How To Stop Being A Miserable Christian

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous

, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:11)

Notice what our verse saysno chasteningseemeth to be joyous. The point is not that chastening cant be joyous, but if we only look at what is right in front of us, we will miss the possibility for joy. Things are not always as they seem. In fact, I would venture to say things are not ever as they seem. What we can see is not all that is occurring. We have a very limited view in the flesh of what is taking place. That is why faith is so important. Faith lets us see that God is at work behind the scenes in every circumstance.By faith he [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:27) And faith not only lets us see that God is at work; faith makes it possible for us to endure. The only way to experience joy in the midst of the chastening (or adversity) is if we recognize that which cannot be seen with the naked eye. The problem, identified in Hebrews 12:11, is that we insist on supposing things are as they seem to be. Our logic tells us this is the way it is. Our eyesight tells us this is the way it is. The world in which we live tells us this is the way it is. And, if we listen to logic and sight and the world, we miss out on what God has for us.

We must see by faith. It is impossible to experience the joy of the Lord during adversity unless we are relying on faith to see past our circumstances. Joy is being filled with cheer (not happiness) and experiencing calm delight in the soul. We will never know joy if our focus is on the physical world we can see. Some people say that it is impossible to change our focus, but God never gives us an expectation that He does not enable us to fulfill. He says in I Thessalonians 5:16, Rejoice evermore. There is no way around that one! It does not mean rejoice when we are in Heaven someday; it means rejoice right now here on earth.

The most miserable Christians I know are those who despise the chastening of the Lord. They allow the circumstances of their suffering to make them miserable because they make the mistake of thinking and believing that things are as they seem to be. Even when things are going wrong and we are suffering, God is not dead. He has not abandoned us. He is very active and involved in our lives. That is the only way we can rejoice in chastening. If we insist on living by what we can see (which is logical and makes sense), we forfeit the potential of joy, and we guarantee the presence of grief in our livesit seems grievous, which means to be filled with sorrow and sadness. You will be de-energized, diminished, de-motivated, and depressed.

Notice the word nevertheless in verse eleven. What does nevertheless mean? It means always the more. How does that fit in with the context here? This passage is teaching us that it is only through enduring Gods chastening that we make spiritual progress in our lives. There is something about progress: it is much easier for it not to happen. The more you endure, the longer you endure, and the more difficult the trials and testings you endure, the greater will be the progress you make in your walk with the Lord and your work for the Lord. We must see the progressive benefits of enduring chastening. It is much slower to go forward for God than it is to go backward away from God. Picture the Christian life as climbing up a mountain. As long as we are ascending the mountain, our progress will be slow, but we are moving forward. If we fall, we start moving very rapidlyin the wrong direction.

I have known people who were faithful to God for many years. They followed Him, were active in church, were a blessing and encouragement to others, and were moving up the mountain. They were growing and maturing and drawing closer to God. Yet, in the space of just months or even days, they can undo all of the effort of those years. It is always faster to regress than it is to progress. Sometimes it is hard to realize that we are making any progress at all. Our growth seems so slow that we think we are standing still. But, we are never standing stillwe are either moving forward or falling back. We are either moving up or moving down.

My friend, may I ask.which way are you moving today???

by: Reformers Unanimous International

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