God Subverts Pain

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

Since it is God's expressed purpose for His children to one day trade in their mortal bodies for immortal, heavenly ones, it makes perfect sense that He would subvert the pain of death and growing old (which is brought on by our sin) to His own purposes such that even this pain would cause us to groan more longingly for heaven. The aches and pains of growing old can little-by-little help tear us away from our attachment to this earth and to these earthly bodies. The frustration and discomfort we feel can actually serve as fuel to cause us to long all the more intensely for heaven and for our resurrection bodies.

The simple truth is that we cannot receive our heavenly bodies until we have first been stripped of these earthly bodies. Some believers lose their life and vitality in a moment. Others endure long drawn out battles with pain, sickness, and death. The slow tearing away of a person's health and vitality, as terrible as it is, can be used for the Christian's good if he will trust God. It can be that the crippled man's daily hardship serves as a reminder that no one will be crippled in heaven. His disability can actually be a spiritual asset. Paul the apostle struggled with a "thorn in the flesh." Paul found peace after God revealed to him that God's strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Your physical disability, your physical suffering, can be the weakness that God uses to work His strength in your life to focus your spirit all the more intently on heaven.

So the next time you want to curse that bad knee or bad back or even that reoccurring cancer, don't. Accept it as from the Lord. Let God work it to your good. Instead of groaning, "Why, Lord!?" Groan, "When, Lord? Oh, when will I be free of these troublesome pains in heaven with you?" Let His strength be made perfect in your weakness. 

For further reading...

• 2 Corinthians 12:1-10- Read about the Apostle Paul's thorn and God's strength in our weakness.
• Romans 8:18-39- Read about how God works our suffering for our good.

Debt of Gratitude

...we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

You can't become a Christian without participating in the death of Christ. In order to live the new life that Christ offers, you first must die to your old way of living, to your old self. You must repent of your sin and leave it behind, surrendering your will for obedience to Christ. Only once you have died like this can you be made a new creation in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" This aspect of belief is pictured beautifully in baptism. During baptism, the convert is plunged beneath the water symbolizing her participation in Christ's death. She must be symbolically buried with Him in this way before she can be raised up out of the water to live a new life. But what is the nature of this new life? 

2 Corinthians 5:14 says that Christ died for us that so that we should no longer live for ourselves but for Him. Take the time to really think about this sentence. It is a radical thought! No Christian on earth right now should be living for himself. All of us should be living our lives day in and day out solely for Christ. Imagine how different our world would be if all believers did this! Imagine how different your life would be if you did it. 

I can't help but remember the many movies that have played off a similar theme. Usually it runs something like this: The main hero in the story saves a man's life, and from that moment on the man owes the hero a debt of gratitude. He must follow him around and serve him continuously until he repays the debt. Only, you and I can never repay the debt we owe to Jesus. So we are called to follow Him and serve Him continuously our whole lives out of gratitude. Are you living for Jesus in this way? In what ways are you still living for yourself? For others? What do you need to leave behind or lay down today to really begin living for Jesus? 

Father, help us to live for You!

For further reading... check out the entire book of 2 Corinthians.

Make a Plan

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Luke 10:1-2

I often think of Jesus as following the Spirit in the moment, like He just kind of floated around from place to place, town to town following God's promptings and living in the moment. But in this passage we see Jesus clearly making plans for the future. It is clear that He has thought strategically about the future and even encourages His followers to pray strategically about the future. Jesus sends 36 teams out ahead of Him into the towns He plans to visit and minister to shortly. The natural reading of this passage suggests that Jesus has planned out the next 36 towns He is going to pass through! Obviously Jesus wasn't just floating along in the moment. Though I am sure Jesus was sensitive to the Spirit's leading, Jesus understood that God's Spirit can give us guidance far in advance (consider the Old Testament prophets as an example). It is clear then that Jesus planned far in advance and had a large vision for how He would go about accomplishing God's call on His life.

What about you? Have you made any plans to accomplish anything for God? Don't be fooled into thinking that you are doing Him some big favor simply by showing up at church and occasionally tithing. Make a plan! Save $5,000 over the next several years and give it to a Christian ministry to fund the building of an orphanage in a third world country. Dream big dreams for your church's youth or children's ministry and serve faithfully in them. Find a reputable ministry and go on a mission trip; share the gospel. Make plans to talk to your neighbor or your unbelieving friend about Jesus! Do something. Have a plan to glorify God and exalt Christ.

Lord, I pray that you would send those reading this devotional out into the harvest fields to advance Your kingdom. Show them Your will for their lives. Help them to catch a big vision of what You want to do through them. Lead them to make plans and to carry them out according to Your will and the promptings of Your Spirit. In Jesus' name I pray...amen. 

My Pastor Can Beat Up Your Pastor

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?

I Corinthians 1:10-13

“My dad can beat up your dad!” 

“Nuh-uh! My dad could totally beat up your dad!!!”

It wasn’t uncommon to hear exchanges like this on the playground when I was a kid. In fact, I remember taking part in arguments just like this myself. It’s funny how we can take something as wonderful as respect and admiration for our dads and turn it into competition that leads us to division and conflict. But the Bible tells us that this can happen in our churches just as easily. Christians can associate so closely with different pastors or Christian personalities that they begin to identify themselves more by that icon of the faith than by Christ Himself. Many of you have heard people say, “I go to pastor So-and-So’s church.” We love to namedrop don’t we? Like it somehow makes us more important because our preacher published a book! Have you ever noticed how many people leave a church when the pastor changes? 

In 1 Corinthians, Paul warns the church about this danger and reminds us that our worth as believers is founded on who Christ is, not on who our pastor is. In this way all believers are on equal footing. We are all in Christ and therefore all one in Him. There is no need for division or conflict over these other admirable men in the church. They are nothing more than Christ’s servants. Christ is what counts, and nothing else. 

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. (I Cor. 3:5-8)

Paul drives his point home in verses 21-23: "So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God." Quit boasting about men! I might add to quit boasting about numbers and buildings and programs and budgets. These things are not the end all of the kingdom! When we boast in these things we are like a farmer boasting that he has the most beautiful tiller in the county. The beauty of your tiller isn’t the point. The goal is a fruitful harvest. The implication is clear: we should be boasting in God and in Him alone. Not in our pastor and not in our accomplishments as a church. Boast in the Lord and what He is accomplishing in the lives of the people in your church and in your own heart! Christ is our joy. He is our all in all, and He is our greatest boast. 

So be careful not to get caught up in conflict over Christian personalities. Be careful not to take pride in things that matter a lot in your church but none at all in the kingdom. Instead, stay close to Christ. Remind yourself daily that nothing compares to this precious truth: Christ loved you and died for you so that you might be adopted as God’s own child. May we be so dumbfounded by this truth that no other boast ever crosses our lips again.

For further reading...

• Read I Corinthians 1-4:7.