Have you ever known an individual that you greatly admire, whether for their strength or discipline or compassion, yet to such an extent that you are actually intimidated by them? Yes, that person. There is certainly an individual that comes to mind for myself. She seems to always have a word of insight, even in the briefest of interactions, and while I recognize the truth in what she has said, I simultaneously feel a bit taken aback by it, as they somehow bring to light my shortcomings. Perhaps her words are more weighted because I admire her discipline. A runner. Reminding me of my eager attempts at yoga during the week. An excessively healthy eater. Making me wonder if, in spite of my intentional eating habits, perhaps I could take it a bit further and cut out the cheese. (Oh my, that thought just made me cringe a little.) A committed songwriter. Now suddenly my weak songwriting discipline is insufficient by contrast. Strangely the people we elevate as worth aspiring to become the people that we draw back from. Their seeming ability to have it all together diminishes our willingness to draw from them strength and inspiration.
So we grow relationally closer to those that seem to be a bit more comparable to our reality of shortcomings and regrets and weakness. We take confidence in another’s ability to be just as human. We sigh breaths of relief as we are exposed to the reality of their struggles. We know we’re not the only ones that need to tend to a few things, and meanwhile can’t run a six minute mile, or a mile in general for that matter, but it’s not enough to simply know that everyone has their shortcomings. We want to hear about them. We want to experience them. We want to be reminded that imperfect is okay, so we self-medicate on the imperfections of others, meanwhile holding onto this distant intrigue of the upright, but not close enough to let their influence stick.
I get it. I’m right there with you.
We have been under house arrest for quite some time now. Okay, no one is calling it that, but that picture seems to carry the weight of the softer title that we have given it: Stay-at-home mandate. Maybe it felt that simple at first, except now we’re well into month two and staying at home has you desperate for an evening out with friends, or for the ability to drop your kiddos off at grandma and grandpa’s house, or for that quiet morning in a coffee shop with your laptop and perfectly poured latte. You are not in your home by choice, and any venturing out reminds you why you are being asked to stay put. Face masks. Grocery store lines. Closed businesses. Empty parking lots.
House arrest.
We wonder how others are doing, so we scour for those words that will affirm a very real struggle. Anyone that looks to be thriving we dismiss with one of those little throat huffs – you know the ones – and we keep pecking until we see someone just as anxious to be past all of this, even if the words are bookended with something of strength or inspiration. It’s not that we want to sit in our grumblings. We’ll take a bit of inspiration in the dredges of house arrest. But don’t give me an exclusively cheery disposition. I want your real before I want your hope.
Okay so there was this guy rather famous in his time, and actually if you are familiar with his letters at all, then rather famous in our time as well. His name is Paul. Once named Saul, but then knocked to his feet by this crazy flash of light, was blind for a few days, and then when his sight was restored he went out with a great gusto to tell everyone about Jesus. Kind of a cool story, but that’s besides the point. He regularly found himself in trouble. Beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, all of which he is recorded as saying to be worthwhile because his cause was the good news of God’s Kingdom. Read his letters and he can strike one as rather prideful and harsh, saying things like “do as I do” and “I have wasted my efforts on you”. No one wants to be reminded of their shortcomings, even if indirectly, and no one wants to be made to feel that someone else has it all together while we don’t. What benefit is that to our own insecurity? Yet, here comes Paul, absolutely confident in his words, and not at all hesitant to bring shortcomings to light so as to make way for something better.
We don’t really let ourselves get angry at Paul though, seeing as he made it into the Bible and all, so he has proven his worth on the “listen to this guy” scale. Although allow me to point out the obvious but rarely considered point: there was no Bible while he was writing. That is, except for the recorded texts of the Old Testament and the Jewish law- but that was it. He had no “Hey, I’m in the Bible so listen to me” status that he could fall back on to support his seemingly outlandish, far above imperfect standard in which we want so desperately to take comfort.
Actually do you want to know the most infuriating part about where Paul was when he wrote four of his letters? Not on some island vacation or curled up in a cozy lodge overlooking white capped mountains. Heck, not even in the normalcy of his tent-making business, mingling with customers and enjoying a ham sandwich while on his lunch break. Nope. Paul was in prison. Do you want to know in what fashion?
House arrest. Sound familiar?
Okay, so now that we have put Paul in the proper perspective- not a billion copies sold author and forced to stay in his home, maybe we can receive his words a bit better.
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. (Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, paraphrased by The Message)
House arrest. Just like you. Just like me.
Actually, in far worse circumstances by that measure, and yet no “Hey, this sucks. House arrest is really hard and stupid and just get me out of here already!” He doesn’t make grumbling okay. Mind you, he by no means discredits the difficulty of a certain situation. Earlier in this letter he even makes a point to say that if given a choice between life and death, he wouldn’t know what to pick. To him life is hard, and death would be sweeter. Dang. Yet in his honesty he says, (as paraphrased in The Message), ”As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do… [so] because of what you are going through, I am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here.” (Did he really just make his own struggle instead about serving others? Yep.)
Though neither does he appease his audience solely with better days ahead. He certainly reminds them of the sweetness of what is to come, but he doesn’t find it necessary to let his readers sit in the in-between of difficult circumstances and a hope for something better. He doesn’t minimize the struggle, but he doesn’t allow the struggle to become permission to grumble. Instead the struggle itself becomes an opportunity to test the bounty of praise.
Apart from Paul’s words, his very story reveals that there is a way that is better than complaint and a disposition free of worry, filled with gratitude, and even more valuable than the luxury of the days ahead.
EXPOSITION: Consider what our demeanor might be if we lived in this sort of celebratory, worry-free, expletive-less mentality? Where we did not diminish a real struggle, and even honestly exposed our longing for something different, but chose not to self-medicate on similar complaints so as to feel complacently tolerant with our weariness.
RISE: You might ask, how is this even possible? Three is a manageable number. We’ll go with that:
1. Paul said it best. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (same letter as above, just a more word for word translation)
We often absorb the thoughts that others project. Consider what you are feeding your mind on social media, the news you watch, basically any platform that influences how your disposition is shaped.
2. Paul’s letters are filled with this one as well.. be thankful. I know, I know, incredibly simple, but how often we miss this with the assumption that there’s probably a more strategic, complex method? There’s not.
Jordan and I have been aggressively committing to gratitude for the last five years, and although we still have discouragement that needs tending to, we have found what a profound shift our souls have taken. We are at last living out what has been taught us our entire lives. Songs and books could only take us so far. We had to put gratitude into practice.
Yes, gratitude takes practice. And five years later, we both feel we are finally latching on. Here is what we have learned. If you don’t have gratitude today, then what you hope for tomorrow will always look better the day before its arrival.
3. Talk to Jesus. Your worry will have no where to go otherwise. Your discouraged thoughts will only fight for attention with your noble ones. Your gratitude will only serve to combat your very present grumblings. You may feel more tension in letting the two sides battle than actually experiencing any mending. You can try it without him, and probably have a modicum of success, but at some point you will recognize that you are too frail, too disheartened, too human to rely on yourself.
DENOUEMENT: “Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” -Paul (the humble, non-book selling, under house arrest guy)