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When Healing Hurts

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By Larry Short

Given some of the painful woes of our current situation, many of us have learned afresh how to lament the many challenges we face.

Some are more serious than others. Many have family members or friends who are struggling to recover from COVID-19—and as we know, not all such struggles end well. Or perhaps they are struggling with the prospect or fear of a potentially fatal illness and not the reality.

Others have lost jobs or income streams. They may have children at home who must be shepherded through the new learning process, requiring great and unaccustomed sacrifice of time and trouble.

Others, like me, face smaller challenges: The weight of isolation from family and friends. The inconvenience of restrictions on the way we go out, shop, or worship. Or perhaps the loss of retirement investments we had really hoped would “be there” for us in our sunset years and the prospect of possibly having to continue working after we would otherwise have retired.

All of these things, and more, to which each of us are subjected in these days of pandemic and societal upheaval, are painful.

Timothy Dalrymple is the president of my favorite magazine, Christianity Today. They have been taking a consistently hard, honest, and thorough look at the challenges presented by the current cultural context to us as Christians and to the churches we invest our lives in.

In the September issue, he took an interesting look at our pain, what is causing it, and what God might be doing in the midst of it. In an editorial titled “When Healing Hurts,” he recalled the story of Jesus healing the paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda and the fascinating question with which our Lord initiates that interaction: “Do you want to get well?”

It seems almost absurd. The man had been paralyzed for nearly four decades of his life and daily lay out with other very sick folks hoping for a long-shot chance at a miracle. Who would not look at such a person and think, “Of course he wants to get well!”

But Dalrymple spoke about what many of us realize upon deeper reflection: “Suffering, especially chronic suffering, can become precious to us. When suffering persists, we sculpt our lives around it. We craft an identity that encompasses our suffering until we scarcely know who we would be without it.”

On the other hand, Dalrymple acknowledges that God often allows suffering for our instruction and betterment and for His glory. The Apostle Paul learned this when he sought for God to remove his infamous “thorn in the flesh.” He then acknowledges this torment was given to teach him humility, to help him realize the sufficiency of God’s grace for him, and to show him that God’s power may be made perfect in his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

But in John 5, Jesus singles out the longsuffering paralytic for healing. First however, He asks if healing really is indeed what the man wants. And interestingly, the paralytic really doesn’t respond in faith to Christ’s question. Instead he makes excuses as to why he has remained so long unhealed!

In the midst of our current problems—political, racial, financial, and health challenges—I wonder if God would ask us the same question: “Do you want to be whole?”

Healing can be painful. We may have to humbly acknowledge our error, ask forgiveness of others, and prepare to embrace a new identity given by God, which seems risky and frightening to us. God may be calling us to slam the door shut on our habit of using social media as a weapon to broadcast our own rightness. He may be asking us to do a truly hard thing in listening to others and exalting their needs as higher and more important than our own. Or He may be simply asking us to trust Him implicitly—with finances, career, health, reputation, family, and friends—when we can’t see clearly the landscape into which He is asking us to follow Him.

In his current sermon series, Pastor Steve is sharing principles on how to get “disentangled” from sin’s deceitful web. I suspect that as Jesus (through His Holy Spirit) approaches us, as we struggle with the pain of our own sinful habits and behaviors, He will ask us the same question He asked the paralytic:

“Do you want to get well?”

I would suggest we respond to that question without making excuses. Simply bite the bullet and say, “Yes, Lord. Here I am. I need Your healing!”

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Can We Pass the COVID-19 Test?

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By Interim Pastor Steve McCoy

Tests are dreaded by most students, but teachers have been using them for years because they work. Students strive to learn their lessons so they can advance, pass the test, and move on to the next level.

God also administers tests. Jesus writes to the church at Philadelphia about testing the whole earthly population: “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

The good news is that this church is going to be spared from that test. The bad news is God is going to test those who call this planet home.

Interestingly enough, our world is going through a planetwide test right now since God has allowed COVID-19 to sweep the globe.

How do we and the rest of the world pass the test?

Do we pass by coping and hunkering down?

Do we pass when we discover who is to blame and hold them accountable—China, politicians, virologists?

Do we pass the test when we wear a mask, socially distance, or get a vaccine?

Just how do we pass the pandemic test?

When God was leading Israel through their wilderness wanderings, Moses disclosed to them the purpose of their trials: “to test you in order to know what was in her heart” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

God is testing me, our church, other believers, unbelievers, and the whole world with COVID-19 to see what is in our heart:

  • Do I love God more fervently than before?
  • Is my service for God as passionate as before?
  • Is my obedience more complete than in previous days?
  • Is my character more reflective of Jesus?

I want to pass the test with a heart hot after God.

Perhaps God is preparing His church to come roaring back with more vitality and passion than ever before!

