“He will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives.” (I Corinthians 4:5)
I have had Afib for about 13 years now. It has resulted in numerous trips to the ER as well as taking heart medication three times a day. A recent episode of Afib sent me once again to the hospital. This latest episode has changed my cardiologists’ focus from the effects of my Afib, to discovering the cause of my heart condition. That change in focus is making me feel hopeful.
The law of cause and effect states that: Every effect has a specific and predictable cause. The effect of physical pain in your small toe, can be caused by the fact that you just ran into a table leg. The effect of emotional pain in your heart, can be caused by the fact that someone said something unkind to you. The effect of the joy you are feeling, can be caused by the good news you received. Cause and effect have been around since Adam and Eve when the effect of sin, was caused by disobedience to God.
Cause and effect makes sense to us. It is a principle we have grown-up with. So let’s apply this principle to the spiritual things we struggle with in our lives. For example, let’s say you are struggling with some unkind feelings toward someone. Perhaps they have wronged you in some way. You know the bible clearly teaches forgiveness. We are admonished to forgive as we have been forgiven (Colossians 3:13). But you find that easier said than done. The effect you are struggling with is hurt and anger, not a spirit of loving forgiveness. Truth be told, what would make you feel better is if they got what they deserve. When we struggle with those feelings, we need to realize there is a cause that we are perhaps not willing to see. In a situation like that, the cause is usually a bitter spirit we are not willing to deal with. When we don’t deal with the cause, it becomes like a snowball rolled down a hill, gathering more and more snow, until it becomes so large, it is an unmanageable effect, that damages our heart as well as our relationship with others who observe the poisoning of our heart.
When we are willing to take our emotional struggle to God and ask him to show us the cause that is in our heart, we will discover opportunities for God’s grace to work in our lives. Allowing God’s Spirit to reveal our private motives may be a painful experience. But it can also be one of the most freeing experiences we can have.
Darlene