DON’T LET DIFFICULTIES
DRIVE YOUR FEELINGS,
IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE
TRUTH
Psalm 53:1-2
The fool says in his
heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing
abominable iniquity;
there is none who does
good.
God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any
who understand,
who seek after God.
We live in a world where
the majority of people have clearly said that there is no God by negating His existence, or by living according to
a god they have, themselves, created.
Romans 1:19-23
For what can be known about God is plain to
them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes,
namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived,
ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor
him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their
thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise,
they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Because men have ignored
God, they follow their own futile thoughts and foolish hearts. Not one man
naturally lives for God or desires to please Him, and evil is the normal result
of following their desires.
But God is watching, aware
of every single act and every single desire and thought. Paul reminds us of
what drives every man:
Ephesians 2:1-3
And you were dead in the trespasses and
sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at
work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the
passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Every man follows the crowd, they follow the leader
of this world, and ultimately they follow their own natural desires.
This is the world we live
in, and often we are surprised and frustrated by this reality. I know that
there are many who live on the brink of depression because of the evil they
have encountered or they face daily. Some live their lives, angry and bitter
about the things they are facing. We should hate evil, but for the right
reasons, not merely because it disrupts our own comfort.
Paul reminds us that we
were living our lives and were being driven by the same desires, before Christ
kindly transformed us with His undeserved amazing grace:
Ephesians 2:4-10
But God, being rich in
mercy, because of the great love with which he loved
us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with
him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so
that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you
have been saved through faith. And this is not your own
doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no
one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them.
Dear friends we live in an evil world, and that
should not surprise us. What
should surprise us that we have received grace by no merit of our own, but
fully because of God’s mercy. We did not do anything to attract it, invite it,
or merit it! As we get up each morning, these thoughts should overwhelm us,
rather than complaining in self-pity because we are enduring some measure of
hardship because of the evil of others.
As gratitude fills our hearts, our devotion to God
should grow strong. We should give
ourselves daily to living by His power in a way that pleases Him, not according
to the desires of our own corrupt hearts.
We should invite other
believers to come alongside us to pray with us and for us, that we would not be
overcome by the evil of others. We should remember that, at times, the evil we
receive may well be a consequence of our own sin. Feel free to write to me, and
I will be glad to pray for you.
We should also be driven to witness. We can complain of our government, our family, our
jobs, our neighbors - the list can go on and on, but the only hope is for God
to save them and transform their lives.
Remember that our goal should never be our comfort,
but the glory of God. God is aware
of every evil done; He has called us to live for Him and to proclaim Him in a
difficult world.
Are these high callings driving your life today?
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