The Risk of Reality

I have been reading 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul discusses how the church is the body of Christ. I see in this chapter and in other places in Paul’s writings (like Romans 12) a picture of healthy relationships. When I read words like “so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.” And “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” I begin to get excited. I will admit to being a dreamer and an optimist but I can’t help but think how awesome a truly selfless Christian community might be. Now, when the rubber hit the road I am most certainly too selfish to actually enjoy living in such a place even if I had the opportunity, but I like the idea anyway. What if we truly put Christ’s goals (as he is the head of the body) above our own, and learned to think like He does? What if the mental transformation spoken of in Romans 12:2 permitted individual Christians like me to begin to make decisions based on the mission of Christ and based on love for others rather than self interest? Our minds would be the first to change, I assume, but after we began to make decisions based on Jesus’ wishes, perhaps even our hearts would begin to change too, until eventually we might not simply conform our ultimate decisions to His will but our very emotions as well. Our natural desire for attention and personal gratification could begin to become an honest (not a fake) preference for the happiness or the good for other people around us.

Would Christ’s body then truly begin to be “known by our love”? I can only imagine the glory Christ would gain if we truly lived out this vision we have received. Church members would be known as giving people…and I don’t speak of money. Church members could be known as caring people, not as hypocritical people. How awesome would that be? What if the emotional needs of other people became high priorities for us? We might set aside our own agendas and reach out to the weak, the fearful, the wounded, both inside and outside the church body. Yes, there are hurting people inside the church, no matter how much we may try to hide it and put our best foot forward. A body helps the sick cells, the wounded member. We are to have “equal concern for each other” and to “suffer with those who suffer”.

I say that it is time to put aside the myth that becoming a Christian fixes all our difficulties. It does not normally immediately reverse and restore all problems we have and all hurts we have experienced, past and future. God does not call us into the church to escape pain in the world, nor does He promise us perfect lives. Why then, would we pretend to have such lives? Why do church members hide their problems and put on a front of shallow happiness? God did not call us to such a life, but to a real life. Bodies that live in the real world do get hurt. We get scratched on a thorn bush, or we get poison ivy. We break an arm in a car wreck or get shot and paralyzed from the waist down. That is real life for a real person with a real body. Jesus lives such a life. His body is not free from wounds; his life was full of pain and suffering.

The difference is what we do with our hurts. The world tells us to hide them, to pretend to be whole. We know that only the fittest survive, so we want to be perfect. What does Jesus do when He is weak? When He is tired? When He is being tortured? He heals people. He speaks the Truth to them, sets them free. He prays that their sins be forgiven.

Jesus is our role model, folks.

If we, as members of His body, are in community with each other putting the needs of those around us first, no one gets left out. Instead of hiding our pain and getting on as best we can we learn to be honest, to admit that we are wounded and let other people help us heal. Then we also reach out to them to help them heal. We can’t do it alone. A broken arm can’t heal itself. It must be connected to the heart, to the nervous system and the other organs, controlled by the brain.

Sometimes I wonder why God does not simply do everything Himself. Why does he leave it up to us when we are so incapable? Perhaps it is because He is willing to risk the possibility of pain for the immense joy of real life experienced in community with other loving hearts. Just as a brain cannot do everything itself in a physical body, so God limits himself in order to allow us as members of His body to experience real life ourselves…if we are willing to risk it.

In Truth,
Stephen

Not built to be broken

Perhaps you also have noticed that our world is a little messed up. Life is hard. We all go through pain in life and it often seems like it comes both earlier AND later. Though we see this daily in front of us it is hard for us to simply accept that pain and suffering is reality. To quote a friend of mine named Brittany, we were not built to be broken. The human spirit was made for better than what we see each day on the street corner, in the office cubicle, the classroom, the living room, anywhere. Somehow we know this. Within each person is sparking a light that lives on, even through unimaginable pain and heart-wrenching anguish of soul. We feel that there could be more; that this world should be more, that our lives mean more than simply coping with self esteem and tough decisions and living through chaos and rejection. So the real question is: What does all this have to do with this blog?


How astute you are, I am glad you asked :)


I believe our world WAS built for better. We are living on a crippled planet, raised in broken families, living lives assailed by the same enemy who introduced the broken-ness into our world. It was not intended that way, it has been changed. Never forget that though now broken, it was all once whole and beautiful. We really need no reminding that though once created whole and beautiful; it is all now tragically broken. Most probably, you have been aware of this for years. Broken nature, broken humanity, broken families, broken humans. Very few people are blessed to grow up in a home with two parents who stick together through it all and seek to raise their children with love. Even fewer of these truly experience the real and immense blessing of growing up in a family that works like it is supposed to, nurturing children in the right direction, helping them become responsible, confident, godly adults. If you are one of these very few, praise God! I cannot say that I am. Now, I am blessed by God in many ways, and I love my parents dearly. I am very grateful both to them and to God for all they did for me, especially my mother. I do not know what I would have done without her. Even more so I am grateful to God for His loving care for me just as is mentioned in Psalm 68:5.

God has indeed been calling me down a path for several years now, a path of discovery. He has taken my hand and led me and taught me as much as I have been willing to learn. He has loved, forgiven, empowered, inspired and loved some more. And forgiven some more, too. I cannot begin to thank Him enough, knowing how little I deserved any of this and knowing in ugly detail how far down He had to reach at times, to keep helping me along.


To prevent this from becoming too long, I will try to get immediately to, if not THE point, then at least to A point. God has taught me that healing and wholeness come from community and openness. It all began with confessing a few petty sins I had on my conscience back when I was 14. God has since continued to push me toward openness about my struggles or my ideas. I believe we are built for community, to talk and laugh and cry and breathe together with other people by our side. Not alone. Not hidden. That is the way for me to return as closely as possible to the original wholeness and beauty of life. It is about reconnecting with God first, allowing Him to restore the relationship He intended with me and going from there. Growing from there. So, here I am now, writing on the www about what I think, what I feel, what I struggle. Here goes. I do hope you will make comments as we go along, I don’t want to be doing this all alone.

Sometimes I will be posting stories about lessons God has taught or is teaching me. Sometimes I may review books that have helped me grow, or interview friends who have meant a lot to me. This is an attempt at an open, honest, journey to a whole, Christ-centered life. Perhaps you are on such a journey yourself…perhaps you are ready to consider beginning? I hope so, and so does someone else whose opinion matters much more than mine :)


In Truth,

Stephen