Life As It Really Is

“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” (Ac 14:22 AV)

 

There was a three-fold purpose of Paul’s missionary journey as expressed above. The first, to confirm souls means to shore up weaknesses.  By confirming the souls of the saints, Paul is strengthening them in their faith.  The word means to reestablish.  This suggests they were weakened in their faith to the point of leaving it altogether.  Secondly, once reestablished in their faith, he is encouraging them to continue in it.  The reason Paul had to do this is found in the underlined portion of our verse above.  Tribulation has a way of testing the faith of God’s people.  Allow a bit of hardship and that hardship will reveal the weaknesses we would not have noticed otherwise.  Tribulation reveals what needs to be addressed.  When those weaknesses are addressed, it makes for a stronger person.  That which the Spirit wishes for us is to come to terms is the inevitability of tribulation. 

Some of the happiest people I have known are or were octogenarians.  Those dear people in their eighties.  In my home church, this group of saints was called the halleluiah group.  To a tee, the pastor staff always remarked how this group was the most fun to hand with.  I always wondered about that until I started a monthly luncheon with the widows and widowers of my own church.  This small group met at Ponderosa once a month for a time of fellowship and food.  There was Wanda, Patsy, Terrill, and Prentice, Helen, Delores, and Mildred.  Later on, we added Hyatt and Juanita.  It was fascinating listening to them tell the stories of growing up in western Kentucky.  You would think you were listening to a Walton’s episode.  I heard stories of hog killin’s, growing up without refrigeration and electricity, and riding a horse to a one-room schoolhouse.  One thing was for sure when they got to talking about the good old days, laughter was in no short supply.  When they got to talking about the many perils of getting older, there was laughter all around.  My favorite, Ms. Wanda, always gave me a hard time about the size of my helpings!  These people knew how to laugh and have a great time.  Even though many had said goodbye to a spouse from a horrible disease or malady, they still knew how to laugh.  Why?  At some point, they came to terms with the reality of much tribulation.  They stopped trying to live the perfect life and learned to live the joy-filled life.  The matured.  They learned.  They accepted.

We have been raised in relative ease.  Our generation has not had to suffer a world war, major financial collapse, or internal conflict.  However, in today’s world, we are facing equally challenging circumstances.  Tribulation is upon us.  We have a hard time dealing with tribulation because we have been led to believe life can be full of nothing but blessing and ease.  Paul further gives the saints a reality check by using the word ‘much’ before the word ‘tribulation’.   Paul is telling us that tribulation will be more normal than times of tranquility.  The saints were losing their faith because they had not come to terms with the nature of life.  Hardship is the course of the saint’s life.  Paul tells Timothy to endure hardship as a good soldier.  Job tells us we are born unto trouble.  Part of the maturing process is realizing this reality.  Knowing my body will fail is not a happy thought.  Preparing for it and accepting it will help me tremendously in my response to it.  Sometimes, when we lack faith, it is not a lack of information.  It is a lack of incorporation.  It fails because we will not allow the reality of what we know to enter our minds and hearts, wishing it to be different.  Maturity means we accept life as it is, learn to endure, and rejoice over God’s grace through it all.