Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 25

Counsel from a Black Pastor to the Church

Being a Christian, a pastor of a local church, and a black man has given me a unique vantage point on life. As a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ, I work hard to see how Jesus responded to different issues of his day and apply those same behaviors to my own activities of daily living. As a Christian, I have been called by God to lead unbelievers to Christ by faithfully proclaiming him with my life. As a pastor I am called to lead believers to the Holy Scriptures so that we may all learn to imitate Christ and grow in Christ-likeness.

But lately, it has been extremely difficult to navigate the thoughts, concerns, and emotions which fill my own heart. While I can’t speak on behalf of all black people, my experiences have not happened in a vacuum. I pray that my words provide a glimpse into the similar experiences of many people of color and equip us—black, brown, and white people together—to look to Jesus Christ for help and hope.

I Speak from Experience

I am a black man who has been alone in an elevator with a white woman who tightly gripped her purse in fear. I am a black man who is broken every time I hear that another black man was arrested because he “fit the description” of some other black man. I am a black man whose heart beats faster whenever a police car appears in my rear-view mirror.

For me, these recent weeks following the murder of George Floyd have been emotionally compromising, to say the least. My emotions have been all over the place. Anger, frustration, sadness, and the loss of many nights of sleep have been my experience and that of many black people throughout the world. It has been especially painful to watch friends and church members embracing polarizing positions, all because of the color of their skin.

For my wife, these days have also been challenging. She works as a physician caring for an underserved patient population. Some of the medical clinics in her group recently had to close due to violent protests. At one location, a looter at an Aldi store across the street later walked into the clinic and said, “You guys are next.” Some of the riots and destruction of property have resulted in the boarding up of local stores, thus preventing several patients (who rely on public transportation) from being able to pick up their medicines and groceries. My wife chooses to work in this underserved area. While others choose to look away from the horrors of racism, she looks into weary eyes, sees the trauma, and responds with empathy and compassion.

What the Church Can Learn

Here are five concepts my white brothers and sisters in Christ could better understand.

Experiences in the black and brown communities are remarkably different from those of white people.

The four-year-old daughter of a close friend was watching the news and listening to surrounding conversations when she asked, “Mommy, are they going to kill us, too, because we are black just like that man?” As Christians, our biblical convictions might require us to lay down our lives for the Lord (Mk. 8:35). But we should never be required to surrender our lives simply because we are black, nor because we were caught running in a neighborhood, and especially not over a fake or real $20 bill.

Racism and systemic injustices have been felt deeply by people of color for hundreds of years.

It makes a difference if laws are written but not lived. Black lives are taken because some members of our police departments are not always protecting and serving. Black lives are taken because our legal and justice systems do not consider everyone innocent before proving them guilty. Black lives are taken because our country’s leaders lack humility and unity. We all must pause to “weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15) over the loss of black lives before we rush to uncover the past deeds of the dead or to defend the actions of the living.

Christians and non-Christians alike are responding to pain and devastation.

Not everyone knows how to properly process their emotions. Don’t let the rioters distract you from the sentiment behind the protests or cause you to protect property while disregarding the dignity and value of every person. Remember that we Christians are called to love our neighbors even when they might be committing a grievous sin. So, we must “love one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

White Christian leaders must not hesitate to lead through crisis.

There is no need for a delay. Some people have said the Church developed a better response to COVID-19 than we did when tragedies hit black and brown communities. In this way we are failing black and brown people within our congregations. I’m certain that if a wife said her husband was physically abusing her and she feared for her life, or if a member of our biological family passed away, we would clear our calendars to address the crisis and then set up whatever long-term counseling plan was needed. Why, then, are we slow to respond during this and other racial crises? Scripture warns against a failure to love generously, for “if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17).

Many people of color, in predominantly white spaces, do not freely express their thoughts and feelings.

Often they fear being misunderstood or devalued. They may want to fit in but feel completely silenced. The church should be a place of belonging where all can experience love and hope for the future, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or cultural context.

How the Church Can Respond

Here are five practical actions the Church can implement today and in the days ahead.

Pray

My church1 is planning a peaceful prayer walk in the city of Chicago. Even if you pray alone in your own home, I encourage you to call out to the Lord, for the “prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16).

Reach out to black and brown people in your local congregation.

I had a few people call and text me to say simply that they “didn’t know what to say” except “we love you and let us know how we can serve you at this time.” They said exactly what they should have said!

Broaden your circle of friends.

As diverse as the Church is becoming, many do not have a diverse circle of friends. Invite a new friend to dinner, and seek to build a relationship by listening to his or her story.

Use your voice and relationships to help influence lasting change.

Speak to the governmental leaders in your community. Call them to action, and then hold them accountable.

Ask the Lord to search your heart and reveal any hypocrisy.

Many are set on defending their families and property from the violent protests and looters. Yet they do not defend those who are poor and defenseless, having suffered their entire lives with a lack of resources necessary to support their families.

As we consider how to move beyond this emotional moment in our nation’s history, let’s galvanize the Church to serve our neighborhoods, villages, and cities. Let’s pursue long-lasting, Christ-like living. To do this, we must first yield to the influence of the Spirit of God and not fulfill the desires of our own flesh.

Most of all, Christians must plead for people to come to Christ as we pray for regeneration. Hearts needs to be changed and minds transformed by the Holy Spirit, the enabling power who is at work in all who learn and live in Christ.

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1. The Orchard Evangelical Free Church, Chicago campus.

Photo: The Orchard

How to Turn Up the Heat When Your Heart Grows Cold

When the days get darker, the great temptation for us is to become half-hearted Christians, to follow Christ at a distance. Things are getting tougher out there, so you are tempted to keep your head down, keep your faith private, and keep your engagement at arm’s length.

It is hard to run fast when the wind is in your face. It is hard to make progress when you are swimming against the tide. When evil is on the rise, it is easy to become jaded. You begin to wonder, “What’s the point?” It is easy to feel that being all-in and sold-out for Jesus Christ just isn’t worth it. You can remember better days when you were on fire for the Lord, but now a kind of lethargy has crept over your soul and you no longer feel as you once felt.

