In Christ, your life is not about what is happening (or not happening) to you, it is about who you are becoming.
Every challenging circumstance is an opportunity for relational growth.
Transcript
Today, we are going to take a “Posture of Peace” by seeing our challenging circumstances correctly. They are our opportunities for relational growth.
Posture is a short, audible fist bump to remind you, God is with you in everything. Together, we’re going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.
Colossians chapter 3. We are back, we have been there before. Colossians 3:1-4 says, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on Earth. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in Glory.”
Now, if we view our challenging circumstances with a mind that is not set on things above, we will be susceptible to discouragement, to desperation, and to despair. And I only know that because that’s how I used to live. Challenges would come my way and I would fixate on a resolution, on an ideal outcome. And the shorter the timeline, the better. Of course, I wanted instant healing. I wanted instant provision. I wanted instant answers and I would become so consumed by my need for rescue and resolve that I did not have any awareness of the opportunities in the middle of those challenges for my relational growth with God. My joy, my peace, my faith, my hope. They were all held up by my circumstances only to be freed once there was resolve. It was as if my life was buried in my circumstances instead of being hidden in Christ. But in Christ, my life, your life is not about what is happening or not happening to you. It is all about who you are becoming.
Every part of our living and learning in Christ is meant to be connected to who we are becoming in Him. Remember, Genesis 1:26, we’ve talked about this before. God’s primary purpose for us is to be made into His image and likeness, and that transformation happens not through resolution of circumstances but in our relationship with Him. And on that relational journey, that is where we discover the keys that will unlock our circumstances. Jesus didn’t live ever in reaction to His circumstances or the circumstances of others around Him. He always lived in response to the Father. And in His response, His responsive living to the Father, came resolution of circumstances.
There’s no point in getting an answer to your situation if you remain unchanged. In fact, it only guarantees that it’s gonna circle back around again. Every circumstance is an opportunity for relational growth in God. Every circumstance is an opportunity for you to grow in your relationship with God. There is territory to be taken. There is strength to be found. There are deeper levels of intimacy, closeness with God to be experienced. So here’s a great question to ask today. No matter what your circumstances are, heavy, light, easy, hard, how are your circumstances contributing to you being made more into His image and likeness? Who are you becoming in Jesus today?
The promise of “Perfect Peace” is found in Isaiah 26:3. In Hebrew, it is “shalom, shalom.” Meaning, complete wholeness. Nothing missing, nothing broken. This is who you are in Jesus. Because of Jesus, you are a living testimony of Jesus’s ultimate win. With every step you take today, you’re putting Jesus’s victory on display and satan’s defeat on replay.