Feeling Down?

Prosperity preachers preach that all we have to do is be saved and then all will be peachy! We don't even have to be righteous; all will be all right! Is that the way it really is? Ask the apostle Paul! "Paul, you were the most righteous man short of Jesus. Was life smooth sailing for you?"

Literally, Paul's ship sunk!

Acts 27:41 "And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. 42 And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape."

Paul, as a prisoner, weathered severe storms for 14 days, then the ship sank and he, along, with the other prisoners, was targeted for death. Paul was a Christian who was being persecuted for spreading the disease (sic) of hope to those who seek! Paul' sailing was anything but smooth. Then it got worse!

After years of telling the world about Jesus, Paul's time came. Evidence is that Paul was beheaded in about 67 A.D. by the Romans under Nero.  No smooth sailing there! What did Paul do wrong? Did he not have enough faith? Did he not give the worms enough of his income? Did he even have an income? The obvious answer is emphatically "No! Being a Christian is not smooth sailing!" In fact here's what Jesus said about persecution:

Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Basically Jesus said "Things won't be smooth sailing here, but for those undergoing hardships and trials, the reward is blessedness!" This flies in the face of "name it and claim it" preachers.

 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your anxieties upon him; for he careth for you."

We all get sad. Even other Christians do us wrong! However, if we look for others for comfort we do God and injustice. We are to cast ALL our cares upon him. Why should we feel badly because others do us wrong when Jesus always does us right?

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference. ( Reinhold Niebuhr)

We alone just can't make all things right! Some things we just have to live with. Others will never always think highly of me or you. Others will do us wrong. Jimmy Carter asked one thing correctly  "Who says life is fair?" Life wasn't fair to the apostle Paul, but death was poetic justice. He lived a persecuted life, but in death he is rewarded. Ours aren't people who persecute our very life, but our livelihood! Their is an action/reaction pair which determines our joy. When a person wrongs us, our joy is stolen. The cause is "evil-doing", the effect is "low in spirit". With faith in God the devil will flee from us and as we moan and groan, the Lord will lift us up! (James 4).

Are you heavy laden right now? There is peace!

Matthew 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

"Rest" for some is peace and happiness. For Paul it was death. Sometimes we desire death because that's the ultimate way to obtain peace. It can't be at our incentive nor in our time, but when death throws us into the grave, life will lift us out, providing the "rest" we seek is Christ Jesus!