Don’t just cope!*

2021-04-26T00:00:00+00:00

At the beginning of Covid, I had the sense that it would be big. Life altering. And I asked the Lord that it would be a defining event in my life, drawing me ever closer in my walk with Jesus.

And personally, 2020 was a year to remember. Definitely a hard year, but one in which the Lord showed up in marvelous and very tangible ways. However, as we rolled into 2021 some bad habits from 2020 persisted and began rearing their ugly heads. Particularly, the vice of wasting lots of time on the computer due to the pervasive lie that I just need to cope under the circumstances. It led to all kinds of dissipation and lack of discipline as mentioned in Ephesians 5. It became increasingly difficult to “look carefully how I walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time for the days are evil”. It became increasingly easy to be foolish – spending large chunks of the day as if He doesn’t exist, rather than discerning what His will is. And one of the most essential questions from 2020 (what is the Lord’s calling for my life, personally?) remained unexamined, not prayed about. Like many during Covid, I’ve been grappling with purpose and meaning in daily life.

One root of the issue is there are big uncertainties and concerns that I am not consistently addressing with Him and entrusting to Him. Instead, I’m just coping with the pressure. And coping makes me passive, I just “go with the flow”. It becomes a great excuse for my flesh to reign, usurping my identity (and power) as a completely new creation in Christ Jesus.

But yesterday, I had a breakthrough. Brian was teaching on the life of Joseph, this time on Joseph in Potiphar’s house. What struck me was how Joseph was a man not defined by his circumstances. No, he was always triumphant with God. Joseph never “just coped”. Instead, he lived with utmost integrity and thanksgiving to the Lord, always excelling wherever God placed him.

As Brian pointed out, in Genesis 38 Judah did everything wrong, repented and was free. In Genesis 39, Joseph does everything right, gets betrayed, and is imprisoned. Despite this, Joseph always prospered with the Lord no matter who betrayed him or what situation he was in! So also it was with Paul, who made each of his jail cells into a place of ministry and a sanctuary to write his epistles. He did not allow any place to define him. No, he actively sanctified the places he was in by the uncontainable life of the Spirit. These men understood that the Lord did not call them to merely survive, but to thrive in the worst of circumstances. These men lived out Psalm 1:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be a tree planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

So the natural question is: I see that God was with Joseph, so Joseph prospered. But is God with me? If I am to take Him at His word, then yes, He absolutely is! And to a much greater degree than in the OT because His Spirit dwells within me! So what is “coping” or living “under the circumstances” (i.e. living passively, without hope) but unbelief? And if I ask with unbelief, how can I expect to receive what the Lord has to give? For He is always faithful to give, but my unbelief blocks me from receiving (cf James 1).

So I had the breakthrough: Abolish coping! For I always have the hope, the power, and the freedom to “live my best life”, because the only sufficient and necessary condition to living my best life is His presence! The idea that I need to cope, or that victory in life is too difficult is a lie that holds me back from taking charge of the territory in my life that the Lord has commanded me to take possession of. Joshua would never have taken the promised land if he just “coped” with the news of Anakim and other powerful peoples in the land of Canaan. Instead, God commanded:

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Here’s where the charge to “subdue and rule” from Genesis 1 came alive to me. He has truly given me the hope I need (and flowing from hope, the power I need) to subdue the flesh and walk in discipline, making the moment-by-moment choice to walk in hope and not frustration or anxiety. I am given authority to reign over all that comes from within by the Spirit. In my case, the Lord is calling me to steep myself in His word, meditating on it day and night, and to entrust life’s difficulties to Him that I may walk in discipline (or self-control/temperance, a fruit of the Spirit) in view of the hope I have in Emmanuel.

So this is a lesson that I’ll take away from this season, along with many others. Victory is always available to me! I say again, victory is always available to me as I actively partner with Him to subdue and rule!

O Lord, thank You for the hope to subdue and rule the undisciplined sluggard of the flesh, for there is victory I’ve been deceived into thinking was not possible! Indeed it is not possible apart from You, but in You I am free to succeed! Darkness has no power to resist light. My light is Your life in me. Amen.

Ponder anew what the Almighty can do if with His love He befriend Thee!

* not all coping is bad, but I refer to coping in the flesh. It’s living without hope, refusing to take God at his word. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”

P.S. I’d like to write with a lot more focus & clarity than this, but clearly I have more than 1 thought running through my head so I figured I’d just put a lot of them down. Two other Scriptures that came to mind were: “not by might and not by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of hosts”. And “the Lord does not save by many or by few”. It’s amazing how God communicates: at RBF we sang A Mighty Fortress, and then sang it at PBCC. We went through the Joseph story & Psalm 1, and I was recently in James and Joshua, which brought to mind the Genesis 1 passage of all things. In Parakaleo, we went through Eph 5, and did a study on Jesus as the Light, noting that darkness has no ability to overcome light. It seems that everywhere I turn, Scriptures say: “feed deeply in My word and truly trust Me for victory in life! Not good circumstances, but always victory!”

A helpful talk I watched a couple days ago:

Invest your time

2019-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

In the past 18 months after graduation, I’ve often felt this sense of regret / remorse over how I’ve used my time. It was really hard to put my finger on it, until recently.

The difference is in spending your time vs. investing your time.

Spending your time:

operates on short time horizons — expects immediate payoff
very little to no enduring value

Investing your time:

oriented towards the long term — expects future payoff
benefit compounds over time Increased freedom should result in more time that can be invested.

In practice though, I’ve found myself drifting in the opposite direction. After college, I have many more mundane responsibilities (transportation, dishes, laundry, trash, rent, taxes, jury duty, house cleaning), that make me want to spend time on “comforting” activities.

In contrast, during high school and college, basically all my free time was being invested, even though I had less free time. It did get extreme: in high school I had my math research notebooks 24/7 (including in social gatherings and in restaurants), and in college I brought my laptop to do work on every family vacation (I used to lament vacations since they took away work time — I’ve since realized vacations are an important investment to doing higher quality work through getting rest and new perspectives).

After living for 18 months with a lower investment/spending ratio in time usage, I’ve realized that investment may just be a better way to use time in general. I’ve come to realize I often find very little enduring satisfaction in spending time (playing chess, video games, watching Netflix / YouTube), and much more meaning in investing time (in faith, in relationships, in exercise, in work, in reading, in cleaning the house, in journaling, etc.)

Instead of asking how much time can I get away with spending & relaxing, perhaps the question should be, what’s the least amount of time I need to spend?

Allan

Don’t just cope!*

Invest your time