You’re in a funk. What are you going to do about it?

Romans 12:11 gives us this command:

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit.

To be “slothful in zeal” is to be lethargic, low energy, jaded, run-down, weary, and apathetic. God commands us: “Don’t be in a funk!” To be “fervent in spirit” is the opposite. The word “fervent” raises the issue of spiritual temperature; it literally means “on the boil.” Heat is involved here. To be fervent is to be passionate, engaged, committed, active, energetic, and motivated. Don’t be in a funk, but keep yourself “on the boil,” serving the Lord.

Unless heat is applied, the natural tendency of things is that they grow cold. If your meal sits too long on the table, you put it in the microwave because it has grown cold. But how do you apply heat to your life? When you see that you are growing cold, you have to take responsibility for your own spiritual condition. You are in Christ, and the Holy Spirit lives within you. That means you are not helpless!

3 Truths That Can Renew Your Spiritual Passion

There are certain truths that, when applied rightly to your condition, will rouse your soul when you are in a funk. They will restore your spiritual fervor and help you to get yourself back “on the boil.” Here are the three R’s that can renew your spiritual passion.

Christ Redeems

When you are run-down and your soul is sluggish, the place to begin is to take in a good dose of what God has done for you in Christ.

Here is how this happened in my own life not so long ago. I was in a place where I was tired. I had experienced various discouragements and was feeling sorry for myself. I had lost energy and motivation. I was in a funk! I remember thinking, “This is no good. How am I going to shake myself out of this?”

It is often helpful at times like these to ask, “How does the Bible speak to what I am experiencing right now?” My mind went to a phrase in Galatians 6:9, where Paul speaks about being “weary of doing good” or “weary in well doing” (KJV). I knew that Martyn Lloyd Jones had preached a sermon on this verse. When I found it in a YouTube video1, God used that to shake me out of the funk I was in. Lloyd says:

If I ever find myself, even for a fraction of a second, doubting the greatness and the glory and the wonder and the nobility of this walk in which I am engaged, well then I’m spitting upon [Christ].2

This was like a splash of cold water on my face to waken me from the state I was in. Spitting on Christ! How could I do that? He has brought me into a redeemed life in which I am forgiven for all my sin, lovingly adopted into the family of God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and destined for a life of everlasting joy. Remembering this has helped me to not be slothful in zeal but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

Christ Restores

In Psalm 23, verses 1 and 3, David says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want… He restores my soul.” Christ died to save His people and He lives to keep His people. And because we grow cold, keeping us means often restoring our souls. Aren’t you glad that you can trust Him to do this? He may do it through a sermon in which you know that He is speaking to you. He may do it through the visit and kindness of a friend. He can even do it through a YouTube video that hits you between the eyes! But whatever the means, it is the Lord who restores your soul.

Satan wants to keep you in a funk, so he will do anything in his power to keep you from drawing near to God. Satan will put into your mind this argument: “Your heart is cold. You are not in a good place to come to God. You can’t come to God in a state like this! Come to Him when you feel better.” This is the enemy’s great argument, and he uses it time and again to keep jaded, discouraged, and lethargic Christians away from the one place where they will find help and relief. When this line of thought flashes across your mind, you need to be ready with this response: come to Christ as you are. Come, not because you have a warm heart, but in order to get a warm heart.

Christ does not say, “Get yourself ‘back on the boil’ and then come to me.” He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). He is your Shepherd. He leads and feeds you, and when you are lacking in zeal, He is able to restore your soul.

Christ Reigns

When you think of the work you have to do, do you believe that God has called you to it? When you see that your work is for the Lord (Col. 3:23), it will give new meaning to whatever you do. However difficult it may be, in doing it you are serving Him. Other people may (or may not) appreciate what you do. They may (or may not) reward you for what you do. But if you keep in mind that you are serving the risen, sovereign Lord Jesus, it will help you to not be slothful or lacking in zeal, but to be fervent because you are serving Him.

It is really hard for soldiers to follow a general if they feel in their hearts that his campaign will end in failure. The good news for jaded followers of Jesus is that we know He wins! The grave was not the end for Jesus, and it will not be the end for us. Evil did not overcome Him, and by His grace, evil will not overcome us.

Christ redeems, Christ restores, and Christ reigns. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that, in the Lord, your labor is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). So, don’t be in a funk! Stay “on the boil”, serving the Lord with a warm heart when the days are cold and dark.

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This article is adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Overcoming Evil With Zeal”, from his series, Overcoming Evil.

1. Marc Bocanegra, “Gospel-rooted Christian Joy: Martyn Lloyd Jones – Weary in Well Doing (Part 2 of 4),” YouTube Video, 3:45, January 3, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEZMthbA0Jc.

2. Marc Bocanegra, “Gospel-rooted Christian Joy.”

Photo: Unsplash

Join the Battle—and Sing

Everyone is eager to point out the current difficulties of life in a broken world. Railing against oppressive circumstances is natural. But certainly, these are not just difficult times. They are also very important times. How many of us will look back on this season and say, “I fought the good fight and was faithful to God’s calling on my life”? Isn’t that the goal?

For the Christian, life is a battlefield. Why? Two reasons: we live in a world full of the deadly effects of sin, and we ourselves still sin. So, the battlefield is a spiritual battlefield, and we are waging a spiritual war against sin. No one will emerge from this battle victoriously in his own strength. So, what help do we have in battle? We have the witness of the saints, the victorious power of Jesus, and we have singing.

The Witness of the Saints

The author of Hebrews says that the Christian who pitches an all-out battle against sin looks to others who have done it, who have fought the fight, finished the race, and entered their rest. “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1). The success of the saints should inspire our battle with sin.

