Steve Bowman

Wounded by a Rose Thorn

Imagine being pricked by a thorn from a rose bush. Think about the pain of a deeply embedded thorn that requires tenderness and skill to remove it.  

This imagery reminds us of how complex and wounded we are, and our need to embrace our weakness and God’s grace for ourselves and others.

The World Hates Weakness

“Weakness” is an interesting word.  Most cultures and histories look down upon weakness.  I think understandably so, for most tasks, tests, competitions, etc., it is better to be strong rather than weak.  

We as humans throughout history are good at emphasizing our strengths.  That is why we enhance our resumes and during a eulogy, we accentuate the positive.  It is easier for us to point out our good and strengths, over our not-so-good characteristics and weaknesses.  So much so that often parents, teachers, and coaches teach us to even hate weakness, in ourselves and others!

God’s Children Boast of Weaknesses

In the Holy Bible, God’s words often point out how children of God need to think differently than the way of the world.  To choose the narrow path, even though it is more difficult, as it leads to life and only a few will find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)  

In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, the Apostle Paul excellently describes how God wants us to cultivate a new attitude towards our weakness. Paul said, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ”

Not Let Thorns Define Us

Paul’s attitude regarding his major problems was to let the Holy Spirit use him despite his weakness and not let Satan win.  Too many people, even Christians, let the thorns and problems of their lives define them.  

We all need to cultivate a new attitude of letting God use us in our weakness and even delight in our weakness, insults, hardships, etc. All for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven and to experience God’s perfect power and grace!  

God had to humble Paul and bring him to his knees.  He needs to do the same for us as well.

Experiencing God’s Grace in Weakness

We all experience times when we feel drained and powerless.  For years I tried to power through, using my own strength and wisdom.  

Slowly and thankfully the Holy Spirit spoke to me.  I realized I needed God.  He encouraged me inwardly through His Spirit and outwardly through the helpfulness of my church, family and friends.  

I had to let go of my independence and learn to trust God’s sufficiency in my weakness. God’s amazing grace and power are sufficient for me and even made perfect in my weakness!  And by His grace, I am even learning to delight in the insults, hardships, and difficulties of life.

This is all for the sake of experiencing His perfect power and for the advancement of His kingdom from heaven to earth. And that is my sincere hope and prayer for CBCGB.

Steve Bowman is the Children’s Ministry pastor at CBCGB.

Edited by Grace Yeung

Taylor Birkhimer

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” (Reference 1)

Seeing Again is Life-Changing

Are you blind? For those of us who can see, this may sound like an odd question. What do you think it is like to go from being completely blind to being able to see? Thanks to modern technology, we can see witnesses of people who were blind and then had surgery, or through the use of some technology are able to see again.  Without experiencing it ourselves, we can only know so much, but we can imagine going from being completely blind to being able to see again would be a very emotional experience.

But what do you think it is like to go from being partially blind to being able to see clearly for the first time? Take for example, being color-blind and then being able to see color again. A few years ago technology has made this possible too, and it has become a popular trend to post videos of people who are color-blind wearing glasses that allow them to see color for the first time on YouTube and other social media. Have you seen these videos? What do you think people’s responses are? 

If you go on YouTube and find the video, “EnChroma: “Tough Guy” Sees Full Color for the First Time” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ7AvvYsr54), you will find an older colorblind gentleman who describes himself as a tough guy. He assures his family and those watching that when he puts on the glasses to allow him to see color that he will not cry.  However, as he actually wears the glasses for the first time, he nearly breaks down into tears. It is a moving and emotional moment.

Being able to see the beauty of color for the first time is an incredibly emotional experience- even for a “tough guy” who assures his viewers that he will not cry! It is a moving, life-altering experience to go from being color blind to being able to see the wonderful beauty of all the colors.

Missing the Colorful Beauty of God’s Creation

Are you blind? What if our spiritual eyes are in the same condition as the color-blind person, able to see in part, but significantly missing the colorful beauty of God’s created world and unaware of what we are actually missing? 

The Bible says because of sin, each one of us is spiritually blind in this same sense- able to see in part, but not clearly: “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4) 

To be clear, spiritual blindness is in part how we see things generally, but also how we see spiritual things is more than simply sight. It is about how we perceive everything. Like the color-blind person unable to see all the vast colors of the world and everything around them, the spiritually blind person is unable to see the goodness of God at work in every aspect of life. The spiritually blind person has a tarnished and inaccurate perception of everything they see, including themselves.

All of Us Struggle with Spiritual Blindness

While Scripture primarily addresses spiritual blindness in relation to the unbeliever, it is also true that because of sin, Christians too struggle with some sense of spiritual blindness. 

Author, counselor, and theologian Paul David Tripp says this about spiritual blindness: “One of the tragic effects of the Fall is personal blindness of heart-it is universal…sin is deceitful and fallen people are so naturally blind to issues of self.” (Reference 2)  

He goes on, “The difference between physical and spiritual blindness is that the former is blatantly obvious while the latter often goes unnoticed. A physically blind person is immediately confronted with his condition. Often, a spiritually blind person not only fails to recognize his blindness, he is convinced that he has excellent vision. A fundamental part of being spiritually blind is that you are blind to your blindness.” (Reference 3)

Spiritual Blindness is Caused by Sins

Spiritual blindness is not morally neutral, but is largely due to our sin-we are not simply victims of Satan’s deceptiveness. Though the devil schemes against us to deceive us, and the world follows him (Ephesians 2:1-2), we also freely choose to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). 

By our sin, we freely choose to determine right and wrong for ourselves (Genesis 3) which becomes the primary basis of our spiritual blindness. The fall of man is rooted in a willful spiritual blindness to reject what God says is good and evil and to determine for ourselves what is good and evil. We have since been following in the footsteps of our first parents. Thankfully, God has not fully given us all up to our desires, but saves us from our willful blindness and rebellion (Romans 1:24, 5:6).

Jesus Saves Us from Spiritual Blindness

Jesus has come into the world to save the spiritually blind and to save us from our spiritual blindness! 2 Corinthians chapter 4 speaks about the spiritual blindness of unbelievers in verse 4, but verses 5 and 6 talk about how Jesus brings light to our spiritual blindness to give us sight:

“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Our Hearts Sanctified by God

May the Word of God through the regenerating and sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit pierce to the innermost parts of our hearts to remove our hearts of stone, and give us a heart of flesh that we may be able to see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 

My prayer for you, dear church, is that which Paul prayed for the Ephesian church in Ephesians 3:14–19: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

References:

1) C.S. Lewis, “Is Theology Poetry?” They Asked for a Paper (London, Geoffrey Bles, 1962), 165. Quoted in David Powlison, Seeing With New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture (Phillipsburg, P&R Publishing, 2003), Page 9.

2) Paul David Tripp, Instruments In The Redeemer’s Hands: People In Need Of Change Helping People In Need Of Change (Phillipsburg, P&R Publishing, 2002), Page 277.

3) Paul David Tripp, Instruments In The Redeemer’s Hands: People In Need Of Change Helping People In Need Of Change (Phillipsburg, P&R Publishing, 2002), Page 279.

Taylor Birkhimer is CBCGB’s Youth Minister.  

Edited by Grace Yeung