AS I mentioned in the previous posting, my heart is particularly burdened on a number of fronts. I know a number of troubled souls, individuals going through difficulties; burdensome trials that bring one to tears.
“You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” Psalm 56:8
THERE are many thoughts that come to minds when I draw near to these dear folk, not the least of which is my desire to lift their burden. But, I cannot. I can only attempt to comfort and encourage; and of course, intercede in prayer.
I’M going to depart from our normal reading for today from None But the Hungry Heart, and instead share what came to my email inbox recently from New Growth Press, with the comment that as you have been carried along by the grace of God and comforted, so do likewise as your Lord gives you opportunity to comfort and encourage others. The opportunities are not in short supply.
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas. 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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The Path to Life
As Jesus walked toward the cross, we read in the Gospel of Mark how difficult it was for his closest friends and companions to accept his trajectory. They were looking for a leader who would triumphantly pull their community out of all its problems, freeing them from oppressive taxation, rebuilding the glory of the Temple, healing the blind and lame. They were betting on a winner. Over and over, Jesus gently introduces the idea that the path to life goes through death. That he will suffer rejection and pain, that his victory will be hidden, that his Kingdom grows slowly and subtly. Only Mary, the sister of Lazarus, who poured expensive perfume on his feet seemed to grasp the counter-intuitive, counter-cultural nature of his mission.
Though we have a more robust story now, on this side of the resurrection, I still want a path toward triumph that skips the tears. Trials still surprise me, as if the way of the cross that Jesus walked should not apply to me. I’d like to fast-forward through Good Friday and go straight to Sunday dawn.
But until this world is fully and finally set to rights, God’s people, even me and even you, must resist the lie that our lives should always be comfortable, pain-free, popular. Where is Jesus calling you to walk this season that is costly or risky? Take some time right now to ponder Jesus’s call to take up your own cross. Paradoxically, that is the path to life. Pour out your treasure and embrace a story with a better ending than anything you could dream.
Jennifer Myhre, author of fiction for children and young adults featuring characters who walk those perilous paths, and find unexpectedly glorious endings.
