Body aches, pains, and injuries

I hurt my wrist at the beginning of June this year.  The injury happened during my first time at Top Golf, which is basically a gamified driving range.  Rather than just teeing off and see how far you can hit the golf ball, Top Golf has targets set up at various distances where you get points for how close you get to each one.  Now, I haven’t swung a golf club in twenty-some years…and whatever I did on that first swing – my grip, not keeping my wrists straight, whatever – I did it wrong.  I felt an immediate pain in my right wrist that shot halfway up my forearm.

I was a little sore over the next few days, so I decided to treat it like a sprain and take it easy.  Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevate…repeat.  Over several weeks, it didn’t get any better and was becoming increasingly more painful, so I made the appointment with an orthopaedic doctor.  His exam and subsequent MRI revealed a partial tear in the scapholunate ligament.  Fortunately, the tear is in a location that doesn’t cause any structural issues or impact to the wrist’s function.  As such, there isn’t an expectation that surgery will be needed.

Honestly, I didn’t even know this ligament was there.  If it was mentioned in any of my high school or college science courses, I don’t recall.  The SL ligament thickness ranges between 1mm to 3mm.  It doesn’t take up much space, but its job is incredibly important – to provide stabilization and help control rotational motion in the wrist bones caused by the wrist’s movements.

I’m not fishing for your sympathies…I bring this up because what’s really struck me throughout this whole situation is how much impact the injury to this little ligament has caused.  Without NSAIDs and Tylenol, the spot just burns – to the point of mental distraction and frustration.  Because of the pain, I don’t have much pushing strength in that arm, and even when I keep my wrist straight, it fatigues quickly when trying to carry anything. 

All because of a small, partial tear on a little tiny ligament.

In multiple letters to various churches, the Apostle Paul referred to believers as “the body of Christ”.  To the churches in Rome and Corinth, he pointed out that there are different parts of our physical bodies that have different – and each important – jobs.  So too, Paul said, within the body of Christ – we each have different gifts and abilities, so it’s best for the various parts of the body to do what they are made to do in order to have a healthy, active church.

However, in his letter to the believers in Corinth, he also addressed what happens when a part of the body isn’t functioning properly:

1 Corinthians 12:24-26
God has put the body together…that the members would have the same concern for each other.  So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Just like the injury to my wrist, when someone in God’s family struggles, the impact is much greater than just that one person.  When we’re unable to do what God has made us to do – due to physical, emotional, or mental suffering – then the church as a whole is impacted.  The pain isn’t localized, it can radiate and affect other parts of the body and how they function. 

When one portion of our physical body is injured, the other parts compensate until healing can occur.  Sometimes the injury can heal on its own, with some time and rest.  Other times, the injury needs more specialized attention.  The same should happen in the body of Christ.  Those around the struggling member need to come along side and provide support while the healing occurs.  When we come across a fellow believer who is suffering, we can’t ignore them and their pain.  We need to recognize that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it and it’s in everyone’s best interest to do the work to restore our suffering family member.

This principle is true, no matter what your role in the body of Christ is.  You don’t have to lead worship or preach on Sunday mornings in order to qualify for assistance.  We are to have the same concern for each other, regardless of how we serve.  Yes, an injury to one of our eyes is impactful, but an injury to a supporting ligament in a wrist can be just as debilitating.  Just as there are no unimportant parts of our physical body, there are no unimportant parts of Christ’s body, the church, either.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Two paths, final analysis

The Israelites wrote psalms as both poetry and songs to be sung.  Putting concepts into word pictures and to music are a great way to both express ourselves and help us remember truths.  Even today, Christians still use this art form in order to engage God and teach His truths. 

We’ve learned a lot by looking at and thinking through the lyrics of Psalm 1.  But now, let’s put it all together:

Psalm 1:1-5
How happy is the one who does not
walk in the advice of the wicked or
stand in the pathway with sinners or
sit in the company of mockers!

Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.

He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams
that bears its fruit in its season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

The wicked are not like this;
instead they are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

The final verse sums up the entire psalm:

Psalm 1:6
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

The way of the wicked leads to ruin because the Lord does not watch over it.  Multiple translations render the Lord watches over the way of the righteous as “the Lord knows the way of the righteous”.  The NET Bible translation really strikes a chord with me: “the Lord guards the way of the righteous”.

