Imagine this scenario. You arrive at the doctor’s office after taking a fall, with sharp pain in your arm. The doctor examines you, runs a few tests, and takes X-rays of your arm. After looking at the results, she informs you that your arm is broken and that is the cause of your pain. You wait but nothing happens. You ask about your broken arm, and the doctor confirms that it is broken. You are waiting to hear about the treatment, but there is only the diagnosis. Every time you ask, you are simply told that you have a broken arm, and you end up leaving the office aware of your problem, but with no solution.

Of course, this is not what actually happens. If it did, the situation would be intolerable. In a situation like this, we want the diagnosis, but we also want a treatment plan. Understanding the problem, even how it was created is important, but fixing the problem is our greatest need. Information is not enough. We need action. This is true in every aspect of our lives. Evaluation, diagnosis, and understanding are all valuable, and necessary, components of healthy change, but we need implementation to see any actual change.

It strikes me that all of this points to an important struggle in our current situation. Everyone wants to point out the problem, even share all of their opinions regarding it, but few choose to become part of the solution. Telling people that the world is broken is hardly news anymore, yet that is what saturates our lives. The media informs us of the issues, but leaves us waiting for answers to the real problem. Social media is full of opinions about the state of the world, but 140 characters and memes rarely provide the space for substantive solutions. It is no wonder that so many people are stressed, confused, and angry.

The church is not immune to this struggle. Christians also seem to have a penchant for decrying the evils of the world, pointing out broken lives and systems, yet failing to offer tangible solutions that lead to healing transformation. It is easy to point out sin, at least in others, but far more challenging to come alongside people and lead them to the wholeness God desires for them. If all we have to offer is commentary on the world’s problems, it is not surprising that the world finds us irrelevant.

Thankfully, the Gospel message does not stop at identifying brokenness. We have so much more to offer. The Gospel is “good news!” It is true that people may need to hear the hard truth, the “bad news,” in order to recognize the problem, but the message does not stop there. In the face of brokenness, God’s truth is there is a way to restoration and wholeness. People were drawn to Jesus, not because he told them what was wrong, but because he healed them. As followers of Christ, imagine what would happen if we did the same.

The truth is, people already know things are broken. They are not looking for information, rather, they are seeking transformation. As a United Methodist, I cannot help but comment on our denominational mission, “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. It is that last phrase that makes the difference, and even if you are not United Methodist, the goal is just the same. Followers of Christ embody the Gospel so that the world can be changed by the power of God’s love.

So, what do we do? What is our prescription? First, we must let God heal our brokenness. We cannot help the world be whole if we are not on the journey to wholeness ourselves. Letting God transform us may be one of the greatest gifts we can offer a hurting world. When we begin to be conformed the image of Christ, we will also begin to act like him. Our heart will begin to reflect God’s heart, and people we see in us the answer they seek.

Second, we can lose the hearts of judgement and replace them with hearts of compassion. The stories of Jesus tell us frequently that he had compassion and healed. Imagine what would happen if we began to have God’s compassion for everyone, not just those we like and agree with. If we begin to pray for God’s heart toward others, we would begin to see people with an immeasurable love, and sharing that love would go a long way toward healing hurting people.

Third, we can set aside our agendas for God’s purposes. It is easy to make God a supporter of our beliefs and desires, but the real call is to make our beliefs and desires what God supports.

Fourth, we can stop yelling and start listening. Instead of trying to force others into our vision, we can help lead others into God’s destiny. People don’t need our opinions, they need truth, grace, compassion, and hope.

In spite of its frequent use, there is great revelation in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son. That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” God has such love for the world that God is willing to give everything to give it life. That kind of sacrificial love is exactly we are called to reflect and live out. It is easy to judge the world, to point out all the brokenness, but the real call of our faith is to love people as God loves them, to walk with them in the way that leads to the wholeness of eternal life. It is a daunting task, but a rewarding one, and thankfully, we can do it through the grace and power of Christ in us.

The post More Than a Diagnosis appeared first on Thinking Faith Cafe.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28

I don’t know if I’ve seen any particular scripture reference used more poorly than the one above. In my own life, and in the lives of many others, people used this verse to suggest that God allowed, even caused, bad things to happen in order to accomplish something good.

When my father suddenly abandoned our family when I was 14, numerous people quoted this verse in a strange attempt to comfort me. They kept implying that, if I waited, I would see that God caused this situation so that something better would happen. I can assure you this created anything but comfort. All I could think as I pondered these comments was, “Really, the all-powerful God of the universe could only accomplish a good thing in my life by putting my family through pain?” It didn’t inspire much faith.

As a pastor, I’ve listened as people quoted this verse to others in the midst of grief and tragedy. I am sure it is meant well, but it hardly represents the compassionate God who stands with us in our pain, who is broken-hearted by our suffering, and who grieves the pain of sin and brokenness in the world. It is a cold word that comes all to easily from a “everything happens for a reason” theology. The truth is, sometimes the reason is that there is evil in the world.

At the same time, we cannot simply negate this verse. While we were never meant to use it to dismiss someone’s pain, there is a promise of hope that lies within these words. God does not need bad things to produce good. God is the source of all goodness. However, it is God’s power and goodness that works in the midst of evil, suffering, and pain to redeem every situation. In our times of struggle, God is with us, comforting us, and speaking life over us, even in the face of death.

I see this loving power of God in situations small and large. Sunday, I caught the flu, which is also why I missed Tuesday’s post. I hated being sick, and I was disappointed in the way it disrupted my plans. I missed out on things I truly value. At the same time, left with little I could do, I found time for some much needed rest, time to pray, listen to God, and saturate myself with Scripture. I did not need to be sick to accomplish these things, but the days of sickness were not lost or wasted because the presence of God redeemed them.

I’ve seen God do even bigger things, in more extreme circumstances. I’ve watched cancer survivors become support for others facing the disease. I’ve seen people who walked through the darkness of great grief become light to others traveling a similar path. I’ve watched those who go without provide care for those with less. The list of such occurrences is long, but in each case I know I am watching God work for good in every situation, as people comfort others with the same comfort they received from God. (2 Corinthians 1:4)

Not every circumstance is good, but God works for good in every situation, and it is for our good. This is why we can rejoice always, because God is always near and at work. We may not choose our circumstances, but we can choose faith, hope, and joy in the midst of them, because God is at work and that is always good.

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Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

O Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness,

that you may be feared. – Psalm 130:1-4

We all fail. We fall short, mess up, and yes, even sin. It doesn’t sound encouraging, or very much like good news, but wait, we’ll get there.

It is easy to get overwhelmed by faults and failures, and to let our focus on them make them seem even larger and more numerous. It is no wonder that we work so hard to ignore and dismiss them. We create cute sayings that make them seem less important. We try to redefine the rules of life so that it appears no one fails. Though we try to make it seem insignificant , somewhere inside, we still feel the weight of it. The good news is, God has a better plan.

The Psalmist recognized his brokenness, and rather than running from it, trying to hide it, or embracing it, he cries out to God to heal it. In an honest moment with the Creator, he declares the weight and pain of sin, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?”

The temptation is to believe that God sees us the way we see ourselves. We envision God, scorecard and red pen in hand, keeping a record of our failures. The further we go, the longer the list seems to become, until the weight is so great we cannot bear up under it, but God’s thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways. Once again, God has a better plan.

I know there are times in my journey when it feels like my choices change God’s thoughts of me. I’ve even bought into the lie that my failures, my sin, create such a separation between us that God probably doesn’t want to even talk with me. Those are precisely the times that I need to remember that all of Scripture declares God’s love, that the lens through which God looks at me is compassion and forgiveness.

With God, there is always forgiveness, there is always healing, there is always hope. Jesus did not come into the world and offer himself, so that we could learn to be at peace with our brokenness. He came to heal that brokenness, forgive our sin, and give us new life. As Jesus’ words in John 10:10 close, he says, “I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly.”

Like the Psalmist, we can see the weight of our brokenness, but we can allow that knowledge to bring us to a place of awe and wonder because, “With you (God) there is forgiveness.” Rather than being crushed by the weight of our failures, we can we can experience the freedom of forgiveness. God did not wait for you to awaken this morning so that you could be reminded of your failures and hide. Instead, heaven was waiting for you to arise in the love of God and be free.

So, today is a good day, to accept God’s perspective, God’s truth, and love in the forgiveness and freedom Jesus gives us. We can release the weight of our own failure, walk in the joy of freedom, and go into the world to offer God’s compassion, forgiveness, and freedom to all who will receive it.

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In my prayers and preparation, I found myself talking to God about the difficult juxtaposition, and about the challenge of finding my way through the darkness to see the light of Christ. In a profound moment of prayer, I sensed God say, “Yes, it’s just like the first Christmas.”

Indeed, the nativity of our Lord did not take place in some sanitized story. Instead, Mary and Joseph made their way through the physical and emotional journey that led them to an over-full city, the chaos of crowds, and to the rejection that came from their position and poverty. Against a backdrop of political issues that rival any in our world today, and amid the exploitation and evil that seem to pervade human existence, God brought two young people from an out of the way town, to the meager hospitality of an animal stall. It was there, where no one was looking, that God broke though, and the Light of the world was birthed in the darkness. In the midst of chaos, the Prince of Peace was born.

We tend to think our time is different, our challenges unique, but such is not the case. The human condition is still the same, and our brokenness leads to pain and suffering. Evil still tries to have its day, but that is not the end of the story. The good news of the Gospel message is that the darkness does not win. At the end of the day, the light of Christ is victorious! Far more than just a distant hope, it is a promise that the brokenness of our world cannot overcome the wholeness of God. John writes in his Gospel, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (1:5 ESV) That is a tremendous promise and an equally amazing reality!

As I reflected on my feelings about this Advent season, I realized that the real challenge was that I wanted to preserve the sentimentality of the season. God, however, was, and is, far more concerned with the significance of the season. Beyond seeking the warmth of happy Christmas songs and TV specials, God calls us to seek the life-changing power of the Savior. In this unassuming little baby born in Bethlehem, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And in the face of the worst our world can offer, “His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6-7) That, my friends, is very good news!

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