You Are Viewing vision

I received the following in an email from my mother this morning . . .

The next time you feel like GOD can’t use YOU, just remember…

• Noah was a drunk
• Abraham was too old
• Isaac was a daydreamer
• Jacob was a liar
• Leah was ugly
• Joseph was abused
• Moses had a stuttering problem
• Gideon was afraid
• Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer
• Rahab was a prostitute
• Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
• David had an affair and was a murderer
• Elijah was suicidal
• Isaiah preached naked
• Jonah ran from God
• Naomi was a widow
• Job went bankrupt
• John the Baptist ate bugs
• Peter denied Christ
• The Disciples fell asleep while praying
• Martha worried about everything
• The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
• Zaccheus was too small
• Paul was too religious
• Timothy had an ulcer…AND
• Lazarus was dead!

When I really take a look at the examples of who God includes as major players in His story in scripture and throughout history I become more and more convinced that I have a part too!

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  – 2 Corinthians 4:8-10

This was the key verse in a sermon on Resilience at Mosaic.

I was caught by this verse from the very beginning because I so often think on just these things…

I am pressed on every side

I am perplexed

I am persecuted

I am struck down

I am defeated …

Whoa!! Is that really how I see my life? Not always, but quite often, it is.  I must have a pretty hard life right?  No, I have a good job, I have great friends & amazing kids and family.  Is everything peachy?  No, of course not, I live in the same fallen world as everyone else.

It really comes down to where I focus.  Do I focus on the “bad deal” I’ve gotten or do I focus on the “amazing gifts” I’ve been given?  Do I focus on what I can’t do or on what God is doing?

With that slight change in attitude I find:

I am NOT crushed . . .

I am NOT in despair . . .

I am NOT abandoned . . .

I am NOT destroyed . . .

I AM NOT DEFEATED . . .

Even through all of the pain and hardness of life I have victory because of Christ and even more.  I have the privilege of carrying Christ crucified to the world, to all those within my sphere and even to be part of the “reveal” of Christ to those same people.

Not a bad deal if you ask me!

Mosaic is the church community where Erwin McManus (author of Soul Cravings & The Barbarian Way) serves as the primary communicator and cultural architect.

Mosaic is a community of followers of Jesus Christ, committed to live by faith, to be known by love, and to be a voice of hope.  Most of their sermons are available through their podcasts. I encourage you to spend some time at www.mosaic.org and related endeavors.