“OUR INNER STRUGGLES

Part I”

By Peter Garich

June 1, 2007

 

“Hardships not only build character, but they reveal it as well.”

—Anonymous

  The Westminster Catechism states that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. These two admonishments are words of promise and action. The Apostle Paul teaches this same enlightening and uplifting message when he writes, “. . .whether you eat or you drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31) The thoughts and actions of a life that glorifies God are not an option. We’re commanded to seek His glory throughout Scripture. Graciously we have been assured that we can attain this lofty endeavor—for He has also equipped us. The moment we’re regenerated

God gives us His Holy Spirit. And as His Spirit works within us we are empowered to live for His glory. Because of this new life we are also promised that we will enjoy Him forever. And remember, the magnificent joys of forever began the day we were saved and will go on throughout eternity. Glorifying God and enjoying Him forever is a reality that’s in the here-and-now and not just some distant hope.

  In light of this truth let me pose the following question. What makes glorifying God so important? The answer to this life-altering question is somewhat simple, yet deeply profound. Being created in the Image of God, and not being gods ourselves, we were created to glorify God in all we think and do! (Mt. 22:37–39) It’s also true that the life that glorifies God cannot be separated from the life that worships Him. Paul points us clearly to our need to worship in Romans 12:1–2. The Apostle states, “In view of God’s mercy, offer yourselves to God as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him, which is our reasonable and spiritual act of worship.” As far as God and Scripture are concerned, worshiping and glorifying God are two realities of the Christian life that cannot be separated.

   How we walk this path of glory and worship will become clearer as we know more of Him, His love for us and His manner of life. Our level of intimacy with Christ, a richer knowledge of the life He lived, and the life He now has for us helps us in our quest to live for His glory. The manner and means God employs to move us along this path are many. Since it’s the chief end of every Christian to glorify, worship and enjoy God forever, and since He has equipped us for this journey, then it’s important to understand the nature of the road He’s put us on in order to get there. To accomplish this, the book of Hebrews encourages us with these words, “let us run with perseverance the race that’s marked out for us. 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. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not lose heart…endure hardships as discipline: God is treating you as sons.” While this passage is full of truths that admonish and encourage us, there are just a few I want us to focus on. To begin with, the writer assures us that the race we run is designed specifically for each one of us. God created us as unique individuals and knows exactly what each of us needs to grow. In other words, He has a race and road that I must take—one that’s different than yours—so that I can mature in my faith. Next he tells us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. For He not only ran and completed His race, but has assured us that we will complete ours as well. Since God brought Jesus through all He went through, we too are assured of the same. But Jesus’ race was not without the obstacles of life that tried to deter Him, and neither is ours. The same as He was faced with the hardships God had ordained for Him—overcoming them as He lived for His Father’s glory—we too must face and persevere through ours. There are further insights about the struggles Jesus went through as He moved ever closer to fully glorifying His Father. Earlier in Hebrews the writer lifts the veil of Jesus’ humanity, allowing us to view the deepest agonies that even the Son of God endured. These glimpse of our suffering Savior help us to endure what we must as well. We see that,  “during the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He was a son, he learned obedience from what He suffered.” This is one of the most amazing passages in Scripture, for through it we are allowed to see the suffering of our Lord. It should break our hearts that Jesus—the Son of the living God—had to go through such pain and anguish. He did this so we could partake in His glory and enjoy Him forever. Through these verses we see that Jesus learned obedience and submission through all He endured. As He laid down His life in an act of submission, He had to experience the road of suffering and hardship. What is made so absolutely clear here is that not even God’s Son would pass through this world without going through all that sin’s vicious curse could bring. One of the blessings we received by all He went through was that He endured the worst so that we could be spared such a fate. And yet, even though we were spared from the depths of His suffering, we too would still run the gauntlet of hardships.

  This brings us to the final truth we will focus on. Just as God’s Son grew through all he suffered, we too, as sons, must endure and persevere in ours as well. This happens so “we may share in His (God’s) holiness.” (Heb. 12:10) One word that helps us understand our shared holiness with God more clearly is that of character—godly character. Just as hardships and holiness go together, hardship and godly character do, too. Remember, “Hardships not only build character, but they reveal it as well.” The hardships we endure are designed to get at our hearts—the seat of our character—so the issue of godly character is extremely important. Building and revealing our character is exclusively a work of the Holy Spirit and the hardships we go through are the instruments He uses. The source of Jesus’ suffering was the sin of others. This is also true for us. But there’s another source we must deal with: ourselves. Although many hardships come from external circumstances—including the sin of others—ultimately we must face our own ungodliness. The only way this happens is through our submission to the Spirit of God as He works within us. One of the gifts He imparts to us is the conviction of His Spirit—showing us our sin and giving us the grace to change. At the same time, one of the curses of being a sinner is that we are self-centered and in denial of the depths of that sin. We do not like to see ourselves in all our filth, much less acknowledge, confess and repent from it. We will sit in resignation to our flesh unless we respond to God’s grace.

  Some time ago a woman came to me who was facing her deepest fears. She was being allowed to see the depths of the sin that blinded her. The occasion was the potential loss of a loving relationship—a loss that was breaking her heart. The woman’s besetting sin was a deep-seated fear that captivated her, and a lack of truly trusting God. She was fearful that she would never know the intimacy of a godly marriage, while at the same time she ran from trusting God for what such a commitment would bring. For years she’d struggled with a plaguing knowledge of these two opposing sins, yet was never compelled enough to deal with them. But then she was faced with a hardship that forced her to the brink and to her moment of truth. Either she would face her inner demons, and her character would grow in the grace of God, or she would shrink back and live in the bondage of sin’s grip. Nancy Groom writes insightfully of this woman’s spiritual battle, “We all struggle with fear in our relation-ships. The intimacy for which we were designed is continually being sabotaged by our fear, and we keep running away from what we long to be running toward. We desire oneness but we flee the closeness. Our desire for love collides with our horror of vulnerability. We want closeness but we fear being consumed or ignored . . . too often we retreat to the area of the manageable instead of trusting God in the uncharted territory of our fear.” Her words are extremely insightful as she captures the heart of this woman’s plight. She also speaks to the fear to which we can all fall prey. But what will help us, we ask? What, or who, will finally bring about the love and intimacy she (and we) so deeply desire, and vanquish our fears? In a word, it is CHRIST ALONE!! Only He can enable us to step through the mist of every tormenting fear that binds us and take hold of all we were designed to be.

  Next month we will explore this more deeply. We will look closely at the LOVE and GRACE of Christ. They bring us comfort in our battles and free us from our struggle!

Grace and Peace,

Peter Garich

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.