by RobertCummins | Jun 27, 2016 | 26. Grasping
And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him. A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse—after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. For she thought, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that the power proceeding from Him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.” (Mark 5:24-34)
I love how Jesus interacted with people! God Incarnate—the same God who was on record saying he grew weary dealing with the obstinate hearts of his chosen people, who punished their sin dramatically when needed. Fast forward: same God, same people, except this time he came into the world looking them in the eye, clarifying his heart toward them, revealing just what he was really like and what he really wanted for his people.
It is surprising that God is so approachable; He takes mankind off guard. He is so humble, so open-handed—He didn’t come emphasizing this woman’s sin or tracing down the cause of her illness. He simply healed her. With no money left, she was at the end of the road. It was going to be Jesus or nothing else. This, again surprisingly, is not a bad place to be.
While the end of the road can be an advantageous place it is also the last place most of us want to be. In fact, we work overtime to avoid it, being taken to that place where it’s Jesus or nothing. I believe this is what Jesus was getting at when He said we must sell all in order to follow him. Our resources, which are our hedges against last resorts, if not relinquished to God, pave a broad highway leading away from this most advantageous place where our Lord would meet us.
Taking up our crosses to follow him is the narrow way which scripture tells us few find. This less traveled pathway is paved with abandonment. Relinquishing our right-of-self-determination is our part in allowing Jesus his rightful place as our Lord. Knowing Jesus as our Lord is something vastly greater than just being saved from our sins. The travelers on this road are called disciples or apprentices. As they journey down this trail holding no heart-title to earthly goods, they learn to live, so to speak, at-the-end-of-the-road, where Christ becomes and remains, of necessity, their very Life.
Disciples make the surprising discovery that Jesus is so much more than just a savior. They find in Christ alone that exceeding and abundant dimension to the life He promised. They find rivers of living water flowing out of them. He Himself teaches them that He is not just the forgiver of their sins. He is Father and Friend, Healer and Deliverer, Sustainer and Rewarder, King and Co-heir, Creator and Brother. He is Life and Breath, and in Him we live and move and have our being. We personally discover that we are hidden in Him and are the object of his most intimate thoughts and care, now and forevermore.
While I haven’t been bleeding internally like the woman in our story, this is the 14th consecutive year I have dealt with chronic back problems. Unlike the distressed woman of our story, I have some money left: I’m just not sure what the point of spending it would be on doctors who each say, “Mr. Cummins, you are slowly decaying, albeit at a slightly faster rate than your peers.” What they actually say is that I have degenerative disc disease.
In spite of having to report some physical degeneration I also have a report of regeneration. My inner man is being renewed daily in the presence of physical deterioration. As I consider the alchemy of all-things-working-together-for-good, I give thanks because in its own way, back pain has provided a kind of an end-of-the-road destination which, perhaps, I might have only reached by traveling in this direction.
I did determine early in my journey with Christ that I would do my best to not squander sorrow and rough experiences. Whatever the day brings me (if I will only see it) can be an opportunity to trust him. I have come to believe that it is only along this trail (where suffering and trials exist) that we can ever learn to relate to Him by faith. Recall: our faith brings God pleasure. Faith both delivers and sustains. Whether we are delivered from trials or sustained through them God, is glorified and pleased as we trust in him.
To you, O Lord, who call the dead to come forth and the lame to walk and the deaf to hear; to you Lord, who reward those who trust you in their pain; to you, who deliver your children from and through both attacks and decay into a rest that transcends this world and establishes a victory that will be celebrated now and forevermore. Yes, Lord, to you be the glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Jun 25, 2016 | 25. Naked
The blockquotes in this post contain my paraphrase of Hosea’s prophecy.
Let your siblings know they are illegitimate. Let your mom know she’s not my wife. Tell her to quit whoring or I will undress her and shrivel her up like a desert. And I will have zero compassion for her offspring – those wastrels born of harlotry. Why? Because she insists it is her many lovers that sustain her.
