Faith

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December 30, 2011 – Afflictions or Opportunities?

17 For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], 18 Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting) but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 AMP

Paul was a man of opportunity. Everything that happened to him in ministry did not discourage him. He was whipped, beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked (2 Corinthians 11:24-25). Those he tried to reach on a daily basis many times turned their backs on his teaching. He was probably called names, jeered, and even spit on. But he called such things light and momentary afflictions. If any of us in our cozy church buildings and freedom in Christ had to endure what Paul did, we would hardly consider it a light affliction. In fact, some of the slightest things that cause believers distress cause them to become discouraged and abandon the faith altogether.

But Paul was a man who never saw things in a discouraging light. Through every trial he faced he drew closer to God. Christians today really need to thoroughly study the life of this man as he is someone we should all try to emulate.

At the core of Paul’s focus was his personal relationship with God. He knew what his mission in life was and he stayed fixed on it until the day he died. Today Christians get caught up in everything from the televangelist to their own spiritual mentor so much that they lack a personal relationship like the one Paul had. When they are in desperate need of God in their life they call a member of the church prayer team or the televangelist’s twenty-four hour prayer hotline rather than seeking Him directly. They don’t call on Jesus because they don’t have his phone number.

Now I am by no means saying that you shouldn’t call someone for prayer. It is godly to get others to pray for you, because Jesus in in the midst when two or more are gathered (Matthew 18:20). What I am saying is that too many times I have seen Christians in distress reach out for help from others when they haven’t sought God to start with. Seeking out prayer from others should be secondary after taking your worries to God yourself. If believers don’t seek God first, they continue to remain afflicted and fail to seize the opportunity.

The major problem some Christians have in remaining downtrodden through trials has to do with their vision. People are often motivated only by those things they can see. Commercials on television call us to restaurants with the best looking plate of food we’ve ever seen away from home. People switch cell phones because they have seen a picture of the snazziest and newest gadget ever made. People even switch toothpaste because the teeth on the display at the grocery store look so much whiter than theirs. But this is where things can get dicey.

The eyes are the window to your soul (Matthew 6:22-23). Everything you let into your life through your eyes, both godly and ungodly, has an impact in your life. You may not want to admit it, but that’s the truth.

You see, some Christians put on a façade of holiness yet they are driven by the same lusts that drive society. They do that because they are only moved by what can be seen. But Paul says those things we can see are only temporary. They will die. And like it or not, the devil is trying every way he can to get you to like them just like the world does. When those things seen feed their evil desires they lead only to affliction. Those people will continue to be alcoholics, drug addicts, and adulterers. They will keep them afflicted and even kill them. They rob them of a relationship with God. They keep them from drawing closer to Him. Only when God is at the core of their being will we be able to turn their afflictions into opportunities.

Only when Christians get past only what they can see will they know that their distress is momentary. All of your worries and anxieties will go away. You may be out of work, but you know God will provide you with a job. You may be in the mission field in a country ravaged by civil war, but you know God will protect you. You may be experiencing problems with a next door neighbor, but you know that God will bring peace to your situation. You will always have that peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7).
Don’t think that seeing what is unseen is by any means a call to passivity. Paul always kept working for God. If you’re looking for work, keep looking. If you’re working in the mission field, keep working. If you’re seeking peace with a neighbor, keep seeking. God never wants us to be lazy, nor does He want us to give up and buckle under the weight of our circumstances. He wants us to use every trial as an opportunity to draw closer to Him.

Are you in the middle of a crisis in your life? Do you view your burden as light and momentary or as a millstone tied around your neck forever? Have you taken your trial directly to God or have you sought prayer from everyone else? Is your faith in what you see or in the One Who you can’t see? How you face these times in your life will define those times as either afflictions or opportunities.

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