CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I need to underscore a foundational fact: God’s goal is not to make sure you’re happy. No matter how hard it is for you to believe this, it’s time to do so. Life is not about your being comfortable and happy and successful and pain free. It’s about becoming the man or woman God has called you to be. Unfortunately, we will rarely hear that message proclaimed today. All the more reason for me to say it again: Life is not about you! It’s about God.

How can I say that with assurance? Because of Paul’s response in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:

"Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

That’s it! He got it, too. And he went with it for the rest of his days.

When you and I boast of our strengths, we get the credit, and we keep going under our own head of steam. But when we boast in what He is doing in the midst of our brokenness, inability, and inadequacy, Christ comes to the front. His strength comes to our rescue. He is honored.

Don’t miss that point. The very things we dread and run from in our lives are precisely what brought contentment to Paul. Look at the list: I am content when I lose. I am content when I am weak. I am content with insults. I am content when I am slandered. I am content in distresses. I am content with persecutions. I am content with difficulties and pressures that are so tight I can hardly turn around. Why? "Because when I am weak, then I am strong" (v. 10). Knowing that brought the apostle, ablaze with the flaming oracles of heaven, to his knees. What a way to live your life—content in everything—knowing that divine strength comes when human weakness is evident.

Paul recommends an attitude of unselfish humility. Quite remarkably, you never read where Paul said to his Roman guard, while he was in prison: “I need you to do me a favor. Next time you happen to be near one of the Emperor’s assistants, urge him to get me out of this dump. I shouldn’t be here in the first place. I’ve been here for one year, seven months, four days, five hours, and nine minutes, and that’s long enough.â€

Amen to that, I am glad that you brought this subject out into your post. I have been trying to relate this message to others around me. Humility needs to be tought more, Contentment should be taught more. In life we are often found dwelling on the bad of life, but when looking at Paul and all of the persecutions he went through without complaining, it's allowed to me to see my life in a new perspectives. I chose to see the good in life. Christ is our contentment, and sustainer. Once that is realized we will then be able to live this life in the way that GOD, and not ourselves, have planned.

As my grandma is so fond of saying, "Who said life has to be fair?"

As my grandma is so fond of saying, "Who said life has to be fair?"

Your grandmother is correct in saying that....We tend to forget that life isnt always fair, and it is always peachy. We become selfish in our ways when we feel that we are entitled to a wonderful life. If life was perfect and gung-ho and always went the way we wanted it to go...we would never learn anything and we also would end up destroying ourselves. I'm glad that I have to struggle sometimes...because in my struggles I become strong...