Reflections on a Year

As we all come to the end of another calendar year, and I celebrate the anniversary of my birth, I was thinking about some of the lessons I’ve been learning (or relearning) in the past year. In no particular order:

• Just because someone endeavors to take care of their body doesn’t mean they won’t face physical challenges and decline over time. Exercise and diet are important for stewarding our bodies, but life in a fallen world with broken bodies leads to the need for doctors. But one day we’ll receive new bodies suited to life in the perfect new creation.
  
  
• Even though someone may be labeled as an extrovert doesn’t mean they are good at building relationships. And even though I’m an introvert doesn’t mean I have an excuse for avoiding people. All good relationships require time and effort, regardless of whether we go to church together, work together, or live together. One day we’ll live in the new kingdom in perfect harmony, but for now we all have to deal with difficult or broken relationships. Sometimes we have to let go of our expectations of other people.
  
  
• God has created each of us as unique human individuals. As an old book by Barbara Johnson noted, “Normal is just a setting on your dryer.” Some of the standards that are thought to represent the “proper Christian life,” are actually just cultural stereotypes that have no basis in Scripture. When we are prone to judge others for their appearance, habits, or interests, we need to go first to the Bible as our guide for right, wrong, or somewhere in between.
  
  
• Just because someone goes to church sometimes and may profess faith in Christ doesn’t mean they are living under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Some may go to church every week for decades and yet choose to ignore most of the commands of Scripture. Living in a “churchy” culture allows many to slip through with a Christian façade. There is coming a day when all will be called to account.
  
  
• There are no “one and done” aspects to the Christian life. Faith, sanctification, endurance, repenting from sin, forgiving others, peace, joy, hope—all require turning to God every day. And we all need regular encouragement and exhortation to keep walking on the narrow way of salvation.

As we launch into a new year, let us “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

The Light of Life

The exact date of Jesus’s birth is not known, and occurred somewhere around 5 BC. It is believed that after the Roman emperor Aurelian made December 25 into a celebration of the “Invincible Sun” to mark the winter solstice (AD 274), the Church chose that date to celebrate Christ’s birthday to appropriate that festival time. Certainly the solstice would be an appropriate time to mark the arrival of the Light of the world into the darkest day of the year.

There are about 80 references to light in the New Testament. Many of those refer directly to Jesus.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:4-5, 9).

“The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19).

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

“The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned” (Matt. 4:16).

God’s first act in creation was to speak light into existence: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). When Jesus died on the cross, “the sun’s light failed” (Luke 22:45). Then of the new earth to come, we are told, “The city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev. 21:23).

Scripture also refers to our responsibility to live in the light:

“For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).

“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

One of the reasons we decorate with lights at Christmas is to remember the arrival of the Light of the world. Jesus came to expose our sin, redeem us from eternal death and darkness, and enable us to share His light with the world. Let there be light!

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

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© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Waiting

Simeon,
awaiting the Savior,
the consolation of Israel,
waiting faithfully,
waiting patiently,
salvation for all,
the light for Gentiles,
and the Jews’ Messiah,
waiting righteously,
waiting devoutly,
believing God’s promises,
trusting the Spirit’s revelation.
Lord, make me more like Simeon.

Anna,
awaiting the Savior,
worshiping daily,
fasting and praying,
waiting for decades,
the redemption of Jerusalem,
giving thanks to God,
speaking to all,
waiting for the Redeemer.
Lord, make me more like Anna.

Jesus,
the Christ,
the Messiah,
Savior,
Redeemer,
Son of God,
Friend of sinners,
coming again,
awaiting the Father’s cue,
wanting none to perish,
but all to repent.
Lord, make me more like Jesus.

Help me to live
in holiness,
in godliness,
faithfully,
trusting You,
waiting for the coming day,
for the new heavens
and new earth,
where righteousness dwells.
Lord, come quickly.

“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev. 22:7).

[See Luke 2:25-38 and 2 Peter 3:8-13.]

© 2023 Dawn Rutan text and photo. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Blessed Forever

As we approach Christmas, it’s likely that you’ve seen or heard some reference to Mary’s song of praise (the “Magnificat”) in Luke 1:46-55. In her book Jesus Through the Eyes of Women, Rebecca McLaughlin notes similarities between Mary’s words and Hannah’s praise in 1 Samuel 2. She notes,

“Looking at Jesus through the ancient telescope of Hannah’s and Mary’s eyes, we see the one who turns the tables on all human power, the one who lifts the humble and humbles the mighty, the one who is the Savior of his people, showing mercy even as he shows his strength.”

One thing I noted in reading through the Magnificat is how little of Mary’s praise is for her own personal blessing of being the mother of the Messiah. While it is true that Mary’s role was unique and that she was blessed in that way, it’s also true that every believer is blessed through our adoption into God’s family through Jesus’s birth, life, death, and resurrection. When Jesus began His ministry, some of His first recorded words are proclamation of blessings—the Beatitudes in Matthew 5—for the poor in spirit, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted. In fact, there are several parallels between the Magnificat and the Beatitudes. Mary quotes from many Old Testament passages in saying that God has shown mercy to the meek, scattered the proud, exalted the humble, and filled the hungry.

In Ephesians 1:3 we’re reminded that God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” In a recent sermon from Immanuel Nashville, Barnabas Piper notes that Mary wasn’t chosen because she was spectacularly different from other people, and neither are we. God “chose us before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), not for anything we have done but by His own grace and mercy. Our blessed status is entirely dependent on Jesus’s righteousness, not our own. “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). And Jesus’s righteousness never changes. We can trust in His promised blessings forever. We can join Mary in saying, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”

During this Christmas season, rather than elevating Mary beyond measure, let’s give our praise to God, who elevates all believers beyond anything we could ever ask, imagine, or deserve. As Amy Orr-Ewing notes in an interview in Christianity Today, “It’s encouraging to know that, whatever our qualifications or status, we can have this deep theological conviction in the reality that Jesus is Lord of all.”

