Bible, Life's Moments

Will Your Main Thing Remain the Main Thing

I once heard a preacher say, “There is an old German proverb that says, ‘The main thing must always remain the main thing.'”

Makes good sense to me.

However, what happens when the main thing goes away? We may very well want the main thing to remain. We don’t want to lose it. We cherish it above all else. Yet…there it goes…

…a relationship dries up.
…a business folds up.
…a skill shrivels up.
…one’s drive gives up.
…one’s appearance ages up.
…one’s health withers up.

What then? One or more of these often form the very foundation of the “main thing” for many people. Yet, each of them runs the very real potential of “going away.” It’s at times like these that we really start to understand phrases like…life just tossed me a curveball and it feels like the roof just caved in.

The expression, “I have a heavy heart,” takes on all new meaning because you literally feel like a stack of bricks is lying on your chest.

When you say, “It seems like I’m living in a dream world,” you mean it because to you life literally looks foggy on the edges.

The questions then are these:

  • What can really be the main thing?
  • What won’t ever go away?
  • What is there for us to cling that by its very nature will forever be a firm foundation?

Answer these correctly and adversity receives a whole new look.

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Adversity

3 Words That Scream Adversity Is Winning

Adversity can make you better or bitter. Adversity can be a kick in the pants. It can also kick you in the teeth. Obviously we want the former, not the latter. But how do you know? How can you tell when adversity has become your master?

Three words can help: critical, apathetic, and sullen.

If these adjectives paint your life picture, adversity is winning.

● When finding fault sprints to the lead while compassion and understanding struggle to keep pace…adversity is winning.

● When indifference and insensitivity climb the leader board while concern and kindness fail to make the cut…adversity is winning.

● When pouty pessimism scores all the goals while cheer and hope get shut out… adversity is winning.

It means you’ve lost purpose. You’ve lost your way. Helen Keller once said, “True happiness… is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”

If a worthy purpose puts criticism, apathy, and sulleness in their places, imagine the power of ultimate purpose.

“Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant in the trial and the change
One thing… remains…”
by Jesus Culture

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Bible

What if I don’t marry?

Yeah, I know her. Just sayin.’ Seriously, the young people in our church sometimes take my breath away. Keep on keeping on, Miss Hyla. Eph. 3:14-21

Mihaela Echols's avatarHylaandpeterechols.com

In spite of my purity ring, people have asked me what I will do if I do not get married. This is a great question! My answer is, wear it of course! Yes, even if I am sixty and if I do not marry I will be wearing my purity ring. As I have mentioned in my other writing I Wear This Ring I do not only wear mine as a reminder of sexual purity before marriage, but also for purity in all areas of my life. Say I do marry, then what happens? Some people add to their purity rings, or save it to pass down to their children. In my case, I will replace it with an engagement ring, and then add the wedding band to it. I’ve explained to other girls that a wedding ring is just another purity, but within marriage. 

I’ve broken it down…

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Bible

CBF field personnel reflects on immigration crisis in McAllen, Texas

Diann, thank you. And thank you Cooperative Baptist Fellowship for all you are doing. Reports like these are sweet water to thirsty and discouraged souls. Keep on keeping on. You are all in my prayers.

Aaron Weaver's avatarCBFblog

Diann Whisnand is one of CBF’s field personnel serving in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Her efforts are mostly in Hidalgo County, which is top in the U.S. for concentrated poverty, and she works on several levels addressing the issue of systemic poverty.

Whisnand’s main focus—the Rio Grande Valley Literacy Center—is a development ministry specifically targeting Latino adults who want to address their lack of education or English skills. Recently, she has also helped CBF to coordinate aid given to refugees crossing the border after the huge influx of families and children entering the U.S. from Central American Countries.

Learn more about Diann Whisnand and her ministry with CBF at thefellowship.info/whisnand, and check out a recent story on Whisnand’s advocacy work on CBFblog.

 By Diann Whisnand

Central American Refugee Central American Refugee

As a field personnel with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, I’ve been ministering in the Rio Grande Valley…

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Adversity

Adversity: An Opportunity or an Ogre?

I’ll be blunt, adversity stinks.

You lose…
…your job.
…your health.
…your wealth.

Some…
…thing you cherish goes missing.
…hope you grasp slips away.
…one you love suddenly dies.

And… adversity becomes your up-close, personal, unwanted guest.

It more than stinks.
It hurts…
It bewilders…
It depresses…
It pervades…
It lingers…
…a lot…too much…too long.

You know it and I know it, because we’ve been there. Perhaps, you’re still there. If you’ve not been there. Hang on, it’s coming.

So, for just a few moments think about this question: “what do all those items above have in common? Slow down for just a bit. Try not to read on. Can you think of at least two things they have in common?

…
…
…

Okay, you’ve probably arrived at the same thing, but just in case here it is:

1.  They all represent loss and loss requires grief.
2.  They all fill a part of your soul and what fills the soul produces purpose.

So, will forgetting the loss heal the grief? No, because forgetting will never fill your soul and therefore will produce no purpose.

So, will time heal all wounds? No, because time is just a prolonged encounter with the pain.

So, will something new and similar to the thing lost fill the void? Maybe in part, but not completely, because it’s never quite the same

Then what? What will help?

One thing. Purpose. Ultimate purpose.

People, pursuits, and things pass away. The result. They never completely fill the holes in our souls. Please don’t get me wrong. They are beautiful and wonderful. We desire them and need them. They complement us. They often bring out the best in us. However, by their very nature they are not permanent. They may not outlast us. When they go they leave holes in our souls. Joy flows out. Pain rushes in. Grief.

Maybe you recall a famous scene from the Billy Crystal movie, City Slickers.

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? [holds up one finger]  This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean s____.
Mitch: But, what is the “one thing?”
Curly: [smiles] That’s what you have to find out.

So one question needs an answer if adversity is to become an opportunity rather than an ogre. Got purpose…ultimate purpose?

The Lord has it. He wants you to have it.

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