Loss in a Season of Loss

I had a much different post planned for today. One I had written, edited, and perfected to share today. But, when I went to post it, it just didn't feel like the right one to share today.

I've been thinking about some different things today. I don't know exactly where this post is going as I write it. This isn't the way I usually write what I share here. But, this feels important to share tonight.

Earlier today, I read a Facebook post that told me an extended family member had passed away. My great uncle Pete . . . or just uncle Pete, as I called him all my life. As I was blessed to have my great-grandparents alive for most of my life, my great uncles, great aunts, second cousins were part of my life growing up. 

Family holiday gatherings, important life events, and church gatherings and events over the years. All those people and all those memories. People who made my life feel that much more secure, because I knew all those people in that room for those memories cared and would be there if I needed them.

As these memories started coming up, my mind wandered to another, even closer person, it feels like I've lost in so many ways. As I sit here today, writing this, it's been just over 11 months since I last saw my Grandma. One of the many losses within this pandemic. The reality is, she was fading when I saw her last, her memory being stolen from her. Now, all these months later, it's very likely that if I see her again before she passes away, she won't know who I am. 

Physically, I drive past the home where she lives at least once a week. But it was Family Day weekend in February 2020 when I last pulled a car into the parking lot and walked through the doors, got in the elevator, and walked down the hall to her ward to find her for a visit. It's been 11 months since I leaned down over her wheelchair to give her a hug, feeling those familiar, yet weakened, arms reaching up to hug me back. Whispering the words "I love you" and hearing her whisper them back.

Another of the many losses of a pandemic. But, the family losses feel the deepest tonight. 

My next thought was to ponder where to turn. What can we do in the midst of all of this?

At church, we're nearing the end of our "21 Days of Prayer" and we've had morning and evening prayer gatherings online. As I was wondering this, I realized it was time for the evening prayer gathering, so I tuned in. And, that was reminder of where to turn.

In the midst of it all, we have a heavenly Father who is with us. Our Abba, who we can turn to and rely on. When the world around us in confusing and hard and we're facing another loss in a season that already feels full of them, we can call on Him and He is with us.

"The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God. And we really are His children." (1 John 3:1, NCV)

"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." (Romans 8:14-16, NIV)

The One in you is Greater

"You dear children are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." (1 John 4:4)

I've often heard this verse and found comfort in the truth that One in me is greater. That One being the Holy Spirit living in me.

But, I've often wondered why this verse says "overcome them"? Who is "them"? What does it mean here?

While the many situations I have heard this verse quoted in are times when it's still absolutely true that God in us is greater than power in the world, we've missed what John is saying in this verse. And when we see what he's saying, his word choice makes sense.

When we look at 1 John 4:1-6 we see the bigger picture. This passage is dealing with false teachers, with those who deny the incarnation, with those teaching deception.

When we come into contact with those who teach falsehood and are leading others astray, it can be quite intimidating. Somehow they have managed to convince people to follow them. This is why John reminds us of the power of the One who lives in us. That the One who is in us is greater than them - than the false teachers.

No matter what false teaching we face, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit in us is greater. We don't need to fear. We don't need to be intimidated. Jesus is greater.

There's reassurance in this. We're on the side of victory, even if the odds seem stacked against us in the moment. God's truth and His power will overcome the false teaching.

We Are One

This is Part 2 of a series on Philippians 2. You can read Part 1 here.


Philippians 2 begins with a call for unity as followers of Christ. Paul is asking his readers in the church at Philippi to be unified, to work together for the good news of the gospel. The same thing is asked of us today as we read this passage.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in His Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. (vs 1-2)

Paul emphasizes the reasons why we should be unified in these verses. He points out what forms the foundation of our unity as believers in Christ.

We have been united with Christ. When we choose to accept the gift God offers us through His Son, we are united with Christ. The One who paid the debt of our sins for us. This is the reality for all of us who claim to follow Christ.

We are all loved by God. And that love is equal for each of us because we are His creation. We are all equal before God and He loves us all the same. We don't have to do anything to try to earn His love. He loves us anyways. There is comfort in that. And it puts us all on level ground as believers.

We all have the Holy Spirit in us. When we accepted God's gift we were given the Holy Spirit. All of us have the Holy Spirit in us to guide us and give us wisdom if we choose to listen.

