A few weeks ago, I received a lovely email from Joyce Meng inviting me to join an INFJ panel on her YouTube channel. That didn’t work out for my schedule, so we planned a one-on-one conversation with questions from her audience. I’ve done interviews before, but those were pre-recorded and for the most part pre-scripted–I had all the questions in advance and could plan out what I wanted to say before the call or video started. The live Q & A format was very different, but I also found it a lot of fun (except for the part where I forgot how to say “methodical” so thoroughly that it came out as some tortured version of “methodological”).
Joyce is an excellent interviewer, and I really enjoyed my conversations with her before and during this video. Also thank you to everyone who tuned-in live and asked such interesting questions. I’m even grateful for the questions I wasn’t sure how to answer because they were so interesting to think about!
I’ve been having a tough month in terms of mental health. Things are going well in my life but I feel anxious, stressed, and glum.
One of the things I’ve learned is that even with all the tools I have for working through emotionally tough times the things I’m struggling with don’t just go away once you slap a little prayer and therapy on them (at least not all the time). You’ve just got to keep doing things that are healthy for you, allow yourself some time to rest, ask for and give yourself grace when you make mistakes, and keep moving forward. Patience, perseverance, and asking trusted people for help are key to getting through mental health struggles just as they are with any other trials we face.
The Bible talks about our Christian life as running a race. There are times when running this race that people get off track. For example, Paul wrote to the Galatians, “You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you” (Gal. 5:7-10, NET). Usually when the Bible speaks of getting off-track it’s talking about sin. But I think we can also apply part of what Paul says here more broadly–the things that hinder us from running are not coming from the God who calls us to follow Him. They’re coming from an adversary who wants to see us fail; one that we can resist with God’s help.
Everyone deals with emotional struggles and mental health issues differently, and those struggles trigger different responses in different people. I tend to withdraw, and I often feel like I want to hide or run away from something. I need to be very careful that this doesn’t make me want to run from God as well.
We’re engaged in spiritual warfare. When we choose to follow Jesus, we’re picking a side in a battle. One of the lies that the enemy tries to tell us is that if you do something God might not like it’s better to run away from Him than run to Him and ask for forgiveness and/or help. Adam and Eve tried hiding in the garden and we’ve been using the same trick ever since. It doesn’t work any better now than it did then.
We human beings are always heading on a path toward either death or life, and it’s far better to run down the path to God rather than the path toward the devil. The only people who should feel like they need to flee God are those that hate him (Psalm 68:1). He’s frightening if you’re setting yourself in opposition to Him, and people who are doing things God hates might feel the need to run when He rises up to take action (Prov. 6:16-19; Is. 59:7). Even then, though He’s astonishingly merciful to people who stop running in the wrong direction and run toward Him instead.
The times when we feel most like running away from God are often the times when we most need to run to Him for help. Whether we’ve actually done something wrong or if we’re beset by groundless fears, heading toward God is the solution. In the first situation we can ask for forgiveness and receive His grace, and in the other we can ask for His peace and receive reassurance.
God’s people are supposed to do the opposite of what people who hate him or don’t know Him do. Jesus’s sheep run from a stranger’s voice, not taking the risk of being led away from their real shepherd (John 10:4-5). We no longer run alongside people in the world toward “lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries” (1 Peter 4:3-4, WEB). Many of us used to do those things (and if we didn’t do those we committed other sins) and God forgave us, but now He wants us to flee from sexual immorality, idolatry, and all other evil desires (1 Cor. 6:18; 10:14; 2 Tim. 2:22).
People who follow God know it’s safe to run to Him. We run to God for protection (Ps. 143:9; Prov. 18:10; Jer. 16:19). We run in the straight and narrow path lit by God’s word that keeps our feet from stumbling (Ps. 119:105; Prov. 4:11-12; Matt. 7:13-14). We run to Godly things and “follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness” (1 Tim. 6:11, WEB). We run like our Christian life is a marathon that we’ll finish with Jesus running right alongside us.
I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.
