It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.
~ A.W. Tozer
Take a moment beloved… read it.
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Philippians 3
There is a horribly wonderful truth in the Word of G_d.
Death brings life.
Not death we deal on others… that is just death. No, the death that brings life is the Kingdom transaction of dying to ourselves. It is that moment where we realize that everything we have EVER tried to do to please G_d is really nothing more than affront to The Holy One.
Some, like this writer, sincerely believed, but somehow held onto the idea that there was some sort of scale of acceptable behavior – some sort of threshold to being good enough for his Maker, so that he would stay out of trouble and somehow still enjoy heaven one day. And this was wrong. And this brought about tremendous suffering in his life – and the life of those around him. But G_d was not finished with him yet.
Others, like my beloved spouse, simply believed this truth from early on in her life. She grew in grace and graciousness and form and loveliness over the years. It was a faith and relationship with G_d based on faith. And this was good. But G_d was not finished with her either. She had to go through some tremendous relational suffering to learn about the freedom of forgiveness and her identity as a princess in the Kingdom of Heaven. Her roots were wide, and then made deep through the suffering.
Some of us believe and do not suffer, but generally those lives tend to be rather shallow-rooted. Not that this is a problem – at least if a huge storm does not come into our lives…
Some of us believe wrongly and suffer in such a way that we see our beliefs and actions were wrong and repent of our dead works that we might live to Him. Through the pain we are radically saved and deeply – but narrowly rooted in Him at first. It will take time for the roots to spread.
Some of us believe rightly and suffer, and this actually seems to be the most fruitful route for a believer. The pain of true suffering deepens the roots of the tree.
In all cases though, it seems like the key to truly being able to live a life that honors G_d requires that we be torn apart in some way to be made whole. And often the stress involved is seemingly unbearable (and without Him it is). However, the stress of change is unmatched by the power of G_d to sustain us through it. And through the crises, no matter where we are – G_d is everywhere – and we are in Him. And it is He who enables us to Live a life of righteousness, peace, joy…. forever.
But mostly, this suffering is the catalyst to the death that brings life. It tears us out of ourselves, newly alive in Him. Would that we might embrace this death! Surely, we have but to look to Jesus and the Cross for the model of this truth. Oh, would that we might go willingly through the tearing – that we might be made whole!
