A little over two months ago I started a new position at my company. In some ways it is my dream job, an opportunity to nurture a global project management skill set and execute business strategy. I remember how impressed I was during the interview process at how organized and calm everyone appeared. When I received the call that the position was being offered to me, I was elated, high from the smell of opportunity and a new working environment.
Have you ever heard “What goes up, must come down”??
The first two months were great! I felt confident that I could be successful and that this was a real blessing from God. But during the first week of month three, I wondered if my incompetence was indicative of brain damage and considered that maybe God wanted me to experience utter failure to teach me a hard lesson in humility.
I call this phenomenon The Roller Coaster of Circumstances; when everything is going well, I’m up, when everything is not going well, I’m down. To be honest, there was a time when this was such a pervasive part of my life that even other people’s circumstances would put me on the “coaster”.
The thing about being on this roller coaster is that you don’t get to live life, life lives you; your condition and mood are completely subject to what happens to and around you. (Worst ride ever!) But through God’s grace, I have learned how to get off the coaster, even while it’s still running its course. The key is to take your eyes off the coaster (the circumstances) and fix your attention on something (or someone) stable…unmovable…constant.
Hebrews 12:2
“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Without fail, when I begin to look at Jesus Christ and consider the steadfastness of His character to endure death and shame for the joy of God’s glory and reconciliation of a fallen creation, I become stabilized and the roller coaster slows to a stop. I no longer have to be subject to the tyranny of circumstance but rather to a loving, faithful God of who gave His life for me so I can live abundantly, faithfully in Him through any circumstance…roller coaster free.
How are you living right now? Are you on the roller coaster or are your eyes and feet on the Rock?
