What Would You Do to Be Made Whole?

I don't know about you, but I'm told, in our little part of the world, the flu has been particularly vicious this year. In fact, I actually had a medical professional tell me she'd rather have "COVID times ten" than have this year's variant of influenza. Given the measures implemented a few short years ago, that's a pretty weighty statement. So, I got to thinking about that. What wouldn't we do to be free of disease, seasonal illness, and general malaise? After all, we're hearing all the time what a HUGE money-maker the medical/ pharmaceutical industry is. That's not even including holistic practices or preventative health measures. We go to great lengths, as a nation, to remain or get well. As individuals, we go to doctors, getting second and third opinions, if necessary. We follow the course to healing prescribed by those doctors. Medicine. Surgery. Physical therapy. Dietary changes. Whatever it takes. When it comes down to it, the doctor merely advises. Even if the doctor must perform surgery or recommends a hospital stay, the burden of compliance falls wholly on the patient. And we accept that, for the most part. Even when we lack in obedience, we readily admit, "The doctor told me I had to, but I kind of stopped doing it." It is the way of life, and we embrace it as truth because we want our bodies to be healed. We even recognize there are benefits to our relationships and our lives when we keep our bodies functioning optimally.

Then there's the healing of the spirit. Are we as eager to be free of sin, conflict, and general malaise? Ephesians 4:22 in the Complete Jewish Bible says:

...so far as your former way of life is concerned, you must strip off your old nature, because your old nature is thoroughly rotted by its deceptive desires; 

Our old nature, our sin nature must be removed. It has been rotted and putrefied by its treacherously false longings. 1 Peter 2:11, also in the CJB, says:

Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and temporary residents not to give in to the desires of your old nature, which keep warring against you;

Those desires that lead us astray are the cause of the struggle we sometimes experience. We may want to do what's right, but our familiar ways of doing things, measures more appealing to our flesh draw us to follow after them. Resisting them ends the conflict and allows us to experience the best of life in Christ. Through the prophet Isaiah, (Isaiah 1:19 CJB) God promises the people of Israel:

If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land;

How much more those of us in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who removes the sins of the world! When we walk in obedience, we experience great blessing!

Why is it, however, we so reluctantly acknowledge our sin? Why do we not, with frequency, severity, and diligence, seek examination by the Holy Spirit that our sin might be revealed, and we might submit to His means of healing? Why do we not so religiously follow the orders of the Great Physician? Why are we so slow in admitting, "I did not follow the course of healing recommended in God's Word?" Why do we not embrace God's holy Law as truth because we want our spirits to be made whole? And why do we not regard the benefits of a life lived for God to our families, our neighbors, our employers? Why do we not rejoice at the comprehensive and far-reaching blessing of conformity to God's will?   

Far too often, we want to be healed, we want to be transformed, we want wholeness without work. Wave Your magic wand. Give us a pill. Change me, O God! But even the brazen idol of medicine doesn't work that way. We must acquiesce. We must labor. We must participate. We must stay within close reach of God's grace.

Are we as eager to be free of sin, conflict, and general malaise that there is nothing we would not do?

Midweek: Lessons Learned in Adoption #3

This week we continue to look at the adoption process, earthly and heavenly, based on my experience with both. In the first article, I talked about prayer. It's important in every decision, large or small, and it is the first step to entering into an adoption contract with our Heavenly Father. In the second article, I wrote a little more about the process itself --before we ever met our son. It was long, emotionally taxing, and not always the adventure we thought it would be. It took the support and prayers of those around us and required a special level of commitment from all parties. God's level of commitment to His gift of adoption was demonstrated most graphically at the cross; the level of commitment He requires of us is to abide. It's not always easy and it's not always the adventure we imagine, but we have a Triune God working for us and a Church praying in Jesus' name.

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After we'd been "matched" with the child who might potentially want us as parents, it was time to meet. At an entertainment complex. Trampolines, arcade games, hover boards --all those things Scott and I have 0 (that's ZERO!) interest in. But we needed to meet him in a place in which he could be comfortable, where we could assure him of our desire to meet him where he was. The message of Christmas! It was awkward. For us. For him. But we all pushed through. The gain we could imagine was more than any awkwardness or difficulty we might endure. And we were obeying what the Father had planned for us. The message of Good Friday! 

Then came the sleepovers. I can imagine being kind. I can wrap my head around giving a child a place to stay for a little while, maybe even make him or her feel at home, doing all the things parents do, just until they can be given a safe place in which to remain. But being that safe place in which to remain? That's a tough one. And the child who has to sleep down the hall from adults he/she barely knows? when so few adults tasked with their care have been trustworthy and steadfast? That's some faith in the process there. Adoption is a good thing. How many times over the years had he whispered those words to himself.

