In my experience at least, I felt like there was a huge, cosmic timeline I wasn't keeping up with, one that said I needed to be married by this age, start a family by this age, buy a house by this age, and have a great job making X amount of money by this age. This timeline loomed over my head like a dark cloud, and when people pointed it out, it rained shame, comparison, envy, and self-pity.
Read moreThe Comparison Battle - Part 3
In this short exchange between Jesus and Peter we see a very common trap for believers: comparing our suffering to someone else's. We need to avoid this trap at all costs; if we don't, we'll reach the conclusion without fail that our suffering is worse and that God has it out for us.
Read moreThe Comparison Battle - Part 2
Taking these steps didn't cure my heart problem that led me to comparison; Jesus did that. But, by taking these steps, I was able to stop feeding the comparison beast and start feeding my soul with truth.
Read moreThe Comparison Battle - Part 1
"During what I now refer to as my "dark night of the soul," which was a period of about 4 years when the Lord stripped me down in every way imaginable (that's how it felt, at least), one of the many things I struggled with was comparison. I had just graduated from seminary in Chicago, broken up with my long-term boyfriend, and moved back to Nashville single, unemployed, and to the news that my twin sister was engaged."
Read moreThe Garden of Gethsemane - Holy Land Lessons
The garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before going to the cross, is a quiet, serene place. It's hard to imagine that Jesus felt such deep pain there.
The surrendering of our will to our heavenly Father’s can be agonizing at times, and Jesus felt that agony. In fact, Scripture tells us He experienced such anguish in the garden, such overwhelming sorrow, that His sweat became like drops of blood.
Jesus threw Himself before God and prayed, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me” (Mark 14:36). Of course, the cup He was referring to was the wrath of God. Immense suffering lay ahead of Jesus – He would be arrested, beaten, mocked, and eventually nailed to a cross like a common criminal. He pleaded with His Father, the sovereign ruler of the universe, to remove the cup from Him. God could do it. Nothing is impossible for Him. But He didn’t.
Isn’t this the same frustration we face? We know that in an instant God can give us exactly what we want. He can make the sickness go away. He can give us the job we need. He can give us the child we desire. He can fix our marriage. He can end our singleness. He can save our family member. Nothing is impossible for Him.
But He doesn’t always give us those things. At least, not according to our timetable.
Here is the second part of Jesus’ prayer: “Yet, not what I want, but what you want” (v. 36).
What do we do when God doesn’t give us what we want? We do what Jesus did. We surrender our will to the will of our all-knowing, loving, gracious Father, trusting that He has a purpose in our pain.
There’s a paradox in Scripture that out of death comes life. In the Gospel of John, Jesus said that unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a simple kernel. But if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24). What better example of this than Christ? Because of His death, we have life life, which is why the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him. His joy was our life. He knew that His suffering had purpose, and He trusted the Father with that purpose. Jesus’ job was to completely surrender.
Our suffering, our dying to self, has purpose, too. And in the end, our surrender will lead to abundant life.