Having a lot of time on your hands (as I’ve had lately) to ponder life’s deeper things brings up some unusual material. For example, have you ever thought of the perversity of experiencing something so incredibly amazing/beautiful/heartwarming, that you never wanted to forget it? Then, not much later, that very thing wisps and fuzzes to the point you can no longer recall its details? But what about those nasties in life? Those things/images/encounters, you desperately want to blot out from your memory bank for all time? They are often the things that remain crystal clear in there like it was yesterday! Or what about the weirdness of remembering a phone number from 20 years ago, yet the name of a person you met 20 minutes ago has already evaporated?
There are things important to remember, to hold on to, to guard as precious, and things to allow to sluff off like lint, negative things that, with time, can wear one down, become the portal for ill feelings, like anger, jealousy, bitterness, rage – hence, sin. Why does the one feel simple to accomplish and the other such a hopeless endeavor? I hear the Apostle Paul, crying out in frustration with us in his familiar words in Romans 7. “Oh! wretched man that I am . . .”
The reality is that an insidious spiritual warfare swirls stealthily around us like an invisible mist, constantly niggling at our hearts, befuddling our efforts toward maturity, offering those oh-so-alluring stumbling blocks, setting out trays of Turkish Delights (for the sweet-toothed Edmunds among us!). The larger reality is that an already-accomplished, world-upending victory has established us solidly in green pastures, by quiet waters, forever safe in the sheepfold of the Good Shepherd. But why does the first-mentioned reality gain such prominence in the recesses of our gray matter? And why does the second-mentioned reality, with its stunning truths, get pushed so persistently aside? The ‘logical’ side of our brains is suspicious and even cynical in our day. I mean, who hasn’t heard: ‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!’
God has made promises, all of which are Yes! and Amen! And He has set safe boundaries for us like all good parents with small children. Parents provide boundaries for physical safety. God provides them for spiritual safety. And we ignore His boundaries at our great peril. But even if, for a time we wander off to a far country, He is the God of the Always Invitation, always inviting back to safety, always making a way for our return, always keeping His arms open to enfold us again! Looking forward to seeing all you gently enfolded ‘sheep’ tomorrow, 10 AM, 4 PM. PD