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy” (Psalm 103:2-4).

 

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

True Community

For Thanksgiving weekend I was away from home visiting family members who have not attended church for a few years for health reasons. They watch services online each Sunday. Together we watched the service at Parkside Church with Alistair Begg, and he made a brief comment about how online gatherings can never replace the gathered Body of Christ in sharing life together.

Wiktionary notes in the definition of the word community that it comes from prefix con meaning ‘bringing together several objects’ and munus meaning ‘service, burden, duty, obligation.’ So by definition, community cannot occur where people are physically separated. We can have temporary substitutes to communicate with other people, though that too requires ‘bringing together’ and not just ‘talking at’ one another that often happens on social media.

Also implicit in the definition of community is the duty we bear for one another in the local Body of Christ. Church is not just about hearing a sermon and singing a few songs together. It includes bearing one another’s burdens, praying for and with one another, encouraging one another, giving thanks to and for one another. All of that requires actually spending time with one another and talking about the things that are on our hearts and minds.

It is true that thanks to technology we don’t always have to be in the same room quite as frequently as we used to, but that in no way negates the need for regular in-person gatherings with fellow believers. There are some folks (you know who you are) that I wish lived closer so we could see each other more frequently. And there are some other Christians I’ve been seeing more frequently and enjoying getting to know. But at the same time I don’t want to give up my relationships with my local church family.

After moving between states many times when I was growing up, and never having any fellow believers to connect with long term, I highly value the stability and connections gained through more than two decades in one place. And I have to say that I don’t understand why anyone would willing move away from their faith community if they didn’t have to, though I realize there are many circumstances that can impact such a decision.

In 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul points out that each believer is given spiritual gifts “for the common good” (12:7). I have to wonder how many gifts are being neglected because individuals are not regularly gathering with other believers in a local church. We are all needed to play our assigned roles in the community known as the Body of Christ, and we need to be with one another on a regular basis.

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:44).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

A Shared Faith

“You may not believe me now, but I want you to hold on to my faith because I believe that Jesus can change your life.”

I came across this sentence recently, though now I’ve forgotten where I read it. There are times when it is hard to believe that God is working all things for good (Rom. 8:28), or that “The Lord is my strength and my shield” (Ps. 28:7) if He doesn’t seem to be on guard against the difficult times we each face. Sometimes we need those friends who can say, “You may not have the faith you think you need right now, but I’ll believe for the both of us.”

It reminds me of the paralytic in Mark 2 whose four friends carried him to Jesus and cut a hole in the roof just to make sure Jesus saw him. I wonder if that man was a confident in the results as his friends were? Was he saying, “Guys, why are you wasting your time with this expedition?” Jesus didn’t specifically refer to the man’s faith. Verse 5 says, “And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” After this odd response, the man doesn’t suddenly jump up from his cot. He apparently lays there and listens to the lecture to those who doubt Jesus. It isn’t until Jesus commands him to pick up his bed and walk that he realized he was healed.

There are several times in Scripture when Jesus mentions someone’s “little faith” (Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20). Usually it’s a word to His disciples, encouraging them to believe He is who He says He is. A few people were commended for their faith; for example, the centurion whose servant was sick (Matt. 8:10), a Canaanite woman whose daughter was oppressed by demons (Matt. 15:28), and the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years (Matt. 9:22).

There is no one-size-fits-all standard of faith. Our confidence in God can ebb and flow over time and through changing circumstances. We all hope we are growing in faith, but there are hills and valleys throughout life. That’s why we need to be engaged with the church, vitally connected to the Body of Christ. We need those who will lift us up when we are weak, fearful, discouraged, or struggling. And in turn, we need to lift others up when we have the faith that they are lacking at a difficult time in life.

This week I had a random phone call from a stranger who read a couple verses of Scripture and encouraged me with the reminder that Jesus is coming again soon. I have no idea what prompted her to this particular ministry of encouragement and evangelism, though I’m glad there are people like that. But how much more powerful is an encouraging word when it comes from a friend who knows the road we’re on and offers to come alongside saying, “Lean on my faith for this season.”

May we all be those who share our faith, not just in terms of evangelism of unbelievers, but in encouraging fellow believers to keep holding on no matter how small their faith feels.

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Fast Forward

Reading through the Simplified Harmony of the Gospels, I came across a couple verses that got me thinking. The first comes from John 17:24:

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Why did Jesus pray this? Like much of His “high priestly prayer” it states things that were already predetermined. In a way, the whole prayer is more of an encouraging word to the disciples than a petition to the Father. However, another verse just a little later in the timeline shifted my focus a bit:

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39).

It’s clear that Jesus would have preferred a less painful and difficult way to achieve salvation for mankind, but He submitted to the Father’s plan. If you take that perspective back to the verse in John, it sounds to me as though Jesus might have been praying, “Father, I wish we could just skip to the end where we all dwell together in eternal glory.” That is encouraging because it sounds like many of my own prayers.

Even if my interpretation is stretching it, we can still draw strength from the fact that Jesus knows our struggles and our desire to avoid pain. He can “sympathize with our weaknesses” (Heb. 4:15) and He “endured the cross” for us (Heb. 12:1). When life is overwhelming and we want to fast forward to the end, He understands and He walks with us through it all. I imagine it brings a smile to His face each time we pray “Lord, come quickly!”

It’s okay to wish for and pray for an end to pain, suffering, and difficult circumstances, though we know that God may not answer those prayers in the way we want. It’s also okay to long for that final Day when all things will be made perfect. In fact, I believe that the longer we live and grow in faith, and the more we experience of the brokenness of this world, the more we should long for the “new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13b).

Jesus spent a lot of time speaking of eternal things, and He encouraged His disciples by point ahead. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). He never sugarcoated suffering (e.g. Matt. 5:3-12), but He urged us to remember that this is not “your best life now” but merely a prelude to real life in His kingdom. So we can continue to wish and pray for the soon-fulfillment of our hope in the presence of His eternal glory!

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him... The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15, 17).

