Editorial: “When Things Don’t Go Our Way”
9 November 2024 |
A thing recently happened that didn’t go the way I wanted it to.
I suspect I’m not the only one.
What I want to do is crawl into a hole and stay there for a while. Or perhaps put my fingers in my ears and sing “lalalalala” whenever anyone tries to talk to me about it. Or maybe move to the moon, where such things would never happen.
When I’m stumped about what to do, I often think back to my youth group days in the 90s when WWJD bracelets were all the rage. What would Jesus do?
What did Jesus do if things didn’t go his way? We have plenty of examples. Sometimes he stood up to the problem. Sometimes he “shook the dust off his feet” and left. Yet even when he was led to his death, he continued to be gentle, kind, and forgiving to those who were hurting him.
So what should I do?
I suspect in the coming years I’ll need to do all three of those things. Sometimes I’ll stand up in the face of injustice. Sometimes I’ll just put the bad stuff behind me. And most of all, I’ll be called to be gentle, kind, and forgiving in an ungentle, unkind, and unforgiving world. Maybe even to those who are causing the hurt.
Let us all vow that we will fight the darkness as Jesus did. That we will show ourselves to be followers of Jesus by our fruits: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Blessings to all of you,
Lindsey Abston Painter
Assistant Editor, Adventist Today
9 November 2024
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Today’s ATSS class (1:30 PM Eastern US) with Reinder Bruinsma
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