength, but our pattern seems to indicate that we typically rely on, or revert to, old systems of sufficiency, which are certainly ‘road tested’ even if not proven effective! I think that in our weakness we realize just how strong (how deeply rooted) our systems of survival really are. Just how deeply rooted our propensity to attempt to live life without God; or, at the very least, live life with God as our ‘contingency plan’. ● Quite honestly, I’m not always pleased with the way that I see myself responding in adversity; how trust can so easily be overwhelmed by my desire for control. It’s not always ‘grace-full’. I see myself too quickly reverting to my own personal arsenal of ‘coping strategies’ (i.e. isolation, and anything ending with ‘fritter’!), most of which are merely bent on helping me ‘feel better’; the process of becoming ‘whole’ is too painful, so just ‘numb me’! Our responses in adversity not only demonstrate how fully entrenched we are in our own kingdom, but how elaborate and extravagant God’s grace. ● We often think of grace as God’s ‘tender side’; his swift movement toward us, eliminating our pain at the first sign of adversity. I’ve come to discover the incredible ‘strength’ of God’s grace; its vulnerability, its stubborn determination, its unprovoked availability. ►Grace requires that I feel the depth of my pain; that I reach the end of myself. My system has a distinct aversion to pain and has a hard time admitting that life is too big for me! Weakness suggests that the circumstances have caused me to exhaust all of my own resources in confronting the challenging life-circumstance. ►It’s hard to admit that we are weak because weakness feels like failure. So, weakness not only creates the potential to experience grace, but throws wide open the door to further self-destruction; either an opportunity to call into question and abandon my own human strategies or further solidify our all-too-human solutions or remedies. Weakness can make me even more stubbornly committed to my own devices! ►Grace is the active expression of God’s love. It’s his intentional movement toward and within us that ensures that love will not/can not be reduced to some romantic concept or sentiment. Grace is God’s disposition; it’s his nature. His responses are always motivated by love. He need not be incited to act (by some favorable display on our part), nor will he ever respond hesitatingly. You don’t even have to appreciate it or acknowledge it; he just does; he just is! Irony: This grace, although too big to comprehend, is too easily ignored! ►I learned that love is always an option (in every circumstance); but, as a follower of Christ, it’s not optional! It’s the ‘new command’ Jesus offered… “love each other”, with the new qualifier, “as I have loved you” (John 13:34-35). ►Grace allows you to find God in every movement of life; because he’s there! Hurting with you as you experience the pain of divorce and the wounds of infidelity; suffering with you as you experience the ‘unnatural’ effects of humanity on your physical body; he dons the orange jump suit and sits with you on the dirty tile floor, awaiting the chance to deliver hope. “I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick and you cared for me. I was imprisoned and you visited me” (Matthew 25:35-36). ● That God is for us brings us the courage of inherent worth; that God is with us brings us comfort; that God is other than us is our hope! ►Grace can only be truly appreciated within the context of truth (John 1:14)… reality; that way things are. In order to be grace, it has to come to us in the most unexpected times; the times we’re sure that our conduct has not warranted such a confusing response. Grace always catches us off guard; it always makes us suspicious (like your kids clearing the dishes or folding the clothes without being told). Grace comes while we’re bracing for the lecture or preparing for the disappointed glance. It’s what makes grace so memorable! ● The truth is, nothing in our development and training - either about God or life- has prepared us for such a response. ● Grace, in its purest form, comes when life has left us so defeated and disoriented that we have no choice but to take it. When we are ‘powerless’, we have the most power. It’s the place where God’s grace meets our emptiness and we surrender, availing ourselves to his strength. When it happens to you, and your weaknesses are exposed publicly, we call it “humiliation”; when it happens in you, and you see your weaknesses for yourself, the bible calls it “humility”; or “poverty of spirit”. Could it be that our weakness is necessary because then, and only then, we reach for grace? That in those times our desire for rescue finally overtakes our posture of self-reliance? That the drowning man cannot be saved until he stop flailing around? God knows we don’t usually give up without a fight! GRACE HAS NOTHING TO OFFER THE PERSON WHO THINKS THEY CAN DO LIFE WITHOUT GOD. “What must I do to have eternal life?” (John 3; Luke 10:25, 18:18) No one, acting in sincerity, would ask that question without having first considered that his/her approach has yet to produce it. “…the wind blows where it pleases…” (odd saying) “Resistance”… our pursuits of life are like running against the wind. Could it be that our failure or unwillingness to adjust to the wind (God’s spirit; God’s breath; God’s very life) has resulted in a failure to experience its desired effects and led to fatigue and frustration? ‘you can’t put a new patch on an old garment’… ‘you can’t put new wine in old wineskins’ (Matthew 9:16-17). It demands something ‘new’, not just a few minor adjustments or repairs to something worn and unstable; the very strength of the object has been compromised- exposed for its weakness. ►Grace is the welcome, the invitation to live in ‘another’ story. Imagine an actor studying ‘Macbeth’ or some other Shakespearan play- rehearsing lines, donning the costume, getting into character- and then being asked to perform in ‘High School Musical’… it doesn’t fit! You will not be able to function in a way that contributes to the plot, or helps the story reach its desired end. In fact, your participation will only distract from the movement of the play.
You don’t belong in that story! |
