Beauty in the Struggle!
It has been screamed in our ears many a time that most of us pray for a breakthrough but no one is willing to be broken! Quite ironic, huh?
We want to achieve a GPA of 4 and above but we loathe studying long hours; we would rather stay online for several hours chatting our time away.
Many are praying for a good man/woman but few are actually good men/women. We claim every blessing the pastor spews on the pulpit but we are unwilling to move a finger to see these blessings materialise! We long to go to that celestial city, heaven but very few are willing to take that narrow path!
However, we see that when we turn the tables of the above scenarios and begin to see beauty in the struggle, it is then that we can be motivated enough to reach our desired destination!
The struggle may be painful now but the beauty about it is that in some time to come, you would not be the same in that situation.
I watched a documentary of a young man who rose from abject poverty to a prominent person. He recounted how he once used Sunlight washing powder to wash his teeth because he had no tooth paste. There were times he wore the same clothes to lectures in the face of ridicules from his mates but he never gave up. He saw beauty in the struggle! His praying mother also saw beauty in the struggle. She encouraged him and gave him the necessities he needed even when things were so bad! He excelled in medical school, got a Rhodes Scholarship and pursued his dream of becoming a medical doctor. I still admired his love for the Lord for all He put him through. This young man saw beauty in the struggle and he knew the God who has been faithful throughout all ages.
Taking us down memory lane, we may remember the mytrs of old. The Bible says they did not consider their lives but saw beauty in the struggle when they were being persecuted ( Revelation 12:11, And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.) They were looking for a better place,(Hebrews 11:16, But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them). The struggle was then worth it. The book of Hebrews puts it beautifully in chapter 11 where we hear of the amazing faith of the people of God- Of Moses, it was said "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
We want to achieve a GPA of 4 and above but we loathe studying long hours; we would rather stay online for several hours chatting our time away.
Many are praying for a good man/woman but few are actually good men/women. We claim every blessing the pastor spews on the pulpit but we are unwilling to move a finger to see these blessings materialise! We long to go to that celestial city, heaven but very few are willing to take that narrow path!
However, we see that when we turn the tables of the above scenarios and begin to see beauty in the struggle, it is then that we can be motivated enough to reach our desired destination!
The struggle may be painful now but the beauty about it is that in some time to come, you would not be the same in that situation.
I watched a documentary of a young man who rose from abject poverty to a prominent person. He recounted how he once used Sunlight washing powder to wash his teeth because he had no tooth paste. There were times he wore the same clothes to lectures in the face of ridicules from his mates but he never gave up. He saw beauty in the struggle! His praying mother also saw beauty in the struggle. She encouraged him and gave him the necessities he needed even when things were so bad! He excelled in medical school, got a Rhodes Scholarship and pursued his dream of becoming a medical doctor. I still admired his love for the Lord for all He put him through. This young man saw beauty in the struggle and he knew the God who has been faithful throughout all ages.
Taking us down memory lane, we may remember the mytrs of old. The Bible says they did not consider their lives but saw beauty in the struggle when they were being persecuted ( Revelation 12:11, And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.) They were looking for a better place,(Hebrews 11:16, But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them). The struggle was then worth it. The book of Hebrews puts it beautifully in chapter 11 where we hear of the amazing faith of the people of God- Of Moses, it was said "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak , Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;e they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect"
It is such a great feeling knowing that indeed God is so faithful to bring us to an expected end. Since i got to know this truth in His Word, no circumstance has ever overwhelmed me. I have known days of an empty stomach, they have have been countless times of an empty bank account, they have been days despair set in and praying did not feel right. They have been times i had to sacrifice my very pleasures to please the Savior. The world tells me i am missing out of the boiling romance, the world mocks at you when you say you are "waiting to share your first kiss on the altar". You wish you were changing clothes like the girl/boy next door, or may be changing your phone every month. You probably wish you should let lust have the better of you; the man is willing is break up with you and his condition of staying is that you 'prove' your love by sleeping with him. You think she is your 'world', she came around demanding a huge sum of money which you don't honestly have. Now she has threatened to jilt you and you are going gaga! PAUSE!
Repeat this slowly in your heart, 'there is beauty in the struggle'. Perfect gifts come to those who wait. Life is temporal, only God is eternal!
As you eat that same food everyday, see beyond the current struggle- there is a beauty.
As you wash those same clothes, see beyond the current struggle- there is beauty
As you daily fight sexual temptations, see beyond the current struggle- there is beauty
As your friends ridicule you because you have chosen to go all out for Christ, see beyond the current struggle- there is beauty
As that sickness weighs you down, see beyond the current struggle- there is beauty
Be grateful for those struggles, God is writing your life so beautifully. Very soon, that book will be completed. You will be probably lying in the arms of your husband/wife, laughing and sharing those moments where it was so hard to stay pure before marriage. You will finally understand that it was indeed a blessing to through that struggle of waiting till marriage to have true intimacy.
You may probably be having breakfast with your kids, as you take a look at the delicacies on the table, you will joyfully share the story of having to eat only one meal for an entire day. It is then you will realise the beauty in the struggle.
The penultimate peak of rest for our struggle will be when we finally meet the Lord in the city of Gold. We will see Him as He is, our tears will be gone, it will be all laughter and endless joy. We will not struggle with sin and its entanglements!
Yayy! I see beauty in the current struggle!
"Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”a for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’b or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4
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