During this Season of Lent, we are focusing on Jesus’ suffering and death. This past Sunday, our Gospel Reading (Luke 13:31-35) attested to the opposition that Jesus faced in his commitment to do the will of God in his life:
“… King Herod wants to kill you!”
“… Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”
But, Jesus gives us a model to follow in our lives. The world’s obstacles may become God’s opportunities. Is this not what Jesus believed when he said in the face of great obstacles!
“… today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way… and on the third day I finish my work!”
Jesus knew that he would face the obstacle of the Cross on Friday, but he also knew that he would experience the opportunity of a New Life on Sunday!
What are the obstacles that you have faced or are facing now in your life?
You and I encounter many roadblocks in our daily lives. Some of them are just small irritants, but some of them can be quite large. Economists point to improvements in our economy over the past year, but still many people have a diploma in their hands but have had difficulty finding a job in their field of interest. Many small businesses have failed. We’re told that inflation is not yet a problem; still, living day to day seems to be increasingly expensive. War still claims young lives and separates families.
If you and I were to constantly fixate on the obstacles surrounding us we would want to grab “a security blanket” like Linus in the Peanuts cartoons, go sit in a corner with our thumb in our mouth, and not move!
The creator of Peanuts, Charles Schulz, was a follower of Jesus. Some years ago, Robert Short wrote a book titled, The Gospel According to Peanuts. In a very subtle way, Charles Schulz proclaimed his faith that Jesus Christ gives us the way, the truth, and the life to deal with obstacles as opportunities.
Linus and Charlie Brown are walking in the woods. Linus poses this question to Charlie: “If you have some problem in your life, do you believe you should try to solve it right away or think about it for awhile?”
As they sit down by a log, Charlie Brown responds, “Oh, think about it. By all means, I believe you should think about it for awhile.”
When they start walking again, the puzzled Linus asks: “To give yourself time to do the right thing about the problem?”
Charlie Brown explains, “No. To give it time to go away.”
That’s one way to deal with life. Wait for things to change on their own. Wait and hope our problems go away. But what if they don’t go away? You and I could be sitting there with “our blanket” for a long, long time.
Could it be that some of the things we are counting as obstacles could really be opportunities in disguise?
There was a hilarious report from the Philippines in a publication called the News of the Weird:
“Officials in Manila decided they were going to reduce the number of disease carrying insects in the city. They offered a bounty of 1.5 pesos (about 6 cents in U.S. dollars) for every 10 cockroaches turned in. This gave rise to a booming industry in the Philippines: roach farming. Enterprising people started raising roaches in order to turn them in for cash!”
That’s a little extreme, but it does teach a helpful lesson: What we don’t want to do when we are confronted with an obstacle is to give up.
COUNT YOUR OPPORTUNITIES, NOT YOUR OBSTACLES!
— Pastor David Fetter
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