Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! -Psalms 147:1
I have found that there are a number of ways in which people approach life. Some move aggressively forward, some let life just happen, others sort of go with the flow, and still others shut themselves away from the world altogether. But if I had to narrow those approaches down to two ways of going at life, I would say that most people are either getting by or thriving. How do we know the difference? The first involves simply living from day-to-day, trying just to make it through the problems and frustrations that life throws at us, and doing our best to keep everything together. That describes a lot of people and that approach certainly beats giving up altogether which countless people do all of the time. This, however, is the problem with the survival approach to life: We can only keep that up for so long. Eventually we will run out of steam and be unable to continue surviving and holding on. Believe me when I say that a great number of people are doing just that; holding on for dear life.
There is another approach to life, and this one is advocated in Scripture and is available to all who will seek the Lord. This approach is to seek after the abundant life in Jesus Christ. This is not a life free of problems, frustrations, and crises, but rather it is a life characterized by the power of God in the midst of those problems. Jesus didn’t promise that we wouldn’t have any trials in life, but He did promise that He would empower us through life and all its frustrations. A personal relationship with Jesus lifts us up beyond a day-to-day survival mentality and places us in the position of walking daily in spiritual victory. In Christ we can walk in that power, and we cease from surviving life to living the abundant life in Him.
People are stressed out, burdened, worried, overwhelmed, and discouraged. But take heart: There is hope in Jesus Christ – not just for surviving, but for living and walking in spiritual victory. Through faith in Christ the broken heart can be mended, the shattered dreams can be re-visioned, the wounded soul can be healed, and the silenced voice can praise God once again.
Trust Christ today and do not give up. There is always hope in the Lord.
