The Final Goal: Trust And Sadness
Read: 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains. – Proverbs 14:13
In early 1994, when our family found out that the US football team would be playing in my home state of Michigan in the World Cup, we knew we had to go.
What a great time we had as we went to the Pontiac Silverdome to see the US take on Switzerland! It was one of the most remarkable events of our lives.
There was just one problem. One of our four children, 9-year-old Melissa, couldn’t join us. While we enjoyed the event, it was not the same without her. Even in our joy at being there, we felt sadness because of her absence.
As I think back on that day, I’m reminded that our sadness then is a little like our sadness now that Melissa is gone from this life—having died in a car accident 8 years after that game. While we cherish the help of the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3), even that great comfort doesn’t change the reality of her empty chair at family gatherings. Scripture doesn’t tell us that God wipes away our sadness in this life, but it does tell us that God is faithful and will comfort us.
If you have lost a loved one, lean heavily on God’s comfort. Keep trusting Him. But know that it’s okay to feel
sadness for this absence. Consider it one more reason to pour your burdens on your loving heavenly Father.
—Dave Branon
Earth has no sorrow that heaven does not feel.
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Loading ...ODJ: the embrace of God
Jesus replied, “All who love Me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and We will come and make Our home with each of them” (v.23).
READ: John 14:15-26
Adrian Edwards was separated from his parents as a toddler, passed along from institution to foster home, and introduced to a life of crime at a young age. As a teenager, he was convicted of armed robbery and spent time in Western Australia’s Fremantle jail. There, in a strange twist of fate, he met his father who was serving time for murder. Adrian was released but longed to see his father again.
Father and son did meet again when Adrian was convicted a second time. Adrian served his sentence and was released, but he desired to be with his father.
Finally, a string of armed robberies had Adrian back in the courts. “He is looking forward to spending a long period of time incarcerated with his father,” his lawyer informed the judge. A long sentence followed. Adrian’s plan to be with his dad was finally fulfilled.
Orphans long for their parent’s embrace and will do extraordinary things to receive it. Thankfully, there’s a God who longs for His children and goes to extraordinary lengths to embrace us.
“I will not abandon you as orphans,” Jesus once told His disciples (John 14:18). They had met their Creator-incarnate (1:3) and would soon lose Him for a time (14:1-2), but they were not to fret. He was going to prepare their heavenly room and would return to collect them (v.3). He was sending them the Holy Spirit, who would “never leave.” (v.16). And as the Spirit was received into the disciples’ obedient hearts, Jesus said something extraordinary would happen: Father, Son, and Spirit together would come and live within them (v.23). The disciples would be wrapped in the embrace of God—in intimate union with Jesus and the Father (v.20).
This promise stands for all—for Adrian Edwards and for us. Love the Son, receive the Spirit, and be embraced in the Father’s arms. —Sheridan Voysey
The day you felt most abandoned, were you ever really alone? How will you express your love and obedience today in response to God’s embrace?
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Why The World Cup Doesn’t Interest Me
By Rachel Ang, 21, Singapore
I have never been interested in soccer.
It is not a sign of femininity, of that I am sure. A number of my girl friends have posters of players in their rooms, and they actually keep up with the scores of the teams in this year’s World Cup. Me? I would rather spend my night snoring soundly in bed than screaming excitedly in front of a television set. I’m sure that there is at least SOMEONE reading this article that agrees with me.
Bear with my grousing, even if you don’t understand my apathy. Without intending to offend any soccer fans, I present you three points to explain my disinterest:
One. I don’t understand the game. It’s hard to follow a game on television when you don’t know most of the rules. I certainly don’t enjoy playing it either. I can kick well enough and hard enough, but it’s pretty much a matter of time before I’m forced to choose between keeping either the ball in my possession or my face out of the dirt.
Two. I don’t see how it affects my life. Well, okay, it DOES affect me. It’s hard to ignore when people a wall away from me start screaming while I’m on the brink of sleep. Apart from this discomfort that gives me a reason to wish the sport did not exist, I have survived 21 years thus far without being dependent on soccer for a reason to live.
Three. I don’t get how people could die for it. As if it wasn’t bad enough that people LIVED for it! The thought of all the betting, off-field corruption and bribes that happen around the game is distressing. To top it off, the murder of Columbia’s Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga because of the own goal he scored in the 1994 World Cup convinces me that the bad far outweighs the virtue of having this sport around.
And then I realized that these reasons could relate to Christianity as well. From a non-believer’s point of view, these are a few reasons (among others) not to subscribe to the faith.
They don’t understand it. Perhaps nobody has actually taken the time to sit down and explain how the whole thing about creation, sin, salvation and resurrection works out. Christians easily get used to big words and concepts like “revelation”, “sanctification” and the Holy Trinity. It becomes a challenge to put it into simple terms that a child can grasp.
They don’t understand how it affects their lives. So, what does it matter to me if a dude died on a cross 2,000 years ago? Why should I give up doing things that I like just because this ancient book says it’s wrong? Why should I change my way of life for a rumour?
They don’t understand how people can die for it. Many, many members of the early church died spreading the word of the Gospel. Except for John, all the other apostles were martyred for their faith. For an unbeliever who doesn’t recognize its power, it seems ridiculous for Paul to take joy in his chains for Christ, or for him to declare, “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better” (Philippians 1:21).
So what do we do from here? While we keep in mind that it is only by the Holy Spirit that anyone can be saved, we are to also remember Peter’s instructions, “And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way” (1 Peter 3:15b-16a). The World Cup only takes place once every four years, but believers cannot wait to share the gospel only when it comes around! We should be prepared to testify in love for our Lord—in and out of the soccer season.
Our testimony of Christ doesn’t only take place in our words, but also in the way we live. Peter continues, “Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ” (1 Peter 3:16b). Even while preparing yourself to give explanations for your faith to a non-believer, let it be even more evident in your life how and why Christ is worth living and dying for.
The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction!
But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18
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June 30, 2010
READ: Colossians 1:12-22
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. —Colossians 1:13
ASouth African man surprised nine men robbing his home. Seven of the robbers ran away, but the homeowner managed to shove two into his backyard pool. After realizing that one of the robbers couldn’t swim, the homeowner jumped in to save him. The Cape Times reports that once out of the pool, the wet thief called to his friends to come back. Then he pulled a knife and threatened the man who had just rescued him. The homeowner said, “We were still standing near the pool, and when I saw the knife I just threw him back in. But he was gasping for air and was drowning. So I rescued him again.”
In his letter to the Colossians, the apostle Paul wrote of another rescue:God the Father had saved them from the domain of darkness. This rescue occurred at the death of Christ, but also at the Colossians’ conversion. The imagery Paul used (1:12-13) suggests that believers have been rescued from the dark reign of Satan by being transferred as free people into the peaceable rule of Christ. By Jesus’ death, believers become free citizens in the kingdom of light.
The appropriate response to such amazing grace is to show joyous gratitude by offering God acceptable service with reverence and awe (Heb. 12:28). —Marvin Williams
Through the cross, Jesus rescued and redeemed the rebellious.
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