Learning about the world of orphans and orphan care can be an incredibly draining, depressing, despair-inducing experience. The evil in the world, the brokenness of the systems that try to help traumatized kids, and the sheer enormity of the issue (163 million orphans?!) can be overwhelming. And if the massive nature of the problem doesn’t stagger you, the face of one wounded child will bring you to your knees.
Today has been a day of stories for me. Stories of heartbreak, stories of harm, stories of helplessness. And if I try to bear the weight of this pain by myself, I will crumble. Instead, I was reminded tonight of one of my favorite passages in Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. I love this passage because in it Paul (who often uses some of the most complicated and convoluted sentence structure ever) is wonderfully simple and succinct. He gives three simple commands: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Three simple commands, six basic words of instruction. But if we can get those right, our whole world changes.
“Rejoice always.” At first glance, this seems impossible to realistically implement. But Paul doesn’t say “be happy always;” happiness is an emotion based on circumstances. In fact, in another of his letters, he makes it clear that he is often filled with sorrow, but remains rejoicing. How can this be? Joy, unlike happiness, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit; it is a deep remembrance of the goodness of God and the preciousness of our redemption through Christ. And that is why, empowered by the Spirit, we can be joyful. Why is it important to rejoice always? Because maintaining an attitude of joy provides stability in the Christian life. Joy for a Christian is like an oarlock for a rower; if the oar isn’t locked in, all your effort won’t get you anywhere. Without the oarlock, you can pull as hard as you want, but you’ll only hurt yourself, lose the oar, or even capsize the boat. In the same way, if we don’t ground our faith in a deep joy in Jesus Christ and all He has done for us, all our discipline and sacrifice will only end in hurt and ruin. This deep joy in Jesus won’t keep us from pain, however, just as the oarlock doesn’t prevent blisters, smashed thumbs, or even broken bones. But that joy will hold us steady and keep us moving forward in faith.
Paul also tells believers to “give thanks in all circumstances.” It’s easy to think that someone with an easy life gave this command, but Paul faced beatings, imprisonment, hunger, illness, scorn, and execution for his faith. At one point, he was shipwrecked, survived, landed on an island, got up to preach, and was bitten by a snake! Yet he was grateful for those circumstances because God was glorified, even through his suffering.
During my rowing years, I developed a lung condition that would cause me to hyperventilate and, if unchecked, to pass out in moments of extreme physical strain. There are few things so guaranteed to make you grateful for breathing as not being able to breathe! The idea that I might have to literally give up rowing or die made me treasure what I loved about rowing all the more. Every practice and race, no matter how punishing physically, became precious to me. I have the same feeling about my life as a Christian. I came to Christianity out of a staunch, embittered atheism. So I remember the suffocating darkness of a life without Christ just as clearly as I remember the agony of not being able to breathe in that boat. And because of this, whatever I suffer as a Christian, the pain pales in comparison to the endless emptiness of a life apart from God. My gratitude to Christ for rescuing me out of that pit of unbelief is a powerful weapon against the complaints and the discouragement that naturally crop up in everyone’s mind. The more I dwell on my gratitude, the less room there is for despair!
Cultivating a mindset of gratitude removes the negative clutter from our minds that can arrest our growth as Christians. In rowing, any loose piece of clothing will catch your seat in the slide and stop you literally in your tracks. Rowers have to wear these absurdly tight spandex unitards in order to keep the slide clear. Even a stray piece of dirt can pop those wheels out of the track and leave you with a massive bruise on your behind. Negative thoughts are like that; they stop our growth and get us off track. Remembering all of God’s blessings and faithfulness is a surefire way to clear out the negative thoughts that trip up our ability to grow.
The middle command, “pray continually,” is, in my opinion, the most important. Paul writes, “pray continually,” or in some translations, “pray without ceasing.” This doesn’t mean withdraw to a monastery in the desert and spend twenty-four hours a day on your knees with Gregorian chants in the background. Paul was a busy guy. He preached, he travelled, he mentored, he led churches, he spent a lot of time in prison, and he wrote most of the New Testament in his spare time. This is not a guy who spent a lot of time on meditation retreats! So what does he mean pray continually? So many of us think of prayer as a separate act—we fold our hands, bow our heads, say amen when we’re done, and then get back to life. But clearly Paul believes that prayer is not an act separate from everything we do; it’s the foundation of everything we do. And in this way, praying continually is a lot like “tying in” to a rowing boat.
If you ever go to a crew race, you’ll notice not one of the rowers is wearing shoes. Everyone walks around in spandex and socks. That’s because the shoes you wear while rowing are literally bolted into the boat. Rowing boats are called “shells,” and it’s a fitting description. They are incredibly, and to novices, alarmingly, flimsy. If you step in the wrong spot, your foot will break right through the hull. They’re really just fiberglass half cylinders that somehow, through the mysteries of physics, manage to float. They’re light enough that rowers carry their own boats from the boathouse to the water. So when you get into the boat, you step carefully on the small section that holds the slide, crouch your way onto the tiny seat, and then tie immediately into the shoes, which are bolted to a small plank secured to the sides of the boat. There is no other place to put your feet, and you cannot leave the dock until you are tied into those shoes. If you try to row without being tied in, you will fall out of the boat on your first stroke. Tying in to the boat holds the rower in place so that she can row, and it grounds her feet for the whole-body propulsion that rowing demands.
And that is what praying continually does for us. Consistent communication with God grounds our faith and ensures forward momentum. When your feet are tied in, you can feel the bolts against the balls of your feet every time you push off. You can feel the tug across the top of the shoes as you pull the oar back. You rely on those shoes to keep you in place as you slide forward to take another stroke. They hold you steady so that you can put as much effort as possible into your race. You can’t row unless your feet are solidly connected to the boat. And you can’t grow unless your mind and heart are solidly connected to God. And so I think of Paul’s command to pray continually, and I have the mental image of tying my brain into God, lacing my thoughts into leaning on Him.
As we face the massive pain that children are suffering, whether they are five time zones away or five blocks away, it is vital that we don’t rely on our own abilities to save and heal these children. We must instead remember our own brokenness and helplessness. The only One capable of saving and healing these children is the same One who saves and heals us: Jesus Christ, Son of God, who died in our place and rose from the dead, justifying the wrath of a holy God, extending the love of an adoring Father to all the broken, wicked children of men, and adopting us into the eternal family of the Triune God.
If we focus on the problem, there is no way we can move forward. If we focus on the solution of our Savior, there is nothing that can hold us back.
Rejoice always-- find deep joy in remembering all Christ has done for you.
Give thanks-- use gratitude to clear out the negative thoughts that trip you up and drag you down.
Pray continually-- double-knot your heart into the heart of God.
For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
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