How comforting it is to know that someone has your back!  Flying solo means you are exposed in some area because you cannot manage or see everything going on around you.  Having a partner or someone who provides supportive oversight will give you confidence to forge ahead with the task at hand.  This confidence comes from knowing that someone else will warn you of potential issues, fight off problems so you don’t have to, and back you up when someone else challenges your work.  How much more inspiring is it when the Lord is the one who is watching over you!  He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good…and as we walk the way of the righteous, the way He designed us: He’s got our back.

But it is possible for us Christians to take a different route, to walk a different path than the one God desires.  However, the result of walking through life without God’s support because we ignored His Word ends in just one place: ruin.

That’s not a word we typically dwell on.  Ruin isn’t something we like to think about.  If we consider what a ruined life looks like, we quickly become uncomfortable.  And for good reason…here’s the definition:

ruin – destroyed, to be lost, i.e. – be in a state of hopelessness, lacking confidence in a future situation. |to wander away, i.e. – lose oneself/by implication, to perish and not escape or surely be undone or have no way to flee

A ruined life is one that is wasted, stuck, hopeless, and of our own doing because of the choices we made.  At the end of our earthly life, there will be no way to fix it, escape it, or avoid it.  A ruined life is self-inflicted and cannot be undone.

The way of the wicked leads to ruin because it runs antithetical to God’s design and His path.  How could it lead to anything else?  When everything is made good because it was made for/by/through Him, there is no other alternative “good” ending if we’re not on the Lord’s path.

Solomon also wrote about this theme in the book of Proverbs.  Here’s just one example of when he notes the contrast between the path of the righteous vs the way of the wicked:

Proverbs 4:18-19
The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
shining brighter and brighter until midday.
But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom;
they don’t know what makes them stumble.

If we want to be the happy and prosperous person in Psalm 1, we need to abide in God’s Word and God’s Word needs to abide in us.  That is the only path that leads to God’s approval of a life well-lived.  All other paths lead to ruin.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Legitimate help for legitimate needs

Whenever we see someone with a financial need, there’s always an underlying tension to deal with. 

What’s the best way to help them, without making them dependent or having my “help” end up being detrimental?

We want to help where we can…but only for legitimate needs.  We silently wish for criteria or even a flow chart to make the “Do I help or not?” decision for us.  But then we’re afraid that evaluating a person’s situation via a formula is too cold, not very loving, and when we consider each person’s financial need has different factors and influences…we quickly feel overwhelmed, even paralyzed.

The church family in Ephesus must have had similar struggles, because Paul spends a large section of his letter to Timothy discussing how to handle the support of widows within the church.  As mentioned before, widowhood was a serious situation for women in the ancient world.  They were not typically the direct heir of their husband’s will, and income generating options were limited, at best.  Additionally, if the husband was poor, he may not have left much for his wife to live on.

Before we read Paul’s criteria to Timothy for helping widows within the church, we need to understand a little bit about life expectancy in the ancient world.  Although the age of 60 was when a person was considered an “old man” or “old woman”, in the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, the average life expectancy for a woman was 36 years.  This was mainly due to the significant risk of dying during childbirth; however, the men were not fairing much better, as they were only living on average up to 45 years.

Ladies, imagine condensing your life down to just 36 years.  Guys, yours to only 45 years.  Needs, wants, plans, opportunities all look different on a shortened timeline.  Keep that in mind as you read through Paul’s criteria:

1 Timothy 5:9-10
No widow should be placed on the official support list unless she is at least 60 years old, has been the wife of one husband, and is well known for good works – that is, if she has brought up children, shown hospitality, washed the saints’ feet, helped the afflicted, and devoted herself to every good work.

There’s a fair bit of structure to this widow-helping program.  With an official support list, we see that this program is to provide elderly widows with long-term support (nor does this prevent the church from assisting in one-time, immediate needs).  The requirement for her to be the wife of one husband doesn’t mean she’s disqualified if her husband previously died, she re-married, and then her second husband died.  Rather, this is a prohibition on support those who have been in polygamous relationships.  This matches up well with the rest of Paul’s conduct expectations – he is instructing Timothy about the importance of asking “Does her life represent Jesus to others?”

