1 Corinthians 10:12-14 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. But God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.

Recently, in a meeting of Christian leaders, a man I admire who has been greatly used by the Lord burst out, “I hate Biden!” Everyone laughed. But I felt like I had been slapped in the face.

I still feel the sting—not from this incident alone, but from many similar experiences over the last few years, in speech and in print: Christians, people who claim Jesus as Lord, condemning and slandering other people; in some cases even breaking relationships over what they call politics–sometimes even using the name of God to do so. The pain is not because of any political beliefs I have; I’ve felt it from both sides of the aisle. I’m sure you have all experienced this.

When Paul wrote this chapter to the church of Corinth, he wrote in the context of idolatry. Perhaps today, he would illustrate idolatry with politics rather than food. Surely it hurts our Lord’s heart to see his people mired in fear and hatred rather than living into the freedom of trust and love for each other, no matter our political views. Didn’t Jesus spend a lot of his time teaching us to love our “enemies,” pray for them, seek to bless them? I do what is best for others so that many can be saved (verse 33).

I know this man’s outburst didn’t come from just his own mind and heart. It came from long listening to voices that for political ends instill and nurture fear and hatred, sometimes through half-truths and spin, making public discussion all about personalities. We’re all vulnerable to the impact of this twist.

I’ve started asking myself, Is this writer or speaker intentionally making me afraid or inducing in me feelings of anger or hatred of “them”—whoever the person or group may be? Are they making it about personalities rather than about policies? If so, I need to take a step back and reconsider what they claim to be facts, and free myself from those emotions, rather than nurturing them. And pray for God to rule my heart, not anything or anyone else.

My eye is caught again by verse 13, which I have underlined twice. God is faithful. Perhaps I am one whose conscience is oversensitive (v. 28-29; 1 Cor 8:9-12). But God is faithful. He IS love. Not because we’re lovely, but because he is loving. Are we showing him to the world?

Because God is faithful, I can choose to entrust to him my questions, doubts, feelings, worries, concerns, and grief. The Faithful One loves without favoritism. He is the One (the only one!) who one day will make all things right, not ANY person or ideology.

Growing up in the megalopolis of São Paulo was tough for our daughter Rachel. When we had the chance to leave the city and spend some time in nature, her whole demeanor changed. I could see the beauty and peacefulness of God’s creation nourishing her soul. Similarly, to recapture my own freedom, and the beauty of other people, I have to “fast” from the media and breathe the fresh air of simple relationship with my loving, faithful Father. I recommend it!

1 Corinthians 7:25 I do not have a command from the Lord … But the Lord in his mercy has given me wisdom that can be trusted, and I will share it with you.

James 1:5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.

We got home yesterday from a week in Colorado for mission meetings, our first travel by plane since Covid began; eighteen months since we have seen our colleagues except by Zoom. The nineteen of us able to participate arrived in a variety of levels of stress, distress, and exhaustion, including from Covid.

Dave and I are in the middle of the pack in our mission team, called the IMT (International Ministry Team, because we all work in multiple countries). Only three or four couples are younger than we are. We benefit from the years of experience and wisdom and perspective of those who have been running this race longer than us—what a privilege! And the younger ones inspire us constantly with their different, often humorous “take” on life and world events.

One topic was resilience through this VUCA time (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous). VUCA—terminology borrowed from the military—and how it can be countered by “VUCA Prime”: vision, understanding, clarity, agility. (You can find many VUCA resources on the internet.) Agility in VUCA time calls for shorter-term plans, and the ability to pivot as needed.

In many of the countries where we work, VUCA is not new—it describes the everyday world of those whose resources are always in short supply. Covid is just one more factor in their precarious struggle for daily survival. And I can say that much of Karis’s life was characterized by all four VUCA characteristics. But in so many ways, the world has changed, and we don’t know yet how we’ll need to adapt.

Thus, we realized it’s more important than ever for us as a team to share with each other the wisdom and perspective God gives us. We’re better together. Dave and I came home feeling encouraged if not rested (our schedule was intense), more appreciative of the combined wisdom and strength God gives through team.

At one point our leader said, “We must be willing to experiment. Some of those experiments won’t ‘work,’ but we’ll all learn from them. Our team is a safe place where there is no such thing as failure.” I thought of Thomas Edison saying “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

As I regroup at home, I want that sense of safety to be true of my family and friendships as well as my mission team. So much is not under our control. I want to contribute to the security of those I love in any way I can.

1 Corinthians 6:13-20 You can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. But they were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? … Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God. You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

Last week my daughter Valerie explained to me why she prefers working night shift in the pediatric intensive care unit. “I became a critical care nurse because I love hands-on care for people. I guess I learned that from loving Karis. The day shift is too busy. At night, the rush slows, and the unit grows quiet. At night we give our patients baths. I can wash their hair, massage their aching bodies with lotion, talk to them, pray over them, sing to them. Often family members are present, and I can show them ways to love their child through physical touch and with their voices, even when a patient is in deep coma. Karis taught us that she was more aware of what was happening to her and around her when she was in coma than even the doctors realized. This is my favorite part of nursing—a way to give back, to pass forward the care Karis received from her nurses.”

For more than thirty years, I cared for Karis’s body. This was especially true at times when she was in a coma. But the time came when I could do nothing more for her. The slightest touch bruised her as one after another of her body systems shut down. I was deeply comforted when I learned God had sent three angels to be with her and care for her, the same angels who flew with her away from that ICU bed to Heaven. You can read the story in Karis, All I See Is Grace.

Knowing God cared about her body mattered to Karis and kept her motivated when she wanted to give up. Along the way, her scarred, steroid-compromised, bruised body lost much of what the world calls beauty. God gave her a vision of her scars on Jesus’ body (that story too is in the Karis book). Our bodies are part of Christ’s. That’s true for each of us.

So, it makes sense to care for our bodies, not out of vanity but to honor Christ. Our bodies are the vehicles through which God works: our hands and feet, our voices, our energy, our hugs and smiles and tears. He even works through our brokenness and pain, as he did with Karis. Even more, as he did with Christ. His resurrected body still bears the scars of his suffering.

It was necessary for the Son to be made in every respect like us… Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested. Hebrews 2:16-18