The only thing that counts ... Faith expressed in Love (Gal 5:5-6)

I am not certain how to preface this or if it needs to be ...

There is a man whose desire is to be set free.
In his heart he feels that he was meant to run.

He dreams of running in joyful abandon;
towards his call, his destiny, to be useful and fulfilled.

But there are burdens on his back;
weights around his feet;
many ropes and chords restraining his every move.

His passions goad him as much as the desire draws him.
The efforts to move forward go unsatisfied and eludes encouragement.

He knows his state; no one need remind him of his circumstances that overwhelm him daily.

There are many simple solutions to his problems; just stay cool, be well, just hang in there; be positive; be blessed.
How is that done? How do i be that?

He knows somehow that G-d is in it all but wonders who can be in it with him when G-d is silent or not understood?

Will a man bear it alone? Who is his neighbour?

It is often in a moment, perhaps periods of deep suffering that we can fall towards a flurry of nasty emotions. Out of them proceeds the bile and vomit of hasty words that reflect an unrestrained reality of our heart's condition. In our pain we say and do things that we later regret in the ensuing silence.

Should we be fortunate to be humbled in those times, perhaps we may learn something of ourselves and allow G-d to use the refining fires to cleanse us that we may be better equipped to reflect His image and the power that is at work in us. We are as brute beasts in those times.

It is hard to undergo the refining fires of His Love but necessary. It is often equally as hard for us to stand by as someone undergoes deep refining and suffering. It is easy to find reason to look away when we become fixated on the brute beasts they have become in the heat of those moments. We are repulsed by that emotional vomit that may ooze and dribble out in spite of any restraint.

After all, we do own our responses; we are responsible for how we respond to what comes our way. While this is indeed true; it is but half, especially when it becomes the basis to excuse our evading help to another in their weakness. Half-truths are at best lies that form the basis for grievous sin; that which grieves the Spirit of truth.

WWJD? That sounds nice, possibly a little trite when we use it tritely and condescending. But perhaps better questions to ask of ourselves are; "Who is Jesus to that one? Who is He to me? Is my attitude different? Why is it important for me to receive His mercy and compassion?"

If we are to be compassionate, we must be open to see beyond the messes in another in those moments and see the other as Jesus sees us; or to put it in selfish terms, we need to see the other as we want Jesus to see us. This is much of loving our neighbour, the one in our awareness, as ourselves.

I look at myself and do not have to wonder why He gave this to us as a commandment. I am fond of the simplicity in which Kevin Prosch puts the idea of this forth; "The mercy you don't give is the mercy you don't get."

After all the natural response is to look away, to not involve ourselves in the troubles of another. We can even find support for this in scripture. Psalm 33 contains David's heart in his afflictions where he has become the utter contempt of his neigbours and a dread to his friends to the point that everyone avoids him. I have heard many good pastors tell us to suck it up because nobody likes a (whatever-we-are-in-those-moments).

Suffering and pain; whether out of consequences for our bad (sinful) choices or out of His refining hand are often endured alone but is it really G-d's will for us? Like David, we sin and are afflicted out of that. We anguish as we grow weak out of our self-inflictions. There is nothing positive, attractive or endearing to most; we are un-lovely, contemptable people who are dreaded by neighbours and forgotten by friends. Often G-d's power and presence have left us as well.

It is natural to avoid "negative people". There is much to support that in our popular natural thought and can even see it at work in holy scripture. However it is supernatural to come along side of a person with issues and encourage them towards the image G-d has created them to become. There is more mandated support for the latter than the former.

In fact, acting supernaturally in that regard it the way that identifies us as one of His Children to each other and to the others. It shows us that we are like Him, the real deal. It is ironic that most people outside of the Kingdom get this because of the little they know about Jesus. They don't trust what we say because they don't see the little they know at work in our lives.

Just as it is natural to turn away from ones on the darkside of things; it is a natural progression for one in the deep, dark places to grow despondant, increasingly bitter and withdraw from others. It is just as natural for us to shun the un-lovely with a rational defense as it is for one to find cause to grow in bitter resentment.

Both are natural responses on both sides of suffering. Both fall short of the grace and mercy of G-d and neither reflect His super-natural call on all of us to love one another. It is His Goodness that brings all (both) to repentance (change for the good).

There are several dimensions to the issues in suffering, but seem to centre on these points. We are called to endure it patiently looking towards the Lord for comfort. At the least this seems like an easy task to one in favour but can be overwhelming to one in the thick of troubles.

In observing, We are also called to come along side of another in suffering (even if out of sin) as the stronger of the two to minister encouragement and exhortation in kindness and gentleness out of love.

There is plenty of good scripture in support of this and most of us already have heard it enough, so it will go un-quoted. I believe this is one of those meat vs. milk issues that we are called to feed on and digest on our own. If you feel an urge to challenge it, by all means, use this as an opportunity to dig in and do some original research.

I do think that if i were to leave any reference it would be summed up in the following text. It gives us a picture of the outcome (fruit) of suffering as it is met head on from both sides supernaturally. It is good for all of us to meditate on from time to time:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of Compassion and The God of all Comfort, who comforts us in All of our troubles so that We can Comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. -- 1 Corinthians 3:11

So then ...

... if this is a picture of the fruit of suffering supernaturally met; what does comfort look like? What would it look like to the one receiving it? Who can you imagine comforting?