AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! This is too hard!!
Ever been drowning in a sea of debt? Some of it built by you, and much of it due to circumstances beyond your control? No matter what you do, it does not help and you can't seem to climb out of the hole. You are in danger of losing everything - your house, your vehicles, your utilities, things that are necessities. You want to scream and shout and at times, maybe you do? You go through the processes (sometimes lengthy and often tedious) of getting disability, food stamps, and government assistance all the while feeling ashamed because politically you have spoken against the abuse of these systems and feel like a hypocrite even though you legitimately need to use them. Yet somewhere deep down inside, there is a tiny spark of hope that it will all be OK?
Or maybe you are disabled, can't work, you want so much to provide for your family but you can't. If you are a man you feel as though you failed to be who and what you were raised to be and maybe as a woman your ability to physically nurture is severely hindered and so your success as a wife and/or mother comes into question in your mind. Still, deep down, there is that tiny spark of hope that it will all be OK.
Perhaps you made some serious mistakes, even though you knew better, and if you were Christian you were told not to but did it anyway. Now those mistakes have destroyed your career and damaged your marriage and relationships with friends as well as tarnished the image of Christ. The shame can be unbearable. And again, deep down, at the border of consciousness, there is that extremely tiny spark of hope that even with this, it will be OK.
Maybe you watched your parent, your sibling, your dear friend, your spouse, or your child as they breathed their last. Your world has been ripped apart and your heart rent beyond repair. The sorrow weighs so much that even breathing loses its autonomy. Even with this, there again, is that microscopic spark of hope, that it will be OK.
I ask you, can these circumstances be compared to immovable mountains? Do you know or remember to what Jesus Christ compared faith? He compared it to a mustard seed. Matt 17:For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. And in Mark 4:31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth He describes the mustard seed as being the smallest of all seeds.
Are you ready to connect my dots? No? Sokay. Let me back track a little to the tiny sparks I mentioned previously. Those sparks, in the circumstances that I described, are very small and if you have ever been in those or similar conditions, you know that when I say spark, it is indeed, just a glimmer. Many people in these circumstances opt out, sometimes permanently, often chemically, and or other forms of self-destruction. While Christians are not immune to this, in general, the opt-out option is chosen by non-believers. Why? Do unbelievers not experience hope? No, I am sure they do. The difference is (ready? here is the connector) that for Christians, the tiny glimmer is the same as the tiny mustard seed. It is their faith in God, the God of Abraham, Issac, and David, the God who in the form of Jesus Christ took on our punishment so that we can be saved and justified by that faith, is that which carries them through. It gives them the ability to move, surmount and overcome the mountains that life gives us and God allows. Not by their own strength, talent, or abilities but by God's.
Let's not kid ourselves either. I am not talking about a superman toss. I am talking about your face planted in the dirt making mud with the tears of agony, frustration, grief, and fear. Crawling forward at times. At times walking, At times climbing, And even sometimes flying. But never just a single one, always a combination of all.
OK. What is my point? Seems like a long explanation of bad things that can, do, and will happen to almost everyone. Well if you have not figured it out, for we who believe, hope = faith. Well, duh right? Really? R-e-a-l-l-y? I am not sure that even all believers truly believe this. But here it is. As I have said, non-believers hope too. In what is their hope placed? The universe? Random chance? Unfounded evolution? Science? New Age? Secular Humanism (I love using that term because it makes me seem smart as a Christian)? Etc,etc? There are no absolutes in any of those and when it all boils down, in order for hope to be secure, or founded, even a tiny glimmer, there must be absolutes. The God in whom we believers place our hope, our faith, is a God of absolutes and has proven it. Not because He needed to but because He loves us and knows that we needed Him to. Not true? Read the bible and compare it to the facts of history. It is there. Lot of work I know. But we are a stubborn and stiff-necked generation, and if American, desire everything spoon-fed. So if you don't believe, do the work. If you don't believe but are saved because you did believe in the redeeming power of Christ, ask God. He gave you the ability to do so.
Those of you who know me, know that some of the above stated circumstances have been personally experienced. Those of you who know me well, know that most of them have been experienced and those who know me intimately (please don't make the mistake of equating intimacy with only sex) know that I have experienced all of them. So does that make me a "hero of the faith" (don't you just love Christianeese)? No way! When I am and have been under a trial or suffering, I rant, I whine, I accuse myself, the devil, squirm and cry, beg God for relief, yell at him for letting it happen, ask why and why me, or why them, etc. Spend hours explaining to him that I am not Job, Abraham, or David, as if He was not aware of it. When I finally calm down and resolve myself to the situation, I repent, ask for His forgiveness, ask for His wisdom, ask for His courage, ask for His strength, and sometimes, because I am a fallen weasel, try to ask for a short cut or quick fix.