I am writing from a marriage conference where our watch word is “nothing hidden,” where tragically, the marriages represented have been damaged (in varying degrees) by things that have been hidden. In God’s kindness, he is undressing some of us and exposing our delusions that pornography, cocaine, other lovers, vocations or homosexuality could satisfy us.
We are telling our stories in pods comprised of four couples each. The stories are all the same. Hidden things were sown in the heart, whirlwinds of hellish outcomes have been (and are being) reaped. After hearing a particularly painful account yesterday of a multi-decade affair, I asked myself, “Why? Why would a person do this to themselves and the people they supposedly loved?” Why do dogs return to their vomit?
It seems that in a world where the ultimate engine is Love, God permits men to feed on vomit until it looses its savor. I think he does this because he cannot help the foolish animal until it is broken of its folly. God even gifts the heartbeats and breaths we fools require to get us to that last pile of stench. Why two decades though? Because for some beloved children, that is what it takes.
When Paul says that we receive the due penalty of our sins within us, this includes deception. Sinning induces a spell upon the sinner such that vomit looks tasty. Iniquity is a mystery. God uses even deception for his own purpose which is our freedom.
I’m going to sponsor her disorientation. While she is foolishly pursuing her provision from men who are only using her, it is I who have been providing for her. I even provided the money she’s given to Baal. Consequently, I am going to remove this provision and strip her naked before her lovers. No one will rescue her from this fate. The party is over. Beasts will devour the leftovers. I am going to punish her for her unfaithfulness…but, I am not done with her.
There is something hopeful about having been stripped bare and having no other options than God. In this place eyes can begin to once again see and ears can once again begin to hear. The only hope for restored love is that deception be broken. There is hope for the hopeless for one reason only – there is a Lover Who is persistent in His love. Whether its a marriage between a man and a woman or a God and the world he so loves, there is hope because it is He Who loved first.
I am going to attract her back to me. In her wilderness I am going to open a door of hope and say some kind things to her. She will sing once again as she did when I rescued her from Egypt. She will forsake even the name of Baal. In this day, there will be peace on earth and good will among men. God and Israel will renew their vows and heaven and creation will celebrate. The earth will know harmony such that even the crops will flourish because it is God doing the sowing. God proclaims over this new day …
I am going to have compassion on her. No one else is. I am going to say to an estranged people that they are mine! I will say, “You are My people!” And they will say, “You are my God!”
Father, we can claim You as our own only because You have claimed us as Yours. Our hope rests in Your initiatives. May this be the day of salvation for many of us who have come to hide no more from You or our spouses. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Jun 24, 2016 | 25. Naked
In our passage Ezekiel is told by God to make Jerusalem understand her mongrel origin and her unattended birth. She is to know that she was abhorred on the day she was born, but… as she was squirming in her blood God claimed the orphan, saying; “Live!” And live she did. This people grew numerous and matured to a place where God said she was physically mature, ready to give her love away, yet she was still naked and bare.
God responded by covering her nakedness with a covenant of betrothal. This people Ezekiel is calling Jerusalem was claimed by God as his own. She was brought into the king’s tent and was cleansed, perfumed, bejeweled and adorned, head to toe, with the finest clothes. Consequently…
Her fame went forth among the nations on account of her beauty, for it was perfect because of God’s splendor which He bestowed on her. (Ezekiel 16:14)
Clothed with covenants. This is the story of God’s beloved. She was initially clothed in the innocence of Eden. Then there was the Abrahamic Covenant followed by the Old Covenant with its Law. Each of them were designed to point to a marriage – a restoration of all things to God, especially his bride. It was foretold by the Prophets, heralded by John the Baptist and fulfilled in Jesus the Nazarite. The previous covenants were suitable in her youth, but in the fulness of her life, the Groom proposed afresh. Tragically, scandalously, Israel declined the proposal of a New Covenant. She preferred her nakedness to a wedding gown.