The Lesson: Faith. There is a God, the One True God who condescended to become human, to live as we lived, obey the rules we implemented, work and play in the manner we designed. I want to meet you where you are, He says. Jesus left glory for us because of love and obedience; He endured untold pain and daily inconveniences because He knew the gain was greater than the trouble. He had faith in the Father and His plan. He knew His Father as a trustworthy fortress and reliable refuge. How many times did He whisper to Himself, My Father is a good, good Father? Those declarations of who God is and our decision to believe in His character. That is faith. And because of faith in Him, because we bear the fruit of His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control through his Holy Spirit, we can create places for others to remain and experience the Heart of God as it pours out of us.

After the sleepovers, Scott and I fostered our son for more than a year before the adoption was finalized. There were parts of that year in which we rejoiced at the progress we were making as a family; there were moments in that year that were more difficult than any I'd had in a long time. Let's face it, we don't wake up every morning wanting to parent any more than a police officer wakes up every day wanting to police. Our son didn't wake up every morning thrilled to be told how his day was going to go. Additionally, there were nine years of life --ours and his --neither of us could account for. How was he raised? With whom had he stayed? Does he even know who he is? And then there were his questions. Why can't I wear holey (not holy) jeans to church? Do I really want to stay here? Who do these people think they are? What do they know about parenting? His bed was not his bed, but the bed we told him was his. The food on the table was not always food he was accustomed to eating, but food we provided him. The clothing he wore, once the smell of his former placement had been laundered away, smelled differently than any he had worn before. We enrolled him in a school we said was now his school with classmates and teachers he'd never before laid eyes on. His most basic needs were provided to him by people he didn't really know. Could he trust? Would he trust?

The Lesson (and this one really got me!): Trust. We are imperfect beings in an imperfect world. If this young man who has been through so much junk can trust us enough to sleep in a home he never chose, eat food he's never eaten (Oh, the role food plays in making us feel "at home"), give hugs and snuggle against people he really doesn't know, rely on those same people as his caregivers and parents (!) --don't gloss over that: remember the level of trust you had for your parents --if he can do that, what am I doing with my relationship with the God of the universe?! Why am I second-guessing Him, ignoring Him, avoiding Him even, defying Him, vexing Him...? Can we trust? Yes, He is perfect after all. The kind of trust required to live in relationship with our perfect, loving, benevolent Heavenly Father carries no risk for us. But will we trust? Will we hold fast to the lessons which build our faith that we might trust the one true and trustworthy God? 

Counting the Miles

This is the year my husband and I and many of our friends have one of those "milestone" birthdays. I am excited for it. I really do hate trifling with all of those twenty-sixes and forty-twos. Let's just get to the big ones! My husband does not share the same sentiment. His body is wearing out, and as a big, strong man with an equally big, strong personality, I can understand his animosity toward the passage of time and all of the changes that come with it. That's not to say my body is not wearing out --for sure it is, but as women, we are not tasked with the guarding of our doors and the defense of those more vulnerable in the same way our husbands are. Generally speaking, we do not feel the same obligation to remain physically strong. Time is no more merciful to us, however. All things are susceptible to the ravages of use and time. Or maybe not.   

In Numbers 14:29, we read that God punished the complaints of His people by causing them to wander in the wilderness until the generation twenty-years old and older were no more. Forty years for the sin of others! Though, I wonder if those who survived could ever be judged innocent. I am inclined to think God took mercy on those younger because their leaders were such a terrible example. Anyway, I've always been fascinated by the declarations in Deuteronomy 8:4 and 29:5; the focus of both passages being God's goodness toward His people, His provision for them in the wilderness --wilderness they were forced to traverse because of the nation's offenses toward Him. 

Now, the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the state of entropy of the entire universe, as an isolated system, will always increase over time. Simplified, natural things tend not to improve or renew with age: trees rot, mountains crumble, and people die. We know it is likely we will one day be forced to repair our vehicle, replace our phone, or buy a new dishwasher. We expect things to fail and people to get sicker with age. But God! Deuteronomy shows us the mercy of God, His grace and provision for His people. Sure, they had sinned; sure, their parents and grandparents perished in the wilderness; but God sustained them with more than the food and drink necessary to keep them alive! When they arrived in the Promised Land, they arrived in the clothing they wore when they left Egypt! Not in tatters. Not too small --Can you wear the same jeans you wore at nineteen? Not with broken straps or holes in the bottoms. Deuteronomy 8:4 says their feet didn't even swell! No bunions or blisters! Forty years, and yet, time had no bearing on their most essential resources.         

Will God keep us free of wrinkles and backaches? Perhaps. Can we be assured our bills will always be paid and our fridge forever brimming with good foods? Perhaps. But regardless of how God's goodness will be manifested in our lives, we can be assured it will be. Natural Law tells me my birthday party balloons will never automatically inflate but will eventually deflate. Probably before I even notice the new pain in my shoulder. But God's Law says that He is good and good to His people; He is Provider and Protector. We need not fear the consequences of age or entropy or life in a broken world. We can relax, stop worrying about the what ifs, and humbly receive the good God desires to give us. No matter how many milestones lie before us!