Singing hymns is one of the ways we can join the battle. We remember those who finished the race victoriously and join with earnestness the battle they fought. We sing:

We bear the torch that, flaming

Fell from the hands of those

Who gave their lives proclaiming

That Jesus died and rose

Ours is the same commission

The same glad message ours

Fired by the same ambition

To Thee we yield our powers [1]

The Victorious Power of Jesus

By God’s grace, we have more than the memory of triumphant saints to strengthen our resolve. Hebrews 12:1-2 exhorts us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We battle sin with the knowledge of past victories that were achieved against all odds, and we fight in the strength of Jesus, the true Champion of all those victories. He was victorious in His battle against sin and death, and He promises to share that victory with us, who fight our battle against sin after His example and in His power. Again, singing hymns can help us remember these truths.

We will stand as children of the promise

We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul’s reward

Till the race is finished and the work is done

We’ll walk by faith and not by sight [2]

The Role of Singing in Battle

Singing plays a bigger part in our battlefield life that any of us realizes.

Just look to the Old Testament for stories about the role of music in worship (2 Chron. 5:12-14, 29:25-29), in comfort (1 Sam. 18:10), in ceremony (Josh. 6:4; 1 Chron. 13:8), in consecration (2 Kings 3:15), in battle (Num. 10:9; 2 Chron. 20), and in celebration (Exod. 15; 1 Sam. 18:6). God has ordained music for these things!

Indeed, music is an important part of worship in every generation, especially as it stirs hearts and reveals faith. Faithful singing pleases God in many ways.

1. Singing helps us remember who God is and stirs our hearts to desire Him.

Beautiful Savior, Wonderful Counselor

Clothed in majesty, Lord of history

You’re the way, the truth, the life

Star of the Morning, glorious in holiness

You’re the risen One, heaven’s champion

And you reign, You reign over all [3]

2. Singing calls to our minds what God has done.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ [4]

3. Singing reminds us of what God is doing now.

Before the throne of God above

I have a strong and perfect plea

A great High Priest whose name is love

Who ever lives and pleads for me [5]

4. The Holy Spirit often uses a song to rescue the tempted sinner.

Behold the man upon a cross

My sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice

Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished [6]

5. Singing gives courage to the faithful for battle, where fear is an enemy.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee and cause thee to stand

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand [7]

6. Music eases the suffering of this life, which is the context of our fellowship.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come

Let this blest assurance control

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate

And hath shed His own blood for my soul [8]

Good songs point us to Christ and sing of His death and resurrection. Further, they apply those essential truths to life and theology. Good songs declare God’s faithfulness, in order that the singer might commit himself to God’s commands. Good songs celebrate the truth and authority of God’s Word and ask that the Holy Spirit would apply it to our hearts. Good songs describe God on His throne, creating in us a hunger for future glory under the righteous reign of Christ.

What better than a Word-filled song to help us remember the love, grace, power, and faithfulness of God?

It is right to pray for an end to our present crisis. But it is good to remember that there will be another crisis after this one, and then another. Let’s train our hearts to rejoice in our sufferings (Rom. 5:3-5), and to be faithful to God in our current battlefield and in those to come. Our ongoing trials can lead us to think ahead to all that is waiting for the believer in eternity, when all suffering will cease.

This is a good time for singing!

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[1] Frank Houghton, “Facing a Task Unfinished” (OMF International (UK), 1930).

[2] Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, “By Faith” (Thankyou Music, Getty Music Publishing, 2009).

[3] Stuart Townend, “Beautiful Saviour” (Thankyou Music, 1988).

[4] Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, “In Christ Alone” (Thankyou Music, 2001).

[5] Charitee Bancroft, “Before the Throne of God Above” (Public Domain).

[6] Stuart Townend, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” (Thankyou Music, 1995).

[7] George Keith (attributed), “How Firm a Foundation” (Public Domain).

[8] Horatio Spafford, “It Is Well with My Soul” (Public Domain).

Photo: Unsplash

If You Want to Overcome Evil, Do This First

If you have suffered a great evil, you know how easy it is for that evil to overcome you, for you to be defined by it, for the evil that was done to you to dominate your life.

But Scripture tells us good news! The evil you have suffered does not need to define you. God says: “You are in Jesus Christ. Don’t let that happen to you! Do not be overcome by the evil that surrounds you or by the evil that has been done to you! Something better is possible for you. You can overcome evil with good.”

Where do we begin, if we want to overcome evil with good? Here is where I would start:

We need to pray.
We need to raise up godly leaders in every sphere of life – in the schools, in business, in the arts, in politics, etc.
We need to teach our children the difference between right and wrong. We need to get them grounded in the Scriptures.
We need a new surge of evangelism and church planting.

All of these are good and necessary things, but none of them are what God says in Romans 12.

Let love be genuine.

Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Love one another with brotherly affection.

Outdo one another in showing honor (Rom. 12:9-10).

Begin With Genuine Love

Christians loving each other would not have been at the top of my list of strategies for overcoming evil. It is very striking to me that, when God lays out the steps that lead to overcoming evil with good, the first thing He says is, “Let love be genuine.” If you want to overcome evil with good, this is where you must begin!

Here is priority #1. This is what we must do, when evil is all around us. This is what we can do because we are in Christ. God says, “Do this and you will overcome evil with good: Let love be genuine.” In other words: “Love must be sincere.” It must be authentic! There must be no pretense – no play acting, nothing fake or false. Let your love be the real deal.

The plain implication of, “Let love be genuine,” is that in the course of our lives, we may come across something that looks and sounds like love, but it turns out not to be the real thing. So, what does genuine love look like? What does genuine love do?

3 Things that Genuine Love Does
1. Genuine love hates what is evil.

Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. (Rom. 12:9)

To “abhor” is to have a horror of something. If you love what is good, you will abhor the evil that destroys it. If you love truth, you will hate lies. If you love peace, you will hate war. To abhor evil is part of loving what is good. Notice that God says, “abhor what is evil.” We are to “abhor what [not who] is evil.”

We are not called to rage against the captive soul. We are to love the captive soul and to rage against the captor – who is Satan, our enemy. That is our call to war, and it’s really important that we understand it.

It is very difficult to win people to Jesus if you have branded them as “the enemy.” Our calling is not to win some sort of cultural war. Our calling is to reach out to, and woo, and seek to win every person to Jesus Christ.

