Have you ever felt like giving up for greener pastures?
I remember when we were living back in Portland, OR Laura and I were really at odds with each other. I was working way to much trying to meet the expectations of church members and life at home was no picnic to come home to either. For a long time Laura was struggling with severe depression and then later as she recovered from that, she was so angry at me because I had nothing left to give the family after spending all my energy on the church.
She finally came to the place where she said she didn't want to live in the same house with me, it was just to painful. She said she didn't want a divorce, but she wanted me to go live with my sister for a while. I told her no, and we lived in chaos for a while longer. She said it again a few months later and I put a bag together in the car as we drove an appointment with a counselor.
I had begun to think there might be some relief if I stayed with the sister a while...somewhere where the person wanted me around. I had already been doing this by spending all of my time at work. Fortunately the counselor convinced us both that moving out was not a good plan as it increases the divorce rate to 75-90% or something like that. Instead I took a leave from the church for about 5 weeks and stayed so that we could get our marriage back on track.
In John chapter 12, Jesus is in the middle of a pressure cooker. He has been performing all of these amazing miracles as evidence that he is the Messiah and has been sent from God. The latest of which was raising Lazarus from the dead. Many have come to believe in him because of Lazarus, but others have decided all the more to kill him because of Lazarus. The Pharisees have even started to plot against Lazarus life because of those who are believing in Jesus.
As the pressure is mounting Jesus is presented with a request from some Greeks who want to speak with him. Jesus gives a rather strange answer to this request. He begins to speak about his death and the necessity of his death that the gospel might be spread to the whole world. Then he says, "what shall I say, Father save me from this hour. But this is the very reason I came! Father, bring glory to your name." And then the Father speaks from heaven in reply, "I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again." Jesus responds telling the crowd that the Father's words were for their benefit and then once again speaks of his death...to be lifted up...meaning a death on the cross.
Why does Jesus respond like this to the request of the Greeks? This is a moment of temptation for him..."You don't need to stay in the middle of the pressure cooker that will lead to your death. Come away to Greece where we want to hear from you and listen to your teaching. You don't need to die." It sounds a lot like the temptation of Satan to simply bow to him and he would give Jesus all the nations of the world. "You don't have to go through the cross...through the suffering...through the struggle." But Jesus stays, knowing that his death will be the very thing that delivers all the nations of the world rather than a limited time of comfort in Greece.
I don't know what you might be going through right now...what it might be that you are tempted to abandon. I have watched marriages fall apart when one or both of the individuals think that there will be greener pastures somewhere else. I watched a friend of my family try to find greener pastures with four different marriages. I have no desire to judge the circumstances of the lives of others. I do have a desire in my own life to be like Christ, to stay and to lay down my life for my wife so that the glory of God might be revealed. Jesus stayed with his wayward bride of Israel even unto the point of death...that we might all be saved.
Your struggle may lie elsewhere than your marriage...it maybe a difficult job, a church that seems to have fallen apart, a friendship that has stabbed you in the back. There are times when we need to let go and move on...but there are many times when we can restore if we can stay.
May the Holy Spirit give you the strength to stay and the wisdom to know when to lay down your life for another...and only if necessary when to let someone go.
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