Renewing Your Mind (Victory Series Book #4): Become More Like Christ by Neil T. Anderson
Authors: Neil T. Anderson
Tags: REL012120
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our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2 Corinthians 4:17
N obody likes the idea of impermanence. We live every day with the assumption that tomorrow will be the same. We make plans for the future with the thought that we will have our health and the same job, family, and friends. James says otherwise. “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a littlewhile and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13–15).
Only God is permanent—everything else is changing. We are time-oriented people by nature who are in the process of learning to see life from God’s eternal perspective. On three occasions Jesus told His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem, where He would be betrayed and crucified. The first time the disciples essentially denied Jesus, and Peter even rebuked Him (see Mark 8:31–32). The second time they didn’t understand and were afraid to talk about it (see Mark 9:32).
On the third occasion, the disciples were terrified. Their life as they knew it was soon to be over (see Mark 10:32). We all go through a similar reaction when a crisis abruptly ends an established lifestyle. Usually, the crisis is defined by a significant loss that can be real, threatened, or imagined.
Our first response is denial, which can last for 3 seconds or 30 years. Our initial reaction is a sense of disbelief— No, not me ! Then we get angry and wonder, How can this happen to me ? The anger often turns to bargainingas we think, Maybe I can alter what happened . Finally, we feel depressed when we are unable to reverse the consequences of the loss. Reaction to losses is the primary cause for depression. No crisis can destroy us, but it will reveal who we are.
Learning to overcome losses is a critical part of our spiritual growth. Everything we now have in this temporal world we shall someday lose. The critical questions are whether we are going to choose the path of resignation and allow the loss to negatively affect us for the rest of our lives, or whether we are going to accept what we cannot change and grow through the crisis. A wise person once said, “A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.”
What were the disciples’ reactions when Jesus told them that He was going to be betrayed and crucified (see Mark 8:31–32; 9:32; 10:32)?
How can the loss of health, a spouse, a date, a job, a leg, and so forth lead to depression?
How can accepting what we cannot change lead to growth in character and a better lifestyle than before the loss?
What changes have you had to adapt to recently? In what ways have those changes been unsettling?
How should you move on after a significant loss in your life?
James is not trying to take away our freedom to decide, but he is showing us that it is not just what we want that matters. We need God’s grace to complement our efforts and ought to rely not on them but on God’s love for us. As it says in Proverbs: “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”
John Chrysostom (AD 347–407)
2
Surviving the Crisis
Job 3:1–26
Key Point
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” (Jim Elliot).
Key Verse
I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Philippians 3:8
J ob suffered the loss of everything except his life. He was in the pit of depression and wished he had never been born. He did not accept his present condition; instead, he resigned and gave up on life (see Job 3). We all experience losses in our lives. We need to learn how to accept what we cannot change and grow through
2 Corinthians 4:17
N obody likes the idea of impermanence. We live every day with the assumption that tomorrow will be the same. We make plans for the future with the thought that we will have our health and the same job, family, and friends. James says otherwise. “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a littlewhile and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:13–15).
Only God is permanent—everything else is changing. We are time-oriented people by nature who are in the process of learning to see life from God’s eternal perspective. On three occasions Jesus told His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem, where He would be betrayed and crucified. The first time the disciples essentially denied Jesus, and Peter even rebuked Him (see Mark 8:31–32). The second time they didn’t understand and were afraid to talk about it (see Mark 9:32).
On the third occasion, the disciples were terrified. Their life as they knew it was soon to be over (see Mark 10:32). We all go through a similar reaction when a crisis abruptly ends an established lifestyle. Usually, the crisis is defined by a significant loss that can be real, threatened, or imagined.
Our first response is denial, which can last for 3 seconds or 30 years. Our initial reaction is a sense of disbelief— No, not me ! Then we get angry and wonder, How can this happen to me ? The anger often turns to bargainingas we think, Maybe I can alter what happened . Finally, we feel depressed when we are unable to reverse the consequences of the loss. Reaction to losses is the primary cause for depression. No crisis can destroy us, but it will reveal who we are.
Learning to overcome losses is a critical part of our spiritual growth. Everything we now have in this temporal world we shall someday lose. The critical questions are whether we are going to choose the path of resignation and allow the loss to negatively affect us for the rest of our lives, or whether we are going to accept what we cannot change and grow through the crisis. A wise person once said, “A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.”
What were the disciples’ reactions when Jesus told them that He was going to be betrayed and crucified (see Mark 8:31–32; 9:32; 10:32)?
How can the loss of health, a spouse, a date, a job, a leg, and so forth lead to depression?
How can accepting what we cannot change lead to growth in character and a better lifestyle than before the loss?
What changes have you had to adapt to recently? In what ways have those changes been unsettling?
How should you move on after a significant loss in your life?
James is not trying to take away our freedom to decide, but he is showing us that it is not just what we want that matters. We need God’s grace to complement our efforts and ought to rely not on them but on God’s love for us. As it says in Proverbs: “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”
John Chrysostom (AD 347–407)
2
Surviving the Crisis
Job 3:1–26
Key Point
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” (Jim Elliot).
Key Verse
I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Philippians 3:8
J ob suffered the loss of everything except his life. He was in the pit of depression and wished he had never been born. He did not accept his present condition; instead, he resigned and gave up on life (see Job 3). We all experience losses in our lives. We need to learn how to accept what we cannot change and grow through
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