PAIN WITH A PURPOSE

 

My oldest brother is eight years my senior. So when he was in high school, I hadn't even made it to junior high yet. But around that time was one of the most memorable for me as a nine-year-old. He had this weight set in our garage. He would bring his friends over and they took turns bench pressing or power clinging or squatting. When they were gone, he would teach me the technique of it all and we worked out together listening to Peter Frampton, Steve Miller or the Eagles.
 

I recall the first time I experienced the soreness that went along with a proper workout. When you're nine there are many first-times and this one kind of took me by surprise. I woke up at the "breakfast call" and walked down the hallway to the kitchen thinking, "What is this strange feeling in my muscles?" I would learn that this was something to expect after workouts. It even became a gauge to determine how much I was developing from these workouts. The "no pain, no gain" mantra became familiar to me as a nine-year-old.
 

But one day, a classmate of my brother's came over to work out with him. This was a guy I'd heard my brother and his friends talk about and almost idolize for his workout discipline and strength. He was a gym guru---not to mention he was "ripped." Of course I wanted to hang around and get a good look at this guy. So when they cranked up the music and started lifting, I sauntered into the garage. My brother said, "Hey, James this is my little brother---he can bench 95 pounds." And almost as if I were a side-show attraction, he loaded the bar with the proper weight and had me show off for him. After I got up, no amount of pain and sore muscles could compare to the accolades I was given by these older guys. They told me how great I'd done and I was grinning ear to ear.
 

There is a payoff one day. Though life is full of unpleasant things we go through from time to time, one day all the pain and suffering we encounter here will be gone and we will glimpse the splendor of heaven and the accolades of the Father He will say, "Well done my child, enter in." At that moment we will know the workout was worth it.

FRUIT

There was a pear tree that stood in the clearing. Half-way around the clump of trees directly behind our house. It was out of the line of sight from our house. We found it quite by accident. Dad was on his way, I think, to go hunting along a creek bed north of our house and discovered it. It was a beautiful thing to Mom and Dad because it was kind of an unexpected treat. They had both grown up raising fruits and vegetables so they knew what to do with pears. We had pear honey, pear cake, pear preserves. What we didn't eat right then, Mom canned and we ate periodically throughout the year.

Spiritual fruit is kind of like that tree. Quiet, solitary---off the beaten path. Our lives seem that way at times---until someone stumbles onto us. And if our lives have been spent grooming the fruit and developing this pleasant taste, people will stop by and be intrigued, first of all, to discover such a gem unexpectedly. When all the world gives them is selfishness, bitterness and turmoil, it is refreshing to encounter someone still giving love, joy and peace. Secondly, someone with such a bitter taste in their mouth from dealing with people can not help but immediately notice the sweetness of your life. But sweet on the lips is no good if it is bitter in the belly. Be genuine. Discover a vulnerability between you and God so that you will have no trouble being real with people.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control---these nine qualities align to provide a sweet life. They are attributes that will turn away argument and anger. They will soften the hardest and warm the coldest. They will be the most welcome of companions when your life encounters the hardships that are bound to visit everyone. They are solid footing in this crazy whirling world around us. So stand solid in the quiet places. Draw deeply from the life-giving source which is Christ. Develop His character. Show His nature. Someone has just entered the clearing.

Deceitful Hearts

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”  Jeremiah 17: 7-10

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.  Psalm 1:1-6

Each of these passages refer to a tree by the water gathering nourishment bring forth fruit when it is time to bear fruit. Each also refers to the judgment of the ungodly. A full and frequent examination of the heart is required to remain in the place of the righteous. But what man can do it? Since the heart is deceitful and unsearchable, it is a comfort to be on terms with a God who does search the heart fully, sees its mischief, yet loves us and corrects us through it.

A PURE HEART

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:10-12

 

A pure heart---what is that? Is it the innocence of days gone by when, as a child, things that now entangle were then only undiscovered? The words to the Bob Seger classic, Against The Wind, come to mind. “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then...” As days of this life go by, we not only learn to sin, we learn how to justify it, rationalize it and live with it. It settles in and becomes a lifestyle that soon sinks its teeth in deep.

To think, as an adult, that all this living---all this sinning---can be undone, is a thought too fantastical for some to believe. But David trusted in God to do just that. David knew the faithfulness and mercy of a God who could restore the joy and innocence of youth. And while we never forget our sin and past mischief, God does and wipes the slate clean. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9

It is time to stop beating yourself up from the past---even if it was yesterday or last week. Know that what Christ did on the cross was enough to cover it---ALL of it. Admit it, confess it and believe it. He is faithful. “When you were dead in your sins, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2: 13, 14

ARRIVING

I have not arrived, no sir. My journey seems just as vague to me at times perhaps as when first starting out. My resolve occasionally wavers and my discipline dons the youthful visage of days past. Tripping upon the cobblestones of the dark path ahead, I grope feebly to see again the road clearly. Who will lead me in this bleak estate? Who will guide my spirit, feeble from the flight? The passage from the man I once was to the man I long to become seems unending. Though years have been spent pursuing, the ache and yearning in my spirit tells me I am not there yet.

Groveling and loathsome thoughts do not abandon a man just because his years would suggest to others the contrary. Older men, if they are wise, do learn to temper them in time, however, and redirect those passions, fits of anger and days of melancholy state with a certain amount of composure towards things more suiting, lovely and proper. But the thoughts themselves, come regardless of age or station in life. It is those same thoughts that are the telltale litmus of the unfinished business ahead.

That is the test of a man. Being born with a conqueror’s spirit, he is domineering of most of the challenges laid before him. By his very nature, he needs a sense of completion in any task he sets out to do. So when in the cumulative journey of life, that place of arrival---that place of spiritual completion---is always illusive and seemingly never quite attainable, a man becomes disheartened by the unconquerable. There is no hope there. He sees through a glass darkly and his hope, in all of its entirety, is laid up in a day of completion---whether or not he fully believes that day will ever come.

This is the evidence that eternity is set in the heart of a man. His DNA spells it out loud and clear. He is made for heaven and his soul is longing for this place of completion. When it comes, it will replace---in one fell swoop---all of the striving to attain and all the meager attempts to satisfy his soul.

Man has been told to live life to the fullest and enjoy his existence here because there is nothing else. The deep longing in his heart tells him otherwise---there IS more. Though the reason for that angst may be misdiagnosed by the mainstream, it remains deep in the craw of every man. Most men may not be able to explain it, but it is there. They have heard of heaven, but to actually hope for such a moment in time escapes the rationale of the rational. If you ask me of such a place, such a season, such a final destination---I have to say that, while it will never exist in this mortal shell, it DOES exist. The restlessness in the heart of a man is the proof.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; Ecclesiates 3:11