So, when facing trials, suffering, and hard times, if you are a believer, know that the hope you have comes from your God and is the faith in Him which He has given you. If you are not a believer, maybe you should consider it so that the hope you have can become a firm foundation and not just a figment of your imagination and when it becomes a mustard seed it will grow into a huge tree and thereby gaining you access to the kingdom of heaven - Matt 13:31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
Or maybe you are disabled, can't work, you want so much to provide for your family but you can't. If you are a man you feel as though you failed to be who and what you were raised to be and maybe as a woman your ability to physically nurture is severely hindered and so your success as a wife and/or mother comes into question in your mind. Still, deep down, there is that tiny spark of hope that it will all be OK.
Perhaps you made some serious mistakes, even though you knew better, and if you were Christian you were told not to but did it anyway. Now those mistakes have destroyed your career and damaged your marriage and relationships with friends as well as tarnished the image of Christ. The shame can be unbearable. And again, deep down, at the border of consciousness, there is that extremely tiny spark of hope that even with this, it will be OK.
Maybe you watched your parent, your sibling, your dear friend, your spouse, or your child as they breathed their last. Your world has been ripped apart and your heart rent beyond repair. The sorrow weighs so much that even breathing loses its autonomy. Even with this, there again, is that microscopic spark of hope, that it will be OK.
I ask you, can these circumstances be compared to immovable mountains? Do you know or remember to what Jesus Christ compared faith? He compared it to a mustard seed. Matt 17:For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. And in Mark 4:31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth He describes the mustard seed as being the smallest of all seeds.
Are you ready to connect my dots? No? Sokay. Let me back track a little to the tiny sparks I mentioned previously. Those sparks, in the circumstances that I described, are very small and if you have ever been in those or similar conditions, you know that when I say spark, it is indeed, just a glimmer. Many people in these circumstances opt out, sometimes permanently, often chemically, and or other forms of self-destruction. While Christians are not immune to this, in general, the opt-out option is chosen by non-believers. Why? Do unbelievers not experience hope? No, I am sure they do. The difference is (ready? here is the connector) that for Christians, the tiny glimmer is the same as the tiny mustard seed. It is their faith in God, the God of Abraham, Issac, and David, the God who in the form of Jesus Christ took on our punishment so that we can be saved and justified by that faith, is that which carries them through. It gives them the ability to move, surmount and overcome the mountains that life gives us and God allows. Not by their own strength, talent, or abilities but by God's.
Let's not kid ourselves either. I am not talking about a superman toss. I am talking about your face planted in the dirt making mud with the tears of agony, frustration, grief, and fear. Crawling forward at times. At times walking, At times climbing, And even sometimes flying. But never just a single one, always a combination of all.
OK. What is my point? Seems like a long explanation of bad things that can, do, and will happen to almost everyone. Well if you have not figured it out, for we who believe, hope = faith. Well, duh right? Really? R-e-a-l-l-y? I am not sure that even all believers truly believe this. But here it is. As I have said, non-believers hope too. In what is their hope placed? The universe? Random chance? Unfounded evolution? Science? New Age? Secular Humanism (I love using that term because it makes me seem smart as a Christian)? Etc,etc? There are no absolutes in any of those and when it all boils down, in order for hope to be secure, or founded, even a tiny glimmer, there must be absolutes. The God in whom we believers place our hope, our faith, is a God of absolutes and has proven it. Not because He needed to but because He loves us and knows that we needed Him to. Not true? Read the bible and compare it to the facts of history. It is there. Lot of work I know. But we are a stubborn and stiff-necked generation, and if American, desire everything spoon-fed. So if you don't believe, do the work. If you don't believe but are saved because you did believe in the redeeming power of Christ, ask God. He gave you the ability to do so.
Those of you who know me, know that some of the above stated circumstances have been personally experienced. Those of you who know me well, know that most of them have been experienced and those who know me intimately (please don't make the mistake of equating intimacy with only sex) know that I have experienced all of them. So does that make me a "hero of the faith" (don't you just love Christianeese)? No way! When I am and have been under a trial or suffering, I rant, I whine, I accuse myself, the devil, squirm and cry, beg God for relief, yell at him for letting it happen, ask why and why me, or why them, etc. Spend hours explaining to him that I am not Job, Abraham, or David, as if He was not aware of it. When I finally calm down and resolve myself to the situation, I repent, ask for His forgiveness, ask for His wisdom, ask for His courage, ask for His strength, and sometimes, because I am a fallen weasel, try to ask for a short cut or quick fix.
So, when facing trials, suffering, and hard times, if you are a believer, know that the hope you have comes from your God and is the faith in Him which He has given you. If you are not a believer, maybe you should consider it so that the hope you have can become a firm foundation and not just a figment of your imagination and when it becomes a mustard seed it will grow into a huge tree and thereby gaining you access to the kingdom of heaven - Matt 13:31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
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