I was speaking with a minister friend of mine the other day and we were “talking shop”. Catching up on how ministry is going and what we see God doing in our lives and the church today.
We got on the topic of friends that are no longer in the ministry and one of them we discussed stepped away from ministry because of challenges he was facing. Well, the next thing out of his mouth was very profound and very true. He said: “we all face challenges; that’s no reason to withdraw from life”.
I left the conversation with that thought ringing in my head and thought of a few people I know who are personally going through some type of challenge. And believe it or not the list of people just kept on going and going… By the end of the night I came the conclusion that every single person I know is going through some type of challenge; some more serious than others but it is still a challenge!
Here is a short list (without names):
- Surgery to remove a tumor
- Battling Covid
- Son not living for God
- Daughter being abused by boyfriend
- Baby daddy cheating on baby momma
- Fractured relationship between mother and daughter
- Caring for elderly parent
- Husband recently deceased
- Prostate cancer
- Car accident
- Surgery
- Moving
- Loss of a job
- Not making enough money to cover expenses
- Knee injury – could be permanently disabled
- Being forced to take vaccine or lose job
- Battling depression
- Living in a loveless marriage
- Homeless
These are people who I know personally - and this list goes on and on. In other words, no one is living the perfect, trouble free life.
What does this all mean? It means that our challenges should never define us or control us. We should just count it all joy.
When I think about what Paul went through every single day just to carry the good news to the world, I am in awe! Paul was whipped 39 times twice; He was shipwrecked and forced to jump into the Mediterranean to survive; bitten by a poisonous snake; imprisoned more than once; beaten by a mob and left for dead; and had a contract placed on his life by the “jewish mafia”; and we think we have problems. But all the while Paul said “I am a happy man”!
This is the season of Joy so let’s all cheer up and put aside every heavy weight that so easily gets us down and depressed for His grace is sufficient for us!
Blessings,
Pastor Artie Kassimis
