Written by Pastor Jack Wellman“Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitudes toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.”
– Chuck Swindoll
Chuck Swindoll Attitude Quote Commentary
‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look fully at his beautiful face. And the things on earth turn strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.’ The words of this old spiritual song can be heard in many churches across the country any given Sunday. Its powerful message actually contains the answer to many of life’s challenges. In most cases, when we are faced with a mortgage bill that we can’t pay, a pink slip at work, injury or illness at home, our thoughts instantly race to wishing that our challenges would disappear. We pray and pray and, when we realize that our challenges remain, we get frustrated, we feel lost.
Claim the blessing of transformation behind every challenge
When you’re feeling challenged, take comfort in the fact that Jesus is already blessing you. How? He is giving you an opportunity to use your challenges as invitations to abide in him more fully. To let it all down and trust him. To gaze into his face, peer into his words, and dig really deep into your relationship with Him and…be transformed. You see, the Bible teaches, in First Corinthians, that when we behold God, we become transformed. His character becomes our character. The image we already have of God-we are created in His image-gets reactivated and re-energized-if we only abide in him.
Oftentimes a transformed character is better than changed circumstances
It is human nature to avoid painful things and run towards pleasurable things. This is why, when we pray, we’d rather ask God to immediately take away that pesky mortgage bill, make a new job opportunity appear, make new business contracts push through, make cancer disappear, and a whole host of other instant fixes. Can God do these? Of course. After all, the Bible is filled with miracles and our own lives-from freedom from addictions and instances of grace-are filled with miracles. However, in most cases, he offers us something even better. He offers us a transformed character. He offers us the chance to build our faith. As we see in Chuck Swindoll’s quote above, a changed perspective is crucial to a great life. How we respond to life is the product of our perspective. Our lives can be so much better if we respond to it in better ways. This is exactly the opportuntiy God is giving us when he transforms and sculpts our character in the face of challenges. In hindsight, these moments are much more valuable than removing a problem or challenge because this gift lasts a lifetime and is the basis of a life truly worth living.
