We live in a world of great injury

We live in a world of great injury. It's been that way since sin entered the world in the garden of Eden, and it has only gotten worse. Now we are literally living in the end of the world, and all of the hurt and injury of all human history has accumulated to a sum total that is beyond comprehension. There simply is every kind of trouble and hurt on every hand, everywhere that man populates the earth. There is no escape of that fact. Job put it in very simplistic terms: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not" (Job 14:1,2). We aren't here for long, and we're guaranteed to have plenty of hardship and affliction to deal with while we are. It's just the sad facts of a sad world that is devoured by man's propensity to self destruction because of sin. The good news is that there is a remedy for the disease, and that remedy is the price that God's Son paid at Calvary almost two thousand years ago. Redemption is an act of paying money for someone to be bought back from servitude. It is an act of grace on the part of someone who has what it takes to get a loved one out of the house of slavery, and give them back their freedom. That is what Jesus did at Calvary. He paid the price of his very life so that you and I could be redeemed from the servitude of sin, and be reconciled to God with the peace and joy that results from that glorious redemption. The calling of the redeemed of Christ is to let him fulfill his will and purpose through us in this life. Not as an effort on our part to 'try' to do his will, but rather to remain pure from sin so that HE can do his own will in and through us. The apostle Paul described it as follows: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). He said the same thing again in slightly different terms: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philip. 2:13).

Seeing we know these things, the question becomes, Just exactly DOES God want to do through us? Well, the answer couldn't be easier. He wants to do thorugh us for others exactly what we have let him to for us, meaning to redeem people from sin and reconcile them to himself with great joy and peace. So then it becomes evident that our calling is to keep ourselves in a spiritual condition that yields us to God by means of his Spirit within us, for the purpose of him redeeming people's lives and souls through us. That's how simple it is. Nothing complicated, and nothing mysterious. He just wants people to be free from the disease of sin that has plagued mankind since the garden of Eden. And he wants to use those who are already redeemed to redeem the rest of the world. What a beautiful world it would be if everyone were redeemed from sin and filled with God's love and peace. Instead of being born unto trouble as Job said, we would be born unto goodness, love, and peace from his fellow man, by virtue of his Savior who paid that cruel price for that very purpose. That is what Jesus is minded of, and that is what those who love him are minded of. That very simply stated is the will of God. So what we need to do with our lives is keep ourselves free from sin by the power of God's Spirit, and be ready for the people's paths we cross who are in need of help and redemption. I love a verse from Jude that really spells out what it takes for us to remain in the condition of spirit that is worthy of being instrumental to God's work in the earth: "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 1:20,21). We simply must pray our way into a renewed state of God's love every day, and live our lives with that power and confidence. If we do that then God will be able to direct needy souls our way, and we will be able to let him use us to do them some good. That's really where it's at. Being able to do a needy soul some real good is about the best feeling that exists among men.

It should be no surprise that doing good to others makes us feel so good, seeing that the will of God can be summed up in a couple of scriptures that show it to us at point-blank range and ultra-simplicity: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Mat. 7:12). Then there is this one that tells us WHAT we would have done to us: "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2). I should probably add the verse after that one, for the sake of clarifying what we are if we do NOT bear one another's burdens: "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself" (Gal. 6:3). Regardless of what we may have going on spiritually, religiously, or in 'ministry;' if we aren't keeping ourselves in a condition of heart to bear the burdens of others, we are 'nothing,' even as the verse says. And that 'nothing' really rings a bell on another verse that is very much the same, and in fact is about the same spiritual ill: "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing" (I Cor. 13:2). Like I said, being a vessel that the Lord can work his love through, to redeem the lives of others, is our whole calling; and if we fail that then we have failed period. There is a world full of people around us who literally feel like they are living in constant free-fall in their lives, and they really don't have a clue as to how to stop that falling. What they need is a good safety net to stop them from crashing at the bottom and being crushed thereby, and that safety net is supposed to be someone around them who is in a ready state of the love of God, who God can show his good-will through to them. We are called to be safety nets, both for one another in time of need, and to the unconverted world around us.

The only right place to be with God is to be able and ready with pureness of heart, to demonstrate to people how God feels about them, and what he wants to do for their lives. The main way this is done is by listening to what people have to say about what is going on with them. We can't help anyone if we don't know how to listen to what is wrong with them. I don't mean we should just listen to anything people have on their minds, but rather to the expression of their actual hurt and neediness. We obviously need to distinguish between someone who is just wasting our time with frivolity, and someone who is hurting actually expressing a genuine need. I have found in my rather long experience that there aren't a whole lot of people in Christ who truly understand this and practice it. Far more people are more ready to tell you all of their woes, than to listen to yours. Too many folks are just not keeping themselves in a real enough spiritual condition that makes a person feel more like listening than telling. James the brother of Jesus did not think it should be that way with believers: "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (Jas. 1:19). Sadly most modern believers in Christ are just the opposite of that saying. A lot of people feel it is their calling to tell all of their troubles to someone who will listen, every single time they see them. It is the calling of no one to be receptive to that kind of spiritual abuse by brethren. People who are doing that need to be told how to keep themselves in a way that makes them the listener and the helper more often. In my own life I have long experienced that everyone is more than willing to talk about their own lives and troubles to me, but very, very few actually want to know what is going on with me.

I understand that people are just where they are at spiritually, and are not where they are not at. That hasn't hindered me from continuing to fulfill my simplistic calling however. Listening to other people's issues and concerns, and having the Lord give me valuable input into their lives, is really my life's blood so to speak. There is really nothing I enjoy more, and I give God thanks with sincerity every time he sends someone in who is in need my way. The one's who wear me out are the believers who are NOT fulfilling their calling, but are constantly wanting brethren to fulfill their calling to them. We need to understand that this calling is not about how many religious services we attend per week, or how many 'enlightening' seminars we go to, or how many super-spiritual books we read, or how much 'ministry' we are engaging in. It is about being free from sin in our very hearts and souls, and thereby being filled with the divine substance which alone purifies us from sin. We also need to remember that the sometimes grueling trials we are made to endure, will further enable our capacity to minister God's love and grace to those in need, provided we get the victory in those trials. As the scripture says, "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom. 5:3-5). As the apostle Paul stated, "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (II Tim. 2:10). When it's all said and done, it is the calling of us all to "endure all things for the elect's sakes," and to present the results of our victories in Christ to those who need it the most. Amen and God bless.