Keep Going
2 Cor 4 7-10 (NIVUK)
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
If you have read any article about mental health recently, you may have heard about 'resilience'. Resilience training will focus on the ability to ‘bounce back from adversity' * and how we need people, support structures and coping strategies in place so that when we experience hardship, we know how to cope. Today’s passage shows us a biblical perspective on resilience.
This is a difficult passage to understand as it talks about carrying death around with us so that we may have life. What this means is that when we believe, confess and get baptised, we are identifying with Jesus' death on the cross and accepting that God’s way is the only way. The journey doesn’t end there; every day, we should be putting our selfish nature and desires to death. We no longer make decisions based on our wants and needs but based on what God wants. Where once we put our desires first, held onto our hurt and blamed others, keeping our sin in the darkness, now we forgive, we put God and others first, and we confess our sins. We still go through the same joys and rubbish of life, but we begin to experience life from a more emotionally whole viewpoint where we are accepted and not rejected; we have hope, not fear.
Some of us have been taught emotions are bad, but the Bible shows Jesus often responding in an emotional way; that is because there was wholeness and holiness in his emotions. The only time we should not follow our emotions is when they will lead us into sin or keep us in sin (e.g. we won’t forgive someone because we don’t feel like it.)
Wholeness, the gift of the Spirit, means that when trouble comes, we will have the momentum and resilience to keep going as we are able to express our emotions in a holy way.
Prayer - Lord Jesus, right now I surrender to you and I choose to make you lord of my emotions. I confess to you where I have been led by my emotions to sin or my emotions have stopped me from doing your will. Fill my spirit with your life-giving Spirit, heal my mind and my emotions so that I may keep going in my body.
* National Library of Medicine - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3530291/