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Responding to Hardships
Nov 9, 02:45 PM
“That is why for Christ’s sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.” 2 Corinthians 12:10
What do you do when you are insulted? I have recently had to confront that question in my own life. It seems that not only have I been insulted (presumably so) once but on many occasions of late. When something happens to me a single time, I usually pay little attention to it. When it appears that I might be in a season of recurrence, then I begin to consider that God is behind it, allowing it to come to me in greater measure so that I might pay attention to its lessons and allow the season to form me properly into Christ’s image. God allows us to go through certain seasons so that we might better understand our life in Him and be formed and shaped into the image of His Son.
When God is showing you something, it is to awaken you to His truth and sensitize you to its reality. For instance, if you find yourself in a season of suffering, it is to awaken you to the reality of suffering, to make the Biblical teaching of suffering more alive in you, and to sensitize you to the plight of suffering in others. However, that is not all. If you are in a season of suffering, it is not simply to “get your attention” (He probably already has your attention) or to help you better understand suffering; the season is intended to FORM you into the image of His Son by having you enter into Christ’s sufferings and to allow the PROPER RESPONSE to the situation to become ingrained into your lifestyle. For this reason, we want the season of hardship to have its full effect in us.
And so I found myself in a season of enduring insults. I was being disrespected and my work was being disrespected. The season itself began to awaken all kinds of darkness in ME. I realized how easily offended I am. It showed how very self-absorbed I am and how I place far too much importance on myself – that I be recognized and appreciated. So already the season was having a positive effect, albeit a painful one for me, as I realized how very much repentance was needed in me. Our task is not to build our own renown but to give glory to Christ alone. We must decrease but He must increase. It is HIS renown that we are after so that He might indeed have His rightful place among men and women. For our sake, He who had all things became nothing. Is it too much to ask that I not follow in His steps and do the same? In an age and society where men and women clamor for attention and praise, should not the Children of God be different?
Enduring disrespect and insults is an integral part of the Christian life. The Bible is clear about this. Was it not Our Lord who said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil about you because of Me?” In a society where we are obsessed with our public image and perception, I was being called out. My concern at this point was that the hardship I was enduring was in fact because of Him and not because of my own arrogance or evildoing. But of utmost importance was not what was coming against me but my RESPONSE to it. My natural inclination was first indignance and then defense. I would show them a thing or two. How very sad of me. How very much like the world. The wretchedness of my own flesh reared its ugly head and anger swelled up within me as I determined in my soul to rebut the slights cast against me and vindicate myself in my own eyes. However, amidst the din of my own indignation, I began to hear the faint call of God through His Word: “Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners . . . . when He was reviled He did not revile in return but commended Himself to the One who was able to save Him from death . . . render no one evil for evil . . . . when one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” As I began to yield to the Spirit’s call, I prayed for grace to come in sufficient measure so that I might respond properly to the challenge at hand and that my response would not be a one-time fleeting thing, but become built into the very fabric of my being.