Who likes adversity?
We’re concerned with how things turn out; God seems more concerned with how we turn out.
– Philip Yancey
Maybe now, more than ever, we’re highly concerned with how things will turn out.
Whether we’re talking about school, the upcoming election, the pandemic, you pick the crisis, the problem, the latest debate… we’re highly concerned with how THINGS are going to turn out.
This year is one of those years that all of us wishes was over. It’s been a year filled with adversity. And maybe you wish you could skip, or at least fast forward, through life’s most difficult moments.
I don’t know about you but I don’t like adversity. More often than not I avoid conflict. If and when possible, I try to avoid discomfort.
Most of us, if not all of us, are mostly concerned with how things will turn out. But what if we were able to pay attention not just to how things are turning out, but to how we are turning out in the middle of all the adversity we are facing right now?
The Reason for the Wind
A couple of weeks ago I was getting ready to take my kids to youth group. I say kids, plural, because now I have 2 kids in the youth group and that makes me feel really old!
Right as we were about to leave a big storm blew up. It knocked out the power for a lot of people and with online school beginning the next day, that was just one more difficulty to deal with!
The storm brought a lot of lightening and a lot of wind.
So often when we talk about adversity, when we talk about the difficulty of life, we talk about it in terms of the storms of life. And it’s an important metaphor for us.
It’s important because, more often than not, it’s how we respond in the face of the wind, it’s how we respond when the storms hit, that decides what we’re known for.
Whatever the wind, whatever the crisis, whatever the adversity, people are quick to let us know what they are against.
But what if it’s the very adversity that we avoid, what if it’s the difficulties we face, that God uses to make us into, to transform us into, who He wants us to be?
And what if it’s in a world that is full of darkness, full of complaint, full of hate, full of hurtful and harmful words, full of entitlement, full of angst… that we have the opportunity as followers of Jesus to let people know what we want to be KNOWN FOR.
Your Primary Identity
Paul talks about this to a group of Jesus followers living in the ancient province of Galatia some 2000 years ago. Even though these people are diverse in their backgrounds and heritage, even though they come from different places, Paul says this is what they should be KNOWN FOR…
“For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” – Galatians 3.26-28
According to Paul, this is who you are. This is your primary identity. You are all children of God. You are children of God because of your faith in Jesus. Because you put your trust in Jesus.
How did you do that? How did you put your trust in Jesus, your faith? It was in your baptism.
Through baptism we take on a new identity. There’s no longer anything that would separate us or come between us. Those old dividing lines of nationality, heritage, race and religion? Gone. Those things that used to separate us like whether we are slave or free, male or female? They no longer separate us.
Known For Something Different
As people who have been united in baptism, people who’s primary identity comes from our position as children of God, Paul says…
“…let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.” – Galatians 5.20
This is how we live as children of God. This is how we live as people baptized into the name of Jesus. This is what we should be known for.
People who live their lives guided not by the latest problem or crisis, guided not by the labels and identifiers the world would place on us, guided not by self-serving motives, but guided by the Holy Spirit of Jesus.
And as children of God, baptized into the name of Jesus, Paul says…
“…the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. – Galatians 5.22-23
We’ll talk more about all of this in the weeks to come, but don’t miss this… this is what we are supposed to be KNOWN FOR!
As followers of Jesus, baptized into the name of Christ, people who have died to ourselves and have been resurrected to live a new life in Christ, children of God, filled with the Holy Spirit of God, this is how we are to be KNOWN to those in the world around us.
So what do wind, adversity, the Holy Spirit, and fruit have to do with all this? To learn more, read the NEXT POST…
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