Psalm 119:32, WEB
I don’t think I’d ever noticed this verse before even though I’ve read Psalm 119 countless times. It might be the translation, since the Hebrew more literally reads “for you make wide my heart,” which can be translated as something like “thou shalt enlarge my heart” (KJV) or “you have broadened my understanding” (NIV). I like this “set my heart free” translation, though. It makes me think of running across a sunlit summer meadow laughing and full of joy. That’s the emotional landscape provided by running in the path of God’s commandments. While we’re not guaranteed happiness 100% of the time, we can be full of joy. Having a heart set free accompanies God’s spirit filling us with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23, NET).
We can’t do any of this joyful running without God’s help. Our success doesn’t depend on our will to run, but on God’s mercy (Rom. 9:15-16). That’s a reassuring thing, especially when our will doesn’t feel up to the task of getting out of bed in the morning much less fighting an epic spiritual battle. We can’t win this race using our own strength, but we don’t have to. We don’t even need to try; we can just ask Jesus for His strength.
That does not, however, mean we shouldn’t strive to run well. We can’t finish the race without God compassionately setting us on the right path in the first place, but we also won’t win if we sit down and give up. God’s mercy and grace should motivate us to run with endurance toward the goal He sets for us.
Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air. Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24-29, NET
There isn’t just one winner in the race that’s our Christian life, but we should still imitate the high motivation of a runner who wants to achieve victory. Here, Paul highlights the self-control and discipline with which he lives his life because he knows he can’t coast into the kingdom resting on his past accomplishments (Gal. 2:1-2; Phil. 2:15-16). He was highly motivated to stick with this way of life and keep moving forward with Jesus’s strength (2 Cor. 12:7-10; Phil 4:13).
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2, NET
When struggling with anxiety or other mental and emotional concerns, it helps to remember that our life is a long-term race with ups and downs. We’re not facing anything that faithful people before us haven’t dealt with as well (1 Cor. 10:13; Heb. 11:1-40). And we’re certainly not dealing with anything that’s too tough for our God. As we run toward Him asking for help, He will strengthen us to get through the tough patches and run the race set before us with resilience and joy.
We’re getting closer and closer to Passover. Based on Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians, these months leading up to Passover (Pesach) and the Day of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzot) are a time of self-examination for New Covenant Christians. We spend time in prayer and study, asking God to share what He sees in us and help us grow and change to become more like Him. We take time to try and figure out what things in us still don’t look like God, repent of them, and seek His aid in changing our lives to align more and more with His ways.
A couple weeks ago, I kept ending up in Ephesians 5 as I read my daily devotional and worked through a month-long scripture writing study on deception (you can find similar scripture writing plans by clicking here). There’s a lot to think about in this chapter. It comes near the end of a fairly long letter where Paul writes to believers about the blessings and spiritual inheritance that we have through Christ, and says he gives thanks for the faith and love they’re already showing (Eph. 1). Paul reminds them of their transgressions/offenses and sins which God and Christ saved them from when He took those who were once outside God’s family and made them wholly part of His people (Eph. 2). As the letter goes on, Paul implores his readers to value the great and wonderful mysteries God grants us, not to lose heart when some of us suffer, and to fully commit to our relationship with Jesus Christ (Eph. 3). Based on all this, Paul calls his readers to unity with their fellow believers and insists they live holy, spiritual lives (Eph. 4).
Throughout the letter, Paul makes some brutal statements about our spiritual condition before we entered a relationship with God. “You were dead in your offenses and sins” and “were by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:1, 3, NET). In our lives before meeting Jesus, we were “corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires” (4:22). Paul even says, “you were at one time darkness” (5:8). This sinful state is where we all started out, desperately in need of Jesus to save us. We want to move on from that as quickly as possible and embrace all the good things God tells us about our new identities in Him. And while it is good and right to fully embrace who we are in God, we also need to remember how bad things were without Him. If we don’t keep that perspective, then it’ll be easy to slip back into worldly things because we don’t think of them as being “that bad.”
Humans have a tendency for self-justification. Even when we’re beating ourselves up about something, we might also be making excuses for ourselves. Or maybe we read through the Bible and see our conduct in some of the things God says not to do, then tell ourselves that it’s not really all that bad. We make mistakes, but we’re human. No big deal.
