Monthly Archives: December 2019

“INNOCENT SUFFERING”

On December 2, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

We all wish for the guilty to suffer, and the innocent to be vindicated.  And of course all of us are innocent, aren’t we?

But the truth is this: Often the guilty go unpunished.

Or do they?

The guilty have to live with at least one evil person twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred-sixty-five days a year.  That person is their own selves.  (On leap year, they get an extra day to their sentence.)  And while we all sometimes choose to be the guilty person, who really wants to live with one?!

And it also might be asked about how innocent any of us really is?

I realize that this is a terribly unpopular idea, but I still hold to the classic Christian teaching that says that we are all sinners, and that sin is a deadly business for us all.

That does not imply (as it is often thought to imply) that the victim becomes the perpetrator.  No!  There are the victims, and there are the victimizers.  I have been both at different times, and in different situations.

However, I suspect that we all over-rate and over-sell our own innocence. 

Still, there are many parts of the Bible that recognize that the innocent suffer through no fault of their own.  Psalm 79:3-4, 73:13, and 1 Peter 4:12-19 are just a few of the many verses that acknowledge this uncomfortable truth.  In fact, an entire book is devoted to the problem of innocent suffering—the Book of Job.

The teaching of the New Testament is that the truly Innocent One, Jesus, suffered for all the guilty.  This is a radical and unpalatable idea.  It may or may not be true, but that is what the Bible teaches.

But Jesus also died for the innocent.  Apparently, God’s grace and love is so vast that God’s grace and love embrace—that God Himself embraces—all people of all times.

So, if God has embraced the innocent and the guilty, where does that leave us?  Should we conclude from this that it doesn’t matter whether we are innocent or guilty in a given situation?

No!  Those of us who have been embraced by such a warmly accepting God cannot stay as we were or as we are.  Those of us who have come to know that we have been embraced by such love, must acknowledge the fact that we have abused those over whom we held power.  We must pray that we will do so no more.  We must strive for a godly self-control that will keep us from further devastation.

The Jesus who died for the guilty and the innocent did not die so that the guilty could go on with business as usual.  Business as usual is not one of the fruits of such undeserved grace and forgiveness.  Gratitude, humility, and transformation of life are the business model of those who have been to the cross of Jesus.

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“Invincible Summer”

On December 1, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”  (Albert Camus)

This was the epigraph that led off one of my 12-step readings this morning.  I am profoundly grateful to Hazelden Publishing for these readings.  They help make me saner—or, at least, a little less crazy.

I have been prone to depression for nearly sixty years.  It started just before Christmas when I was nine years old.  I didn’t even know what to call it then.  I have since come to know the grey monster only too well.

Especially in winter, it is a problem.  Some forty years ago, my wife noticed, one dreary February day, that I was more prone to depression in the winter.  In her usual constructive manner, she said, “You need to get some exercise.  Perhaps that would help.”

“It’s 270!” I replied.  I thought that would cool her jets.  It didn’t.  She’s pesky like that.

“Why don’t we go play golf?” she continued.  “You’ve been wanting to teach me how to play.”

“It’s 270!” I said again, as if she hadn’t heard the first time.

“We’ll bundle up,” she said.

Knowing my wife’s persistence (and being too depressed to resist much of anything), we bundled up, got someone to watch our kids, threw my clubs in our refrigerated car, and headed for the golf course.

After five holes of icy golf, I was feeling much colder, but a lot less depressed.  “I think I’m feeling better,” I said, through chattering teeth.  And then, I added, “You really did well for this being your first golf outing ever.”

“I would have done even better if I had had left-handed clubs,” she replied.  I am a righty, and my wife is a lefty.  She really did do well!

I have a lot to be depressed about right now.  No need to go into all the details.  It would make me even more depressed if I did.  It probably wouldn’t do a lot to lift your spirits either.

But now, along comes Camus, who is not known for his optimism, with this quote: “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”

Invincible summer!  Now there’s an incantation with which to conjure.  I can certainly remember summer, even in winter.  And I can play summer songs on You Tube.  I can probably even create a “summer channel” on AccuRadio.

And maybe, just maybe, I can come to enjoy winter more, too.

After a long, grey, wintry spell, the day is dawning cold, but bright and clear.  Today, I will choose joy.  Today, I will choose to be invincible summer.

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