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“Every Possible Fig Leaf” Removed

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By Larry Short

One of the favorite parts of my week is sitting in the hot tub each Sunday night with Jason Comerford. Sometimes we watch wild animals come out of the quiet forest. This week we listened as a nearby fir tree made an enormous “crack” and plunged to the ground with a thunderous crash. In the midst of relative isolation, we enjoy hot water and good fellowship, we pray for each other and our church, and we ask God lots of questions.

And the question that has been most frequently on our minds and hearts in recent months is this: Where is God working in the midst of all this pain and chaos? What is He doing?

I read a blog this week by a pastor and writer I enjoy named John Myer. He asked that exact same question. And he used a set of Where’s Waldo? drawings to provide a possible answer.

First, here’s a Where’s Waldo? drawing from 2019:

How long did you have to look before you found Waldo? I confess I STILL haven’t. (I blame bad eyesight, LOL!)

And now here’s the 2020 social distancing edition:

            (Image credit: Times Free Press)

THAT was a lot easier, wasn’t it?

What’s the difference between the two drawings? Obviously the 2019 edition had a lot of noise: visual distractions, lots going on, lots of people. (We might now look back with a sigh—THOSE were the days!)

But in the 2020 edition, those distractions have been mostly removed. We enter a meadow near a forest in a state of solitude. Waldo is much more obvious once the distractions are gone, once the decks are cleared.

Myers made this very uncomfortable observation:

From the spiritual standpoint, God has cleared the decks.  There’s very little church stuff left to camouflage Him.  The only things left are you, the Bible, and those Christians you meet with.  Gone are the pageants, the events, the programs, and every possible fig leaf. (Bareknuckle Bible)

The “fig leaf” part really got to me. Darlene and I had a fig tree once. Fig leaves are scratchy, itchy, awkward, and very uncomfortable. They are of course what Adam and Eve applied as they sought (unsuccessfully) to hide their sin and shame from the God with Whom they had previously fellowshipped in the Garden. (In His mercy and grace, God of course gave them much more comfortable coverings, made of leather—costly as they were in terms of some poor, innocent animal’s blood.)

God calls us to the exact opposite of this scenario: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.“ Jeremiah 29:13

In the Garden, after Adam and Eve sinned, they stopped seeking and started hiding. God in His grace and mercy sought them out instead. And He has done this with each and every one of us. “God demonstrates His own love toward us in this While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God’s seeking was done on the cross. Christ’s blood became the covering for our sin and shame.

Now that we are forgiven, now that we have no more need of fig leaves, God desires us to seek Him. And He PROMISES us that if we do so with all our heart, we will find Him!

What has this got to do with COVID-19 and social isolation, the risk of possibly debilitating or mortal illness, loss of employment or retirement funds, the departure of many of our sports and entertainment choices, and the sudden evaporation of most if not all our previous trappings of doing church?

You may already see that the answer to this question lies in the two contrasting Where’s Waldo? drawings above. Peel away the distractions, remove the fig leaves, and God is far more easily found.

But, have we been looking? Or do we instead seek to embrace new fig leaves—to create new distractions with which to repopulate the Waldo drawing that is our world?

Are we complaining about our new normal and asking God to restore our previous comforts? Or are we seeking Him with all our hearts TODAY? Now is the time when, perhaps, He will be most easily found. If we would only seek.

Jeremiah challenges me, time and again, when my fig leaves are removed and I feel uncomfortably exposed, to claim God’s promise: “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”

Will you join me in this, as my brother or sister in Christ?

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Discipling Kingdom-Hearted Children

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By Rochele Griffin

A few weeks ago, my children and I were feeling like we just needed to get out of the house. So we did just about the only thing we could do on a rainy quarantine day, and went for a drive. 

Just a few minutes down the road, one of my children asked, “Mom, do you think this could be the end of the world?” His question was not said in a joking manner, and it kind of caught me off guard. I hadn’t realized how much my children had been processing what was happening around us. They didn’t just see a change of schedule or plans; they were keenly aware that everything feels different. 

We have a choice in these moments with our kids to give a quick and comforting answer: “No buddy, it’s not, and we don’t need to worry about that.” Or we can stop for a moment and ask the Lord to meet us with wisdom as we speak to the souls of our little ones.  

2 Timothy 3:14-17 says:

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom[a]you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God[b]may be complete, equipped for every good work.

It’s our job to teach the word of God to our children. We are the ones “from whom they will learn it.” And we do so knowing that all of it is profitable and can and should be used for training in righteousness. 

During this season filled with hard questions from the searching souls of our children, we are given a special opportunity to address parts of their discipleship that may normally be overlooked. Coronavirus gives us the opportunity to step outside of the normal day-to-day training and teach our children that not only do we keep our eyes on Jesus, but we do so with strides toward heaven. 

So how do we point them to the joy of eternity in everyday coronavirus-impacted conversations? 

