What do you suppose is the hardest thing about being a follower of Christ?
Have you ever thought about that?
I have!
In fact I was thinking about this subject again just last night. There are many difficulties that we face as Christians:
Resisting temptation, “turning the other cheek”, offering forgiveness to those who have wronged us, finding the will of God for our lives, giving back a portion of our money and time to God, withstanding peer pressure and the urge to be politically correct to name a few, but I sometimes wonder if perhaps the most difficult assignment is to be “joyful” when you fall into various trials and tribulation.
As an ordinary human I tend to find some of God’s commands impossible to follow. Jesus is the only person who ever lived on this earth that could follow all of God’s commands to the letter and never commit even one tiny little sin . . . ever!
Hmmm . . . He was divine! – I’m mere flesh.
That’s why I made the verse found in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” my life’s verse. I do what I can and then God carries me over the goal line.
Anyone who picks up a Bible and even gives it some cursory study will find that trials are going to come our way whether we are a follower of Christ or not. Bad things happen to good people and it rains on the righteous just like the unrighteous without favor so we better prepare ourselves for the hurricanes of life that approach.
The Bible has a wealth of useful information in it regarding how to successfully weather the storms of this fallen world.
- We’re told that the ultimate result of them is to our benefit
- We’re told that God will be with us every step of the way and He will help us withstand the onslaught
- We’re told to be “joyful” when we experience trials.
Huh?
How hard is that?
What if your house burned down, your best friend, (your loving dog) died, you grew a large ugly wart on your nose, you were identified as the person who passed gas in the elevator and subsequently were fired, you were diagnosed with leprosy, your kids were arrested for taking drugs, and somehow Obama got re-elected to a third term?
Sound joyful?
So you tell yourself, “I’m a Christian, I know this life is but a vapor but an eternity of bliss that lasts forever awaits me. The temporal pain that I suffer now will be replaced with unimaginable happiness forever. My current suffering is building patience and endurance, and I am actually benefitting from it – Oh the joy of it all!”
Yeah right . . .
It all “sounds” logical, yet logic does little to ease pain and worry. It’s kind of like hitting your thumb with a hammer. We can logically comprehend that it will stop hurting . . . eventually . . . but when that hammer hits, It hurts!!!!
What is the answer? God is the only answer. We must pray without ceasing. I assume that our prayer should not be for the trials to be taken away, but that God would build strength within us to endure whatever is served up to us. Prayer for patience and perseverance and for God to provide that which we cannot provide for ourselves is the only answer I can come up with.
David Wilkerson, author of “The Cross and the Switchblade” and founder of Teen Challenge, once preached, “In order to have true passion for Christ we must be baptized in anguish”. Christ endured a baptism of anguish on the cross that no man, woman, or child can ever imagine. God didn’t spare His only Son in order that we might live. He suffered the most enduring trials that anyone has ever endured on our behalves, and the end result was the defeat of this world and its tragedy, grief, sin and death.
God wants us to realize that we must rely on “Him”, and not ourselves. Everything in this world is temporary aside from God and our eternal spirits and the quicker that we realize this axiom and turn to Him with unwavering faith, the better.
There will be no “joy in Mudville” apart from God, so when the storm approaches, hunker down, grit your teeth, and await the bluebird blue sky that always follows and replaces those dark menacing storms.
James 1:2
My brethren, count it all joy
when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith
produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect
work, that you may be perfect and
complete lacking nothing.
November 5, 2013 – Click here to listen