If you think this is something spiritual coming up, you’re right.
But it is also everyday real life practical, just as surely as the sun came up today and you need to eat.
After you get past the attempted complaints of contradictions in the Bible, and you buy into the truth of Jesus’ words, you still have to face numerous oxymorons in life and in the Bible.
The title above is prompted by two such oxymorons that fly in the face of typical human reasoning and effort.
I have come to believe that God lays out principles which contradict our thinking, so that all success in life is not to our credit, and even all failure in life is for His glory. Perhaps the hardest place to learn this is in America.
COUNT IT ALL LOSS:
“The former things I counted as gain to me; those I count as loss for Christ.”
“Indeed, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”
Sounds like we have to choose:
—Success according to the world
or
—Follow Jesus, and give up success according to the world
Oh, by the way, the Bible also says not many smart people, not many powerful people, not many respected in the world, are called and respond, but God chooses the foolish according to the world to confound the worldly wise.
Jesus said it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
And Jesus said not many people, period, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
COUNT IT ALL JOY:
“My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into all kinds of trouble; know that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, so you will be perfectly complete and lack nothing.”
I agree, this doesn’t make sense—until we follow Jesus and give Him control of everything.
And even then we often ask “Why?”—until we get to heaven and find out it was all much more that worth it all.
Until then we have His promises in the Bible that guarantee both our outcome and our strength for today.
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