[Faith-talk] FW: [thefamilyoffaith] Diversity: A Wake-up Call - Charles Stanley

[Eric Calhoun]

Original Message: 
From: "thefamilyoffaith" <TheFamilyofFaith at tampabay.rr.com>
To: <thefamilyoffaith at yahoogroups.com>,
<INTERCESSORS-ALLNATIONS at yahoogroups.com>,
<dfpprayerwarriors at suddenlink.net>, <unitedprayermail at aol.com>
Subject: [thefamilyoffaith] Diversity: A Wake-up Call - Charles Stanley
Date: 
Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:00:20 -0400





Diversity: A Wake-up Call



 


One of the reasons God allows adversity into our lives is to get our
attention. God is acutely aware of when we have become too preoccupied with
ourselves and our interests. He knows when it's time for an interruption to
get our attention.

 

The question immediately arises: isn't there some other way of getting
our attention? Theoretically, the answer is yes. There are certainly other
means of gaining one's attention than through adversity. But it usually
takes a jolt of some kind to bring us around. C.S. Lewis, in his wonderful
little book "The Problem of Pain," put it this way:

 

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts
in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

When things are going our way, it is sometimes difficult to turn our
thoughts to God. When all is well, we can quickly drift into a state of
self-reliance and smugness. Our prayers become lifeless. The Word of God
begins to sound unappealing to complacent ears. And to make matters worse,
we begin to confuse our sense of well-being with spirituality. When nothing
is wrong, we falsely assume everything is all right.

 

Anyone who has done much in the way of evangelism knows what I'm talking
about. It's next to impossible for an unbeliever who has no pressing
problem to see the need for a Savior. When everything is fine, why mess it
up with God?

But come back to the same man or woman following an experience of
adversity and you'll find a completely different attitude.

 

Such is the power of adversity. It brings even the strongest and most
stubborn of us to our knees. Consider the man named Saul who later became
the apostle Paul. As Saul traveled to Damascus to arrest believers, God
struck him down with blinding light, humiliating him in front of his
traveling companions. No doubt believing that his blindness was permanent,
Saul was now ready to listen to God. As the truth settled in that Christ
was the Messiah, Saul realized his error. A few days later, he was
proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues (Acts 9:20). He was the first to take
the Great Commission seriously, he planted churches across the Roman
Empire, and he preached to Gentiles as well as Jews.

 

What about you? What could God accomplish through you if He had your
undivided attention and loyalty? We forget that sometimes when God looks at
our lives, He sees not only our past, but our potential future as well. He
sees the lost soul with whom we will have an opportunity to share--if we
are spiritually on track at the time of our encounter. He knows who among
us could be great preachers or writers or debaters or teachers. And from
the perspective of eternity, whatever it would take to get our attention
would be worth it.

 

Once I received a letter from an old friend. At seventeen he felt called
to preach. His struggle against that call finally turned him away from the
Lord altogether. While outside of God's will, he chose both his wife and
his career. In time, he lost both. Now, almost twenty-five years later, he
is ready to serve the Lord. I believe God will use this man--as He has so
many others with similar stories. But it was only after He had taken
everything this man valued that He finally had my friend's attention.

 

To some, this whole notion may sound cruel and unfair. And to be honest,
in the midst of a situation where God was working to gain my undivided
attention, I had my doubts as well. But we are the ones who are unfair if
we assign to God the label of cruel. Our stubbornness and insensitivity to
His Spirit cause Him to resort to those things we find unpleasant. Our
preoccupation and infatuation with the things of this world diminish our
spiritual sensitivity. If we are really honest, we leave God no choice.

 

If you are facing adversity in your life, God may be trying to get your
attention. He may be trying to draw your attention to a specific sin. He
may be in the process of steering your affections away from the things of
the world. God may know that you are on the verge of making a major mistake
in your life; perhaps He wants to intensify His relationship with you
during this time of decision making. Whatever your circumstances may be,
rest assured that God does not do things without a purpose. If He has
allowed adversity to enter your world, He has something exciting in store
for you!