Now and forever

This week is on 2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

A lot of the Christian life consists of navigating blindly. We serve a God who creates, who is all powerful, and who renews and perfects us, yet we are surrounded by evil, decay, and decline. Our wealth grows and shrinks, our bodies age, friends and relatives die and move away, and our sports teams lose important games. From a scientific standpoint, it's hard to prove that our faith is worthwhile. But, faith is a funny thing.

Paul writes about all of this stuff. His body was wasting away, and he was condemned to death in a prison. He should have been discouraged with his life, but he knew how to see things from a big picture perspective. Our present life is only a blink in eternity. While it's nice to enjoy the moment, and it's great to be thankful for what we have, when bad things happen it's good to remind ourselves that it'll all pass soon enough. We are eternal beings, created in God's image, but we struggle to see things from an eternal perspective.

God is, was, and shall be a God of healing, even if he isn't healing you in this moment. God is, was, and shall be a God of victory, even if you're currently overwhelmed and failing. The momentary evidence is not what matters, but eternity is. If we'd stopped looking the moment Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross, we'd have missed the entire Gospel. The moment would have told you that nobody had ever survived being nailed to a cross, and even if it was possible, the Roman soldiers would have just nailed Jesus to another one. Science does a great job of describing the past, but only God determines the future.

The Bible is full of stories of people in sorry circumstances, in situations which nobody had ever come out of. No infertile couples had kids until Abraham and Sarah had Isaac. Nobody'd ever crossed a sea on foot until God parted one for Moses and the Israelites. The sun had never stood still in the sky until Joshua fought at Gibeon. What about the first guy who was healed of the blindness he was born with? What about forgiveness of sin?

But even if we go to our deaths without seeing miracles like that, we still win. We have eternity with God. The core of our faith lies in the fact that there's more to life than meets the eye. But we live in a world that only believes what it sees, and that relies on the past to predict the future. If we think like the world thinks, it's easy to get discouraged. But God is the author of life. His perspective is eternal. So don't get caught in the moment. Live in the freedom of eternity.

Being visible

This week is on James 5:13-16:

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make them well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

James' letter is one of my favorite books of the New Testament. He gets right to the point. In these verses, he talks about some spiritual disciplines that will draw you closer to God, and draw you and your fellow Christians closer together. As a side-effect, doing what he describes may also solve your problems.

James lists a bunch of problems that we have, that we tend to keep to ourselves: Being in trouble (like credit card debt, stalkers, getting "downsized", etc) Being happy. Being sick. Being in sin. OK, so maybe we don't keep being happy to ourselves very much, but in some cultures, you do in order not to make others envious.

All of these things should lead to prayer and/or praise. By doing so, we involve God in our daily struggles and victories. If you're in trouble, don't just be in trouble. Ask for help! If you're happy, be thankful. If you're sick, ask for some "holy doctoring." If you're doing what you shouldn't do, but you can't seem to stop, ask for some help in being strong. Don't just sit on these things. If God is truly part of your life, you won't leave him out when the drama comes.

By involving others in your relationship with God, and in your struggles and celebrations, you're participating as part of the body. The body doesn't consist only of you. It's all of us. We get to be Christ's representative to each other. Don't hide under your burden. Share it.

Involving others also helps people not to feel like they're the only ones with problems. A lot of times, someone will ask for prayer for something I thought I was the only one struggling with. Or they'll ask for help with something that is way worse than anything I'm feeling sorry for myself about. It's good to know that you're not singled out for torment and hardship in this world, and that others get struck by lightning just as often.

Even if God had no power on Earth, these things would still be good ideas. He'd get to know us better, and we'd get to know each other better. They would make us stronger. But the fact of the matter is, God does have power. People get delivered from their trouble. People get restored to health. People's hearts are changed, and they quit their sin. Their past mistakes are forgiven. These are all miracles that come from God. We don't access them by clamming up and hoping we somehow develop super powers ourselves. We call out to God for them, and he hears us, and he responds.

James is funny in how he presents all of this. "Are any of you folks in trouble?" "Are there any happy people there?" "Does anyone ever get sick?" "Do people still sin?" Of course every person and group of people has these issues, but you would never know it unless people did what he tells us to do, and confess them to each other. So, enough hiding in the garden...let's get in the light and be seen!

The season

This week is on Acts 4:18-21:

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened.

'Tis the season for political correctness, or something like that. It's "holiday season" or "annual shopping season" or "winter break..." Anything but the unambiguous day of praise for Jesus Christ: the whole reason we have a holiday this time of year in the first place! People would rather deny God than risk tipping their comfy boat by rocking it with the truth.

So that brings us to a time many hundreds of years ago: Peter and John had prayed for a middle-aged man who was crippled and God healed him. They told the reason why he got healed to the crowd that had gathered. How could you not? Is Jesus a secret? The political powers didn't like that at all. Every bit of praise for Jesus was a threat to their position. So, in order not to rock the boat, they made a small request of the Apostles: You can preach, but just don't mention any of that Jesus stuff, OK?

Peter and John weren't having it. If the topic of Jesus Christ comes up, and the only answer to the questions people have, like "how did that guy get healed?" is Jesus Christ, how do you not talk about Jesus? The crippled guy didn't get healed by "a higher power" or "thinking thoughts" or "sending vibes." It wasn't just a miracle. It was Jesus Christ, God Almighty, who personally intervened into his situation. (Besides, Peter had already denied Christ once. He wasn't going to do it again!)

In a lot of ways, as Christians in a modern secular state, we find ourselves in the same situation, with powerful people telling us to practice our faith without mentioning this inconvenient Jesus character: "Worship the evergreen tree, not the God who created it." "Give gifts to one another, but don't mention what it represents." "Just spell it x-mas, so nobody asks any questions...X: like you're signing a check..." And it doesn't end after Christmas is over.

Pagan roots or not, Christmas is a time for us to take a moment and be thankful for Jesus's birth at a very inconvenient time of year. There are plenty of ways to be sensitive to others' faiths and traditions, or to their insensitivity to ours, but hiding the truth isn't one of them. John and Peter risked their lives and their position in their community to tell the truth about Jesus. All we risk is some scolding and maybe being looked at as insensitive.

God has made himself as plain as day to us. Much as we can't deny the sun, we can't pretend he doesn't exist, or that he isn't part of our lives. During the month where Christ's name is written on every calendar, and ignored, try to acknowledge him and what he's done for us.