Adversity Sucks -- Deal With It

Yesterday as part of the "Drive for Pride" I was teaching on the subject of getting your duties accomplished, of being a responsible person.

1) It's good for your own sense of things; 2) The rest of us will hate you that much less. Because we are sick and tired of the half-witted irresponsibility of the world, particularly of those who come into contact with us.

How hard is it to be responsible? How hard is it to think ahead, to rub two stinking thoughts together long enough to reach some kind of intelligent conclusions? How difficult is it to plan ahead and think about what you're going to need for a rainy day? It drives me crazy that there are these folks out there who get their back up against the wall because they haven't got the sense to foresee what their actions (or lack of actions) will yield.

Then when the rain starts to fall, then when the bills come due, that's when you hear from them. And you'd like to backtrack and say: What did you do at this point? What did you do at that point? Why weren't you taking certain precautions? Why weren't you putting something away for this? Why weren't you on top of the situation back then? Did you not notice that this problem was getting bigger all the time instead of smaller? Sheesh.

No, no, no. Just hope and pray. Maybe tomorrow won't come. Maybe I'll win the big lottery. Maybe God will provide. Actually God was trying to get your attention all along, that you need to be diligent all along the way and not let these tiny problems become gigantic. God was shouting at you the whole time, but you didn't seem to notice.

Now adversity is your lot in life ... and suddenly it's someone else's worry. Because you need bailed out. Your irresponsibility is suddenly my problem.

Of course I'm not thinking of any particular incident here. Just extrapolating the way it would be if a case like this were to arise.

Well, here's the bad news. I'll give you the bad news in a few sentences: 1) Hoping and praying doesn't get it done; 2) Tomorrow will come, every time; 3) You aren't going to win the big lottery; 4) God wants to provide but He's not going to provide it in one lump sum. God provides for you all along the way, but it's up to you to save, not squander. Remember the story of Joseph and the seven years of plenty and the seven years of want? God provided when the seven years of plenty were going on. Then it was Joseph's sense that meant they had food during the seven years of want. 5) You have the same mental abilities as responsible people, you just didn't use them. (In this hypothetical, extrapolated case.)

If you don't want your back up against the wall -- because tomorrow does come -- take care of your life today. That's a "Drive for Pride" teaching that will come in very very handy, if you follow it.