Dear Faith Family,
I hope this email finds you well and rested after an extended weekend! Know that I am praying for grace and peace to be multiplied to you today, wherever and in whatever you find yourself.
I know there is much going on in our little faith family. Grand and joyous things! New opportunities and new seasons dawning refreshed aspirations for the future. There are also difficult things: loss, sickness, uncertainty in our lives and the lives of those dearest to us. We have, rather consistently it seems, the chance to "rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn" (Rom. 12:15), simultaneously.
It is the simultaneous expectation of this life together that is most difficult for us. At least it is for me. If I could separate the two, schedule them perhaps into specific blocks of focus, I think I might be able to manage. But life never seems to allow for such division. There is always both rejoicing and mourning, sometimes by the same person!
I'm sure you have experienced this duality yourself? So how do we not find ourselves emotionally, mentally, and spiritually frayed and fatigued by the oscillating? To not be pulled apart by the opposing force of these apparent opposites, which are called to enter because that is how life is really experienced, requires strength beyond our own. And it is the discovery of this not-us-but-in-us strength that is, in the words of the apostle Paul, "the secret to facing plenty and hunger," learning "how to be brought low...and...to abound." (Phil. 4:12).
The funny thing about this secret, though sadly funny, is that it is not so much a secret these days, but instead, a cliche often advertised on T-shirts or mugs or even the 'eye-black' of athletes. I know you know you know it! The not-so-secret-secret is the now-famous Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through him who strengths me."
While the over-production and occasional misappropriation of Pau's "learned secret" mean it may fall flat on ears amid the push and pull of daily life with others, the amazing truth of something-in-us-but-not-us never dulls. Through Jesus, "Christ in you" (Col. 1:27), you have all that you need, and not just for ourselves but also one another.
Our fellow apprentice, the apostle Peter, affirms this not-so-secret-secret, contending, that "Jesus' divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness...so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:3-4). Because you can face the complex reality of life--for yourself and for others--through Jesus, Peter writes his second letter. He longs for, and assumes, that we can experience the fruitful effectiveness of Christ in us (2 Pet. 1:8).
I pray Peter's acquired desire would come to fruition in you and for us. I love you, faith family.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
(Rom. 15:13)