“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
1 Corinthians 1:27
I’m probably going to be saying a bunch of the same things here, that I have been yelling at my wife and kids, all week long. I can’t say it’s mature in any way, but she does seem to be letting me do my flopping around, a bit more gracefully these days. There just seems to be no way around it; I’m a horrible mess.
We just got back from the perfect camping trip; from hell. I’ve slept about a full day since then because — well — I didn’t get a ton of sleep this weekend, you know?
Together, my wife and I have five daughters so, a simple camping trip in our family apparently costs the next two week’s groceries and is the most frustrating thing a man could do! The problem wasn’t really those things, though.
No, it was way more embarrassing than that.
The trip — logistically — went absolutely, as-planned; no flat tires, no sudden rainstorms, and everywhere was stocked with wood.
It was all pretty perfect but, not once, did it go smoothly.
Just after the trip — during our spontaneous make-up lunch, the next day — my beautiful Bride said some really comforting words to me. After I had apologized for ruining her birthday — by throwing a complaint-fit about everything they did, and didn’t do, and then avoiding them almost, entirely, the rest of the trip — my wife was just, so kind, and understanding. It was actually, absolutely, ridiculous!
She said;
“I know… everything is hard.”
We both started crying. Her words were the perfect ones.
“Everything is really, really hard!” I cried back.
It’s all just so overwhelming.
I heard a stat the other day that astounded me;
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death overall and the 2nd leading cause of death for people between the ages 10 to 34.
Suicide.
Oftentimes, it’s followed closely by ‘accidental-deaths and over-doses,’ which is just, more self-caused harm.
More than two million attempts fail each year.
I bring this up, because I wonder what stops people, when they do not have Jesus. I understand the desire for suicide.
I will clarify; I do not have the desire to kill myself. But I’m not going to act like people don’t hurt so, so, so, bad because, we do. And I believe the enemy’s number one tool is hopelessness — I mean, the stats support it — it’s rampant; people have no desire to go on.
If it’s any consolation, I feel it, too. It’s heavy. It’s so heavy, it physically weighs on our shoulders and our backs hurt and our teeth grit.
“Maybe I’ll just stay in bed today.”
I really, needed my Bride to understand that day; not for my sake, but for hers. And like Psalms 23:3 says; “for His Names’ sake.”
I’m falling apart. If I’m being honest, the burdens are weighty.
I treated my family badly because I couldn’t handle the burdens of rejection and my pride blew it way out of proportion. I tried extremely hard to kindly, choke it down, but when the physical exhaustion kicked in, everything fell over, and I failed so massively it’s not funny.
Sometimes I do think the world would be better without me.
But it wouldn’t be; I’m sure of it. It’s just the message of the devil — he’s a straight up liar; and everyone hears that message.
I really connected with Paul this week, when he spoke of himself in 1 Timothy 1:15 as the chief sinner.
He says it after a — sort of — guarantee, even. Listen to it in the NIV version;
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:” Paul announces — rather ‘town-caller’ like — “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners — of whom I am the worst.”
I really am just a huge, complete mess!
So, there’s hope, then!?
What the once tenacious, voracious, Christian killer and — I believe — extremely, anger susceptible, passionate man is saying here is that, if you feel like you are one of the worst persons on earth because you keep messing up, or if you think there’s no way you’ll ever fit in, or your life has no value; it’s okay, cause those are the ones Jesus uses to display the most mercy and grace. That’s how the Kingdom works; in reverse; and this doesn’t make sense to us.
We think it’s strength and might that wins; we think the rich win; the comfortable; but over time, I’ve learned that this isn’t true, at all.
“The Bible is foolishness to those who are perishing,” 1 Corinthians says, “we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the {religious} and foolishness to the {heathens}…” (That’s with some of my own interpretation.)
Paul, the writer of most of these letters I’m quoting, also understood the suicide feelings; it’s not a new thing; and it’s not rare.
“…I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far”; he writes in Philippians 1:23; “but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” He confirms his decision to continue his leadership, from prison, in verse 24.
Also, in 1 Corinthians, he lays out a hard truth for us. Paul writes that “if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.”
It’s going to be a difficult journey. There are some things we just, can’t do right, yet.
Allison Eide gets it — in her song, titled; “IDK.” “I’ve mastered the art of self-sabotage,” she boasts, “and even at that, have I messed it all up?”; she still wonders, in the rest of the lyric.
We really, aren’t good at anything; but we really, aren’t the ones in control, either.
Paul struggles with that too! I encourage you to read all of Paul’s letters to the early church goers; the guy is an absolute, genius!
He started with quite the bad rap, too, ya know? Worse than any professing religious leader out there, really. His most successful work was completed amidst absolutely, horrendous conditions — if ever, compared to my life.
I read Paul’s words on a daily basis and I sure do appreciate that he pressed through it. Some days, I like to imagine that the biblical authors pictured me, and what my life would be like, when writing these words for future generations — generations that may have forgotten the living God of Jacob; Issac; and Esau.
Is it worth it?
What if I try all my life only to find out I wasn’t good enough? That I still did’t make it.
What if I find out that I messed up, just too much?
Well, Paul wraps it all up in one comforting statement, thaaat he started his first letter to the Corinthians off with — because it wasn’t an afterthought!
“Christ made us right with God;” the verse reads, “He made us pure and holy, and He freed us from sin.”
You heard it right; “Christ made us right with God.”
Standard met! He did it for us!
So, here’s what I really want to get to;
Contrary to common belief, the money in your bank account doesn’t bring a whole lot of value into your life. The size of your house or what you do for a job, doesn’t really, add any value to who you are. The people you talk to, or the city you grew up in, or the church you’re affiliated with, does not add any value to your life; nor does any of it diminish your value, either.
Jesus warns us to be careful, because;
“…life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
“Rich and poor have this in common:” Proverbs 22:2 starts, “the Lord is the Maker of them all.”
They both struggle with money, I think, could be a fitting addition.
Your value is not in who you are, what you have, or what you’ve done right. No, your value comes from ‘Who’s’ you are; and as we’ve learned, you’re in right standing with Him.
And the best news is, that Jesus likes to take what the world calls trash; worthless; impossible, and He makes it priceless. He says, we’re the apple of His eye. He made us. Then He came for us. Then He died for us. But He has always loved us.
God really loves us.
It’s actually, absolutely, ridiculous.
So here’s the challenge; keep going. You may feel like giving up. You may just want to lay in bed a little longer today, but don’t.
They’re lies, if they don’t line up with the life of Jesus Christ.
It’s okay if it hurts sometimes, we have good days and bad, but don’t ever tap out cause, God will use you, no matter what.
And own it! We mess things up! Big deal; it’s never too much for our Living Creator. He accepts us, if we accept Him.
“Solution based thinking,” from here on out.
And buck up, you’re a child of God!
Have a great week, folks.
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