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Carrying God-Inflicted Wounds

I wanted to share something that has been impacting me deeply as of late. Recently when I was praying (and feeling broken), I heard the passage from Isaiah 53:

“But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.”

This is one of the most potent scriptures concerning Christ, but it is also a profound window into the nature of God. “The Lord was pleased to crush Him…”. In the moment I heard this verse, the Lord was communicating something of His nature to my heart. It’s not a very popular aspect of God in our humanistic, self-seeking, pain-avoiding culture – but there are times when God does deliberately wound us, crushing us, so that a pleasing fragrance may arise – so that He can make something beautiful from the ashes, if we’re willing.

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Hypocrites?

It seems to me that right now, in our current climate, “hypocrite” has become one of culture’s favorite words. Men and woman of small character love to hurl that word at others. More often than not, in my opinion, it’s just an attempt to justify controversial opinions (at best), or to ease their own guilty conscience (at worst). The reality is, we’re ALL hypocrites, at least according to the working definition by which this insult is being exchanged. Unlike God, we have a limited capacity. We CAN’T carry a burden for every form of injustice in equal and simultaneous measure, or fight them all with equal passion. That doesn’t make us hypocrites, though. It makes us finite.

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Propelling Our Children Forward

As the future father of multiracial children (Lord willing), I can honestly say that neither my wife nor myself have ever felt that our children will be up against a rigged system or will be overwhelmingly disadvantaged simply due to their racial status or skin color. That said, I’m not trying to draw a comparison or make a case for how me and Brandi’s respective situations and backgrounds are the same or different from anyone else’s. I know those details could be picked apart and deliberated all day long, but that really isn’t the point of what I’m getting at.

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Diversity Generates Growth

It’s interesting to me how the church in our culture loves to divide itself into groups. We have “youth” group, “college” group, “singles” group, “young adult” group, “men’s” group, “women’s” group, so on and so forth. I’m not saying this is wrong, and I know it provides certain benefits. However, I think when that becomes our primary context, it really robs us of something. I believe that diversity provides the greatest context for growth. While it feels the most comfortable to be with others like us, those who can “commiserate” and closely relate with us in our season of life, we actually will experience the greatest forward momentum when fellowshipping with those across many different seasons of life. If you want to be called higher, find those who have lived through your season of life, steady in the Lord. If you want to regain something that the cares of life have choked out, find those who are young and vibrant, and allow yourself to be provoked. Again, this isn’t intended to speak out against having these groups across the board, as I know they have some value – just to remind us that there’s a real danger of inhibiting our growth if that becomes our primary fellowship environment.