Why Good Christians Struggle
Ps 1: 1-3, ‘Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers
Often time the difference between a thriving Christian and a struggling one has nothing to do with their level of faith (remember a mustard-seed faith removes mountains) or amount of prayers. It usually has to do with living right and good positioning.
In the Psalm 1 verse 1 & 2 above, the Bible’s definition of a blessed man is illuminating. Look at the verses again; where your legs take you to, who you spend time with either casually or rigorously matters a lot. Evil communications corrupt good manners; more importantly, your mind is often the springboard of your actions.
Many times when our heads quarrel with our hearts, the head wins. Therefore, friends’ influence and peer pressure can put us in damaging problems. The films and videos we watch, the discussions we have, the books we read, etc do have residual effects on us and shape our actions even if subliminally.
Now have a look at verse 2, can you relate it to Joshua 1: 8? Only the Oriental religions seem to talk of meditation today. Most Christians cannot zero-in their mind on the word of God for any reasonable long time. However, the word of God is the DNA for good and inspired success.
Now let us assume this scenario where a Christian keeps Ps 1 vs 1 but fails in verse 2? Will he be called blessed? Also, look at a reverse scenario where another Christian is faithful to verse 2 but fail in verse 1; can he be blessed.
The resultant lesson here is that we need to live right and be rightly positioned; yes, righteousness and Spirit controlled positioning.
Many Christians suffer today because of wrong positioning and we have a lesson to learn on this focusing on a colorful Bible character called Zacchaeus:
Luke 19: 1-10, Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Zacchaeus was a rich man and he had a rich man’s mentality. He wanted to see the Lord but He was surrounded by the crowd and Zacchaeus was diminutive. Unlike the frail woman with the isle of blood who seared through the crowd with all her strength in order to reach our Lord; Zacchaeus climbed the tree instead.
How many sermons I have heard praising this action of Zacchaeus! Preachers commended him and gave him a superfluous credit. Now forget them now and watch what happened in verse 5 above. The Bible says that when Jesus got to Zacchaeus He looked up to speak to him.
Well, I hope you notice the problem here right away; apart from this passage in the Bible, everywhere else our Lord looked up and spoke, He spoke to His father alone. And therefore what did Jesus tell Zacchaeus looking up? Friend, if our Lord has to look up to talk to you then you are badly positioned. How many folks are closed minded today, hero worshipping but starving under men and women that really don’t have the anointing, grace and wisdom to break their kind of yoke?
Read verse 5 again, this time in Kings James, “…Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down…” The Lord did not give Zacchaeus the message of salvation until He came down from the sycamore. Perhaps I need to tell you; Zacchaeus was luckier (Sorry more blessed) than some equally badly positioned Christians today.
Another Bible character and a specimen of grace to learn from was the blind Bartimaeus. Both the incidence of Zacchaeus and Bartimaeus happened on the road Jericho:
Mark 10:46-52, And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
Of our great interest and importance are verses 49 & 50. Bartimaeus was blind and perhaps you’ve observed that the blind, deaf & mute are often as bound by their predicament as the spirit of self-pity. Jesus Christ notably did not go to Bartimaeus like He did to Zacchaeus even though he was blind. He however stood still for him and called for him. Then Bartimaeus had to “rise up” and walk to Him!
Until you rise up from self-pity deliverance will not come. So the Lord asked one to come down and the other to rise up! We must all meet the Lord on the right level. Not a few children of God must rise up today and appreciate who they are and what they have in Christ before they can be blessed. The only reason we envy the world and are enticed to sin today is this self-pity. Why was Israel constantly enticed to idolatry? They told Samuel, “We want to be like the nations around us”. Do you regret that you can’t commit some sins? What do you celebrate today at home and in your church?
Today, we have specialized churches! There are Biblical topics some churches would never teach their congregations. I know churches that only teach motivational topics and some that never talk about the second coming of our Lord. There are churches that teach holiness or faith but never prosperity or God’s provisions for our welfare. While a good church should grow Christians as well as make them relevant to the community, most churches only specialize in one area.
Your leader is more important than you think, and if you doubt me then talk to the disciples of John the Baptist. They asked our Lord while His disciples weren’t fasting and to make matters worse they weren’t even ceremonially washing the hands before eating. When the Lord’s answer enthused them they cross-carpeted from John to Him. You can’t blame John really; if the Master eats locust and honey how will the followers not fast?
The lesson here is simple; if your Pastor is not meeting your spiritual needs then change church—and changing church does not necessarily mean changing denomination.
I want to close this piece by telling you not to be another Ephraim. The blessing of the upper-hand on him did not land as his older brother eventually became greater contrary to prophecy.
Hosea 7: 8-9, Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.
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