Tools for Growth
I'm calling this one Tools for Growth because that phrase came to mind as I lay in bed earlier, after being woken by a dog barking outside; their owners don't seem to care about their dogs being heard streets away by dozens of houses—sometimes very early in the morning, sometimes after midnight, and often through the day too.
I was thinking about how that's been a consistent problem for me (interrupting both sleep and overall peace and quiet), and about all the rabbit trails our minds can go down when we deal with things we find frustrating or distressing. When I tried to describe that initial reaction to myself, the first word that came was "resistance"—maybe even strive, like working against the things that displease us in life.
When I recognized resistance as that first response, I realized the opportunity is not to resist the friction and the unpleasantness. Working through all the things you could do in your mind can lead you down some really sinful paths if you give in to your vengeful side or the old man's malevolent side. Paul calls the unregenerate children of wrath; the flesh is still not regenerated and remains full of sinful desires that lead to the works of the flesh. All of that naturally grows out of resisting the things we don't like happening to us.
Isn't it interesting how both "Resist" and "Resistance" have become literal t-shirt slogans by some secular movements? It's usually focused toward "authority" too; a whole other teaching in itself, but it does show it to be a concept embraced by many. They see things (or people) they don't like, so their answer as a way of life to is to resist.
Maybe the answer is to see them (the hard situations and people) as tools in the hand of a sovereign God—tools for growth. Every single instance is in some way a chance to yield to the higher nature, if we're one with Christ. Not merely to avoid resisting or doing sinful things in retaliation, but, as I've covered in some of my books and sermons, opportunities to actively do good: to pray for those people, to think about their situation, their needs, their lack, their wants, their struggles and trials, and to ask God to help them out of theirs just as you want help out of yours. To be kind, actively. To look for ways to bring peace and let peace come.
This is similar to the message I preached on "Our Part in Peace"; it is an outgrowth of that. Yet it goes further: seeing the things we tend to resist as things we can pick up and use to make us better—like a barbell or a dumbbell we use to become stronger, train our muscles, and equip us to handle life's challenges.
If we can look at the difficult things in our life not only as satanic attacks or persecution (many times they aren't even those things at all), but let them be transformed through the eyes of faith, that changes everything. The wise preacher said, "time and chance happen to all" (Ecclesiastes 9:11), yet we're in fellowship with the One Lord over all of it.
Of course, as God leads, there are immediate dangerous situations you simply have to get out of, as when Jesus says to flee if you are being persecuted (Matthew 10:23). But for the everyday challenges, we can see them as tools for growth and opportunities to let Christ's nature in us be active.
You could boil it down to the old acronym WWJD?—"what would Jesus do?"—and think about how He would respond. Then add the acronym I came up with and preached about: WWYDTJ?—"What would you do to Jesus?" When somebody else is involved, see the Lord in them beyond what might seem to be sinful, annoying, or hurtful behavior.
So let us look at these opportunities in our lives as believers in Jesus. They will be many and varied across the different countries we live in, the kinds of lives we lead with our work, families, and friends, differing levels of persecution and technology, and all the variables of our individual trials. In each of them we can see tools for growth!