Time to Toughen Up

by Charles R. Swindoll

2 Corinthians 11-13

There are 1,130 frostbitten miles, mountain ranges, blizzards, hungry beasts, and frozen seas between Anchorage and Nome. This awful trek is the scene of the ultimate endurance test known as the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, where twelve huskies pull a sled and its driver through the most grueling, inhuman conditions one can fathom. One frequent champion was the late Susan Butcher, whose tough-minded fixation on winning earned her the nickname Ayatollah Butcher.
The secret, she would tell you, was her own mind-set and the training of those dogs, which gave new meaning to the word "serious." Her 150-dog kennel was a thing to behold. Shortly after each pup's birth, while it was still blind, she held it in her hands and breathed her breath into its nose. That way, she claimed, each one would associate her smell with comfort and encouragement. The rapport began with that breathing-into-the-nose routine. She personally fed, trained, massaged, and—on a rotation basis—slept with each dog. She personally nursed them to health when they were injured. She was infinitely patient with them, talked to them, believed in them, even sang to them (old folk songs by Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, plus a few Irish lullabies). The objective? To bond with them. It paid. They saved her life on the trail more than once. Back in 1979, she led her dog team to the 20,320-foot summit of Mount McKinley. It took forty-four days.What a woman! One reporter described her as having "a stiff spine . . . a stubborn mind-set," which was what she needed to endure moose attacks, blizzards so severe that one time for five hours she couldn't see the lead dog, and a sudden plunge into icy water (Granite and Maddie, the mushers, pulled her out).
The Christian life isn't an eleven-day race. It's a lifetime journey full of more dangers and pitfalls than a hundred Iditarods. So it's foolish to think we can enter it half-heartedly or sustain it easily. To survive it calls for help from above and toughness from within. If Susan Butcher was willing to give that kind of effort to win a race that is incredible in the eyes of the world, seems to me we should be capable of conquering the marathon from earth to heaven.
A combination of two ingredients is essential: the capacity to accept and the tenacity to endure.
I move that we toughen up. All in favor say, "Mush."

"We could never be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world" (Helen Keller).

Rising Above
You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.

Genesis 50:20

Everyone faces adversity from time to time. A person is fired from his or her job. Bills are due, but there’s no money to pay them with. A beloved family member dies. How we handle these situations can say a lot about our faith in the Lord.

In the case of Joseph, his problems began the moment he fell for his brothers' "we've got a really neat pit to show you" trick. They sold him as a slave to Ishmaelites passing through the area in an attempt to rid themselves of "the dreamer" (see Genesis 37:19). Eventually, Joseph was able to gain a good standing with Potiphar and was placed in charge of his house. But later, Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce Joseph and falsely accused him of adultery. Joseph ended up in prison as a result.

Joseph had plenty of opportunities to cry out about the injustice he was facing. He had chances to complain about the treatment he had received from his brothers. He could have become bitter when the king's cupbearer was released from prison and forgot about him. These actions and attitudes would have reduced Joseph to hopelessness.

Instead, Joseph allowed himself to be used by God to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. Pharaoh removed him from prison and placed him in charge of Egypt, where he organized a plan to store grain before the famine occurred. Finally, Joseph was reunited with his brothers. What was intended for bad was used by God for good.

Obstacles have the ability to take us out of contention, but we also have the opportunity to rise above them. We can cry, complain, and live in misery because of our struggles. Or we can react like Joseph--allowing God, in his timing, to bring something good out of our circumstances. Are you allowing God to help you land on your feet?

Faith Like an Athlete

And athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules.

2 Timothy 2:5

Lots of people are willing to play games; far fewer people are willing to be athletes. A real athlete of any sport understands there are two sets of rules to be followed: rules of preparation and rules of participation. Experience can’t overcome lack of preparation. A marathoner who hasn’t prepared rigorously will fail disastrously. Extensive preparation becomes meaningless if an athlete doesn’t understand or play by the rules. Few sights are more disappointing than a superbly trained athlete who breaks the rules through carelessness or dishonesty.

When the apostle Paul was passing on the baton of responsibility for the gospel to his apprentice Timothy, he had a number of helpful insights to leave with the young man. He used various familiar life-pursuits to illustrate aspects of Timothy’s duties. Paul knew that athletes often present the kind of commitment that living by faith requires.So, how do the two sets of rules mentioned above function in the area of faith? How should we be faith-athletes? The rules of preparation remind us that faith is more than a belief-muscle we build up. Faith requires an object and content. The follower of Jesus Christ doesn’t believe in faith; he believes in Jesus Christ. His faith (what he believes about Jesus Christ) continually grows as he seeks to know Christ better and better. We exercise faith when we study God’s Word and train ourselves to apply what we discover in it. An athlete trains continuously. Practice may not make perfect, but it usually leads to marked improvement!

The rules of participation point to our connection with others and with God out in the open. Eventually we have to get in the game. Stepping across the boundary and onto the track or the field of play always involves a sudden change of perspective. Studying and knowing how to talk to someone about your faith in Christ differs a lot from the thrill and terror of actually talking to someone about Christ. How will you practice and participate in faith today?

Mastering Habits
by Charles R. Swindoll
1 Corinthians 6:12

I used to bite my fingernails right down to the quick. I'd bite them off just as soon as the first signs of new growth would appear. Research shows that it takes only three or four weeks for an activity to become a habit.

