Pastor Chris continues: And the “blessed assurance” that we have as Christians is not that we are going to get what we want here or that God is going to say “yes” to our prayers here, that God is going to cure the ailment here, that God is not going to fix all of our problems, whip away all of our tears or take away all our insecurities and be replaced with this deep, profound understanding of the universe. There is no promise of that in all of Scripture. In fact, the promises that Jesus makes are the antithesis of all those things. But, we have got to make a decision on who you thought God was and the way that He interacts with the world don’t line up conflicts. Are you going to throw out God Himself or are you going to throw out your mixed-up picture of who you thought He was? Because in the vacuum of where that was, I promise you, if you jump into the Bible text and look at the God who is real, I believe that you will find what I found; which is a deeper love with Jesus that I could ever imagine before.
It’s not like I am healing and going to get back to the place where I was so in love with Jesus before my wife passed away. I am so far superseded that because for the first time in my life, I experienced life where Jesus was all I had and not wanting anything else. And the sufficiency of the cross and the sufficiency of Jesus has shown up to me in a way that is so real, that now I just feel like the Lord has set my life on fire and I just want to take as many people with me to Heaven as possible. I just don’t care about anything else. It is not an apathy towards the love of those around me or towards safety It is an apathy towards my own fame and material things. This is not my great faith; it’s just my broken, miserable, wrestling faith in a great God. If you think of someone having the most fervent possible faith in something that is going to fail them, they can be as genuine, earnest and sincere as they want, but Scripture says that outside of Jesus Christ, the object of their faith will not save them.
But Scripture says, with faith the size of a mustard seed in the proper God, in the real, eternal living Jesus, is enough to save you from condemnation and Hell. True faith to bring you into a relationship and call God Father for the rest of your life here and eternally. That is where I am, but I am not healed, I am not all better, and I am not on the other side of wrestling, but one thing that I realize is that when you are wrestling, you are still in the arms of the One that you love. And I think that is a good place to be and I want to invite you to that. My advice to anyone ministering to loved one who is struggle and wrestling is simply “present over perfect”. Just do what Jesus did in John 11:35 – Jesus wept. He didn’t say, there is no reason to weep. Religion sys that this world may appear to be painful, but ultimately it is not really pain because we are going to Heaven someday. The truth is that it still hurts, it still wrecks lives, it still confuses and it’s still that doubt. It’s just that God is so much better than all of it. But, look at Jesus as He wept openly for the loss. Be present.
When someone is going through grief, especially the loss of a loved one, don’t be concerned that you are going to bring them up and open the waterworks. When you lose someone close to you, you do not stop thinking about them. My wife is all I think about and I want to talk about her. I want people to ask me questions about her. It makes you more uncomfortable than me. Jesus always inserted himself into the middle of the pain. Just be present. The greater the grief, the fewer the words needed. When my wife died, my friends and family gathered around me, and I remember the profundity of their words and how powerful they were: “I’m so sorry” and “I can’t imagine what you re going through.” Mental illness is horrifically tragic. One in five Americans have been diagnosed with a mental condition.
I always want to point to the power of the Gospel, but also want to make sure that you are aware that this conversation, if it is not happening in the churches, then Christians are going to be the only ones not talking about this issue, because everyone else is talking about it. People in here are wrestling with doubt and struggling, and I want you to know from the heart that you are loved and known in the church body. There is a comfort in the brokenness of what is happening because our God is still in the middle of it. God is not afraid of it. He is not worried about it. He knows it and He is there to welcome you into it. I want to encourage you, for whatever wrestling match that you are in your journey through life, church is a place for all of your mess and your brokenness, and the more that you can get rid of your “fake Sushi” and introduce the “real” Jesus, the more lives will be changed, because that is the “real” God that lives. That is the One who overcame the grave and comforts us in our pain.
In Christ, Brian
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