As our children deal with disappointment over canceled events, plans, and birthday parties, we draw their attention to the ever-certain, never-ending celebration that Heaven will be. (Revelation 19:6-9)

As we grapple over our rights and freedoms, we teach them (and remind ourselves) that eternity holds perfect fellowship with God and one another. It will never be interrupted—nothing and no one will ever strip it away. (Revelation 21:3)

As their tears of loneliness, frustration, and pain surface, we teach them that soon every tear will be wiped from their eyes. (Revelation 21:4)

As these days seem to get long, we tend to become irritable, and things aren’t as peaceful in our homes as we’d like them to be, as we take the steps to repent and make amends, we can teach our children that in heaven, every relationship will be made perfect. We will no longer have to seek peace, but will live in it, completely. 

It isn’t easy, but this is also a great time for us to open the eyes of our children to the sufferings of the world, to show them what it is to have a heart that cries “Lord Jesus, come quickly!” When our children have an opportunity to see pain in the world, we give them the opportunity to desire true healing. When our children are exposed to the results of widespread sin and the realities of depravity, when they glimpse the pain of life lived without Jesus, they can begin to understand not only their need for Him, but also the need to share Him with others. 

In this season, we ought to be expressing the joy of eternity come, so that our children can’t help but want to share it too.

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A Favorite Verse That is So Much More

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By Dan Amos

Have you ever run across a verse that acts as the proverbial two-by-four upside the head? I can definitely point to Romans 1:20 as an example. I read it. Then I re-read it over and over. I pondered it and printed it out and posted it on my monitor at work. It was such a foundational verse, one that underpins my worldview and helps to explain our current situation.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse (Romans 1:20).

This is a verse of incredible hope to me. God created. He’s in control, always has been and always will be. While He has chosen to limit His revelation to us, enough is there that we can know, whether we are a scientist or not. There’s enough evidence to acknowledge His majesty, that we have to actively deny Him to not see it. I see how we are fearfully and wonderfully made and I know that I don’t have the kind of faith to believe inorganic matter spontaneously came alive on its own and overcame entropy to organize into the complex, interdependent organisms that are people.

The rest of the chapter is less hopeful, more instructive as it describes the consequences of our denial:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ( Romans 1: 21-22)

We know the consequences of our sin and that of our ancestors. What was made very good was spoiled. Life became difficult and finite as a result. What we are experiencing today was not part of His plan, but it is redeemable even in the tragedy and loss.

I count myself fortunate and blessed in this time. I am thankful more than ever and for more than before. I have often given thanks for those who serve in our military, law enforcement and medical service. Now, I recognize my gratitude for the truckers, the clerks, the stockers. I am thankful for all those people who make everyday living possible and who continue on today under difficult conditions and often with smiles under their masks. I hope as we return to a new normal, whatever that may be, that we don’t forget how we were served so well by so many.

There are many who are making an extraordinary effort on our behalf. We have Sunday service because of many sacrificially serving. Every week because of people like Lars P. and Gregg Z., we are getting closer and closer connected while physically apart. How wonderful that they are harnessing technology to serve.

And of course the Good News is we are not doomed to condemnation without hope:

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:21-24)

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On Which Crown Do We Focus?

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by Pastor Steve McCoy

“Thorns and thistles” the ground would produce, God told Adam after the fall (Gen. 3:18).  I suggested in my sermon this past week that perhaps the coronavirus could be considered a molecular “thorn” and/or a microscopic “thistle.”

The Washington Post ran an intriguing article titled, “The Coronavirus Isn’t Alive. That’s Why It’s So Hard To Kill,”by Sarah Kaplan, William Wan, and Joel Achenbach.

Here are some snippets that caught my attention.

Viruses are “little more than a packet of genetic material surrounded by a spiky protein shell one-thousandth the width of an eyelash.”

Coronaviruses are “named for the protein spikes that adorn them like points of a crown.”

Gary Whittaker, a Cornell University professor of virology, described a virus as being somewhere “between chemistry and biology.”

“There is a certain evil genius to how this coronavirus pathogen works: It finds easy purchase in humans without them knowing. Before its first host even develops symptoms, it is already spreading its replicas everywhere, moving onto its next victim. It is powerfully deadly in some but mild enough in others to escape containment.”

“When viruses encounter a host, they … unlock and invade its unsuspecting cells. Then they take control of those cells’ molecular machinery to produce and assemble the materials needed for more viruses.”

“Once inside a cell, a virus can make 10,000 copies of itself in a matter of hours. Within a few days, the infected person will carry hundreds of millions of viral particles in every teaspoon of his blood.”

“Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University, compared viruses to particularly destructive burglars: ‘They break into your home, eat your food, use your furniture and have 10,000 babies. And then they leave the place trashed.’”

During this Good Friday week, we reflect on how “soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his [Christ’s] head” (John 19:2).  Corona is the Latin word for crown. Under the microscope, the virus looks like a thorny crown.  While our world is focused on this thorny crown virus, let us as Christians focus upon our Savior, who embraced our sinful state and wore a crown of thorns!

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