We are becoming more and more a nation that does whatever is needed to avoid suffering. Any and everything is done so we will not feel the pain. We also are a nation that is over-run with psychologists and they are thriving more than ever. (I could make a good living if I were licensed by the state!) I look at the church and I see many (especially preachers) that run for the nearest pill or support group because they simply cannot cope. I want you to know I am sensitive toward my brethren and their pain. Pain can crush and brutalize people. But the kind of pain most of us face is real and sharp and sometimes prolonged, but it can be overcome. I wonder what we are really doing in light of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
We are asked to consider our trials that come into our lives as joy (Jam. 1:2-4). It serves a great purpose for those in Christ. Trials that cause us misery are used to help our faith reach to the Lord and His strength, not withdraw into ourselves and live pitiful, miserable lives. God uses trials, not that He causes them, but uses them to our advantage if we will just have the right attitude and use them as stepping stones toward Him. If we are sinful in our attitudes or our lives are practicing things that are contrary to that of what God desires, He will bring pain into our lives to discipline us to get us back on the path (Heb. 12:4-13). Our Lord uses various difficulties to help our faith and causes pain to keep us pure. That's why we need a proper attitude and view in our suffering. Christian's do not suffer needlessly!!
He was a 7 year old boy that began his day by falling off the school bus and cutting his head. It required two stitches. Upon his return to school, at recess, he collided with another little boy splitting his lip. After lunch he fell and injured his arm so the school principal decided to send him home for the day. The principal put the boy in his car to drive him home. As they drove, the principal noticed him clutching something in his hand. He asked, "What do you have there?" The little boy looked at the principal and became all smiles, showing him a shiny quarter. "Where did you get that?" asked the principal. The boy told him he found it on the playground, then he joyfully let out the words, "I've never found a quarter before. This is the luckiest day ever for me!"
This is what the Lord means when we count things as joy. People find the real reason to rejoice because they know the relationship they have with the Lord and He will use their difficulties to bring good into their faith to strengthen it. We don't deny the pain or act like fools thinking you can't or won't hurt. To consider it as joy when your heart is hurting or you have been disciplined by the Lord means the difficulty is not your lord and master! It keeps one from self pity and taking them into the ruins of depression. I am not trying to be calloused toward those who have a deep trial or feel the pain at the loss of someone they loved. I am trying to get us to focus on the Lord and His intentions in all our struggles. It's easy to be happy, whistle a tune and go about enthusiastically when things are well, but what do we do with those difficult, dark times in our lives? What does the Lord want us to do? If we are in sin....repent and return! If we are hit with some various trial, consider it as joy knowing the Lord will use it for your strengthening! All of this takes a genuine faith. Bottom line, do we see our difficulties as an opportunity to grow or complain?
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