2. Genuine love begins at home.

Love one another with brotherly affection. (Rom. 12:10)

The real challenge is to love the people God places around you – the people in your home, at your church, in your workplace, and on your street. So, look at who God has placed in your life. Your calling is to love these people well.

Christ calls us to love all people, even our enemies. But loving your enemies is hard. Here’s where we begin: God calls us to cultivate genuine love within His family. Love “one another” with brotherly affection.

Learn to love well by loving your brothers and sisters in Christ. Other believers stand beside you in grace, and one day they will stand beside you in glory. When the world gets darker, Christians get closer. Let the relationships in the church be an incubator of love, so that when we go out into the world where it is more antagonistic, we know something about love.

3. Genuine love lifts other people up.

Outdo one another in showing honor. (Rom. 9:10)

This relates to the way in which we speak to one another and the way that we speak about one another. We live in a culture that thrives on putting other people down. But God says, “Let it be different among you!”

With all the good that has come with social media, and the way it helps to connect people, social media has also given a new platform for anger. We live in the world of the attack ad and the attack website. Every time you put something on social media, even if you never meet the person face-to-face, remember God knows and God knows your name.

The church is called to something different: Our calling is to lift up who Jesus is! When that happens, people who may have little in common in this world are brought together. Christ calls us to be a community of people who lift each other up in a culture where people pull each other down.

Does the church do all these things outstandingly well? Not always. Too often it becomes about us and what we want. And when that happens, we end up being a mirror of the world. But Christ says, “You are called to love.” Genuine love is immensely attractive. We are all drawn to love. And we all want to be authentic. Authentic love, genuine love is where we must begin if we are to overcome evil with good.

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This article is adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Overcoming Evil with Love,” from the series Overcoming Evil.

Like Ravi, Like Nabeel

The Last Dance, a recent ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan, has been captivating the quarantined in recent weeks. Following the story of Jordan’s superhuman drive to success, we have been reminded why every kid on a court since 1984 has wanted to “be like Mike.” While our enchantment with champions can sometimes be unhealthy, great role models often inspire us to work hard and press on.

In every generation, God has given to the Church servants who so embody Jesus Christ in their lives that they become role models worth emulating. Christians around the world have been grieving the recent loss of such a servant and role model, Ravi Zacharias. He was Solomon-like in his wisdom, Daniel-like in his influence among world leaders, and Christ-like in his passion for the salvation of souls.

Less than three years ago, Ravi Zacharias performed the funeral for Nabeel Qureshi, another great Christian apologist who had worked alongside him in ministry. Ravi opened his eulogy by saying, “I come from India. Nabeel was from Pakistan. The two countries are not famously in love with each other.” To which those in attendance gave a hushed chuckle, knowing indeed just how amazing was their friendship.

One in Christ

The world could have made them enemies. Yet in Christ, Ravi and Nabeel became brothers who traveled the world together, testifying to the One who gave them eternal life. Peculiarly, they also both suffered and died from cancer within three years of each other, Nabeel at the age of 34 and Ravi at 74.

Their final days of suffering were shared with the world, allowing us to witness their steadfast faith in the face of death. Now Ravi and Nabeel are both in the presence of the Lord and are no doubt rejoicing together again. Their ministry and their stories have been an inspiration for countless Christians around the world, and rightly so. Their lives were an example of gospel unity and lifelong faithfulness. Along with the Apostle Paul, they could truly declare, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Fight the good fight. Keep the faith. Finish the race. These three exhortations categorically outline the entirety of Paul’s two letters to Timothy. What Christian, in his last moments of life, does not want to be able to claim the same accomplishments as Paul? If these words are also to be our declaration at death, then they must first be our motto in life.

Fight the Good Fight

In his letters, Paul urges Timothy three times to “fight the good fight.” He clarifies what the good fight is by emphasizing what it is not, namely, useless disputes with other believers about peripheral issues. Seven times he exhorts Timothy to “have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels” (1 Tim. 1:4, 4:7, 6:4, 6:20; 2 Tim. 2:14,16, 23-24). Rather, the good fight is foremost the battle to keep a clean conscience, to keep loving others genuinely out of love for Christ, to avoid the snares of the devil, and to remember that our enemy is never flesh and blood but rather “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

Ravi and Nabeel are great examples of leaders who focused their ministry on what mattered most. They remained above reproach in conduct and avoided the snare of being side-tracked into irrelevant, divisive controversies. Their approach to apologetics was a means of winning people to Christ and never a means of shaming them, as illustrated by one of Ravi’s mottos: “Answer the questioner, not the question.” They proclaimed the gospel with gentleness and respect, so as to magnify the love of Christ. They fought the good fight.

Keep the Faith

Paul’s greatest desire for Timothy was that he would defend the doctrines of the gospel. He mentions this nine times, naming the ways it is possible to swerve from the truth (1 Tim. 1:3, 1:5-6, 4:1-3, 4:16, 6:3, 6:10, 6:21; 2 Tim. 2:18, 3:5-9, 4:3-4). When we tamper with gospel essentials, when ministers become fueled by greed, when congregations look for preachers who only tell them what they like to hear, or when the church sanctions immorality —these are all ways of swerving into error.

Followers of Christ are growing weary of hearing about another Christian leader or denomination throwing biblical authority by the wayside and straying from the ancient path. When we do hear of those leaders who remain faithful to the word of God their entire lives, it is truly worth celebrating! Ravi and Nabeel successfully defended biblical Christianity. They kept the faith.

Finish the Race

When Paul says that he finished the race, did he only mean that his time to die had finally arrived? Not quite. Paul explains that “an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Tim. 2:5). And what is the rule by which we must compete? It is none other than the rule of suffering, for “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12). Paul exhorts Timothy to endure suffering on behalf of Christ and not compromise in order to avoid it. Paul, writing from prison, repeatedly reminds Timothy of his own example in this regard (2 Tim. 1:8, 12, 16, 2:3, 9, 12, 3:11, 4:5-6).

