STRESS FOR SUCCESS
Part of The Abundant Faith Team
Tim Hacker
When you read the title of this article, you probably thought it was a typo. We all have heard of a concept called “dress for success” but who says that stress is part of being successful? Well, actually, God does.
Most modern Americans live in a world that looks for any and every way not to have ANY stress. And perhaps, as a result, we seem to have more problems than any generation in history handling stress. This generation seems to experience MORE stress than people in history… or, at least we think we do.
The reality, however, is that our lives are filled with conveniences beyond the imagination of our predecessors. So, when we are inconvenienced, it seems like something hard is happening. Our ancestors rose early and hunted all day just to get food; sometimes they hunted for days. We get stressed out and throw fits when someone messes up our order in the drive through!
Stress is actually a normal part of life. But, in the day in which we live, many people think that the key to a good life is making everything stress free. Today, I want to see if I can adjust the way we think about stress. And, I believe that I can demonstrate that more stress might actually be a key to better mental health when it is handled God’s way.
A God Given Goal
In Romans 14:17 we read:
“For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Do you want more joy in your life? It’s a silly question. Of course we all want more Joy! How about more peace? Absolutely! Sometimes we just need a moment, right? When everything around us seems chaotic… we just want some peace!
We also need to understand that “righteousness” isn’t just a virtue but it is the experience of things going right in our lives. We live in a time when a lot of stuff seems to be going wrong in the world and we have a news media that highlights every negative moment. So, when we see things going right, we are often recipients of those much needed levels of peace and joy.
Is the craziness of life driving you crazy? Yeah? We’ve all felt the craziness of life driving us crazy and we call that stress.
So, let’s take note that righteousness, peace and joy are THE kingdom of God. God’s Kingdom is what He wants to establish in our lives. When we long for these things we are longing for the kingdom of God, and that’s a good thing. Those of us who have been born again have been born into a different kingdom. We are called to be kingdom people.
Now, we all know people who love drama. Some people even seem to thrive in chaos. That’s a kingdom lifestyle too but it’s the wrong kingdom. It is that wrong kingdom that seems to dominate the world around us. But, it doesn’t have to dominate us.
God wants us to enter in to His Kingdom. And even more, He wants us to live there. To better see what that looks like, let’s look at how the first believers in the early church did it.
The Path Through Tribulation
In Acts 14:21-22 we read:
“And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’”
The early church was a very persecuted generation. They lived with a level of stress (tribulation) that makes many of our day to day struggles look like child’s play. Imagine a therapist today telling his client that, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” But that was what Paul told the church!
The idea that we must enter the Kingdom through stress seems very counter productive to the modern mind. And, Paul makes it even worse in His comments to the church in Rome. In his letter to the Romans he says:
“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5 NKJV)
If you look at verse 3 in other Bible translations you will see that the word “tribulations” is also translated:
-
Hardships
-
Pressure
-
Trouble
-
Afflictions
-
Distress
How many people do you know who rejoice over having stress in their lives? How many of US rejoice in having stress in our lives? But, what if we did?
From Complaining to Rejoicing
Stick with me now… because this is where is starts to get good. And, before we are done, we will have the opportunity to experience great hope as we enter in to His Kingdom.
The first step is to choose to “glory” in the hard stuff. That is counter intuitive and counter culture. We don’t look positively on the hard stuff. What do we do instead? We complain.
Paul told the church in Philippi to “Do all things without complaining and disputing.” (Philippians 2:14 NKJV) Is that even possible? It is when we believe, “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 GNT)
So, if God is working in all things, and we are called to do all things without complaining, then maybe, just maybe, there is a reason we are told to rejoice in times of stress, tribulations, and hardships. And there is! It’s explained to us RIGHT HERE in Romans 5.
The Production Process
-
Stress produces Perseverance: Perseverance is also translated as patience, endurance, and steadfastness. It’s the idea of standing up under a great weight. Athletes will tell you that they intentionally stress their bodies to build up strength. Their perseverance makes them faster and stronger. It is a big key to victory!
-
Perseverance produces Character: This word is also translated as “experience” and “approval.” This word was used in other places in the Bible in the context of trust. People like this can be counted on. God wants our character to be the kind that is recognized as good and admirable. That kind of character is only developed in times of tenaciously pushing through.
-
Character produces Hope: This kind of hope is not mere wishful thinking. It is the confident expectation of good. This kind of hope is powerful because the person who carries this hope carries it better because he is a person of experienced character who has learned to glory in adversity.
The Result: A Hope That Does Not Disappoint
This kind of person talks more about the promise than they do about the problem! They maintain their joy by rejoicing no matter how much stress they feel. If the devil brings them stress, their hope filled response reverses that pressure and puts it back on the enemy of their soul. Imagine being that person who stresses out the devil!
Paul goes on to say that, “hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
We can stop being dis-appointed and start being the trusted ones that are appointed to handle anything. ANYTHING!
How? We glory and rejoice in ALL THINGS. Complaining is for wimps. Rejoicing is for winners. So just remember, Stress FOR Success!
