I'm in pain this morning. Everywhere I look, Lord, relationships are strained. People are hurting. My friends' children are hurting. Marriages are hurting. My own children are hurting. I honestly don't know how to navigate this day. I used to be one to take sides and defend... but your cross is the thing that is changing me. Your cross. That thing you did when we didn't take your side. You could have won any argument that the "know it alls" or the "front line fighters" or the "intellectuals" or even the "rich and famous" threw your way. But you didn't look at them as the enemy. You recognized the real enemy and fought FOR them to win against the source of their wicked/thoughtless behavior.
When our children are in pain, we want for them to win. That's not Christ's way. He wants his kids to thrive. Sometimes winning a circumstance would rob us of that.
But I need to look at I Corinthians 6:12-13...
I don't understand these two verses really. What does he mean, "the stomach is for food...?"
Half of it is crystal clear. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.
4851 symphérō (from 4862 /sýn, "together with" and 5342 /phérō, "bring, carry") – properly, combine in a way that brings a profit (gain), especially by a "concurrence of circumstances" that results in benefit or advancement (M. Vincent).
not all things are beneficial
To want what is beneficial is what I'm asking you for, Lord. That involves seeing myself as worth being blessed/benefited. Worth being the receiver of your benefits. People keep confusing "seeing your worth" with "self worth" but they are not the same. "Self worth" starts and ends with me. "Seeing my worth" starts and ends with You.
My friend J and I had lunch yesterday.
We talked about the word benefit.
I told her about what I just wrote above.
She had read Psalm 103 and noticed that when David said, "Forget not all his benefits" he then proceeded to list them out! She decided to do that along with David. She's been listing his benefits on her facebook page each day for the whole year! The year before, she'd written 365 days of praise. We marveled at the subtle difference.
This morning, my friend sent this email.
"After we left lunch, I was pondering the difference between praise and benefit…and this is what I came up with:
Praise is what we give to God
Benefit is what He gives to us."
So here I am trailing behind and starting fresh. If I'm supposed to "forget not" then I have to NOTICE, focus on it. I'm noticing the very first benefit David says...
2Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; 4Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;…
See it? It's the key to all that follows. Who pardons all your iniquities
Out of God's forgiveness come the rest of his benefits: Good health (healed from diseases). Freedom from depression (the pit). The ability to give to others freely (lovingkindness and compassion).
5Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. (Better than retinol)
6The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed.… (Peaceful relationships)
It ALL hinges on forgiveness. Being forgiven. And - made in His image - able to forgive.
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
The only way to not be mastered by anything is to live in the freedom of the cross. David lists what things are beneficial/profitable for us. He lists what God Himself IS for us. He doesn't just give us these things. He IS these things for us.
I'm still stuck right here on this verse. I think maybe getting all that's been said up to here in I Corinthians will help me understand all that is coming.
Christ and him crucified.
I could go forward and mentally check off the verses ahead, but there's something for me right here. I'm OK camping here for as long as it takes.
These two verses are ultimately still referring to immorality. It's painfully clear!
But they are to be seen in the light of God's desire to BE our benefit, our benediction, our blessing. He does not cut himself off from the immoral. But He does not sit around a say He'll bless their immorality when it robs them of His presence! And yet, sandwiched in there, is this verse about food. I'll have to face that tomorrow.
In the meantime... It's advent. Christ is being born into my heart. The first candle stands for prophets/faith/history. They waited so long for Christ to show up... They waited when things were bad. They waited when things didn't make sense. They waited through seasons of not feeling blessed at all.
And one night, to their surprise... he just showed up. Suddenly, I'm seeing it. He showed up wrapped in the very things they wanted deliverance from. Swaddled in rags. Wrapped in poverty, born with rejection from a roof over his head, hungry, dependent on the mercy of others. Born like a refugee. A frowned upon marriage. He came and let himself get
Hmmm... something to think about.
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