We have been born from above, and the Scriptures tell us
that we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), “children of the light” (as
opposed to children of the darkness) and even the Temple of God (6:14-16).
Instead, of rejoicing in this, we are embarrassed. Today, we
are criticized, because such beliefs are now considered narrow, chauvinistic,
tribal, and divisive. Instead, we are told that peace and justice will only
come once we rid ourselves of our “us vs. them” distinctions.
We also encounter another problem. I met young man on a bus.
We talked for two hours. After telling him about Jesus, he dismissed the
Christian faith by claiming that he doesn’t see any difference between
Christians and others:
·
You Christians have much the same problems as
other people. However, you all seem even more depressed. Yet you believe that
you are superior to others.
His challenge stung, but it gave me an opportunity to launch
into my testimony. First, I admitted that I do have many of the same problems
as I had had before Christ - anxiety, irritability, criticalness, and
negativity. But now there were also a number of differences:
·
Before, I had to always be right. As I saw
things, it was always the other person’s fault, not mine. Whenever my wife and
I would have a dispute, I was sure that she was at fault, and she was sure that
I was at fault. Consequently, we never resolved anything. However, with the
encouragement of Jesus’ love and forgiveness, He began to show me the truth
about myself, things that I had been unable to face. Consequently, when I see
my sin, I now flee to Him in confession, assured that He forgives and loves me.
He has also freed me from so much I had suppressed, even from myself.
However, this still left another problem: How is it that we
can be new creations and children of the light, and yet continue to struggle
with so many problems? I think that there are many Biblical explanations for
this. For one thing, we will struggle if we want to be like Jesus (2 Corinthians
4:10-11).
Brokenness belongs to the Christian. Therefore, for many
reasons, it is our faithful companion:
·
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves
the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD
delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:18-19)
As opposed to brokenness, wholeness can deceive us by
convincing us that we can depend on ourselves. However, it’s God’s intention to
teach us to depend upon Him. How? He places us in situations where we cannot
rescue ourselves. Instead, we are forced to wait upon the only One who can
deliver us (2 Corinthians 1:8-10).
In many ways, we are warned about such hardships, and there
is no magic formula to make them feel okay. Instead, for God to accomplish His
purposes, they must be painful but will eventually yield the fruit of
righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). It is because God loves us that He corrects us:
·
For it is time for judgment to begin at the
household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those
who do not obey the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17)
We are the Spirit’s dwelling place, and therefore we are
presently under renovation. This is a messy process. When I see a construction
site, it seems like such a confused mess that I cannot imagine anything good
coming out of it. However, I have learned to trust that our Master Builder can
bring forth something beautiful form the wreckage.
Peter likens God’s renovation to precious metals refined in
a crucible:
·
In this you rejoice, though now for a little
while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the
tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though
it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at
the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6-7)
In order to purify gold, the ore is melted in a cauldron
under intense heat. Then, the impurities will rise to the surface where they
can be skimmed off. For pure gold, this process is repeated many times.
When we endure the fires off our trials, the impurities, the
ugly things that we had hidden, are released and rise to the surface. At the
sight of them – and we thought that they were now history – we are disgusted
and are forced to helplessly and despairingly turn to our Savior, who then
forgives and cleanses us from all the impurities (1 John 1:9-10). This too must
be continually repeated.
Job had to learn these lessons. Beneath the surface of this
blameless man, pride and arrogance reigned unnoticed by Job. However, his
trials brought them to the surface in the form of denunciations against God.
However, the Lord revealed to Him that he lacked the wisdom and knowledge to
bring his arrogant charges against God. The Apostle Paul had written about his
many hardships:
·
…with countless beatings, and often near death.
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three
times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned…(2 Corinthians 11:23-25)
However, this wasn’t enough. He needed to be subjected to
more of the fire. In order to keep Paul humble, God also allowed Satan to
afflict him with a thorn in his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Understandably,
our wounds and thorns aren’t very attractive. We are like a house under
construction, and there is nothing very appealing about a construction site,
which awaits its heavenly unveiling (1 John 3:2) once the job is complete. No wonder
we aren’t attractive to the eye! Only those who are being drawn can perceive
the beauty of our Lord’s workmanship in our lives:
·
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads
us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the
knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those
who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from
death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient
for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)
There is another
weighty reason that our “fragrance” will not be appealing. God had chosen
most of us from the bottom of the barrel:
·
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of
you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many
were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the
wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what
is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing
things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1
Corinthians 1:26-29)
We hadn’t been esteemed in the eyes of the world. I
certainly hadn’t been. However, our Lord loves to reverse the accepted order.
He brings the proud down and raises the humble and broken:
·
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty
hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your
anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7)
It is only “at the proper time” that will our Lord exalt us.
Meanwhile, we have little esteem in the eyes of the world. However, He promises
that, one day, he will honor us in the presence of our despisers:
·
You prepare a table before me in the presence of
my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Psalm 23:5)
At this time, we will not be able to contain His blessings:
·
For this light momentary affliction is preparing
for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:17)
How are we now different from others? A re-construction site
often lays bare the internal structure of the building. Consequently, we begin
to see what we hadn’t seen before. In our case, it isn’t very pretty. It consists
of our lies, self-deceit, and the many things we’ve buried out-of-site. When
these are exposed, we grieve and are humbled. However, we also begin to see
ourselves as we never had before. We also encounter our deeply-entrenched and
even immovable hidden motives. As a result, we have little choice but to flee
to God, our only hope. It is in Him that we learn to trust.
Frankly, I am sickened by what has been exposed, but I exalt
in the fact that I have a Savior who loves me despite my very evident
unworthiness of Him (Luke 17:10). It is in Him that I have found comfort and
confidence:
·
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to
enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he
opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we
have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews
10:19-23)
We might not perceive His faithfulness amidst our rubble,
but He can assure us that He is our sure inheritance.
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