It is true that God can remove our sins and He has abundant mercy for our mistakes. But it’s not because they’re “no big deal.” Sin results in death, and the reason God can forgive us so freely is because Jesus died in our place. That’s a really big deal. We need to understand the magnitude of what Jesus did for us, and the level of offense we cause if we turn back to wicked ways and brush it off as something that doesn’t really matter. In his one-year Worship the King devotional, Chris Tiegreen sums it up like this:
“we were idolaters. False worshipers. People who gave glory and honor to things that were not worthy, while neglecting the glory and honor that should go to the One who is. That hurts.
“It’s a brutal assessment, but we have to own up to it. We don’t like to think of our flirtation with impurity or materialism as idol worship, but it is.”
Chris Tiegreen, Worship the King, p. 51
Going back to Ephesians, Paul says that flirting with things like “sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed … vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting” is “not fitting for the saints” and “out of character” for those saying they want to imitate Jesus’s way of life (Eph. 5:1-4, NET). If we tell ourselves that things God calls sins are okay for us, then it turns into idolatry. We’re putting our desires for sinful things higher than our desire for God and saying our ideas of morality are more accurate than His.
Emphasizing our need to change and grow as we follow Jesus Christ does not downplay God’s mercy or grace in any way. Grace is something we can’t do anything to earn, but once we accept God’s grace we enter a covenant with Him and agree to live in a spiritual way. He expects certain things of people who promise to follow Him, including that we won’t run off after things which have nothing to do with godliness.
For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be sharers with them, for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live like children of light—for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth—trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Eph. 5:5-10, NET
God’s connection with Light is something we’ve explored in other Bible study posts. We’re supposed to shine with Jesus’s light in our lives, to be like lamps burning with bright fire as we imitate the Light of our Messiah. There’s a sharp divide in the world that’s been there since the fall of mankind. On the one hand, there is darkness and death. On the other, there is light and life. Jesus calling us out of darkness gives us the option to choose light. It’s an incredible gift. And unless we don’t really value that gift of Light, we’ll be doing our best to “live like children of light.”
Therefore consider carefully how you live—not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:15-21, NET
Because of everything Paul talked about before–particularly the way our dark pasts contrast with the light we’re supposed to live in now–he urges us to “consider carefully how you live.” We ought to do this careful consideration throughout the year, but Passover is a particularly fitting time for a check-in. How wise are we in how we live our lives? Are we letting God fill us with His spirit, then letting that pour out through our lips as praise, worship, and thanks? Do we demonstrate our reverence for Christ by submitting to each other in love?
I doubt we can fully answer “yes” to all these questions (I know I can’t), and this isn’t even a full list of everything we’re supposed to do as we imitate Christ. But remember that as long as you’re on the path toward perfection, God treats you as if you’re already perfect. When we trust Him and do our best to follow His example of holiness, He’ll keep filling us with His spirit and light. We’ll be able to stay on track following Him instead of slipping back into idolatry. He’ll empower us to grow and change, becoming more and more like Him each year.
If you do a study on the “God is” statements in scripture, it gives you an overview of His character and helps reveal some of the things that are most important to Him. It also gives us an idea for how we’re to live as Christians since we’re supposed to become like God. God is love, light, faithful, merciful, righteous, and slow to anger, and we’re to work on becoming those things as well (Ps. 116:5; Neh. 9:17; 1 John 1:5; 4:8).
One of the “God is” statements that might seem unusual is this one: “Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 4:24, WEB). I suspect when most people think of fire and the Bible, they think of sinners going to a type of fiery hell that’s based a little more on pop-culture and classic literature than scripture. Clearly none of that is happening in this verse–the fire here is associated with God Himself as part of His nature. It’s presented as a fact of His character that ancient Israel would have to deal with if they “forget the covenant of Yahweh your God” (Deut. 4:23, WEB).
This isn’t the only place that fire is associated with God. It’s often linked to His indignation and wrath when people turn away from Him and do truly horrible things. It’s also associated with purification and holiness. There are positive associations with fire as well as devouring, “jealous” ones. There are even verses that talk about us being in the fire as a good thing rather than a punishment.
Righteous, Jealous Fire
In Deuteronomy, fire is linked with God’s jealousy. Israel was warned to guard against being unfaithful to God’s covenant because He does not take covenant-breaking lightly. He also meets out punishment on nations who didn’t make covenants with Him because as Creator, Lord, and Lawgiver He has the right to punish wrongdoing. God tends to judge people less harshly when they don’t know any better, but even without special revelation there are still general principles available to all people which He can reasonably expect us to follow (e.g. most cultures agree with God that murder is wrong). Paul talks about that in more detail at the beginning of Romans, but for today’s post our focus in this section is on how fire is linked with God’s righteousness and anger.
Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies. Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. … Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him
Nahum 1:2-3, 6, WEB
Treating God with respect involves acknowledging this side of His nature. There are consequences that we shouldn’t want to face if we “go after other gods” and break covenant with our Creator (Deut. 6.14-15; 29:18-20; Heb. 12:25-29). There is also mercy, though. Fire isn’t simply a destructive force. It’s also used for purifying; it’s something that can help get people back on track. God take no pleasure in the death of wicked people; He wants every single one of us to turn away from sin and accept the eternal life that He offers us (Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).
In the book of Numbers, Yahweh tells Moses to have Israel purify the spoils they took after battling Midian using fire. All the metal and “everything that may withstand the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean” (Num. 31:23, WEB). This is the only place I’ve found where fire was used for purification like this, but it’s still an intriguing moment that connects with later verses about refining fire. And even though fire wasn’t regularly used for purification in Old Covenant worship, it was associated with holiness. The fire on the altar was never supposed to go out, sacrifices for God were routinely burned, and God sent fire down from heaven when Solomon dedicated the temple (Ex. 20:24; Lev. 6:12).
Today, we ourselves (as a collective church body) make up the temple of God. We don’t offer sacrifices on a burning altar; we now offer all of ourselves to living God’s way of life (Rom. 12:1). It shouldn’t be any surprise, then, that as living sacrifices we also go through a sort of fire. It’s a metaphor for the things that make people holy by testing and refining us (Is 48.10; Mal. 3:2-3; 1 Peter 1:6-8).
“I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”
Zechariah 13:9, WEB
For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done. If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward. If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15, NET
Fire provides testing and purification. When something goes into fire like this, the unholy things get burned off leaving only the holy behind. As the writer of Hebrews says, we who are “receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken” should “serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29, WEB). We want to be like God and to dwell with God, which means we need to become something capable of surviving this fire. We need to be holy as He is holy.
The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning? He who walks righteously and speaks blamelessly, he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil— he will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure.
Sinners look at God and ask how anyone could “live with the devouring fire” and “everlasting burning?” We wonder that, too. There’s a list here in Isaiah of things the sort of people who can live in God’s fire do. They’re righteous, blameless, oppose oppression, don’t take bribes or pay attention to evil. Those are things we should strive for, but we also know we don’t do these things perfectly. We have all sinned and an encounter with pure holiness would be terrifying. If we saw God right now, we’d likely have a similar reaction to Isaiah when he said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!” (Isaiah 6:1-5, WEB). The more clearly you see God, the more you realize how poorly you measure up. But God has a fiery solution.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
Isaiah 6:6-7, WEB
Isaiah’s lips, as a stand-in for his whole life, were purified with holy fire. Similarly, Jesus Christ baptizes each believer “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Luke 3:15-17, NET). The “fire” part of the three baptisms of Christianity makes us more and more like God, refining us until we look just like Jesus. This process continues our whole lives.
Our God is a devouring, jealous fire who will not tolerate unfaithfulness. He does not want to punish us with His fire, though. He wants to use fire to refine us and make us holy like Him. Even the fiery trials we face serve a purpose when we give ourselves up to Him as living sacrifices to do His will. This perspective helps us contextualize our sufferings and trust God when He chooses to help us through trials rather than immediately take us out of them. When we’re dwelling with God, fire can be a good thing.
I’ve noticed something about the way I write about scripture. When I talk about ideas that span the whole Bible, such as describing it as God’s Love Story or contextualizing spiritual battles, I speak as if all of Bible history is part of our personal history. Symbolically, it’s as if we betrayed God in Eden, made a covenant with Him at Sinai and then broke it, had Jesus die for our sins, and are now welcomed into a new covenant with Him.
