PAIN – THE GREAT TEACHER

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”  (Romans 8:28 NIV)

Luci Shaw, my dear friend, mentor, and favorite poet, was widowed in midlife. When her husband Harold was diagnosed with cancer, Luci made a thoughtful vow to God. She said, “Lord, I promise never to give up on You, never to desert the faith.” Luci said that that promise, “like a marriage vow that sometimes staples a faltering relationship,” held her during the seven years of Harold’s illness, and finally, in his death (from “God in the Dark”). I think Luci exemplifies how a woman of wisdom responds to suffering. Her pain, which she did not deny, was immense. She told me that being a widow was “radical surgery – like being cut in half.” But she also resolved to trust God and to learn from her suffering. In an article in "Christian Living” (June, 1986), Luci said, “I’m learning to welcome pain, and not to dodge it. It’s one of the most valuable lessons. Pain has a refining work to do in us, if we welcome it. It teaches us what is temporal, what is superficial, and what is abiding and deep. I’m trying to let pain do its work in me.” 

-- Dee Brestin in “A Woman of Insight”

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HOW TO FINISH WELL – Part 4 of 6

How do we finish well?... First, those who finish well have a Christ-centered life… Second, those who finish well have a focused life… Third, those who end well have disciplined lives.

A fourth characteristic of those who finish well is that they have a teachable spirit through life. “Teachable” means that they maintain a humble posture and are open to receiving midcourse corrections. Those who finish well never stop doing this. They are life-long learners. They learn from reading, from watching and listening to others, and from life itself. This keeps them from plateauing. Paul was like this. At the very end of his life, in the closing request of his last letter, he says to Timothy, “When you come… also bring my books.” (2 Timothy 4:13 NLT). He was still learning and teachable, right to the very end.

-- Adapted from Donald W. Sweeting and George Sweeting in “How to Finish the Christian Life: Following Jesus in the Second Half”

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RESPONDING TO FAILURE

Failure does not shape you; the way you respond to failure shapes you.

Sir Edmund Hillary made several unsuccessful attempts at scaling Mount Everest before he finally succeeded.  After one attempt he stood at the base of the giant mountain and shook his fist at it.  "I’ll defeat you yet," he said in defiance.  "Because you’re as big as you're going to get -- but I’m still growing."

Every time Hillary climbed, he failed.  And every time he failed, he learned.  And every time he learned, he grew and tried again.  And one day he didn’t fail. 

-- John Ortberg in “If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat”

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NO PEDESTALS – Part 2

The Bible is remarkably transparent about the flaws and brokenness of the marriages of every character – yet how often in churches do couples sit in silent agony? They have an image of spiritual success to project, but under the surface the reality is that they have not slept together for months. Or there is verbal or physical abuse going on. Or they have a young daughter who is pregnant and they don’t know what to do. Or one of them is a secret alcoholic. Or they are facing bankruptcy.

Often the people who need help the most receive it the least, because that would mean leaving the pedestal. But what if real people could be as honest as the Bible about marriage? In a community gathered around a cross, there is no room for pedestals. In the Bible, marriage is not the fulfillment of our dreams; it is a place where we learn.

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be”

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WILLING TO LEARN

The One who knew said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Happy, that is, are those people who know that their spiritual power is small, that their creeds are imperfect, that their instruction concerning God and man is incomplete. Happy are those who know that they do not know all of the truth. For only those who admit their spiritual poverty are willing to learn.  

-- Agnes Sanford in “The Healing Light”

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LEARNING FROM OUR FAILURES

Our failures, placed in God’s hands, often lead to our greatest successes. Our most painful experiences become our defining moments by the grace of God, provided that we learn from them. This is what Paul was teaching in Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”

The challenge for many of us is that we spend so much time blaming others for our failures and expressing disappointment in God that we miss an opportunity to be teachable and to learn from the experience. God takes the dark moments, the failures and rejections in our lives, and uses them for our good -- if we allow it, if we humble ourselves and consider whether there is anything in us that needs to be changed…

I’ve known people who reached such a point when the world was crashing down around them, and instead of asking what they might need to change, they justified themselves and pointed a finger at everyone else. But there is great power in honestly assessing how we ended up where we are and inviting God to teach us, shape us, and forgive us. In this teachable position, humbled before God, we are often surprised by what happens next. 

-- Adam Hamilton in “Revival”

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

“Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, ‘What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!’”  (Matthew 8:24-27 NIV)

Answers create more questions than they eliminate. Every discovery opens the door to new possibilities. The crest of every hill reveals new twists and turns in the road ahead.

Take the Wright brothers, for example. Their primitive contraption lifted off the ground at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903, and flew for a grand total of 120 feet in twelve seconds. During the twelve-second period, many questions were answered. But for every one that was answered, ten more were created. That’s why, after a brief celebration, the brothers went scurrying back to their bicycle shop. They knew their research was just getting started.

Likewise, the disciples learned something important about Jesus when He calmed the waters. But that information opened the door to a thousand new possibilities, and some of them were truly frightening. They knew that someone who possessed that kind of power could do anything at any time…

If your faith reserves have been depleted, maybe you need the kind of jolt the disciples got that day on the Sea of Galilee. Maybe you need to be reminded of our Lord’s awesome power.

-- Mark Atteberry in “Free Refill: Coming Back for More of Jesus”


#4506

REMAINING TEACHABLE

“Respect and obey the LORD! This is the beginning of knowledge. Only a fool rejects wisdom and good advice.”  (Proverbs 1:7 CEV)

“A green twig is hard to break,” many of us have heard as we were growing up. When you remain flexible and pliable in the hands of God, He can mold and shape you into your ultimate best. And if you continue to remain teachable, you will never grow old. Just as you did when you were a child, you will stand in wonder and awe at the mysteries of God’s great universe.

-- from “God’s Little Book of Proverbs: Timeless Wisdom for Daily Living”

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SHARING WHAT WE’RE LEARNING

The psalmist said to God, “With my lips I recount all the laws that come from Your mouth” (Psalm 119:13). He declared to others what God was teaching him. Through this exercise, he not only edified others but also strengthened his own understanding of God’s truth. There is an old adage that says, “Words disentangle themselves when passing over the lips or through the pencil tips.” As we share our thoughts with others, we learn because we are forced to organize and develop our ideas.

--  Jerry Bridges in “True Community: The Biblical Practice of Koinonia"

#4272

LEARNING AND TEACHING

The soul that wishes to live according to the will of Christ should either learn faithfully what it does not yet know, or teach openly what it does know. But if, when it can, it desires to do neither of these things, it is afflicted with madness. For the first step away from God is a distaste for learning, and the lack of appetite for those things which the soul hungers when it seeks God.

-- Abba Palladius as quoted by Thomas Merton in The Wisdom of the Desert


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LEARNING TO PRAY

You can read all the manuals on prayer and listen to other people pray, but until you begin to pray yourself you will never understand prayer.  It's like riding a bicycle or swimming: You learn by doing.  

-- Luis Palau


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