It’s hard to believe that it’s less than 10 days until the Presidential election. On the other hand, can you believe we’ve still got almost ten days to go before the election? As in the case of most events in life, it’s all in how you look at it? Most things can be both positive and negative – such as that proverbial glass – is it half full or half empty? Did you get up on the right side of the bed this morning or on the wrong side? (Is there truly a “wrong side?” Then again, I’ve also heard that there are definitely right and wrong ways to punctuate a sentence – “Let’s eat Grandma!” is definitely not the same as “Let’s eat, Grandma!”) I digress – sorry! But, one of the “secrets” to living longer is the ability that we have to “monitor and adjust.” We know that “life happens,” but whether we let it “make us” or “break us” is, well – up to us.
In I Timothy 1:15, Paul said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” Now, we first meet Paul (then known as Saul) in Acts 7:58 at the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. “And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.” In Acts 9, we find Saul on his way to Damascus to round up Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners (Acts 9:1). Paul had made “havoc” on the church in his past, and he considered himself a “chief of sinners.” But, what he had been did not determine what he could be. He didn’t use his past as an excuse to continue in sin.
Paul also didn’t let his “present” determine how he viewed life. He saw beyond the “here and now.” He had learned “that in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Philippians 4:11). When Paul wrote this letter to the church in Philippi, he was chained to guards in a Roman jail. Yet, he was a child of the King, and he knew that he had “a crown of righteousness laid up for him” (II Timothy 4:8). We do, too!
When life knocks us down, we often say, “Why me?” But, “Why not me?” Hard times make us stronger. I truly believe that God sometimes puts us on our backs – so that we will have to look up. May we learn to be content. Simply blessed, Courtney