Look to yourselves (take care) that you may not lose (throw away or destroy) all that we and you have labored for, but that you may [persevere until you] win and receive back a perfect reward [in full]. 2 John 1:8
Jesus always told it like it was, and at times He was brutally honest. One of my favorite quotes of His is in John 16:33 where Jesus says, “in this world you will have trouble.” It’s like, well thanks for nothing Jesus, but wait, there is more, “but I have overcome the world!” That means we can use our trouble to gain the victory.
We have become so comfort oriented as a society, that we hate anything that causes us discomfort and stretches us. Truth is that trouble is to make us motivated to move forward. Unfortunately most of us let it paralyze us and we end up moving backward.
Why? Jesus told us He has overcome the world and if we are His disciples we have been empowered to do the same thing. So, what is your trouble today? Have you confronted it and have a mindset that it isn’t going to get you, you are going to get it? Here is food for thought. Carp was a delicacy that was wanted on the West Coast, but had to be imported from the East Coast. There was one problem, until they got there they were mushy. So they decided to send them live, but the same thing happened. Every way they tried to transport them they were mushy when prepared. Then one day someone had the idea to put a natural enemy to the carp in the water, the catfish. Amazingly everything changed, the fish were firm and delicious when they were prepared. The fact that the carp had to keep swimming and avoiding the catfish kept them moving and kept them at their best. Whatever your catfish are, use to keep you at your best instead of letting them destroy you.
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