Why, after increased focus and renewed dedication in following God, is it harder to follow Him?
“Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor dampened, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity.” – Sun Tzu
Chinese philosopher and military strategist Sun Tzu laid out his principles, in The Art of War in the late 6th to mid 5th century B.C. Now it’s considered the foundation of modern warfare, a guide in business and required reading in many settings. It can also feel like the Christian life follows this pattern sometimes.
We get a second wind in our faith, take a deep breath and press harder. We get just a little clearer glimpse of Jesus and it’s enough to breathe energy into tired muscles and weary hearts. Then, life ambushes us, everything goes wrong, and we get to the point where we’re thinking, “One more thing, and I’m going to crack.”
And then five more things happen.
We’re drowning and left crying to Heaven, “Hey, I’m fighting your fight. I’m exhausted. See my blisters? And now—now! —I get attacked by everything and am sinking in the morass of humanity.”
But for as much as we cry, sweat, shake it off, keep going or crumple to the ground, the fact remains that sometimes following Jesus seems to produce more misery, less comfort, and a lot more pain than we expected.
Maybe increased suffering for a Christian comes for several reasons and from a number of different sources.
We live in a broken world.
It’s full of entropy and barely-controlled chaos. Stars are made from violent explosions. Cells mutate and turn deadly. The act of breathing, which keeps us alive, also brings us closer to our death. Fact: we’re falling apart. For as often as things go right—a bus doesn’t hit us, the sun doesn’t fall down, our skin doesn’t disintegrate—it also goes wrong. And that’s just life. Bad things happen and life is difficult because we live in an inherently flawed world.
Everyone trains.
Like the altars on Mount Carmel, our lives are altars to something. (1 Kings 18) We were born into a battle. Since Satan staged his rebellion, the forces of Heaven, Earth and Hell have been fighting this war. Whether we follow God or not, we’re already combatants.
The question, then, is what you are training for and how will that fight play out. Job’s life- for example- was the stage for one skirmish. (Job 1:1-10) Ours are too. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
Take heart! The fact that you are suffering is only a reflection of whom you are being claimed as. You matter. And for this reason you are having a difficult time. You see, noncombatants don’t get a second glance in the thick of battle. They are of no threat to the enemy. Dig in deep, game on. Hold the line. (Heb. 11-12, Pr. 4)
“We need to quit praying, ‘God, keep me safe’ and start praying, ‘God, make me dangerous.” (Mark Batterson)
Suffering “lets” us practice faith
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, through now for a little while you may have had to suffer all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
(1 Peter 5:3-7)
He tried it with Job, and he’ll try it with us. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8)
Our deepest held beliefs are what we turn to when we’re stripped of all else. Short of that point, there’s always another way to say it, always another way to look at it, always something else. Suffering forces us to reevaluate and reinforce our basic principles. It also presents a choice whether to hold tighter to the beliefs you’ve said are true or to let go. Warriors don’t hold the line for a lightly held belief; they stand their ground for the truths they’re stone-cold convinced are worth it.
“The reward for good work is more work”
Mark Batterson
Max Lucado said something to the effect that Jesus loved us too much to leave us alone. He saved our souls, and he’s continuing the long work of making us more like him. Holiness is a process. Not an appointment. Purification is ongoing, and keeps getting more intense.
What feels like increased trials can really be the next level of training. You’re only ready for it now because you know where to look. And that’s not God picking on you, that’s him helping you train and purify. (Hebrews 12)
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