TRY NOT TO WASTE A GOOD PROBLEM

A thing I dearly treasure about the kingdom of God system is that it works upside down and backward to most conventional wisdom.  To keep you give away is but one of many of His drastic measures.  Another is that to really live one must die to self.  Try that one on as well.

If ever a person was found to be defiant in disposition, the kingdom of God is a perfect fit.  It dares to break the code of routine and thoughtless dailiness.  And don't you know God seems to enjoy it as well.  What He calls faith in Hebrews 11 we seem to have possibly undermined that very word for our walk.  No.  We don't call those moves faith. We call them miracles.

Within that faith chapter story-lines are built on a consistent thread of premise.  A person is faced with a problem and believes God not only has the solution; but believes God will provide it as well.  In this entire glorious chapter, not one believer wasted a good problem.

If we believers in God are found to be whiners, moaners, and complainers, no wonder the community brushes us off as fake.  Our problem is not that Jesus has no affect on our neighbors.  Our problem is that we waste good problems by failing to see that God works precisely in these conditions to show His valiant skills.

So what do we do with legitimate problems (for they do exist in abundance among us)? How do we not waste them?

We faithfully move about believing everything is working for good (Romans 5:1-5, 8:28).  We are not on earth to build personal empires.  We are here to love God and others.  Our authentic world is about those two entities.  What happens to us, then, has two-fold meaning; (1) what a stage to praise God and (2) what a moment to learn how others hurt so that we can better serve them in their stresses.

Some of the harshest and most disastrous moments in my history have proven to give me deeper and more sensitive understanding toward those who sit in my office overwhelmed by stresses.  We are advantaged by struggles to be more effective in assisting the next oncoming struggler.

Pain and suffering and perplexity are not about us.  They are always about lessons to be learned in order to help our neighbor.  So, dear and kind friend, don't waste a good problem.  But go to school on it.

Learn.  Adjust.  Before long, one may ring your doorbell with their new problem.  And you will be able to coach them to take a look at such from the hillside of being blessed in order to help their neighbors as well.