It’s proximity, not the problem

2 Tim 3:11 – …the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

It’s proximity, not the problem.

We want and pray for deliverance, healing, comfort, peace, ease, etc. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He, at times, answers our cry for exactly what we pray. At other times, in the middle of our problems, He gives us something that’s bigger than the release we seek – His presence.

I can’t help but notice what seems to be a weird duality of sorts in some of Paul’s writings. The verse above… the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me. If Paul endured or went through persecutions, did the Lord really rescue him? To me, going through them isn’t really being rescued.

Or another verse in the same letter, 2 Timothy 4:18 – The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack… But the Lord didn’t rescue him from every evil attack. It was an evil attack that later separated Paul from his head.

I looked closer at the verse above - Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them – and I’ve found that rescue isn’t the rescue I understand it to be with the idea of completely taking someone out of a situation. It has more of the idea of drawing to oneself rather than removal. It’s more of pulling someone close than pulling someone out. It’s not dragging a person or thing out of the danger zone, but rather dragging a person or thing close to oneself.

Paul experienced the same things we experience – hard times, difficult struggles, physical pain, emotional anguish – but Paul says emphatically - the Lord rescued me from all of them. God did so through His presence, through His grace that was sufficient, through His strength perfected in weakness.

In my problems, I want deliverance, healing, comfort, peace, ease, etc. But I think more than that, I want God’s presence. I want Him to bring me close. I want Him to pull and drag me to His side, because in His presence, I am delivered, healed, comforted, peaceful – and rescued!

Lord, bring me closer!

I don’t have it all together!

2 Corinthians 12:9 - But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

In most bible college courses I took, the professor would take time before the class to ask if anyone had prayer requests. (These were also the times that we would pray extra hard and long that the Lord would reveal Himself in a powerful, moving, Spirit led way – especially within the 55 minute time period of the class.)

Usual prayer requests from students would be for family members, grades, test scores, and money. One day in English class, the professor asked if anyone had any special prayer needs, and one girl mentioned her sick dog. Now to uber-spiritual, tightly wound BIBLE students, this seemed absurd. Why would a loving, powerful, Almighty God be concerned with something of such little consequence as a creature with no eternal soul?

As the giggles and smug smiles started, the professor hushed the class and continued on. No one really said anything more about it that I can remember, but that prayer request taught me a lesson that day – God cares for what we care for. A sick dog may sound like nonsense to those whose heads are in the skies, but the reality is that God is concerned and compassionate toward all of the things that pull at out heart. The mountain to one may be an ant hill to another. Who are we to discount and judge?

Another lesson I learned that day – I was too prideful.

Not once in the years I attended class did I ever raise my hand and give a prayer request need. I had family member needs. I had grades that needed pulling up. I needed money. My dog of 12 years even died while I was away at college. It broke my heart. I cried. But not once did I offer a need for others to pray for me.

I was reminded again yesterday of my lack of transparency and personal pride. While at a weekly meeting with the guys at my new staff position, prayer requests were being taken. While others were expressing real needs for prayer, I said nothing. I guess in my way of trying to seem like I have it all together – I try to seem like I have it all together. But I don’t!

What better way to express it to the world than on a blog? – I don’t have it all together.

The Apostle Paul wrote for all history to read that he didn’t have it all together. He said, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses…” 

I’m trying to get to that place. I have weaknesses, yes, indeed! I know this verse to be true. I have preached it several times. I have encouraged others to trust in God through weakness. But personally, I sometimes fail to see the last part of Paul’s statement AS reality - “…so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” That’s the key! That’s the reason Paul can boast, because he knows that Christ’s power is greater than any weakness or need he may have.

Grace is humility. Humility is the opposite of pride. We can’t experience God’s grace when we are prideful. We can’t be humble unless we are transparent.

I’m weak. I have needs. I’m still learning. Pray for me.

I have a Christ!

1 John 2:1 – But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Well, “Habemus Papam!” – “We have a Pope!” That is a collective universal “we” of which I’m probably not included. I don’t have a Pope, but it seems that those who do have a Pope, have a Pope with a pretty good reputation. Accounts of Pope Francis say he’s austere, humble, and missional minded toward the poor.

I have a Christ!

Nothing against the Pope. I actually think it’s kinda cool, for those who are sincere and devout. I like the beauty, the solemn duty, the devotedness of those who serve as priests. Of course, catholic priests have gotten some bad press in the past few years, but I’m sure that there are pure minded Godly men serving the catholic church that want to distance themselves from others who have fallen and tarnished the symbol of the office.

But anyway, I have a Christ!

Thousands gathered to watch the tiny smoke stack, waiting for the white smoke to billow out signaling the new Pope. The waited and waited, watched and watched. Finally it appeared, only after cameras caught a seagull resting on the top of the smoke stack, which was a good sign as the new Pope chose Francis as his name after St. Francis, patron saint of animals. Then the crowd shouted, “Habemus Papam!” – “We have a Pope!”

I have a Christ!

Through all of this show and media attention, it’s not all a bad thing. It has people talking and debating religion and spirituality. Some are mocking and offensive. I think yesterday the Pope was the top topic by far on Twitter. Most of what I read was blasphemous and offensive. But people are talking. Maybe some are thinking about the state of their own spiritual life.

Which reminds of what Paul wrote in Philippians 1:18 – The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

So, the attention is high and fevered at the moment because, “Habemus Papam!” – “We have a Pope!” But after Pope Francis gets into his office and sets his paper weights on the desk and hangs his favorite St. Francis poster on the wall, the attention will die a little. The news will not have cameras fixed to the Vatican or the smoke stack.

But through it all, I have a Christ!