All The Difference                                                                              08-22-14

Today, for starters, I, as I am sure you are well aware, am not a poet. I do not read poetry and sadly, I do not have an appreciation for much that is poetic. I suppose you would say that I am oafish(?) in that area of the literary arts. Nonetheless, it was a poem that set me to thinking this week. Well, not actually a poem but a couple of lines from a famous poem. I had to Google the author's name and I didn't even have the lines right in my head; but, somehow I fell into it. It was a poem written by Robert Frost. "The Road Not Taken" was the name. A very famous poem that even the poetically illiterate like myself are somewhat familiar with. I was taken with the last two lines well, actually the last line.

                              " I took the one less traveled by,
                               And that has made all the difference."
                                                                          Robert Frost

1 Corinthians 15:16-19 (NASB) ¹⁶  For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;
¹⁷  and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
¹⁸  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
¹⁹  If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

I pondered vs. 19 amidst all the trouble and hardship this world is experiencing as it "descends into chaos." Trouble across the oceans, trouble in our own backyards. It seems that it is everywhere. We preach against it, we bind it, we rebuke it, we command it to flee...but there it is...staring us right in the face. The Apostle Paul took a different tack. He EMBRACED it. Now, before I go one foot further I should make one thing absolutely clear. I am not saying, nor do I believe that the Bible teaches that we should look for ways to suffer. Nor do I believe that we should glorify suffering as a virtue. No, no I don't believe that. The only thing that should be glorified is The Lord God Almighty. That being said, Paul, while defending his ministry and reason for being, took a foreign(at least to me) turn. It's in 2nd Corinthians. I won't put the scripture here. Go read it for yourself.

Now, while vindicating his ministry, Paul could have argued his success in planting and starting new churches, but he didn't. He certainly could have used his training and education. If memory serves me, Paul was trained at the foot of Gamaliel. The Harvard of 1st century Israel.He had the degree, the Ph.D of his day. He had earned the title Dr. Paul. But, he didn't. He could have pointed to all the miracles that God had performed through him, or the spiritual gifts that God had bestowed on him. But, he didn't. Well then Ronnie, just what did Paul have to say about himself? Look and see.

 2 Corinthians 11:24-29 (NASB) ²⁴  Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.
²⁵  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.
²⁶  I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;
²⁷  I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
²⁸  Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
²⁹  Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?

Those scriptures don't really preach nowadays do they? These are, how do we put it? Hard sayings.
You bet your bippy they are. This is where I began to consider the lines of that poem. Admittedly, this may be a faulty or even dumb analogy, but it is precisely what laid on my heart as I weighed this message in my mind. We are much like Paul as we walk through this life aren't we? We have our critics, both in the church and out of it. We frequently face opposition from loved ones and Unloved ones. You feelin' me here? We are traveling down a sometimes very lonely and difficult road. The only tangible evidence that we can offer others, and many times  ourselves, of being on the right road, is the fact of our trials and tribulations.  We are hard pressed to point to a great victory that God has given us. People begin to wonder. WE begin to wonder. Trouble is our constant companion. Add to that the fact that we ourselves sometimes have difficulty finding the purposes of God in our lives. Wait a minute God! What's going on here!? And then God calms our spirits.

2 Corinthians 4:17 (NASB) ¹⁷  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

Read this passage in it's entirety. Paul is saying this. "It's all worth it people. The trouble, the trial, the affliction, it's all worth it."  God has made all the difference. This world ain't my home. I'm just a passin' through. These MOMENTARY afflictions are producing an eternal glory. One day, soon and very soon, God is going to set things right for His children. He's going to take us away from here forever. And THAT dear brother and sister makes it worth it. That truth has made all the difference.

Psalm 25:5 (NASB) ⁵  Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.

God Bless