God Moment
A few days ago I was scrolling through Facebook. I saw a post by my good friend Lee Fruh. Lee and I go way back. I first met him in the early 80’s. He was a youth pastor like myself. We did some youth ministry together. Lee is a great writer. These days he lives in Alabama with his family. Recently he was in San Diego. We went out to a great Mexican restaurant and caught up with each other. He told me they do not have good Mexican food in Alabama in case you are going there anytime soon. I want to share Lee’s post because it encouraged me and I know it will bless you.
Jesus said, “In the world you will have trouble.”
That’s not comforting! But then we remember the rest of his statement: “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Six decades of following this Wise Man have turned me into an optimist. That’s because, over a lifetime, I have observed the non-duality of the universe. Good and evil do not exist in perfect balance. A Good Being created everything, but evil is just a temporary anomaly. Good is infinitely greater than evil and will always prevail. Light will ALWAYS overpower darkness. Where sin abounds, grace abounds MORE. The most famous Psalm observes that we eat our meals in the presence of enemies, nevertheless with absolute certainty, God’s goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives–and we will dwell in His house..forever!
So I offer this mental picture to those of you who are right-handed. (Southpaws will have to reverse this)...
CARRY TROUBLE IN YOUR LEFT HAND, AND GRATITUDE IN YOUR RIGHT.
Every day, at all times, walk in the awareness that we live in a fallen world. Bad things will happen. We will fail. Others will fail us. There will be pain. To deny or ignore this truth is to set ourselves up for bitter disappointment. So carry in our left hand the recognition that in this world we will have trouble.
Simultaneously though, we recognize that Jesus has overcome the world, is overcoming, and will overcome all trouble, pain, sickness, and evil. We have the assurance that for God’s children, all will be well and because of this, we have unlimited reasons to be thankful. So we carry in our right (dominant) hand the greater truth that Jesus has overcome the world. In our weak hand, we always carry the expectation of trouble. But in our stronger hand, we always carry gratitude. For this reason we are not pessimist, declaring that, “life is bad and then we die." Neither are we dualist, believing that good and evil exist in eternal balance.
We are realists, dealing humbly and courageously with the struggle of life against the backdrop of deep gratitude and hope–because the all powerful, all-good Creator walks with us as our Father and Friend. Walk always with these imbalanced truths in your hand. The soles of your right Hoka might wear out faster than your left one. But you will have an inexplicable peace.