When I was growing up, I remember the inflatable plastic punching dummy.
It was about as tall as I was and had a smiling face painted on it.
The challenge was to hit it hard enough to make it stay down.
But no matter how hard I tried, it always bounced right back up again.
What was the secret?
There was a lead weight in the bottom that always kept it upright.
As I understand, sailboats operate by the same principle.
The lead weights in their keels provide the ballast to keep them balanced and upright in strong winds.
This is the way it is for us as believers.
Our power to survive life’s challenges resides not in us, but with Christ, who dwells within us.
We’re not immune from the punches that life throws at us, or from the storms that certainly threaten our stability, but we can have complete confidence in His power to sustain us in the midst of our suffering.
Jesus put it this way in John 16:33, and I love the way it reads in the Amplified Bible:
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world, you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]”
Because Christ lives in our human spirit through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, we have His resurrection power through us to survive life’s challenges.
Our attitude toward our troubles and suffering makes all the difference.
It can harden and cause us to be bitter, or it can soften and make us dependent on the Lord.
If we are to survive the challenges that life throws at us, we need to learn total dependence on Christ.
By depending on Christ to live His powerful life through us, we have the opportunity to live out of His resources and not our own.
Just as the computer or cell phone you’re reading this blog on must be connected to the power source to work, our life must be connected to Christ as our power source if our Christian life is to work.
Connect to Him and you will survive life challenges!
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries