Pastor V’s Shout-Outs by Vermon Pierre

Shout-out to:

1. Jon Bloom and his blog post, “We Should Pray for Healing.”

He writes:

I believe the church should pray for healing today. I don’t believe this because of my modest experiences. I believe it because the New Testament teaches that the Spirit gives this gift (and others) to the church (1 Corinthians 12:8–11) and instructs me to desire to exercise it (1 Corinthians 14:1). I believe that God occasionally answers prayers for healing, such as mine, when it accords with his sovereign will (Hebrews 2:4).

…

Don’t settle for little faith and low expectations. Stir up faith! Earnestly desire this gift. With Paul, earnestly desire healing for the common good of your church. With the saints of Acts, ask for this gift as witness to the world of the gospel of the kingdom.

I appreciate the balance in the article. Bloom affirms that God answers according to His will, not our will. But he also gives a necessary challenge, that we should pray for healing with stronger faith and bigger expectations, for God wants to answer these prayers a lot more than we give Him credit for. I want to pray more like this!

2. The Gospel Coalition panel on “What About the Minority Experience in America Do Whites Often Miss?”

I know many people in our nation are sensitive about the topic of race/ethnicity and thus avoid talking about it or criticize people who attempt to talk about it. This is the wrong way to go. Like, really wrong. How can we not talk about these kinds of issues? Especially if we are already in a world where multiple times every day you will interact with people who are ethnically and culturally different from you?

We need to get over our idolatry of comfortable situations and easy conversations and be willing to engage on hard topics in our culture, no matter what they might be. For the gospel gives us the humble tone and the wise words we need to engage in the only ways that can get us through any and all “dividing walls of hostility” between races/ethnic groups (Ephesians 2:14).

This panel is a good example of this. I appreciate the honesty of these brothers as well as their clear commitment to a gospel that unites rather than divides. Check it out and then plan on talking about it with several of the Christian minorities you personally know.

Redemptive Eyes by Dennae Pierre

There will come a day when this is true: “No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 31:34 

There will be a day when your brother or sister in Christ will not need God’s word, because it will be wholly transcribed on their heart. It will be in every fiber of their body. What will they look like when that happens? What will you look like? Think about how much pleasure will we find fellowshipping with one another when sin no longer corrupts the beauty, goodness, and purity of humanity. God’s image bearers will one day perfectly image. We will delight in one another in unimaginable ways because each one will reflect their creator perfectly.

What does it look like to interact with your brothers and sisters in this way? What does it mean to have these redemptive eyes?  What would it look like to see the most annoying, frustrating, even hurtful person through God’s eyes?

How do we look past the sin that corrupts, and see the goodness that is being distorted? People who do this well are not optimists or dreamers, but a tangible expression of God’s love that He lavishes on His children (1 John 3:1) and as they love others in a way that sees them for who they will one day be, instead of who they currently are

Walk Humbly by A Friend Abroad!

You know how every expat, short or long-term, says, “I thought I would give so much to the people I went to serve, but, really, they gave me so much more,” or “I thought I’d help change others but, really, God changed me more.” They ALL say this! It shouldn’t be a big revelation anymore.

But even if you are aware of this cliché and of your supposed future role as a humble learner, you can’t help but enter a new culture with the subconscious hope and expectation of having a bigger affect on it than it/they/God will have on you. Not many of us go somewhere new with the main goal of being brought to our knees. We go because we want to be a blessing, we want to help, and we want to bring change. We, we, we.

Westerners are so used to the idea of being in the position of giving, mostly of our excess. Having resources – physical, emotional or spiritual - is natural for many of us. We love having people over for a meal, donating to charities, giving stuff away, volunteering, helping others, being the comforter, sharing the good news. It makes the world a better place, blesses people, and makes us feel good about ourselves, too. For the most part, it’s easy and safe because it’s on our own terms.

But when you move to a new culture, one that’s extremely different from yours, like for example . . . India, all of a sudden you realize that you can’t depend on your usual resources much here. You realize what it means to be needy, out of control, and utterly dependent on others. Sure, you have money that can get you things and you have love and faith and kindness to give, but there is so much more that you need.

So our first few months in India have been a lesson on humbling ourselves, or rather being humbled, and needing people’s help. And it’s been a lot harder than giving stuff away or helping others. Because of, you know, pride. Besides all the practical stuff, like where do you go when your daughter has to get stitches in her head?, we needed (and still need) much help understanding cultural clues, traditions, patterns, and we also need so much encouragement and emotional support.

This is true for all cross-cultural experiences. Whenever we get out of our role as experts and superiors and teachers and givers, and take on a role of inadequate and needy learners for the sake of love, God starts transforming us. He will help us see that we, too, are poor. Not necessarily in the financial sense, but we do lack. We are not perfect, we don’t have all the answers, we can’t do it all, we don’t have the power to change anything on our own really. We, too, need Him and need people.

“Our perspective should be less about how we are going to fix [others] and more about how we can walk together, asking God to fix both of us.” (Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts)

Part of us being here is about giving up our ideas and expectations of the great things we will accomplish, and being open to the things that God wants to accomplish in us and through us.

Lesson 1: I am the needy one.