Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
8/19/2021
The Darkness that Feeds on Self-absorption
The Darkness that Feeds on Self-absorption
Sometimes the darkness that surrounds us is owed in part to the fact that we have drifted into patterns of life that are sinful and uncaring to the needs of others. How easy is it for our world to shrink down to the basic concerns about ourselves and our families?
When was the last time that you were inspired by a great cause of Christ? That you just poured your heart and soul into it and reached out to others to help you? Unconsciously we can become very self-absorbed and oblivious and even uncaring at times toward the pain and suffering in the world that is far worse than our own.
Isaiah 58 verse 10-11 can be a great rescue from a season of darkness marked by feelings of exhaustion, and burnout.
IF you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
It says IF we pour ourselves out for others, God‘s promises to make us like, "a watered garden", that is, we will receive the water we need for refreshment and joy. But even more, we will be a "spring of water" that does not fail, for others. This one man battling depression said this was God’s way of lifting gloom and turning it into light by pouring ourselves out for the hungry and satisfy the desires of the afflicted. This is truly a pattern of divine life that will get you through the darkest of days.
Unbelievably God has made us flourish by being "spent for others". It is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35
But truly most of us do not choose against this life of outpouring: We drift away from it. We confuse pressured family life and stresses at work with Christian sacrifice, which in fact, much of it, has little to do with meeting the needs of the hungry, afflicted and perishing.
John Piper made the point that this is one of the causes of some people’s darkness…this slow creeping self-absorption and small-mindedness. And the cure may be the gradual embrace of "a vision of life" that is far greater than our present concerns. Some things may need to be taken off of our schedule because we’re too busy and have not set up proper boundaries. But when his health and joy returns we may be capable of more than we have ever dreamed.
May I close by saying that the life-giving, joy-producing effective sharing of your faith with unbelievers by word and deed will lift any person out of darkness and into God‘s marvelous light… By just sharing their faith. The joy in Christ thrives on being shared. That is the essence of Christian joy:
It overflows or it dies
The Moment I wake up; Lianne La Havas
https://www.facebook.com/bbc/posts/4608649969150166
Excerpts are taken from John Pipers Book When the Darkness will not lift.
