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Harsh Words and the Gladness of God

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By Jason Comerford

What does the word repent bring to mind for you?

I’ll bet it’s not pleasant. For me, it conjures images of angry protesters with signs. Yelling preachers with pointing fingers. And this heavy, heartfelt exhaustion of yet ANOTHER thing I’ve apparently done wrong. It tires me.

It’s not a word that I naturally incline toward.

I’ve only been a Christian for 12 years, but one of the most consistent qualities of my walk with God has been His apparent love for giving me good things in unexpected, often unwanted, situations. Relationships I didn’t want now strengthen me as my closest friends. Injuries and illnesses have conveyed the tender care and kindness of our Church community. Financial difficulty has grown a steady—and happy—confidence in God as our faithful provider.

There’s a pattern to much of the Christian life: happiness seems to be found in the most counterintuitive places. The places where death, particularly death of self, dwell.

Which brings us to that unhappy word—repent.

In this Sunday’s sermon, Jeff read from Revelation 2:1-7, wherein Jesus calls the church in Ephesus to repent, or change their minds about something.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Easy to miss in there is the powerful line “Consider how far you have fallen!” Jesus’s call is, I think, not merely about making a decision but about coming to a conclusion. Repentance is as much a coming to your senses as it is an actual decision you make.

So what is Jesus calling them to? Change their minds about what? Come to their senses about what? Consider how far they’ve fallen from what?

Himself.

More specific to this situation, they’ve lost connection with their first love, Jesus Himself. The source of all glory and goodness. The Happy, Holy God of Heaven wrapped in flesh, who gave up His life in order to save them. There’s no greater treasure to be had, and they’ve wandered off from that.

So for the Ephesians, and for all of us, that painful word “Repent!” conceals something wonderful.

It’s an invitation back into all joy with the God of Heaven.

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The Relief of Christmas Carols in July

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By Jason Comerford

Y’know what I love most about July?

It’s a flimsy pretext for me to bust out my favorite genre of music. Christmas in July, baby!

Even when I was a child, Christmas carols specifically were among my favorites. Not so much “Jingle Bells” or “Let it Snow,” but more “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Joy to the World.” I think part of the reason for that is how (in my musically unschooled opinion) so many carols seem to capture one particular emotion, one that deeply appeals to me:

Relief.

When Jesus was born into the world, Israel had been suffering for some time. An unbelievably powerful foreign nation was occupying Israel; poverty, injustice, and illness were as rampant as they’ve always been; and worst of all, the voice of God had been silent for about 400 years.

When the One who claims to comfort you in the presence of evil, oppressing enemies (Isaiah 51:12) doesn’t seem to be comforting in the face of evil, oppressing enemies, hope can start to feel like one more source of pain. It eats at joy and vitality, until all that’s left is a subtle awareness of this constant, biting weariness you can’t seem to shake.

Four hundred years of that.

For some of us, it hasn’t been generations of waiting for an unfulfilled promise. For some of us, it’s pain that won’t go away. Hips and knees that hurt and keep us up at night. Or maybe a marriage full of restless tension and bickering. Maybe you’re like me and can’t shake anxiety and depression. Whatever it is, I’m betting most of us are familiar with the longing for some kind of pain to just finally stop.

Oftentimes when we’ve suffered for a long time, we can forget what relief is even like. The prospect of NOT living with some terrible affliction just seems impossible.

And that’s why I love Christmas carols so much. When I can’t even remember that relief is real, the songs of Jesus finally coming into the world remind me that it’s not simply that God will remove painful circumstances, but Relief Himself has come for me. He has come to “wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Friends, Relief has come for us.

And He is coming again.

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Weird Art and the Glory of God

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By Jason Comerford

This year at the men’s retreat, we all watched a film called Lars and the Real Girl. It’s an indie film from 2007 starring Ryan Gosling; IMDb summarizes it like this: “A delusional young man strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.”

Suffice it to say, it’s one of the most awkward films I’ve ever watched, and it wasn’t initially high on my list of must-see movies. Despite that, it’s quickly rocketed to the top of my favorites. While sometimes painful to watch, the story told an uncomfortable tale of one man’s loneliness and how the grace and lovingkindness of one small town saved him from his delusions. Really, what makes this movie so wonderful is the tale of grace and redemption at the heart of it.

