Life has a funny way of putting us down, but this is not strange or new and you are definitely not the first to feel put down by the distresses of life. But we can all learn how to deal with life’s setbacks by looking at Christ.
THREE THINGS TO POINT OUT:
- Look at God not the situation
- Stay in God, don’t visit
- Remind your situation of God’s promises.
Like us, Jesus was made for a while lower than the angels, that means, Jesus operated under the same authority as we do when He walked the Earth. So how did he do it, how did He go through the sufferings of life and come out with a crown? The Bible teaches that He learned obedience through the things He suffered – Hebrews 5:8. We can learn from the things we are currently going through, but only if we humble ourselves and ask God to show us what He wants us to learn from it and obey Him.
Look at God not the situation
God’s grace is available to us through Christ Jesus: His suffering and death was so that we would not have to suffer the consequences of our fallen state. Jesus tasted eternal death so that we would not have to. We are free from the bondage of worry and hopelessness because His act of Grace on the cross gave us new hope that can only be found as we abide in Him. That’s why He said that in the midst of worrying times we should seek His Kingdom and His righteousness first and as we do so, all else will fall into place – Matthew 6:33.
Stay in God don’t visit
Finally, do you seek Christ? When things are bad, do you see Jesus or do you see yourself or others as solutions? Do you ask yourself, what am I going to do, or do you rightly ask, Jesus what are you going to do? Sometimes the biggest obstacle that keeps us from seeing Christ is ourselves! Whenever some issue comes up in our life, our flesh seems to raise its fearful and unfaithful head. And there is only one way to deal with it, remind it that it is dead to you – 2 Corinthians 5:17, and put it aside keeping your eyes on Jesus – Hebrews 12:1-2. This is practically done by first, opening the Bible and then your mouth, and reminding yourself of the promises of God.
Remind your situation of God’s promises
When situations take their toll on us, we can either choose to cry out to ourselves or cry out to the world or cry out to Jesus. We often fear the things we can see because we are beings that live in the physical world. But Jesus warns us not to fear the one that can only kill the body but rather to reverence the one who after death has the power to change our eternal destination – Luke 12:4-5. But praise be to God because He loves us so much that He places the choice of life and death before us, and He whispers into our ears through His Holy Spirit – choose life! Deuteronomy 30:19.