It seems to me that we are in that time of year when we think of the past and consider the future, perhaps more than at any other time of the year. Some of us have been known to make New Year’s Resolutions–those promises to ourselves that often do not endure beyond the first day of the year. But, our intentions were good.
I pray that, as you look back, you find occasion for rejoicing in the year that was. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort to get past some of the more sobering events–deaths of loved ones, family, health, and job issues, the sad state of our nation.
Paul was no stranger to suffering: “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in peril of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 2: 24-27). Not to mention imprisonments and, ultimately, execution. Most of us have not had most of those problems.
He wasn’t alone, of course: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). Notice that He suffered for every man, not just all men. And women. Each of us was the cause of His suffering, and each of us who accept His gift of salvation through grace will benefit individually from that sacrifice. So, Paul, the great apostle, suffered tremendously. Jesus suffered becoming human and dying for our sins. You and I suffer in this life, both the saved and unsaved alike. What’s the point?
Here is a thought: “I am come that they (each of us) might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Salvation does not take us out of the world, or give us some sort of utopian life in this world. God calls us into His service as warriors, servants, and even slaves, according to Paul. The reward is an eternity with Him, but there is a more present benefit that we need to cultivate, for it is always available to the believer. It is a life of abundant joy. “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony or our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation (our life) in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward” (2 Corinthians1:12).
I can only hit the highlights of that powerful verse:
Our outlook, our mood, is ours to choose. The more we stand on our own wisdom, the more we are affected by the world around us. The more we center our lives and thoughts on ourselves, the less satisfied we are. As a profitable exercise, do a word study in your Bible on JOY. It is a verb. It is not an emotion. We will be sad, tired, angry, happy, and all the other human emotions as events impact us. But the JOY given by the grace of God is without limit except for our failure to allow God to take control.
Our testimony and our conscience are strongly linked, and are expressed more by our actions than our words. They are either driven by our own ego, or as we grow in our relationship with God, by His manifestation through us.
The complexities of life (and the resultant frustrations due to family, relational and health problems) are often our own doing. We place ourselves in marginal situations. We are stress-driven. We get involved in too much. We don’t take time for fellowship with God through Bible study and prayer. We set our own priorities, instead of seeking His, and following the path He reveals. If your relational time with God is equivalent to one commercial on TV, you may be missing out on His message for you. He works on His schedule. His eternal clock has no hands on the dial.
Putting it all together, we depend upon our own wisdom instead of trusting God. We say we believe in Him as the Creator of all and the Savior of our souls, yet betray our insincerity by not trusting Him with our own lives.
The solution is not easy. We have to yield our egocentric ‘my way’ and, instead, trust Him, do our best to learn what He expects of us as unique individuals, and seek the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit in following His path, we center ourselves in the center of his grace, and have lives that are more satisfying and productive.
So, I will not have any resolutions this year except for this: to draw ever closer to my Savior through prayer and Bible study, endeavoring through His grace to serve Him more perfectly as He leads.
I pray that as you do the same–not in the same way, not on the same path, but as He leads–that the problems of the world will be dimmed by the JOY of the grace of God.