Paul’s admonition against finishing the race without suffering is well-illustrated by the experience of athlete Rosie Ruiz. She was declared the women’s winner of the 1980 Boston Marathon. However, she lost the title the following week when officials learned that she had ridden the city subway for part of the race and re-entered only in the final mile. Her grand finish no longer mattered because she did not compete according to the rules. Loyalty to Christ, regardless of the cost, is the rule by which every Christian must compete in the race we are called to run.

Nabeel Qureshi certainly knew what it meant to endure suffering for Christ. Raised in a devout Muslim family, he had set out to disprove Jesus in college, but instead was compelled to follow him as Lord. For Nabeel, this meant painfully grieving his beloved family and bearing the shame it caused. But he knew the far greater worth of Christ, understood the rules of the race, and finished well.

Win the Prize

The best part about Paul’s three-pronged counsel is its attainability. At the end of his life, Paul did not say he had no regrets, or that he loved everyone perfectly all the time, or that he reached a level of personal holiness that surpassed all who came before him. But three things he did, and we can do them, too.

May the prize set before us motivate us as it did Paul. And as we strive to be like Christ, we can also remember to be like Ravi, and like Nabeel. The Holy Spirit helped these servants to fight the good fight, keep the faith, and finish the race. He can surely be our Helper, too, so that we can declare at the end of our lives:

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:8

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Photo: Lauren Rushiti

Not Without Tears, Not Without Christ

Sooner or later, all of us will walk the path of sorrow and loss.

J. I. Packer describes grief as “the inward desolation that follows the losing of something or someone we loved – a child, a relative, an actual or anticipated life partner, a pet, a job, one’s home, one’s hopes, one’s health or whatever.”[1] The key words here, of course, are ‘love’ and ‘loss.’ Grief is the process of adapting to the loss of something or someone that we loved.

When people lose loved ones, we speak of them as being bereaved. The word ‘reaved’ means to rob, plunder, or tear away. Those who are bereaved feel that they have been robbed or plundered, like having something or someone who is dearly loved taken away. They feel like they’re being torn in two.

The Depths of Grief

All of us will walk through the valley of grief and loss in different times and in different ways. And God has given us the book of Lamentations to address the issue of grief – an entire book of the Bible that shows us how to navigate this valley. Lamentations describes, in excruciating detail, the grief and sorrow that resulted from the siege and eventual collapse of Jerusalem in 586 BC. It is called Lamentations because it is the lament of people who survived unspeakable loss, and then had to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and somehow find the strength to carry on.

Lamentations is a cry from the depths of pain, sorrow and loss. It is the lament of the survivors. And more than any other book of the Bible, it speaks to those who grieve today.

We Grieve With Tears

Tears are the shuddering of the body at the pain of the soul. Tears are a wonderful gift from God. He gave us these ducts for a reason! Tears are a release valve for pain. So let the tears flow! Don’t hold them back. Lamentations is a book soaked in tears.

She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks (Lam. 1:2).

For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me (Lam. 1:16).

My eyes are spent with weeping (Lam. 2:11).

My eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people (Lam. 3:48).

My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees (Lam. 3:49).

Notice that the references to tears run throughout the book. They are not just in Chapter 1 and then they dry up. The tears of grieving people come at unexpected times. You never know when they’re going to come next.

Here is what some of the people in my congregation have told me about the role of tears in their experiences with grief.

Sorrow comes in waves, often when you don’t expect it. A new wave can be set off by a sight, a sound or a smell.

People often tell me, “I don’t know what to say to you. I don’t want to make you cry.” And I say to them, “You’re not going to take me to a place that I don’t already live all the time.”

“I was in such a state of shock, I couldn’t cry for days.”

Learn more about Pastor Colin’s book, For All Who Grieve

Sometimes the tears just won’t come. We see that in Lamentations, too, when the writer says grief has left him “stunned, faint all the day long” (Lam. 1:13). Sometimes the shock of a great loss freezes the senses for a time so that what you expect to feel, or even what you think you should feel, you don’t feel at all.

But Lamentations also says, “When the tears come, let them flow! Don’t hold them back! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!” (Lam. 2:18). Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord (Lam. 2:19).

With the book of Lamentations, God validates the tears of godly, faithful people.

We Grieve With Christ

What is our Lord’s response to the grief of His people? The Bible tells us that Jesus wept. When Lazarus (whom Jesus loved) died, our Lord came to Bethany. When He arrived, Martha came out to meet Him, and later her sister Mary did the same. These two women were grieving the death of their dearly-loved brother. John tells us “when Jesus saw her [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” (Jn. 11:33), and “Jesus wept” (Jn. 11:35).

Why did Jesus weep when He knew that in just five minutes He would raise Lazarus from the dead? He told Martha, “Your brother will rise again” (Jn.11:23), but He did not say to Martha, “Don’t grieve.” Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life, but He weeps with Martha and Mary over their loss.

God is always intimately involved in the grief of His people. The psalmist writes, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (Psalm 56:8). Every tear you have ever shed is completely known to your heavenly Father. Not one of them is ever forgotten by Him. The tears of God’s children are precious to God. They are part of why He sent His Son into the world.

Our Lord was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isa. 53:3). In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Lord said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow” (Mat. 26:38). When your soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, your Savior has been there. You have a Savior who knows what it is to weep!

One Day, We Will Grieve No More

One day Christ will wipe away all tears from your eyes. Literally, the Bible says He will wipe all tears “out of” our eyes (see Rev. 21:4), as if He would take away not only the tears, but the tear-ducts themselves (in the resurrection body), because they would no longer be needed. It is not only the tears that God will take away, but also the sorrow and loss that gave rise to them. Lord, hasten that day!

Until then, our grief is not without tears. But it is also not without Christ, the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, who says, “See if there is any sorrow like my sorrow” (Lam. 1:12) He plumbed the depths of sorrow when He suffered on the cross. And no one is more ready or more able to walk with you through the valley of grief, sorrow and loss than Jesus Christ.

