When Life Is Rough - Part 2
Chula Vista lemons.
What do you do when life is rough? If you’re a follower of Christ, what do you do when your pursuit of Christian maturity keeps calling you onward and upward, to terrain that is steeper and more challenging?
I don’t know about you, but I find myself turning to cliches, pithy sayings, idioms, axioms, prayer, and lots and lots of Scripture when life is rough.
Here’s another cliche that I keep in mind when life is rough. (Part 1 can be found here.)
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Something rough happened, or something we thought would go one way ended up going the other direction.
Ever been in a meeting that went sideways?
Ever been betrayed?
Ever consider someone a close friend only for him/her to shut you out without ever telling you why?
Ever been let go from a job despite working your hardest?
Ever grieved the loss of a loved one?
We don’t always have the ability to change the rough circumstance (God does though!) but we can change our attitude about it. Have the attitude of Christ. He was forsaken. He was betrayed. And He sacrificially laid down His life for us.
We have to be honest that life is rough, but we need to resist grumbling (Philippians 2:14). Easier said than done.
Jeff preached on Acts 6 yesterday, where Stephen (the first martyr for the Christian faith) was falsely accused. Have you ever been falsely accused of something, or had your words twisted and used against you? It’s the definition of not fun.
Stephen had some opponents who could not counter the wisdom he had been given by the Holy Spirit. Unable to lose the argument, they resorted to deceit and slander. His opponents set up false witnesses to add fuel to the fire (Acts 6:14).
Stephen’s response? He kept proclaiming the glory of God. He started preaching to his hostile crowd. When he was finished, he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56). That’s pretty awesome!
Alas, the people did not think so. The people picked up stones to stone him to death. Stephen’s final words? “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (Acts 7:60b).
I’m grateful that when Stephen saw the teeth-gnashing crowd, he took the opportunity to preach a sermon rather than run away. I’m grateful for his final words, and that they’ve been recorded to edify my faith in the Lord Jesus over 2,000 years later. And I’m grateful that he laid down his life for the cause of Christ. The church grows (and has grown) by the blood of the martyrs.
Stephen was given a lemon of a slanderous, violent crowd. But, we remember his unwavering faith, not the tart taste of lemon.
Lemons are a part of life. We grieve the circumstance, but then we ask the Lord for opportunity to be used by Him.
When life gives you lemons, make some lemonade. Better yet, follow Trader Joe’s advice, and make some ice cream.
