Are you riding a Roller Coaster?

What a week it has been in Uganda! I knew January could be challenging with the upcoming elections, but was not quite ready for the events of this week. I find times like this can challenge our faith. I think the danger is that we can get caught up in the moment and lose sight of the eternal picture. 

When we live like this life becomes an emotional roller coaster. Our feelings become dictated with the current event / experience. I have watched this with my wife, Beth, who has been following the US elections closely. It can become so consuming we can lose sight of God in the process. After challenging her to not be overwhelmed by the news God showed me I am just as guilty as I closely watched the violence unfold on the streets of Kampala. I found my emotions fluctuate between despair, anger and great sadness.

The danger is that when we live like this it not only impacts our lives, but also those around us. I once heard a preacher state, ‘Your shadow will always release whatever overshadows you.’ How true! I was allowing the news to overshadow me. 

So how do we get off this emotional Roller Coaster? I believe this is where Hebrews 12:1 is so key. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
(Hebrews 12:1-2)

‘Fixing our eyes on Jesus.’ He is our foundation. Our ‘True North.’ Life starts and finishes with Jesus. You will often see Jesus referenced as the, ‘cornerstone’ throughout the old and new testament. 

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”  
(1 Peter 2:6-8)

The challenge here is to trust him. He promises we will never be put to shame. There is also a warning here. If we ‘do not believe’ we will, ‘Stumble.’ I think in such times we can also be offended by God. We start to doubt him and become unstable as James warns us.

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. 
(James 1:6-8)

It’s so critical that we develop the discipline of focusing on Jesus. He is the, ‘pioneer and perfector of faith.’ He is faithful, forgiving, compassionate, loving, gracious, powerful, dependable, mighty and the list goes on. 

So I challenge you this week. Get off the roller coaster, focus on Jesus and trust him.

Questions

• When did life last feel like a roller coaster? Why?

• How did you get off that roller coaster?

• How do you focus on Jesus? 

• Have you ever been offended by God? Have you dealt with that offence?

• Do you trust him?

• Make your own list of who Jesus is to you.
  
  This is a great prayer that will help you called, ‘He’s My King.’ Open Here