5:2 For in
this(tent) we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which
is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be
found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being
burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that
mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us
for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a
guarantee.
I can't quantify this but it seems with the rising issues or
depression, mental health, suicide, sexual identity etc... that more and more
people are uncomfortable within themselves and are seeking some kind of change.
They know something is wrong. They may not know what but they are groaning
within. Paul identifies both the cause and the solution for this inward
dissatisfaction. We were not designed for hate, envy, strife, pride,
self-obsession, self-pity, self-loathing, guilt, shame, fear, angst, anxiety,
divorce, abuse, etc... We carry burdens we were never meant to have. As a
result, our tents are getting tattered and torn and we're looking at
alternatives. We think "Maybe if I change this or do that things will be
better."
When I read the story of Mike Penner it affected me deeply.
He was a Sports Writer for the LA Times and at the top of his game it seemed
when he went on vacation in 2007 after stating in a column he wrote the he was
a woman on the inside. When he returned from that vacation he had transitioned
to be Christine Daniels and remained that way for most of a year. Then in 2008
she transitioned back to being Mike Penner. In 2009 he killed himself. I don't
pretend to know anything beyond those facts nor am I trying to apply his case
to others. What I can say with confidence is that whatever he was trying to fix
didn't work and the peace he was seeking he never found. So intense was his
inner groaning that he killed himself to silence it.
Paul offers a solution. He speaks not as a theorist but from
personal experience. Prior to his life as a follower of Jesus he tried to
silence his inner groaning by being an elite religionist. He figured if he
could be the best Jew possible he would find peace. He even went so far as to
hunt down those who were a threat to the Jewish faith but none of it worked.
The cause of our groanings is not in our religion, sexuality, self-advancement,
professional accomplishments, relationships, or any other area. We can spend
years, decades, or even a lifetime pursuing one or more of those avenues to
peace but it will never come. Jesus met a woman who was working on getting her
sixth husband but her misery was only increasing.
We were meant for more. Jesus has a tent for us. We can
starting putting it on now. We don't have to wait for heaven. In that tent we
don't have to work to increase our value. In that tent heaven paid the ultimate
price for us. In that tent we begin to see we have nothing to fear because God
is for us so what could possibly succeed against us? In that tent we begin to
understand our true identity. It is not based on our race, religion, success,
sexuality, or anything else. We are a child of God. We are heirs of eternity.
As we grow into the indescribable love that caused God to pitch His tent among
us, the lies about what we are and aren't begin to fall off. We begin to see we
have no cause for worry. Anxiety melts in His presence. His Spirit begins to
build up in us what Satan has worked so diligently to tear down.
Imagine a life where you had boundless boldness to love
others unconditionally. Imagine a life where the hurts and attacks of others
caused no pain to you because you understood it was only a manifestation of
their own pain and really had nothing to do with you. Imagine being able to
say, mean, and feel these words "Father forgive them for they know not
what they do".
The person we were can and will be swallowed up by the person
we were and are designed by God to become. We were prepared for this very thing
by God. It is our true destiny. We are His. That is our true identity. We just
need to discover it and learn to walk in it. It's a process and it starts here
and now.
Stop trying to patch your old tent. Let Him give you your new
one. :)
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