Calm Under Pressure

They say that the ability to remain calm under pressure is a sign of a good leader. It usually means the person is someone of experience who is able to put the situation at hand in proper perspective. Unfortunately too many of us allow the present moment to become the only moment, blocking out everything else we know as a fact. This is the reason a person can go from professing faith in Jesus one moment to panic and despair in the next. We allow the moment at hand to eclipse what we know and have experienced with Jesus.

Calm under pressure is not only a quality of a good leader but it is also the measure of a mature follower of Jesus Christ. Maturity means we have gained a good grasp of the big picture so that daily moments are kept in their proper perspective. Maturity means that we trust that what God has done in the past he will also do today and tomorrow. Maturity means that we understand the true source of all good things and we have come to trust his promises. Maturity means that we never allow our response to the pressures of life to rob Jesus of his glory.

Apostle Paul was all too familiar with the pressures of life. You probably know of all the things he went through, the many times we was put in jail, the stoning, the shipwrecks  and the fact he never gave up, he never packed, he never ran away. But were you aware that in his last months in captivity much of the church in Asia Minor turned away from him? Other teachers came in and started to distort the truth of the gospel. This is what Paul was writing to Timothy when he told him to be aware that people would turn away from sound doctrine. He told Timothy that during these days he must keep his head:

They will turn from the truth and eagerly listen to senseless stories. But you must stay calm and be willing to suffer. You must work hard to tell the good news and to do your job well. (2 Timothy 4:4-5)

Interesting: stay calm and be willing to suffer. He isn't saying he must be willing to suffer disease or any such thing but willing to suffer for teaching the truth. Timothy must be willing to stand in the face of popular opposition and not turn back for the sake of popularity. It is easy to fill a church; just preach what people want to hear. But when you bring the truth of Jesus Christ there will be suffering as popularity turns its ugly head on you. Stay calm. Don't complain about the cost of preaching the truth. Just consider those who went before you, like Paul, Peter, Stephen or even Jesus who was crucified for what he taught.

Work hard and do your job well. Have you ever consider presenting Jesus to people as your job? Jesus considers it that way. Just look at the parables he told. How many were about the master and the servant and the expectations on the servant? We are that servant and we have a job to do. Jesus told us to be found faithfully doing it on his return, no matter the cost.

Stay Calm. Be willing to suffer. Work hard. Do your job. Do we measure up?

The Gospel For Which I Suffer

Have you figured out your belief system yet? I get to meet people every day who are without Jesus but who have a belief system. We may call it a philosophy for living or any number of things but it comes down to the belief by which you live your life. If you believe that "what goes around comes around" you will make sure that you are giving out good stuff to receive good stuff. If you believe that purpose is found in how many toys you buy in life, then your life will be up and down according to what you can afford. If you believe that Jesus Christ died so that you could have life then your life is going to be based on serving Jesus.

The problem is that what we believe is not always what we live. I hear that every day as well. I hear people rationalizing why it is okay to steal from the government. But if you believe in "what goes around comes around" then you should expect to suffer the consequences for theft. Funny how people aren't willing to take their believes that far. Unfortunately either are many Christians.

Paul wrote to Timothy :

"This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal." (2 Timothy 2:8-9)

Paul lived by the conviction and calling of the Holy Spirit. He preached what he was taught by the Spirit and he paid the price for it. He was beat, stoned, rejected, arrested and treated like "public enemy number one" by  Israel. But he wasn't surprised. Why would he be? Jesus told him this is exactly what would happen. He told us all. So why do we complain. In fact, why are we surprised? But that really isn't my question today.

Today I am asking why we don't live according to the belief we profess? Why don't we live by the example Jesus set for us? I don't mean the moral living but the Holy Spirit empowered life that Jesus showed us how to live. Yes, a life of grace, mercy and compassion but also a life filled with the power to see things happen. A life that will face whatever the cost in order to fulfill the belief that Jesus is truth.

"Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me."

We say it,we believe it but are we willing to live it beyond the suffering that it can provoke in our life? Christianity goes far beyond a code we live by and demands nothing less than our all, even if that all is the air we breathe. Anything less is not good enough. Jesus is not Gandhi. Jesus is not Buddha. He is not Mohammed. He is not a teacher of some philosophy or religion. Jesus is our life and we cannot deny that which gives us life. We stick with him no matter the cost because the life he has given is eternal. We could never bring ourselves to deny him, ever, for whatever reason.

There is a reason told us that if we are ashamed of him in front of men he will be ashamed of us in front of his Father. If we are ashamed of him it means we don't believe him. If we don't believe him why should we expect anything from him? Why would we expect to receive the promise of eternity with him? Yet, if we do believe him then our life should reflect that fact. Our life should be an example of faith, power and conviction.If our passion for him does not surpass the passion this world has for many things then we have not even begun to understand his love and our relationship with him.

So I ask you, is your belief enough to go all the way, no matter what it may cost? Understand, those are the followers Jesus will honour.

Is Their A Place For Suffering?

The Western Church has a hard time with the concept of suffering, yet it is a natural character of a Christian. I am not referring to the miserable suffering that produces nothing but agony and complaints. That is what some of us have turned God's great intention into, an excuse to complain. We turn something beautiful into something ugly. Yet, God has used suffering for a long time to produce great things.

I am sure that Jonah considered his time in the belly of the fish to be suffering. Forty years wondering around in the desert would also fall in the column of suffering. There are lots of examples in the Hebrew Scriptures but we have plenty of examples in the New Testament as well. Obviously Jesus' beating and crucifixion would be placed in the category of suffering. So would the beating of the disciples, the stoning of Stephen, the great persecution of the Church, and Paul's many trials. But consider what God developed out of all of this, especially the cross.

I like the example of the 40 years in the desert simply because many of us can relate to it. For forty years God cut his people off from anything that would make them independent. He used this time to get rid of the bad seeds in this people he had called out as a nation. He made them completely dependent on him for food and water. He taught them obedience by moving them around; when he moved they moved. When they finally emerged from the desert they had become a strong nation in every sense; strong enough to move into the promised land. There was never another generation of Israelites that could compare to this valiant generation. There is always purpose in the "valley of the shadow of death" that God leads us through. Sometimes it is for our benefit and other times for the benefit of others.

Paul realized that much of what he went through was for the benefit of others:

Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. (Colossians 1:24)

Paul recognized that the great suffering he and his comrades went through was for the purpose of the Church. Not many will suffer for the Body today. Not many will risk jail for preaching on the streets. Not many will turn their "castles" into hospitality centres  to invite people in and be generous with their supply. Not many will go the extra mile or give the shirt off their back to demonstrate the love of Jesus. But some do. Some give up their comforts of home, the joy of watching television or playing mindless games on FaceBook, to bring the Word to the streets and coffee shops of the city. They face rejection, beatings, and scorn.

There is also the suffering Church in many parts of the world, where being a Christian has a death sentence. There are many places where pastors risk jail or beatings or death for preaching the good news. There are many who would run from these great injustices but the ministers of the gospel must stand where God has placed them. They must face those beatings as others have done before them and they must even face death as others have done, to serve the Body and to present Jesus. We must do it with the same joy we see expressed in Paul because we know that something is being produced from these sacrifices that God has directed.

There are different kinds of suffering, most caused by the foolishness of our own actions. But I refer to a different type of suffering, one directed by God for his greater purpose and one we will understand and accept if we have the intimacy of friendship that we are suppose to have with God. God has never asked us to suffer blindly or needlessly but when we are intimate with him we know the mind of Christ, the will of God and we are able to walk in those shoes. Ours is always a relationship of trust with God, a place of dependence and even more so in times of suffering.