Faith, Hope and Love

So this is a topic that I have been chewing on for a while and I gotta admit not necessarily with the best of attitudes either.  You see these past 18 months have not been the easiest for me.  Nothing major life changing, just small little changes that seemed to eat away at my foundations.

Little small battles that look a little bit of my joy each time.  Ya know what I mean?

Like when you stand on the shore and a  huge wave comes bounding in and you brace yourself... you may be still be standing when the wave goes out but down at your feet a little bit of the sand has been pulled away.  And there you stand... bracing yourself each time as you feel more and more sand being pulled away.  

So here I sit a sad, cynical, bitter person that I don't want to be...

I don't want to be sad, I can see the good in each and every situation... really I can... it still hurts.

I don't want to be a cynical person, I want to be the positive and joyful person... it still hurts.

I don't want to be bitter, I want to hope, I want to have faith, I want to love... it still hurts.

Here is why it hurts. The older I get the more life I see and the more I honestly realize that life is ugly.

People hurt you, people are mean, people leave you, people cheat, people lie, people gossip, people are bitter,  people are greedy, and people are well.... people!

I keep thinking it has to be better than this!

Recently though I have been digging into God's Word and here are some thoughts I have put together...

I am right!

This place is all that I described... ugly, mean and full of people that do ugly, mean things.  Jesus told us that truth in John 16:33 when he said

"...in this world you will have trouble..."

Now I purposely took this part right out of the middle of the verse, because do you see those three little dots before and after?  Those are the parts I have been missing.  Wanna know what it is?  Good cause I gonna tell you.

"I have told you these things [speaking of his coming death], so that in me you may peace..."

In the prior verses and beginning of this verse Jesus is talking to his disciples about the upcoming troubles he will have, (even Jesus had to deal with mean and ugly people) and then he reminds us too...

"...in this world you will have trouble..."

BUT, then there is this part, the part that I forget about, because I get lost in the trouble and the sorrow.

"But take heart!  I have overcome the world."

I think I have looked at this all wrong... Jesus never claimed to take away the trouble, what He claims is to be only One who has something better on the other side of trouble.

What does that look like in my everyday life?  Here is what I think...

People are still people...
People will be mean and hurt me, BUT I know the One who can heal me.
People will be lie and blame me, BUT I know the One who will comfort me.
People will leave and I will be lonely, BUT I know the One who will stay with me.
People will cheat and I will be embarrassed, BUT I know the One who love me unconditionally.

Sometimes, I will still get hurt, blamed, lonely, and embarrassed... those are the "troubles"! I can't shield myself from them, I can't hide from them, and I certainly can't run from them.

Instead I should run to the One who can heal me from the troubles.

See the difference?

I got stuck in putting my faith, my hope, and my love into PEOPLE and they have sorely let me down.

I have retreated into the comfort of my own security instead of running toward the ONE who heals.

My faith, my hope and my love belongs in Jesus the only ONE who has overcome those mean, ugly people and then guess what?  I learn to love those mean and ugly people.  CRAZY! I know!