Even If: Trusting God When Life Disappoints, Overwhelms, or Just Doesn't Make Sense by Mitchel Lee

Author:Mitchel Lee [Lee, Mitchel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Christian Living, Personal Growth, Spiritual Growth, Christian Theology, Systematic, Self-Help, Motivational & Inspirational
ISBN: 9780593192528
Google: Dyc5EAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2021-11-15T00:17:52.883547+00:00

WHEN IF ONLY BECOMES EVEN IF

The way to declare even if over your if onlys is to identify and name your regrets. You won’t be able to avoid feeling regret, but you will find that in naming your regrets and going to God, he will meet you with what you need.

In John 11, Jesus had a touching interchange with three siblings who were his dear friends. Jesus cared deeply for Mary, Martha, and their brother, Lazarus. Yet when Lazarus fell sick, Jesus delayed in visiting him. Four days after Lazarus died, Jesus finally reached Bethany, and Martha came out to meet him as he approached the house. Mary was too distraught (perhaps even disappointed that Jesus had taken so long?), so she stayed at home.

Martha stated her if only regret: “Lord, if [only] you had been here, my brother would not have died” (verse 21). Mary would eventually come out and say the same thing but with more passion. Falling at his feet, she cried, “Lord, if [only] you had been here, my brother would not have died” (verse 32). If only the One who could heal strangers just by saying the word or by having them touch his garment had come in time to heal his friend.

Martha named her regret, but she didn’t stop there. “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you” (verse 22). Regret gave way to confidence and belief with a dash of resolve thrown in. Don’t miss the subtle whisper of an even if declaration: “Even if death looks like the final verdict, I put my trust in you.”

Martha wasn’t even thinking immediate resurrection. The ensuing dialogue with Jesus shows that she had no expectation that Jesus would raise Lazarus except at the end of ends. All she could do was acknowledge that she trusted Jesus’s power and what he could have done. Then Jesus did the unthinkable with her regret. He raised her brother from the dead.

Like Martha’s and Mary’s, our if only regrets can highlight our ultimate desire for the God who alone can truly save. We long for the One who can save us from our broken pasts and who can make something better of our lives than even the nostalgic, romanticized versions we often settle for. As we face our regrets, we can learn to declare even if by putting our confidence in the goodness of God, who saved us from our own ruin at great cost to himself.

Make this declaration: “Even if my life doesn’t measure up to the one I imagined, even if I bear the consequences of a past I have been forgiven of, even if the good things God has done for me are only memories…I will worship the One who has forgiven, the One who is for me and withholds no good thing from me, the One who will always be good.”

Put your regrets in their place through your even if declaration. Strip them of their power by naming your sins and believing that Jesus died for them.

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