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This article was adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon “Tears and Talk”, from his series For All Who Grieve: Light and Hope in Lamentations.

[1] J. I. Packer, A Grief Sanctified: Through Sorrow to Eternal Hope (Wheaton: Crossway, 2002), 9.
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The Word on Waiting

We live in a world of instant gratification. Knowledge is one Google search away, communication is one text message away, the new tool you need is one click away, and on and on goes the list of ways that our desires can be immediately satisfied. Despite our society’s attempts to eliminate any kind of waiting, the fact is that it is impossible to do so. Many circumstances are simply out of our control, and we are unable to force the clock, the person, or the technology to move faster than they can. Our inability to force the world to move faster is evidence that we are not gods of this universe. The one, true God has installed waiting in the human program. We do not have to look far in God’s Word to see that waiting is a part of God’s sovereign plan for humanity. Abraham had to wait until he was one hundred years old to have the son God promised him. Joseph waited in prison before his God-given dreams came true. The Israelites waited in the desert for forty years before entering the promised land. And the prophets waited hundreds of years for the Messiah to be born.

When you find yourself in a season of waiting, be encouraged to know it is not a hiccup in God’s plan. Rather, waiting is part of His intentional, carefully-crafted purpose for you. It is difficult for me to write on this topic knowing I am an all-star at impatience. Whether waiting for my child to buckle her seatbelt or waiting for shelter-in-place restrictions to end, it is easy for me to become frustrated and weary while I wait. The author of Lamentations, too, was consumed with weariness and frustration while waiting on the Lord to relieve his burden. In the emotional third chapter, we can relate well to the writer’s agony as he is tired of waiting for his bad days to end and is ready for rest and peace. As badly as he is hurting, God inspired his words to help us in our own waiting. Three truths from Lamentations 3 help to align our minds, hearts, and souls with the Word of God while we wait.

1. Wait Humbly

Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? Let us test and examine our ways and return to the Lord! Let us lift up our hearts and hands to Heaven: “We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.”

Lamentations 3:39-42

Why should we receive what we want, right when we want it? Do we deserve such quick satisfaction? No. God’s prophet in Lamentations humbles us by defining our position before the Holy God. All human beings deserve punishment for sin. We are undeserving of any good thing, let alone instant gratification. If we do experience relief from waiting, it is solely an undeserved gift from the God against whom we continue to rebel. Waiting with humility before the Lord, knowing he is holy and we are not, can break our illusion of entitlement and align our minds with the truth of God’s Word.

2. Wait Contentedly

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Lamentations 3:22-24

What are you waiting for right now? A job? A spouse or child? Health? Rest? We all have deeply personal and legitimate desires that we are waiting to see fulfilled. The writer in Lamentations 3 is waiting for his pain, bitterness, and shame to end. However, he knows that even if they do not cease, he will have the Lord “as his portion”, and that is enough. As you hope for your desires to be satisfied, never forget that the Lord has already fulfilled your greatest need by giving himself to you through Jesus Christ. As we gaze at him in his Word, we will see that this Savior is more than enough! The Lord, our portion, is full of mercy that never ceases and faithfulness that never fails. Waiting with contentment in the Lord, knowing he is enough, can make our unmet desires less consuming and align our hearts with the truth of God’s Word.

3. Wait Quietly

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Lamentations 3:25-26

Waiting can be full of “loud” emotions. Though we may look composed on the surface as we wait, inwardly our souls echo with the “screams” of worry and the “shouts” of impatience. This “noise” is caused by frequently fixing our eyes on the desire we want so badly to be met. However, patient trust takes root when we fix our eyes instead on the one who has saved us and remains good to us in our waiting. As we seek the Lord in his Word and ponder his proven and perfect character, we can become inwardly calm. Waiting quietly before the Lord, knowing he is steadfast in his goodness, can turn our soul’s passion into peace that is aligned with the truth of God’s Word.

Take courage, Christian! In his perfect timing, our good Father will take care of us, his beloved children. God has a sovereign plan to bring good to all of his children, even amidst seasons of painful waiting. The same God who delivered a son to Abraham, freed an imprisoned Joseph, led his people to the Promised Land, and sent the Messiah to eternally save sinners, will prove his faithfulness to us as we wait. May we place our trust in the loving Savior whose mercies never end. May we wait humbly, contentedly, and quietly for his glory!

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This Is Fundamental to Your Christian Identity

If you’re like me, you’re probably getting a little weary of sheltering in place. In the past few weeks, I have read more books than in the past several years, have plowed through many a Netflix mini-series, and look forward to taking my trash out because it means a chance to go outside and perhaps interact with a neighbor (socially distant, of course). Though my sheltering in place is a small inconvenience compared to those truly suffering from COVID-19, I fondly remember the days when there were fewer restrictions on my movement and activities. As we continue though the month of May, we now uniquely celebrate and remember a holiday: Memorial Day.

Each May, Americans set aside the 25th as a day of remembrance for the servicemembers who have given up their lives in defense of our collective freedoms. A brief stroll through your neighborhood on Memorial Day may show that for some, the day is simply the official start of summer, a day for backyard barbeques, cornhole, and family gatherings. Others practice it as a blithe patriotic celebration of American civil religion, meaning little more than parades, a few fireworks, and hollow expressions of tribute. Yet for many, Memorial Day is something else entirely. It is a day of deeply personal remembrance of those who have gone before and no longer walk this earth, dead in defense of their countrymen, giving up their lives for the benefit of others (John 15:13).

Though Christians often wrestle with how to integrate secular holidays and days of remembrance with their faith, Memorial Day is an opportunity to reflect deeply on God’s faithfulness in the past.

Historical Remembrance is Fundamental to Christian Identity

In my experience, reflecting on historical events is not most people’s favorite pastime. When I tell people that I am studying to be a high school history teacher, I often get responses ranging from brief cringes to a long-winded tirade about their horrific experience with Ms. so-and-so back in 7th grade. I don’t blame them. As Americans, we live in what author Christopher Hitchens poignantly called a “present-tense culture.”[1] A famous scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off comes to mind, in which the history teacher drones on about the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930, met only with blank stares and heads down on desks. This visual depicts the all-too-familiar habit of historical remembrance as little more than a meaningless and impersonal awareness of names and dates from the past, seemingly useless to us in the here and now.

