House Church Talk - as I live and complain

[jim.e.sutton at att.net]

Yesterday was a bad day for me.

It began very early with things going wrong.  As the day went along, things seemed to get worse and worse.  Nothing seemed to go my way.  And everything I set out to do seemed impossible to accomplish.

Whenever I tried to do even the smallest thing, I messed up.  And if I didn't mess it up, then someone else would mess it up.  Even in traffic, it seemed like every idiot in the county wanted to drive right in front of me.  And so on.

As you can see, I sometimes whine a lot.

And I whined a lot yesterday.  I kept trying to make sure that God knew just how I felt about the way things were going.  I complained.  I asked why.  I grumbled.

Later in the day, I went to the store for something.  On the way in, I finally looked up from my own cares long enough to see an older lady in the parking lot struggling to grab a can of soup.  It just kept rolling away from her on the slight grade.  She was frustrated because it just kept rolling away from her, and a couple in an expensive car was waiting on her to load up and leave.  I started over to help her but she finally caught the runaway can – but only with great difficulty.

I got the point: I'm not the only one in town who has problems.  And some folks are facing more trouble in a single day than I usually have in a month or two. 

My wife always says that when difficulties pile up, the devil is attacking us, trying to weaken or shatter our faith.  (And God allows this attack because in our weakness, His strength is made perfect -- thus defeating the enemy and increasing our faith.)

I agree with her in principle, and I often say the same thing to others.  But I'm reluctant to simply blame every little thing on someone else -- even the devil.  

You see, my relationship is with God, not the devil.  And so I don't really care what sort of plan, ambition or desire some demon might have.  Who cares what a loser wants to do?  And anyone who opposes God (as the devil and demons do) is a big-time loser.

Besides, I can often see where my own choices, or attitudes, or laziness, or whatever, has played a big part in producing unhappy circumstances in my life.  The Bible teaches me to take responsibility for my own mistakes and errors and sins.  Only as I take responsibility for my own shortcomings can I correct and improve unhappy patterns in my life.

So why give the devil more credit than he deserves?  I mean, he's already a loser.  But I seek to be a winner.  

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul writes about being a winner:

“Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may win it.  Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.  So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.”  (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

In Paul's comments, the Spirit of God is reminding us that our attitudes, behavior, and daily choices really do matter.  Lucifer fell from glory to become Satan.  The one who once exhibited the very light of God fell to become an adversary and enemy of all that is light and truth.  And it was all because of attitude and wrong choices.

And I can see some of the same attitudes and choices at work in my own life.  Just like when I go around mad at myself, mad at God, and mad at the world because everything is going wrong. [Translation: "going wrong" means "not going my way."  Gimme back my candy, my bottle, my old wet diaper.]

In order for me to become angry at my circumstances, I must believe that God has no right to control the situations and circumstances that unfold in a day.  And that's very wrong thinking.  I must be thinking, on some level down deep inside, that God is supposed to make me happy every day.  But that would make me God, and the Lord would then be my servant.  And that ain't gonna happen.

God has His own perfect plans and reasons and purposes at work for every human life, and for the universe itself.  As believers in Jesus Christ, our lives are significant.  In fact, every human life is significant to God.  Jesus said that not even a sparrow can fall to the earth without the heavenly Father's knowledge.  But the present day may not always be what we would prefer.  

Not even Jesus always got what He wanted.  The night before His execution, Jesus Himself asked the Father to remove the situation that required His death on the cross.  But in the end, He submitted to God's perfect will, saying, "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done."  (Mat thew 26:42)

So also we should be.  

It’s perfectly right and good for us to express our heart's desire to God.  That's what prayer is about -- opening our hearts in complete honesty to God.  But wisdom will also urge us to submit to God's perfect will -- even when it differs greatly from our own.  And as we submit to God's will in faith, He’ll give us the grace we need to endure whatever may come our way.

I find that I'm often helped in my attitudes when I'm willing to look beyond my own cares to see the needs of others, and stop concentrating so much on my own wants and wishes.  If I can help someone else to get through the day or to overcome some difficulty, then my own life seems to even out some.  But if I focus only on my own wishes and desires all day, then I'm usually in for a rough ride.  

God teaches us to look up.

God blesses all who trust in Him, but He spoils no one -- not even His own Beloved Son.  The Lord does not raise brats.  He instructs us, disciplines us, and teaches us in order to help us become mature in Christ.  God works on us, from the inside out, to give us the character and spirit of Christ Jesus our Lord.

I still have a long ways to go.  But with God's help I will grow up.  With God's grace, I will one day be perfect, through and through, as Jesus was when He walked this earth, and when He went to the cross, and even as He is today, at the Father's right hand.

By His grace I stand.  By His grace I live and grow.

Jim