Endure: Don't Give In or Give Up - Part 3

Numerous examples of endurance derive from exceptional individuals who are handicapped. I sat beside a young woman in a college class and did not discover she was severely hearing impaired until the end of the semester. She took notes by reading the professor's lips. Can you imagine being deaf and attending a state university and being an A+ student?

When I'm faced with situations requiring value clarification and perseverance, I’m reminded of this young woman. Jesus' words from Matthew 7:13 speak to the issue. "For the gate is narrow and the way hard that leads to life, and those that find it are few." Every worthwhile endeavor may have a narrow gate and eventually require endurance.

The temptation might be to give up because the way is difficult. The alternative is to look for an easy way, the path of least resistance. Jesus was offered this alternative, but chose instead the narrow gate, leading to the cross. Consider the consequence for us, if he had chosen the easy way.  

Endure: Don't Give In or Give Up - Part 2

Endurance is, in truth, a test of values, especially where competing values cause conflict. A book called Values and Teaching, identifies most people as believing in prolonging life. However, place that ideal in a situation where someone is suffering from unbearable pain, caused by an incurable disease, and wishes to die…

Thank God most of us do not face that choice, but other situations where values collide make choosing unpleasant. You appreciate rules for driving safely, and although you need to be on time for work, you're late. You cherish being a patient, kind person, but someone is using you to their advantage. Your integrity depends on choosing your actions wisely.

A man explained he had a chance to reconcile with his ex-wife. He wanted to do right by his family and please God, but lack of trust blocked the pathway. God’s word teaches you to “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, and he will guide your path." This is God’s choice for all believers. 

Endure: Don't Give In or Give Up - Part 1

Recently, I met a person who was experiencing intense conflict over office procedures and policies. What appeared to be a secondary issue, but turned out to be the primary issue, was this person’s fear of conflict and confrontation. He preferred to pout and internalize frustration rather than to be "up front" with the issues.

There are several ways to manage conflict. One is to endure in silence and become a helpless victim. A healthier way to manage is to be open and truthful, carefully explaining what you think and need. Then request the person's help and support for resolving problems. Change usually requires patience and endurance for appropriate change to become a reality.

Endurance displays character strengths. Endurance makes emotional and spiritual transformation possible. Character strengths come from believing the Lord God will use any situation to let you know he is interested in you and will give you strength to endure. You can love and trust him to faithfully keep his promises. 

Values: Boundary Markers for Living - Part 3

The idea that God is interested in you may be difficult to believe and accept. He not only has an interest in his creation, but he pursues you for his purpose so your days on the earth will be worthwhile. What does he ask in return? To love him with all your heart, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

This command is not easy because it requires identifying and analyzing your values. Someone told me her priorities were her career first, then family, her social life, and finally God. Then she was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. Confined to convalescence for an extended time, she was forced to rethink her purpose and goals for her life.

Identifying and analyzing your values may result in life-changing decisions. That God is interested in you and will pursue you is validated by Jesus' words, "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly." To accept that God is interested in you may require rearranging your values to include his love and purpose for you.  

Values: Boundary Markers for Living - Part 2

Values serve as boundary markers for everyday living. Values are guidelines for management of personal conduct. Do they provide guarantees for a perfect, sin-free life? No! We cannot say, "I have values, and they protect me from any temptation or whenever internal impulses push me toward sin."

The Ten Commandments are about values. They help Christians establish values and serve as a reminder when there are deviations from those boundaries. Jesus said he came to this world to fulfill the commandments, not to do away with them. Our self-interest and desires pull us away from the commandments and our personal values.

Romans 11 clarifies. "When Israel tried to be right with God by pursuing her own self-interest, Israel failed. God’s chosen ones have always been those who would invite God to pursue his interest in them, and they in turn received his approval." Values become crystal clear when we permit God to pursue his interest in us. Can you do that without hesitation?  

Values: Boundary Markers for Living - Part 1

Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature yet found it difficult at times to write a significant beginning sentence that portrayed a truth. While Hemingway is considered to have been a true American literary genius, his value system brought him intense pain and suffering which resulted in his eventual suicide.

Hemingway continuously sought to prove himself through his famous African safaris, his drinking ability, sportsmanship, and exploits with women, but discovered that permanent peace did not exist for him. A Quaker proverb addresses caring for and loving yourself. "It is true that each person has integrity that can be damaged and diminished by choices that person makes."

Your integrity is intricately connected to your value system, so your values either strengthen or weaken your integrity. Jesus posited a blueprint for guarding your integrity. "Love the Lord God with your whole being and your neighbor as yourself." "Do to others as you would have them do to you" is a choice God will bless while strengthening your integrity.

Golden Opportunities: Hard Choices - Part 3

Everyone has values for choosing how life should be lived. Jesus put our choices into perspective. "Enter by the narrow gate; for the wide is the gate and easy the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter it. Narrow is the gate and hard the way that leads to life and few are those who find it." What is your honest response to these words?

I asked a man in his late thirties if he could ask one thing from God, what would it be? After a long silence, he said, "A clean heart that’s been forgiven, one that absent of the guilt and shame I’ve brought on myself."

To enter the narrow gate requires examining your values. Put into perspective what's on the other side of the narrow gate that awaits you. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, or can the mind imagine what lies in store for those who choose to love God." God creates in us a new heart when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Will you do that?