The
Christmas season seems to get busier and more frustrating every
year...as family needs increase and as retailers, merchants, service
providers, and shoppers all grow more stressed and irritable - causing
them to make mistakes or become negligent creating havoc for everyone.
I've vented about my own frustrating experiences on here way too much.
While I may feel the need to vent all the emotions out first so my heart
and mind are open to receive the lesson or a word from the Lord, I
cannot leave the venting out there without sharing the lesson or message
that followed.
I have found that I have a much better attitude about frustrating circumstances, unfair treatment, or persecution, when it's obvious persecution for Christ (Matthew 5:9). If it's spiritual warfare before a mission trip, I'm usually ready and armored up. (Ephesians 6: 10-18) If I'm being ridiculed, targeted, and treated unfairly by haters of God and His word because of my faith, then I'm not surprised and know to draw my strength from Him to bear it gladly. When facing gut-wrenching pain or grief, we believers know we are powerless on our own to get through it, so we trust only in our gracious God who possesses all power, authority, and sovereignty.
But the enemy knows our weaknesses. He knows how to distract us and when we are more likely to trust in our own strength instead of looking up to God. He also knows that he is more likely to lead us astray if he chips away at us, little by little, with small irritations and frustrations. Rude drivers, no-shows for costly appointments, miserable customer service, broken promises, wasted hours waiting, last minute cancellations, flight delays, weather changes, traffic jams.....all are so tiny taken by themselves, but when compounded on top of sleepless nights, endless to-do lists, unrealistic expectations, incessant demands....it can all combine to pull our eyes away from the one focus of our entire life - the One lover of our soul - the Creator and Lord over all the universe who spoke it all into existence with his spoken word and then sent His son to die for all our transgressions against Him. When we stop looking up at how big God is, suddenly all the frustrations of the holidays seem enormous. And they all seem somehow unspiritual (yes, I made up that word)...as if we should fight them with human "weapons" instead of donning the armor of God and resisting them with God's word and with prayer.
I enjoy resistance training, but I can't expect to sit on my bum for a month, and then bench press 300#s when the big attacks come. I get the best results when I consistently train each and every muscle group, little by little, every single week. I have to resist the weight, however. I can't just lie under a barbell, defeated. I have to press against it. The little efforts to oppose that weight consistently over time make me stronger and less prone to injury than if I only sporadically lifted weights when I thought I needed strength the most.
So all that to say the trivial inconveniences and annoyances in this
life have value - eternal value. Disrespect, offense, mistakes, lies,
mistreatment, and failures are a given in this life. And while God does
not tempt us or make us suffer, He sometimes allows attacks or suffering
into our lives, whether big or small, to strengthen us and make us holy
and for whatever greater purposes He may have which we cannot see with
our finite minds. He wants to redeem that which is broken, worldly, or
unjust in our lives, whether it seems spiritual or not. We have a
choice, though. We can whine and complain and refuse to draw on God's
power to resist it, or we can push back evil with good. We can resist
hatred with love, rude behavior with kindness, greed with charity, abuse
with compassion, and Satan's lies with God's truth. By relying on God
and choosing to respond according to His word, we become stronger in
every area of our lives and more like our heavenly Father.
While I often feel like all these irritations waste so much of my limited time on earth, I must remember that nothing is wasted with God. (1 Corinthians 15:58) May we bear it all, both the the little frustrations and the big, awful challenges or extreme persecutions life may bring us, with faith, courage, and hope, resting in His power, presence, and promises, looking not to our own interests but
only to Him.
I have found that I have a much better attitude about frustrating circumstances, unfair treatment, or persecution, when it's obvious persecution for Christ (Matthew 5:9). If it's spiritual warfare before a mission trip, I'm usually ready and armored up. (Ephesians 6: 10-18) If I'm being ridiculed, targeted, and treated unfairly by haters of God and His word because of my faith, then I'm not surprised and know to draw my strength from Him to bear it gladly. When facing gut-wrenching pain or grief, we believers know we are powerless on our own to get through it, so we trust only in our gracious God who possesses all power, authority, and sovereignty.
But the enemy knows our weaknesses. He knows how to distract us and when we are more likely to trust in our own strength instead of looking up to God. He also knows that he is more likely to lead us astray if he chips away at us, little by little, with small irritations and frustrations. Rude drivers, no-shows for costly appointments, miserable customer service, broken promises, wasted hours waiting, last minute cancellations, flight delays, weather changes, traffic jams.....all are so tiny taken by themselves, but when compounded on top of sleepless nights, endless to-do lists, unrealistic expectations, incessant demands....it can all combine to pull our eyes away from the one focus of our entire life - the One lover of our soul - the Creator and Lord over all the universe who spoke it all into existence with his spoken word and then sent His son to die for all our transgressions against Him. When we stop looking up at how big God is, suddenly all the frustrations of the holidays seem enormous. And they all seem somehow unspiritual (yes, I made up that word)...as if we should fight them with human "weapons" instead of donning the armor of God and resisting them with God's word and with prayer.
I enjoy resistance training, but I can't expect to sit on my bum for a month, and then bench press 300#s when the big attacks come. I get the best results when I consistently train each and every muscle group, little by little, every single week. I have to resist the weight, however. I can't just lie under a barbell, defeated. I have to press against it. The little efforts to oppose that weight consistently over time make me stronger and less prone to injury than if I only sporadically lifted weights when I thought I needed strength the most.
While I often feel like all these irritations waste so much of my limited time on earth, I must remember that nothing is wasted with God. (1 Corinthians 15:58) May we bear it all, both the the little frustrations and the big, awful challenges or extreme persecutions life may bring us, with faith, courage, and hope, resting in His power, presence, and promises, looking not to our own interests but
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