squeezing oranges

When I was in junior high my youth pastor brought an orange to youth group. He started out by asking what would happen if he squeezed the orange. He then proceeded to squeeze the orange and we were surprised to see blue juices flowing out of the orange. He asked us if the pressure on the orange somehow changed the internal contents of the orange. He said the pressure merely pushed out what was already within the orange, hidden beneath the skin. He said life is like that. He said the pressures and stresses and sufferings squeeze us so that what is within us, hidden beneath the skin, comes to the surface and leaks out. This was a pretty deep life lesson for a room full of immature junior highers. I will never forget it because it drove home the truth that I couldn’t blame outside factors for what bubbles up and flows out of me when I am under pressure, stress and suffering. God uses such things to reveal to us the contents of our deepest and often most hidden internal places. We can not blame the outside for what is already within.

When was the last time you were surprised at what came out of you during a time of pressure, stress or suffering? What did you do with that surprising emotion or action? Did you pass it off or ignore it? Did you blame it on the external person, situation or thing? Did you use it as a barometer to measure your internal state of being? Did you ask God to help you with your response? Did you feel helpless or overwhelmed? Did you blame God or Satan or others or yourself?

In the course I'm currently taking online, GRiT (Godly Resilience intensive Training), Dr. Todd Burdick states that according to Jesus the fruit we bear and our speech (forms of behavior) are the product of what is in the heart. Galatians 5:17-18 (NTL), “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. Those two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.” 

This idea of bearing fruit and struggling against our flesh and walking by the Spirit is a war we (Christ-followers) will battle all the days of our lives this side of eternity. However, take heart my friends, it is not futile! Though Satan uses stress to make us bitter towards God, to trap us to sin, to destroy us, God, conversely, uses the stress we experience to transform us to reflect His image. Dr.Todd shares in his course that our childhoods and upbringings has the single most profound influencer of lifelong behaviors. Satan wants to use those traumas and dysfunctions to lead us to physical and spiritual death. God uses those same things to transform us. He is The Redeemer! He redeems those ugly things and brings about life and fruit from it. Romans 5:3-5 (NTL), “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance, And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”

One of the oranges we injected with blue food coloring to represent the sin that lurks within 

Do not be surprised when sin rises to the surface. It is God’s work in our lives as we allow Him to sift through our soul and heart motives. He already knows what lurks beneath the surface. His sanctifying work in our lives allows us to participate and grow as He leads. God’s plan for suffering, therefore, can be summarized by saying that he uses it to produce holiness in us.

Dr. Todd defines holiness as a passionate desire to please God that results in the transformation of our behaviors. He says having a heart that passionately loves God is the key to resilience and health. Preparation for the Master’s work entails cleansing and purifying one’s self. The Holy Spirit work in our lives isn’t to be better versions of ourselves but to be completely transformed by supernatural power, not of ourselves but of Him!

“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:21 (NTL)

Last Sunday we set up an experiential worship set in the gym on our station. My teammate Sarah and I worked together to creatively focus on Pentecost - the coming of the Holy Spirit. Sarah researched and put together Old Testament feasts and celebrations and corresponded it to New Testament fulfillments of those feasts and celebrations. The word of God is living and active and so profoundly deep and beautiful. She had printed out calendars both biblical and current and we were able to see and physically map out those holy dates prophesied and fulfilled. Even more, we look to the ultimate fulfillment of Christ coming again. The night before we injected oranges with blue food coloring to a somewhat disappointing result - blue juices did not pour forth in a glorious profusion when squeezed like I remembered from when my youth pastor did it. Perhaps I am misremembering the activity my youth pastor performed many, many years ago? However the idea remains solid, what is within is already there - it is the outside pressures that push the inner contents to the surface. How we respond to those "juices" that flow out is entirely up to us. Do we seek to learn and grow and understand? Do we surrender to the inner soul/spirit workings of the Holy Spirit? Do we insist on our way and remain rigid in our lack of self-awareness and shift the blame to those outside forces?

Experiential worship set in the gym

Once we’ve accepted Christ and received the Holy Spirit: (I've taken these statements from the GRiT online course that quotes R.T. Kendal in his book, Total Forgiveness)

1.) Salvation is unconditional; fellowship with the Father, however is conditional.

2.) Justification before God is unconditional; the anointing of the Spirit is, however, conditional.

3.) Our status in the family of God is unconditional; however, our intimacy with Christ is conditional.

4.) Our eternal destiny of heaven is fixed, but receiving an additional reward is conditional.

Our world is in the midst of great suffering and stress. Brokenhearted people are crying out for justice in a profoundly unjust world. Psalm 34:18 says, "The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."I hope and fervently pray Christ-followers pour forth in glorious profusion the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. However, even when surprising and ugly stuff bubbles to the surface may we, the body of Christ, be teachable and moldable and surrender our individual and collective ugly to Him who is exceedingly able to transform and redeem.