Month: April 2019

There’s a ladder leaning against the wall in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.  It’s been there since 1728. Regardless of its original purpose, the Status Quo that governs sites in the Holy Land says that it can’t be moved unless all the religious groups with claim to the site agree.  For almost 300 years, that hasn’t happened. So the ladder remains.

 

Essentially, the phrase “status quo” refers to the existing state of affairs. It simply means the way things are. It’s not a judgment on them and it’s not a pronouncement of how they will always be.

 

While I don’t know if God has any opinion on that ladder in Jerusalem, I don’t think He’s content with the status quo.  He isn’t content to leave us as we are. When Jesus healed the lame man by the pool of Bethesda, He said, “Now you are well; so stop sinning” (John 5:14). When He spared the woman caught in adultery, He said, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Jesus’ message to us is not As you were, or Go about your business, but Go and be changed.

 

Our culture has a tendency to not just admit that we’re flawed, but to embrace brokenness as the natural state of affairs. While it’s true we all make mistakes – “all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23) – it isn’t what we were made for.  It doesn’t have to be that way. Because of God’s mercy, things can be different. We’re all broken people, but thanks be to God, we don’t have to stay that way!

 

What good would it be if Jesus healed our legs but sent us away riddled with cancer?

 

No, I think what God says He will do is what He intends to do. When He says, “You are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven in perfect” (Matthew 5:48), He’s telling us what the final outcome will be. Towards that end, He’s working in us, removing every trace of the cancer that was our death sentence. He’s getting rid of the things that will only harm us, and He’s encouraging the growth of those things that are life giving.

 

God’s goal isn’t to get rid of our personality. His objective is to get rid of our sickness.

 

If we understand that God is a good Father who loves us and has our best interests in mind, we’ll welcome His work in us. We’ll be tired of the status quo. We’ll agree that the change has to be made and we’ll want the ladder taken down. We’ll be done with the things that made us sick, that left us hurting and broken. We’ll eagerly watch for change to take place and do all that we can to stay away from what made us sick in the first place. Not because we can save ourselves, but because once you’ve had cancer, you never want to have anything to do with it again.

 

Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. Ephesians 3:20

We hadn’t even finished the cake from Easter before the world reminded me that there are a lot of reasons to be sorrowful.  It’s like the enemy took a look at our joy-filled celebration and listened to our songs of victory and said, “Oh yeah? You think you have something to be joyful about?” And with that he let loose a world of hurt. Joy is a slippery thing in a sin-soaked world.

 

Only a few days earlier, we were pondering the weighty penalty for sin and the wonder of Christ taking our place on the Cross. Most Christians would agree sin is a terrible thing. But it becomes something else entirely when sin brings death to someone you know and love. When sin isn’t just an abstract idea but an enemy at your door. When one person’s anger or hatred or selfishness has robbed you of something good, of someone beloved. What’s so good about Good Friday then?

 

My friend said through tears, “What about when you get so mad at the wrong that you finally just do something about it?”  Isn’t this what God has been doing all along? “I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them” (Exodus 3:7-8).  The Son of God didn’t die to simply illustrate the seriousness of sin. He didn’t die merely to make us debt-free or to relieve us of the burden of our guilt.  Christ died to bring about our deliverance – to remove us from the reach and influence of evil, to set us free from the enemy (Matthew 6:13).

 

That’s as true on the weary days after calamity strikes as it is during our joy-filled celebrations.

 

God uses tragedy to reveal sin in all its repulsiveness and to wean us of our love of the world and its things. He overcomes the evil the enemy intends by bringing something good from the ashes. He instills in us a love for good and right things and assures us that He is in the process of restoring all things, removing our sorrow, making all things new (Revelation 21:4-5).

 

When I look at the world around me, I’m not so much surprised by the sorrow and brokenness I see as I am by the fact that there’s so much hope. We’re all on the lookout for someone who can bring some light into this darkness, some laughter to these tears, some life into this grave. And that’s really what we’re celebrating at Easter.  Even when it seems as though we’ve lost everything and evil has won the day, the story isn’t finished. There’s a greater Power and plan at work that no tragedy can take from us. There’s joy that’s not based on anything a dying world can offer but on the infinite possibility of an empty grave.

 

God doesn’t remove us from this world; rather He sends us out into it as beacons of light, as carriers of hope. We cry out in the midst of suffering, Take heart! He has overcome the world!

 

This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.  Hebrews 6:19