Have you ever felt like you were reliving a scene from your past? It can actually be a lot more fun or at least more interesting the second time through. Of course, we do not actually relive any moment in time. Occasionally, the circumstances of a situation will have a strong resemblance to the past.
How do you deal with it when that happens? If the situation made you angry, fearful, or frustrated, do you feel that way again?
If you can step back from the challenge and look at it from experienced eyes, you may be able to recall the things that did not work before and the things that did.
I have a saying. If you did not pass the test, you will see it again. Tests and temptations come our way. Sometimes the biggest challenge to being successful in a situation is not the situation after all, but it’s our reaction to it. We are our biggest challenge. Our attitudes get in the way of our succeeding in life.
Being successful in life boils down to one question. What is life about for you? Is life about you getting what you want? Is it about making someone else happy? Is it about serving God?
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:24
You cannot serve God and either yourself or someone else at the same time. It does not work. There will always be a pull inside of you. When we make life about serving God, we can relax because we know that God directs it all.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
Psalms 37:23
The challenges that we face again and again in life really do have their roots in how we perceive life. If we think something will be fun, it probably will be. If we think it will be boring, it probably will be.
How accepting are you of the challenges that come your way?
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 8:28-29
Perhaps the very things we find challenging are the very things that conform us to the image of Jesus.
LIFE APPLICATION
Today’s challenge is to ask God for wisdom to see the patterns of your life – those challenges that seem to keep popping up. Understand that quite often the results you get from the situation have to do with the approach you take. If the approach did not work in the past, it probably won’t work now. Ask God to help you see clearly where your focus is more about you than what God would have you to do. Realize that the challenge may be there to conform you to the image of Jesus. Pass the test, or you just might see it again!