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Here’s an episode of the Broken Vessels Podcast that touches on some of these ideas and more.

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

IQ Isn't Everything

If you’re like me, whenever you hear the name Albert Einstein there’s this mental sign that pops up saying, “Ah, genius!” When I learned that he was from a Jewish family, had Catholic school education, and was a pacifist, I thought it would be interesting to read some of the things he wrote. They are indeed interesting, but not in the way I anticipated. In just the first chapter of the book The World as I See It, there are a few statements I can fully agree with:

“What is the meaning of human life, or of organic life altogether? To answer this question at all implies a religion... The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow-creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life... I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves.”

Other statements seem mostly correct:

“From the point of view of daily life, without going deeper, we exist for our fellowmen—in the first place for those on whose smiles and welfare all our happiness depends, and next for all those unknown to us personally with whose destinies we are bound up by the tie of sympathy.”

But then there are statements that greatly undermine my respect for this genius. When he gets into religious discussions the anvil drops:

“Feeling and desire are the motive forces behind all human endeavor... [The] most varying emotions preside over the birth of religious thought and experience. With primitive man it is above all fear that evokes religious notions—fear of hunger, wild beasts, sickness, death...

“The social feelings are another source of the crystallization of religion. Fathers and mothers and the leaders of larger human communities are mortal and fallible. The desire for guidance, love, and support prompts men to form the social or moral conception of God... The Jewish scriptures admirably illustrate the development from the religion of fear to moral religion, the religions of all civilized peoples... are primarily moral religions...

“Common to all these types is the anthropocentric character of their conception of God. Only individuals of exceptional endowments and exceptionally high-minded communities, as a general rule, get in any real sense beyond this level. But there is a third state of religious experience which belongs to all of them, even though it is rarely found in a pure form, and which I will call cosmic religious feeling... He looks upon individual existence as a sort of prison and wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole... The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man’s image; so that there can be no Church whose central teachings are based on it. Hence it is precisely among the heretics of every age that we find men who were filled with the highest kind of religious feeling and were in many cases regarded by their contemporaries as Atheists, sometimes also as saints... I maintain that cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest incitement to scientific research.”

While scientific advances are often (though not always) helpful to the world, it’s sad that some of those involved in such research can’t imagine that there is a sovereign God who not only created this world but is intimately involved in the lives of people. If I thought that man’s only purpose was to keep improving this world for future generations, I don’t think I’d be willing to endure through all the seasons of suffering that life brings. Yes, my faith does help to address my fears and it provides a moral framework for me, but my real hope is in a future life in relationship with my Creator and Redeemer. That is what helps me to get out of bed every day and to keep serving those in need around the world.

My life is what it is because of the God who made me in His image (Gen. 1:27), not because I shaped a god in my own image. Einstein is unfortunately one of those the Apostle Paul was writing about when he said, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:4-5a). I’m thankful to God that I have a God I can thank!

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

(You can read more about Einstein’s religious views on Wikipedia.)

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Nearing the End

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

This verse came to mind as I was thinking about what it would be like to face an imminent death. We all know that death is a certainty unless Christ returns first. We just don’t know how soon our end will come. You’ve probably heard some variant of the question, “If you knew this was your last day on earth, how would that change your priorities?” But the Apostle Paul puts a different spin on it, because he says we have already died and our remaining days belong entirely to Christ. He uses the same reasoning in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

How should it shape our priorities and daily lives if we remembered that in Christ we have already died to the things of this world? The first thing that comes to mind is that I would care a lot less about what people think of me. It wouldn’t matter so much whether I am accepted, appreciated, or adequate, because I’m already fully loved and accepted by the only One whose opinion really matters. For some, the first thought might be a different definition of success—no longer striving for perfection or achievement, but focusing on sharing the gospel with those we love and want to be with for eternity. For others, it could be a realization that the things we depend on for safety and security in this life are not going to matter in eternity, and therefore they don’t require as much attention or effort as we might otherwise dedicate to them.

I was introduced to the 7 Primal Questions concept from Mike Foster. I find the psychology of it interesting, but from the few videos I watched it sounds like his primary advice is to turn each question around:

• From “Am I safe?” to “I am safe.”
• From “Am I secure?” to “I am secure.”
• From “Am I loved?” to “I am loved.”
• From “Am I wanted?” to “I am wanted.”
• From “Am I successful?” to “I am successful.”
• From “Am I good enough?” to “I am good enough.”
• From “Do I have a purpose?” to “I have a purpose.”

For the Christian, every one of those questions is answered “yes” in Jesus Christ. We have all the security, love, and purpose that we really need because we are children of the Heavenly Father. Admittedly, that doesn’t always feel like enough when we’re living in a broken world. We’d all like to have people around us who will affirm those truths frequently, and the Church doesn’t always do a good job of that. That’s one reason we need to remind ourselves that we have died with Christ, and we now live in and through Him.

People will always disappoint us one way or another, and we will disappoint them too. But our Father is never disappointed with us, because He knows us better than we know ourselves. And there is coming a day when we will see our Savior face to face and we’ll know the full depths of His love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Until that day, we can remind ourselves and one another that this life is far shorter than we can comprehend and we should order our priorities accordingly. By doing so, our lives will probably start to look more like the Beatitudes—meek, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, seeking righteousness, etc. (Matt. 5:3-12), because we know that the promised blessings are already ours in Christ.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2 BSB).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

In Our Weakness

In a recent podcast from The Gospel Coalition, Ray Ortlund pointed out that in Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness” it is not plural, weaknesses, but “in our weakness.” He says, “Weakness is not one more experience alongside all these other experiences. Weakness is the foundation or platform on which we have all experiences. We have never known, for one nanosecond in this life, a moment of non-weakness”

We could put it this way: our experiences of particular weaknesses are the things that remind us of our inherent weakness and neediness as fallen creatures, and they should also remind us that God is the one who carries us through. As the Apostle Paul wrote in a verse I return to often, “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” (2 Cor. 12:9).

