RUF at UGA

Our intern, Joel May, helps us understand what it means and why it matters that we share in Christ's suffering and glory.  

Jeremiah answers the question every Christian struggles with at one point or another: "How should I interact with the people and places God's put me in?  How can I be faithful without selling out or assimilating?"  

Religion is like handing flight instructions to a caterpillar.  It asks the impossible and so it's inevitably defeating and pointless.  The Gospel, on the other hand, transforms caterpillars into butterflies and calls them to take to the skies and "Fly!"  Peter tells us that Christians were saved for holiness.  And freedom.  And obedience.  And love.  And so when God calls us to be holy as he is holy, he's inviting us deeper into our destiny.  And after putting giant wings on our back and changing our nature, he now calls us to watch as he teaches how to fly.  That's what learning holiness is like.  It's not simply a command to the Christian; it's a privilege, an opportunity, a gracious blessing.

In Psalm 73, Asaph lays his soul bare and shows us that when we lose perspective in our relationship with God, we also lose heart.  And when we lose heart, we lose our footing.  And when we lose our footing, we slip and fall.  Into cynicism, into burn-out, into unbelief and envying the wicked.  Asaph's words are an anatomy of how this happens.  But they're also an anatomy of how seeing the real and living God meet us in our mess is what puts us back on our feet--and restores our perspective and our heart in the process.  

It's in seasons of wilderness and suffering that God reveals most clearly the "real" you--good, bad, and ugly.  But it's also in the wilderness that he reveals himself most clearly--near, generous, and faithful.  In seasons of our lives when resources seem the most scarce, faith the most faint, and God the most distant He is actually up to some of his most powerful work.  And most importantly of all, Jesus' successful testing and training in the wilderness makes the wilderness not a place of failure for us--but a place of fruitful formation.

The Apostle Peter calls us "elect exiles."  When he uses this term, he knows he's using words that have a rich, ancient legacy in the story of God's people.  But they're also words that seem to contradict.  How can we simultaneously be "elect" (chosen of God, redeemed, renewed, beloved, care for) and also exiled (seemingly wandering through the wilderness, homeless, homesick, abandoned)?  Isn't it one or the other?  We tend to think so.  But God, through Peter, insists we see our lives in 3-D color, not one-dimensional monochrome.  When we see ourselves for who we are--elect exiles--faith in our God grows vibrant and our endurance is fueled.