Thoughts that encourage us to love Jesus….

Matthew 18:6–8 (CSB)
6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses will inevitably come, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes. 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.

There are people within the ranks of Christianity who have been taught and who believe that Christ will shield His followers from wounds of every kind.
If the truth were known, the saints of God in every age were only effective after they had been wounded. They experienced the humbling wounds that brought contrition, compassion and a yearning for the knowledge of God. I could only wish that more among the followers of Christ knew what some of the early saints meant when they spoke of being wounded by the Holy Spirit.

There are people we care for that have to walk through difficult times. Because we love them, we feel a desperate need to rescue them, to assure them that everything will be all right, that God will not only have a use for their suffering, but will not allow it to endue.

Tozer identifies one of those teachigns – that we will dominate over tough times, that faith in God and a positive mental attitude will correct any problem. That being a believer means earthly blessings beyond our ability to count.

To teach as those Tozer corrected is leading people to fall away. Simply because it isn’t true. If someone has been taught that God won’t allow those He loves to suffer, they will come to one of two conclusions. The first is that God is a liar, for everyone suffers. The other is worse, they will believe that God simply doesn’t love them. And those that teach this need to stop….

The damage is too significant, the suffering of those who know Jesus… is never in vain.

I say this from experience, not from theology. In the deepest, farkest moments of my life, where i can’t figure out what is going on, where despair is at its deepest, and the will to live is all but extinguished… I have found my Lord there. I have found His compassion when no one else was there… and since then, I have been there with others, as they have encountered it as well.

Those wounds have deeply hurt – I have seen and shed the tears…

and sometimes – been grateful for them…

The relationship of Romans 12, where people laugh and cry with those laughing and crying is an incredible mystery, for the intimacy with God experienced in that shared time., as God minsiters to His people gathered together is beyond words. I can’t use joy for it, and serenity seems not quite right either.

It is simply precious…. to know God is there.. with you… with them.

We need to let people walk through the dark places in their lives. It will hurt, it will challenge them, it will break them. But we can walk with them through that valley (and we should!) reminding them of the presence of God in that valley, helping them see Him and rely on Him. That is what one does for a brother or sister or neighbor.

So let them begin their journey – but pray for them and walk with them.. and show them Jesus.

A. W. Tozer and Marilynne E. Foster, Tozer on the Holy Spirit: A 366-Day Devotional (Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread, 2007).