For God's glory...

Dr. Patton, the neuropsychologist who has put me through hours of psychological testing over the past two weeks, looked across the table at me this past Tuesday afternoon and said, “You have ADHD. I knew it before,” he added, “but now we have it on paper.”

What made his diagnosis so suddenly sure? It was the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test I’d just completed. I won’t take up a bunch of time describing the test. You can Google it easily enough if you’re curious. All you need to know is that it measures frontal lobe function and I failed it miserably.

The significance? Attention Deficit Disorder – whether it’s mainly inattentive or impulsive hyperactive or a combination of the two – is a neurological disorder caused, it is believed, by a dysfunction of a portion of the frontal lobe of the brain. The frontal lobe is the part of the brain that controls learned behaviors, memory retention, moral choices and the like. In ADD or ADHD, a control center malfunction causes chaos.

Dr. Patton explained it this way to me during my first visit to his office. If the brain with all its many functions were the multiple officers on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise on Star Trek, in those with attention deficit, everyone is working diligently, but the captain is asleep. There’s “no one” to organize the many inputs and outputs taking place in the brain and so disorder rules.

The person affected by this disorder has trouble concentrating on tasks, especially things they find tedious, for extended periods of time. They tend to forget things more easily because they are unable to pay close attention to what they are being told. They hyperfocus on things they find interesting, talking about them constantly, changing the subject to their pet topic in conversations, pursuing their hobbies with great passion. They blurt out things that those with a properly functioning command center would likely suppress.

They, it turns out, is me. I have ADHD. (That still sounds weird when I say it.) I have a frontal lobe that doesn’t function quite right. I struggle with inattentiveness. I battle impulsiveness. I hyperfocus on my interests. I hyperact and hyperspeak.

So why am I telling you all this? I’m telling you about my weakness so that God can receive glory and you can be encouraged in your walk with him. You may be asking: How does God get any glory from a brain malfunction? That’s a fair enough question. I think I have an answer. And, the related question begs to be asked, how can anyone get any faith encouragement from this diagnosis? Another good question. I’ll do my best to give a satisfying answer.

How can any person bring God glory? Jesus says something about this as does Paul. Let’s listen to Jesus’ words first and then to those of his servant, remembering that both are important to hear. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV)

Speaking to his disciples, our Master said this: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16, NIV)

The word translated “praise” in verse 16 in the New International Version is translated “glorify” in the New American Standard Bible and the King James Version. The word carries with it the idea of bringing honor to another. It has to do with esteeming another, worshipping, praising. So the first way a person can bring glory to God, according to Jesus, is by doing good deeds. When others see the goodness and kindness of God’s followers, they praise God. Some believe on him for salvation because of a friend’s loving action. I’m glad to be part of a congregation of saints whose actions usually point people to Jesus.

Now for Paul’s words on glorifying God. At the beginning of 2 Corinthians 12 chapter Paul talks obliquely about this man who had a vision of Heaven. This man was caught up to Paradise. There he heard inexpressible things, things he was not allowed to tell. This man Paul tells about, it’s likely, is he himself. He doesn’t come out and say it plainly, but there are enough hints that point in that direction.

Look at what the apostle writes after this: “I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:5-10, NIV)

What do these words imply about bringing glory to God? They suggest that when God uses someone despite their weakness or weaknesses, God’s power is made most evident. Those with physical ailments or handicaps of any kind who put their trust in God and allow him to work in and through them, draw attention to God. God is seen in their courage to face each day with its struggles. God is praised because he gives peace in the midst of difficult circumstances. God is honored when the weakest among his people trusts him, depends on him, clings desperately to him even when all is not miraculously made right in their lives.

Tuesday after I left Dr. Patton’s office, I drove around town running a few errands. While I drove and walked through stores, I thought. I thought and I prayed trying to wrap my mind around this strange disorder that had often throughout my lifetime caused me to be at odds with others. My speaking without thinking and acting on impulse had started more than enough conflicts with others and my inattentiveness to my friends had caused occasional, temporary rifts.

As I prayed and thought and thought and prayed I came to this conclusion: God made me this way for a purpose: to display his glory. If I, a person with ADHD, could live a life that showed self-control it would bring praise to God the Father. Such an attribute in the life of someone supposedly incapable of showing restraint would be convincing evidence of the Spirit’s power at work. I decided somewhere along the way to and fro in north Wichita to show the world what a faithful follower of Jesus with ADHD looks like – not for my glory, but for the Father’s honor.

You can do the same in your life. No matter what your weakness. Weak people of every stripe can bring God glory by letting the world see his strength through them. Those who have been abused can bring God glory as they allow his joy to overcome their grief and anger. Those who are disabled or who care for the disabled can bring God glory as they display the Spirit’s gentleness and patience. Those who are diseased can bring God glory as they trust God and he gives his peace that passes all understanding. Those who are poor or bereaved or who were addicted or doubting can bring God glory through the love and kindness and goodness and faithfulness the Spirit creates in them and shows to the world. Those with ADHD or any other psychological or neurological or emotional disorder can bring glory to God by trusting him and seeking his self-control in their lives.

With God’s help, I’m going to live for God’s glory. Will you do the same? Whatever your weakness, God’s power can be displayed in you if you will trust him.

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