Endurance through Hope

 1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. - 1 John 5:1-4

In life we learn that nothing is for free. Everything has a cost and something must be given for another thing to be received. However, many of us always try to take the easy way out or find the short cut. We lack the desire to endure hardship. We want whats in front of us and we want it now. Our patience is of a lab rat lookin for cheese and our vision lacks to see that if we endured only if we went through the hardship there is freedom just beyond the mountain we must climb.

The devil I think does a great job of putting the world in our faces and we forget that everything takes work. The devil just hands us the cheap gift and because its so easy for us to obtain we snatch it straight from his hand in utter happiness not knowing that we just sold our freedom for the cost of the devils cheap gift. When I was in China I was at one of the top 3 hotels in all of Shang Hai. As soon as I walked in 15 beautiful chinese girls lined up one took my bags and the rest bowed and welcomed me. Everywhere I went they called me Sir and opened all the doors and pressed all the buttons for me to get to my room. Then my room was on the 15th floor and my sheets were made out of gold fabric with a beautiful dark mahagony bed post. I looked outside into Pudong district of Shang Hai and I felt like Jesus when he was tempted 3 times by the Devil and one of the temptations was of the world. Devil shows Jesus the world and says everything you see all the glimers and the riches I will make it yours.

That night I laid in bed and I felt God ask me, David would you give this all up for me? The paycheck, the house, the comfort, and all the riches that I can bless you with would you give it all up and go into the mountains of Africa with one bottle of water and live in a tent again? Can you do it? I hope and pray that my answer will always be a resounding "YES". That I would never lose the idea of what treasure endurance will bring. That I would never become so blinded and so weak that I can not endure hardships.

I am able to endure through hope, hope in Christ, that He has already won this race for me and I just follow his footsteps. God many times shows us two things. He shows us where we are and where we must go, but everything else in between the endurance that needs to be lived out it is obedience and faith. But I believe because we know, that our God is Good and He is in control of all things we can put a smile on our face and live out the hardship in peace because His yoke is light.

My grad school, my relationships, my ministry, my work, and all things God has put into my life I will endure because He who went before me has endured.

Misery...

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.[a] 6You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. James 5:1-6 

Dictionary.com defines the word Misery as: 
1.     wretchedness of condition or circumstances.
2.     distress or suffering caused by need, privation, or poverty.
3.     great mental or emotional distress; extreme unhappiness.
4.     a cause or source of distress.

I was watching some news clips and videos about the earth quake in Haiti the other day. One of CNN news reporters who has gone back and forth from Haiti since the 2nd day of the tragedy used the word "Misery", "The horror is gone but now they are in Misery", or something of that sort. For some reason that word just caught my attention. I started to ask myself have I ever truly been miserable? I can't really say that I have. I can say that I've been uncomfortable, that I've been upset or in pain, but I can't ever say that I was completely miserable.

I think a lot of times we take the words way too lightly, but thats a whole blog in itself. But I wonder what its really like to be miserable. In James the word misery is used as well in a description of the wrath that is going to come on the corrupt wealthy people. In this description of what misery is to come to them James describes the loss of all their wealth, loss of their fine clothes, and the corrosion of all their fine metals. I wonder if this is true misery. To have lost all.

But then what does misery mean for Christians? Can we ever be miserable? Wealth and physical loss should be considered struggles and discipline rather than misery. Then what is misery for us? I think for us misery is the loss of just one thing, the most important thing. Misery is the loss of Jesus Christ. The moment when we run so far from Christ and we rebel so much from Christ that he is so distant, he even turns his back on us. We can ask "How can God turn his back on his?!?!" but don't we realize? Our God cannot tolerate sin in our lives. Their are many times in the Bible when the Israelites or God's people rebel so harshly and sin so blatantly that it says God has turned his back on them.

I think this is misery. This is where there is no hope for us. This is where our blessings are cut short. This is where salvation doesn't seem tangible. That the source of our peace. The source of our love. The source of our happiness is gone because of our sin.

I hope and pray for the people of Haiti. That yes they may have lost everything physical and worldly but that they still have God. That they would in this miserable situation would meet God and rest in Him. I hope that for all of us we see how great we have it and how much blessings we received and that in all things we are gracious and thankful before God really shows us what misery is about.