Dear Crosswalkers,
Stephen Colbert is the often irreverent and controversial funnyman who hosts his own show on the Comedy Central Network entitled "The Colbert Report" (pronounced "Colbear Repoor"). He seems to be a political liberal who dons the persona of a politically incorrect political conservative for laughs, and he gets a lot of them! Here is his lampooning of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I have a Dream" speech:
Dr King envisioned a day when the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners, could sit down together at the table of brotherhood. For a feast of plenty. I believe that day has come. And what I wanna know is... what will we have for dessert? I can't speak for others, but for my own part... I have a dreamsicle! [Holds up a popsicle]. Mr King saw the South sweltering with the heat of oppression! Well, what better way to cool off than with a frozen... tasty confection? I have... a dreamsicle!
He's a funny guy! Sometimes, however, his sense of humor is derisive and disrespectful, and loaded with a heaping helping of sarcasm. Knowing this, I was pleasantly surprised to read that the New York Times Magazine ran a story about the faith of Stephen Colbert on January 4 of this year. Here's a portion of what the article says:
In 1974, when Colbert was 10, his father, a doctor, and his brothers Peter and Paul, the two closest to him in age, died in a plane crash while flying to a prep school in New England. "There's a common explanation that profound sadness leads to someone's becoming a comedian, but I'm not sure that's a proven equation in my case," he told me. "I'm not bitter about what happened to me as a child, and my mother was instrumental in keeping me from being so." He added, in a tone so humble and sincere that his character would never have used it: "She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless of what that entailed, and that's directly related to the image of Christ on the cross and the example of sacrifice that he gave us. What she taught me is that the deliverance God offers you from pain is not no pain— it's that the pain is actually a gift. What's the option? God doesn't really give you another choice."
Wow. His mama taught him that the deliverance God offers is not the absence of pain, but the recognition that pain is a gift! Sometimes it is not only the best way but the only way to bring us to the place where he wants us to be. This is why Alexander Solzhenitsyn thanks God for his suffering in the Gulag, and Chuck Colson thanks God for his time in prison. They recognize that those painful situations were God's gift to them!
The apostle Paul wrote:
God said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
May God grant us the grace to accept painful situations as gifts with a purpose!
Blessings,
Pastor John
No comments:
Post a Comment