Guts

 

I(Jesus) Came So...

I know how you feel.   Words I only speak rarely.  I've heard them given as token comfort. There was no comfort when I don't perceive a common experience. These words only comfort when the same or very similar experience is apparent.  I reserve these words for occasions when my gut tells me I can relate, share, bond, minister.

 

Here's a fragmented photo of my most recent celebration as a breast cancer survivor. (18 years and counting, thanks to God.)  No diagnosis  is the same but some of our reactions can be.  I do share these with those who have an inkling.  (My adorable assistant in this  photo holding the 8 fingers to add to my 10, didn't have a clue as to her purpose in the photo. Thanks be to God!)  My husband and son definitely are survivors in their own way..  They journeyed through that season with me.  They  understand and share the importance of the photo commemoration.

I'm moving on in my blog journey of The Abundant  Life and  my meditation of the fraction of  verse 10 of John 10, "I came so they might have Life and have it abundantly".(At the rate I'm writing, I'll understand Abundant Life when Jesus comes back.!)

When I was a child a local religious organization had outreach TV commercials that opened with the phrase "The word for the day is...."  (made quite the impression if I'm reminded after nearly 60 years!) The word for today is Incarnation.  A dictionary would define this big theological word as "a person who embodies in the flesh...."  Remember Joseph's dream when he was told Mary would  give birth to a son who would be called Emmanuel which means God with us. Matthew 1: 23.

My brain attempts to comprehend this impressive word, Incarnation, as God slipped into human flesh so our limited human brains could just begin to understand the mystery of relationship with God.  He came in such a way so I'd know He knows.

I had a colleague who experienced a horrible family loss.  Her family thought a trip would help.  Her grief encompassed her. Our feeble attempts to minister missed the mark.   She needed the ones who shared and understood her tremendous loss.   The decision was made that she should fly home.  I volunteered to drive her to the airport.

 

As we drove she shared some details of the tragedy.   I could not imagine the pain and depth of her misery.  My gut told me I shared no such experience.  My role was to listen, let her talk and get her safely on her way to people who could comfort her. I'd delivered her to the gate for her return home.  I got in my car and drove to the nearest fast food stop.  My thought was a cold drink.  My gut was signaling---I needed to throw up.  Her bits of grief and misery shared in the past hour hit me in the guts.

 

Jesus' Incarnation reveals the depth of God's compassion. God, Himself, revealed His compassion by being in the flesh.  He felt deep compassion for the widow whose only son had died (see Luke 7:13).  The Greek word for the day is "splagchnizomai".  I  won't try to use it in a sentence. It denotes a depth of emotion which comes from the bowels, the guts, really,  really, deep. Gut feelings are as deep as you can get- gut feelings. (In Biblical times the stomach was considered the seat of emotion.)  On a gut level, Jesus knows, even when we think no one else does.  His compassion for our plights is deep, splaghnizomai deep, gut-wrenching compassion.

 

God absolutely understands.  Jesus wore the flesh of man as God Himself.  Hence my "AHA' verses in Hebrews:

 

“For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin.”

Hebrews 4:15 AMP

https://www.bible.com/1588/heb.4.15. 

 

“Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].”

Hebrews 4:16 AMP

https://www.bible.com/1588/heb.4.16.amp

 

 Only God can know how we feel.  Take comfort, friends,  when no one knows how it feels, you are never alone.  God, absolutely and completely, knows. and He is the source of compassion, straight from the gut.

 

 

G od

U nderstands

T otally

VBS

 

Virtual.  A well used word in this season of life.  Everything I experience seems to be virtual, not actual face to face interaction, but electronically based.  Church, shopping, fun.

Even VBS (Vacation Bible School) was virtual.

 My husband and I are regularly "hanging out" with the five year granddaughter during the pandemic. Her church provided a backpack full of fun and learning about Jesus.  Three days we re-experienced Vacation Bible School through an elementary kid's perspective.

One day's activity included making pretzels.  Yummy and fun.  I took the liberty to share with her my views on the care and feeding of yeast. I don't doubt she'll use said pearls of wisdom as an adult.  She remembers literally (her favorite word) everything from the time my mind wandered at a stop light when she was 3 to how any puzzle pieces Papi actually  placed in the correct spot.  She was more enthused about me using her hand to measure the salt.  Hopefully, Gammy's legacy as a cook will be useful to her future culinary adventures.

