Hello! In January, I made a commitment to start reading the Bible daily. It’s been a wonderful experience, and every Saturday I write a post sharing some of my thoughts on what I am learning. I hope you enjoy these posts on the teachings of the Bible, and you can read other posts I have written in the category Bible Study. I will return to posts on business, marketing and web3 news on Monday!
I Do Not Deserve to Suffer Like This…
At one point or another, regardless of which religion you do or do not practice, most of us have likely said something very similar to this. I have many times asked why something bad is happening to me. ‘I am a good person!’, I exclaim. Bad things aren’t supposed to happen to good people. You do good things, and you are rewarded for your good deeds. This is the natural order of things. Plus…doing good things then being rewarded simply shows to everyone that if you do good things, you will get your just reward.
I’ve mentioned before how much I am enjoying watching The Chosen. It truly is the best series I’ve watched in years, and my appreciation for it has only grown since I first mentioned it. I am now watching Season 3. One of Jesus’ disciples is James, or affectionately called Little James in the series. Little James was given his nickname because there is another James among the group of disciples who is much taller.
Little James is lame in the series, and walks with a noticeable limp and has a staff to help him get around. In one scene earlier in the series, Little James confides to another disciple that he is a bit troubled that Jesus keeps healing the sick and disabled, but has never offered to heal him. Little James decides that Jesus must have a reason for not doing so.
But early in Season 3, Jesus tells his 12 disciples, including Little James, that they will be paired up and sent out to spread the word about the coming Kingdom. Jesus adds that he will give each of them the authority to cast out demons, and to heal the sick.
Little James is visibly shaken by the news that he will be given authority to heal others, while he is still dealing with his own disability. He comes to Jesus and asks Him to help him understand why Jesus would give him the power to heal others, while Jesus wouldn’t heal his own sickness. Which leads to this absolutely wonderful scene:
After watching this scene, I went back to study because I wanted to confirm that this wonderful story and interaction was actually documented in the Bible. I was disappointed to find that it was not. In fact, little is told of James in the Bible, so little in fact that we aren’t even sure which James he is. He may have been Jesus’ cousin or even His brother. Or he may have been another James altogether.
And there is no mention in the Bible of Little James having any affliction or disability. I was quite honestly a bit disappointed in the series to learn this.
But then, I learned that the actor who plays Little James, Jordan Walker Ross, was born with cerebral palsy and scoliosis. As I watched the scene above, I couldn’t help but wonder how surreal it was for Ross to film that scene. I am sure he must have asked some of the same questions that Little James had asked, or at least I could understand if he had. I think the scene was handled absolutely perfectly on all levels.
One of the common themes I am finding as I am reading the Bible is how the believer is constantly reminded to focus on themselves, and their own path. We are reminded that we can’t judge what we do or don’t have in comparison to someone else. When we see that someone else has more than us, we aren’t supposed to envy their possessions. When we see that someone has less, we are supposed to help them as best we can.
Suffering is a byproduct of living in a fallen world. I will suffer even though I do good works. So shall you. Yet we often add to our own suffering via our assumptions. Or our misconceptions about why something is happening to us. And why is it that someone else seems to have all the good fortune, while I am struggling? I do good works that seem to go unnoticed, while this person seems to get rewards that their works don’t seem to justify!
We are operating at all times on incomplete information. We don’t know what is happening to someone else, we don’t even know what is happening to ourselves. Perhaps a struggle we are dealing with today was given to us so that we would become strong enough to deal with a far greater struggle that will come our way in a year.
This again, is why God tells us to be faithful. Because worry and faith cannot exist in the same space. Our worry robs us of our happiness, our faith fills the space in our heart and mind where worry wants to dwell.
Suffering is a byproduct of living in a fallen world. Let’s not add to our own suffering by worrying.
