Why Christians Are Like Tea Bags: The Blessing in Sorrow
Imagine it: You’re all ready to sit down and relax. It’s a beautiful spring day. The sun is just touching the porch. There’s a light breeze. You grab your Bible. But wait! You can’t sit down without a relaxing, refreshing cup of tea! (You’d really like a cup of coffee, but tea is better for you… So you settle for tea.)
So you go all the way back inside. You
either place a cup of water in the microwave or you put the kettle on. And you
wait. FINALLY the water is hot enough. So you grab your favorite bag of tea.
And just as you’re about to place it in the water, you hear: “Stop! No! No! It’s too hot! I can't take it!” Obviously you’re imagining things. Tea bags do not talk. So in spite
of the little bag's protest, you dip it in the hot water. “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! What are you doing? Why are you doing this? Help! Help!!!..."
About this time, it's safe to say, you should probably call up the nearest mental institution
and ask to be admitted.
Here’s the spiritual application: How are Christians like tea bags?
Have you
ever questioned God in hard times?
Have you
ever felt like you were going to drown in your circumstances?
Do you
release a sweet smell when put through trials, or do you emit a foul
and bitter flavor?
The truth is that we all go through
difficult times. It is inevitable. But we all have a choice as to how we are
going to handle our trials.
James 1:2-4
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
entire, wanting nothing.”
Words Defined:
·
Divers -
Various; several; sundry
·
Temptations
- Trial; a being put to the test. (God "tempted" or tested Abraham's love and faith in Him when He asked for Isaac as a sacrifice.)
·
Perfect
– Complete
Three Reasons
We Might Be Placed In Hot Water:
·
Reprimand
How can we count reproof and rebuke all joy?
- Sometimes
we go through trials that are brought about because of our own sin. Punishment,
is not a lack of love, it is a sign of God’s great love for us!
Hebrews 12:6-11
“For whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
If ye endure
chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the
father chasteneth not?
But if ye be
without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not
sons.
Furthermore we have
had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall
we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
For they verily for
a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that
we might be partakers of his holiness.
Now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby.
Summary of passage:
God chastises us because He loves us! If you sin and there is no consequence, the Bible says that you are not truly a child of God! Our earthly parents correct us, and if we are wise we will accept their correction and change. How much more should we accept the correction of God? No one is happy while they are going through chastisement, but in the end, we be better off for it.
Randy Alcorn wrote:
“We think to 'love' means to 'do no harm,' when it really means 'to be willing to do short-term harm for a
redemptive purpose.' A physician who re-breaks an arm in order for it to heal
properly harms his patient in order to heal him."
"In his book, A Grief Observed,
C.S. Lewis wrote,
'But suppose that what you are up against is a
surgeon whose intentions are wholly good. The kinder and more conscientious he
is, the more inexorably he will go on cutting. If he yielded to your
entreaties, if he stopped before the operation was complete, all the pain up to
that point would have been useless. … What do people mean when they say 'I am
not afraid of God because I know He is good'? Have they never even been to a
dentist?'
If cancer or paralysis or a car accident prompts
us to draw on God’s strength to become more conformed to Christ, then
regardless of the human, demonic, or natural forces involved, God will be
glorified in it."
· Refinement:
- God wants
us to be conformed to the image of His son. To do that He must take everything out of our lives that is not Christ-like. This is not always a painless process because so often we hold tightly to the things of this world.
Illustration:
Michelangelo used his chisel to form his sculpture David from
a block marble. In the same way God may use suffering to form us into the image of Christ.
Michelangelo chose a stone that all other artists
had rejected. Seeing the huge marble block’s hidden potential, he methodically chipped away
everything that wasn’t David. The master sculpture worked tirelessly to transform this stone into something surpassingly beautiful.
If marble had feelings, it wouldn’t like the chiseling process. It might
have resented Michelangelo. While Michelangelo may not have called upon the stone to cooperate with him,
God has called us to yield ourselves to Him by submitting to his chisel. Because we
fail to see the person God intends to make us through our adversity, we are tempted to resent the chiseling. The Master Artist chose us, the flawed and unusable, to
be crafted into the image of Christ to be a picture of Christ to a lost and searching world.
