A Struggle, A Wham!, A Shock and a Thought!

What can you say to someone trying their very best to do what you asked? 

Here was Christie, a young person with all sorts of problems in her life.

Her husband was diagnosed with cancer, which actually floored her completely and really knocked her off her feet. She was also diagnosed with a tumour around the same time, which, as she said, "Praise God that it is non-cancerous," and she had to get back to work to try to make ends meet.

It certainly was a struggle for Christie. Just like when Jesus came to earth as a baby - it must have been a struggle for him. As a baby, he wouldn't have known anything at all; as he grew, he knew why he was here and what was in store for him.

Jesus really was God in three persons, here on earth to do what was needed. He had to give his life for the world, taking upon himself the very sins of the whole universe and killing them there on the cross on Calvary. How does that work? Then let's think about it as we progress with our blog.

Christie had resigned from her work as a Dental Assistant when she had her family. She had three children, and the youngest was still quite small and in the infants class at the local school when her husband, Den, was diagnosed with severe and debilitating cancer, losing the ability to walk, and he had to give up his job.

Den had been a Plumber and ran his own business and had been doing that for years, and he and Christie were completely happy, albeit very busy. Christie did all the paperwork, and Den ran the plumbing business, including buying all the gear to complete all the jobs.

So, after the bad news and thinking about what she should do, Christie decided to start her own business. Together with her aunt, she opened up a cleaning business, and she bought a lot of cleaning gear, and started advertising. WHAM! What a success the business turned out to be! She was overwhelmed!

Jesus must have been overwhelmed as well, but he tried hard to keep a lot of it away from the public eye because he knew what was in store for him, and he really needed to get as much done as he could before the end came suddenly.

Christie had a lot of customers, and a new person contacted her for a viewing of the house to be cleaned. She went along and was totally in awe of the house; it was a total disaster! Obviously, there had been no one cleaning the home at all. It was in total disarray and filthy. There were toys actually thrown around the whole house. Christie was amazed when she found out that there was only one three-year-old child there, and he obviously was in charge of the toys and what he could do with them.

Jesus, like Christie, had a huge struggle while he was here on earth. 

He was constantly followed by the crowds, and he performed so many miracles and taught so many amazing messages and told a lot of parables. All because he really wanted to get the Word of God out to the many people who had gathered around him.

Christie accepted the challenge of the home, and the lady too was accepting but seemingly not that happy to have Christie cleaning her home. Christie went home and organised an appropriate time and contacted the lady, who seemed to be ok about the time and expense.

The day arrived, and she got to work and started cleaning and straightening up the new client's house. The client stayed for a while, then went off somewhere and left Christie to it. She was a bit shocked by the toys and things all scattered around the lounge room. Even the three lounge chair pillows were thrown off the lounge and were all over the floor. The kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off - not that it had; it just looked that way. The floor was a disaster, and so were the two bathrooms.

She worked hard, putting the lounge together, picking up toys, chalk, papers, toy tents, food, glittering stickers stuck to the carpet, empty cardboard boxes, etc. Then into the kitchen she went and was totally shocked, but washed up dishes and straightened up the benches. Then to the bathrooms. Soap and grime all over the tiles, hair and toothpaste all over the basin. Toys thrown into the bath and all the glass in the shower recesses caked with grime.

Then came cleaning the toilets in both bathrooms. Into the bedrooms, making the beds and dusting the windows and sills. Then all the vacuuming started after all the dusting was completed.

Well, things were different in Jesus' time. He went up to a mountain and sat down, and his disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. Read it in the Bible in Matthew chapter 5. "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." What Jesus was saying here is not to let things get the better of you. Glorify God in everything we do, say, and practice. He taught us then and still is after all those years; the crowd was there, and he taught them also.

He was saying that you must be so willing to show the crowds just how important it is to give your life to God and make him the most important person in your life. Jesus wasn't a meek and mild person, not by any means. He was so willing to put others ahead of him, speak to the poor and needy, BUT he stood up to those who were also self-important and pushing and gauging themselves through life in whatever situation in which they found themselves.

That's what being a Christian means; we give ourselves to God, but it doesn't mean that you accept anything and everything, but also remembering that you do not put yourself ahead of them in any situation in which you find yourself.

That is how Christie happened to find herself after she left that house and came back the next time. The house was in a total disarray once again. The lady was there and immediately took Christie into one of the bathrooms and told her she was very disappointed that Christie hadn't cleaned behind the bathroom sink tap properly! Christie was shocked, especially after everything she had done.

Christie reacted quite differently. She was calm but not ready to be belittled. She asked the lady if she would prefer to employ another cleaner and also explained that the time required of her was always going to be a problem, considering the state of the home.

The lady was utterly gobsmacked to hear what Christie had to say and also that she was so calm about the whole thing; she was also so shocked that Christie was also prepared not to come back. Christie was so calm but also was quite firm in her reasoning.

The lady was immediately apologetic, and suddenly must have realised that the state of the home was disastrous, as well as being so unreasonable to clean, considering what a state it was in. She was the one who ended up apologizing to Christie, not the other way around.

It is amazing how the world often sees Christianity and Jesus as meek and mild, with no personality or reasonableness. As Christians, it is so important to put others ahead of ourselves but also not to sit back and accept everything, especially when the world puts God down. So many people these days use "Jesus" as a swear word, something I can't possibly accept, and I doubt I ever will. I would have to tell the person that I don't accept you saying that.

Jesus stood up to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law - you can read all about it in the Bible in Mark 12: 38-40 or Luke 11: 37-52 or again in Luke 20: 45-47, so you can see he wasn't afraid to stand up for what he believed at all. He was no meek and mild little person. He believed strongly in the right thing and the right time. Actually, the whole of Matthew 23 in the Bible is quite a great passage to read.

Jesus actually was persecuted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and was executed horribly on that cross, and again the question is: why? Well, Jesus died taking all of our sins and paying the price for us. 

All we have to do is accept what he did and ask him to come into our lives and lead us. His death killed our sins; he is the total ruler of our lives. Once we have given our lives to him after what he did for us on Calvary, then we can live our lives knowing that Jesus not only died for us but took our sins upon himself, and all we have to do is accept that and ask him to lead our lives in every situation.

How do you find yourself in all of this?

Hope to see you next time. God bless you.