Have you ever heard the phrase “You have to practice what you preach”? It’s super annoying, isn’t it? But it is so important. You don’t have to be a preacher for this phrase to apply to you; you just have to feel passionate enough about something that you actually talk about it. Well, when you are a preacher you say a lot of things and you never know when God is going to ask you to practice… exactly… what you preach… at least to the best of your abilities.
Over these last two weeks I have felt like I have been caught in the middle of two sermons: the last one I preached at ACC and the one I was going to preach before my son Seth was admitted to the hospital for an aggressive case of Ocular Cellulitis—a fancy name for a really nasty bacterial infection around his eye. His unexpected two-week stay in Valley Children’s Hospital has given me plenty of opportunity to ask myself a very tough question: Do I really believe the things I say (aka, preach) or are they just words? Words are easy to say—so easy that most of us use above and beyond our word quota every day—but embodying those words is much tougher. What I mean by “embodying our words” is actually living out what we say, even when it’s difficult. Only then will we know that we really believe the things we say we believe.
Two weeks ago I preached on reflecting the glory of Christ in our lives in ordinary places… even places where we expect his glory the least: in our suffering. This is important because in times of suffering God’s glory will shine the brightest if we let him shine through us. After the news that Seth would need a second emergency eye surgery because the first one did not work, I began to unwind. My heart was breaking for my son, worrying about how all of this would jeopardize his vision, worrying about him going under the knife again, worrying about this awful infection spreading so quickly… worrying… worrying… worrying. I saw no point in any of this… especially his suffering.
And then I remembered the words that I spoke so easily but now struggled to live out, and through tears I mustered the strength to say to God, “Help us to reflect your glory through this.” It’s hard to reflect God when we are controlled by our worry; I had to let the worry go and let God fill me with his peace. Instead of anger, I had to receive His joy. When I became willing, even in my weakness, God did what I couldn’t, and he was faithful to answer my prayer. Family and friends arrived to wait with us, pray with us, and even laugh with us as we waited for the second surgery to end. Before I realized what I was thinking, I knew that Seth was going to be okay because even in this unexpected place God could be felt and seen in the hospital that night.
My challenge for all of us is to strive to embody the things we say we believe and when it’s too difficult for us to do on our own, let God carry us. If you are going through a difficult time, know that God is there and that if you are willing He will not only carry you through it, but He will shine his glory through you during it. It is only through Him that any of us can truly practice what we preach each and every day.
Ps. Seth is doing better, while he is still in the hospital he is improving a little bit more each day. We hope he will be released early next week and that life will return to “normal.”