“Life Interrupted?” or “Life Inspired?”

This blog entry has been inspired by our granddaughter, Kiara Salyers; and, by two encouraging virtual worship services we heard this morning, complete with messages from sacred Scripture.  Kiara is doing her best to remain calm and positive during the COVID-19 pandemic while completing her courses online.   But her disappointment is typical of thousands of high school and college seniors who have seen their hopes of enjoying junior-senior proms and banquets, and commencement celebrations dashed by policies to combat the virus pandemic.

“Life Interrupted”
Disappointment, frustration, and fear exist all around us.  Families are unable to get together.  Many senior adults are isolated in nursing homes unable to see their loved ones.  Businesses and industries are closing down and laying off workers.  Many who had scheduled surgeries and other appointments are forced to postpone and face uncertainties about their health.  Meanwhile, our hospitals and other medical facilities join businesses and industries in wondering how and when they will ever get up and running again.  The American economy that had been setting records is now on life support like a hospitalized COVID-19 patient.

It seems that many of us are living a “life interrupted.”  Slogans meant to encourage us, like “We’ll Get Through This Together,” often fall on doubtful ears.  Even familiar words from the Bible, such as Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials… (James 1: 2) seem hollow and uninspiring in the face of “life interrupted.”  But, for those who believe that Jehovah God is real and personal; and, that He exercises sovereign control over all things, this “interruption” of life is not as much an interruption as an opportunity to apply our faith lessons.  Note that James 1: 3-4 gives a reason we should pursue joy in trials.  There is joy in … knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Context for “Life Interrupted:” Creation Groans
The messages we heard online this morning offer good reason and instruction for people of faith who want to turn “life interrupted” into “life inspired”-- inspiration to get up and grow spiritually. The first of the two messages was presented by our own senior pastor, Zach Swift at West Hill Baptist Church, Wooster, Ohio.  It is entitled, "Eden Interrupted: Weeds and Waiting."  Pastor Zach explains how the abundant life God had intended for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was “interrupted.” God had placed them into the Garden as stewards to cultivate it and develop its fruitfulness in a sustainable manner (Genesis 2: 15).  He said, “see, you are free to eat from any of the many trees in the Garden (Genesis 2: 16).  But, if you want to have an abundant life, you will demonstrate your love for me by choosing not to eat from one tree—the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2: 17).

In response to Satan’s lies, Adam and Eve chose to violate God’s moral order and the ground was cursed because of them (Genesis 3: 17).  Thorns and thistles, representing various weedy plants, will defy Adam’s efforts to grow crops and symbolize a creation that is broken and groaning under the curse of sin (Romans 8: 18-25).  Creation has remained under this curse and under the dominion of Satan who has blinded the minds of mankind (2 Corinthians 4: 4).   Those who choose to live in violation of God’s moral order earn the “wages” of human conflict, disease, and death (Romans 6: 23). 

But, according to Pastor Swift, there is good news.  The curse has an “expiration date!”  When we find ourselves groaning among the weeds of this life, Romans 8: 19 describes the posture we should have as believers in the Risen Christ:  we are to wait “with eager longing or anticipation” of our own resurrection and life in a new Heaven and an new Earth (Revelation 21: 1).  Pastor Swift concludes, based on Romans 8: 18, that “our present suffering does not compare to the joy that awaits us in heaven, and we can wait expectantly for that hopeful promise to be fulfilled!”

“Life Inspired:”  Young Daniel’s Example
But, you may be thinking, “The words of the Bible sound all well and good—in theory.  But when it comes to a ‘life interrupted,’ how am I supposed to live in joyful anticipation?  Tomorrow, I may be infected with COVID-19, or lose my job, or just continue to feel anxious about everything.”  If this describes you, then please listen to the second message from this Sunday morning, entitled “Hope in Hostile Times: The Life and Legacy of Daniel,” presented by Pastor Craig Miller, Grace Baptist Church, Cedarville, Ohio. 

Pastor Miller’s text is from Daniel 1 in which the author, an aged Israeli prophet named Daniel, recounts how God kept his promise that if Israel chose to live in continual violation of God’s moral commands, He would give them over to captivity in a foreign nation (Deuteronomy 28-30).  While he was still a youth, Daniel became a “life interrupted” by the conquering Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.  Suddenly, Daniel was separated from his family, worship, and culture; and from all the moral constraints that he had learned to follow in obedience to Jehovah God.  In place of these familiar life supports were new pagan associations, strange gods, and a more sensual, immoral culture.

But, in the midst of his “life interrupted,” Daniel makes choices that place him on a path to “life inspired,” leading to his greatness as the Book of Daniel recounts.  Pastor Miller explains that Daniel’s secret to a “life inspired” was his first choice once in captivity in Babylon.  In Daniel’s own words (Daniel 1: 8), he made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank…  Daniel’s choice was to make up his mind that God was still as much in control in the affairs in Babylon as He was in faraway Israel.  In Pastor Miller’s words, Daniel believed that “God is in control of who’s in control.” 

Daniel made a choice not to change his Hebrew dietary standards, not out of some prideful, self-righteous disdain of Babylonian culture, but because he wanted to continue the disciplines of his life that would foster his ongoing personal relationship with God.  Although Daniel could not control many of the forces around him in this pagan culture, he could and did control his diet and his close walk with Jehovah God.  According to Pastor Miller, Daniel’s choice to make this small step to please God made his life an example of us to follow as we face “life interrupted” by trials like the COVID-19 virus.

In conclusion, I have summarized two messages and referred to examples of adolescents like our granddaughter, Kiara, all of which inspire me to reject “life interrupted” in favor of choices that promote “life inspired” and growing in my faith.  But there is another example to which both messages this morning referred.  This is the example of Jesus Christ who was in the beginning with God--Eternal.  But because God so loved the world He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3: 16).  The eternal relationship of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit was “interrupted” so that those who believe may live an “inspired life” bound for Heaven.

For the only time in eternity, Jesus left Heaven’s glory, was incarnated within the body of Mary, was born in a stable as a human being, lived a sinless life, and suffered and died on a Roman Cross while wearing a “crown of thorns” signifying His identification with the curse upon creation, its creatures, and all mankind.  Christ took upon Himself the penalty of sin and the curse of creation and paid it in full by His death and resurrection.  God offers eternal Life to all who will repent, confess their sin, and commit their lives to Him as Savior and Lord.

How About You?
Are you living a “life interrupted” by the pandemic or by other factors operating in your life?  As Pastor Miller suggested, maybe you feel as if you are not even in control of your life, let alone believing that God could be in control of happenings around you.  If this describes you, may I invite you to choose the path to an “inspired life,” the Life transformed and filled by God’s Holy Spirit.  Please check out this booklet online, entitled “Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-Filled Life?”  In it you will learn how you can surrender your life to Christ and be filled with His Holy Spirit.   If you have additional questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you.  Just post a “Comment” below or e-mail me at silviusj@cedarville.edu