A request and a reminder

Today I am asking a favor. Would you please pray from Dr. Kent Brantly and his family? You may have heard of his situation on the nightly news, twitter, or the news wires. While working as a medical missionary in Liberia, he has tested positive for the Ebola virus. And while it is prominently in the news, those who love him have appealed for our prayers on this blog post.

Please read it, and please pray for him and his family.

As I pray earnestly for his healing, I cannot help but be reminded of what it means to follow Jesus. Most of us want safe, happy lives. We want to be insulated from any risk or danger. We would prefer a god who offers a life of ease, health, wealth, and pleasure.

But the Scripture is very clear that this is not the life God has called us to. It uses phrases like "take up your cross (which was an instrument of death),", "whoever loses his life will find it," and "go into all the world." It talks of suffering as the path to discipleship, and tells us that we are blessed when we encounter hardship.

No, God is not calling us to safety. The expression, "The safest place to be is in the center of God's will" is only true if we consider safety in the context of our eternal destiny. As a C.S. Lewis character said of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia, "Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good."

Or, in the words of my niece's favorite expression, "Ships are safe in the harbor. But that's not what ships are for."

God calls us to radical obedience, no matter where it takes us. It could be risking your job to stand for moral integrity. It could be risking your financial stability by giving generously to those in need. It could be volunteering to share God's love in a part of town you're not comfortable with. Or it could be serving him in another part of the world where the risks are completely different.

My heart is aching for what the Brantly family is going through. I am thankful for a family that, knowing the risks, followed Jesus in loving the people of west Africa. And I pray for his healing and for his family's comfort.

Would you join me in that?

"Wax on, wax off"

Pain. Discouragement. Grief. Failure. Numbness.

Adversity.

We all face it, in one form or another. For some, it seems to be their entire life. For others, it hits them occasionally. For all of us, there are probably extended periods when we stare into the face of death, disease, losing a job, bankruptcy, or divorce.

Why isn't life easy? Why do we have to go through pain?

The more I think and read about this question (including study of the Scriptures), the more I believe that "why?" is the wrong question. The better question is, "How will God use it to shape us into what we were meant to be?"

There are lots of Bible passages where we see this. We see that Job, possibly the most afflicted man in history, never learns why; but, he does come through it with a better understanding of God's character. We see in Hebrews and James that adversity is used to shape us and produce godly character. We see in Romans that everything - everything - is designed to conform us into the image of Jesus.

And years ago I saw a great example in a classic movie: The Karate Kid (1984).

In this movie (the original, not the 2010 retelling), young Daniel is being picked on at his high school by some bullies. To defend himself, he begins to learn from an elderly man who knows the martial arts. He asks for lessons but gets something much different from Mr. Miyagi: task after task that makes him feel like he's being used as a personal handyman. Sand the floor. Wax the car. Paint the walls. The frustration builds until...



So, he learns that it all did have a point. As he went through hours and hours of manual labor - seemingly pointless except as a way for Miyagi to get his chores done - he was learning. His body was developing muscle memory that would help him defend himself.
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Whatever we are going through this very day, whatever struggles we have, may seem incredibly pointless. Why is work so hard? What doesn't she love me anymore? Why did she have to die? Why did I have to get sick? Why am I going through this?

I don't know why. I suspect I never will in this life, and neither will you. But I do know that God can use it to strengthen me, to build character, and to conform me to what he wants me to be. And if I let him, he will.

When pain comes next, I pray that I will have the strength to trust him and let it happen.

(For more on this topic, I recommend Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges.)