I hope you are doing well and enjoying your summer!
My weeks have been flying by so I apologize for not being as active on here as I imagined myself being. A big part of it is that I learn something new each day, so to actually gather all of my new thoughts and put them into words is really a large task. But tonight I feel that I need to. I'm just going to jump right into some of the things that have been sorting out in my mind ever since I got here.
In Mark 4:35-41 Jesus calms a massive storm that has overcome the disciples boat. The disciples say, "Jesus, don't you care if we drown?" Jesus answers them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" It's as if he is saying, "After all we have been through together, and all of the miracles I have performed before your eyes, you still are worried at the sight of a storm while in my presence?" Do you ever feel like God is saying that exact thing to you when you cry out to Him during your troubles? This passage is a clear metaphor of us crying out and asking "Do you even care?" when we are in the midst of our anguish. He rebukes our question with another question, "My child, do you still have no faith?" Granted this may not mean he will instantly calm the storm like he does for the disciples, but He will give you peace in any situation if you have the faith he longs for you to have.
I realized that I need to ask myself that question more often, "Why are you so afraid?" I often worry too much about my future and tend to forget about what God has already done in my past. The Lord has delivered me from many things and continues to provide for me even when I don't even know what I need. ( Don't you just love when He does that!) So how could I possibly be worried about my future? God already knows how it will unravel, and it will happen exactly how it should. If I stay on the straight and narrow It will be filled with blessings and overflowing with joy. Now that's something to look forward to.
In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus tells the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The rich man dines "sumptuously" and it is assumed that he doesn't care too much for the poor. Lazarus is a poor man stricken with a disease ( which in his day dubbed him as "unclean" and therefore unworthy of God ) Yet somehow both of these men die and go to two very different places. Lazarus is said to have gone into the "bosom of Abraham" and on the other side of a large "chasm" lies the rich young man in fiery place. He is parched and cries to Abraham to let Lazarus get him something to drink. Abraham denies his request so he asks if Lazarus could at least return to Earth to tell his 5 brothers about his eternal damnation, so that they might escape it before they die.
Why would this rich man go to what is seemingly "hell" and Lazarus go to "heaven"? My first question was, did Lazarus even believe in God? What did he actually do other than being poor to deserve this great place when he died? And what exactly did the rich man do to deserve hell? This made another question arise; Do the poor go to heaven simply by default? and if so, when is poor, poor enough?
After analyzing the scripture and keeping in mind that Jesus only tells parables when he is trying to get a point across, I came to some conclusions through the insight of one of our wonderful small group leaders.
I believe one of the main points of Jesus telling this parable that many may not think of right away is actually the Chasm. Jesus is using a story to tell the people that their way of thinking was wrong. He was stomping on their "purity codes." A rich man will not always go to heaven, and to top it off, a sickly poor man actually does have a chance at heaven! It must have blown their minds.
The "chasm" needs to be broken!
Look around you and hear the silent laws, the invisible divides which is our present day chasm. The divide between the rich and the poor, the black and the white, the Hispanic and Asian. We are Gods body, not bodies. We are one and He wants so desperately for us to be united. You can take this point and bring it into the churches as well. Why is the church body so against one another? How can people who worship the same God talk poorly of another house of worship? How can we frown upon each other and judge one another? Only God can judge us, what right does any Christian have to talk down upon another church?
We are all Gods children, and he accepts every form of praise. If there were no churches with small tightly woven congregations filled with diversity, the more reserved may not ever fellowship. And just so, if it were not for the "mega-churches" and the fancy decor, the suburbanites might never have been drawn into the building!
We as Christians need both areas of the spectrum. Whether it be the outspoken evangelist and the gentle man living in community making relationships, or the one who sells of his belongings to be with the poor and the one who makes 7 figures so he can tithe graciously - we are all in this together. God calls us to live for him in our own individual ways. As long as our hearts are right before God, there is no wrong way to live for Him.
Sometimes I feel like the goal of following Jesus has become an obsession with living exactly how he lived in His day. The "Revolution" is within your own heart. Your way may not be the same as your neighbor's. God needs every type of obedience, and can use us all in amazing ways as long as we have our eyes fixed on Him. What that looks like? I can't tell you, and I believe no one can. We can only examine what it looks like in our own lives through how Jesus works in each of us individually.
Those are just a few of the many thoughts I have gathered in these past weeks and I am determined to learn and understand more. My eyes are open, and my mind is eager for more knowledge. Discernment is what I am praying for these days, and thankfully I feel God has given me an abundance of it lately.
Thanks for reading! I'll leave you with a passage that I have recently grown to love:
"Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because it it prospers, you too will prosper."
Jeremiah 7
In Christ,
Cheryl
