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ON MEDITATION There are a few well meaning Christian friends who ask me about my leaning towards eastern philosophy and meditation. I w...

Thursday, July 5, 2012

STRONG IN THE BROKEN PLACES


STRONG IN THE BROKEN PLACES

Ernest Hemingway once said, “The world breaks everyone, and some get strong in the broken places.”

The suicide of this great man of letters, in his despair, is sadly ironic. This painful world finally broke him. 

Christ said, “I have told you these things so that in Me you will have (perfect) peace and confidence. In the world you will have tribulations and  trials  and distress and frustrations; but be of good cheer. For I have overcome the world”. (John 16:33, Amplified)

Christians are the world’s greatest sufferers and yet suicide has never been an option for them. They believe that nothing happens apart from the will of God. They believe that God is not indifferent to their pain. They confidently trust and rest upon the His promises to deliver them. And they have this great confidence because the God of the Christians is a suffering God, who was broken but rose triumphant. He has overcome everything. He is their hope.

Life in this world will finally break all of us. Hemingway knew and accepted this reality. Some could not get stronger because they are completely and utterly alone in the broken places which they tread. They have no one to believe or to trust, except themselves, they only have faith in the absurdity of nothingness.  

The great Apostle and Saint, Paul of Tarsus, has declared one of the most powerful messages of hope ever written, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)

(Photo from canonglenn.com)


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