For a Little While, Part II

I think back to this verse in Romans 15: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” The encouragement of the Scriptures has been the primary way that hope has been produced in my heart throughout this time, and it is the only way that fear has been conquered. For example, the Lord brought this verse from Psalm 16 to my mind as I went for my first MRI, “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Every time claustrophobia and panic threatened to overtake me, I would envision the Lord before me, at my right hand. The comfort of Scripture was as tangible as I’ve ever known it to be at that time. I must have repeated that verse to myself 100 times during that 45 minute procedure! And the encouragement of the Scriptures gave me hope that I could withstand the next MRI, just a few hours later

You, the body of Christ, are the second of the comforts which the Lord has given to me. I truly do not know how I would have survived these last few months without this church and my colleagues at Crossway. I am grateful to the Lord that he has not called us to bear our burdens alone but has, instead, provided both His body and His spirit to sustain us here on this earth.

What exactly does it mean to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ?” Sometimes it means sleeping in a chair in his hospital room; it means feeding her cat or watering her plants; it means calling to pray with him or let him cry. It means cleaning her house or cooking her meals; it means praying for the things that matter to him when he is too weak to pray. It means, maybe above all else, that you pointed her to Christ when she could see only herself. You were the Lord’s hands and feet to me in these ways and more.