Challenge Accepted!
Dan Kunz
If you’re reading this blog, you know by now that this coming Friday, June 11 is the fourth edition of the Christian Leadership Experience. I sincerely hope you’ve registered and are planning to join us. We believe that, although not as enjoyable as an in-person event, the lineup of speakers we have will deliver inspiration, motivation, and food for thought! We carefully chose the theme, “Challenge Accepted”, not only because of the challenges we’ve all faced in the past sixteen months, but also because God has promised challenges throughout our life as Christians. It’s part of our lives in a sinful world. The good news is that God uses our challenges to improve us – Zechariah 13:9b “…and I will refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested.”
Growing up thirty miles south of Green Bay, Wisconsin, I was enthralled with the Packers. Coach Vince Lombardi, one of the most often quoted of all professional coaches, once said, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get back up.” Whether you get back up, will depend, in large part, on your attitude. The attitude which will lead to you getting back up is - Challenge accepted! Since I’m quoting famous people, I’ll reference Henry Ford, who once said, “Whether you think you can or you can’t – you’re right”! If you think you can accomplish something or you think you can overcome something, you’ll try your best to make that happen. If, on the other hand, you think you can’t, your effort and attitude will most likely guarantee failure. Sometimes we have to overcome ourselves before we can do anything. In our case, as Christians, the source of a positive attitude comes from God himself. We are the children of the King! Our Heavenly Father promises to send us the “Great Encourager”! God himself fights for us! Talk about reasons to be optimistic!
Martha Washington had the right attitude about perspective – “I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance, but by our disposition.” We can look at something in our lives or in our world and make up our mind to deal with it in a positive way. With some hard work and God at our side, we can expect to overcome.
Jesus always serves as the best example we can have. We don’t hear about Jesus from the age of twelve until about the age of thirty. Since Joseph was a carpenter, as his oldest son, Jesus very likely worked in his father’s shop before he began his public ministry. During his public ministry, Jesus frequently walked long distances, preached and taught continually, and sometimes worried his family because he was working too hard. Jesus wasn’t a stranger to hard work! Jesus also knew his Heavenly Father was always with him. He made time to talk to him continually, as well. This was what made the ultimate cost of our salvation so amazing! He suffered separation from his Father, for us!
Jesus accepted his challenge. He couldn’t and wouldn’t be swayed from his path. He faced it willingly because of his love for us. He shows us how to accept our challenge too!