HOW Are We Going to Get Through This?
Now I don't know about you, but with the uncertainty of what all this will be over, I occasionally find myself and definitely have seen in others that I know and love, one of which I live with who is in the throes of being with a two year old and a four year old who are showing every sign of acute and severe cabin fever. This time of social distancing and stay at home orders can seem interminable leading to the question of how long, oh Lord?
One of the most well known scriptures in the corpus of the New Testament comes from Hebrews the 12th chapter, verses one through three. In these few brief words, many have over the years drawn strength to persevere through many hardships. However, in our zeal to find words on which to hold, sometimes I think we short changed the message found in these very profound words.
Let us hear from those words out of Hebrews 12, verses one through three, which are as follows,
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus, the pioneer and Perfector of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners so that you may not grow weary or lose heart."
Just a few things to look at in those three verses. First, let us remember that like all scriptures we are foolish to read them out of context. What came before and what comes after definitely speak to how we are to interpret the text at hand. When the writer refers to the "great cloud of witnesses", we are pointed to a long list of heroes of the faith, who by their stories testify to God's presence in the midst of crisis. In these times where we can get frustrated and anxious about how to get through this, let us remember that we are not the first to go through these times and let us draw strength from those who have persevered before us.
One thing I have discovered in conversation this week is a reminder that what we are dealing with is not just the immediacy of COVID-19 restrictions, but all the stuff that was going on in our hearts and minds and life in general before all this went down. Sometimes we can, understandably, get crushed, not just by the now, but what we brought into the now. Our letter writer here is giving us permission to lay aside those things that might keep us from being able to be God's faithful, not only in the midst of crisis.
Well, that's all well and good you might think, but ... Now make no mistake about it, I am not saying to dismiss at all those things that are weighing on us, but rather to make sure that we cling to Christ and make sure it is Christ that is carrying us through these times rather than us trying to carry everything else in these times. I think we all might be amazed to see how much more hopeful and peaceful we could find ourselves if we first clung to Christ for the strength to carry on and the strength to carry through everything else.
Finally, a word of hope. Our writer's not calling us to foolishly and blindly hold on to Christ for no reason, far from it in fact. We are left with an inspirational word of hope through being reminded that the almighty God through His son Jesus Christ knows what it means to be burdened and weighed down yet still faithful in and through all things.
Today's conclusion is simple. We don't know when all this is going to end, and you know what? It really doesn't matter in many ways because we find our hope and we find our strength, not from circumstance, but from the presence of Christ in our lives. When we allow ourselves to grasp the Christ who is present in us, then the circumstances are not nearly as important because we know that the one who was with us will be with us every step of the way no matter what may come down the pipe.