We ask God to remove the chisel because it hurts, but it’s a means of
transformation.
"That the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be
tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the
appearing of Jesus Christ:"
“God could create
scientists, mathematicians, athletes, and musicians. He doesn’t. He creates
children who take on those roles over a long process. We learn to excel by handling failure. Only in cultivating discipline, endurance, and patience do we
find satisfaction and reward.”
God has a
perfect plan for each of us, so we must all go through different purifying
processes. Truthfully, the closer you desire to be to Christ, the more
purifying you will need. Are you willing to go through the fire to become like
gold?
· Resurrection – His Glory
- Joseph
- The story of the man born blind in John 9
There are many great stories in the Bible that illustrate this principal, but there is no
greater story of God’s ability to use bad circumstances to bring about good,
than the story of the crucifixion.
Rick Warren wrote:
God loves to turn crucifixions into
resurrections. The things you wish were most
removed from your life are
often the very things that God is using to shape you and make you into the
believer of character He wants you to be. He wants to use that problem
for good in your life. There's something more important than your pain.
It's what you're
learning from that pain. God is in control. - Rick Warren
“Beloved, think it
not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when
his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”
What is your
response when you are put in hot water?
· Anger?
- Anger doesn’t help!
- Anger at God is always wrong.
made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall
keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
“Don’t doubt in the night what God gives you in the
light.”
“The Will of God will never take you where
the Grace of God cannot keep you!”
·
Count it ALL joy
Philippians 4:4
“Rejoice in the
Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.”
“And he said unto
me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Illustrate:
Corrie ten Boom
"Corrie and her
sister Betsie had been imprisoned by the Nazis for hiding Jews behind the wall
of their Holland home, and although the Nazi prison conditions were pretty well
unbearable.
"Yet, in the
midst of the suffering, the women prisoners around Corrie and Betsie found
comfort in the little Bible studies they held in the barracks. Corrie writes
they gathered around the Bible like waifs clustered around a blazing fire…The
blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful
burned the Word of God'.
When they were
moved to Barracks 28, Corrie was horrified by the fact that their reeking,
straw-bed platforms swarmed with fleas. How could they live in such a place?
It was Betsie
who discovered God’s answer:
'Rejoice
always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus. That’s it, Corrie! That’s His answer. Give thanks in
all circumstances! That’s what we can do. We can start right now to thank God
for every single thing about this new barracks!
I stared at
her; then around me at the dark, foul-aired room…'
They thanked
God for the fact they were together. They thanked God they had a Bible. They
even thanked God for the horrible crowds of prisoners, that more people would
be able to hear God’s Word. And then, Betsie thanked God for the fleas.
The fleas!
This was too much. ‘Betsie, there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a
flea.’
'Give thanks
in all circumstances,' she quoted. ‘It doesn’t say, 'in pleasant
circumstances.' Fleas are part of this
place where God has put us.’
'And so we
stood between tiers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was
sure Betsie was wrong.'
It turned out
that Betsie was not wrong; the fleas were a nuisance, but a blessing after all.
The women were able to have Bible studies in the barracks with a great deal of
freedom, never bothered by supervisors coming in and harassing them. They
finally discovered that it was the fleas that kept those supervisors out.
Through those
fleas, God protected the women from abuse and harassment. Dozens of desperate women were free to hear
the comforting, hope-giving Word of God.
Through those fleas, God protected the women from much worse things and
made sure they had their deepest, truest needs met.'
“How that in a
great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”
“Call unto me and I
will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest
not.”
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Next time you
go to get a cup a tea (or coffee), consider how it would taste if you steeped your tea bag
in cold water. Even ice tea starts out hot. God’s testing is for our benefit.
Whether it is reproof, refinement, or resurrection – God desires for you to
turn to Him for help and guidance.
If you
become bitter through God’s testing, you are like a tea bag that has been used
already or a tea bag that was filled with a polluted substance. Remember, it is
out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh. Count it all joy!
Comments
Post a Comment