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Are You Surviving or
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A speaker I heard on the radio not long ago asked a very thought provoking question. It was one of those types of questions you suspect is really from the Holy Spirit trying to get your attention and that sticks with you for quite a while. Basically, there are two different modes in which we can operate as we respond to life’s trials. Are we responding to our difficulties by shifting into “survival mode” or are we moving into a mode of thriving in the midst of troubles? Both survival and thriving have three basic characteristics: focus, priority, and perspective. Survival mode tends to be our first response to a new trial, especially if it is unexpected. Focus can be similar to how we use a basic telescope. As a child I had a toy pirate’s telescope. As you slid the tube back and forth you could make things go out of focus. If you used it correctly it would make small things look closer or bigger. If you used the telescope in reverse, it would make big things look further away or smaller. When we are in survival mode, our focus tends to be in reverse. Our trial looks very big and by comparison God looks relatively small. In survival mode, our priorities also tend to be in reverse. We tend to place priority on ourselves and on getting our problem or trial resolved. Our perspective is also backwards. Our hardship not only seems big, but also urgent, life consuming, and may feel like it is lasting forever. By contrast, when we choose by God’s grace to thrive in the midst of, rather than just survive life’s trials, our focus, priority, and perspective are very different. Paul explains this well in 2 Corinthians 4. He describes being “hard pressed on every side.” (verse 8) But his focus is not on how big his problems are. His focus is on the power of the risen Christ. “We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.” (verse 14) His priority is not on himself and getting his problems solved to his satisfaction. His priority is on the glory of God and the eternal welfare of others. “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God..” (verse 15) His perspective is not fixated on the urgency of his current hardships
or how big they might seem to us as humans. He sees his trials from
the perspective of eternity. “For our light and momentary troubles
are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So
we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what
is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” God provides us with an excellent example of how this applies to daily living in I Samuel 17, as Goliath challenges any man in Israel to fight him one on one. Saul and his men were “dismayed and terrified.” (verse 11) In their focus God was rather far off and small, Goliath on the other hand was right in front of them and at about nine feet tall quite huge in their view. Their priority was their own safety, and their perspective was that this trial was insurmountable, “they all ran from him in great fear.” (verse 24) But David was a man committed to a thriving walk with God. He was not
interested is just surviving life. In his focus the all powerful God
of the universe made Goliath look very small indeed. His priority was
not on his own safety, but on the glory of God. “Who is this
uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living
God?” (verse 26) His perspective was centered on the eternal
God who accomplishes His purposes according to His will. “You
come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against
you in the name of the LORD Almighty…this day the LORD will hand
you over to me, .. and the whole world will know that there is a God
in Israel.” (verse 46-47)
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