A couple of weeks ago we held our monthly coffee house and our guest for the evening was Rusty Leyden from Macedon.
Rusty did a great job, we were very thankful he came. He’s been a singer/songwriter for 20+ years, and many of the songs that he performed were his own, which was a special treat. They were great. There were two songs in particular that got me to thinking. The first I’ll talk about today, the next tomorrow.
The chorus of the song I’m thinking of today includes the phrase, “Keep on shaking me till there’s nothing left but you.” Our Bible Study is looking at suffering from a Christian perspective, so this really jumped out at me.
The Christian perspective of suffering, in a nutshell, is that suffering is unavoidable, we will suffer, and we will suffer so we will grow. We can only mature as Christians (as adults, really) by being stretched.
The image of a weightlifter keeps coming to mind. As you lift weights, you are actually damaging the tissue. When it recovers and grows back, it grows back bigger and stronger than it was. When we suffer, we too eventually recover and grow back bigger and stronger (more mature, stronger faith, spiritual growth).
Sometimes God allows suffering in our lives to demonstrate that we can’t do it on our own, we need help. We all need help sometimes. And when we suffer, we turn to God for that help, and we learn to trust him in new ways with new challenges.
So I love the line, “Keep on shaking me till there’s nothing left but you.” Because I know that in the end, all that shaking will produce a stronger and more mature faith. I don't like all the shaking, but I know it will be worth it!
Rusty did a great job, we were very thankful he came. He’s been a singer/songwriter for 20+ years, and many of the songs that he performed were his own, which was a special treat. They were great. There were two songs in particular that got me to thinking. The first I’ll talk about today, the next tomorrow.
The chorus of the song I’m thinking of today includes the phrase, “Keep on shaking me till there’s nothing left but you.” Our Bible Study is looking at suffering from a Christian perspective, so this really jumped out at me.
The Christian perspective of suffering, in a nutshell, is that suffering is unavoidable, we will suffer, and we will suffer so we will grow. We can only mature as Christians (as adults, really) by being stretched.
The image of a weightlifter keeps coming to mind. As you lift weights, you are actually damaging the tissue. When it recovers and grows back, it grows back bigger and stronger than it was. When we suffer, we too eventually recover and grow back bigger and stronger (more mature, stronger faith, spiritual growth).
Sometimes God allows suffering in our lives to demonstrate that we can’t do it on our own, we need help. We all need help sometimes. And when we suffer, we turn to God for that help, and we learn to trust him in new ways with new challenges.
So I love the line, “Keep on shaking me till there’s nothing left but you.” Because I know that in the end, all that shaking will produce a stronger and more mature faith. I don't like all the shaking, but I know it will be worth it!
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