This kind of thinking is antithetical to our Western autonomous culture. Children and youth are taught from an early age that they should be self-confident and self-directed, everyone is a winner, follow your heart, feeling bad means something needs to be fixed or changed. Affirmation is the mantra of the day, even if it means affirming them in life-changing decisions and relationships that we know are anti-biblical.

In another podcast that I’ve come across, The Care Ministry, guest Monica Coleman refers to being called by God to break the silences and stigma about those areas of mental health that are so often kept silent even in the church. In many ways, I feel that describes my own calling. I got tired of trying to hide depression and pretending that everything is “fine and dandy.” Life is hard, and mental illness is one particular weakness that many people wrestle with in silence. It is a constant reminder that we’re not the strong, self-assured people that society, and often the church, says we’re supposed to be.

And since I need all the encouraging words I can find, in another of my favorite podcasts from Immanuel Nashville, Barnabas Piper preached on Mark 9 and the man whose son was suffering from an unclean spirit. This was the father who proclaimed, “I believe, help my unbelief!” Piper notes that faith and doubt can coexist. “Doubts are uncomfortable, especially if you have grown up in a church context… ‘I believe’ is a profession of faith, and ‘help my unbelief’ is the prayer of faith… Faith is not measured in certainty, but by trusting Jesus with our needs.”

We are all weak and needy people. Pretending we have no doubts or struggles not only keeps us from seeking strength and help from God, but also isolates us from one another in our many times of need. Someone recently made a comment to me, and perhaps I misunderstood their intent, but it sounded like they were saying that people put on a happy face at church because that’s how they want to feel and what they think will encourage other people. But for those who are aware of their own weakness and trials, that is just one more barrier to connecting with others in a meaningful way.

I feel like a hypocrite when I plaster on a smile and join in singing songs that imply that God heals every weakness and wound in this lifetime. I know that in the resurrection He will do so, but as long as we live in this broken world we’ll have to wrestle with sin, doubt, weakness, and sorrow. To pretend that we are above such things is to join the Pharisees and to lay heavy burdens on the shoulders of those who don’t measure up (Matt. 23:4). Instead, let us acknowledge our weakness and “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Gal. 6:2-3).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

A Long Journey

In his book Angry with God: An Honest Journey Through Suffering and Betrayal, Brad Hambrick writes,

“We usually only think of sanctification in terms of purification from sin… But if we only think of sanctification in terms of purification, we begin to believe that every unpleasant emotion that emerges from suffering reveals an idol, some aspect of life taking on a God-sized role in our heart. This belief is inaccurate, creates false guilt, and causes God to come across we an uncaring cosmic Cop… What is the complementary aspect of sanctification that needs to be emphasized? If sanctification is the process of becoming more Christlike, the following question will point us to the answer. What verb does the Bible use to describe Jesus’ response to suffering? Consider what Hebrews 12:2 says of Jesus: ‘Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’ (emphasis added). We become like Jesus when we endure suffering in a way that resists the shame that often accompanies it. We need a view of sanctification that allows us to both be purified from sin without a condemning sense of guilt and endure suffering without a stigmatizing sense of shame. That is what it is to be Christlike in a broken world where sin and suffering are both common experiences” (143-144).

This is a perspective I had not heard before, and one that is much needed in the church. We can get so fixated on sanctification as removal of sin that we look for, and often find, evidence of personal sin behind every difficulty in life. And then when people are suffering for unknown reasons or for reasons outside their control, they feel a need to hide it lest others think the worst of them.

In one sense sin is the cause of all suffering, because all of creation was impacted by the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But not all suffering is directly linked to personal sin. Many of us live with broken bodies, broken hearts, and broken minds. For those who are suffering, it can be hard to know how to relate to others in the church when they all seem to be content with projecting the “Life is good” image. Chronic illness, whether physical or mental, carries an unspoken stigma simply because it has no end, and other people don’t know how to relate to that unchanging need.

I came across this quote from Hudson Taylor, and though he seems to be primarily addressing obedience, it also speaks to the mystery of suffering and the sovereignty of God:

“If God has called you to be really like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put on you such demands of obedience that He will not allow you to follow other Christians; and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things that He will not let you do… So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.”

There is much that we do not know, cannot understand, and do not enjoy about the way God works in this world and in His people. Faith often means trusting that God will one day make all the darkness disappear in the light of that new day of eternity.

“Behold, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive Him; on the left hand when He is working, I do not behold Him; He turns to the right hand, but I do not see Him. But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:8-10).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Worth It All

Last weekend I went hiking with some friends along the Tanawha Trail up to Beacon Heights in between two major thunderstorms. We hiked about three miles and my phone registered 49 flights of stairs. When I was telling someone about it later she commented that hard hikes are worth it if there’s a great view. I showed her one of the pictures below and she said, “Totally worth it!”

It didn’t occur to me till a couple days later that her comments had spiritual significance. There are a lot of times in this life that we’re on a narrow path, going through dark woods, clambering up and down rocks, wondering if the rain will hold off, not knowing how much further we have to go, and wondering if it’s going to be worth it in the end. But for Christians, we have the assurance from the Bible that it will indeed be worth it all. Here are a few of the Scriptures that I turn to frequently:

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6-7).

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Pet. 5:10).

In the toils of a lifetime of seventy or eighty years, it can be hard to remember that this life is just a brief moment in light of eternity. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matt. 13:44). That eternal kingdom will make every sacrifice, loss, and trial that we face in this life ultimately worthwhile. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing on Matthew 5:3, says,

“The kingdom of heaven will come to those who live thoroughly in renunciation and want for Jesus’ sake... They have their treasure well hidden, they have it at the cross. The kingdom of heaven is promised them in visible majesty, and it is already given them in the complete poverty of the cross” (Discipleship, ch. 6).

As we were enjoying the view at Beacon Heights, we talked about the fact that if we can enjoy beautiful views in this broken and marred world, just imagine what eternity will be like. When I think about places I would like to visit but probably won’t see in this life, I figure the new earth will still have similar continents but even better sights to enjoy. What better way to praise God than by enjoying the perfection of His new creation for eternity!

