Living in the Bind

Really bad guys like the Joker in Lego Batman, ask the hero to make the hard choices. "Capture me or diffuse the bomb, Batman! You can't do both." Of course the really good guys end up doing both somehow but perhaps not right at that moment.

How do we live in the bind of life? I am not a superhero and yet I feel that I am constantly asked to live in this space if I am to love well and be faithful to God. How do we continue to be in relationship with people who have hurt us badly? Sometimes, we don't stay in relationship with them. Sometimes we need to be brave enough to walk away, but life is often not that easy. It's complicated. What if one of your kids wounds you deeply? Walk away or live in the bind? What if people you served with wound you but your kids are all friends? Walk away or live in the bind?

Is there a chance that God actually wants us to live in the bind? In John 1:14:

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

That seems like a bind. How can we be full of grace and truth? Thankfully, Jesus spends his life modeling this for us. He has large crowds following Him and then He says hard things and many turn away. So many, in fact, He asks his own followers if they are leaving as well. (John 6)

Does God get glory when we learn to live in the bind? I think so. I think it takes faith, hope, and a tender heart to live well in the bind. I know it creates a dependency in me on God leading the day in and day out. I must be surrendered to His leading and learn to stand firm until He moves. That can be hard and painful sometimes. But does that make it wrong? I used to think that must mean I am doing something wrong. I don't believe that anymore. It may actually mean I am doing something right.

There is good pain and there is bad pain. Not all pain is the same. All good athletes know that the body will feel pain on the road to recovery from an injury. That is not bad pain. It is necessary pain in order to strengthen the muscles and convince the mind that we can do this again. Well after my knee surgery, my head was still afraid of hurting myself again. Often we need to heal much more than just the physical trauma after an injury. This is true in relationships as well.

The past has a way of re-enacting itself on our present when we don't attend to it. You would be surprised how many of your choices are informed by an unresolved past. Consider your healing journey today friend. I know God is because He wants true freedom for you. He wants you to sit at the banquet table He has prepared for you and feast, not settle for the crumbs on the floor.

Trust Him today. I promise He is good.