Losing Our Lives

"Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily."

                                                                                ~ Napoleon Bonaparte


If one is deaf, does it change the symphony played by God's Creation?

Niagara Falls

Absolutely Not!

Nor does being blind mean the non-existence of the visible. 
And the visible sights with the chorus of praise to God for His universe continues, even though many of His creatures point to all that is wrong with the world.
Some even claim the short-comings of the world stand proof that there is no Creator.

Interesting.

Yet, let's follow this through to a logical conclusion.
For example, one of the most tragic, unexplainable, painful issues we may deal with is a child with birth defects, seemingly for no reason or cause.
Instead of looking at the reality that this has its roots in the fall of man and rebellion against God when Creation fell from its perfect state, most people will look at such a situation as 'horrible' and feel sorry for the parents, while arguing if a good God existed He would not allow such things to happen.

I disagree. 

The birth of every child is a wonder of God all its own.
Every child born renews hope and joy in ourselves.
In this, I would include children who are born with mental illness and disease and abnormalities that we cannot yet explain.

As evidence, I would point to the biological parents of these children and even more to those children who have been adopted by loving parents.
Ask those parents if their child was a 'mistake,' an 'accident' or a 'tragedy.' 
I would lay a shiny new dime on it that they will tell you that their child or children have made them better people.



Often we overlook the fact of how powerful the miracle of God is whether it is after a child has grown or at their birth.
The truth of it all is that the biochemistry involved to produce even one healthy child is infinitely complex.
To a guy like me, I wonder in amazement that there aren't millions more children born with some genetic abnormality that we can't describe or explain. 

One of the miracles in this is the pain that may be involved; physically, mentally and emotionally.
Few can imagine the world as God created it; error-free, disease free, tragedy free.
It was indeed perfect.

While we may not be able to imagine such a world, for this world and this life is all we have known, it is the Blessed Hope we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
What once was, will be once again.

But I digress.

In our world, as Christians, we must learn and continually remember that pain is not necessarily a bad thing.
Pain, in its most basic form, tells us that something isn't right; whether it be a hunger pain, a pain in our chest or a pain in our ankle after falling - the message is that something needs to be corrected.

The same is true spiritually. 
If seeing a downs syndrome child, a man living in a box, twenty women lined up for food at an abuse center or someone digging through the trash for clothing; if these things bother you in your spirit and not in a good way; I can promise you something is terribly wrong.

You see, these things do cause a type of pain within us.
If it is a pain that hurts for them and aches in the sense of wanting to do something to help, you're probably on the right track.
If this pain given to you plagues you over these ministry needs to the needy; then maybe, just maybe, God is giving you a mission, a calling on your life.
This ministry may not be behind a pulpit but it will reach people in ways you never imagined.

Pain comes in many, many forms; not all forms are alike but they are all similar and it does teach us something about ourselves, our spirituality and our Lord.
Sometimes when we hurt we learn the most we could ever learn about faith; many times we never see as clearly as we do when we look at the world through tear-stained eyes.

When it comes to pain in all forms, most Christians will turn to the Book of Job in Scripture to try to ease their own adversity by studying his from so long ago.
Let me say this before I continue with that thought, I learned long ago that Job asks two questions. 
The first is, 'Why do the Righteous Suffer?' and the second one is, 'How can a Sinful man be right with a Holy God?'

With all due respect to those deciphering the problem of pain, Job's second question is far more important than his first.

The truth is that God never directly answers the problem of pain.
When Job had enough of his lack of understanding, he began to question and rail against God; in the last few chapters of his book, Job receives an answer from God, but it isn't what he expected. 
God fires back at Job, strongly but gracefully, and basically answers him by calling attention to the Created order.
In essence, God says this: 'Job, I produced the great things of nature you are familiar with; can't you trust me for those things that you don't understand?'

And Job's 'thing he couldn't understand was his suffering.' 
His answer was 'yes.'

As he was, so can we be; trusting God in the pain and trails of life.
Friend, I know it is hard to trust; please remember I should be in a grave this very moment, my life claimed by the plague of the 21st Century - Cancer.

But God healed me and has left me for a testimony to His trustworthiness, grace and love.

You see, we often anguish over the tragedies, diseases and pain we experience in life while at the same time, ignoring many good things surrounding us from the very hand of God.

It is up to the Body of Christ in our modern world to care for the sick, the unloved and the unwanted; nobody else, including the government, is going to do it and Scripture challenges us to fulfill our calling with the less fortunate.
We cannot do so if you and I get hung up on 'why' someone is suffering or hurting or sick; it may very well hinder an incarnational response from us and this can never be the norm.

Think about it, just in what concerns the sick, today we have HMOs, insurance companies, medicare, Obamacare - all of which make decisions for their clients without consulting their doctors or clients.



This, undoubtedly, squelches the personal touch which was once found in Health Care.
Even doctors, many of whom went into medicine for noble reasons, now have lost sight of the person they are treating.

The Body of Christ fails if we ever do the same.

The truth is that we, as individual members of the Body of Christ, we can only seek out one person at a time; then another, and another after that.
These are the objects of God's love who have missed it so often, but trust us to bring them His compassion, love and grace.

It's a daunting task when you look at the vastness of humanity; but if you look at it as one person at a time to touch with Christ's love - whether it is a homeless man or a disabled child - you and I become much more effective.

For example, I recently read of a man who praised God for having leprosy.
Sounds odd doesn't it.
Yet, it's true.

The man praised God for having leprosy because without having leprosy, he would have never met Dr. Paul Brand, the foremost medical expert on the disease during his time and a Christian. 

The man rightly proclaims that without leprosy, he'd never known Brand and if he had not known Brand, he would have never know 'the God who lives within him.'

You will find in life that God often has an agenda which we do not yet know.
Sometimes God will reveal what He is doing before we know we should act, sometimes it is in the middle of the act; at other times, it won't be until after it is over, long over.
While serving Him, we simply must trust Him and follow His lead in touching one person at a time.

I have a friend who grew weary of the usual Christmas ministries, especially in the fact of not knowing where the money/gifts were going and that some of the people who were receiving help were better off than what was expected.
So, she and her husband, who are very connected to the community in which they serve, they decided to have their own private 'Christmas Fund' and bless one or maybe even two families whom they knew truly needed help.

It has worked out unbelievably well.
The gratitude of those that they have helped over the years is astounding; and when you encounter compassion and love on this individual basis, it just makes you want to serve the Lord better and be worthy of His blessing and love.
These two have truly 'lost their lives' in the Lord and in the compassion of blessing others the way they have been blessed.

Jesus said: 'Whoever find his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake, will find it.'


Could it be that when we 'lose' our lives in other people the way Jesus would, that this is the surest way to find it?
I believe so; for this brings honor and glory to the Lord.
Go and do likewise.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.