Enough

I imagine at some point people will tire of hearing how much my life sucks. I fancy most people already have. We don’t tolerate pain or bad or even real for very long. I get so sick of the “christianese” way we describe “bad.” We have “tough times” and “struggles” and “difficulties.” This makes me want to throw things. Read the Psalms. God didn’t sugar coat the awfulness of this life. Why do we so dishonor those who suffer?

I say we because I try (and usually fail) to remember that there was once a time when I wasn’t this bleeding, broken, twisted mass of a human being. How would that Jodie have reacted to the debilitating sorrow of someone like me? Honestly, probably not all that well.

But the thing is people are hurting, really hurting, in all different ways and for all different reasons but the pain and the bondage is real. When are we going to get real? When are we, as the body of the all mighty Lord of our lives, going to stand up and say ENOUGH!!

When are we going to take a good hard long look at ourselves and admit this isn’t working!! This is supposed to work! It is for freedom that Christ has set us free brothers and sisters, so why aren’t we free? Freedom doesn’t come at baptism… the potential for freedom does. We are saved when we accept Christ, when we proclaim Him as LORD AND SAVIOR, but freedom takes work.

No one wants to follow a bunch of rules and regulations. No one will become a mighty warrior because they are running from hell. We become mighty warriors because we know in whom we have believed! We are not meant to spend our tenure on earth with our tails tucked between our legs fearful of the world around us. Are you kidding? Who’s your Daddy? 

  

2 Timothy 3 describes the end times. God tells us that the people who do not know Him will hold to a form of godliness but deny its power. There is power in the blood brothers and sisters. Why are we denying its power? Why are we walking around with our empty cups begging everything and everyone to “please please fill my cup” when we have the fount of living water? There’s a name for this. God described it vividly in Isaiah and Jeremiah. It’s called idolatry.

I recently read something that struck me. Beth Moore says ‎"a few days ago I again saw the best advice the world seems to have: 1) don't sweat the small stuff 2) it's all small stuff. It’s not all small stuff. Worldly philosophy is forced to minimize difficulty because it has no real answers... Only through prayer are we washed in peace." - Beth Moore (emphasis mine).

Why do we minimize suffering? I think it’s because we secretly believe our God is not really that big. If we believed we served the God of the universe, the God for whom nothing is too hard who imbibes us with His holy power we would not shy away from that which seems insurmountable.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. – Acts 1:8