Forget the homeless, stranger for a moment. In some ways it’s easy to offer acceptance to that person because we can do it from a distance. What I’m interested in hearing about is how well you accept the people in your daily circle of influence? Maybe a more applicable question is, how well do you know them? The people you work with? The people you sit next to in class? Your neighbors? Your very best friends? The people you serve with at church? Your family? Here’s my answer, you know them only as much as they are willing to let you know them. If we’re honest, we all have areas of our lives that we choose not to share, even with those closest to us. Why? As I ask this question I think of a red-faced and furious Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men erupting with, “You can’t handle the truth!” Are you prepared to hear that your best friend was repeatedly molested by a family member as a child? What would your responsibility as a Christian be to that person, and would it be different if that friend told you instead that they had cheated on their spouse in the past?

Christians talk about acceptance and forgiveness, but don’t these concepts, in our lives, often have boundaries? I wonder if the limits to which we’ll share is relative to that which we’ll accept. I have some friends that are not afraid to peel back layer after layer of themselves, like an onion, and expose to everyone the depths of their souls. I have a certain respect and admiration for that kind of openness but, truthfully, it also scares me because I know that I am not always willing to reciprocate with the same level of openness. Fear of rejection, judgment and/or condemnation often keep us from sharing our hurts and struggles, leaving us bound to the sins, failures, victimizations and insecurities of our past and, at the same time, crippling our present. We are products of our pasts; good, bad and indifferent.

During a recent church service we incorporated what is called a “cardboard testimonial”. Friends wrote on one side of a piece of cardboard something that they’ve struggled with in their past. On the other side of the cardboard they wrote how God used that situation to change them. Nearly 20 people shared pieces of their stories in this way. The purpose of this presentation was to highlight the transformational powers of Christ in our lives. What we discovered was the potential for a deeper healing of the soul as a result of sharing our vulnerabilities with our community. Hurts, tragedies, and sins were offered for all to see, and it was beautiful to watch them received with the love and compassion of Christ by our body.

Can we actually live a life of freedom from the shackles of our past, and how can we help each other succeed? James 5:16 tells us to “…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” What if we really lived like this text asks us to? My questions, to this point, have revolved around how we accept others, but the bigger question is how willing are you to share yourself with your community? Can you really allow yourself to be seen? Do you believe that God promises deliverance from that which binds our hearts?

Below is a link to the cardboard testimony of another church. I dare you not to be moved as you watch this unfold. Also, as you witness the redemptive stories of others, I challenge you to consider the following:

What about your past is crippling you today? Are you willing to share yourself  so that your community can pray for you, and so God can heal you? We cannot heal what we cannot feel. Let’s use this space as our cardboard testimonial. I’ll go first. My cardboard reads on the front, “Struggle for Control in my life” and to highlight God’s transformation in me, the back of my cardboard reads, “Finally Gave Control back to God!”

What does your’s say?

When I was working full-time as a psychotherapist, I spent a good chunk of my work days helping clients that were struggling with chemical dependency.  The topic of pain was very relevant to the people I interacted with in counseling, both as folks still active in addiction and also as new travelers on the road to recovery.  Pain in this life is unavoidable, and I would frequently challenge people to see pain as one of the most underutilized resources on the planet.  Sound a bit odd?

I am currently on staff at an Evangelical Covenant Church (www.covchurch.org) and recently attended our annual Midwinter Conference (www.covchurch.org/midwinter) and Connection (www.covchurch.org/connection) in Denver, CO.  The theme of the Connection this year was “The Beautiful Struggle,” and there were a variety of great speakers and teachers that spoke in different ways on this notion of pursuing Jesus with our lives as being a beautiful struggle.  Sunil Sardar was one of the general session speakers that I was privileged enough to hear.

“Pain is a privilege.  Pain is a gift from God.”

These are the words of Sardar, an incredible man of God that founded TruthSeekers International (www.truthseekersinternational.org) as a vehicle to share the life-changing power of Jesus with seven hundred million lower caste people in India, a people that are set up from birth by the caste system more to exist rather than truly live.  He has been physically and verbally assaulted because of the work he is doing, and yet, he experiences pain of all types as an honor.  He also made a point to say that we do not have to seek pain for it will find us.  However, Sardar did mention the concept of “borrowing pain” from others.  Does this sound like someone else?

We are called to join in joy as our brothers and sisters celebrate a victory, and on the other end of the scale, there is this equally important call to join with those that are experiencing deep struggle and pain.

What does that look like for you?  It may be incredibly personal today, as in the pain may be inside you or someone that is very close and dear to you.

Look back in your story.  Is it possible today for you to see a struggle as something that is connected to real beauty?

We often claim to be people that desire growth, but if we are honest, we seldom are willing to do what it takes to go in that direction.  Just like farmers utilize manure to assist in the growth of fresh produce, we are invited to utilize pain, the “crap” of our lives, to assist in spiritual growth.