how to handle your problems…

a good question now is how do i handle my problems  well james says in 1.2 (niv)  rejoice, rejoice. consider it pure joy whenever you face trials.

now don’t misunderstand what he is saying.  he’s not saying, “fake it.  put on a plastic smile, pretend to be polyanna.”  GOD never asks you to deny reality.  HE doesn’t mean some kind of psychological pump up based on nothing.

HE’s also not talking about masochism.  “good, i get to suffer!  i just love to suffer.  i feel so SPIRITual when i feel bad.”  HE’s not talking about having a martyr complex.  we don’t rejoice for the problem, we rejoice in the problem.  we don’t thank GOD for the situation.  why would i thank GOD for evil?  but i thank GOD in the situation.

one of the most misunderstood verses in the bible is 1 thessalonians 5.18 (nkjv), in everything give thanks; for this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS for you.  if you really want to know the will of GOD in your life it’s simple.  in everything give thanks.  it does not say, “for everything give thanks.”  why would i thank GOD for giving me leukemia?  “thank you GOD for that accident…  thank you for that war…   thank you that i lost my father.”  no!  what kind of GOD do you think HE is?

it says, in everything give thanks.  why?  what it means is that we can thank GOD because we know that he can even take the bad in our lives and turn it around and bring good out of it.  i don’t care where your problems came from.  you may have caused them yourself or the devil may have caused them.  they may be problems that society has brought on you but it doesn’t really matter the source of your problem.  GOD can use them for your growth and HIS glory.

now what makes the difference?  it is your attitude.  it says, “consider it pure joy.”  look at the word consider, it means a deliberate look at.  it means to evaluate, to make up your mind once and for all.  while i’m living in the present, i look to the forward benefit of this problem.  consideration is a choice.  although i cannot control the circumstances that happened to me in life, i can control how i will respond to them.

victor frankl, the jewish psychologist who spent time in the nazi concentration camp in germany said, “they stripped me naked.  they took everything – my wedding ring, watch and i stood there naked and all of the sudden i realized at that moment that although they could take everything away from me – my wife, my family, my possessions – they couldn’t take away my freedom to choose how i was going to respond.”

just a thought from the front porch…