Every month I receive an e-newsletter from the American
Cancer Society, called “Living with Cancer.” As I was doing my usual delete-without-reading, it suddenly occurred to me we are all living with
“something” we would rather not be. Maybe something temporary, like a financial loss or an inconsiderate roommate. Or more
long-term, like diabetes or multiple sclerosis. Whatever it is, we think we would be better off without it.
These days, you will find
a plethora of books telling you how to tolerate/manage this undesirable thing. But in God's economy, you cannot live ‘without’ it: “When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for
great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a
chance to grow... and when your endurance is fully developed, you
will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2-4). By living with our “self-eliminating cancers,” we are all being conformed to the image of Jesus. Given that, how can we possibly say we would rather not be living with it?
To greet you today with a “happy” Memorial Day seems a bit contradictory, don’t you think?
When I was a child my family attended a church called “Memorial Baptist.” Although I didn’t question it at the time, as I reflect on it now, I realize what an odd name it was for the church of the Living God. On Memorial Day we remember men and women who have died in the service of our country. In a way, they died for us! Maybe that’s what the founders of the Memorial Baptist Church were thinking.
A memorial is also an object which serves as a focus for memory of a person who has died—a gravestone or plaque or a cross. But a church as a memorial doesn't set right with me, as though it were a big tomb! I do realize, however, the Lord’s Supper is a memorial ("this do in remembrance of me”). Jesus wanted us to remember He died for us.
Well, I’m not going to be able to resolve this paradox today. But this one thing I know. Unlike the fallen heroes and man-made gods of this world, of whom there is nothing left but a memory, “our hope [on this day of memories] is in the Living God” (1 Tim. 4:10).
These days, you will find
a plethora of books telling you how to tolerate/manage this undesirable thing. But in God's economy, you cannot live ‘without’ it: “When troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for
great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a
chance to grow... and when your endurance is fully developed, you
will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:2-4). By living with our “self-eliminating cancers,” we are all being conformed to the image of Jesus. Given that, how can we possibly say we would rather not be living with it?