Some believe this rejection was Israel’s last opportunity for union with God. Some believe we gentiles have now become the wastrels without pedigree who have been rescued, replacing Israel at the alter. Given the persistence of God’s love, this would surprise me. I don’t know exactly who Israel is today but I doubt if we have replaced God’s first love. He claimed her as his own then. I suspect he sees her as his own now. I will leave the theology to the scholarly speculators. However as one rescued by this King and been shown his love, I have reason to believe that Israel (whoever she is) will be reconciled by the unfailing love of her Groom.
Father, win your bride’s affections. May the world see her adorned in the splendor of your love.
by RobertCummins | Jun 23, 2016 | 25. Naked
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:13-16)
I became a Christian at the tail end of the Jesus movement inside one of its tracks known as the charismatic renewal. To many evangelicals, the word charismatic conjures images of old line Pentecostalism with its legalism and emotion. I stumbled across this a few times, but it was very rare. I remained in the charismatic camp in spite of its stigma because when I told mainline denominational Christians about my initial encounters with God, I could see I had become persona non grata. At best they held out the limp right hand of fellowship.
The troubling aspects for them were my reports that I had heard God’s voice (very clearly) and that I had felt his presence (very strongly). Since their relationships with God often revolved around studying his word (very seriously), we had an inevitable and unfortunate impasse. It was unfortunate because I needed them and they needed me. This is just the way it is in the body of Christ; all parts are essential.
I don’t know why, beyond the fact that he wanted to, but after repenting over a wild weekend, knowing that I had lost a sense of his presence (even thinking he might have erased my name from The Book), God allowed me to experience his presence for a full hour, while he spoke the clearest, most precious, and penetrating words I have ever heard. The good news was three fold. My name was still written (I gathered quite permanently) in The Book; that He still makes his presence known; and that He still speaks to men. The bad news (I have thought since) is that he has not spoken that clearly or allowed me to enjoy his presence so intensely since.
I lived for a long time for the express purpose of conjuring up this experience again. Oh the miles I have traveled and soul gyrations I have logged in this effort. In my heart, I have asked a thousand times, “Why Lord, would you allow me to taste of Nirvana only to withdraw it from the menu?” I have not received any exhaustive revelation to my question. I just know that the Person who spoke and Whose presence I enjoyed is the One I want to spend eternity with and that this life is really all about Him. I also cannot help but desire that all men might know this Person.
This too has frustrated me. “Lord, it’s obvious you can knock a man of his horse on the road to Damascus or reveal yourself to a man on the road to Tulsa. Why don’t you just do this to all the world, which you are on record as loving, desiring that not one perish?” I have no conclusive revelation on this either. So what’s a body to do? As Christians living just briefly in a perishing world where we have the cure for an eternally fatal disease, what should our lives look like? More and more, I am coming to the simple conclusion that we will reveal Jesus best in the living of our everyday lives.
I propose that we put one foot in front of the other, leaning into the reality that whether or not we hear him or feel him as clearly or as intensely as we might like, we are never hidden from his sight and that he is nearer to us than our own skin. I suggest that we reconcile our errant thoughts (that often postures us as victims) with the reality that Jesus has experienced whatever we are facing. We then hold fast to our confessions of his sufficiency and draw near to Him by simply acknowledging his nearness to us.
If I have learned anything, it is that we cannot conjure up his presence. We must simply enjoy it. And since, we are in continual need of His life, we must be continually presumptuous of his presence, acknowledging that He has gladly given us his His own Spirit. He lives in us and we live and move and have our being in him. Maturing in Christ, in large part, involves our increasing awareness that are roots are sunk deeply and permanently into the unseen realities of Jesus Christ and his eternal kingdom. Here we have rest. Here our foundations cannot be shaken because they are resting utterly upon him. Christ alone is the hope of glory.
In learning to live at rest in Him, we will pass through many seasons when we think we may die if we do not get a word from God or a fresh sense of his presence. While these seasons might seem to be our worst nightmare, they are the things of which our deepest and sweetest dreams can be made.