Not a person who reads this is completely free from bad habits. It's the price we pay for being human. Let's focus on five suggestions that will help us overcome bad habits.
Stop rationalizing. Refuse to make comments like: "Oh, that's just me. I've always been like that." Such excuses take the edge off disobedience and encourage you to diminish or completely ignore the Spirit's work of conviction.

Apply strategy. Approach your target with a rifle, not a BB gun. Take on one habit at a time, not all at once.

Be realistic. It won't happen fast. It won't be easy. Nor will your resolve be permanent overnight. Periodic failures, however, are still better than habitual slavery.

Be encouraged. Realize you're on the road to ultimate triumph, for the first time in years! Enthusiasm strengthens self-discipline and prompts an attitude of stick-to-it-iveness.
Start today. This is the best moment thus far in your life. To put it off is an admission of defeat and will only intensify and prolong the self-confidence battle.

One day at a time, attack one habit at a time.

Workplace Lessons

by Charles R. Swindoll

Mark 2

While traveling across northern California several years ago, I tuned in a radio talk show where the host had just conducted a poll of his listeners regarding job satisfaction. Some sort of questionnaire had been mailed to folks within a broad radius of several cities along the San Francisco peninsula and East Bay region. The show's host had gathered and compiled the answers and was, that day, announcing the results.

To his surprise (and mine) he discovered that well over 80 percent who responded were dissatisfied with their occupations, and when he tabulated the results by cities, some were as high as 84 percent. And the unhappiness he discovered in the workplace was not passive, meek, and mild. Some even responded with intense words like "despise . . . resent . . . dread."

The average worker in the 1940s and 1950s was a male breadwinner with a wife and a houseful of kids to support. He worked full-time and long hours either in an office or a factory—mainly a factory since America was still an industrial society. He was a member of a union, motivated by job security and steady pay, and he looked forward to retirement at age sixty-five. His work was his world.How things have changed!

Among other changes, today's "average worker" does not belong to a union and would not consider joining one, plans to work past retirement age (many work well into their seventies), and is willing to accept a certain amount of insecurity in exchange for the possibility of being rewarded for superior performance. Maybe that explains why one-third of Americans switch jobs each year.

What's true for the "average worker" in the workplace may also be true for the "average worshiper" in the churchplace, where things are also surprisingly different than in the 1940s and 1950s.

I wonder how many churchgoers, if polled, would be honest enough to admit that frustration mixed with mediocrity also abounds on Sunday. If they had a chance to say so, I wonder if some would respond with intense words like "despise . . . resent . . . dread." And if they did, I wonder if many in the church would care enough to listen or to change.

Be honest now . . . would you?

Not all change is good, but not to change can be bad.

On Patting Birds
by Charles R. Swindoll
Hebrews 6:10

In a cartoon strip some years ago a little guy was taking heat from his sister and friends for a newly found "calling"—patting birds on the head. The distressed birds would approach, lower their little feathered pates to be patted, sigh deeply, and walk away satisfied. It brought him no end of fulfillment—in spite of the teasing he took from others. "What's wrong with patting birds on the head?" he wanted to know. "What's wrong with it?" his embarrassed friends replied, "No one else does it!"

If your niche is encouraging, please don't stop. If it is embracing, demonstrating warmth, compassion, and mercy to feathers that have been ruffled by offense and bruised by adversity, for goodness' sake, keep stroking. Don't quit, whatever you do.
I think many Christians are dying on the vine for lack of encouragement from other believers. Proverbs 15:23 says, "A man has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word!" Isn't that true? It's a delightful thing to receive a good word just at your time of need. Encourage someone today.

If God made you a "patter," then keep on patting to the glory of God.

Worth Your Time
by Charles R. Swindoll
Revelation 1:1-3; 3:11-12
It was Ernest Hemingway who once said, "Time is the least thing we have of." And he was right. How quickly time passes—and how often we lament this. If only we could tack an extra twenty-five or thirty years on to the usual span. There is so much more we want to see, to celebrate, to do. So many places to go, so much to enjoy, to feel, to read, to talk about, to participate in, to encounter. Yet, for each of us, this thing called time is in such short supply.

Our frustration is only compounded by the numerous unimportant, dumb things that steal our minutes and siphon the significance out of our hours. You know what I mean. Stuff like getting gas or a haircut, standing in the eternal line at the DMV, doing the laundry, washing all the dishes after every meal, mowing the lawn, and a dozen other time-consuming things that have to be done but keep you from doing the things that make life so invigorating and fulfilling.

Since "time is the least thing we have of" and since there is no way we're going to escape all the stupid time-traps that accompany our earthly existence, seems to me that we're left with two choices: Either we can fuss and whine about not having enough time, or we can take the time we've got left and spend it wisely. I mean really wisely, with our priorities in the right order.

Speaking of that, what are you doing with the rest of your life? I'm talking about cultivating relationships, building memories that will help lift the load of future trials, and the deliberate pursuit of activities that will yield eternal dividends.
Do you have a family? Rather than leaving them the leftovers and crumbs and giving your job your best hours and your most creative ideas, how about rethinking the value of strengthening those ties? And while we're at it, let's not leave out necessary time for quietness, for personal reflection and refreshment.

You say you don't have time to add another week to your squirrel-cage lifestyle. Don't kid yourself. You keep blowin' and goin' like you've been doing most of your adult life, and you'll wind up mumbling to yourself in the twilight years, wondering how you could have stayed so busy yet accomplished so little.

Hey, maybe Hemingway wasn't right after all. You and I have more time than we realize . . . once we get our priority ducks in a row.

Have you ever wondered how you can stay so busy yet accomplish so little?
Think seriously about how you can reorder those priorities.