And if today’s enjoyments are small compared to what is to come, how much smaller are today’s sorrows? I admit that’s really hard for me to hold onto at times, especially when it feels like life is heavily weighted with loss, disappointment, anxiety, and discouragement. But even when there are no views to enjoy and the rocks on the trail seem too hard to climb over and the valleys too deep, there is a Shepherd and Guide who walks alongside us all the way. For now I’ll take any glimpses of heaven that I can find.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Ps. 23:4).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan text and photos. All Scripture are ESV. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

In Gratitude

Recently I was listening to a podcast conversation from a secular source that was talking about practicing gratitude. They mentioned the physiological and psychological benefits of intentionally remembering things to be grateful for. One person said she strives for 100 “gratitudes” per day. That’s all well and good, but during the discussion I kept wondering who they were expressing their gratitude to if they held no belief in God. It’s fine to be thankful for indoor plumbing, a bed to sleep in, food on the table, and all the people who make those things possible. But when an atheist sees a beautiful flower in the woods, where should gratitude be directed? One might say, “I’m thankful for that flower,” but thanksgiving implies a source, not simply a happy thought.

As Christians we know that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17a), and we should be grateful for all good things. Yet at the same time we know that God’s blessings to us don’t all carry the same weight. The privileges of living in the Western world are nice, but they can’t really be compared to the eternal benefits of faith, salvation, sanctification, and adoption into God’s family. Just a few verses earlier James had written, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (1:2-4). Termites or plumbing failures, though they may test our patience, aren’t really a trial of faith when compared to the trials endured by our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18). Even if we agree that “in all circumstances” doesn’t mean the same thing as “for all circumstances,” this may be one of the hardest commands in Scripture. (Or is it just me?) When it seems like everything in life is going wrong, it is incredibly hard to find reasons for gratitude-- except for the eternal perspective that one day all these trials will cease. That is the perspective that Peter adopts in 1 Peter 1:3-9: Because of Jesus Christ we have an eternal inheritance, and we know that the testing of our faith now will result in “praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” We can give thanks for that hope regardless of what’s going on in this life.

I’ve been reading the book of Job lately, and after his statement, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21b), there’s a pretty steady stream of lamentation. However, Job’s thoughts keep returning to his Redeemer and that day when he will finally see God (13:15, 19:25-26, etc.). He doesn’t try to remember little things to be grateful for, but he clings to the one thing that really matters: his eternal hope. It is God’s love that matters most and for that we give thanks. “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!” (1 Chron. 16:34).

This has become a recurring theme in my blog posts because I have to keep reminding myself that today’s challenges will one day end. It may not be this month or this year or even in this lifetime that a change comes to the painful circumstances of life, but there is a guaranteed ending of trials and tears on that final Day that our Father has established. I am grateful for the certainty of that hope.

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Undivided

Please note that the following are my own opinions and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the staff or Executive Council, or any official position of Advent Christian General Conference.

I’ve been reading the recent posts on A.C. Voices with interest. I too listened to the panel discussion on denominational restructuring at the triennial convention. Although I was not surprised by the diversity of opinions presented, there was more consensus between the participants than I had anticipated. Comments were made about the need for unity of purpose at all levels of our denomination. Others noted that the question “What is an Advent Christian?” is often answered in terms of relationships. That ties in with things I’ve observed just in the past few weeks, and which I shared with my church following the convention...

For the past decade or so I have been attending the Appalachian Region Family Camp. This year in particular I realized that most of my closest friendships are people that I have gotten to know through the camp. That is somewhat ironic given that my own church has not really promoted or participated in Family Camp. There have been several years when I was the only one from my church who attended. As a result, my friends tend to be from other A.C. churches, while many members of my church may not know any Advent Christians outside our congregation. (I’m not passing judgment on any of the church members or those who have served in leadership. I’m just stating the facts.)

Those relational connections were reinforced for me during the Appalachian Regional Meeting following camp. It was reported that five churches in the Piedmont Conference are currently searching for pastors, including my own church. When we are isolated from other churches, it can feel like we are on our own or, at best, competing with other churches for the few pastors available. But when I know and love people at those other churches, I want each them to find the right pastor, and I hurt for them in the times of loss and disappointment. I pray for God’s direction and provision for them as well as for my own church.

Those kinds of relationships at the conference and regional levels don’t happen by accident. As with relationships within the local church, we need unhurried and unstructured time together to find our connections and unity in Christ. That is usually the biggest area of feedback on the triennial conventions—the available time and space for fellowship. For some people it is a reunion with college classmates, but for many of us it’s connecting with people we’ve gotten to know through camps, summer ministries, other churches, and extended family. (Our multigenerational A.C.s are all related somehow!)

However, the convention also revealed some relational disconnects as well. Only 23% of our churches sent delegates, and only 65% of our conferences sent delegates. Two small conferences had neither church nor conference representation. In addition, as I shared in my report to the delegate body, about two-thirds of churches participate in Penny Crusade, a little over half give to United Ministries, but one quarter do neither one. I have not yet correlated delegate representation with individual church giving trends; however, if churches are not contributing financially to denominational activities and they don’t feel the need to send people to the business meetings, that raises a lot of questions. Perhaps it goes back to asking them what it means for them to be Advent Christian.

Tom Loghry has already commented on the multitude of committees and boards that need filled at each church, conference, regional, and denominational level. That challenge is exacerbated by the number of churches that choose not to participate or even mention activities outside their local community. It has often been said that the pastor is the gatekeeper of the church, and if he or she doesn’t share events or fundraisers with the church board and congregation, there’s little that anyone else can do about it. As I imagine most denominations would say, we could have the best structure in the world but still be declining in numbers if each church is not involved and invested.

