Why Does Everything Have To Be So Hard?
By Betty Wambui, Kenya
This is a question that all of us have asked ourselves at some point in our lives. Choices were presented and the main ones were: to give up or to keep on hoping. Many times, I have wanted to choose to throw in the white towel because I convince myself that it is the better option. However, often, somewhere in my mind lurks the question: “Is it really?” Whichever choice I make, I know that have to live with the consequences.
Giving up seems like the best solution because at that hopeless moment, one is hurt, tired, and full of questions that do not have answers. Life is so unbearable and hope is the last word you want to hear. At that particular moment, hope is understood as postponed heartbreak.
We have been there, some of us are there, and others are getting there. But the greatest news is that we are never alone. Our Lord Jesus Christ is with us in whatever circumstance we face. With an outstretched arm, He would restore what the thief has stolen from us. Therefore, we can have hope.
Hope is an expectation of the future, a surety that one may be down but not out. It is a firm conviction that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).
So the next time I find myself in a situation that makes me feel like giving up, I know what to do—close my eyes, take a deep breath, choose to hope, and then run so fast to my Savior’s arms before I change my mind!
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Loading ...nothing but Jesus
The members of the council were amazed . . . [and] recognized them as men who had been with Jesus (v.13).
READ: Acts 4:1-22
Recently, my family encountered a homeless man who goes by the nickname “Rev.” We chatted and bought him a tuna sandwich at a sub shop. Afterward, my 4-year-old son Seth asked, “Daddy, why do I have a home and he doesn’t?” I offered some quick answer. We all know, however, that the truth is complicated. I walked away not knowing how Rev got where he is and not seeing the best way to help him. All I had to give him was a little conversation and a sandwich. I pray it was enough.
In Acts, we find two men who had very little to give. Peter and John had witnessed Jesus’ horrific torture and death. Each responded to the cataclysmic event differently, but both had been radically altered—their worlds obliterated. Neither emerged from the upheaval the same man he was before.
As John and Peter shared their stories, they did so with little fanfare or philosophical wisdom. They simply told what they had seen, proclaiming their mind-bending experience, “that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead” (Acts 4:2). But those words were more than enough to raise the ire of the religious authorities.
When they confronted Peter and John, however, they were amazed at the apostles’ resolute response, recognizing that they were simply dealing with “ordinary men who had no special training” (v.13). The only other thing the authorities noted about the two was that they
“had been with Jesus” (v.13).
This really was no insult, though—our experience with Jesus is all any of us have to offer. The hope for the world is not centered on our ingenuity or expertise or grit or programming genius. The hope for the world is common, ordinary people—you, me—living out the profound, gracious, healing, life-giving presence of Jesus. —Winn Collier
How have you tried to handle life on your own? How has this hurt your influence for Jesus?
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June 1, 2009
READ: Genesis 12:1-5
If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. —Mark 9:23
When God spoke to Abram, he obeyed at once, departing for an unknown land based only on a promise. Childless, he trusted God to make of him “a great nation” (Gen. 12:2).
God often does His work through “holy fools”—dreamers who strike out in ridiculous faith. Yet I tend to approach my decisions with calculation and restraint.
My church in Chicago once scheduled an all-night vigil of prayer during a major crisis. At length we discussed the practicality of the event before finally putting it on the calendar. The poorest members of the congregation, a group of senior citizens from a housing project, responded the most enthusiastically. I wondered how many of their prayers had gone unanswered over the years, yet they showed a childlike trust in the power of prayer. “How long do you want to stay—an hour or two?” we asked, thinking of van shuttles. “Oh, we’ll stay all night,” they replied.
One woman in her 90s explained, “We can pray. We got time, and we got faith. Some of us don’t sleep much anyway. We can pray all night if needs be.” And so they did.
Meanwhile, a bunch of yuppies in a downtown church learned an important lesson: Faith often appears where least expected and falters where it ought to thrive. — Philip Yancey
Prayer is the voice of faith.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Youth Can Change The World
Someone once said, “Everything is a matter of perspective. To one person, it’s half-full; to another, it’s half-empty.”
Youth can change the world—a far-fetched idea or a realistic goal?
Longman Dictionary of American English defines “change” as “to become different, or to make someone or something become different.”
Now, that’s sounds like something plausible. But, the world?
I love the perspective given in Acts 1: 8, “And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
It starts from the ones closer to you and expands outward. But the clincher is in the words before: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”
God can change the world and He wants to work through us.
Now, what are we waiting for?
This month, we will be publishing articles by youth on how they view this topic. Be sure to log on and, yes, we would love to have you join in the discussion.
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