Hold On part 3
Life is hard. It just is. Look at the middle part of John 16:33, "...In the world ye shall have tribulation..." I've always said the hardest part of living is just that: Living. Showing up. Holding on. Not giving up. We always say, "Keep on keeping on, cuz what's the alternative? Giving up? Nah." So now look at all of John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." The point is how we DEAL with the tribulation. When Peter was walking on water with Jesus, he took his eyes OFF of Jesus and started to focus on the storm... and he immediately began to sink and drown. Then this happened, "Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?"" (Matthew 14:31 MSG). Did you catch that? JESUS grabbed PETER. It is more important for us to understand that He is holding on to us than for us to think that we have to be holding on to Him. In our weakness His strength is made perfect. He's not depending on us to hold on to Him. Because whether we are or aren't... He's holding on to us. He overcame the world so that we could be overcomers. And that doesn't mean we CAN overcome. It means, in Him, we HAVE overcome. We don't have to conquer in order to be of good cheer. We can be of good cheer because we are MORE than conquerors. And the best picture of this I've ever heard was this: A boxer is a conqueror. He goes into the ring and fights the fight. His wife is more than a conqueror. Because she gets to enjoy the fruit of his labor. She gets all the reward without stepping foot in the ring. Being wed to the boxer doesn't give her the ability to fight. It keeps her from needing to. We don't need to try to overcome every little thing. Jesus asked, "What got into you?" That's the key. We need to get to the place where no matter what we're going through... we don't let it go through us. No matter what we're in, we don't have to let it get into us. We can keep our eyes on Jesus no matter how bad the storm is. And He can carry us through. Keep us from falling. Because He is holding on to us. Holding us up. LOVE is holding us up. And, yes, sometimes that means other people. But sometimes that means strengthening yourself in the Lord. Just you and Him. Letting GOD love you. And letting that be enough. Because sometimes there aren't other people around when you need them. You can't always depend on people. But you can always depend on God. In the world you'll have tribulation. You just will. Life's tough. But in HIM you have peace. In Him you can be of good cheer. You can grin and bear it. You can get through what you're going through and still be of good cheer. You can let things be what they are and still enjoy the journey. Will everything always be exactly the way you want it to be? Of course not. But you don't have to let that wreck you. You can be confident that things WILL be how they're SUPPOSED to be. That all things work together for the good. That God has a plan for you, and that HE is the One working to make that plan come to be. So just trust in Him. Trust in love. Hold on to Him, even as He's holding on to you. Hold on to love even as love is holding on to you!