While on this earth, in our temporary fleshly homes, it is faith that pleases God. This requires that he withhold exhaustive revelation, pat answers, and the formulas we would like in order to make our lives work out. Yet, if we just keep putting one foot in front of the other while looking to him as our life, we will find that, in the end, we have been built to overcome, that we will have an inheritance in both this life and the next that will cause us to bless the days of drought with all our hearts; it was there, by faith, that we came to know him alone as our abundant provision.
As to the why of my God encounter—it remains a mystery. All I know is that no one is at a disadvantage with God if they are without a dramatic experience. In fact, those who do keep putting one foot in front of the other are blessed especially when the light on their path is dim and they cannot see or feel Him as they might like.
Jesus said to him (Thomas), “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” John 20:29
Father, help us to navigate by faith, trusting that nothing about us (or your world) has escaped your notice. Help us to rest in the eternal realities, which you have spoken, which allow the birds of the air and lilies of the field to so effortlessly proclaim your faithfulness and sufficiency. Help us to live so securely in you, so openly and honestly with you and each other, that something new and eternal radiates from us to all around us who have yet to taste and see just how truly good you are. Truly Lord, it is you with whom we have to do. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Jun 22, 2016 | 25. Naked
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.(2 Corinthians 5:1-5)
When I was younger, I looked at the elderly and wondered what was going on that caused them to walk stooped over and to make groaning noises when they moved. That question was raised in a day when the house I was living in was a strong, low maintenance abode. At 63, I’m no longer curious. My groans come mostly from degenerative discs (a structural component of my current house). At least that is what the legion of doctors I have seen tell me.
I also have a legion of well meaning people who volunteer their cures when they hear me groan. There’s a fascinating array of them. These cures may involve doctors, pills and potions, herbs, fasting, diet, oils, magnets, color, sound, touch, chemicals, the earth (grounding), repentance, communion, vitamins, rest, yoga, faith, prayer, confession, or proclamation. I don’t mean to, but I’m sure I’m leaving someone out. Oh yes, there is prayer. Prayer is sometimes recommended as an additive to the above list.
Sometimes (like now), I express my groaning with sarcasm. This may even be picked up as frustration or anger (which, on some days, it may lapse into). While those negative elements are sometimes present, I hope that readers will also find something winsome in my words because, while I am usually trying to make some eternally minded point, I am attempting to do it through an ornery and playful spirit. Truly, we are in this together, this being a place of vast mystery packed with uncertainties. Humor, questions, and sarcasm all surely appropriate here.
In western culture, we have all been given an impressive buffet of options to free us from our suffering. No doubt, some of them are legitimate. I believe the Spirit, whom He gave as my Helper, leads me in sifting and sorting through all the options proposed to relive my pain. Is this an infallible process? Does this kind of interaction with the Spirit yield airtight solutions? Guaranteed results? The short answer is “no” because certainty, a condition God does not offer his apprentices, would preclude faith. A bit longer answer follows.
I believe that the Spirit, in Paul and all who are trusting in Jesus as Lord and Savior, have a distinct mission on earth. It is a very important one if Jesus’ words mean anything:
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. (John 16:7)
And we might ask, “So then, what is this advantage the Helper (his Spirit) will give us?” In a nutshell it is that:
He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. (John 16:13-14)
How does He do this? You would think that if the Spirit were active in this way, His movements would be the daily headlines of every news agency. Is it possible the Spirit is so embedded into our lives that we simply miss the stories? This is my bet. Here is just a small byline from the story I believe He’s writing in my heart. It won’t make the news, but I would like to report it nevertheless.
On the drive to work this morning, there was no coffee yet in my system to fuel much mental activity. I was still burning through the fog of a night’s sleep, trying to keep at bay a clutter of thoughts hounding me for attention. As soon as I recognized I was not really on duty, I simply turned my mind to the Lord. My first intentional act of this day was to say, “Lord you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” My next thoughts evolved into a question, “Many are aware of this claim who do not experience the reality of it.” In my heart, I ask, “Why is this Lord?”