I've revisited my earliest memory of Vacation Bible School. I was just a year older than my granddaughter.  l distinctly remember it was not our "home" church and it was just down the street from our home.. I suspect we had recently moved into the neighborhood and Mother thought I'd make some friends. (Or Mother needed some "Me" time apart from my little brother and I.)  

My lifetime friends were not found that week but this VBS had a lifetime  impact. No names or faces exist in my memory bank. The clearest memory of this week in my childhood was memorizing the 23rd Psalm.  The familiar words still resonate in my crowded memory.

As I continue to ponder "I" in my theme verse, John 10:10b :  "I came so they might have Life and have it abundantly",  Psalm 23 reminds me what Jesus is to me. Just past my theme verse in John's gospel, Jesus describes Himself as "The Good Shepherd."

“The LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, to guide and to shield me], I shall not want.”

Psalms 23:1 AMP https://www.bible.com/1588/psa.23.1.amp

As a lifelong city-girl, I checked the internet for the job description of shepherd.  The Amplified version of verse 1 of Psalm 23 matched the primary roles of a shepherd of my online study, to lead the sheep of the flock to nourishment and to guard from Life's dangerous circumstances.

I was surprised at a role I expected to see listed but found missing, the economic benefit of wool production.  Finally I arrived at a section on "Shearing." The point of shearing, was not the economics  and it was inspiring!

Shearing gives the  sheep cleanliness, comfort and protection.  Shearing is for the welfare of the sheep not the benefit of the shepherd. 

·         Shearing removes buildup of manure and other distasteful matter.  Who wants to live in  smelly unclean clothes?

·         Shearing controls the body temperature of sheep.  As a mature women who has years of experience with hot flashes, I can relate to comfort of body temp.

·         Shearing frees the sheep to flee from predators.  I'm guessing flight is a sheep's first and best defense against hungry hunters.   Sheep focus on eating so intensely I think they wonder off from the flock and forget to consider their environment for potential danger.

Jesus, my Good Shepherd, has sheared me and continues to shear me, not for His benefit but for my welfare.   Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice and to cleanse me from my sins.   Regret is not my first choice for guiding my life.  Too often I wallow in regret, ignoring the absolute fact that Jesus has died for my many failures, faults and outright sins.  He "sheared" these deficiencies for my welfare, not His benefit.  He sees something of value in a relationship with this unclean "sheep" and Himself cleans me up.

Jesus, my Good Shepherd has sheared me for my comfort.  My ill advised life choices  put me into "hot water".  If I merely follow His guidance and involvement, I'll spend time in those cool, refreshing pastures more often.  Pasture time is for my welfare, not His benefit.  Jesus offers me a daily life of less "hot" and more even.

Jesus, my Good Shepherd offers me a streamlined life.  He offers an abundant life with simple priorities and achievable goals.  My worldly thirst for more and temporary creature comforts (the predators)  complicate my life.  How much of the Abundance of Life have I missed by refusing to be sheared of unnecessary" wool"?  Why attach so much importance to the "wool" I hang onto? The wool of the world is  full of dirt. sweat and unmentionables?

My discoveries on my inquiry on the Abundant Life:  There is the world's temporary offering of a life of abundance and then, there is Jesus'  Abundant  Life,, true, fulfilling and eternal,

There is the false abundant life this world compels us to chase OR

There is Jesus' Abundant Life, bought and paid for by the Shepherd Himself.

·         Jesus' Abundant Life is for my welfare, not His benefit.

·         Jesus' Abundant Life is gained by more and less--more relationship with The Very Good Shepherd, and less of the weight of the worldly "wool."

·         Jesus' Abundant Life is not about accumulating more worldly "wool".  Rather my life's journey allows The Good Shepherd to shear  the world's weighty wool to benefit me with a life more "amazing" than I can imagine,  Jesus' Abundant Life.

 

VBS =

 V ery

B est

S hepherd

who leads me, and you, to the Very Best Abundant Life.  Schedule more time with The eternal VBS for a bit of "worldly wool shearing" today. It's for our benefit!