The Bible calls the Christian believer to more than passive and vague reflection on the past. The Old Testament illustrates numerous examples of deliberate, physical acts of remembrance of God’s grace and provision. Before the angel of death visits Egypt in the tenth and final plague, Moses tells Israel that “this day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, as a statute forever” (Ex. 12:14). Similarly, Israel was called to “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (Ps. 103:2).

But they forgot. The book of Judges details Israel’s struggle with remembering the deeds of the Lord. They fell time and time again to the contemporary temptations of false gods and quick fixes: “And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side” (Judg. 8:34). After the Lord delivered the Philistines into the hand of Israel hundreds of years later, Samuel raised up a stone and named it Ebenezer, for “till now the Lord has helped us” (1 Sam. 7:12). Though it stood as a permanent reminder of God’s goodness and faithfulness to his chosen people, they still forgot. Thus continued Israel’s cycle of forgetting and remembering, and forgetting again.

Just as the Israelites were called to do, God instructs us to “sing unto the Lord, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness” (Ps. 30:4). Scripture makes it clear that followers of the Most High God must remember his faithfulness. Part of our identity as Christians is that of a remembering people.

What are Christians to Remember?

Not unlike the Israelites, we are prone to forget God’s faithfulness today. It can be deceptively easy to live with a present-tense mindset, worried about the stresses and uncertainties that seem urgent in the here and now. I often find myself falling into this trap. In these days of quarantine and lockdown, I am prone to fret and worry about my own health and future, forgetting what God has done for me in the past. Especially in this time, the practice of historical remembrance facilitated by Memorial Day can help us to remember three important truths.

We remember the sacrifices of our fellow countrymen and women who have offered up their own lives in service of the United States. They have defended and perpetuated the freedoms that we cherish dearly. These sacrifices have been a means by which God has blessed Americans with a remarkable freedom to worship Him, and for this we should be immensely grateful.

We remember that we live in a nation that is not perfectly peaceful. Lest we be like the Pharisees and “neglect the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matt. 23:23), we must remember the injustice that continues to exist and is perpetuated in the United States. We should then use this remembrance to propagate justice, mercy, and faithfulness to our neighbor.

Finally, we remember and celebrate the salvation that we have through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. 1 Peter 2:14 exhorts us to remember that “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Brothers and sisters, we have a supernatural hope that is found in the cross, and we must never forget that Christ loves us enough to die for us!

God is glorified when we remember his faithfulness and grace in the past. This remembrance helps us see the ways in which He is working in the present. We were created to flourish when we look upon these things with gratitude, and Memorial Day is an opportune time to honor the Lord through remembrance.

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[1] Robert Tracy McKenzie, A Little Book for New Historians (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019), 19.
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The Greatest [Love] Story Ever Told

The whole Bible is a love story. It begins with God, and God is love. Before anything else existed, love flowed between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus says to the Father, “You loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

I still remember when I first heard this truth and the impact it made on me. I was a teenager, 16 years old, and I was in church on an ordinary Sunday morning. Our pastor in the little Baptist church where I grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland pointed to John 17:24. He said, “Before anything else existed, there was love.”

My pastor spoke of one God who exists in three persons: Love flows between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – it always has and always will. The life of God is filled with perpetual joy because of the constant self-giving and therefore receiving that takes place within His own nature.

I remember thinking as a teenager, “That is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.” I remember thinking, “This is why love is so great!” The truth that love existed before anything else is why the longing to love and to be loved runs so deeply in all our hearts. We are made in the image of God. We are made to give and to receive love just as God does Himself.

This truth is made clear in Mark 12:28-31:

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Commanded to Love

Scripture gives us many more than ten commandments. Is one more essential than the others? Jesus answered this question for a scribe – a scholar of Old Testament law. The man had asked Jesus which of God’s commandments is most important. Which commandment is central to everything else? Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to “love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” This is of fundamental importance. This is what we were made for. This is your highest calling! And the second is like it: “love your neighbor as yourself.”

But we have not given this commandment the importance that Jesus tells us it deserves. It has been that way since the beginning, when God created the first lovers and placed them in the Garden of Eden, to walk with Him. So what went wrong?

Listen to this answer from Michael Reeves:

It was not that Adam and Eve stopped loving. They were created as lovers in the image of God, and they could not undo that. Instead, their love turned. When the apostle Paul writes of sinners, he describes them as “lovers of themselves, lovers of money… lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:2-4). Lovers we remain, but twisted, our love misdirected and perverted. Created to love God, we turn to love ourselves and anything but God.[1]

Hiding from Love

The heart of what the Bible calls “sin” is a misdirected love, a disorder in the affections—loving the wrong things. That’s the fundamental human problem. That’s why our first instincts are not to seek God but to hide from Him. When Adam loved God, he walked with Him in the garden. But when Adam’s love turned, he hid from God. When Jesus came into the world and called the first disciples, He unveiled His glory by giving them a miraculous catch of fish. When Simon Peter saw this, he perceived something of the glory of God. He fell down at Jesus’ knees and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” Peter was saying, “I don’t belong here with you! You had better find someone else who is more holy than I am. I’m not the kind of person you are looking for” (Luke 5:8).

Here was Peter, like Adam, hiding from God. Isn’t that the saddest and most tragic waste of all, for a human being to be running away from love? To be hiding from the God who loves?

Found by Love

Though Peter was hiding, Christ did not let Peter go. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. Peter brought the boat to land, and then he left everything and followed Jesus.

Years later this same man, Peter, described why Jesus Christ came into the world: “Christ… suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus came so that He might bring us out of hiding and back into relationship with Him. Peter was saying, “He went to that cross so that people like us who love the wrong things and feel that we don’t belong anywhere near God should be brought back to him.”

