24 Mar How to Avoid the Death of a Thousand Spiritual Cuts
I earnestly pray for the Lord’s protection for you and your loved ones, our health care providers and first responders and all those carrying on with essential services during the many COVID-19 challenges, and for wisdom for our leaders who are diligently trying to stand in the gap for us.
For those of you who are on the front lines, as well as for those who are doing your part by “staying home”, I want to continue to serve you with content to help you in your spiritual growth journey.
While we may be concerned with coronavirus issues in our lives now, even so, those issues are often added on top of issues we were facing before the pandemic hit. So, while we want to pay appropriate attention to the coronavirus issues, we don’t want to lose sight of many underlying issues we may be facing at the same time.
__________________________________________
In that vein, the phrase, “the death of a thousand cuts” is a metaphor for a succession of small bad things that happen, none of which are lethal in themselves, but which add up to a slow and painful defeat. It is a common danger in the Christian life.
Life Altering Blows
On one hand, sometimes, the child of God is faced with massive all-consuming circumstances.
Corrie ten Boom, for example, was sentenced to a German concentration camp for helping Jews escape Nazi Germany. Her life was shattered, her mother died, her father died, her sister died, and she was condemned to a life of unfathomable suffering at the hands of her captors.
In another example, Joni Erickson Tada, a vibrant, talented teenage girl dived into shallow water, hit her head and broke her neck. She has lived the last fifty or so years as a quadriplegic. On top of that, in recent years, she has contracted cancer and lives in chronic pain.
In Muslim countries, many Christians face unspeakable persecution and all-consuming circumstances that make normal life impossible.
A Succession of Smaller Cuts
On the other hand, having said that, I repeat that a common danger in the Christian life for many is not all-consuming circumstances, but a succession of smaller “cuts” which, if not dealt with effectively, can disappoint, discourage and defeat.
However, for both the all-consuming challenges such as a concentration camp, being a quadriplegic, or horrifying persecution, and (though to a lesser extent because, while it is all-consuming right now, it’s duration is expected to be comparatively short lived) a coronavirus pandemic, for those all-consuming challenges as well as for the smaller cuts of the daily grind, the solution to both is the same: to live in this world according to the reality of the next.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gulag Archipelago, who spent years of his life in the brutal Russian prison camps said, “The only way to survive in the gulag is to give up on this world and live for the next.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
Though the circumstances are usually not as extreme as a gulag, nevertheless, the Christian in his normal daily life has the same challenge. Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”
That is, live for heaven, not for earth… both in big things and little.
Common Life Challenges
As life grinds on, we may face disappointment upon discouragement upon defeat. No one thing is a lethal blow, but the endless succession of non-lethal blows comes again and again and again, threatening to defeat us.
- We may fail to get the job we want and have to work at something that is not satisfying and does not pay enough to cover the bills.
- We may find ourselves married to someone we thought would be a life soul-mate, but who has turned out not to be willing/able to meet us halfway.
- We may find our hopes for achievement in life dashed on the rocks of “bad luck.”
- We may find our children unwilling to live a committed Christian life as we hoped they would.
- We may find ourselves beset with physical illness or disability that keeps us from being able to live the life we imagined.
- We may find ourselves unable to reach the level of talent or development or accomplishment to achieve the things we thought we would achieve.
- At this particular point in time, we may fear we will lose our job and never recover from the blows of COVID-19 in our life.
- We may find ourselves ____________________________. (Fill in your blank.)
It may feel as though God has abandoned us to failure, or that life is passing us by.
Solution #1
The solution? As Solzhenitsyn said, “we must give up on this world and live for the next.” As Jesus said, we must “lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven, not on earth.”
In a recent blog, I mentioned two strategies for doing this:
- Burn into our minds the four benefits of trails:
- Spiritual transformation
- Increased ministry impact
- Eternal reward
- Deeper relationship with God
- And focus on the future, when all will be well.
However, I have found it extra helpful to combine that two-step strategy with the faith/obedience response I mentioned some time back.
I made the point that if we believe, we obey. If we do not obey, it is because we do not believe. So, our challenge is to manage carefully what we believe.
Solution #2
However, we can accept that general truth without applying it effectively. So, in order to apply the truth of “living for the next world”, we can focus on a specific faith-response to each specific disappointment.
For example, if someone treats me disrespectfully, I might be tempted to live for this world and “get them back,” or hold a never-ending grudge. Instead, I can consciously live for the next world by forgiving them and treating them with respect anyway. That way, what I appear to lose in this world (my respect), I gain in spiritual maturity, increased capacity to minister to others, disproportionate eternal reward and a greater capacity for fellowship with God.
Or, if I am caught in a dead-end, unrewarding job, I might be tempted to live in frustration, resentment or even bitterness. Instead, I can consciously live for the next world by serving Jesus by serving my employer, by considering my workplace the “world” into which the Lord wants me to go to serve Him. That way, what I appear to lose in this world (the satisfaction of having spent my life in a rewarding vocation), I gain in spiritual maturity, increased capacity to minister to others, disproportionate eternal reward and a greater capacity for fellowship with God.
Or, if I am in a marriage that is not as satisfying as I hoped it would be, I might be tempted to bail on the relationship, either actively or passively. Instead, I can consciously live for the next world by serving Jesus by being faithful to my spouse and continuing to contribute to the relationship instead of abandoning it. That way, what I appear to lose in this world (a lifetime of a satisfying marriage), I gain in spiritual maturity, increased capacity to minister to others, disproportionate eternal reward and a greater capacity for fellowship with God.
So… what I may appear to lose in this world, I more than get back by living for the next.
When we live for the next world, responding in faith and obedience, there is no loss. There is only delayed reward.
So it is with failure to achieve our potential in life, a standard of living we don’t want, besetting responsibilities we wish we didn’t have, disappointing relationships, chronic illnesses, or _________________ (fill in the blank).
Conclusion
If we respond to the challenge by trusting God, and obeying or resting in Him, there is no loss. Only delayed reward. As missionary Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.”
As we abandon ourselves to these truths, any new “cuts” in life don’t have to become defeating, we heal of past cuts, and we gain the hope and encouragement to carry on.
One of the most helpful verses for doing this is Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Memorize this deeply and meditate on it regularly. For more help in understanding this process, get my free video Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You.
Help spread the message, “Like” my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/maxanders.author and invite your friends to do the same. If you know someone you think may find this blog valuable, please forward it to them. I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me at max@maxanders.com. I try to answer all emails, but, if not, I may address in future blogs the questions/issues you raise.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.