Trials 3

Dead is Good...

For several years, I was Pastor Greg's accountability partner. We would get together at least once a week and share our lives, hearts and struggles. Now that much time has passed, I can confess that I always came away with more from being with him than he with me.

There is one meeting that we had that I would stack up against all the meeting combined. Greg was going thru a trial and I asked him how it was going. He seemed to be handling this trial extraordinarily well, and I was hungry for the reason. Greg then said something that I will remember as long as as I live..."you can't hurt a dead man."

Greg took the passage in Galatians 2:20 and made it come alive with that one phrase - you can't hurt a dead man.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ
who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

You see, if we are truly crucified in Christ, we no longer live. It [the trial] becomes no longer about us. The insults, the pain, the fear are no longer about us. It is all about God.

I was recently in the company of one of our more seasoned saints. I was striking up conversation and asked her how things were and she launched into a fascinating theo-philosophical discussion. Here is the crux of the conversation.

We talk about having good days and bad days, but if God is in control, they are all good days. Some of the days are comfortable - which we like because we like our comfort. Some of the days are uncomfortable (days of trail) which we don't like and we call them bad days. But if God is good and God is in control, then they are all good days.

And I can enjoy them all because, you can't hurt a dead man.