Acts 13:51,52
“But shaking the dust off their feet against them, they
proceeded to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy
Spirit.”
You
take hits, and you take tumbles. And when you are on the ground you will get
kicked. Hits and falls are inevitable, right? You can’t avoid what will come to
pass. There are great resources out there about picking yourself up by the
bootstraps and carrying on. It’s a common theme from old testament themes to
WWII the slogan for the British Isles, cleverly, “Keep Calm and Carry On.” I
can think of no better motto for ones life.
One
could assume that tumbles and falls are associated with a poor prayer life. I
beg to differ. Romans 8 talks of suffering and how suffering is life with
Jesus. The book of Psalms is full of several accounts of suffering. Now the
word suffering is such a general word, why would we want to use that word? It
ranges from being short for your bills to cancer and broken limbs. Let’s
streamline this entry and just lump every single suffering, tribulation, hard
time, challenge etc. into one word and we’ll use challenge, yes challenge.
Doing your taxes is challenging, finishing a test is challenging; walking
through surgery and cancer is challenging, parenting (from what I can witness
and hear) is challenging. Yes, from now on, for this essay, Challenges is the
word for everything unless otherwise specified.
How
can Christ relate to our challenges? After all, the Bible does say that Christ
can relate to our sufferings. The
goodness and glory that is given to us by grace is something that was worked
for with blood and pain. Christ suffers with us. Bottom line. Jesus is
relatable to anyone in the world with any condition. Tempted and tried like us,
except he defeated temptation and trial. [i]
The power behind Jesus is great. So great in fact, that when He died, the world
changed and life changed, death changed[ii].
So great, even His name is power.[iii]
Bottom line, Jesus is the way to true power, more so, to true life.
Back
to “challenges”; our standard, as Christians, has been set high from the time
of Moses. The effect of challenges and things on a young adult can be just as
powerful as a mature adult. Only, we are learning how to take hits. We aren’t
used to them, when we were adolescents our parents, mentors and educators took
our hits for us, or at least lessened their blow. Now we take our own
challenges. We pay the bills, we get our own credit cards, we make our own
money. For the majority of Twenty-something’s in America, life, real life, is
beginning. Many of us are getting married and having kids. We are taking the
proverbial first flight, cutting our safety net. Gander on into Acts and you’ll
find a church that was starting to take on it’s responsibility, you could say
that they were starting to pay their own bills, and cut their safety net.
We
can consider it great joy when we face trials, and we can dust ourselves off
and proceed with what we are to do, and that’s to share Jesus with those who don’t
know Him. To show love to those who are hard to love and to those who will not
welcome you. Jesus tells the disciples “If anyone will not welcome you or
listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or
town.”[iv]
Community, do not dwell on the things that hurt your feelings, challenges that
get the best of you or when you get run out of town. That’s ok, just dust
yourself off and try again. God brings grace, and love for a reason.
Bottom
Line: Whenever we face opposition, it’s no big deal. Just dust yourself off and
move on with Jesus. You cannot let a wall keep you from being able to share
Jesus or progress in Life, School, Work, your Marriage etc. Keep Calm, and Carry On....
Matthew
10:22-23
“You
will be hated by everyone because of My name. But the one who endures to the
end will be delivered. When they persecute you in one town, escape to another.
For I assure you: You will not have covered the towns of Israel before the Son
of Man comes.”
[i]
Matthew 4:1-11
[ii]
The Jewish view of death is that of Sheol. A time at which even with atonements
and sacrifices one could still go to Hades, the land of the Dead, and have to
wait for the Messiah to come. When Jesus died, it was finished and He “led
captivity captive” Death could not hold Jesus, even covered in every sin in the
world and time.
[iii]
Acts 3:6-7, When Peter said to the man, “In the name of Jesus Christ the
Nazareth…” He walked….. When we do things in our own name[power] we can and
will fail; however, when using the name of King Jesus, things get done.
[iv]
Matthew 10:14
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