Look Up

Acts 7:55

But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

In the verses to follow, stones fall down upon Stephen for crime of blasphemy, believing that Jesus is God. Humanity wants to be God but then when God became man, (a reversal of the order of the Fall) it ignited a fury untold. Stephen asks Jesus to receive his spirit and prays for his enemies and then dies.  

Stones fall in a world governed by gravity. Gravity puts a downward pressure on everything physical on earth. Recently, I have had a spate of back spasms from lifting weights on an old bench. I have two weight benches and one of them has a barbell stand. That is the one whose backing is not broad enough for my EXLT2 frame (Extra Long Tall Body 2x). In trying to recuperate my inflamed right elbow, I went back to lifting with the barbell rather than the dumbbells, which necessitated that I switch benches. But, then my back began  to ache. Can't win.

I deduced that the bench is not wide enough--and maybe even lifting with the barbell puts undue stress on my lower back. If I lift on the other bench with the dumbbells, the bench is is broader and I think the lifting trajectory puts the weight more on the shoulders rather than the center of the back. But, then my right elbow gets inflamed. The accounting of injury in getting older. Gravity geriatrics. I am working through it with aspirin, adjusting my lifting exercises, and a drinking a noxious brew of Indian spices that reduce inflammation. It is effectively and incrementally decreasing the pain.  

One principle for lifting anything heavy in defiance of gravity is to look up. The arc created of looking up structures the weight properly. True when shoveling snow, picking up the fridge, or a fat kid. Another principle is to build strong muscles in what is termed the core of the body (abs, lower back, glutes). Sit-ups are great for this. In fact, when I do sit-ups, my back often stops aching. The telltale sign of the sit-ups effectiveness is the cracking of my spine. It is like self-chiropracting. Maybe I should  submit a bill to my insurance company.  

There are spiritual parallels here.

In a morally fallen world, we are pressed down heavily by adversity. If we look to Jesus, like Stephen, we transcend this downward stoning (metaphorical for most of us. I hope). Adversity should cause us to cast our eyes upon Jesus, one who is well-acquainted with suffering. We are saved through the stones, not from the stones. I have recently come to see that during the last decade, it was precisely the grace of God, that undentable reality, that brought me through it. I took my hits but God's grace is above the stone throwing of this world. I guess I took that for granted. Don't take grace for granted.

The second principle about strengthening our core comes down to the old King James version term of bowels of mercies. "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering (Col. 3:12)." Suffering enlarges a soul willing to be widened. It can also narrow a soul into a sliver. Hard times make us harder or softer depending on  whether we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us for our good or not.   

I think this is related to principle # 1. We know that the mercy of God has and will sustain us through the slings, arrows, and stones of fate. We extend to others--even those that hurt us--the same spirit. It comes out us deeply as an expression of compassion. 

The stones can break forth grace or we can collect them, store them, and throw them back at our enemies. It is a process of God breaking those rocks of retaliation down  to dust. Lay down the stones, for the stone has been rolled away.  

* Never really though about the stone on the grave of Jesus being a representation of the Law. I suppose it was.