“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, The Message).

Contrary to the title of a popular book, your best life is not now but is yet to come. I’ve heard that this life at best is like a clean bus station or terminal. You might really like being there, but you’re not about to pack all your things and move to a Grayhound bus station or to an airport. Those places are only temporary until you get to your real destination.

Sometimes I forget this life is temporary. This world is temporary. I’m not meant to be at home in this present age where we live in a beautiful but a broken world. This life can be great at times but also sorrowful and savage as well. While there are moments of beauty, there are tragic and brutal moments as well that many of us can scarcely begin to fathom.

We also can’t imagine what’s to come, but it’s beyond our imaginings in a good way. It’s exceedingly and abundantly more than we can imagine or dream or hope for. And it will be just as permanent as this life is temporary. It will be the truest sense of eternal life, both in terms of quantity and quality. It’s like what C. S. Lewis said about all our lives up to the point of eternity being like the preface and title page and table of contents. Heaven is the real story where each chapter is better than the last and you never want the story to end. And the best news of all is that it doesn’t.

“Everything about which we are tempted to complain may be the very instrument whereby the Potter intends to shape His clay into the image of His Son–a headache, an insult, a long line at the check-out, someone’s rudeness or failure to say thank you, misunderstanding, disappointment, interruption. As Amy Carmichael said, ‘See in it a chance to die,’ meaning a chance to leave self behind”(Elisabeth Elliot).

The above quote is almost entirely opposite to a lot of current thinking within Christendom. Most of modern thinking is that God wants you to be happy and to flourish in this lifetime. Struggles mean that you’re doing something wrong and suffering is always something to be remedied rather than endured.

But Jesus said that in this world you will have trouble. You will have suffering. The Bible said if they mistreated Jesus, they will certainly mistreat you. It also says to rejoice when people persecute you on account of belonging to Jesus and being associated with the Name. Then you know you’re doing something right.

I’m not a masochist. I’d rather avoid any discomfort if at all possible. But I also know that growth and maturity come at a price — often a painful price — and if I fit so completely within the world’s way of living and thinking that I don’t cause a stir, then I’m blending in rather than reflecting who Jesus is.

I think we’ve lost what it means to die to self — instead of giving in to instant gratification all the time to deny your cravings and put others first. It’s not about being a passive doormat as it is to show disciplined strength. We’ve lost the idea of taking up our crosses daily and following Jesus.

Jesus endured the cross and all that went with it because He saw beyond to the joy that awaited. We can endure anything in the power of that cross because we know that this momentary season of suffering can’t begin to compare with the eternal weight of glory that’s coming. The victory will far surpass any losses we endure and the gain will far outweigh any losses.

“. . . . Hope is a revolutionary patience . . . . Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up” (Anne Lemott, Bird by Bird).

I heard a quote that said that courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” I think hope looks a lot like that.

It’s not always the unwavering confidence that no obstacle can weaken. It’s the stubborn belief in a better outcome, that God does indeed work all things together for good. It’s a revolutionary patience that while it grows weary and heavy-laden, it never quite runs out or completely goes away. There’s always a mustard seed of faith that perseveres in spite of odds or obstacles.

It’s a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute kind of thing. It’s taking deep breaths and doing the very next thing, taking the next step, trusting God for the next 60 seconds.

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all” (Emily Dickinson).

“Oh Lord, You know my heart better than I know it myself. You know my struggles and You hold each hope and fear in Your caring hands. Teach me, LORD, to be still and to know that You are God. 

You are in Your holy temple; let all the earth, including my mind and heart, be silent before You, resting in Your sovereignty. Like Elijah, teach me to wait for Your still, small voice and quiet the earthquakes and blazing fires in my life. 

Replace my restless doing with inner calm, and help me, like Mary, to sit at Your feet in quiet adoration even if there are a million things clamoring for my attention. Just as You spoke over the tumultuous sea and storms, so speak over my heart Your shalom. 

‘Peace. Be still,’ You said to them, and immediately they quieted. Teach my heart to cease striving and to know– to yada, to have an intimate and deep, personal, first-hand experience–that You are God. 

Help me cultivate a quiet heart, like a baby content in its mother’s arms, no longer coming to You with a ‘gimme’ spirit but instead calmly nestling against Your heart. Help me find quietness  and happiness in intimate communion with You. You will be exalted over all the earth, and You’ve got the details of my day covered. I can rest in You. 

Amen” (Asheritah Ciuciu, onethingalone.com).

‘“At times God puts us through the discipline of darkness to teach us to heed him. Songbirds are taught to sing in the dark, and we are put into the shadow of God’s hand until we learn to hear him.…Are you in the dark just now in your circumstances, or in your life with God?…When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light” (Oswald Chambers).

Gotta love some Oswald Chambers. He may not have lived a long life, but he left behind a legacy of devotional writings that still have a profound impact on so many decades after his death. He was not one to mince words or make Christianity all about being nice and comfortable.

Sometimes, God allows us to wander through the valley of the shadow of death. It could be literal in the sense of the death of a loved one or a serious illness. Or it could be a kind of spiritual dark night of the soul where you learn not to rely on your senses or feelings and grow a deeper and more abiding trust in God.