So as we look to the future, I don’t think restructuring is the best or only answer. I’m all for eliminating redundancy and unnecessary committees, but that only addresses one piece of the problem. From my own experience, establishing and nurturing relationships are an absolute necessity. As I write often in my blog posts, God didn’t call us into relationship with Himself alone, but He made us members of His Body, united throughout all time and space for the purpose of loving Him, loving one another, and loving the world by sharing the Gospel. I am increasingly convinced that the local church is insufficient for these things. We need frequent reminders that we really do need one another.

“In [Christ] the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord… There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 2: 21, 4:4-6).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

On Alert

Several times recently I’ve had conversations with friends about the subject of biblical discernment. Scripture uses the Greek word diakrino in a variety of ways, and English translations include distinguish, discern, judge, or separate. Two verses in particular are:

“…to another the ability to distinguish between spirits…” (1 Cor. 12:10).

“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Heb. 5:14).

The first of those is one of the lists of spiritual gifts. The Network Spiritual Gifts inventory describes discernment this way:

“The gift of Discernment is the divine enablement to distinguish between truth and error. It is able to discern the spirits, differentiating between good and evil, right and wrong... truth and error... accurately judging character; seeing through phoniness or deceit; helping others to see rightness or wrongness in life situations.”

One of the more obvious examples in the Bible comes from Acts 5:1-4 in the story of Ananias and Sapphira. The Apostle Peter knew that they were being deceptive in reporting how much they earned on the sale of some property, because the Holy Spirit somehow revealed it to him. Peter reminded them, and everyone else, that though they might deceive men, they could not deceive God.

In the church today, I’m not sure most people understand or know what to do with the gift of discernment. When we’re young we are often told we are to obey our leaders without question. We come to trust our teachers and pastors and others in authority, so when they trust someone else, we generally do too. But as we’ve seen in a multitude of church scandals in recent years, not every Christian leader is worthy of trust. Many people have been deceived and wounded by those who claimed to represent God. Many times the truth doesn’t come out until years later, because people rightly fear that no one will believe their claims.

I can think of multiple examples of people I have personally met who immediately raised suspicions in my spirit, but for no clear reason I could describe at the time. I ignored or shelved my feelings because other people trusted those men. In each case, truths later came out that revealed years of inappropriate and sinful words and behavior. Now I am much quicker to listen to that “sixth sense” and seek to understand what the Holy Spirit may be revealing.

One time I was standing in line at a fast food restaurant and suddenly knew something about two people who were several feet ahead of me in line, even though I couldn’t hear anything they said and couldn’t even see their faces. When they turned around there was clear evidence that what I suspected actually was true. It was odd at the time to know something about people I had never met and would never speak to, but I understood it as God’s reminder to me that He knows our hearts even if no one else does.

Those who do have the gift of discernment need to take it seriously and act as the Spirit leads—carefully and graciously uncovering hidden sins that may endanger other people or cause dissension and division in the church. Our goal should always be the glory of God and the welfare of His people, including those who may be deceiving themselves about the state of their own hearts.

“And [Jesus] said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God’” (Luke 16:15).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

It All Adds Up

I keep a list of possible topics for my blog though I don’t often go back and use them. However, one caught my eye today— “Relationships are our greatest asset.” I think we can all agree that there are few blessings in life that are quite as valuable as our close relationships with friends and family. But from an accounting perspective, our greatest assets are also our greatest liabilities. Nothing hurts nearly as much as broken or wounded relationships. It’s also true that every relationship is unique. So when one relationship is hurt, although others can help to compensate for the loss, they never really replace the damaged one.

To toss in another accounting idea, we often forget about the return on investment for relationships. Close relationships require a significant investment of time and energy, especially at the beginning. Once that investment has been made then there is greater benefit experienced, and even small amounts of time with those we love are more valuable than longer periods with those we don’t yet know well. Oftentimes in the church it seems like we are unwilling to make the initial investment in relationships, so we never get the full benefit from our brothers and sisters in Christ that we could.

We also need to remember that all relationships require an ongoing investment of time. You can’t stop paying your insurance premiums and expect to keep the same level of benefit forever, and you can’t stop talking to your friends and expect the relationships to remain intact.

In a recent XPastor webinar, Warren Bird commented that “Trust is built in drops, but lost in buckets.” Although he was talking about organizational leadership, the same applies to individuals. We build trust in relationships slowly, but it can be lost very quickly by careless words, disagreements, and other challenges. When those buckets fall, it takes a new investment to rebuild what has been lost.

When it comes to relationships, I tend think of Job. It’s often been said that his friends did a good job before they started talking.

“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this… they raised their voices and wept... and they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great” (2:11,13).

But once they started speculating on the reasons for his suffering, Job said,

“My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me… Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!” (19:14, 21).

Having been through a variety of pains in relationships lately, it’s tempting to just quit on people. It’s hard to keep expending effort on those who never seem to respond. (I suppose many of those who are parents feel the same way.) Current culture tends to favor looking out for yourself and giving up on difficult relationships. But for Christians, since we’re commanded to love even our enemies (Matt. 5:44), pulling away from our Christian brothers and sisters is usually not an option. The only exception given in Scripture is for those who claim to be Christians but are living in ongoing, unrepentant sin (1 Cor. 5:11). It is far too easy in our “pick-a-church” culture to walk away when things get hard rather than enduring with one another and working through the hard times together. We are called to a higher standard of loving others as God loved us (1 John 4:9-11). May we all make the effort to do so!

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection... Live in harmony with one another... If possible so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:9-10, 16, 18).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

When in Doubt

Have you ever had times when you wonder if this whole Christianity thing is true? Where do you turn at those times? Even those who have been Christians most of their life may have periods of doubt, particularly during times of suffering. John the Baptist wondered if he’d gotten it all wrong (Luke 7:20), and the disciples all fled when Jesus was arrested (Matt. 26:56) even though they had all seen Jesus in the flesh, performing miraculous signs. The Apostle Paul also had to correct some lies that were being circulated among the churches and causing people to doubt (2 Tim. 2:18). It’s not surprising then that two millennia later we may wonder if we’ve wandered down a dead-end road.

