Hello Ren family!
This Sunday you are in for a special treat as you’ll hear from about a dozen Ren folks who have put together short home videos to inspire and encourage the church. I’m especially excited about this because I’m tired of watching so much of myself on Sundays. It’s like the “Scott show” :)
The online service begins each week at 11am and you can access the link on the homepage of our website. We will also send out a link via newsletter right before the service. If you have any trouble let us know and we can help you figure it out. These online services will be our new normal for a while, probably several months. So pray for me and others who are working hard to make these online services spiritually enriching. And pray for the church that everyone would take advantage of these services.
One thing that God is teaching me this week is that sorrow and joy coexist in a unique way in our walk with God. Paul the Apostle talked of being “sorrowful yet rejoicing” (2Corinth 4). I think the ESV version says, “perplexed but not driven to despair”. Jesus himself was anointed with the oil of joy more than anyone and yet was a man of sorrows. Peter talks about trials that are grievous and yet calls us to rejoice. It’s something we are all up against daily during this pandemic.
The last report I listened to (yesterday) from Governor Gina Raimondo said that 267 people are in the hospital with Coronavirus. Of those 71 are in the ICU. People are dying daily. Many more are sick at home. Some are mourning the loss of loved ones. Healthcare workers are faced with enormous stresses and risk. Countless people are struggling with fear and anxiety. How can we not feel this? We carry these sorrows daily and may even be weeping in prayer at moments.
But somehow the Lord doesn’t let us get pulled into a pit of despair. Paul says it well: “we do not lose hope”. Jesus promised that in the world we will have trouble but quickly followed it up with, “but do not lose heart for I have overcome the world”. What does that mean exactly? What grounds amidst the troubles of life do we have for rejoicing?
Jesus was pointing to eternal realities. All things work together for our good. God is an ever-present help in trouble. He will be at our side through every valley. The afflictions of life are temporary. In other words, they will time out, they will expire. The day will come when all of life’s troubles will be behind us and we will step into a glorified body and a glorious new city (Rev 21-22) !!!
And yet, despite all this, the Scriptures tell us that the disciples were filled with joy. They were overflowing with thankfulness and “ate together with glad and sincere hearts”. This is part of what makes amazing grace so amazing! Grace is the very life of God flowing from God to us that enables us to endure hardships. It enables us to sing songs of joy after weeping. It enables us to be afflicted, persecuted and even face death itself with an assurance of faith that nothing is wasted, that all things will work together for good. Let me leave with with one last portion of Scripture to encourage you:
We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. - 2 Corinth 4:16-18
My dear friends, may we look to the things unseen. May we look to the Invisible Sovereign Lord who says we are engraved in the palm of his hand (Isaiah 49). May we look to that glorious future when anguish and suffering cease. May we look to the Day when all things are made new and there will be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more death. May we be sorrowful and yet always rejoicing!
Love you all!
Scott