Because of the great gifts we have been given by God, we are filled with tenderness and compassion towards others. We have received tenderness and compassion from God and it begins to flow out of us and change the way we interact with others.

Paul is telling the church at Philippi that these are reasons why they should be united - "being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind." He's not telling them they all have to be exactly the same. Paul is saying that the motive and the reason behind what they do should be the same.

As followers of Christ, we should all have the same purpose, we should all be working towards the same thing -  even if the specifics of how we do it looks different.

Unity doesn't mean clones. It doesn't mean everyone does exactly the same thing in the same way. It means we are all working together, in our own way and roles, toward a common purpose. That is the unity Paul is speaking of here.

In His Strength, Not Ours

Have you ever read something in Scripture that seemed like it would be impossible to actually live?

Have you ever walked away from reading something Jesus said and felt like there was no way you could ever actually live that way?

Much of how Jesus calls us to live as His followers is something that sounds impossible when we read it. It's a life we can't live by just trying harder.

We can't love people the way we're called to love them in our own strength.

We can't turn from sin and live a righteous life in our own strength.

We can't live in the freedom Jesus purchased for us on the cross in our own strength.

Thankfully, we don't have to do these things in our own strength. As followers of Christ, as have the Holy Spirit living in us. And He is our strength to live the way Jesus talks about His followers living. When we are surrendered to and dependent on the Holy Spirit living in us, we can begin to live the life that Christ calls His followers to.

The hard part is surrender. And that's part we have to do. We have to choose to surrender our own will, our own plans to God. We have to choose to let go of control.

Living those things that we read in Scripture that seem impossible becomes possible when we surrender to Christ.

Often this surrender and dependence on the Holy Spirit is a daily thing. It's not a one time decision to be dependent on the Holy Spirit for strength to live each day. We have to choose.

Strength in our Inner Being

Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church is filled with some amazing truth. It begins this way:

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith." (Ephesians 3:14-17)

Paul's writing always indicated how much he cared for the churches that would receive his letters. The prayers for them he included give us glimpses of his heart for the people and they speak of incredible truths.

Paul prayed that God would strengthen them because of His Spirit in their inner being, so that Christ was dwelling in them. I find it interesting that Paul didn't pray for them to be given strength from God. He prayed that they would be strengthened because of God's Spirit dwelling in them.

It's a small difference in terms of words, but it's a big difference in what it means.

If God is giving us the strength to live the way He outlines in His Word, there's some element of our own effort involved in it. We have to take the strength we've been given and then live the way we should.

If it is God's Spirit living in us strengthening us, then it removes our own effort from the equation completely. We live the way we should because we're completely dependent on God's Spirit in us to help is live that way. We become more dependent on God, not less.




This post is the third in a series on Ephesians 3. You can read previous posts here: Part 1 and Part 2.

Fill the Empty Places

"When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first." (Matthew 12:43-45)

These aren't my favourite words of Jesus' teaching and they're likely not yours either. They seem a bit harsh at first read, but they teach an important truth that we need to understand.

Jesus is speaking to our human nature to fill empty places with something. And making it clear that Satan and his demons work the same way, so we need to be aware.

It's a good thing to remove the things in our lives that shouldn't be there. We should deal with sinful thoughts, habits, and actions. We want to remove these things from our lives.

The problem arises when we remove them and then the places they filled in our lives unfilled with anything good. We just choose to leave those places empty. When we remove sinful things from our lives, we need to fill that place with something good and pleasing to God, so that the thing we removed can't come back into our lives.

We can kick Satan and his schemes out, but he will find a way back in if we don't fill those areas where we kicked him out of with something. And when Satan gets back into those areas, he often does more damage when he was there before. That leaves us feeling worse than the time before as well.

If we're not careful, we end up stuck in a cycle of defeat, victory, greater defeat, victory, even greater defeat. With the times of victory growing more infrequent and shorter duration until we give up completely.

That's what Satan wants for us. But that's not what God wants for us.

Jesus doesn't say it in this passage, but other places in His teaching He talks about the Holy Spirit coming to live in all believers. Those places we kick Satan out of should be filled with the Holy Spirit and the things of God. When we allow the Holy Spirit to get into all those places we kicked Satan out of, there is no room for Satan to get back in when he tries.

I believe that Jesus came to be our strength to live as we were meant to live. But that won't happen completely unless we allow Him to access every area of our lives so He can fill every area of our lives.