But more than that, I’m thrilled that instead of the typical relaxing movie we might have chosen to watch, nearly every single man at the retreat chose to stay and watch this weird, very awkward art house flick.

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God’s people have a long history of uncomfortable art being used to honor God and speak to His people.

Take for example the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 20. The Lord commands him to walk around naked and barefoot as a warning to Israel not to trust in the military might of their neighbors.

For another example, look at Ezekiel and his various one-man plays that he acted out in public. In Ezekiel 4, he built a tiny model of the city of Jerusalem and acted out various aspects of a tiny war against it.

We could also look to the ministry of Jeremiah, who was told time and again to speak to the people of Israel regarding their rebellion, sometimes using prophetic actions such as smashing pots.

All over the Bible, our invisible God seems really interested in attention-grabbing displays. Activities and images that just can’t be ignored—that defy easy categorization or flippant response. Things that demand answer and attention from us.

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I think it’s important to recognize that God sometimes uses strange and uncomfortable means to make sure His message is heard. In our culture, I think we’ve given ourselves over to a belief that movies and stories are here mainly to entertain us. Paintings, photographs, essays, and songs, all these get pushed aside when they offer anything other than a beautiful vista, an optimistic thought, or an entertaining laugh.

Instead, I think we should embrace something different. Art is here not mainly to entertain or inform, but to pierce our hearts. To take up the glories and horrors we’ve forgotten and with them stab us broad awake once more.

As a Christian, that’s the kind of artwork I need. What about you?

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Thank God for Your Crummy Car

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By Jason Comerford

Recently my wife and I finally waved goodbye to our 2000 Pontiac Grand Am.

As it drove off securely fastened to the back of a tow truck, the Lord reminded me of what an immense blessing the car had been.

Which is an interesting thought for such a crummy car.

I purchased the car about four and a half years ago from a past college roommate’s wife’s parents. Kind of an interesting connection, but I needed a car and they were selling. Almost immediately, the car started needing constant repairs. You plugged one leak, and a new one formed. Cheap parts kept breaking. I won’t go into all the details, but it was a constant drain on my already very limited resources. One of my clients, a mechanic, laughingly informed me of how legendarily bad my car’s particular engine was among mechanics.

His advice was to sell it as fast as Craigslist would take it.

Despite that, we hung onto it. Between trying to build a business and being a relatively new married couple, we never seemed to quite find time to really get rid of it.

One day, I found myself checking the oil and coolant levels (as had become by twice weekly habit), and, in all the exasperation of caring for this dying hunk-of-junk car, gospel reality hit me like a much-needed ton of joyful bricks.

Jesus doesn’t break down. He doesn’t need parts changed. Oil doesn’t leak. Coolant doesn’t overheat. Fuel doesn’t run low. There are no cheap, plastic parts.

Instead, Jesus is eternal (Hebrews 13:8), mighty (Isaiah 9:6), and reliable (Psalm 18:2). He does not ever wear out (Isaiah 40:28) or cease working right when you need Him (John 5:17). Jesus will never fail or forsake me. He will not grow tired or weary. He won’t leave. And, faced with a car that was on its last legs and hardly having the funds to replace it, this was a deeply joyful reminder. I kid you not, I laughed like a giddy child with the reminder that Jesus Christ is nothing like my junker of a car.

But here’s something else we shouldn’t miss.

Did you notice what that reminder came through? What had a hand in helping me see such a joyful, delightful revelation?

That very same car.

The car that had caused so much frustration and so much heartache and so much worry was now the very conduit through which joy and God’s praise had come. And it hadn’t come through a brand new car or any kind of financial solution — it had come through my car being a frustrating pain.

May we all, with God’s help, remember this the next time we’re tempted to turn to anger or self-pity because of many of life’s inconveniences, frustrations, and expenses. It doesn’t matter one bit if we don’t have the time, the patience, or the money to deal with it. Trust in God, for He is working both your good and His glory!

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