The Roller Coaster Of Life

Published on May 9 2011 by simondisciple

The Roller-Coaster Ride Of Life

‘HE HAS MADE EVERYTHING APPROPIATE IN ITS TIME’ (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NAS)

The song says: ‘I beg your pardon; I never promised you a rose garden.’ Neither did God, so beware of ‘rose garden’ theology. The Christian life is not an either/or experience, where either you’re a believer and life is problem-free, or an unbeliever and life is tough. It’s a both/and experience, bringing times you’ll enjoy and times you’ll endure. The Bible’s heroes experienced both the thrill of victory and the sting of defeat, some, like Elijah, even wishing to die.

Consider the paradoxes of God’s Word. Jesus was a ‘man of sorrows’ (Isaiah 53:3). Yet He was also anointed...with the oil of gladness above (His) fellows (Hebrews 1:9). Paul said he was ‘sorrowful, yet always rejoicing....poor, yet making many rich....having nothing, and yet possessing all things’ (2 Corinthians 6:10 NKJV). These were his thoughts when he said, ‘I can do everything through him who gives me strength’ (Philippians 4:13 NIV). In Proverbs 17:22 (NKJV) Solomon says, ‘A merry heart does good, like medicine.’ In Ecclesiastes 7:3 he says (NAS) he writes, ‘In....prosperity be happy.....in.....adversity consider-God has made the one as well as the other.’ Rejoice! In your both/and world, God is still on the throne. He’s controlling the mix of joy to sorrow, peace to conflict, loss to gain, want to satisfaction, tragedy to triumph, with your best interests always foremost in His mind.

*NAS New American Standard Bible Version

*NIV New International Bible Version

*NKJV New King James Bible Version

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