A Foundational Relationship

Part of the struggle that I face with my chronic illness is not being able to handle blood or gore very well. Although, I’m not sure that’s actually related to my HM, but the lightheadedness that is a result of hearing about or seeing such things might be. Anyway, this morning in Sunday school, the speaker was using his broken leg as an illustration, and he was describing his break comically yet graphically. It was starting to bother me mentally, but it illustrated his point very well: When the foundation of our faith is not Christ and His forgiveness of our sins, our faith will not support us (just as his leg—a foundational part of his body—did not support him).

When you have a chronic illness (or any trial, really), the foundation of your faith is revealed. Many people rely on the things they do to help them through. “I will take these medications, get this much rest, eat this but not this, and I will be healthy and fine.” Others rely on doctors—“experts”—to give them hope for a better life and peace as a result. I myself have done all of these, and I’m sure many of you will also admit to this. While these aren’t necessarily bad things, they do not bring peace and hope and should not be what I place my faith in.

What does bring peace and hope during a time of trial is focusing on who God is and what He has promised to us in His Word. But even that will not bring peace or hope if you do not have a relationship with Him. A lack of peace and hope is a result of sin in our lives. Sin keeps us from having a relationship with God, and it is a close relationship with Him that gives us the peace and hope we so desperately long for when dealing with trials.

Because God is holy, He cannot tolerate sin, and every one of us sins. But God still wants a relationship with us, so He has provided a way. God came to earth in the form of a man. That man’s name was Jesus, and He sacrificed Himself to pay the penalty for my sin, for your sin. Because He was God, He had never sinned and did not deserve the punishment of death on a cross, yet He took that punishment so that I would not have to. All I need to do to begin my relationship with God is ask His forgiveness for the sin that He took the punishment for. Then I can begin to know Him. Then I can have peace because I know He has everything under control and hope because I know He will use everything for good and will one day make everything right.

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