Blessed Annoyance

So, what do we do when certain people in our lives annoy us?

I'm talking about those people who really get on our nerves. Even harder, those people who get on our nerves who we serve alongside in ministry. It is fascinating to me that in a given situation, I and another person have the capacity to say the exact "perfect" thing to one another that creates an awkward situation of disagreement and contention.

I confess that my desire in those situations is to "flee the scene." Or next time, to "avoid the scene." I'll chalk that person and I's relationship up to "different personalities" and "for the sake of the ministry" avoid interaction with he or she. This action may be best for the ministry. God may be using contention to call two different people to two different areas of ministry. However, this may not be the case. Unfortunately for all who struggle with this as I do, this may be a call by God into a season of learning the truth about love.

Jesus calls us to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. This is one reason I know that the desire of my Father is that I love he or she who annoys me, and to pray for he or she who I do not get along with. Not to mention the fact that he or she is most likely my brother or sister in Christ - part of our family! Also, they are probably just as annoyed with me and my fleshly tendencies and personality. So, what do we do now?

The next time I am in those situations of "annoying interactions," resolve:

- to remind myself that God was annoyed with the way that I rejected His self-less love for me, yet He loved and pursued me anyway.

- to remind myself that I am speaking with, perhaps, a member of my family (God's family).

- to remind myself that God has power to change my heart so that we become the best of friends.

- to remind myself that I can serve and love this person in the power of Christ, and have joy in doing so.

- to chose to love them and pray for them.

- to chose to forget my flesh and the lies that I make up in my head, for the sake of another.


All of this in the hope of knowing Jesus more fully, and glorifying His beautiful love!

Forgotten By God?

No!

"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Luke 12:6-7).

The Painful Test of Faith

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and the he rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back" (Hebrews 11:17-19).

The test of faith is painful. One of the most difficult aspects of this test is that we cannot see. What the test is asking of us does not make sense. We are unable to see the outcome, and, left to our own analysis, all outcomes seem to lead toward misery. During this test, and only by such a test, can faith be tested. We cry out alongside Abraham, "God, Abba, why are you asking me to sacrifice my 'Isaac,' my 'Isaac' through which You promised me descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky?" Nonetheless, we trust Him. It doesn't make sense; we don't understand why, but we trust Him. We put our Isaac on the altar and say, "Your will be done." For he is the only one who is worthy of all our trust - He is perfectly faithful, and He loves us with perfect love. This is our conviction of things not seen. All our hope is in Jesus alone, for he is the only one that we can see. Only He is able to work all things together for the good of those who love Him.

Faith in Jesus is proven most supremely when all other hopes are removed but Jesus.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23).

Trust

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths." - Proverbs 3:5-6

All we have is today. No, all we have is this second. Will we, will I trust Him, or will I let the cares of this world, the lies of satan, my own emotions, my own cares and worries cause me, or rather tempt me to trust Him not. If I do not trust Perfection, who will I trust?

Beholding Christ Compels Us to Believe

It is sad to me when I see the unsaved maintain their reasons for not trusting in Christ based on what they see or don't see in Christians, rather than what they see or don't see in Christ Himself. Every man falls short - man cannot be God, though he is often worshiped as a god. Only as we see Jesus and fall in love with Him do we trust in Him. Looking at man's works for what they truly are, we see filthy rags. Looking at Christ's works we see righteousness. And when we do see man's works and give God glory, it is truly God's work in man, not man's work in himself.

"For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Corinthians 4:5).

Your Purpose I Cannot See

O the pain and the deep sorrow,
the depths of this sadness;
the past it haunts me,
my dreams, even they confess.

My heart it wrenches,
the confusion is hard to bear;
years of not understanding this race,
my heart, it continues to tear.

What is my Father doing?
Why has He chosen this path for me?
Speak to me O Lord,
Your purpose I cannot see.

This life is but a vapor,
this world will pass away;
but O the pain that is here,
perhaps it will make sense one day.

The Hill Difficulty

The following quote is taken from John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, a 2007 edition published by Moody Publishers in Chicago, the General Editor being Rosalie De Rosset. Enjoy drinking from the deep waters of our brother's work, written almost 300 years ago. This is our journey...

"...they [the characters Christian, Formalist, and Hypocrisy] all went on till they came to the foot of the hill Difficulty, at the bottom of which was a spring. There were also in the same place two other ways, besides that which came straight from the gate: one turned to the left hand, and the other to the right, at the bottom of the hill; but the narrow way lay right up the hill, and the name of the going up the side of the hill is called Difficulty. Christian now went to the spring (Isaiah 49:10), and drank thereof to refresh himself, and then began to go up the hill, saying:

The hill, though high, I covet to ascend,
The difficulty will not me offend;
For I perceive the way to life lies here:
Come, pluck up, heart, let's neither faint nor fear.
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.

...I looked then after Christian, to see him go up the hill, where I perceived he fell from running to going, and from going to clambering upon his hands and knees, because of the steepness of the place."


"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed" (1 Peter 4:12-13).