We Just Keep Walking                     by Carl McMurray

     

A while back I counseled with a beautiful young lady who excelled in all her school activities, was envied by other girls, always had a boyfriend and made it a habit to vomit after every meal. On another occasion, a different young woman went to the other extreme. She would open a half gallon of ice cream and not stop until she finished it off. She drank chocolate syrup straight from the bottle. Her children never got popsicles or candy because she ate them all. One starves herself because she is starving for affection and attention and unhappy without it. One stuffs herself because she is empty inside and finds emotional comfort in eating.

 

People hurt themselves because they are hurting already. Reality is just too hard to bear so someone will sniff, drink, shoot or smoke poison into themselves to escape for awhile. Daughters who don’t get a fathers proper love will become promiscuous to get some type of love. Young people will cut themselves because that pain makes them forget about the pain welling up inside them. And every few minutes across this country someone makes the mistake of thinking that death is preferable to life, and is successful in their effort. Why are people this way?

 

I believe Paul hits the mark in Ephesians 2:12 when he reminds those Christians of their former lives when they were “separate from Christ.” He reminds them that at that time they were “having no hope and without God in the world.” People are unhappy because they think they are worthless. Without God we are no more than animals walking upright. We have no hope. There is nothing better for us than a dirt blanket and we have no value beyond what the world thinks of our skills, our money, or our looks. Our self-image is handed to us on a dirty plate.

 

In Christ however, things change. No longer believing the “prince of the power of the air,”(Eph. 2:2) we understand that we have worth because we are the special creation of God, we are not just evolved animals. We have hope because we are destined for better things than this life. We don’t desperately rely on the love of others, because we know one who desperately loves us just as we are. He even died for us in our sinful state to show us that love and to encourage us to rise up and live. We don’t need to “escape” this life, because we are here for a reason and we’re using this life to seek opportunities. Christians know that the worst kind of pain is the pain inside and that is tied to sin and selfishness. In real forgiveness that pain subsides and healing takes place. The world is the way it is, because Satan lives here and is a skillful liar. The child of God puts his hand in God’s hand and just keeps walking.