Sunday, May 27, 2007
"Faith doesn't give you the solution, it forces you to find it"
More inspiration from Mike Yaconelli:
I am beginning to understand that faith is not the way around pain, it is the way through pain. Faith doesn't get rid of the opposition, it invites it over for dinner. Faith doesn't give you the winning point at the last second, it ties the game and sends you into overtime. Faith doesn't give you the solution, it forces you to find it.
- Mike Yaconelli
We're attempting to convince the world how good Jesus is by how great we are. This is precisely how Madison Avenue sells toothpaste, automobiles, and underwear. People don't need any more images of success, wealth, and power; they're surrounded already. What they need are their sins forgiven. What they need is healing. What they need is love. - Mike Yaconelli
These quotes really resonate with me. I have spent my life trying to be Superwoman and then Supermom and sometimes SuperChristian.
Why? Because I bought into the lie that if I'm a Christian, things should always be going right. I'm not sure where we got that idea. Certainly not from the book of Peter. Maybe from Jesus' words in Matthew 11 "my yoke is easy and my burden is light". This "selling" of Christ as a way that all things will be perfect is one area where the American church has gone terribly wrong.
I think this has also been a big factor in processing my pain issues. If I'm a Christian, I shouldn't be in pain, right? This has been said to me as directly as "Your pain is a result of some unrepented sin in your life" and as subtly as "If you had faith, you would be healed." These statements roll around in my head, wearing their familiar grooves along my long-traveled pathways of thought.
I believe God can do miracles - I believe he can heal.
He has not healed my physical body.
How can both statements be true? I don't know - I may spend a lifetime "finding the solution" to this dilemma. Jesus has healed and changed many painful things in my life. I have seen and felt Him at work in me, softening my rough edges, gently showing me things I need to change, and redeeming my heart - making me believe - slowly, slowly - that He loves me so fully. The more I feel the love, the more entranced I am by Him. I have come to believe that I may actually be lovable after all. Perhaps I could never come to know this if I were able to be "Superwoman" and sell Jesus like he were toothpaste. Only by being broken could I know how powerful the Healer is.
The truth is, life is a struggle. My life may be messier than most, but honestly, I doubt it. I have pain, frustrations, difficult babies, and financial realities. Following Jesus doesn't make all these things go away. Instead, I am learning how to forge forward, slogging through the muck of my life, holding firmly to Grace. This is Real. This is where I meet Jesus and where I find love and purpose and hope in the journey.
Who am I?
Comments
My sister is KC from your book club and she referred me to your blog. I'm really enjoying your writing and your honesty.
My husband has gone through some disappointments with God. I went through the book of Job and underlined the things I'd heard people in the church say to him in one color, the things I'd said to him in another and the things I'd heard him say in a third. It's not just the American church that says stuff like that, it's in the Bible's oldest book.
That said, we've had ongoing frustration with how the church handles suffering and the process of wrestling with God. 'Cause God seems fine with the wrestling and with the suffering/wilderness, but people are terrified and do anything to pretend it doesn't exist.
Posted by: OTRgirlATgmail.com | May 28, 2007 10:10 AM
"Your pain is a result of some unrepented sin in your life"
"If you had faith, you would be healed."
We heard those comments a lot when my mom had cancer. Even in the secular cancer world there is an emphasis on "having the right attitude" and "positive imagery". All of this puts the pressure and responsibility on the exhausted and overwhelmed victim. It's not fair or right.
I think, like you, God healed Mom, just not physically. I think the story of the friends lowering their paralytic friend down to Jesus is fascinating: Jesus forgives the guy's sins. The crowd freaks out. Then to prove that He is able to forgive sins, Jesus heals the guy.
We take the forgiveness of sins for granted but yet Jesus seems to believe that forgiveness is more life-changing, important and dramatic than enabling a paralytic man to walk.
That is so mind-bending to me.
Posted by: Karis | May 31, 2007 10:42 AM
Hi! Sorry I’m late to respond. For some reason, I don’t always get the notifier emails about my comments.
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your insight. Job is always a mixed book for me. On one hand, it’s encouraging. On the other, it reinforces the idea I have sometimes that God doesn’t care about me and my life but is only interested in the bigger picture (“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements? Since you know." Job 38:4+ and then Job in 40:4 “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth”.
It’s a muti-layered mystery, balancing the fear of God and the love of God.
I'm sorry about your mom. Yes, it is hard when everything does seem laid at the feet of the sufferer. Hard to understand God's plan when his idea of healing is different than mine.
We love having KC(you, Karis!) in book group!
Blessings to you!
p.s. is OTR girl a reference to Over the Rhine? Jen at This Pile has gotten me in to them.
Posted by: Leah | May 31, 2007 04:46 PM