The Gift of Obstacles

     I googled Morris Convert on the internet of Christianity.  The information I found gives me insight into his character as a Christian.  Under his name is a short paragraph:  Upon finding our Lord, Morris became exceedingly inspired to glorify the Lord.  Exploding from the room, as if shot from a cannon, he hit the wall opposite the doorway.  Smarting from the shock of impact, he turned and walked alone down the hallway returning to his customary routine in life.  The impact had knocked the inspiration from him.

     Sound familiar?  I have seen the powerful sight of people completely overcome by the spirit at the moment of conversion.  They explode into the world excited and out of control in their new found belief and its inspirational energy.  The first obstacle they hit…it's over…kaput.

 

     As Christians, we have an obligation to take charge of new converts.  There is a need to help them understand this initial burst of spiritual energy will level out.  We must impart to them the need to develop spiritual discipline.  New Christians must be educated in the word and prayer mixed with counseling about the obstacles and failures common to the life of Christians.  They need to understand that even after a certain expertise from their education is developed, they will most likely experience obstacles and failures.  Converts must understand how important perseverance is in Christianity.

     My father drilled into my head as a young boy time after time, "Failures are the building blocks to success.  A man who states he has not failed is a liar.  A man that laughs at another man's failure is blind to his own."

     If a person living in the ancient world googled Moses, he would have found that Moses failed to convince Pharaoh time and time again before succeeding in freeing the Israelites.  The same can be seen in David's failure to gain Saul's trust on the road to becoming king.

      God trains us through failure.  He is attempting to train us to bounce back when we hit the obstacles.  Our Father wants us to gain knowledge and strength from each failure or obstacle.  He is teaching us perseverance.  He does not want highly excited and untrained servants sent on difficult missions.  That would be like sending unarmed soldiers into battle.

 

     Paul is a shining example of perseverance through many obstacles and failures.  For one, he was lowered by basket from a window to escape pursuers whose only desire was to kill him for his new found belief in Jesus.  Had he quit then, we would most likely have never known Christianity today as anything other than an ancient incident.

 

     Let us teach the newly converted brethren the important lesson that they should not and cannot do it alone.  They need to call upon the strength of the church family, prayer, and a faith that will grow and be strengthened from failure and obstacles to accomplish their missions.

 

     Let us teach them about the greatest example of perseverance…God, our Father.  He has shown divine (of course) perseverance in dealing with Israel, Christians, and people in general.

 

     When Christians are googled, wouldn't we want the paragraph to read like this: Upon finding our Lord, Morris became exceedingly inspired to glorify the Lord.  Exploding from the room, as if shot from a cannon, he hit the wall opposite the doorway.  Shrugging off the shock of impact, he rebounded with the help of his fellow Christians who counseled him on the most prudent manner in which to proceed.  With constant counseling mixed with prayer, education, and a growing faith, Morris persevered over the years and experienced great success in spreading the word and glorifying our Lord.

     The late Alan Redpath, longtime pastor at the historic Moody Church in Chicago, had this insight into a Christian: "The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime."