Life's Inanities and Ironies

When we can no longer help ourselves There comes a day for many of us when the honest confession is this: I cannot help myself, and I certainly cannot help anyone else. Pride hates that admission. Scripture meets it with one of the most liberating truths in all the Bible. Paul pleaded three times for the thorn to be removed. The Lord’s answer was not healing, but this: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul then declared, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me… for when I am weak, then am I strong” (vv. 9-10). God is not limited by our inability. In fact, He often waits until our own strength is gone so that His power alone is seen. When we are reduced to the place where we cannot rise, cannot serve, cannot even pray as we used to, the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26). Our weakness becomes the ve...

 Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Word of God never pretends that the righteous will always walk in unbroken health. From Job on the ash heap to Paul with his thorn, from David on the bed of languishing to the saints James addresses, Scripture faces sickness head-on. It shows us both the outward man that perishes and the inward man that is renewed. It teaches us how to live when we can no longer help ourselves, let alone carry the load for others. These six posts draw from the whole counsel of God so that, whether we are the one lying weak or the one standing beside the bed, we may walk in faith, humility, and hope. The dichotomy of body and spirit that frees us from despair When sickness strikes and strength fails, the first truth we must settle is that we are not merely physical beings. Paul wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The body m...

  So much has happened in the last few days, and I’m still trying to soak it all in. Thursday morning I sat with the heart surgeon at IU Methodist in Indianapolis. They told me they can help me. On the 26th of this month I will go in for double-bypass surgery. I am more than a little scared physically. Spiritually, I know I have nothing to fear. Convincing my mind of that truth is the hard part. If someone had told me even a couple of years ago that a man could feel genuine physical dread and yet rest in complete spiritual peace at the same time, I would have thought they were talking nonsense. But the closer I walk with the Lord, the more I see that the two can truly dwell in the same body. The outward man and the inward man are not the same thing. Scripture has been preparing us for this reality all along. Paul wrote, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The body can be breaking down whil...

There comes a moment in the life of every believer—sometimes gradually, sometimes with the sudden force of a diagnosis, a failing body, or the quiet recognition that the years have grown short—when the nearness of death can no longer be ignored. The end of this earthly pilgrimage is no longer a distant theological concept. It is imminent. The horizon of eternity has drawn close, and the soul must reckon with the unalterable truth that soon it will step from this life into the presence of the living God. This is not a subject for the faint of heart, nor for those who prefer the soft language of modern sentimentality. Scripture does not permit us to treat death as a gentle transition or a natural cycle of life. Death is an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). It is the wages of sin (Romans 6:23). It is the great leveler that strips away every earthly pretense, every possession, every reputation, and every remaining ambition. Yet for the one who is in Christ, death has been stripped of its ultima...