THE MATURE CHRISTIAN?

THE “MATURE” CHRISTIAN?

The following excerpt from my book describes the time my father was dying of cancer … even as my mother battled colon cancer … as I was straining to help my brain-injured son 3 hours each day … and trying to keep my business in Manhattan from falling apart:

“… Bryson was in the midst of another exasperating pattern of regression … I joined my siblings as much as possible after commuting home each evening to help them in caring for my dad. I was reaching levels of exhaustion I had not yet known.

… as the mature Christian I had grown to be, I dealt with this stress remarkably well, experiencing only a tiny bit of irritability … perhaps I should refer to it as a moderate level of anger … … All right already! This is a Christian book! I’ll be honest …

… I found myself doing dysfunctional things that were out of character for an organized guy like me, like running out of gas. I was on my way to visit my dad, with no room for error in my schedule, as usual. I was stuck in the left lane of a busy New Jersey highway, nowhere near a gas station as the car sputtered to a stop.

But this was hardly a problem. This mature Christian merely put on the flashers and calmly assessed my situation. I wisely discerned that this was a good time to conduct an important scientific experiment, one I had been meaning to perform for a while now …

I decided to test the strength of the steering wheel on my Mazda RX7. I was amazed it could actually remain attached to the steering column as I exerted super-human strength to RIP it off the dashboard. Also intriguing in this experimentation upon which I had embarked, was the punishment a windshield can endure as fists are applied to it.

Naturally, this wouldn’t have been a true scientific sampling if the windshield was struck only once. It had to be battered repeatedly … The experiment needed to be methodically performed together with a variety of well-timed expletives SCREAMED at the TOP of my lungs … all in the name of empirical scientific study, of course … Thank God I was alone.

Jesus Didn’t Come To Call The Righteous?

“‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire compassion and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” (Jesus) Matthew 9:11-13

I don’t mind telling you about my meltdown in the car. This is chapter 17. If you haven’t realized I’m a bit “off my rocker” by now, you’re probably nuttier than I am. But I’ve included the above episode of rage for an important reason.

People all around us, many who have learned to cover it up, are suffering intensely from carrying grievous, long term problems on their backs … troubles that never seem to come to an end. They are battle weary. Their exhaustion, stress and fears sometimes result in periods of irritability, outbreaks of anger, and other evidences of sin. This book has been written largely for them, but not from a superior position, for I am one of “them.”
Sometimes it’s good when ugly evidences of our flesh rise to the surface. I say this with hesitation, since sin is too lethal and destructive to be excused or taken lightly.

Yet the sins that bubble to the surface during times of prolonged stress can serve a purpose. Our failures can remind us just how hopeless we are without God’s grace and Christ’s continuing healing power. And they can keep us humble as we encounter other failing, sinful people.

If you happen to observe someone in an angry meltdown, or engaged in some aberrant behavior, be very, very careful before yielding to the impulse to judge that person, or categorize them with a neat and tidy psychological label. The arrogance of thinking that we understand the trials of others, or that we would do better if we were in their shoes, is almost always the greater sin. This is not a time to judge them. It is a time to roll up our sleeves and do what we can to help them …

I love watching ESPN’s Top Ten lists. Someone has suggested that if we were all forced to walk around holding a sign with the top ten sins of our lifetime, no one would ever know about the sins of anyone else. We’d all be too busy trying to cover up our own sign. Taking a “snapshot” of someone’s moment of failure, then arrogantly waving that photo around and judging them as if the photo characterizes their entire life (with our own photos hidden, of course), puts us on very thin ice in our own walk with the Lord.

“God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5

pp 176-178 All the King’s Horses