Tuesday, December 7, 2004
Frankly, I've never understood how a biologist could be an atheist. The human body is just too amazing to explain without a brilliant designer being behind it. There are thousands of examples of the Creator's skill. Just take the human kidney for example. Literally, I mean, if they had to take one of your kidneys, something amazing happens. The one that is left - suddenly burdened with doing the work of two kidneys - starts to grow until its capacity enlarges to the point where one kidney is now miraculously able to do what it used to take two kidneys to do!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Kidney Factor."
Someone is listening today who's facing some heavy responsibilities - alone. You're feeling like you are just not enough. You need to hear some of the last words ever written by the great Apostle Paul from his prison cell in Rome. He's had his seasons where many people flocked around him when he served the Lord with the companionship of a great team, but not now. 2 Timothy 4:16, our word for today from the Word of God: "At my first defense," he says, "no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them." Any feelings you can identify with here, or maybe someone you know? No one to support you? Maybe deserted? A lot of single parents feel that way trying to handle parenting pressures that are heavy for two parents, let alone one. Or maybe you're feeling alone in your ministry, or in your pain, or some arena where suddenly it's all up to you. Listen to what made all the difference to this abandoned apostle. Verse 17, "But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth."
Jesus is at his side and that made it bearable - it made it winnable - and there's the kidney factor! The same God that can enlarge the capacity of one kidney to do the work of two can certainly do that for one of His children like you. Jesus makes it possible to face heavy responsibilities alone. Paul's testimony shows us that Jesus makes the difference in three powerful ways. First, He gives you the grace to forgive. "May it not be held against them." Sounds like Paul's Lord, doesn't it? That's what He did. "Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing."( Luke 23:34) Instead of being hardened and poisoned by bitterness, by the person who hurt you or left you, you find in Christ the grace to forgive them.
Secondly, Jesus gives you the strength to win, "...the Lord gave me strength." You can claim that unfailing promise from Deuteronomy 33:25, "...your strength will equal your days." You don't have to be pulled off course by a victim attitude. You can stay on course, stay on your mission, in strength you never dreamed you could have. It's not yours - it's His.
Thirdly, Jesus gives you the protection of God. He will bring you safely through all the lions that could eat you up while you're trying to make it alone - "He delivered me from the lion's mouth."
What hope this gives to you if you're feeling alone with your burden. Because it won't ultimately be your burdens that sink you, it will be your self-pity, or depression, or your bitterness, your anger, your fear. Jesus at your side can replace all that with His forgiving grace, His enabling strength, and His protecting power.
When a kidney is left all alone to do it, the miracle of enlargement begins. When a child of God is left alone, the Lord does that same kind of miracle. This is not a time for giving up. This is a time for tasting the power of God to make you what you never dreamed you could be.