Life is hard, but God is good. I remember going to a concert where Billy Sprague (www.BillySpragueMusic.com) was performing many years ago and those were his words. I wrote them in my Bible and have referred back to them on many occasions. Today was one of those occasions.

It seems as though we are living in an anything goes kind of world. I am growing weary of people who call themselves Christians and then turn around and settle for mediocrity or hurt others in the name of God. It causes me to stop and think how this can be? I keep asking myself, “Aren’t we as Christians supposed to be living victoriously? Even if life is hard, shouldn’t we be continuing to do what is right despite our circumstances?”

I’m going to be a bit vulnerable today and let you in on my talk with God this afternoon. In my quiet time, I sat down, distraught, beaten down and teary-eyed—a rare thing being the optimist that I am.

“I’m so tired of the battle, Lord. How is it that nothing ever seems to go my way? I so need a win in my life. I don’t know how much more I can take.”

I decided to pull out my old trusty Bible instead of my phone where I usually read the Bible. I touched the sacred pages and begged for God to inspire me.

“Show me what I should do here, Lord! My world is so hard. I know You are good and I don’t want to lose sight of that, but you need to help me here, God. My flesh is weak.”

The first verse He led me to was 1Corinthians 16:13-14. Wow. Does He know what I’m standing against down here? It almost seems that He does when He leads me to verses that say, “Be on your guard, stand firm in your faith; be men of courage, be strong.” What great encouragement! He gets it! He knows life is hard but He told me to stand firm and be strong. Then he threw in verse 14…Do everything in love. Ugh. He knows that about me, too. I need to be reminded of the love part on a regular basis.

Sometimes when people do bad things to me, it is hard for me to love them or speak lovingly when we both know what they’ve done, like talking badly about me or stealing my real estate client from me when I turned my back. Why is it that I have to keep being nice when everyone around me is so mean and hurtful?

Then He led me to Philippians 2:5 and told me that my attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ. Really? Do you hear what they’ve said or seen what they did? Really, God? You just want me to roll over and let bad things happen to me like Jesus did when they hung Him on a cross?

The truth is, I have spent over thirty years now working on a relationship with God hoping that someday I will become more like Jesus. I pray often when I go to speak that my audience not see me; but rather, they would see the Holy Spirit in me and hear His message, not mine. Then God proceeded to show me Philippians 4:9 and challenged me to put the things that I have learned about Jesus into practice so that I might find God’s peace in every situation.

I think I have chosen two of the hardest professions I could have chosen—evangelism and real estate. I work a lot of hours in both and don’t always make a lot of money, if any at all. Although I have some very dear friends and have met some wonderful people in my real estate career, because of one person’s bad behavior this week and my bad attitude, today, I saw nothing but the bad.

I questioned God, “Do you really want me to sell real estate? Have you met some of the people who do? They will say or do anything for a sale even when it is not true. They will stab others in the back to find their way to the top. I’m certainly not like that. I can never win with others who stop at nothing for a deal.”

Then I started down the path of woe is me and whined, “Do my messages ever make a difference for anyone? Is this just another thing I do all for naught?”

Then God lead me to Colossians 3:23-25. He reminded me that whatever I do, I should do it with all of my heart for Him, not for men. It is the Lord I serve, not man.

So here I sit remembering the words from many years ago…life is hard, but God is good. If I do everything I do for Him; despite the outcome, it is what I should do because that is what He has created me to do. I can’t look at others and get angry. I need to look at those who inflict bad things on me with love that reflects an attitude of Jesus and continue to keep my eyes on God. He is all that matters to me at the end of the day. Man or woman will always let me down. But the God I serve brings peace and contentment to a hard life, if I just keep my eyes on Him.  It’s a BIG WIN when I serve God with my life no matter how hard it might be.

Thank you Lord for your lesson today on life and my attitudes. No matter how hard life gets, I will serve you with all my heart, knowing my treasures lie in heaven and not in this world. Life is hard, yes, indeed. But You are good and worthy of my praise.

Is God speaking to you about something? Has he pointed out something in your life where you might not have responded in a loving way? Has someone in your life let you down? Is He reminding you to put your eyes back on Him instead of man? My prayer for you today is that you, too, will find the peace that I have found by simply putting your trust in Him for everything in your life. Be blessed and don’t forget to get out there and be a blessing!

 

 

 

Did you know you, too, can make cool scripture pictures like these found in my blog? Go to www.YouVersion.com and use their handy app to make your Bible reading times come to life. Today, I used the NLT version for my scriptures, but there are many to choose from in the app. Have fun!