Some might retell what I am about to describe as a crystal clear I said and then, The Holy Spirit said-conversation with God. I can’t do this in good conscience because I did not hear the Lord say, “Robby, Here is how it works with me. You see…(and then fill this space in with whatever word-for-word download I thought he offered).” Instead, my thoughts were prodded (I believe) by his Spirit, who is leading me into all truth, just as he promised. The advantageous and helpful thought which followed was roughly: “They do not believe these words because there is a great shortage of those who can tell others and model how (beyond their salvation) Jesus becomes their Way, their Truth and their Life.”
So…were these 1) God’s thoughts 2) My thoughts or 3) a combination of the two. I have chosen door number 3. But, I just report. You decide.
Instead of reporting to the world, some personal thus sayeth the Lord, I will simply and unapologetically report that these words were my impression of what He said. However, even though it was an impression, it was not just a shot in the dark; I have been living by these types of impressions for 40 years. You may ask why would I have ever gone down such a vaguely marked path? Answered simply: because his words have been a light along this path and they always seemed to have been leading me somewhere.
My impressions have typically been derivatives and distillation of scriptures, which I have hidden away in my heart, words which I have interacted with and which have progressively transformed my heart and mind. Over time, the testing of these words, by faith, have proven to me that they were in fact His advantageous and helpful words. As I have embraced them by faith, testing them in the rough and tumble of real life, the outcomes have proven to me that God is faithful and true to his words. It is out of this living-exchange of ideas and words, in the regular course of living, where a relationship with God has been forged. Based on this ongoing experience, I write and report about an intimately personal relationship with God.
Returning to our main passage, what is God saying about groaning and the myriad remedies and options we must sift through? For me, I report that while I have listened and will continue to listen to my friends and family, my sole remedy remains to be Jesus Christ. He alone really is my only and ultimate Truth, Way, and Life. I believe all of us who trust Him will find that the Spirit’s mission on earth has always been (above all things) to point us continually to Jesus, who is our very Life. It seems his mission in my heart has been a steady push to establish this reality so that I can know him now and that I will not end up standing before him having trusted in anything other than Christ alone.
Have you ever made a list of things you have confidence in, which if adhered to, will produce an improved quality of life? I suspect this exercise will tamper with our perceived pathway to the good life, but is it not the very things on this list which compete with Christ alone as our Way, Truth and Life?
I have spent an inordinate amount of time seeking a cure for degenerative disk disease, and the results have led me to ask, “Is this circumstance my thorn in the flesh?” This question will make some of my friends cringe because they know that by his stripes we are healed. I can almost hear the voice of some of them rebuking me for such an apostate question. And yet, the voice I hear says:
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
So Lord, just how am I to take courage? I hear his answer:
Always give thanks for all things (especially trials) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be subject to one another in the fear of Him. (Ephesians 5:20)
So…always on a journey, always passing through mysterious landscapes, I see I am joined to a body of people with a myriad of thoughts about God and his ways. I see a pathway intentionally paved with uncertainties by a sovereign and loving God who is leading us into, and through a blessed gauntlet of circumstances all for the sake of truly knowing him today and for the day when we will stand before him and give a final account of what we have trusted in. That’s pretty much my story. I’m gratefully stuck to it.
For the record, I am quite open to glorifying you right now with a report of either partial or total healing. Even in the presence of a little degeneration, thank you for all the advantageous and helpful thoughts and words that you are using to continually lead us into all truth. Take all the small bylines of our stories and somehow publish them for your name’s sake. Let them be shouted from the housetops. May you alone become our headline. In Jesus’ wonderful name, amen.
Thank you, Father, for my degenerative discs which will contribute to your glory as a faithful Lord, my healer now or my deliverer then, when I receive my new body which will know no degeneration. It’s all good because you are always good. Until that day, whichever comes first, I am so, so grateful that my spirit is being renewed daily as it lives courtesy of Your Spirit who is transforming me into the image of your Son, just as you promised.