This kind of love was what Jesus had in mind when He went to the cross. On the night he was betrayed, he prayed to the Father “that the love with which you have loved me may be in them” (John 17:26). This is an amazing prayer! That the love with which the Father has loved the Son – the love that has always flowed in the heart of God – should be in us!

The great purpose for which Jesus suffered was to bring us into His own enjoyment of the Father’s love. His purpose was that we should enter into the shared delight of the Father and the Son, and be caught up in the circle of their love. That is surely why, at the end of the Bible, we find the marriage supper of the Lamb—the shared joy of the Father, and of his Son, and of His bride. The great storyline of the greatest story ever told is the story of love.

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This article was adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Enjoying the Love of Christ”, from his series Loving and Being Loved by Christ.

[1] Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 65.
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Five Prayers for a Marriage Under Pressure

This past year will forever stand out as a year like no other. Our lives have been turned upside down as our livelihood, schedules, and ways of connecting with others have been completely redefined. Yet, our external circumstances aren’t the only part of our lives that have been affected. For many of us, our relationships with those inside of our homes, primarily with our spouses, have been tested, challenged, and pressed unlike ever before.

Maybe, if you’re anything like my husband and me, quarantine and the threat of illness have not been your only difficulties this year but have further complicated trials that you and your spouse were already enduring. Our own battle with draining finances, special needs, chronic illness, and increasing disability was difficult when life was “normal,” but loss of community, cancelled school, and job loss have only further intensified those trials. Not only has this year made us feel a keen sense of how little control we have, it’s added new temptations in our marriage relationship—tempting us to react in fear, lash out in stress, and turn against each other in the process.

And I’m sure we’re not alone.

If you find yourself in this place as well, let me encourage you to not lose hope. We serve a God who is Redeemer for the broken (Eph. 1:7), Healer for the wounded (Psalm 147:3), Provider for the needy (Luke 12:31), Sustainer for the weary (Psalm 55:4), and Savior for the sinner (2 Cor. 5:21). As believers, we have direct access to him in prayer (Psalm 145:18). Though we have little control over our circumstances, we have access to the One who knows and controls all things—and he beckons us to bring our requests to him (Philippians 4:6-7).

Regardless of the difficulties that you’re facing in life or the pressures mounting up against your marriage, you have your heavenly Father’s ear, and he promises to draw near and provide what you need as you draw near to him in faith (Hebrews 11:6).

Five Prayers for a Marriage Dependent on Christ
Trust

If you and your spouse are weighed down by the heaviness of life and battling discouragement:

Lord, thank you that nothing in my life is hopeless because you laid down your life for me, offering forgiveness, freedom, and eternity with you. You see my suffering and know the hidden places of my heart and marriage that need to be renewed, healed, and redeemed. Help me trust that you have purposes beyond what I can see and that nothing is impossible for you. Teach me to lay down what I think is best and submit my desires for my marriage to you. Thank you for your grace and forgiveness when I live in fear instead of faith. Open my eyes to the truth of your word, and chisel what you must to reveal more of your image within me. Amen.

Unity

If you and your spouse are turning against each other in response to your difficulties:

Lord Jesus, my heart is prone to wander, especially when times are difficult and painful, and the stresses of life seem to have no end. Search my heart, ground me in your truth, and give me clarity to see who my real enemy is. Help me take my eyes off of my husband/wife and bring my concerns, fears, and needs to you. Forgive me for blaming my spouse, fixating on how I think he/she needs to change, or ignoring the sin in my own life. Show me your truth and grow the fruit of your Spirit in me. By the strength of your Spirit, help me remember that my identity is found in you alone and not in my circumstances or in my spouse. But by your grace, align our hearts together with yours and with each other. Amen.

Growth

If you and your spouse are feeling the pain of loss and grief:

Heavenly Father, thank you that you give us permission to grieve over the trials that you have allowed into our lives. Help me to come to you like Job and the Psalmists, being honest about my heartache and trusting that you can handle my pain, questions, and wavering emotions. But help me not to get stuck there. Give me the strength and faith to grieve with hope and offer you a sacrifice of worship, trusting that you will draw near and give me the grace for what you’ve called me to. Protect our marriage as we learn to grieve alongside each other, and help us to grow together as we look to you in our sorrow. Amen.

Wisdom

If you and your spouse are experiencing fear as you face financial strain:

Lord, I desire to honor you in our finances, but if I’m honest, it’s easy to be anxious about what we need and fearful over what we might lose. Help us to enjoy and steward wisely what you have entrusted to us, but not put our hope in worldly wealth. Help us to communicate openly and graciously with each other about the financial challenges we face. Search my heart and show me where I am placing my hope. Show me also what it would look like to hope in you instead. By the power of your Spirit, teach both of our hearts to trust you completely. Amen.

Hope

If you and your spouse are feeling that your marriage is irreparable and the future is unclear:

Jesus, although I don’t understand why you have allowed these trials, thank you for promising that you will one day restore what is broken and redeem each loss, tear, grief, and sorrow. Jesus, I desire restoration now and I long for the restoration to come. Help me to trust you as I wait, and allow me to experience the greatest joy and blessing of coming to see and know you like never before. Though you don’t promise a perfect marriage now, please don’t allow these trials to destroy our marriage. Instead, may they change us to be more like you and to love, serve, and cherish each other, as a result. Thank you that one day I will be able to look back and see your faithfulness to carry us through these trials. In the meantime, please help us to walk stronger together, in the strength of Christ. Amen.

Brother and Sister, as much as we desire Christ-honoring marriages now, our hope is not found in perfect earthly relationships but in Christ alone. Therefore, regardless of the condition of our marriages right now, there is always hope for healing and redemption—whether it be in this life or the one to come. While we should strive, in the Lord’s strength, to honor him and love our spouses well, we must ultimately place our hope in the perfect, eternal marriage that is to come: Jesus Christ and his Bride, the Church. Until then, may we persevere in prayer for trust, unity, growth, wisdom, and hope to bear fruit within our hearts and marriages as we fix our eyes on Jesus.

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