"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
-Revelation 21:4
As I mentioned in my previous post, one of my favorite activities is playing basketball. What I didn't mention is that I actually cannot play much basketball these days because of an injury that I have. A couple months ago, I developed a case of metatarsalgia in my left foot. Metatarsalgia is a term that describes inflammation and/or pain in the ball of the foot. The condition is caused by the overuse of the metatarsals in the foot. In my case, the repeated stress on my foot caused by playing basketball triggered this condition.
Talking from experience, having metatarsal pain is quite frustrating as it limits my ability to perform many daily activities. When the injury was more severe, I even felt pain in my left foot just by walking. After dealing with this pain for a few weeks, I finally decided it was time to go to the doctor to discuss my condition. When I described the pain I was experiencing, the podiatrist (foot doctor) informed me that I had metatarsalgia. He also told me that the cause of my pain was likely a combination of pressure on my foot caused by basketball and having slightly abnormally sized metatarsal bones (I can't remember if they are too long or too short). The result of these two things was inflammation and pain in my left foot.
I bet that as you were reading about my condition, one of the first questions you had was what caused my condition. Whenever someone has pain, we know that it was caused by something. Pain never occurs unless something triggers that pain. I didn't start feeling pain in the ball of my foot randomly- I starting feeling pain because I damaged my metatarsals. Pain is only ever an indicator of an underlying problem in our bodies.
In the same way, could it be possible that the reason we experience pain and suffering is because there is an underlying problem in the world? One of the biggest objections to the Christian faith is that a good god would never allow pain and suffering. Only a cruel, evil god would allow us to experience pain. However, before we start blaming God for the pain in the world, we should stop and ask why we experience pain in the first place.
I once heard of a young girl that had a rare condition that stopped her body from experiencing physical pain. There was something in either her brain or nervous system that didn't process pain as most of us do. At first, this may sound like it is a blessing. She never would have to experience pain from a cut, bruise, or other bodily harm. However, this was a serious issue for her and her parents. Since she had no response whatsoever to pain, she could damage her body without even realizing it. Her parents had to keep a watchful eye on her to make sure she didn't hurt herself by touching a hot stove, cutting herself on a sharp surface or any other similar scenario.
While no one enjoys feeling pain, without the ability to feel pain, we would not be able to identify bodily harm. We wouldn't be able to detect a cut and treat it before it got infected. We wouldn't be able to recognize that our hand was being burned on a stove top and remove our hand to prevent serious burns. Quite honestly, we would not last very long without the ability to feel pain.
So I ask again, why do we experience pain? Perhaps we experience pain in the world (beyond just the physical) because our souls are trying to indicate that there is a problem. Perhaps God gave us the ability to feel pain to indicate to us that our world is not as it is meant to be. If everything were right in the world, we wouldn't have to experience pain. However, because of sin and the power of Satan, everything is not right in this world. Maybe the pain that is experienced in the world is simply an indicator of the reality of sin and Satan.
After diagnosing the source of pain, the next step is to treat the pain. For my metatarsalgia, the treatment is an orthopedic insert that I have to put into my shoes. These inserts spread the force on my foot to remove pressure from the metatarsal area which allows my foot to heal. What is the proper treatment for sin? The Bible claims that no one is sinless. Each one of us has sinned and will continue to sin. However, that doesn't mean we should leave sin untreated. Just because I continue to experience pain in my foot doesn't mean that I don't do anything about it. The proper treatment for sin is repentance and belief in God.
Pain is a reality in this world because sin is a reality in this world. Unfortunately, none of us have the power to do anything about sin in this world. Thankfully, there is one who does have the power to do something, Jesus. Jesus came and died on the cross to take on the sin of world on Himself so that we wouldn't have to experience the pain that sin brings. However, we have to repent and believe before we can experience the healing that He brings. One day, if we repent and believe in Jesus, we experience the day where "there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain".
-Smart
Why Do We Desire to Love?
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
-Mark 12:30-31
Now that the year is just about half over, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the year so far. My key verse for 2018 is Mark 12:30-31. These are familiar verses, which can tend to make me overlook the significance of these verses. I chose these verses because I wanted to refocus my mind and heart on loving God and loving others.
I started the year by choosing a Bible reading plan that would take me through the entire Bible by the end of the year. I had a lot of energy and passion for this Bible reading plan because I had just come back from a retreat and felt encouraged to pursue God more seriously. As far as I can remember, I don’t believe I’ve ever been very consistent in following a Bible reading plan. I’ve always fallen in and out of the habit of reading God’s Word. I always knew the importance of reading the Bible, but struggled to maintain a consistent daily reading of the Word.
After almost half the year, I’m happy to say that I’ve been diligent in my Bible reading plan. I’ve followed the plan almost every day, and the days that I did miss, I was quick to catch up on the reading. I’ve read books of the Bible that I’ve never read before previously, which has been a great learning experience. I’ve also read books of the Bible that I’ve read many times before, but I’ve still been encouraged by it.
Unfortunately, although my reading habits have been quite good, I still struggled with spending quality time with God in prayer. As I prepared to write this reflection, I realized that a big reason that I struggle with prayer is that I don’t find myself enjoying it. It’s almost crazy when I think about the fact that I somehow don’t enjoy spending time with the creator God, who loves me unconditionally. He even gave up Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for my sins. How can I not enjoy spending time in prayer with a God like this?
There are many things that I enjoy doing, but there is one thing I enjoy doing more than almost anything else- playing basketball. I can’t really explain why I like playing basketball so much- all I can say is that I really enjoy it. I look forward to the days where I can play, and when I do play, I never want to stop. Some of the most dangerous words you can say to me while playing basketball are “one more game?”
Despite my love for basketball, basketball will never love me back. I can devote my life to playing basketball, but basketball will never love me. This sounds like a weird statement, but it illustrates a truth I’ve been learning recently. People do not only desire to be loved, they desire to love. I believe this is why people have pets. Of course they enjoy being loved by their dog or cat, but I think they enjoy showing love even more so. I believe that all people enjoy the act of loving something or someone.
I believe this desire to love has been placed in us by our God. A question that I’ve had for a long time is why it’s so important in Christian doctrine that our God is a triune God. Why does God have to be three in one? Why not just one? Ravi Zacharias, an apologist that I listen to on occasion, mentioned that one reason it is important that there is a Trinity is because it explains where love began. Love always requires an object to be loved. It is like a phone call- you cannot call nothing, you must have someone to call.
This brings the question of who God loved before the world was created. If God is love, surely He must have loved for all eternity. Before God created man and woman, love existed between the members of the Trinity. The Father loved the Son, the Son loved the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit loved the Father. There was perfect love between the members of the Trinity.
When God created man, He not only created something that He could love, but something that could love Him back. However, man chose to love something other than God. He chose to love the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam sinned against God, it broke the love between man and God. The love was now one-sided, as now God loved Adam fully but Adam didn’t love God fully.
One-sided love is incomplete love. Love wasn’t meant to be this way. The Trinity had perfect love because each part loved the others. God created man to be loved and to love. Only when love is complete can man experience the fullness of joy. I believe this is why Jesus says in Mark 12:30 that the greatest commandment is to love God. God isn’t demanding that we love Him because He needs our love, His love is already perfect within the parts of the Trinity. He is commanding us to love because He wants us to experience the fullness of joy. He is a loving God, not a needy God.
As I’ve been reflecting on these thoughts, I realize that maybe I don’t enjoy God because I don’t fully love Him. When I moved to Dallas, I moved away from a large church that I participated heavily in. I was in the praise team, I led the college ministry, I sang in special songs, and did a lot of other things. These are all great things to participate in, but I’m starting to realize that these things may have replaced a personal relationship with God. Once I no longer could do those things by being in Dallas, I realized how shallow my prayer life was.
I heard a message at HPUMC that really convicted my heart. The pastor was speaking about using this summer as an opportunity to really spend time in God’s word and in prayer. Of course, his message had more content to it, but for the sake of brevity I won’t go into much detail. I remember thinking that I wanted to accept this challenge and really focus on my quiet time with God. I pray that through this I can learn to love God more fully.
This all sounds great, but it is still very challenging. I keep asking myself how I can really start loving God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all my strength. I want to experience the fullness of joy that comes from loving God, but it’s still hard to do. Despite the difficulty, I thank God that He has shown me how to love through His son. When I was completely unlovable, He laid down His life for me. He showed us the greatest act of love on the cross. And now, according to 1 John 4:19, “we love because He first loved us.”
-Smart
-Mark 12:30-31
Now that the year is just about half over, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the year so far. My key verse for 2018 is Mark 12:30-31. These are familiar verses, which can tend to make me overlook the significance of these verses. I chose these verses because I wanted to refocus my mind and heart on loving God and loving others.
I started the year by choosing a Bible reading plan that would take me through the entire Bible by the end of the year. I had a lot of energy and passion for this Bible reading plan because I had just come back from a retreat and felt encouraged to pursue God more seriously. As far as I can remember, I don’t believe I’ve ever been very consistent in following a Bible reading plan. I’ve always fallen in and out of the habit of reading God’s Word. I always knew the importance of reading the Bible, but struggled to maintain a consistent daily reading of the Word.
After almost half the year, I’m happy to say that I’ve been diligent in my Bible reading plan. I’ve followed the plan almost every day, and the days that I did miss, I was quick to catch up on the reading. I’ve read books of the Bible that I’ve never read before previously, which has been a great learning experience. I’ve also read books of the Bible that I’ve read many times before, but I’ve still been encouraged by it.
Unfortunately, although my reading habits have been quite good, I still struggled with spending quality time with God in prayer. As I prepared to write this reflection, I realized that a big reason that I struggle with prayer is that I don’t find myself enjoying it. It’s almost crazy when I think about the fact that I somehow don’t enjoy spending time with the creator God, who loves me unconditionally. He even gave up Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for my sins. How can I not enjoy spending time in prayer with a God like this?
There are many things that I enjoy doing, but there is one thing I enjoy doing more than almost anything else- playing basketball. I can’t really explain why I like playing basketball so much- all I can say is that I really enjoy it. I look forward to the days where I can play, and when I do play, I never want to stop. Some of the most dangerous words you can say to me while playing basketball are “one more game?”
Despite my love for basketball, basketball will never love me back. I can devote my life to playing basketball, but basketball will never love me. This sounds like a weird statement, but it illustrates a truth I’ve been learning recently. People do not only desire to be loved, they desire to love. I believe this is why people have pets. Of course they enjoy being loved by their dog or cat, but I think they enjoy showing love even more so. I believe that all people enjoy the act of loving something or someone.
I believe this desire to love has been placed in us by our God. A question that I’ve had for a long time is why it’s so important in Christian doctrine that our God is a triune God. Why does God have to be three in one? Why not just one? Ravi Zacharias, an apologist that I listen to on occasion, mentioned that one reason it is important that there is a Trinity is because it explains where love began. Love always requires an object to be loved. It is like a phone call- you cannot call nothing, you must have someone to call.
This brings the question of who God loved before the world was created. If God is love, surely He must have loved for all eternity. Before God created man and woman, love existed between the members of the Trinity. The Father loved the Son, the Son loved the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit loved the Father. There was perfect love between the members of the Trinity.
When God created man, He not only created something that He could love, but something that could love Him back. However, man chose to love something other than God. He chose to love the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam sinned against God, it broke the love between man and God. The love was now one-sided, as now God loved Adam fully but Adam didn’t love God fully.
One-sided love is incomplete love. Love wasn’t meant to be this way. The Trinity had perfect love because each part loved the others. God created man to be loved and to love. Only when love is complete can man experience the fullness of joy. I believe this is why Jesus says in Mark 12:30 that the greatest commandment is to love God. God isn’t demanding that we love Him because He needs our love, His love is already perfect within the parts of the Trinity. He is commanding us to love because He wants us to experience the fullness of joy. He is a loving God, not a needy God.
As I’ve been reflecting on these thoughts, I realize that maybe I don’t enjoy God because I don’t fully love Him. When I moved to Dallas, I moved away from a large church that I participated heavily in. I was in the praise team, I led the college ministry, I sang in special songs, and did a lot of other things. These are all great things to participate in, but I’m starting to realize that these things may have replaced a personal relationship with God. Once I no longer could do those things by being in Dallas, I realized how shallow my prayer life was.
I heard a message at HPUMC that really convicted my heart. The pastor was speaking about using this summer as an opportunity to really spend time in God’s word and in prayer. Of course, his message had more content to it, but for the sake of brevity I won’t go into much detail. I remember thinking that I wanted to accept this challenge and really focus on my quiet time with God. I pray that through this I can learn to love God more fully.
This all sounds great, but it is still very challenging. I keep asking myself how I can really start loving God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and all my strength. I want to experience the fullness of joy that comes from loving God, but it’s still hard to do. Despite the difficulty, I thank God that He has shown me how to love through His son. When I was completely unlovable, He laid down His life for me. He showed us the greatest act of love on the cross. And now, according to 1 John 4:19, “we love because He first loved us.”
-Smart
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