The reality is that Jesus said that we would suffer. There’s no way around it. It’s not a question of if but when. As much as my flesh doesn’t like the idea, it’s not in the sunshine and mountaintops where we grow and flourish, but in those valleys and dark places. That’s where God grows us up and teaches us valuable lessons that we can share with others when they go through their own valleys and darkness.

I can’t recommend My Utmost for His Highest enough. It’s a fantastic devotional if you’re looking for daily readings that will challenge as well as comfort you.

“Experience has taught me that the Shepherd is far more willing to show His sheep the path than the sheep are to follow. He is endlessly merciful, patient, tender, and loving. If we, His stupid and wayward sheep, really want to be led, we will without fail be led. Of that I am sure” (Elisabeth Elliot).

I remember a pastor saying that the book of James in the Bible is like getting whacked by a 2×4. It’s not a feel-good, heart-warming book about how we really need to love each other more as it is a book that says things like if you say you’re not a sinner, you lie and you make God out to be a liar. BAM! Right in the noggin.

For me, I think a lot of older faith-based writers are like that. They will say things like how God is passionately in love with you, but they will also say that it matters how you live and not just what you profess. Their writings can be convicting as well as comforting.

I think we need to get back to that. Old school authors like Oswald Chambers, Elisabeth Elliott, Amy Carmichael, and Watchman Nee weren’t about pulling punches. They weren’t afraid of offending as much as in diluting the truth. I still say that it’s super helpful to read books on theology and Christian living by dead people. Anything from at least 100 years ago that has lasted all this time has merit. Are they 100% perfect and divinely inspired? No, but these books contain a lot of good nuggets that you won’t necessarily find in a lot of contemporary books.

So my charge to you is to read old books by dead people. You won’t be sorry.

“I have often said, ‘I forgive you,’ but even as I said these words my heart remained angry or resentful. I still wanted to hear the story that I was right after all; I still wanted to hear apologies and excuses; I still wanted the satisfaction of receiving some praise in return—if only the praise for being so forgiving!

But God’s forgiveness is unconditional; it comes from a heart that does not demand anything of itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking. It is this divine forgiveness that I have to practice in my daily life. It calls me to keep stepping over all my arguments that say forgiveness is unwise, unhealthy, and impractical. It challenges me to step over all my needs for gratitude and compliments. Finally, it demands of me that I step over that wounded part of my heart that feels hurt and wronged and that wants to stay in control and put a few conditions between me and the one whom I am asked to forgive. . . . Only when I remember that I am the Beloved Child can I welcome those who want to return with the same compassion as that with which the Father welcomes me” (Henri Nouwen).

As I’ve heard it said, forgiveness is releasing the other person from the expectation that they can make it right where they’ve wronged you. It’s not enabling them to keep doing the same or other hurtful things to you. It’s opening the prison door of bitterness only to realize that you were the one inside who needed freeing.

The Bible says that as you forgive others, God will forgive you. It’s that plain and simple. Of course, God’s initial forgiveness allows even the possibility for you to forgive others. But still we are called to forgive . . .

I think my weekend goals must include emulating this dude in the picture. I need to find a hammock or some other comfortable spot to lounge in for the majority of the remainder of the weekend. Because I am just so . . . wait for it . . . dead tired.

“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way” (Colossians 3:15-17, The Message).

As you’ve probably heard before, Christianity is not a Lone Ranger religion. And besides, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. No one is meant to live this life of faith alone. In fact, the best way to fail and to fall into all sorts of temptations is to go solo. You need others surrounding you in community, both to encourage and challenge you, to speak life over you and to hold you accountable.

It has to be more than a 1 hour out of 168 proposition. You can’t grow and refresh and learn on just one day a week. You need to be in a community/life/Sunday School group. You need to have interaction with believers throughout the week to keep you on track and keep you going.

“‘I must keep praying’ ‘I feel like just giving up!’ How often has this thought passed through our minds (both yours and mine) in recent months? If I am honest, then I must admit it’s been quite often. I find myself so often in hopeless situations where I know full well that only God can deliver me but God doesn’t seem to have the same urgency as I do. Impatience and unbelief are at least a root o…(tharr be more)f all my problems, and pride isn’t far behind, along with frustration (the fruit of my sin). Deep down I know that the Lord is working in my life and that I would be better off if I waited patiently for His time and His way of deliverance, but there seems to be a constant conflict between wanting to honour my God by doing His will and at the same time worrying myself sick over things which may never happen” (From Apples of Gold).

How much time do we spend worrying ourselves sick over things which may never happen? In some cases, we make ourselves literally ill over outcomes which never come to pass. But still the default is set to anxiety the moment our expectations are thwarted or delayed.

And then there’s trust. So many times, it feels unnatural to leave outcomes outside of ourselves and in the hands of a Being we can’t see or touch or (most of the time) hear. Surrender is the ultimate form of faith played out in real life. It’s the letting go of the notion that I can somehow help God out and expedite His will in some way. It’s trusting the process that shows no visible results day after day but also trusting the Promise Giver who has a track record of coming through at the perfect time.