How Can Jesus Change Your Equation?

A confession. Here is a deeply personal confession: I am not very good at math. This was very upsetting to my high school math teacher, who used to call me at home crying about my grades and telling me stories of his own academic struggles. My math struggles (and my teacher’s inappropriate behavior) actually became part of my testimony. The week after my parents intercepted his phone calls I was removed from his class.  The school transferred me to a World Religions course where I began a search for spiritual truth that led to Jesus. That class changed my life because Jesus changed my life. 

This has not changed. One thing that has not changed, however, is my struggle to understand complex mathematical concepts. I am great at simple arithmetic equations; I loved teaching math to my first graders. But life has given me a set of equations that add up to trouble when I try to solve them by myself. Here is one:

Cancer Fatigue + Homebound Isolation + Chronic Pain = Life Is Too Much to Bear

 What equations have you been adding up lately? We all have trials, struggles, and temptations. Adding up troubles without remembering to factor in God’s grace results in a burden that is greater than the sum of its parts. Adding Jesus to a difficult equation changes everything: 

(Jesus’ Strength in) Cancer Fatigue + (Jesus’ Presence in) Homebound Isolation + (Jesus’ Comfort in) My Pain = Living In Christ

I have added up my years of pain and suffering using the wrong calculations for far too long. There have been days when I believed:

To Live = Pain

It is easy to believe this when life is filled with suffering of any kind.

But Philippians 1:21 says:

To Live = Christ

Whenever you think:  I cannot bear any more pain or suffering. My life is too hard.

Replace that thought with this one: “To live is Christ.” 

 Jesus is greater than your deepest sorrow. He is sufficient to bear any load, cancel any shame, and comfort you in any loss. Jesus’ strength is greater than your greatest weakness. When you have Jesus, you have everything you need to endure life with chronic illness, cancer, or pain. Jesus changed every equation when he died and rose again to secure for us the infinite hope of eternal life.

Jesus is the Word that changes everything.