I was reminded this last week what an evil and harmful thing it is to believe something about ourselves that just simply is not true.
I recently met with two couples who shared their life experiences with each other. There was couple 'A' who have been dealing with this family altering experience for many years at this point. Couple 'B' was just entering into a like difficult journey. Couple 'B' was looking for a support system, people to talk to, to know that they weren't alone in this journey.
I was encouraged by both of them. Couple 'A' came to the understanding that they need help and didn't have all the answers. Through this, Jesus has sustained them and their family. They sought counseling, they advocated for their family member, they sought to understand the difficulty their loved one was experiencing, struggled with not understanding the complex issues before them which initially insulted their intelligence, they turned to friends for prayer and support.
Couple 'B' saw the mountain in front of them that couple 'A' was currently scaling. They had no answers. They had relatively no hope in the things that were before them. They hadn't met or known couple 'A'. They were starting on this journey alone. What they did do was humble themselves and sought prayer.
One Sunday morning as I was greeting people at the end of service, couple 'B' passed through the line. I asked couple 'B' how things were going. At first, it was the token, "Good, thank you pastor." After a few minutes, when most had exited the sanctuary, I turned to see them lingering wanting to speak with me. They came and asked for a bit more of my time and shared what was so heavy on their heart. We prayed and after which, I thought of couple 'A' and their journey and how similar it was to what they just shared with me. I asked couple 'B' if I had permission to reach out to couple 'A' and share what they had shared with me.
Because of couple 'B's humility to voice a deeply personal, difficult, and at times embarrassing struggle, they found comfort through the struggles of another couple who are still going through something similar. Who, to the glory of God working in their hearts, couple 'A' were more than willing to share their struggles and experiences.
We are weak. We are fallen creatures. We are still struggling and dealing with sin. It is taught in some circles that if difficulty arises there is a lapse of faith or favor from God. As a Christian, Christ has delivered me from the punishment of sin, Christ is delivering me from the power of sin, and will one day deliver me from the presence of sin, but I am still fallen. I am still fallen and affected by a fallen world. We don't have it together. Our lives are at times held together by threads, we are reminded by and echo the words of Paul:
"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2Corinthians 12:9
We need each other. We need to live in community. The church must come around and bless, encourage, build up, exhort, love, and walk with those that are hurting and suffering. Delivering the healing, soothing, and repairing shalom that only Jesus gives. We are weak. When we embrace and accept our fallen state, the power of Christ is perfected in us.
When the early church was first exploding in the days and months after pentecost, Luke is apt to point out, "Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed." Acts 5:14-16
As the Holy Spirit moves in and through out the church, the hurting and the sick will come. May God grant us the wisdom, humility, and grace to love those whom He brings that need healing. Not because we are better or stronger (this is the great cultural lie), but because we need each other. We need each other to point each other to Jesus. May we also have the wisdom to reach out when we ourselves need help or are in need. I am weak, but He is strong!