Challenges in the Christian life can be good for us. Why? Because we know if the challenge is not something we would normally feel comfortable taking on and doing, then the only way to get accomplish it victoriously is to rely on God. The harder the challenge, the more we need to depend on God and that is always a good thing.
Too often when faced with a challenge we can allow difficulties or problems to distract us and cause us to give up. One of the things we can allow to affect us is past failures.
Recently I went back and rewrote a novel I had written and abandoned a while back when discouragement crept in. This time I set myself a deadline to finish it. I worked hard going rewriting and editing till I was happy with the result. Admittedly, perhaps I put myself under too much pressure and that caused the headaches that dogged my weeks recently. Even so, I refused to let them or anything else stop me.
I have since sent the manuscript to a publisher. Just because it wasn’t accepted before I shouldn’t consider it a failure and give up. Because in the interim I have learned more in the craft of writing and improved the manuscript. Many poems and stories initially not accepted have been rewritten and reworked and been published.
The same is true in our Christian life just because something didn’t work first time around, doesn’t mean the idea is no good. It may not be the right time for it or the right place. The important thing is not to let failure stop us from trying new things new ways of presenting the gospel message or taking on new areas of ministry. Or it may be Satan who is trying to discourage us and stop us from doing whatever it is God has challenged us to do.
‘It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop,’ Confucius
Challenges are good for us in the Christian life because they make us rely not on ourselves and our own talents and strengths but on God. They remind us that ultimately it is God’s work and He can and will equip us to do it. I have found, as I’m sure many of you have, that when we do this God does enable us to do things we never thought we could. At the same time we come into a closer relationship with God and that is always beneficial.
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