Where is your focus?

“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”   John 16:33, ESV

Everything in life is relative. What seems to be a major catastrophe to some?is a mere bump in the road to others. Some suffer in silence, never letting others know the pain or heartache they are enduring, while others broadcast the slightest wrong they have sustained.

The Apostle Peter wasn’t exactly a scholar or theologian, yet he wrote a powerful letter to Christians living in Asia Minor, warning them of impending difficulties, showing them how to respond to trials so that they would grow instead of being destroyed by them.

How do you survive a difficult trial and allow God to use the challenge to make you something precious and refined? Strive to remember that God is in control of the furnace of your affliction, no matter what the circumstances are. He also knows how much you can take and when enough is enough.

Instead of focusing on your challenge, whatever it may be, focus on the Lord. The writer of Hebrews had this in mind when he wrote, “Let us fix our eyes?on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

Keeping your eyes upon the Lord – not focused on the trial or the person who is responsible for your pain – is the only solution. Peter, according to tradition, was martyred in Rome, the result of the persecution that came under Nero.

Hardships and difficulties will only increase in the future, but in the darkness let the world see Christ, who is still the light of the world, in you.