April 27, 2018 – John 17
My prayer is not that
you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. John 17:15
Believers don't try
to hide from struggle, but stand in it with the love & faith of Jesus as their
protection.
Life is just plain messy!
One of the most amazing people in our church lately has been
a guy named Leonard. He has been a
faithful servant of God for decades, and has served in ministries,
worked many different jobs over the years, and has some INCREDIBLE
stories. Several years ago, pain in his
left arm sent him to the doctor, where it was discovered he had a tumor growing
in his upper arm. After consulting other
experts and considering options, a surgery was attempted along with radiation,
and Leonard was able to function in spite of losing a chuck of his upper arm
muscle. But about two years later, the
tumor developed again and started threatening to move into the rest of his body. At that point, Leonard had to decide whether
to amputate his arm, or risk greater cancer infection in his organs. Even with amputation, the risk was high that
the cancer was already traveling.
Leonard went through the amputation, along with the phantom pains and
all of the other challenges from losing half of his functionality. He adapted and started serving again, only
to find out about 18 months later that cancer was forming in his ribcage along a lung. At the time of this writing, Leonard
has been dealing with chemo treatments, and is pursuing another type of procedure to kill
that cancer, struggling with the illness and side effects while trying to keep
a positive attitude. Not what you expect
to see in the life of a believer.
That’s one story – and you probably know of many others that
don’t make sense. Why is life so messy
for the followers of Jesus? Wouldn’t you
think that God would just eliminate these types of problems for us?
But that’s not what Jesus prayed for. In preparing to face the cross, Jesus didn’t
pray for believers to have an easy life, but an enduring one. Jesus prayed that we would face the world’s
challenges, and stand against the evil one’s efforts to destroy us. His prayer was not for protection from
problems, but from the evil one’s intent.
God doesn’t always eliminate our problems in this life, He gives us
endurance to make it through the problems.
I would never wish the struggle Leonard has faced on
anyone. But I can tell you how Leonard’s
endurance and testimony has given courage to dozens of people around him. He is our one-armed
warrior, and the battle Leonard fights is a public testimony to God’s love
& faith even in hard times.
Life will always be messy.
But our God won’t let the mess defeat us if we stand with Jesus in the
struggle. Paul wrote: Nothing can separate us from the love of
Christ! --- Not even cancer that takes
your arm. When life gets messy for you …
stand with Christ in the problem and expect Him to protect you from the evil
one. Then your testimony will bring God glory and encourage others around you.
No comments:
Post a Comment