Tough Times
“7 We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that the extraordinary overflow of power will be seen as God’s, not ours. 8 Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. 9 We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out.”
“23 Are they servants of the Anointed One? I’m beside myself when I speak this way, but I am much more of a servant than they. I have worked much harder for God, taken more beatings, and been dragged to more prisons than they. I’ve been flogged excessively, multiple times, even to the point of death.
24 Five times I’ve received thirty-nine lashes from the Jewish leaders. 25 Three times I experienced being beaten with rods. Once they stoned me. Three times I’ve been shipwrecked; for an entire night and a day I was adrift in the open sea. 26 In my difficult travels I’ve faced many dangerous situations: perilous rivers, robbers, foreigners, and even my own people. I’ve survived deadly peril in the city, in the wilderness, with storms at sea, and with spies posing as believers. 27 I’ve toiled to the point of exhaustion and gone through many sleepless nights. I’ve frequently been deprived of food and water, left hungry and shivering out in the cold, lacking proper clothing.”
It’s been a tough week. Well, more like a tough month. I’m sure some of us are wishing we could wake up from this nightmare we are currently living in. Maybe this is just a bad month that adds on to the bad year you’re having, but rest assured, each of us go through tough times.
Take a second to think about your own life and the people you know: what are some of the difficult times you or others have faced? Now, if you could sum up all of this pain in an emotion, what words would you choose?
I wish I could say that all of these horribles things that happen and the hurt you’re thinking about don’t exist, but that would be a lie. Moses faced hard times, Noah faced hard times and even Jesus faced hard times. Hurt is universal, but how you deal with it sets you apart.
Life can be hard, but the good news is that God is always with you. For us that follow Christ, we have hope in God even in the tough times.
Paul, who wrote a large part of the New Testament, had his fair share of tough times. Take a look at 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 as an example. He talks about being lashed, being shipwrecked and being hungry. How would you feel if you were in Paul’s shoes? I know it would be difficult for me to deal with these things, but Paul shows us how he did it through Christ.
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, doesn’t diminish the pain. He felt it, of course, yet it’s the “but not” part of his words that we need to focus on. We may be persecuted, but we are not forsaken. We may be knocked down, but not out.
Life is hard, and some times it can leave us feeling depressed, alone and confused. But, with Christ, we are not in despair, abandoned or destroyed because we hold in us a treasure.
The treasure of Christ living in us gives us life. With Jesus you are never alone. Like Paul, you can face anything and not be fazed because you know that Jesus is within you and with you.