WORK IN PROGRESS
(5-minute read)
Domestic violence, alcoholism, grief, pain, abandonment, suicidal thoughts, betrayal, fallout with friends and church people, conflicts, manipulation, trauma, sleepless nights, despair, depression, giving up on being strong, feeling disenchanted, unloved and uncared for… by God. These are not uncommon human experiences but they are words that are often eliminated from social conversations, even when we are talking to people close to us. In trying so hard to be encouraging towards each other, we tend to forget the transparency that connects us in our human experiences.
To be fair, we are not all to blame. We often hear or read riveting testimonies from different believers after their ordeals are over, after the hurt is healed, after their health is restored, after they are delivered from difficulties, and after they emerged with a breakthrough from hitting rock bottom. Our own life stories and testimonies of God’s goodness are also highly edited and cleaned up for general consumption where nothing is revealed about what we really went through. We mention God’s miracles and leave out the messy parts where we often find the deepest connection with Him. We leave even less said about how God changes us and strengthens our faith in the process. Yet, the most important part of our faith journey is in the middle – and all of us are in the middle of something with Him right now.
The middle is where we are a work-in-progress in that particular episode of our lives. It is where we must have honest conversations with trusted people who can pray with us. We are as resilient as we allow ourselves to be part of a community that is safe, truthful and faithful to God. Left alone, our problems will rip us out of fellowship with others, and most importantly, with God.
We read the Bible to remind ourselves and others about God; it is not a guidebook for solitary existence. Something is wrong when our fellowship is more catch-me-up than walk-with-you. When we elevate privacy over intimacy, we forget that we are called to take on each other’s pain as though it is our own (Galatians 6:2). There are too many shallow assumptions out there that make us afraid of getting involved even when we care deeply. Terms like ‘co-dependency’, ‘enmeshment’, ‘boundaries’, ‘teach them how to fish’ hold us back from showing basic human kindness out of the fear that we may overreach and break some rules of propriety. (People who are drowning don’t need swimming lessons; they need a life guard.) By and large, it is because some people got involved without being asked, took the initiative to step into our difficult middle, or reached out with a timely word of prophecy that lifted us out of deep despair that kept us from going under.
Right now, some of us are experiencing a particularly tougher season, but no matter how long we have journeyed with God, none of us can claim to be God’s finished masterpiece. We are metaphorically clay in the hands of the Master Potter, Jesus; and we must not walk away from His Hands simply because we do not like what is happening to us.
To be sure, the different seasons of life will invariably introduce different challenges that we must overcome with faith in God. At the same time, the expression of our faith can look very different in each season. The hardship from raising a young family as a single parent is very different from the hardship of facing unemployment and age discrimination later in life. When we are still healthy, we can plan to serve God in many different ways, while it would take great faith to live victoriously from day to day if there is a disability or debilitating illness to deal with later on. Yet, it takes the same faith to go through all the various challenges in life.
The apostle Paul’s life was like a long itinerary of many difficult trips but he relied on the same fuel – his faith in God – to persevere through each storm. From his life came the most prolific teachings and convincing persuasions for all believers to stay the course to the end. “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1:6). Imagine that Paul often wrote while he was in prison (again!) but he was confident that his faith in God and God’s Word could not be imprisoned so he continued to live and teach through hardships (2 Timothy 2:9). He was sure that God was not a god of half measures; and what God started, He would also continue and bring it to completion.
To humbly accept that we are all a WIP is to be certain that we are safe in God’s grip no matter how stuck we feel or how stagnant things appear in our lives. Indeed, God is not done with us in our current episode of life, and no one can say that there will be no more storms in future episodes. We are all vulnerable in a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Only God can give us the level of resilience that we need to chart our faith through each hardship. And hearing how others do it while they are going through it helps cement our own faith through the process.
All in all, let our lives in all seasons bear out this Truth: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 16 March 2024.