In some ways, the parallels are almost literal. We’ve all sinned just like Adam and Eve. Many of us had a relationship with God in our youth and weren’t entirely faithful to him. And no matter what our background, every single one of us needs Jesus’s sacrifice to save us from our sins. All of us who are Christians are now trying to live a godly life in covenant with God. But we weren’t literally there in Eden, nor wandering with Israel on their journey between Egypt and the Promised Land, and we weren’t alive when Jesus walked on the earth. So in what ways are we supposed to identify with people of the past? Is there a point at which we might identify with them too much (or maybe even not enough)?
Covenanting With Us
After the Exodus, when Israel first reached the Promised Land, they sent spies in to see how things were. The spies brought back a report that terrified the people and they refused to go into the land. In response, God swore, “they will by no means see the land that I promised on oath to their fathers, nor will any of them who despised me see it” (Num. 14:23, NET). They had to wander the wilderness another 40 years until everyone “twenty years old and upward” died except for faithful Caleb and Joshua (the two spies who urged Israel to follow God’s plan) and a couple others like Aaron’s son Eleazar the priest. That means there were plenty of people who had no memory of the covenant God made with their ancestors at Sinai by the time they were ready to go into the Promised Land again. And yet, this was what Moses told them before his death:
Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them! The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. He did not make this covenant with our ancestors but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now.”
Deut. 5:1-4, NET
Other than Caleb, Joshua, and Moses there wasn’t any one in the crowd who’d been older than 19 when God made this covenant with His people. Many of his listeners hadn’t even been born yet. It doesn’t matter if they remember it, though. From a spiritual perspective, God cut that covenant with them just as surely as if they’d been in the crowd who said, “We will do all that Yahweh has said, and be obedient” (Ex. 24:7, WEB). Something very similar happens with New Covenant believers as well.
Paul’s writings are often difficult to understand, but one thing which he is pretty clear on is the fact that the Old Testament is relevant for modern Christians. His first letter to the Corinthians provides excellent examples.
For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for the oxen that God cares, or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope.
1 Corinthians 9:9-10, WEB
Here, Paul directly identifies something that was “written in the law of Moses” as being “written for our sake.” It wasn’t just for ancient Israel; it’s for us as well. The law teaches us about God’s priorities and where His focus lies. In addition to what the law teaches us, the history of Israel is also highly relevant today.
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness. These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. … These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 11-12, NET
When Paul writes to his first-century audience that the things which happened thousands of years ago were written for their examples, we can also see those words connecting to us. Our faith has a rich history and we’re just as much a part of God’s whole plan as Paul’s first readers were. We can, and should, learn from the whole Bible because it was all written for us.
This blog post isn’t about a new or startling teaching. If we didn’t believe Jesus’s words and the rest of the holy Bible are written for us, then we wouldn’t be Christians. We already know that this faith is real, living, vibrant, and relevant today. And yet, I still think it’s good to remember our roots and to remind ourselves that the Bible doesn’t go out-of-date. Both Old and New Testament were written for us to learn from. God’s law and Israel’s history was written for all God’s followers who would come after. Paul had people like us in mind when he wrote his letters. Jesus even prayed for us.
Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
John 17:20-21, WEB
When Jesus prayed for His disciples before His crucifixion, He also prayed for people who would believe that He’s the Messiah based on those disciple’s words. That’s us. We believe Him because of what we’ve read and heard and seen as He works in our own lives. And with Him by our side and the encouragement of the examples we have in scripture, we can keep believing no matter what comes to challenge our faith.
For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The words “happily-ever-after” typically put us in mind of fairy tales, usually of the Disney variety, and stories that end with weddings. People often have a lot of complicated emotions about the idea of weddings (both in real-life and how they’re portrayed in stories). We might feel hopeful and happy, sure the couple at the end of the story really will live happily-ever-after. Or we might feel more cynical, saying that’s not how it works in real life.
Even in Disney’s fairly tales, though, the path to happily-ever-after isn’t easy. There are quests, battles, danger, and heartbreak before the end. The danger and challenges are even more pronounced in original versions of fairy tales. We see this trend in most of the oldest myths, legends, and epic tales. The best endings come to those who get there through struggle–who overcome adversity, outwit their enemies, and endure hardship to the end.
God’s love story is like that too. The story that He’s writing with our lives will end in a happily-ever-after, but there’s a lot going on before we get there. There’s love and courting, an engagement promise, then unfaithfulness on the part of the bride, wars fought over her, and then the bridegroom’s death and resurrection. Pretty dramatic stuff, and that’s all before we even enter the picture. And the story isn’t done yet. There is still coming a time when heaven will cry out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns! Let’s rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let’s give the glory to him. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:6-7, WEB).
