The Christ Who Never Resigns or Hope

9:02:35 PM Person: yeah
9:02:41 PM Person: i mean to be honest
9:02:52 PM Person: ive kind of resigned myself to my natural response
9:03:01 PM Person: which would be to suffer for a bit
9:03:15 PM Person: until it either fades in importance or is brought into perspective
9:03:24 PM Person: which i HOPE is likely
9:03:30 PM Me: but is that suffering w/ Christ or w/o?
9:03:40 PM Person: well god is always with me
9:03:57 PM Me: as a theological fact, yes
9:03:58 PM Person: so i suppose suffering w christ
9:04:00 PM Me: as a possibility, yes
9:04:06 PM Person: he's been with me through all tough times
9:04:09 PM Me: but it matters if we feel that
9:04:46 PM Me: it matters if that becomes our power
9:04:58 PM Me: not our "well god's always with me...right?
9:04:59 PM Me: "
9:05:17 PM Person: yeah
9:05:20 PM Person: i guess i feel powerless

Sigh. Isn't this familiar? In elementary school and high school, I had no friends. A combination of racism, distance because of other differences, and general child-like nastiness held me down. I wasn't bold enough to step out and expect other meaning in life with any sort of real hope. I just resigned myself to the situation. Friendship or bust? I was-a-busted. Even though I was a Christian, I did not see any promise for fulfillment except for a deferred hope. "Maybe college," I thought.

How wrong my perspective was even though I count my response normal. It's the same as my friend here who is experiencing unrequited love. It's like we have experiential understanding of a prison through our longing, pain, or hurt and then we build it a house with words, agreement, and eventually a settlement. Things have changed since high school, thankfully. One of those things is my faith. If we take Christ's offer of living water, something that is always filling us to the brim with spiritual verve, then we must question does Christ's offer stop with circumstance, experiential pain, or even our lost hope?

No.

If our human bodies cannot normally repel experiential feelings of suffering, you better believe we can push through pain and suffering with Christ in a way that looks powerful. It might involve all of our faith: other believers supporting us, cherishing memories where we've seen God's activity, retelling promises to humanity through Scripture, going deeper into spirit-filled worship, and blessing others.

Blessing others? Yes. One of the things I'd redo from my youth is less moping about my situation (that I've since become free of with relatively minor scars) and more active blessing of others who might even be unaware of their need. Even amidst our own struggles, the act of blessings we can provide (through prayer, small acts of kindness, a constant presence in the lives of others) is enormous and re-orienting as we see God's power move in us despite circumstantial realities.

Let's push our feet in the mud a bit more. Let's press for God's power even when we're weak. The God who loves to see our need will bless others and, in turn, we will be called blessed.