Out of the Mud-Wrestling Pit

I know I've talked about my experience in REACH before -- the mission program I joined the year after I graduated from high school. I spent three months in training in Columbus, Ohio with twenty-seven other young people before we dispersed into four different groups to travel to various parts of the globe. Those were three intense months and I can't even begin to describe how much I learned during that time. The lessons were many, most were joyful, some were quite painful, but I did not come out of that experience the same person who went in. 

I remember one particular training session where a speaker came to talk about discerning our spiritual gifts so that we could learn to make the most effective use of them. And one young man, sitting in the middle of the front row, raised his hand. I remember exactly what he said, down to the intonation and inflection of his voice, because what he said shocked me so deeply. 

When the speaker called on him, he said, "I know this will sound weird, but I think my gift might be a gift for being a martyr."

There was silence for a moment, and during that silence, my brain was spazzing. Because at that point in my life, a significant part of my faith story was how afraid I was that God was going to ask me to die for Him. And so my friend's opening himself up to the idea that dying for Christ might even be considered a good thing sent shockwaves through me.

We talked about James 1:12: "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him." We also talked about Revelation 2:10: "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." We discussed Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10).

We talked about how, as willing vessels, the Lord places us in positions that will produce fruit, and how death can be like a seed, growing new life and many more seeds. 

It wasn't morbid, though; we weren't being Dr. Kevorkians, glorifying death. But rather, we talked about the absolute courage of the martyrs who have gone before us, what they faced, how they faced it, and how they could only go through their trials with the hope and confidence of what would come on the other side. Not for the purpose of death, but for the purpose of righteousness (Matthew 5:10), spreading the love of Jesus to everyone -- even in many cases, the ones who caused the martyr's death. And we talked about standing firm to the end.

I recognize now that the Lord was working in my terrified heart. Throughout the session, I watched with wide eyes as people seemed unafraid of this idea. I loved Jesus, I loved Him with my whole heart, but my self-preservation instinct nearly deafened me in response to the message of the day. When we split up into our teams to pray after the session, I remember my team leader praying specifically for America and asking the Lord to send whatever it took to refine the church in America, even persecution if it came to that.

It took me a long time, much longer than it should have, to understand that mindset, to understand the absolute sacrificial laying down of my own 'rights' and taking up, instead, the cross given to me as a follower of Christ (Luke 9:23). It took me far too long to come to the point where I recognized -- with my heart, not just my head/brain (which is far less effective in guiding me correctly) -- that my purpose in this life is just a training ground, a microscopic little blip in the whole eternal picture, for my purpose in heaven.

Look at this from Romans 5:1-2: "Therefore, since we have been justified (remember the pink margin that we can't reach all by ourselves?) through faith, we have peace (all strivings cease; Jesus' death on the cross opens the way to the Father) with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have gained access by faith (remember our example in 'Father Abraham' and how Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness?) into this grace (unmerited favor) in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."

Not baseless hope, but the confidence we have that comes from understanding the purpose for which God placed us here in the very positions He's given us. He has a plan and a purpose for us, good works He's prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). We are here for a reason! Oh Lord, spare us from a meaningless existence; grow in us a purpose-filled life!

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings (say what?!), because we know that suffering produces perseverance (oh); perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Whom He has given us!" (Romans 5:3-5).

Well, lands' sakes, would you look at that. The very foundation of this building the Lord constructs in His people is SUFFERING.

Why? Because without suffering, we don't get character, and without character, we don't get hope, and without hope, we don't understand the love God is so liberally pouring into our hearts!

So now I understand my friend's rather odd statement. Maybe I will never wish to suffer, but I do welcome it, because of the good things it produces. Because it ends in a deep ability to understand this great love that God has for me! For us!

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!" (Romans 5:6-8)

Y'all, "how great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1)

Back when I was at Bethel Camp in eastern Kentucky on a fairly regular basis, there was a spot on the ballfield that always filled up with rain every time the heavens poured down. And the heavens poured down a lot. One day, the camp director took the counselors down to the ball field, and we tried the sport of mud-wrestling. It began with mud simply squishing between our toes, splattering over our clothes and our appendages, but it wasn't long before we became creatures from the mud lagoon. Completely and absolutely covered; you couldn't recognize us. The mud was in our eyes and in our mouths and gritting between our teeth... it was everywhere.

Our camp director stood there, pristine and clean, laughing at us, separate from the fray... until we converged on him and dragged him into the pit with us.

In Romans 5:8, "while we were still sinners," we are still in the mud. We're still covered with dirt. But "Christ died for us." Y'all, He didn't stand on the sidelines. He voluntarily waded into the mud and the muck and He didn't do it because we were so clean. He didn't do it because He was so impressed with how holy and righteous we were. He got right down there with us, and He died for us in our place, so that He could lead us out. He entered into the place where we were covered in sin, but He did not sin. He is the only One who could lead us out of that place, because of Who He is. 

That kind of love... is indescribable. 

And yet, it's here, right here, along with wide open arms that say: "Come to me, all you who are weary, heavy-laden. I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

He will give us rest from suffering, which is the foundation of His work in us that ends in love and forgiveness and grace and mercy and redemption and justification and closes forever the gap between the mud-wrestlers and Jesus, Who did it all!

Hallelujah!!