Tag: struggle

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Christian Living

Walking with Christ is worth it even if no one else walks beside us.

close up of a person's feet as they are walking as a symbol of us determining if we will walk with JesusSo I ended my previous post about walking with Christ with these words:

This life can be (and will be) a struggle, but God will be with you as you walk a difficult path due to difficult people. Keep pressing on with Him. Working with Him and walking with Him is worth it!

Though Jeremiah had a God-given purpose and was living in the very center of God’s will, he became frustrated because people would not listen to him and had turned against him. He was growing tired of the struggle of living for God while seemingly getting very little in return.

You might also find yourself in that place at some times in life. You may be thinking, “That’s where I am right now.” Though Jeremiah did complain to God about the situation, he followed up his complaint with some powerful words which tell us that even though he was frustrated, he did think that serving God was more important than his own discomfort. He was frustrated, but he knew that he wanted to serve God more than he wanted to be popular and more than he wanted to have an easy life. He said:

But if I say I’ll never mention the LORD or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It’s like a fire in my bones! I am worn out trying to hold it in! Indeed, I cannot do it!
I have heard the many rumors about me…. Even my old friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip….
But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior! Jeremiah 20:9-11

Jeremiah understood this truth:
Walking with Christ is worth it, even if no one else walks beside us.

Walking with Christ is worth it, because doing so will change our lives and it also has the power to change someone else’s life.

Let me end with an example from the Gulf Coast after Katrina had come through. One of my fellow church members was working with an organization to provide grants to people who needed assistance. One man came in and during his interview, he shared this with my friend:

“My entire life, I have been so bad to God. But ever since Katrina, He has been so good to me. Volunteers are rebuilding my house, God has provided for my needs through church people from other parts of our country, and I have a restored relationship with God. All of the loss and devastation that happened to me through Katrina was worth it for me to have a right relationship with God.”

Isn’t that what we want to hear someone say as a result of our involvement in their lives? That someone who was hurting is now healing? That someone who was Lost is now Found? And that it is due to them watching how you live your life as a ministry to them?

It is true that God has called you to a difficult task – to live for Him and be His hands and feet in the midst of difficult people (sinful people, of which you also are one), but He has a plan for using you to make a difference in the peoples’ lives that He has placed around you.

Let us be encouraged by what Jeremiah discovered, that though God has called us into a struggle of ministering to difficult people in difficult places, we are loved by Him and He is our great warrior, our mighty champion.

Let us not worry so much about how God might bless our lives, but let us consider how we might use our lives to bless the Lord, our great champion.

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Christian Living

Living in the center of God’s will can be a tremendous struggle.

a photo of a dartboard with a dart in the center symbolizing us trying to live in the center of God's will

My previous post was titled You Were Placed Where You Are For A Specific Purpose. Today, I want to share a little bit more about that idea, because sometimes our perfect obedience to God’s will puts us in the midst of a tremendous struggle.

So often, we seem to think that if we are in the center of God’s will, then everything will work out just right for us. But then we wonder what is wrong with us, because though we are striving to live for God, everything is NOT working out just right in our lives. If this is where you find yourself, wondering why you are struggling so much in the midst of serving God to the best of your ability… know that you are not alone and that you are in good company. Because that is exactly where Jeremiah found himself.

Jeremiah was told that God created him for a specific purpose. But when Jeremiah started living out that purpose, he felt frustrated. So frustrated in fact that he complained to God about it (have you ever been there? maybe you are there now?). Here is what he said about living and speaking for God and what it “got him in return” regarding respect and favor with others:

O LORD, you deceived me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs at me. When I speak, words burst out. “Violence and destruction!” [are the words You have me] shout. So these messages from the LORD have made me a household joke. Jeremiah 20:7-8

Jeremiah was tired of being in the center of God’s will, because he learned that it doesn’t always mean it will be easy, comfortable, safe, or peaceful. He was tired of the struggle. Maybe you are too. We live in a fallen world with sinful people all around us (and we ourselves are sinful, too). And all of this can make life very difficult, even when we are living for God… even when we are in the center of His will.

So Jeremiah learned what Jesus later says – that he is in the midst of unhealthy people who need healing (or rather a Healer) brought to them. That is the message that you have for others in the midst of this difficult and unhealthy world — That we are a bunch of sick people and we need a Savior. This is your message. This is your purpose.

Based on the words of the Bible, I believe that each of us who are Christ-followers are called to be like Jeremiah, which means that we will constantly struggle to help people who are far from God to begin to have a vision for what life can be like with God in control.

God has a plan for you, a purpose. You are special to Him and you are loved by Him – and you are to carry His love to the spiritually unhealthy people around you with the hope that God will use you to transform one person. Because even if your message and your life only transform one person – isn’t it worth it? For how do you weigh the value of someone’s eternal soul?

This life can be (and will be) a struggle, but God will be with you as you walk a difficult path due to difficult people. Keep pressing on with Him. Working with Him and walking with Him is worth it! Jeremiah found this to be true and says so in the next few verses. (Which I will share with you in my next post, but if you can’t wait that long, then go read Jeremiah 20:9-11.)

Categories
Christian Living

The Sweet Smell of Victory

What does victory smell like? What does it look like? fingers held up in a "v" for victory sign

Here’s a pretty good description:
“Here was the heart of the secret that I was struggling to grasp–I had to step aside and ask Someone else to do the fighting for me. And every time I thought of my particular battle – usually many times a day – I had to step consciously out of the way again and give gratitude to Him for the battle He was waging on my behalf right then. Sometimes it took days, sometimes longer, for evil was rarely flimsy but the outcome was sure; sure because He was and is the Lord of life. And sure, because evil is at the last always a coward that slinks away when finally challenged and faced down.”

Evil is rarely flimsy. That is a great reminder that Satan has had plenty of time to know what best tempts me. He knows which of his lies will work best to keep me feeling defeated. But fortunately the outcome is sure – sin, death, and Satan have ultimately been defeated by Jesus. We just need to hold onto the truth of His victory. And that can look different for each person, because each of us are dealing with different struggles. Therefore…

“Eventually the results of the victory would be there for anyone to see, whether in a healthy body or a restored mind; or a boy or girl whose values – all awry – were back in place; or a ruptured relationship healed; or, perhaps, just in the miracle of finding joy in what had once been a hateful task.”

I love this idea – that victory is there for us, and though it may look different for each of us depending on our struggle at the time, the Master Reconciler desires for us to find healing. And though the healing of a body is helpful to us in so many ways, the more important healings are seeing wrong values transformed, finding a broken relationship mended, and the miraculous healing of seeing a once hateful task changed into something we learn to do with joy.

This is the victorious life that can only be found in Christ.

What miraculous victories have you experienced?

(Quotes from the book “Christy” by Catherine Marshall)

— brian rushing