Vice President Mike Pence to graduates: Be prepared to be ridiculed for being Christian
Rachel Campos-Duffy weighs in on Vice President Mike Pence's warning to new college graduates.
I think it’s safe to say we’ve all had days when we wanted to crawl back into bed and start over. You know — those instances when one wrong turn sets off a domino effect and things seem to spiral out of control before you even get the chance to brush your teeth; you get snippy with loved ones, become disappointed with yourself and before you know it circumstances seem too bleak for anything remotely positive to come out of the day.
“Time for a do-over!” we rush to say. Most times, the hope of tomorrow seems to be the only escape from overwhelmingly difficult situations. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why are we so easily defeated?
I think this phenomenon occurs not because we are too pessimistic, but rather because we are too optimistic. We wouldn’t face feelings of crippling defeat if we didn’t have extremely high standards and expectations for ourselves to in the first place.
Many of us put enormous pressure on ourselves to handle whatever life throws at us with composure and fortitude rather than facing the reality that in a fallen world, nothing will ever really be perfect. Sadly, Christians are not exempt from this trap.
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I think sometimes Christians fall into a pattern of treating their spiritual health as though they were on a strict diet. When we don’t set aside time in the beginning of the day for quiet time and prayer, we immediately treat it as if it were a “cheat day” on a diet, assuming the damage is already done and we’ll just have to get it right tomorrow.
It makes me wonder if God looks down on us in these moments and says, “HELLO! Today is still here!” After all, He’s given us various examples in the Bible of His power to transform miserable days into joyous ones.
Jesus performed dozens of miracles, and some of the most notable were when He raised people from the dead on what were for their families, I’m sure, the worst days of their lives.
I think sometimes Christians fall into a pattern of treating their spiritual health as though they were on a strict diet.
We learn in the last sentence of the book of John: "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."
How encouraging! If Jesus’s miracles during His time on Earth — just 33 years — were too numerous to count, just imagine how many incredible things He has worked out for His believers up to the present day. He uses His Holy Spirit every single day to comfort, encourage, and help His children overcome the seemingly impossible obstacles they face.
He does this because He loves us, but that is not His only motivation. We learn from the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:9-11: "We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."
Unlike our human instincts, God doesn’t want us to rush through our bad days. Instead, He asks us to use them as an opportunity to lean on Him, so that we can learn that He and He alone is what we need for fulfillment.
So you see, every bad day is actually a chance for us to grow more intimate with Him. And as our trust in Him develops, we are then able to point others to find comfort in Him as well.
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"Praise be to the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."
The next time you’re tempted to wish a day away, pause and ask God to help you. Whether it’s first thing in the morning or as you’re walking out of the office, it’s never too late for Him to bring goodness out of your situation.
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