One place that I’ve turned at such times is the historicity of the Bible. Josh McDowell started out trying to disprove the Bible and instead ended up convincing himself of the truth of Christianity. Others have had a similar experience. I believe there is sufficient evidence to prove the validity of the text. And because I believe the Bible is a true and reliable document, I believe there is a God who created the world and has provided the Bible to explain who He is, why we are here, and what we are supposed to believe.

Since that is the case, then we should also believe the promises that God has made in His Word to those who follow Him. If I’m honest, that may be the hardest part to accept when life is difficult. It’s one thing to believe that there is a sovereign God, but something bigger to believe that He is personally interested and invested in each individual person. It’s easier to picture God as the Creator, a powerful being who is in charge of nations, societies, and worlds, but perhaps doesn’t pay much attention to little ol’ me. But the Bible says He does, and I believe the Bible is His Word, so it must be true.

So the question then is what to do with that information. The Psalms are a good place to turn, because they give a wide variety of examples of people who turned to God in their times of suffering, doubt, confusion, and anger, and also in times of joy, peace, celebration, and blessing. In essence, God Himself provided words we can use to speak to Him and to hear from Him in all kinds of circumstances. When we don’t have words of our own, we can use Scripture’s own words. And when we don’t feel able to do even that much, we can trust that God already knows what we’re thinking (Psalm 139:2) and what we need (Matt. 6:8), and we even have the Spirit interceding on our behalf (Rom. 8:26-27).

For the true Christian, although doubts may come, God will not let them remain. We will find ourselves drawn back to Him again and again, because even our faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8).

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:14-15).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Friends in Hard Times

I wrote the following for my denomination’s women’s ministry email for June.

When I was growing up, due to frequent relocations (8 schools in 12 years) I was always the new kid on the block. That, along with being extremely shy, meant that I rarely had more than one person I would consider a close friend. I never went to a church that had a youth group, and I probably wouldn’t have attended if they did. Then I went off to a Christian college that had about 2000 students. Once I adjusted to dorm life, I discovered a whole new world of Christian friendships. I realize now what a blessing it was to have a close community of people to live, learn, and worship with every day. Even though I went through some difficult struggles during those years, including major depression that caused me to lose my job as a resident assistant my junior year, I knew there were people just down the hall who cared about me and were looking out for me.

Fast forward to 1997 and moving to Charlotte, living alone, a new job, and a new church. There have been many times over the years that I’ve felt isolated and lonely. Then along came the pandemic, a pastoral transition at my church, even more isolation and an extended season of depression, and the opportunities for close friendships often seem few and far between.

May was Mental Health Awareness month, and I’ve been listening to some podcasts on mental illness from Christian sources. One series in particular, “Things You Won’t Hear on Sunday,” has been an encouraging reminder that other Christians struggle with these issues too. In one episode they mention a person who came over and lay down on the floor beside his severely depressed friend and kept speaking words of hope to him. That is a beautiful picture of the Body of Christ at its best—coming alongside, stooping low, lifting up those who are wounded, weary, and weak. I know when I’m burdened with clinical depression I don’t have the energy or willpower even to think of who I could call to come over, much less the desire to actually pick up the phone and do it. That’s when I wonder whether the church knows what it means to be one Body in Christ (Eph. 4:4), loving one another (1 Jn. 4:7), and weeping with those who weep (Rom. 12:15).

All too often we’ve allowed culture to influence our choices. A “friend” is now someone who has your social media contact info. Remote work is seen as a “necessity” because it is more efficient and productive. “Faith” is between you and God and the church is irrelevant. Really? Last I checked, Jesus reaffirmed that the first two commandments were to love God and to love others (Luke 10:27-28). As an email from Women of Joy commented, “loving others is pretty difficult when you’re not around others.” It’s impossible to fulfill all the “one another” commands in isolation.

There is a lot of stigma surrounding mental illness. Many of us work hard to hide our struggles out of fear of being rejected, judged for our “weakness” and “lack of faith,” and shame because it seems like no one else has this difficulty. Just because someone can make it to work and smile at people doesn’t mean they aren’t dealing with serious depression, anxiety, or other issues. It can be hard to know who is struggling if you don’t take the time to build deep friendships first. I would challenge everyone to look around and see who might be feeling extra weary and burdened, and do whatever you can to come alongside them. Those who most need encouragement and support may be unable or afraid to ask for it.

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

One Among Many

Last Sunday the sermon at my church was on Acts 8:26-40 and the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. In our discussion afterward, Isaiah 56:4-5 was brought up:

“For thus says the Lord: ‘To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose the things that please Me and hold fast My covenant, I will give in My house and within My walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.”

In the Old Testament, the first command given to mankind was “Be fruitful and multiply,” which established the need and purpose for marriage. But as the passage from Isaiah illustrates, that is not the end goal. As John Piper notes in his sermon on that Scripture,

“The family of God grows not by propagation… but by regeneration through faith in Christ… Marriage is temporary and finally gives way to the relationship to which it was pointing all along: Christ and the church... Faithfulness to Christ defines the value of life.”

In Matthew 19 when Jesus taught against divorce, His disciples said, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” Jesus’ response may have surprised them:

“There are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs [metaphorically] for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it” (v. 12).

Jesus didn’t tell them divorce is no big deal, but He also didn’t say that marriage is the ideal for His followers. He, and the Apostle Paul after Him, affirmed the value of singleness and wholehearted devotion to following Christ (see 1 Cor. 7). The church has often elevated marriage in ways that the New Testament never did. Teens may receive a lot of teaching about sex and relationships, but little about living faithfully as a single adult. Church programs are often geared toward married couples and young families, and singles are viewed merely as free labor. And we often forget that half of those who are married will eventually be widows or widowers. In many of the churches that do have some kind of singles ministry, it is little more than a Christianized dating service.

