worth the struggle

Colossians 1:29 (nlt) --- That's why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ's mighty power that works within me.

 

We've all had these conversations.  I hear them and am in them all the time.  Some people say it is just my job as a minister.  So be it.  But we've all been there.

 

Life is a struggle.  It is a struggle to get what we need.  It is a struggle to deal with the tough things that happen to come our way.  Relationships often become a struggle because of various situations.  But the question we need to ask it this: it is worth the struggle?  Is what I'm dealing with worth the struggle.

 

Some of the struggles are not worth it.  The outcome just doesn't matter.  But some of the struggles are very much worth it.  In a discussion early this I heard that someone needed to make a tough decision and was struggling with it a great deal.  I was reminded that any thing that is worth often comes with a price.  What is free or easy is not always right or the best.  We have to consider our struggles and the reason we may be struggling.

 

Philippians 2:4-5 (nlt) ---  Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

 

Some of our struggles will be for the good of other people.  Is that true?  It is for me.  To be able to help, encourage and lift people, we often have to enter a struggle with them.  This may be with the person that is battling some kind of addiction.  It may be together with a person who has lost a loved one or who has sickness of some kind.

 

We have to take a hard look at the struggles.  Why am I willing to deal with the tough stuff of life?  God has us here for a purpose, and that purpose is to lead others to know Him.  Am I doing that?  Will this struggle make it possible for someone to see God and come to know Him?

 

1 Timothy 4:10 (nlt) --- This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.

 

In the last couple weeks we have come face to face with lots of people, and the conversations have been on topics from one end of the world to the other.  Yet I have noticed that all of these folks are struggling with something.  It is when you and I choose to serve others, to enter into a struggle with them, that we will see lives changed by God.

 

The eyes of my mind once again go to the kids we have helped, almost 500 of them to date with the back2school outreach.  Every one of those kids and their families is worth entering the struggle.  By the way, Jesus struggled for us.  I believe He would tell you and me ... it was worth the struggle!