Bagels, Burdens and Bruises.

(By Diego Cuartas)

It is interesting the kind of subjects we end up entertaining around breakfast times. As my wife and I were enjoying our bagels the other morning, we were faced with the fact that we are all vulnerable in many ways. Not only do we experience our own brokenness but there is also a reality we face when we move towards others who bring their own vulnerabilities. In a way a principle that is always at work in relationships is that we are impacted by what others bring with them. We are not inmune to other people’s brokenness. And some times in our effort to help we also run the risk of being bruised.

Thankfully, God knows this and is so willing to provide us with grace so that we can help bear the burdens of others as well as address our own. I am encouraged by the promise God offers us in Isaiah 58:9-10:

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.

Did you hear the strong tone of this promise? If I spend myself in behalf of other people’s vulnerabilities my light will increase. More and more and more light will increase in my life! So grace is given to us when we get close to others in their place of need. By God’s grace darkness will have to flee!

Here is another one. In Psalm 73:23-24 the writer evidences a confidence in God’s guidance and counsel in spite the negative predicament he finds himself in.

“Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
 You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will take me into glory.”

So we have the presence of God with us, His guidance and counsel plus a promise for His light to increase in our lives as we spend ourselves in the vulnerabilities of others.

But there is one more thing God offers to us in grace. He offers us a warning. Yes, warnings from God are a form of grace. Interesting, in the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul warns those seeking to help others by stating that they too may face personal temptations in the process of helping (6:1).

So the antidote to any fears or dangers we experience as we get close to other people’s vulnerabilities is to trust God’s grace. He has a record that shows His ability and commitment to help those in need. Consider Psalm 147:

Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
    for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
    he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars;
    he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
    his understanding is beyond measure.
6 The Lord lifts up the humble;
    he casts the wicked to the ground.

May He continue giving us courage to get close to those we would rather avoid as we trust Him to provide us with what we need to help others and honor Him.

An Old Phrase or A Misinterpreted Truth

(By Diego Cuartas)

Recently someone asked me what my thoughts were concerning a common phrase we often use in our Christian circles. The phrase: “God will not give you more than what you can bear”. This is not exactly what the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians more than 2,000 years ago, but the phrase is rooted in the first letter he wrote to them. Paul said: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (10:13, NAS).

If I were to go by human experience, I would have to emphatically say that God does allow me to experience realities that honestly go beyond myself. I have often found those realities unmanageable or out of my control for the most part. And so in that sense they are more than what I can bear or handle. So, this common phrase is one that deserves careful thought or it has the risk of having the same misunderstood popularity as the phrase “God helps those who help themselves”--if it hasn't already. My hope is that you would be inspired to do diligent study of the truth expressed through the Apostle Paul and arrive to more concise, biblical conclusions rather than be left to lean on a common phrase that may represent a misinterpreted truth. Can I give you another motivator? The truth Paul is expressing in 1 Corinthians 10:13 is one we need to apply to our lives as a sail is to a boat on a daily basis. It is a truth that can set the direction of your heart as you face testing or temptation.

First observation: the word used in the beginning of verse 13, peirasmos, denotes testing or temptation.  What Paul has in mind is not only temptation but different testing we experience in life. The testing or temptation is described as what is “common to man,” so in this sense it would not be appropriate to believe that what we may be facing is somehow the result of being singled out by God—others are experiencing similar testing or temptation.

Second observation: this truth is given to us in the context of a warning against testing Christ through our responses to testing or temptation. Through the example of how Israel, the people of God, tested him, we are warned about not doing the same thing. The warning is followed by an exhortation to examine ourselves regarding how we stand before our present difficulties. Paul desires for us to hold on to the fact that God will be faithful to help us in our time of need. Though testing and temptation are common to man, your experience or suffering in it is not generic, it requires specific grace only God can offer to you.

Third observation: there is an illustration elsewhere from Paul's life that shows that we are indeed tested or tempted, at times, beyond our abilities. In 2 Corinthians 1:8 Paul reported: “we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.” Notice that Paul very clearly states that the pressures he and others were facing were “far beyond [their] ability to endure” and that experience led them to despair.

