Hope

The Proof is in the Putting

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

These words, penned by Louisa M.R. Stead in 1882 have been sung in churches for generations. They stand in sharp contrast to the many antagonists who posit that you can’t proof that God exists. The writer states in this hymn that the proof is possible, because His presence has been demonstrated in her life.

I reflected on these words recently, as I pondered when it meant to “prove Him o’er and o’er.” For those who have walked the Christian journey for any length of time, we recognize that as assuredly as there are moments of confident faith, there are instances of questioning despair. A loved one is diagnosed with cancer. A loving marriage is shattered by divorce. A child is the recipient of unspeakable pain. All of these, quite naturally, can cause us to question God; maybe not in the “do You exist?” sense, although that can certainly be the case. However, even in the staunchest Christian when faced with their personal protagonist of pain may wonder that if God has mercy on who He has mercy, and compassion on who He has compassion (see Romans 9:14-16) why does He withhold His power in bringing healing in our particular situation?

That’s when I realized, the proof that the lyricist wrote about wasn’t, I believe, in having a life in which all pain was immediately obliterated, but instead, was in continually putting her faith in Christ. In other words, to change the phrase, the proof wasn’t necessarily what happened in that particular circumstance, in the “pudding” so to speak, but the proof was in the putting…the perpetual commitment to trusting that God was in control, and that in the end His purposes and His plans would stand firm. God’s existence isn’t proven or disproved through His decision not to prevent a particular trial, but as we continually trust Him we see the proof that He is continuously trustworthy. His faithfulness is often clearest seen in our steadfastness to Him.

Now, some may say this is circular logic. “You are creating what you suspect” they may say. However, my challenge is this. Try it. Followers of Christ know that trusting in God often leads you to what you would least expect, so its not like a preexisting determination is making the equation true. However, by putting your trust in Christ, you can see how in your own life, He is proven faithful, time and time again.

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Growth

No Choice

It’s amazing how quickly the news can change. A few days ago, the major story was that Jon & Kate Gosselin, of “Jon & Kate Plus Eight” fame had filed for divorce. Since that time, other events have changed the pop culture news landscape. If I was a more on-top-of-it blogger, maybe this discourse wouldn’t already seem outdated. Oh well, you got to work with what you have.

So, as my rambling introduction indicated, I, like much of the nation perhaps, was intrigued my the Jon & Kate news. Not because I’m a fan of the show; I’ve never seen it. In fact, I hadn’t heard hardly anything about the couple until their recent demise. What caught my attention, however, was the statement that Mrs. Gosselin made when she announced her filing for divorce. According to this article on People.com, Kate said “Over the course of this weekend, Jon’s activities have left me no choice but to file legal procedures in order to protect myself and our children.”

Now, I don’t know what happened in this couple’s marriage, but I couldn’t help but see the disavowal of responsibility in Mrs. Gosselin’s statement. No choice? Really? I mean there’s almost always more than one choice. As many have suggested, maybe the couple should have let go of their show to save their marriage. Or maybe they could have gone to counseling together. Whatever the reasons behind the split, it seen incongruous to say that filing for divorce was the only option available.

It’s the same line of reasoning I use when my students tell me that they had no opportunity to complete their assignment. Rarely is that really the case. Instead, they made a decision about how to use their time, and the assignment didn’t rank high on their priority list. Or more specifically, whatever they did decide to do ranked higher. They had a choice, and to destroy the phrase from Spider Man, with that choice comes responsibility…the responsibility to accept the outcomes for that decision before the choice is made.

What amazes me, is that in a world where people increasingly argue that there is no such thing as black and white, that everything is relative, when it comes down to a decision about maintaining our commitments, we think there is only one option available. And that this limitation is often an excuse for fulfilling our responsibilities.

This isn’t a discussion that’s limited to the 21st century. Years ago, in her book “The Hiding Place”, Corrie Ten Boom recounts how her sister, Nollie, who also provided refuge to Jews in Austria facing Nazi persecution, chose to tell the truth when asked by the police state whether there were in fact Jews hiding in the house. Most people think that there is only one option when faced with this hideous decision, but her sister, chose another. She decided that her values didn’t change based on the difficulty of the decision; that she would stand for truth even when it seemed ridiculous to do so. And in the end, she and all those to whom her family was providing refuge, were inexplicably quickly released from captivity.

I don’t know that the reason for their release was because of the commitment to truth, and I’m not prepare to say that there aren’t greater principles at stake in a situation like the one Corrie ten Boom’s sister faced. *** However, in the million of everyday occurrences, we tend to limit the hand of God, by only seeing one alternative available – and usually it’s the quickest path to that which we think we deserve. However, if we can only see one option and that option doesn’t bring God honor, then there must be another alternative. So when Christians are faced with a decision in which they could honor God, or they can do that which best served their own purposes, there really should be no choice. The only choice should be to glorify Him.

***Based on comments that can be read below, I updated this blog to try to make my point clearer. The blog wasn’t intended to be about divorce, but was about viewing a decision as only having one alternative. If that alternative doesn’t bring God honor, then there must be another option that does.

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