However, he also gives Timothy this warning:

1 Timothy 5:11-13
But refuse to enroll younger widows; for when they are drawn away from Christ by desire, they want to marry, and will therefore receive condemnation because they have renounced their original pledge.  At the same time, they also learn to be idle, going from house to house; they are not only idle, but are also gossips and busybodies, saying things they shouldn’t say.

This widow-helping program wasn’t going to be a monthly stipend check and then she does whatever she wants.  The church family expected that those who received support would work on behalf of the church within the community.  The widows would pledge their lives to this work, forsaking any additional marriage relationship…in a sense, they were “married to Christ”.  However, the normal desires of family life would likely be too much for the younger widows to fully abstain from once they made their pledge.  Additionally, the younger widows would not have developed the discipline that the older women had learned.  As widow-representatives, the reputation of Jesus and the entire church would be severely damaged by them saying things they shouldn’t say.

1 Timothy 5:14-16
Therefore, I want younger women to marry, have children, manage their households, and give the adversary no opportunity to accuse us.  For some have already turned away to follow Satan.  If any believing woman has widows, she should help them, and the church should not be burdened, so that it can help those who are genuinely widows.

The purpose of this criteria is to ensure that the church can help those who are genuinely widows.  We want to meet legitimate needs; therefore, we must have a way of evaluating the requests that come to the church.

God likes order.  We see it in creation.  We see it the structure of relationships.  We shouldn’t be all that surprised when we find that He also expects our giving to be thoughtful and purposeful.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

For those not in the limelight

In 1937, the Academy Awards began giving out an award for “Best Supporting Actor” in movies.  This recognition was given in honor of an actor who had delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role.  Having a supporting role meant that the actor wasn’t the main character of the story; however, he held an important role in the movement of the plot and/or the development of the lead character.

Paul certainly was the main character and lead preacher of the gospel in the first century.  He authored approximately half of the New Testament and was the focal character throughout most of the book of Acts.  However, Paul rarely traveled by himself.  Other believers traveled with him and on behalf of him to evanglize the known world.  Some people would help for a short time, others for longer periods.  Some, like Timothy and Titus, became his protégés…while others held varying roles within to the ministry.

Based on the number of times he’s mentioned and the type of work he’s given, Tychicus was one of Paul’s best supporting ministers.  Tychicus was Paul’s personal letter-bearer for the New Testament letters to the churches in Ephesus and Colossae.  Tychicus was also likely the one who delievered Paul’s letter to Philemon. 

However, Tychicus was more than just a mail carrier delievering letters.  Take a look at how Paul described him – and his role – to the believers in Colossae:

Colossians 4:7-9
Tychicus, a loved brother, a faithful servant, and a fellow slave in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me.  I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are, and so that he may encourage your hearts.  He is with Onesimus, a faithful and loved brother, who is one of you.  They will tell you about everything here.

Paul’s words are very high praise.  From these verses, we see that Tychicus was both trusted and up to the task at hand.  In addition to delivering Paul’s messages, Tychicus was also ready to encourage their hearts.  He was ready to be a surrogate minister when Paul couldn’t be there because he was in prision for preaching about Jesus.

In one of his last letters, Paul tells Titus that he would send either Artemas or Tychicus to give Titus a break from his ministry overseeing all the churches on the island of Crete.  That would have been a significant task, one that Paul would not entrust to just anyone.

However, the Bible doesn’t record Tychicus’ encouraging words to the Colossian believers.  We don’t know if he went to Crete, or if Artemas went instead.  Tychicus’ job in Paul’s ministry wasn’t to do big enough things that he would be recognized in Scripture.  Instead, Tychicus found a purpose for his God-given talents while being the best supporting minister for the Apostle Paul.  From Paul’s words, we see that Tychicus did well in his role.

It helps us to have this kind of reminder – that we don’t have to be a main character in the Bible to have an impact for God in other peoples’ lives.  Although everyone that comes to your local church knows who the lead pastor is, or who the worship leader is…God knows where our talents are best suited and most profitable for the advancement of His kingdom.  It’s not just the “upfront” leaders that will be rewarded by God, either. God has promised a rich reward in Heaven for those who do well in supporting roles also.

Keep Pressing,
Ken