My conclusion, contrary to the old phrase or misinterpreted truth, is that this verse is not saying that you will only experience testing or temptation within your abilities to handle. Ready for the encouraging news? I believe what this verse is saying is that the reason you will not be tested or tempted beyond your abilities is because God promises to provide you with the way to escape or the grace to be able to bear patiently what you are facing. And somewhere in between, as John Calvin believed, God “sets limits to the temptation” (Calvin's Commentary on the Bible, studylight.org).  What is happening here is that the emphasis is on God's grace made available to you, not how much you are able to bear.

Friend, at times you will, like Paul, celebrate the fact that you have been rescued from difficult times or given the way out to escape as it was reported in 2 Timothy 3:10-11. At other times, like in the case of slaves who believed in Christ, the Apostle Peter would encourage them and commend them because they were bearing up “under the pain of unjust suffering because they [were] conscious of God” (1 Peter 2:19). The point is whether you are being rescued or given the help to endure, God will be faithful to you in your situation.

A few further truths/questions to meditate on...

You will be tested.(2 Timothy 3:12)
You will learn to decrease as you trust in God in the midst of tests and temptations. (2 Corinthians 1:9)
God will deliver, you can hope in Him. (2 Corinthians 1:10)
Sowing through prayer you and others will reap a harvest of thanksgiving. (2 Corinthians 1:11)

In what ways are you being stretch beyond your abilities?
How is God helping you escape testing/temptation in your life?
How is God helping you endure testing/temptation in your life?

Hey Look Out!

(By Tammy Vaughn) 

I was attending a picnic earlier this summer.  I was walking along a path and a friend was following behind me. We were carrying our stuff to a picnic table. Our hands were full and the load was heavy. She was walking in front of me and I was following behind her. She saw a huge hole in the ground and brought it to my attention.  She was alerting me so that I could change where I was walking since I was heading into a place of danger. I quickly changed direction; I listened to her and moved away from the hole and walked on solid ground. Had she not alerted me to the hole, I would have walked right into it. If I had fallen into this hole, I could have hurt myself severely. I could have fallen down, twisted my ankle, wrecked my knee or gotten other injuries, not to mention the embarrassment I was spared. I was grateful she told me and even more grateful that I listened.

I thought to myself, this is how Christian friendship and accountability should be. It’s like Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, “Two People are better than one. They can help each other in everything they do. Suppose someone falls down. Then his friend can help him up. But suppose the man who falls down doesn’t have anyone to help him up. Then feel sorry for him!” (NIRV)

It is helpful as Christians when we are able to see things that could be pitfalls in the lives of our Christian friends. Before I move on, I am not saying we should go around and alert everybody of potential pitfalls.  I am talking about when you have earned the right to speak into someone’s life or feel God is directing you to speak to a person about these pitfalls. 

It is very helpful when a friend looks out for you spiritually and warns you of possible danger.  It is a humbling experience to be the one bringing the warning as well as the one being warned. It takes great courage to be both.  It also takes great courage to follow a warning. When we choose to follow direction it can be life-changing. 

As I have reflected back to times in my life that I have followed warnings my friends have given me, I often see that I avoided being easily entangled and engulfed in behavior and thoughts that do not line up with Christ and his word.  When I have been the person warning, it can be humbling and uncomfortable. “God, you want me to say what?”  Often times, friends have come back and expressed thanks.  There have been times when I have been warned and do not see the potential danger myself, but due to the trust that I have with the person and with the Holy Spirit that leads them, I follow the advice.  I will never know the amount of snags that have been adverted by humbly following a warning.

In closing, it is important to saturate yourself in the Word of God daily and be led by His Holy Spirit. Measure everything people speak into your life through the filter of God’s Word.  Having said that, it is also important and life-changing to live in an attitude of humility where we are open to the warnings of other Christians.  Humbly following a warning can help us as Christians stay out of unnecessary trouble and sin.  Humbly warning others can also help them stay out of pitfalls and sin.  This could potentially save everybody a lot of time, embarrassment, spiritual and even physical harm. 

Where in your life has God used someone else to warn you of an area of sin in your life?  When has God wanted to use you to bring a warning to someone else?