There are times when
we are irritated and irritable and nothing satisfies us. We are unhappy with ourselves and unhappy
with everyone about us. We want to disappear into a hot tub or slip
off into a movie theater but we have responsibilities and we must gut out our
frustrations. Pain and disappointment
are like psychological bobs; they bring up to the surface those parts of us we
have tried our best to keep hidden. And
yet our anger is really there, our despair is still there, our deep sadness and
weeping losses are still there. Sin has
stung us all both within and without and it changes the dynamic of our inner
world living with its pain and sorrow.
When through trials and suffering our inner world works its way out of
us and splatters the ones God brings our way, we confuse our reaction to
hardship with the troubles we have. The
Lord as He hung upon the Cross with His shattered flesh screaming in pain did
not stifle His inner world as His outer world hit up against it. The one thief railed against Jesus and the
Lord stayed silent and did not rail back because His inner world was at
peace. The other thief, who we forget
also brought a flurry of hatred against Jesus came to his senses and sought our
Lord's mercy. Rather than letting His
inner world be corrupted by the sin of the outer world, Jesus loved the second
thief and gave Him the kindness that filled His heart to the brim. It was that inner world that spilled out of
Jesus...love untainted by hatred or despair, unhindered by all the humiliation
and criticism brought to bear against Him, His inner world of peace and joy
unmarred by the rejection and scorn leveled at Him . That very nature; that continuous confidence
in the Father and unwillingness to be corrupted by the pain He suffered is the
nature the Lord will give us if we give Him room to do it. We must trust Him with our inner world; allow
the Lord to rework it that it might be born again. The hatred we feel is real hatred; the
bitterness over our losses is real bitterness.
Yet that is no longer our lasting world.
We have a new home, a home built in Christ and it is the most peaceful
of sanctuaries. The sign that we have
settled into our new inner world is that what spills out of us when we are
rattled by disappointment, trauma or ridicule is the same settled confidence
Christ had that nothing came to Him except what the Father in His good and
faithful love allowed and approved. What
insult can shake us when we have the nature of Christ within us? What hardship is there that Christ did not
face Himself and peacefully let pass?
What frightening possibility is there that is too much for the loving
Father? We have the mind of Christ and
If we think through Him, what will come out of us during the furious storm
will heal the nations the Holy Spirit
places along the way of our journey.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a
steadfast spirit within me. Psalm
51:10 NIV
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