That end goal is a good thing to focus on. It helps keep us on-track and hopeful during the challenging times facing the Lamb’s wife as she makes herself ready. We also need to beware of and expect those obstacles. Our journey to this wedding is full of challenges. Our Bridegroom and His Father have an adversary who’d like nothing better than to tear the bride apart and ruin this upcoming marriage.
Attacked when Looking for our Lover
I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left, and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I didn’t find him. I called him, but he didn’t answer. The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.
Song 5:6-7, WEB
There are a lot of people in today’s world who staunchly oppose those who go looking for Jesus, much as the watchmen attacked the beloved in Song of Songs when she went looking for her lover. We need to expect this sort of opposition so it doesn’t surprise us, and also keep it in perspective so that it doesn’t discourage us. We don’t want to be someone who “has no root in himself” and stumbles “when oppression or persecution arises because of the word” (Matt. 13:21, WEB). This is something that Jesus and the apostles taught first-century Christian converts, and it’s still important for us today.
They strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom of God through many persecutions.”
Acts 14:22, NET
The world hates people who love Jesus (John 15:19). Part of our love story involves enemies that want to keep us apart. Those enemies won’t win, though. All the opposition to the marriage of the Lamb and His Bride is motivated by the Adversary, Satan the Devil, and Jesus has already won the key victory in this battle. Our Bridegroom died for our sins and conquered death–there’s nothing that can stop Him from putting “all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:20-25).
Opposition that comes from other people and external trials or challenges is pretty easy to spot. There’s also opposition that can come from within ourselves, and that’s often harder to notice. We may think we’d never be like the people of ancient Israel who forsook God over and over, running after idols like an unfaithful wife running after lovers. But Paul tells us that the things which happened with Israel are written down so we can learn from them. They’re a warning that we need because we could do the same things they did.
So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall. No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it. So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
1 Corinthians 10:12014, NET
All too often, we slip into patterns of disinterest or distraction. We get caught up in our own interests, worries, and goals and let our relationship with God slip into the background. There’s no such thing as leaving a relationship like this in neutral, though. Either we’re getting closer to Him, or we’re going to start slipping away. We must not let that happen. We want to make sure that we’re running away from idolatry (anything we might prioritize over God); not running away from God.
We need to be on guard against the common trials that all human beings face. If we lose touch with a godly perspective and start to think we’re alone in our trials they’ll quickly discourage us. The best way to counter that discouragement is to stay close to Jesus. The closer our relationship is with our Beloved, the more comfort He can give us and the better we’ll be able to recognize His voice.
“Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber. But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.”
John 4:1-5, WEB
We miss part of this picture unless we know how shepherding worked in ancient Israel. When shepherds took their sheep to water, the flocks would mingle together. It was a noisy place with lots of voices calling out for sheep to come follow them. Sheep with a good, attentive shepherd would know their shepherd so well they’d easily discern his voice and come when he called for him (Chris Tiegreen, Worship the King, p. 46). Likewise, our world is full of things that vie for our attention, including everything from pleasant-seeming distractions to the trials we’d rather not deal with. Through it all, we need to listen for the voice of our Beloved Shepherd as He leads, restores, and loves us (Ps. 23).
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2, NET). The same is true of us today. We’re all part of the affianced bride of Jesus Christ. That knowledge ought to contextualize all the stuff that happens in our lives today. We approach life differently when we know that someone wonderful loves us and that God Himself backs up the promise of a happily-ever-after in our future.
So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. … For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the coming glory that will be revealed to us.
Romans 8:12-13, 18, NET
We belong to God the Father and Jesus Christ. Jesus ransomed us with His own blood (1 Cor 6:19-20; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 5:9). That places us “under obligation” to live a certain way. There’s so much love wrapped up in all this that it doesn’t burden us the way we typically think of “obligations” doing. People getting married don’t (usually) make vows because they have to, but because they want to. Same with us and Jesus. When we love Him, we’ll want to commit to Him like He’s committed to us. We’ll want to stick with Him to the end, no matter how many dragons try to keep us apart and spoil our happily-ever-after.
