I’m sorry that my Jesus response sounded flip and uncaring. Or concrete, like it’s black or white.
We have a new life in Christ now. The old has gone, the new has come. It’s not us living our life now but Christ’s in us.
As if a switch flipped and reality suddenly disappeared…
I barrelled forward with there’s hope and you’re not alone and now you have extra strength in your camp and Jesus is our help in time of need.
But what it sounded like on the receiving side: So life is perfect now? I can just forget about everything? When I get home, all will be magically fixed? My daughter will be out of jail? My grandson will be over his anger issues? Someone will meet me in the driveway as I arrive with a job offer? My dad will remember my name when I visit him next? The hospital will finally get the charges corrected? I’ll get to meet my grandbaby?
If I had paused and looked with my heart instead of only hearing with my ears, I could have seen heart and hurt, exhaustion and frustration. With this same love-looking, I would have better discerned it isn’t kind or helpful throwing truth-words carelessly over a fence; they land with a thud like cold-shouldered judgment at the feet of whoever is feeling overwhelmed, devastated, unsure, at the end of patience and solution ropes.
Just because we love Jesus doesn’t erase today’s hardship or yesterday’s hurt.
AND
Slinging truth around carelessly can inflict more hurt.
Jesus was never so casual or dismissive with truth OR reality; He straight-up acknowledged in this world you will have trouble… right after He said in Me you have peace. I’m telling you so you won’t be surprised and so you won’t think I’M surprised either. In Me, with Me, you and Me together—peace. Because the world is going to keep offering tribulation and trials and distress and frustration. He knows what our lives are like day-to-day yet His response is peace and comfort. Did He convey this by just scattering words here and there? No… He entered in, He showed up, came alongside; He BROUGHT peace and comfort; hand-delivered love, mercy, listening, and kindness. He knew the value of presence, and modeled this so we could do the same (and even greater); He embodied loving God and loving neighbors as ourselves—by being a doer.
So often our life stuff makes us feel alone in our trials. Even when we’re surrounded by people and circumstances and noise, it can still seem isolating, like we’re the only overwhelmed one. Boy, I wish I had some words to keep company with right now (thought no one ever). Ann Voskamp stated our love-sourced action beautifully: “Withness is always what waters our wildernesses.”
Bringing water, not spraying a hose from a distance.
In the first two chapters of the book of James, he gives insight on various aspects of Christian living and the ways of the Lord, of being Christ-like:
*Be quick to hear and slow to speak – it speaks for itself, right? (We could also add don’t be like Job’s friends…) Tune in and tone down. Cease from solving while others are speaking. Listen leaned in.
*Be doers of the word and not just hearers (or knowers or readers or even speakers) – Enter in, bearing bread of life and living water.
*Judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. How beautiful when mercy wins! Whichever we want for ourselves—BE THAT for everyone else.
It’s not about how far our words can go but how deeply they sink and how sticky they stay—good or bad. It’s the action, the doing, that gives Godly words depth and staying power and makes them meaningful, when we bring them with our presence, sincerity, compassion, and “withness”.
God made clear what He’s looking for in us:
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God? ~Micah 6:8
To DO in a just and righteous way, to LOVE being kind and merciful, all and only in our humble posture with God, by whom we can be authentic grace-filled, grace-giving doers.
God help me to see with Your eyes, hear with Your ears. I do have the mind and attitude of Christ Jesus because of Your Spirit in me, but I often rush and stumble over a flawed mixture of my own issues and good intentions. I’m sorry for additional hurt I cause; thank you for forgiving me and for the greater grace You pour into me and the people in front of me in all that they’re walking through. In Jesus name…
~~~
John 16:33
Matthew 22:37-40
James 1:19-20
James 2:12-13
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