The Lobby of Redemption

Few things are as moving as seeing redemption fleshed out before you. In the midst of a seemingly ordinary worship service this weekend, redemption’s vitality rose up and proclaimed that victory is sweeter than sin’s bitterness and that power does not come from the world, but through God’s judgment alone. We sang a set of well-known worship songs. We clapped our hands. We swayed with the music. We did all the things we’d normally do…. And yet, on this day, worship was about something entirely different. It’s not often that we get to witness a brother or sister having once been entangled by sin come to restoration in their former position. When we see it we love it.

And yet, even as believers, we cast the first stones all the time. We justify the throwing of these of these stones by saying that we do so in truth and in love, but Jesus did not ask us to merely throw them a little softer… He commanded us not to throw at all if sin was in us… And it is. It is so in each of us. My stones, though not literal, are carried in a sack. Each has a name: judgment, self-righteousness, pride, jealousy, and so many more. But on this Sunday, I left my stones in the car and walked into worship weapon free.

The back story of the people on the stage this week is far too long to recant, but know that the story is a thing of beauty… It’s the story of brokenness, a story of healing, and now it rests in a chapter on redemption. This story reminds us that our lives, anyone’s lives, are not elusive to sin… And even still, it is not sin we should fear though it possesses the ability to wreak havoc and destruction in our lives, but rather our fear should come from our distance from Christ and our subsequent transformation into the person we never thought we’d be.

Entropy. That’s the best way to describe it. From order to chaos… That’s the nature of unattended faith. When evil is allowed access into our dwelling, even if only momentarily, difficulty and sin come to keep us company. Architecturally speaking, our vestibule is the place where much of this is hashed out. In the lobby of our minds, we decide what is permitted entrance to our hearts. The longer we allow something to linger the more difficult we face in attempting to turn it away. So much sin prevention is done on the doorstep that we would be wise to keep watch of the things that come knocking. As Kay Arthur says, “Sin will take you farther than you ever thought you would go.”

When here, in the midst of sin, exposure is the last thing we want, but something we very much need. Spending days and months with minds swollen from our defeat and finding no relief, we suddenly know that redemption comes only after our sacrifice is sitting at the base of the altar and we have had enough courage to look at it for the last time and finally turn our backs and walk away.

Psalm 62: 7 – 8 says the following:
“My salvation and glory depend on God; my strong rock, my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him…”

In this pouring, we find pain, but further we find harbor… We find safe waters… We find a place where we can stay until the flood of guilt, the wave of judgment, and the tide of shame all go back out to sea and redemption lay solidly on the shore waiting for us to spot it and take note that it is finally ours.

Suffering: A Letter To My Co-Laborers in the Trenches…

Not long ago, I spent a weekend away at a Leaders Retreat on Discipleship. A friend asked that I write on what I learned and although it has taken some time for my thoughts to coalesce from mind to paper, I now write from the other side of persistent pressing, pensive silence, and a deluge of tears that speak less to discipleship and more to earnest suffering in God’s presence.

1 Peter 4 begins with a topical heading of something like this: Living for God. It subsequently follows with a chapter mostly on suffering. Why is it then that we are so shocked by our personal encounters with the miserable beast we call suffering? I mean the bible itself indicates that living for God and suffering go hand in hand.

As believers, we tend to take suffering personally as if consequences and circumstances were the same thing. We perceive that suffering endured on our behalf is due to some personality flaw or passive aggressive act from God. We attribute our being drafted into this battle to something we’ve done wrong, some way we don’t measure up, or something of the sort. Hear me though – suffering is not that. When we think like that, we rarely arrive at the place of knowing that suffering, true godly suffering, is an expression of love and a deliberate endurance towards refinement and a heart that longs to know God more and more. Suffering is a kind thief that mugs us in a dark alley stripping away our haughty and needless worldly accumulations and pawning them for a faith refined and a love proven.

1 Peter 4:2 says, “As a result (of suffering), he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” Here we see that suffering allows us to move away from our own pursuits and into godly ones. Basically, suffering allows us to be transformed. In the preceding verse, we are enlightened that suffering allows us to be finished with sin and in the following verse we take note that we have already spent too much time as sinners.

So, this begs the question: How can we better embrace suffering since we know it’s the process through which we are transformed? And, the logical question to follow (for me at least) is… Is this the only way?

Before we can fully navigate the rocky pathway of these questions, it’s important to know what suffering is, as God defines it. The bible indicates that suffering means to endure hardship or experience loss. And God’s view on suffering continuously and relentlessly asks us the question: Do we trust God for who he is or for what He does? Since we believe that suffering is the means by which God transforms us to be true, we can now assume that through our struggles that God would merely like for us to know more about Him. As we grow in our knowledge of Him, we trade in our glory for His and we are now satiated by pursuing the promises of our king through surrendering our hope of the world.

Not often do we find ourselves honored by the invitation to suffer. Let’s just say, it’s not exactly the event we get excited about RSVP-ing to. Only once can I recall another believer being elated in sharing in the sufferings of Christ (And, if she’s reading this, I want her to know that that memory lingers and encourages me through my hikes in the wilderness. And for that, I am ever grateful.) Our truth, however, is this – That sufferings are manifestations of God’s love, a testing of our faithfulness to Him, and a triumph of His faithfulness to us. Rejoicing in our suffering means that comfort ceases to be our finish line and truth rests as our only trophy. CS Lewis says this, “In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one this you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth – only soft soap and wishful thinking to be with and, in the end, despair.”

As growing believers we cannot rest on the tree stump of comfort when God has asked us to hike a mountain towards truth. Holding loosely to comfort we are encouraged by our suffering because we recognize that its very presence in our lives is evidence of God’s love for us. Transformation allows access to glorification. 1 Peter 4 ends with a note of encouragement to us by saying this, “So, if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.”

Keep the faith my fellow climbers. If you want prayer in the midst of your sufferings, let me know. I’d be honored to care for you in this way.

In it with you…