Singles face challenges that those who are married and/or have children may not have. (I’m not saying that married folks never have these issues.) We may have more discretionary time, or we may have to work more hours to pay the mortgage since we only have one salary instead of the two salaries that many married couples have. We may have difficulties in finding and affording home repair services. If we get sick, it’s up to us to figure out how to get medical care and meals. Many of us deal with loneliness since we have no one to talk to after work and on weekends, and we usually can’t invite ourselves over for dinner to a household that has kids and multiple schedules to juggle. And for those singles who long for marriage and family, every holiday is a reminder of what they don’t have.

Jesus stated, “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Matt. 22:30). Marriage will come to an end, and yet many Christians live as though their marriage is the ultimate and eternal purpose of life. The only marriage that will endure is that of Christ and the Church. Shouldn’t we all be more intentional in pursuing eternal relationships with all those in the Body of Christ? Although the church is intended to function as the family of God, in practice it often falls short of the ideal.

I read an article, from a source I normally trust, that was bemoaning the statistical decline and delay of marriage in younger generations. But as with many such articles, the realities that not everyone will marry and that marriage is not eternal were seemingly afterthoughts that were relegated to the closing paragraphs. It’s not that marriage has no value, but that we need to hold it in proper perspective relative to the singular priority of faithfully following Christ in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for My sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30).

***

Recommended reading: 7 Myths About Singleness, by Sam Allberry.

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

The Next Step

I subscribe to a blog by author and teacher Terry Powell. One of his recent emails asked the question, “For a person diagnosed with major depression (recurring episodes), what does ‘victorious Christian living’ look like?” I think that is a question worth considering. Every person’s experience is different, but here are a few observations from my lifelong experience of recurring depression:

• Faith doesn’t mean that all struggles cease, but growing faith does mean that I’m learning to depend on God more fully and more often. There is much that I know I could not do apart from God enabling me to keep going. And when my faith feels weak, I still know that it is God who promises to hold onto me and not vice versa.
• Christian joy and hope don’t mean the absence of sorrow and tears, but remembering that one day every tear will be wiped away. (See my earlier post on the Root and Fruit of Hope.) When I don’t feel like singing songs of praise, not only does Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, understand how I feel, but He’s also given me the Body of Christ to sing on my behalf.
• Enduring suffering doesn’t mean pretending it doesn’t exist or hiding it from others. But it also doesn’t mean sitting passively and watching life pass you by. It usually means doing the next thing whether you feel like it or not. Wash the dishes, trim the bushes, go to the office, go to church, get counseling, get some exercise, etc.

I don’t want to hold myself up as some kind of success story or model for everyone else. There are many times when I feel like I’m failing as a Christian and as a person. During one particularly rough season of life I missed a lot of days of work (back when working from home was not an option). My counselor at the time encouraged me to set some goals that would give me a sense of purpose and a destination. That’s when I decided to pursue martial arts and also to go back to seminary part time. Although those things are no longer part of my regimen, they gave me some new relationships and an outlet for my stresses. They also ingrained in me the habit of showing up even when I don’t feel like it.

I think sometimes in the church we confuse legalism and discipline. I read my Bible and write in my prayer journal daily and attend church each week, not because I think God expects me to do so, and not to secure my salvation. I do it because I know that it is for my own benefit and growth in Christ. Likewise, I don’t go to work just to pay the bills or because other people expect me to show up (though that’s all true), but because it is good for me to focus on something besides myself. And I don’t exercise because the doctor tells me to, but because I know I will feel better if I do.

There are still days when I don’t want to keep enduring and I pray “How long, O Lord?” Right now I can’t remember the last time I made it through a whole week without any tears. Although I often don’t feel like a “victorious Christian,” I know that victory is ultimately in God’s hand and that He uses weak and wounded people to accomplish His will in this world.

It struck me this week that Psalms 138 and 139 can go together:

“For though the Lord is high, He regards the lowly… The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me… If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me… In Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (138:6, 8; 139:9-10, 16).

God’s path may often lead us through dark valleys, but He will fulfill His purposes because He is the One who walks with us and upholds us through it all. We just need to keep taking one step after another.

“Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; When I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me” (Micah 7:8).

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord… though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand” (Psalm 37:23-24).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV. Photo is from a recent hiking trip on the Viaduct Trail near Blowing Rock, NC. (I’m not sure who from our group took this particular photo.) The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Look Up

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, He did not say, “Love God and love the people who live in your house.” Nor did He say, “Love God, complete this to-do list, and then if there’s time left over love the people around you.” Instead, He said:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37-40).

Most of us in the church understand that we’re supposed to love God first and foremost (though we may not know how to do that very well). But I think many get their priorities confused when it comes to the second commandment of loving others. In our modern American culture, we place a lot of value on the individual and then on the nuclear family. Other cultures and eras would find this totally bizarre, because they focus on the needs of the community first. We also tend to prioritize productivity over people. I’ve seen this happen even in churches and ministries, where accomplishing a task or mission consumes everyone’s attention while people are left to struggle and suffer alone.

In Romans 1 the Apostle Paul wrote, “I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine” (11-12). He wrote to the Thessalonians, “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us... For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:8, 11-12). Paul exemplified loving God and loving others wholeheartedly.

There seems to be a mindset that says church is what we do on Sunday mornings and maybe Wednesday nights, and the rest of the time you’re on your own. But I don’t see that reflected in Scripture, where the Church is described as the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27) and brothers and sisters in Christ (Mark 3:33-35), nor is that individualism illustrated in the description of the early fellowship in Acts 2:42-47.

We don’t have to live in a commune to invest in the lives of those around us, but we do need to look up from our phones and laptops and to-do lists, and actually (and frequently) interact with one another in person. Screens are not sufficient for the purpose. Mark Mayfield commented in the introduction to his book The Path Out of Loneliness:

“We are relational beings who need eye-to-eye, face-to-face contact and proximity on a regular basis. As a society, we are operating out of significant deficits... [Many have] questioned when [was] the last time you were truly seen as a person, loved for who you are, and valued as a unique human soul.”

The more our technology draws us in, the more often we need to be reminded to look up and see one another for who God has made us to be and how He has created us to be interdependent.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.