cultivate (kuhl - tuh - veyt)
v. 1) develop 2) nurture

graft (grahft)
n. 1) transplant 2) bud 3) union

Thursday, March 7, 2013

The Most Annoying Heretical Christianese Phrase

I just don't know how much more I can take!
I know, I know.
I mean it! If one more thing happens, I'm going to crack.
Oh, honey. Just remember: God doesn't give us more than we can handle.

Bzzzzzzz
I'm sorry. Wrong answer. 

Aw snap.

I'm not sure who came up with this trendy phrase, but I know we need to end it.* Somehow (it seems) 1 Corinthians 10:13 became a blanket statement for trials and tribulations. However, this verse is cut and dried; It's talking about good ol' fashion temptation. There's nothing in that verse to suggest God will put a cap on my struggles. In fact, just the opposite is biblically true.** The Bible is rife with accounts of God stretching people to the max. And then some. History is jam-packed full of Christians who, by all intent and purposes, should have caved. But they didn't

Here's the zinger: Most of us can name on one hand, the people we personally know who have lived extraordinary lives of faith; Whose lives cannot be explained outside of God, and even then, leave us shaking our heads in awe. 

Dear friends, this should not be. I refuse to believe that modern-day Christians are somehow exempt from the radical, sold-out, cannot-be-shaken lives that were common to generations past. Radically living for Christ is not legend; it's authenticity. A surrendered life cannot be cashed in on a wooden nickel. Only gold, refined in the fire will do. 

It is when I am gripping the last frayed strands at the end of my rope, that God's glory shines the brightest. It is where I am crushed to the point of exhaustion and cannot draw a full breath that my life is best suited for Kingdom work. Once outside the realm of my abilities, my skills and my accomplishments God's work is most visible. When I am at my thickest in my comfort, His light is at its dimmest in my life. 

I desire a life that leaves people bending their hearts to the Father. If my life is aligned with the "American Dream", I have forfeited a cross-bearing life at the cost of souls. If my life is aligned with YAHWEH, there is no damper large enough to snuff out my light. Each person I encounter will leave our conversation saying there is no way humanly possible for her to do what she does.

Exactly.

That's where I want to be. I want to say each morning that there is no logical way for me to take even one baby step without falling flat on my face. I am powerless to propel myself to do what I do. Only an all-powerful God could orchestrate my life. I have ended and His glory is what goes before me and behind me. I have become but a mere speck in my own life, barely visible apart from the mighty hand of my God.

Church, we need not stand by wistfully daydreaming of a time when we were powerful. It is yet our time to renew our strength in Christ alone.

Time To Rise,
Cynthia


*I'm sure they had good intentions. 
**That whole "In this world you will have troubles" bit is probably just as true as the rest of the Bible.

8 comments:

  1. Yeah, you know, people say this to me all the time and it's like, really? Do you think that's helping in any way? Geesh.

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  2. But we are definitely not promised an easy life, and people need to remember that. Why everyone thinks we don't deserve or won't encounter any suffering is beyond me.

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    Replies
    1. I think (in part) the American Dream really has tainted our perception of suffering, and also whether we *should* suffer. We feel cheated if we have a bad day.

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  3. Oh girl, I need this reminder! We have been/are living sacrifices...but I have to say, sometimes I forget WHY! Especially times that "ministry" is hard to figure out, or it just doesn't seem like your doing anything you thought you were called to do...it is easy to only see the hard parts and not the God parts.
    Thank you once again friend.

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  4. Amen! Tough times put us in "the valley" but God promises to bring us "through the valley" not leave us there. It is in the valley when His light will shine the brightest - and it is in the valley when we - and others - most need to see His light.

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